a blog for those who never gave up their turntables or records
DONOVAN CAME ON FAST in 1965 with three Top 10 hits in the UK: “Catch the Wind,” “Colours,” and “The Universal Soldier.” None of these came close to duplicating that success in the US, where Donovan remained a peripheral figure on the waning folk scene. That didn’t prevent many who did know of him from labeling him a “Dylan imitator” for both his music and his adoption of working man’s clothing as his regular “look.” READ MORE
THE BEATLES AS A GROUP—as a rock & roll-based pop band—are an example of a gestalt, as the abilities and the accomplishments of the group far outstrip what could be expected of the four members knowing their individual skills and talents. This is not belittling their skills, which are many, but as their solo careers made too evident, each on his own wasn’t even close to what he had been as a Beatle. READ MORE
I CAN TRULY SAY that I knew it all—The Secret of the Universe. Once. Briefly. I can also say that this essay has little to do with record collecting, but it does touch on psychedelic music of the ’60s, so here it is (instead of on my other, eponymous blog). I wanted to provide this memory about doing acid for the first time in the Fall of 1970. READ MORE