A piece of 1967 psychedelia which also has echoes of The Herd. Member Jeff Christie went on to form the band Christie of Yellow River fame.

The Outer Limits: Just One More Chance

Another one from Cliff. He recorded some good stuff at times. Like The Day I Met Marie this was written by Hank Marvin.

I saw this cited in a list of 1960s psychedelia. At the time of its release, because of its performers, I did not consider it as such.

The drum pattern in this prefigures the one in Neanderthal Man by Hotlegs, the group that was the precursor to 10cc.

Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin: Throw Down a Line

Here’s a version from 1970 as credited to Marvin, Welch and Farrar.

Marvin, Welch and Farrar: Throw Down a Line

I heard on the news today that Vangelis has died. I first heard his music when he was a member of the band Aphrodite’s Child. Their psychedelia tinged It’s Five O’Clock I featured here along with their biggest hit, Rain and Tears.

Vangelis will probably be most associated with the theme tune for the film Chariots of Fire, see here.

He collaborated with Yes singer Jon Anderson for four albums and the pair had a couple of hits, this one from 1981.

Jon and Vangelis: I’ll Find My Way Home

Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou (Vangelis:) 29/3/1943 – 17/5/2022. So it goes.

This is apparently regarded as trip hop though the group seemingly do not like their sound being described that way.

To my mind there’s more than a bit of psychedelia about it. It’s a good enough description for me.

Portishead: Glory Box

Here is the band playing Glory Box live on Later:-

This wasn’t the first single Eric Burdon released after the original Animals broke up (that would be Help Me Girl) nor was it the most successful, barely scraping the UK top 40. There’s a touch of psychedelia in it, though.

This video is of a performance on US TV.

Eric Burdon and the Animals: When I Was Young

The Pretty Things (whose member Phil May died last week) were a presence in and around my consciousness in the 1960s. I caught them on TV once and my father of course remarked they were far from pretty. Chart success mostly eluded them, though. However, I do recall vaguely that they were the first British band to sign to Tamla Motown in the US.

Like most early 1960s bands they started out playing the blues but they soon evolved. The were the first to produce a rock opera in the concept album (one of the first of those) S. F. Sorrow where they indulged psychedelic tendencies, but its release was messed up and it therefore appeared after The Who’s Tommy.

Below is an appearance from French TV in which they play a song from S. F. Sorrow. The introduction to this has pre-echoes of Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas and the visual styling and antics of the guy in the tricorne hat could have inspired The Alex Harvey Band.

The Pretty Things: Private Sorrow

Philip Dennis Arthur Wadey/Kattner (Phil May:) 9 /11/1944 – 15/5/2020. So it goes.

I was sad to hear the news of the death of Dean Ford, lead singer of (The) Marmalade (once known as Dean Ford and the Gaylords,) the first Scottish group to have a no 1 in the UK. To make it, of course, they had to leave Scotland and move to London where their initial efforts under their original name didn’t meet with much joy. Calling themselves The Marmalade also didn’t bring instant success. It was only when they adopted a more pop profile – and with songs written by others – that they achieved a measure of success, peaking with that no. 1, a cover of The Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

Ford was no mean song writer though. Along with fellow band member Junior Campbell he wrote Reflections of My Life, Rainbow, and My Little One, hits between 1969 and 1971.

Plus this pre-success psychedelia-tinged song, said to be Jimi Hendrix’s favourite of 1967.

The Marmalade: I See the Rain

Thomas McAleese (Dean Ford): 5/9/1946 – 31/12/2018. So it goes.

Steppenwolf’s other well known track. Never a hit in the UK. Then again, Born To Be Wild only reached no 30.

This seems to be a live performance of the album version with additional film inserts. There’s a touch more psychedelia than I’d remembered.

Steppenwolf: Magic Carpet Ride

The Idle Race wasn’t the only Birmingham group to like (Here We Go Round) the Lemon Tree. The band that recorded the song here liked that earlier one so much they took their name from (part of) its title.

The somewhat psychedelic – not to say SF tinged – William Chalker’s Time Machine was written by Ace Kefford, who had just left The Move, and produced by Andy Fairweather-Low (of Amen Corner and solo fame) and Trevor Burton of …. The Move.

It didn’t bother the charts.

The Lemon Tree: William Chalker’s Time Machine

I had a comment this week on the post I made about my absolute favourite 1960s single, Rupert’s People’s Reflections of Charles Brown, to the effect that airplay for it had actually preceded the release of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale but a hiatus in its own resulted in “Reflections” losing out.

In my post I noted a previous version from which “Reflections” had been adapted. The comment reminded me to try to source that single again. And I have succeeded.

So here is Charles Brown as by Sweet Feeling, a much more psychedelic effort than “Reflections”.

Sweet Feeling: Charles Brown

The song was actually the B-side of All So Long Ago, which I append here:-

Sweet Feeling: All So Long Ago