Cosmic Scousers
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COSMIC SCOUSERS Why is Liverpool’s Psychedelia scene so important? A History of Liverpool’s Psychedelia connection through sound and design. Ilid Llwyd Williams INDEX INTRO SIDE 1 The Moody Psychos: Neo-Psychedelia emergence in Liverpool 1970s Echo and the Bunnymen Teardrop Explodes The Icicle Works The Lotus Eaters The Wild Swans Modern Eon Krautrock Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark SIDE 2 Ecstacy and Agony: Unemployment & escapism through drugs and music Acid House Scalydelica The Boo Radleys The Lightning Seeds Dr. Phibes and The House of Wax Equations Shack The Living Brain Rain SIDE 3 New century, new sound? Cosmic Scousers of the 21st Century Tramp Attack The Stands The Zutons The Coral Clinic Mugstar Venue influence SIDE 4 The Future Sounds of Liverpool: Psychedelia blown wide open Forest Swords Stealing Sheep Sankova Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia OUTRO References Image reference Bibliography In the 1950s, Rock and Roll was exciting teenagers across INTRO the pond before arriving in England, taking the form of Skif- fle music on British shores in its early stages, and Mersey- Liverpool is declared the world capital of Pop music – more side embraced the electric guitar as a symbol of youth and number 1’s come from the city per head than anywhere else creativity. in the world, and yet for all its hits and hooks it has a strong affinity with the weird, expressive, more culturally challeng- “We hadn’t realised it, but there were millions of groups ing musicians. For the music fans and musically educated in Liverpool. (…) There were the Skiffle groups, the Roy Liverpool is far more than a city of Cilla Blacks and The Orbison sort of groups, The Shadows groups. (…) [and] Beatles, it’s an undervalued part of British music history - a it gradually developed into the Liverpool scene and city with a natural sound of melody drenched by the influence became a very rich thing.” – Sir Paul McCartney (Du of psychobilin drugs euphoria of the early 1960s and the Noyer, 2007) exotic sounds that arrive at its docks, thus bringing the city the first to get its hands on the latest musical phenomena’s Liverpool’s dominance of the charts from a genre rooted from across the water. Since its early incarnations during the in a single county in England is now a fascinating fact 1960s, psychedelia has evolved into a multi-genre influence overlooked by later achievements from The Beatles’ suc- that ranges from lyrical content, music, instrumentation, vocal cess worldwide and the 1967 national LSD peak and the 1 2 & instrumentation effects, and time signatures. It has spawned Summer of Love. As Michael Murphy and Deryn Rees-ones unlikely genres (psychedelic Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Shoegaze) explain in Writing Liverpool: Essays and Analysis (2007) the and influenced early incarnations of Electronic music world- Aside from Sgt Pepper and The Beatles, a few noteworthy bands and Figure 2 is an album by Cilla Black, one of Liverpool’s most famous Pop psychedelic sound found almost no resonance in the city, yet wide (Krautrock, Techno, New Wave). Psychedelia has had musicians were taking the Psychedelia scene seriously - whether it was exports. Here she poses with a typical 1960s fashion like any other 60s The Beatles were seen as the figureheads of counter-culture intentionally or for marketing purposes. The Amazing Adventures of The Pop album, yet even the marketing team behind Cilla can’t resist the lure a profound influence on the progression of Liverpool’s music in Britain along with The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, Liverpool Scene (fig 1) were one of the city’s popular acts during the of the Psychedelia phenomena with the very out of place typography use scene - from the dark and bleak sound of Post-Punk in the spearheading Rock’s bright new direction in psychedelic Psychedelia boom of the late 1960s. Here we have one of their album and colourful dress fashion. Album Cover Photograph by Francis Loney late 1970s to the Acid House 1980s and the 1960s revival covers that’s very reminiscent of The Door’s album Strange Days in terms (Cilla Black, 2013) music. However Liverpool’s affinity for psychedelia music sound of the new century and beyond; there is a continu- of colour tint and the use of the general public. The typography used dur- wasn’t all about The Beatles; in the same year that Sgt Pep- ing love affair with psychedelia culture in Liverpool; through ing the era is now considered iconic with the Hippy movement. per’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came out, The 23rd Turnoff music, festival, art, or as a way of life. Psychedelia is in the released their overshadowed record Michael Angelo, Liver- DNA of the city. pool Scene and the band Focal Point were also involved in Whether it is through Rock or Electronic means, great psyche- the psychedelic sound of the city. However it was the Beatles delia as described by DeRogatis (2008 p.13) “transports who broke ground in sleeve design throughout the industry. the listener someplace that exists only in the space between For every bubbly typeface, bright colours and vibrant sleeve the headphones.” Echo and The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant design, nothing compared to Sgt Pepper’s scope as a piece agrees (Liverpool Echo, 2012): of design – it transformed the vinyl into more than just an album, it was an object that was meant to be cherished and “It’s anything that will take your mind somewhere else. If enjoyed. you can sit there and just put on the music and drift off, and it spins your mind backwards. That’s psych.” In my dissertation I intend to explore how Liverpool has maintained its psychedelic attachment in various sub-forms, Liverpool imagines and portrays itself as a creative city; sounds, and how it has evolved through design, music and awarded the prestigious European Capital of Culture in 2008 culture. Liverpool has a strong psychedelic influence on may have come as a surprise to some given its troubled past its musicians; whilst many up and coming musicians have decades of financial hardships and imagery of violent riots, either embraced or rejected the city’s most famous exports but those who live and breathe the city know its true potential as a benchmark of quality, there’s no doubting Liverpool’s and creative depth. Liverpool had tried and failed to reflect underlying and lasting psyche influence, always maintain- a static Beatles-related market (Brocken, 2010) but being far ing a steady stream of fantastic musicians, past, present and from a city of one-hit musical exports, its Liverpool’s musical future. Here I will look at how the music reflected onto the 3 4 identity which gives optimism to music fans. Simply put, diver- sleeve design and venue posters - showing how psychede- sity is the key - the Liverpool docks invited the world onto its lia and design has evolved throughout the decades, how shores, bringing in centuries of diverse and exciting sounds Focal Point’s compilation album sleeve design on the other hand, First venues have influenced the evolution of psychedelic sub- The 23rd Turnoff’s compilation album The Dream of Michelangelo from around the globe, mostly from the United States. sleeve design (fig 3) is more extravagant sleeve design compared to the Bite of the Apple, is designed in Psychedelic typography of the time, culture within the city, and how psychedelia could be further previous two. This is more reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix or Cream’s sleeve while the colour and majority of typefaces included on the sleeve typifies represented and emphasised in the city in the future. design - much more colourful, with the use of very extravagant typogra- a darker sound to its Pop-sound compatriot. These examples show that phy and illustration. It’s designed to draw the record buyer into listening even at its peak Psychedelia was interpreted or manipulated in many to their album, but at a time when sleeves like these are commonplace, ways in design and culture, creating new sub-cultures. it was a colourful music industry. The album was design by Phill Smee, whose other works include Love’s psychedelic self-titled masterpiece album and Something Else By The Kinks. SIDE 1 THE MOODY PSYCHOS NEO-PSYCHEDELIA EMERGENCE IN LIVERPOOL 1970s ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN Martyn Atkins was responsible for the original design After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Liverpool struggled with concept on all three of the selected albums covers I’ve a follow-up group that could replicate the quality of music chosen. The use of photography by Griffin would go on to that came out of the city. Yet a club named Eric’s and a new define the band’s covers until the 1990 album Reverbation, generation of musicians were waiting in the wings for a yet the use of isolation was never far away in their image. darker, Neo-Psychedelic sound to emerge. Ocean Rain, their most famous album and promoted as “The Greatest Album Ever”, continues this tradition of a dream-like Echo and the Bunnymen are one of the finest bands to alien world landscape that would capture the visual repre- emerge from Liverpool and were a part of the Neo-Psychede- sentation of the Bunnymen’s finest album, as Chris Adams lia wave that came out of the city in the late 1970s. Inspired describes (2002 p.143). The bleak sound of the Post-Punk by the emerging Post-Punk scene that was developing in Eng- era is evidently shining through, yet there is surrealism to the 1. Crocodiles (1980) the band’s first full-length album starts the surrealism 2.