Head Trips
With what’s going today I figure it’s a good time to do a mind altering exploration of some deep head music.
Without giving anything private away, when I was younger I could sometimes be found in my room, under some influence, listening to some of these songs.
Some I have mentioned before and some randomly popped up on my IPhone. Songs that were written by some folks who were on a head trip of their own.
I don’t need to go into much detail about one of the greatest rock albums ever produced but I would be remiss if I didn’t include Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd. As we all know, this album was best listened to in a dark room with a lava lamp aglow and a pair of Koss Stereophonic headphones on.
While I am not a person of mystical beliefs, I think some artists really make it sound appealing. The first two artists have a sort of similar sound and if you listen intently you definately can be transported to another place and time.
Loreena McKennitt’s “Night Ride Across The Caucusus” is one song that is different and a little mystical. She’s a Canadian singer songwriter with a beautiful haunting voice. You listen to any of her music and you will feel like this woman is connected to some past time and place.
Enya is way more mainstream but if you sit back and listen to “Orinoco Flow” you will feel like you are in some paradise. Its beautiful and simple.
Switching gears a little, Billy Thorpe’s “Children of the Sun” is spacy. It is out there for sure and it’s a favorite head trip song of mine.
I don’t care what anyone says but Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is still a great head trip song. 17 minutes of drumbeats and guitar solos. I still can sit and listen to this song even though I have heard it a million times.
The Chamber’s Brothers” “Time Has Come Today” is another song that I can listen to endlessly. Don’t bother listening to the truncated version, it sucks.
In the same vein, Nillson’s “Jump into the Fire” is awesome. The starting bass line leads right into it and it doesn’t slow down. Not for the mellow minded.
The band everyone loves to hate, Black Sabbath, produced several great head songs. “Hand of Doom”, “War Pigs/Lukes Wall”, “Planet Caravan” are just a few and that was from Paranoid. Look deeper into their catalog and there are several other Head Trip gems.
An oddity for sure but Rick Wakeman’s Journey to the Center of The Earth is a rock opera but it’s not. It’s basically a retelling of the Jules Verne classic. Rick Wakeman (Former Yes) put this together and it can only be listened to in it’s entirety from start to finish, no shuffling on this album. The production, the story and the overall concept was completely lost over time but I suggest you listen with headphones and you will think you are traveling to the center of the Earth.
You want a short hit? Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs” will do it. It’s five minutes and you are into it, from the start. I saw the band do this song and it was 17 minutes of Robin Trower wailing on guitar. Yes, it was a Head Trip!
I am including an album that I rarely listened to back then or now, mainly because it was just too deep for me, then and now. Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is an acquired taste for sure. I think you take it for a test drive and see what you think.
If you are feeling into a little picking and are by the fire relaxing, try Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble’s “Riviera Paradise. SVR I have decided is probably the greatest guitarist who has ever picked up a six string. He could make that guitar talk or he could blow the doors off of your Ford F150.
It wouldn’t be a list if I didn’t throw a couple of 90’s songs now would it?
First one is The Stone Roses’ “Fools Gold. Only go for the full album version. This song is funky in a white boy way. The groove is so catchy I can’t stop listening to it.
The other song from around that time is Can’s “Halleluwah”. 18 minutes of Kraut rock. These guys were trailblazers in their time. Their shows were never the same. The songs always had different arrangements and they worked every song like it was their last. This song makes zero sense. I think he is singing in English but I can’t understand what it’s about. This song travels. You will know exactly what I mean when you listen to it all the way through.
Please do not shoot me because I did not include the Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers or any other great Jam band. If I am on a “Head Trip” I do not want to listen to “Melissa” or “Statesborough Blues” for the millionth time. Nor do I ascribe to the Dead psychedelic ethos. I love their music but I just can’t see dropping acid and spinning around listening to “Bertha” or “Sugar Magnolia”. I am fussy like that.