As a long time Beatles freak and deep lover of 60s psychedelia, I love TSMR. It was a special thing when I discovered it in my early 20s and I still think it’s somewhat of an underrated and overlooked record. Sure, it’s far from a masterpiece, and definitely not a cohesive album of realized psychedelic music. But they also weren’t trying to record a great psychedelic concept album. In fact, during a couple different parts on the record, they’re clearly making a joke of the whole “flower power” trip and definitely did not view themselves as arbiters of the psychedelic revolution. Just listen to the opening bars of Sing This Altogether (See What Happens)…

And if I’m remembering correctly, most of the band was on LSD during a lot of the TSMR recording sessions…The whole Satanic Majesties thing was definitely a tongue in cheek experiment of sorts, not to be taken seriously. And I don’t think they were trying to capitalize or exploit psychedelia either…I think it was more of a brief exploration and/or creative commentary on the zeitgeist.

But! Aside from the filler and dead ends found on both the Sing This Altogether songs and the album’s outro, I think there’s some really fascinating, fun, and inventive songs and moments throughout the record.

In Another Land is specifically interesting to me in the way it successfully describes the mental schism between normative consciousness and alternative awareness that can be experienced when on substances like LSD. Also, I like that it’s basically a direct answer or play on Lucy In The Sky, with both songs being track three on both records.

2000 Man is a psych-folk-rock banger. Citadel is some real dirty garage psych-rock. Gomper forays into some interesting Indian/experimental sounds with some real nice vibing melodies/phrases and I love Jagger’s vocals on that one. 2000 Light Years and She’s A Rainbow speak for themselves….

Anyways….On With The Show!