My Tribute to the Psychedelic Legends

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!