Walking through the psychedelic colored rowhouses and gardens of Charles Village in the spring and seeing butterflies drift by puts me in the mood for these spring songs...
Beautiful Butterfly - Baldwin
"Let me be your happy butterfly after which the children run..." This wonderful song was discovered on the highly recommend Piccadilly Sunshine compilation.
Butterfly Baby - Bobby Rydell
"Butterfly baby.... don't fly around..." Fun fifties teen pop about a social butterfly girlfriend who gets around!
Butterfly - The Hollies
"We met on the shore of a lemonade lake...Butterfly, flutter by, butterfly by..." A slower paced song by the hitmakers known as the Hollies!
Butterfly of Love - Bob Lind
"I chased the bright elusive butterfly of love..." 60s singer Lind sings of longing for love.
Butterfly - Fox
"Butterfly, yeah....show your glory like a peacock..." Discovered this gem on the Psyched Out radio program by Charlie Stinchcomb.
Went to the record bazaar at Peabody Heights Brewery for my birthday today. The once a month event promised a selection of the finest vinyl, CDs, tapes, 8-tracks and more!
The first thing I found was the follow-up comp of Frat Rock, a record I discovered through the library featuring all 60s party songs. The second one the series, Son of Frat Rock was the ultimate discovery.."How much?" I asked the vendor. He looked at it quizzically and said "How the hell did I end up with that? One dollar..." Maybe we can use it as a peace offering to the noisy neighbors at Gilman House?
Browsed a few more stalls and nabbed The Turtles, Manfred Mann, The Who, and The Lovin' Spoonful. I wasn't sure if I wanted that one at first, and hemmed and hawed over buying it...did you ever have to make up your mind?
Attempting to look slightly seventies in my new shirt...
I wasn't totally digging on the selection so I decided to go around the corner to Normal's Books and Records where I ran into the gang- Chris Stadler, a periodicals person who was dropping off magazines and Tom Warner with his wife Amy! Twas there I found two rare comps: Bubblegum Hits Volume 2 and Mod Meeting 4!
The quest to source psychedelic pop music from 1960s Britain continues as I exhausted the Good As Gold Artefacts of the Apple Era compilation last month and wondered, what to listen to next? Then I discovered the 20 disc set Piccadilly Sunshine: British Pop Psych and Other Flavors, featuring fun songs with less of a freakbeat/garage sound than similar comps. I spent all day working through the first three discs, I'll be working my way through this most of the month of March! Below is a small sampling of the series...
I Could Make It There With You - March Hare
Ex members of band The Koobas reunite to record this 1969 single!
Two Sugars - Matthew Bones
Another one for the high tea playlist, along with Peter and Gordon's Sunday for Tea and Blossom Toes Late For Tea, this sweet single is where it's at!
Flower Power - Mud
Future glam rockers captured the mood of the flower child scene of the late 60s in this song!
Last snowy Saturday of the season and the end to the first month of the new year, and so far 2022 is psychedelic too! Getting the wild weekend started on Saturday morning by sleeping in exactly one hour!
Tuned into 90.5 WKHS The Coach while walking to Normals to pick up the latest issue of Ugly Things and saw Chris Stadler sweeping snow outside with James, the employee of the shop.
Oh this day in rock n roll, Jon Swift of the infamous San Francisco band The Icky Boyfriends was born now, everyone go wish him an icky birthday!
It's a beautiful blueberry morning here in Baltimore as I finish up breakfast and walk to work listening to the new psychedelic CDs my friends gave me. Here's a berry good playlist to start your day...
Blueberry Pie - Chameleon Church
"Picking faces for pies, the berries will be blue this time..." Chameleon Church is a slightly spookadelic, relatively unknown band from Boston featuring a then-undiscovered Chevy Chase on vocals and organ!
Blueberries for Breakfast - The Mamas & The Papas
"Blueberries for breakfast, love in the afternoon..." What a wonderful way to wake up! This single from 1971 sure is fun...
Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino
You know you're over the hill when your thrill was on a hill! The classic song everyone knows and loves...
And now the psilocybin priestess of the village must head to work wearing this totally trippy paisley dress that makes me feel like the grooviest girl in the world!
Second snowstorm of the season coming at ya this wild weekend! Nothing to do but stay inside and cuddle with cool cats. And make playlists of course. Here's one perfect for a cold winter's day, featuring all 60's and 70's psychedelic rock and folk. Thank you to the two Toms who shared suggestions for songs. Time to party like it's Snowpocalypse 2015 in Baltimore!
Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon and Garfunkel
"Look around, leaves are brown, there's a patch of snow on the ground" So the song's more folk than psych. However, it's a 60's classic that we all know and love, so it had to be included as the opener.
House of Glass - Glass Family
"Come inside, on a winter's day" This trippy track opens up with an invitation into the House of Glass, where "Love can be seen, and it's such a gas!" A good counterpart to this song Throw Stones by the Stratfords.
It's Now Winter's Day - Tommy Roe
"With fireplaces burning, and records that keep turning..." Bubblegum pop singer Tommy Roe slows things down with this song about the quiet peace of a winter's day.
Winter Song - The Lemon Dips
Not the Lemon Pipers (love that band!), the Lemon Dips delivering psychedelic proto-punk blues freakbeat sounds "Oh it's not safe to roam, so you better stay at home, now that winter is everywhere..."
Let the Cold Winds Blow - The Turtles
"Well let the cold winds blow, and let the chill freeze hell..." Fun fast psychedelic pop rock about the apocalypse from the Turtles. "Let the cold winds blow, across the human race" Everyone knows it's windy!
Winter Slutch - Ellison
"Winter morning, the bus is crowded, winter slutch, the snow is melting..." Sounds like my work commute on the Slopkins shuttle tomorrow morning. That 70's song on the playlist from hard-rockers Ellison (name inspired by the sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison?) with maddening effects.
Wintersong - Lindisfarne
"When winter's shadowy fingers first pursue you down the street, and your boots no longer lie about the cold around your feet, do you spare a thought for summer whose passage is complete?" UK band Lindisfarne is perfect for reflecting on the memories of yesterday and know that spring will come again...
Tales of Brave Ulysses - Cream
"You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever..."
A Glade Somewhere - Forest
Come the winter, she is gone, I wish I'd never met her. When will I forget her?" Favorite folk band Forest on their album Full Circle sing this sad story of a lost love and the pain that winter brings.
Do you remember rock & roll radio? My new boyfriend Tom Brown has a portable radio with a big antenna! So I started thinking, I've got to tune into the local stations more often. My record player has a built-in radio, but it doesn't pick up anything good. I need to get a cute vintage green portable radio soon. So I have to livestream some stations from the internet sometimes. Mostly music, nobody likes WYPR. Here's what I've been getting into...
A high school radio station?! Haha, I bet they like the song Rock & Roll High School. Tune in tuesday nights at 8:00 for Psyched Out serving psychedelic specialties. Then Saturday morning at 9:00 for The Coach, who will school you in prog-rock and heavy hitting sounds of the 70's! Then, tune in at 3:00 pm for the rebroadcast of the Philly radio.
Takoma Park radio does a show Sunday mornings at 9:00 Forbidden Alliance with Weasel and Robbie White playing old Marble Bar punk bands. Also check out the contemporary psychedelic showcase that starts at 4:00 "21st Pscentury Psych" with hipster supreme host Brian Horrorwitz!
Towson college radio blasting basic "alternative rock" which recently sold out to WYPR sometimes has good music if you like to stay in the loop with what's new. Saturday nights the dirty soul party starts at 9:00. If you really want to let loose, do as my 70 year old coworker does and smoke just one joint while listening to Weasel's Wild Weekend. Detour comes on Sundays at 5:00 pm to 7:00 an interesting show playing folk and world music by Paul Hartman.
90.1 WMFU
Check out Rupert from Normals Records and Books favorite station live for on New Jersey!
Bonus: SOMA.FM a commercial-free underground/alternative station broadcasting worldwide. Good programs include "Left Coast 70's", "Seven Inch Soul", ""Secret Agent" and "Underground 80's"
