Customer Reviews

Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Top music critic Jim DeRogatis does an outstanding job with a very difficult topic. As the manager of the Psychedelic 100 website I can attest to the fact that trying to identify what exactly makes a piece of music 'psychedelic' is not always an easy thing. But DeRogatis does not claim to write definitively -- he simply states a very well-informed point of view that is as open-ended and subject to healthy debate as the music about which he writes.

The "Ultimate Psychedelic Rock Library" appendix is a handy reference to the 189 albums DeRogatis considers to be the cream of the crop. Those with an eye on the Amazon stars should note that most negative reviews listed here focus on the fact that the book is simply an update of an earlier edition published under another title. In short, if you have Kaleidoscope Eyes you probably don't need this unless you are a rabid completist. With that in mind, this book certainly deserves much better than the three stars it was averaging at the time of writing this review.

Jim DeRogatis presents to the public his exhaustively researched book on the roots of psychedelic rock, and his ensuing opinions and considerations on the most influential psychedelic records of all time. The book's title takes it's moniker from the omnipresent catch-phrase, setting the tone for a drug-induced rollercoaster of musicians centering around The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones. "Turn On Your Mind" focuses on Psychedelia's inception the 60's, and shows the bridges and seeping transitions into the Indy rock, Emo, and the roots of the Rave scene. Despite spending time covering the British influence and the inner workings of many smaller bands, the tome is effectively a 600-page CD review laden with top ten "most psychedelic" lists. DeRogatis kaleidoscopically jumps from artist to artist doing a thorough job of following up on all of his tangents; explaining why everything happened, who dropped who's acid, and what band both Lemmy of Mötörhead and Sci-Fi writer Michael Moorcock both fronted. DeRogatis is a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, and is also is the author of the meticulously researched and Romilar-laden "Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Journalist."

This is a must read for all interested in psychedelic rock. It is a solid book for reference and is a very interesting read, with Deragotis' style easy to digest. He does shy away from the Grateful Deads and Jimi Hendrixs in favor of the 13th floor Elevators and the Flaming Lips, which is a good thing. This is, by no means, defintive, but how could a book about a genre so hell-bent on origionality and obscurity be definitive? It is still a very solid pick-up for beginners to the genre.

I didn't realize this is just a slightly updated version of Kaleidoscope Eyes,which Derogatis published,and I purchased,in 1996.The book itself is great,but I wouldn't have bought it a second time if i'd known it had been the same book that was simply re-titled.

This is a nice reference work, with lots of useful information collected in one place. But don't make the mistake of thinking that, just because it's 600 pages, it's definitive. For instance, the Residents don't even rate a mention. Not one word. Nor do the Cramps, even though shameless Cramps imitators the Von Bondies rate a line. Camper Van Beethoven are mentioned once, but only in the context that they were David Lowery of Cracker's previous band. Cracker? CVB's third album is one of the all-time greatest psych albums of all time, even if only for the insane cover of "Interstellar Overdrive" featuring Eugene Chadbourne (who also doesn't rate a mention, though he has done at least two double albums with the letters LSD in the title.) And REM is only mentioned in passing, as a "one-hit wonder." What could be trippier than _Murmur_? I bought the previous version of this book when it came out, and was hoping that some of the glaring ommission had been rectified in this expanded edition, but no. There are some factual errors and ommissions, too. You'd think that DeRogatis would have had time to fact-check a little more. And, though I pretty much agree with his negative assessment of Grateful Dead (and their fans,) two chapters devoted to how much he dislikes them is a little much.

By blurring psychedelic with the avant/garde and progressive, DeRogatis loses the focus needed to look through the kaleidoscope.
Perhaps a furthur printing/revision should be under yet another new title. Like, "Just Plain Weird Music."
A bit of advice can be heeded from Flaming Lips' booking agent/manager/metor/brains, Michele....
~It's hypocritical/impossible to sing/write about the drug experience (esp. psychedelics) if one doesn't actually do them.~
There does seem to be some phoniness behind the reactionary, knee-jerk historical revisionism riddling the book.
Like an au currant indie-rock hipster faking disinterest in the rock stars of the 60's, DeRogatis doth protest too much.
Uptight, ya' know..maaaaaan?

thorough, solid, entertaining and long over due analysis that takes us into and beyond the dark side of the moon.