The Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy? / Endless Sleep

Sometimes I buy shit that I don't have a clue about, just out of curiosity, because it has interesting looking cover art, a good band name or song title, or is on some really obscure, independent old label. Most of the time I end up owning a piece of historical garbage that makes me cringe every time i flip past it until I remove it from my record collection. But, as we all know, occasionally you mistakenly stumble across something really great and it makes all those wasteful purchases justified. Well, this record is a piece of shit. End of review.

No, but really, this record is fucking awesome. Half of it anyway. The B side. I could take or leave 'Which Way.' There's nothing especially note-worthy about it, except that it can get stuck in your head, but you don't really want it there. Oh but the B side is a killer. Jody Reynolds wrote this song, and actually had a pretty big hit with it in 1958, but I must've been living under a rock in 1958 cuz I never heard of it before. Anyway, this song fucking slays and is dark as fuck. Read them lyrics.

The night was black, rain falling down
look for my baby, she's nowhere around.
Traced her footsteps down to the shore,
'fraid she's gone for ever-more.

I looked at the sea, and it seemed to say
'I took your baby from you away."
I heard a voice cry from the deep
come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

Why did we quarrel? Why did we fight?
Why did I leave her alone tonight?
That's why her footsteps ran into the sea
That's why my baby's gone from me.

Jody Reynolds' version had an extra verse about running into the sea and saving his lady, but the Poppies left that verse out, thereby making the song even cooler. This may have been Terry Jacks' finest moment in his musical career. Certainly much more respectable than that fucking pitiful and embarrassing 'Seasons in the Sun' bullshit he ended up doing. Now I think he's a lumberjack in Canada or some shit. Who knows. Susan Jacks (the singer, also his wife at the time) was a total babe to boot.

Also, I think this gem of a song is only available on this 45, as I've never seen it on any of the collections of theirs that I've found since picking this up. Hooray for compulsive record shopping!!!

Heavy. Heavy.
Psychedelic Elvis

The Clique - Stay By Me / Splash 1

Here's what I've come to realize; there is no upside to being a nerdy record collector. You're forever doomed to be a useless, pathetic, no-friends-having loser, until the day you die, or realize the errors of your ways. Honestly; who gives a flying fuck if I own this record (that I've been pining over for a few years now?) NOBODY. So why did I spend so much money on it??? Because I'm a useless, pathetic, no-friends-having loser with a serious problem. The truth has been told, finally. The saddest part is that I realize exactly how pathetic I am for this kind of weakness, and I still continue to pay ungodly amounts of money (that I don't have) to buy this stupid shit.

Anyway, I had a really well thought out review for this record planned, but then I thought about how much I hate myself for being 100% retarded, so fuck the full review. In spite of my mongoloid-self, I give this record a 10 out of 10 star rating.

Seriously, spend a whole shitload of money to buy this. Then swallow a handful of broken glass & rid the world of one less waste of flesh. I suck at life, for real. This record is proof.

With disdainful love,
Psychedelic Elvis.

It's getting colder and my coat is full of holes and worn too thin for this weather but I'm on a slow train out of town and I've got my smokes and a flask of bourbon for warmth and I don't care where I'm going no more because you see my lady left me, she left me in the morning, she didn't say goodbye, and I worked all day, sweatin' and achin' just to bring that ol' woman my pay, just tryin' to make that lil' girl my wife someday, but now she's gone and I only got movin' on my mind, yes she's gone and so am I.

Donovan "Greatest Hits" & "Hurdy Gurdy Man"

As a general rule of thumb, I try to stay away from greatest hits collections as an introduction to a band or musician. Donovan's "Greatest Hits" really cemented that opinion for me.

Although these are all great songs (except the treacherous "Mellow Yellow,") this album barely scratches the surface of what Donovan was capable of. These are just his pop songs. Regardless, this is still a record worth having, with new versions of two songs (one of which is the phenomenal reworking of "Catch the Wind,") a few non-LP singles, and an extended version of "Sunshine Superman." But as I said, not an accurate view of Donovan in his prime.

Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" record, however, is exactly that. This record covers so much ground through it's 13 tracks, but never to areas out-of-bounds for Donovan. From hit singles like the title track to droney, eastern influenced songs like "Peregrine" and "Tangier," back to acoustic folk reminiscent of very early Donovan on "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl" and "The Sun is a Very Magic Fellow," everything comes across as perfectly natural for Donovan and still manages to form a surprisingly cohesive album. "Get Thy Bearings" is a heavily jazz influenced track, also note-worthy as one of the very few songs ever recorded featuring a saxophone that doesn't make me obscenely angry. "Hi it's Been a Long Time" and "Teas" are two stand-out tracks, not just for this album, but his entire career (which died the second him and Mickie Most split.)

And let's talk about Mickie Most for a second. His production for this record is absolutely flawless. Mickie was known for producing hit singles, and it's apparent throughout the whole record. Every songs is crisp and clean without ever skimping on the reverb or delay, and the choices for session musicians were always on-point.

So there you have it. If you don't own copies of these two records (records. not CD's,) it's past due time to pick them up. You could most likely find Donovan's "Greatest Hits" in any used record store, but it might be worth-while to hold off for a copy of "Hurdy Gurdy Man."

--Billy McDungeon

Frank Sinatra - "Cycles"

It took me awhile to get into Frank Sinatra. Between my grandma and my most conscious Italian soccer teammates, I pretty much wrote off old "blue eyes". The past year though really set the stage for latching onto Frank: utter boredom with 99.9% of indie music, a taste for Lucky Strikes, a love affair with whiskey, and finding Cycles for a buck at a thrift store.

The cover has Frank looking sharp as usual sitting at the bottom of the stairs with his head in his hand. When I saw it, I knew this is the kind of Frank Sinatra I could get into--sad Frank, hungover Frank; not lounge-singer, big-band, not my grandma's Frank, not soccer team Frank.

Sure enough, Cycles did not let me down (footnote #1). Most of Cycles is Frank singing about feeling like shit. The whole album has instrumentation like a pop album from the 60's which makes Cycles a perfect gateway album for those of you that grew up around punk and indie music. There are a couple cover songs the album could do without. But songs like "Rain in My Heart" kick my dick in every time.

"Rain in My Heart" will win you to Frank Sinatra. You will notice Frank has the best rhythm and feeling in his phrasings. You will begin to crave the confidence in Frank's voice. And other songs will just seem kind of blah--a donut with no cream filling (footnote #2).

So basically...start smoking, start with Cycles, pick up every Frank Sinatra record you can get your hands on, wait till you come with a bottle of whiskey, and let him wail.

--Lee Deers

Footnotes:
#1 I highly recommend judging records by their cover when in a thrift store and they are only a buck or two.

#2 This phrase is credited to Tyler Farren who used it to describe a song I had just written and played for him a couple months back.

Let's Go Classics ! ! !

Welcome to the Psychedelic Elvis Blog, dedicated to reviewing LP's and 45's, or whatever else I feel compelled to write about. Most likely lots of garage / psychedelic / punk / Donovan talk. Just what the internet needs, another vinyl junkie rambling on a blogspot blog. YIKES!!!