Psychedelic Essentials

The 21st century has seen plenty of musicians griping that they can’t make a living from playing music, but this isn't a new complaint. Back in 1967, The Pretty Things weren’t charting, and their band purse was dwindling. So under the pseudonym Electric Banana, the band recorded psychedelic songs for the De Wolfe Music Library: a collection of stock music used for horror and soft porn flicks such as 1969’s What’s Good for the Goose. But like a lot of the era's rock music, the songs on Psychedelic Essentials have aged amazingly well, starting with the opening “Alexander.” It sounds like top-shelf garage rock, replete with deep fuzz-tone guitar leads and a swirling organ. Although the following “If I Needed Somebody” has a similar title to The Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone,” the two songs sound very different; this one's trimmed with a horn section and folk-rock vocal harmonies. You can almost envision a pulsing liquid-light projection and go-go girls dancing weirdly to the lysergic “Eagle’s Son.” “I See You” would later appear on SF Sorrow.