1969 : The Feminine Complex, The Head Shop & The Shaggs
Sept 14, 2019 23:59:26 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Sept 14, 2019 23:59:26 GMT
1969 : L'Annee Mecanique
By 1969, psychedelia as a suggested artform had been so mass-marketed, some music critics had grown cynical of a rock 'n' roll subgenre built upon experimentation and innovation. Though they had ample reason to feel this way (a lot of mid-range flower pop was disposable pap hastily put together by record producers), the bands were always where it was at. In 1969, psychedelic sunshine was starting to turn cloudy and the lights were being dimmed, leading to the murky pscyedelics of the early 1970s which were altogether heavier.
Here's three artists who released albums in 1969 that show psychedelic frenzy at its most rapturous.
Here's three artists who released albums in 1969 that show psychedelic frenzy at its most rapturous.
The Feminine Complex (Nashville, Tennessee)
'When this debut album, originally released in 1969, was first reissued on cult US indie Teenbeat, complete with sleevenotes from Lambchop’s Jonathan Marx, many thought it had to be an elaborate hoax. Could a Nashville girl group really be this good and remain undiscovered? Not forever. A choir of Dusty Springfields produced by Phil Spector would struggle to be this wondrous. Like Lee & Nancy’s “Some Velvet Morning”, The Feminine Complex, as the name suggests, deliver multi-layered, deceptively innocent, largely self-penned psychedelic pop that swings gently from exuberant to spooky via forlorn and sentimental. Unintentionally groundbreaking.'
- Staff at Uncut
'Hide And Seek' - The Feminine Complex - 'Forgetting'
..
The Head Shop (New York City, New York)
"The Head Shop is one of those horribly out of print oddities that it's practically impossible to find information on. My basic impressions are that I can't really tell if this was a legitimate band, or one of those psychedelic exploitation albums. Basically, the playing is very much along the exploitative lines; my wife doesn't know much about psych but she pointed out that this music reminded her of The Zodiac's Cosmic Sounds. Still, there's a touch more of weird inspiration than the bulk of exploitation albums have. For some reason, a lot of this album also makes me think of the music from Jesus Christ Superstar - especially around the middle with tracks like "Listen With A Third Ear" and "Opera In The Year 4000."
- Dr. Schluss, Psychedelic Obscurities
'Prophecy' - The Head Shop
The Shaggs (Fremont, New Hampshire)
"The Wiggin family of Fremont, New Hampshire were an all-American bunch. Father Austin Wiggin Jr. and Mother Annie were blessed with a lovely brood of six: Two boys, Robert and Austin III, and four daughters, Dorothy (Dot), Betty, Helen, and Rachel. However, in Austin’s eyes, his traditional-seeming clan was anything but—their existence was actually a case of cosmic circumstance. When Austin was a young child, his palmistry-practicing mother predicted that he would marry a strawberry blonde woman, have two sons after she died, and that his daughters would form a successful music group. Having witnessed the first two prophecies come true, Austin decided to give his preordained fate a little push. In the mid-1960s he pulled his three eldest teenage daughters, Dot, Betty, and Helen, out of school, equipped them with guitars and drums, and dubbed them the Shaggs.
Though Austin had no real musical experience, he took quite naturally to the role of a Svengali-type manager. He demanded that the Shaggs practice all day in the family basement: While he was at work, when he came home, after dinner, and occasionally before bed (sometimes, this pre-bedtime practice was replaced by calisthenics). The Shaggs would play a song over and over and over again, until Austin deemed it perfect (or as close to the level of perfection an untrained group could reach). As Dot later explained in Songs in the Key of Z, “He directed. We obeyed. Or did our best.” Wanting to get the girls while their sound was “hot,” in 1969 after about five years of practice, Austin dragged the Shaggs to Fleetwood studio in Revere, Massachusetts, to record their first album, Philosophy of the World.
“Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you’d still have a limited number of options,” Half Japanese’s David Fair writes in his brief manifesto “How to Play Guitar.” “If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.” Even though they barely learned any chords, it seems safe to say that even after countless hours of practice the Shaggs never mastered their instruments. But the essence of *Philosophy of the World *lies within Fair’s words: that technical limitations can equal musical freedom."
Though Austin had no real musical experience, he took quite naturally to the role of a Svengali-type manager. He demanded that the Shaggs practice all day in the family basement: While he was at work, when he came home, after dinner, and occasionally before bed (sometimes, this pre-bedtime practice was replaced by calisthenics). The Shaggs would play a song over and over and over again, until Austin deemed it perfect (or as close to the level of perfection an untrained group could reach). As Dot later explained in Songs in the Key of Z, “He directed. We obeyed. Or did our best.” Wanting to get the girls while their sound was “hot,” in 1969 after about five years of practice, Austin dragged the Shaggs to Fleetwood studio in Revere, Massachusetts, to record their first album, Philosophy of the World.
“Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you’d still have a limited number of options,” Half Japanese’s David Fair writes in his brief manifesto “How to Play Guitar.” “If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.” Even though they barely learned any chords, it seems safe to say that even after countless hours of practice the Shaggs never mastered their instruments. But the essence of *Philosophy of the World *lies within Fair’s words: that technical limitations can equal musical freedom."
- Quinn Moreland, Pitchfork
'Who Are Parents?' - The Shaggs
