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"It’s impossible to identify the exact moment when British pop transformed itself into something altogether freakier. Certainly the release of The Beatles’ Revolver in August 1966 (and specifically the inclusion of tripped out Tomorrow Never Knows on the album) marked a musical shift away from post-war pop’s teen appeal into more experimental, more adult territory. The arrival of LSD in the UK the year before added further to the sense that a new, enlightened world was being shaped through art, film and music, effectively ushering the dawn of what became the psychedelic era. Unlike its American equivalent, however, British psych was more whimsical, romantic and entrenched in national identity. While Americans sought to spread their lysergic doctrine globally, the likes of Small Faces, The Move and Tomorrow developed a sense of internalised revolution, harking back to the values of Olde Albion rather than plotting a truly international course. This compilation is a reflection of several aspects of the British psychedelic scene that spawned Pink Floyd and that, after burning brightly for 18 months, transformed itself further, shedding its inhibitions, to become the globe-straddling behemoth that became progressive rock. And that, of course, is another CD altogether…"
13
Procol Harum
Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of)
Available on: A Whiter
Shade Of Pale, reissued in 2006
The first verse alone features lyrical nods to “a two-pronged
unicorn”, “a rhinestone flugelhorn”, “mermaids”, “Neptune” and “Salome”,
but Keith Reid’s oblique lyricism aside, Cerdes is an example of
psychedelia’s shift into richly progressive vistas. The track’s soulful
power further confirms Procol Harum as a band with more than one
era-defining track to their name.