Psychedelic Skeletons in the Closet–Gerry and the Pacemakers
Psychedelic Skeletons in the Closet–Gerry and the Pacemakers
Each week, Serene Dominic will be taking a look at a different 60’s artist who ventured into psychedelic territory when maybe it really wasn’t their thing.
Psychedelic Skeletons In The Closet
by Serene Dominic
Everybody who made a record before 1967 has at least one bad psychedelic moment and this week we’ve superimposed Gerry and the Pacemakers over the Grateful Dead’s Anthem of The Sun album cover to prove a point—these well-tailored Liverpudlians simply weren’t paisley material, as this ridiculous pose of the Pacemakers frantically pleading to Gerry not to drag them to their deaths by the neck of his guitar doubly proves.
In 1965, while rock’s other notable Gerry–Jerry Garcia– was just starting up the Warlocks, the Pacemakers were furiously busy staying behind the times with the live Gerry In California EP. Tired oldies like “What’d I Say” and “Skinny Minnie” from the group’s Hamburg days were hardly what was needed to catapult the group into a second golden era of hitdom. Not wishing to venture one day into the Summer of Love, the Pacemakers called it quits in May of 1967. Few noticed but the group did throw down a first (and last) defiant attempt at psychedelia.
Serene Dominic
“The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”
by Gerry and the Pacemakers
(Laurie Records)
Release Date In Relation to Sgt. Pepper LP:
Five months before Sgt. Pepper
Suspicious Psychedelic Instrumentation:
No sitars, but a swell ukulele and a big ominous bell on the chorus. But we don’t need to tell you for whom the bell tolled. It tolled for Gerry, Freddie, Les and Les. Let that be a lesson to any other band with too many guys named Les!
Psychedelic Crutch Words:
“Hippies,” “pleasure machine,” “neutralize your brain,” “drag” and “productive bag.” But hey, it was written by a college grad.
Psychedelic Enabler:
Paul Simon wrote this go-go opus, utilized to great martini-swilling effect in the motion picture The Graduate.
Worst Lyrical Moment:
When Gerry bitterly acknowledges the existence of the encroaching counter-culture, which already tossed him off the charts (“Do hippies always seem to get the jump on you? Do you sleep alone when others sleep in pairs?”).
What’s It Sound Like?
Gerry was still a year behind the times in 1967, choosing to emulate the “goodtime” sound of last year’s model, the Lovin’ Spoonful. The tune also features a slightly droning vocal from the always-perfect pitched Gerry (“You’ll feel just fiiiiiine nooooooooooow!”). While drones are a hallmark of Indian music, there’s no evidence here to suggest the Pacemakers ever read The Bhagavad-Gita or indeed even glanced at a menu with too many curry dishes.
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