Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, The Beatles, among others- and Patti Smith
Yes, I count Patti Smith among the Psychedelic legends
On occasion there were psychedelic songs of such concentrated power
'Too Much to Dream' by The Electric Prunes, for example
Two artists produced track after track like that, 5, 6 or more
Where maybe outside of the work of these two artists maybe 3 or 4 other tracks in all existence reach this level of psychedelic emotional intensity
Those two artists are The Doors and Patti Smith
Patti Smith's entire Horses album reaches that level
A staggering achievement to reach a level of psychedelic emotional intensity that outside of her and The Doors's tracks only maybe 3 or 4 tracks- 4 or 5 minute songs- have ever reached-
And keep it up, or nearly keep it up, for an entire album!
Not settling into a normal groove or a repeating riff or chorus
Not settling into something more normal
But continuing to mix it up in a psychedelic trip for the whole album
On that level, or nearly that level, of intensity
One of the psychedelic legends
Along with The Doors the master of psychedelic emotional intensity, pure, white-hot intensity but a pure trip in 13 dimensions and vivid color
Janis Joplin matches the intensity but not the vivid color in 13 dimensions
Not the same but just as great
There are a hundred flavors of psychedelic
In a dozen unnamed genres
Patti Smith and The Doors are the greatest masters of one of them
As Jimi Hendrix and Cream are of another
And The Beatles another
And Janis, James Gurley and Big Brother another
Jefferson Airplane yet another
And the Grateful Dead yet another
Here's to the psychedelic legends
And here's to giving Patti Smith her rightful place among them!
God loves you!
Jesus died for somebody's sins but hers are not sins!*
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
*Listen to Patti's Gloria to see what I mean!