Traditionally, music has been a male-dominated business, and psychedelic music is no exception. When people think of psychedelic music, images of Hendrix playing a mind-melting guitar solo or a group of dudes endlessly noodling with their heads to the ground, spring forth more rapidly than the images of a hippie chick belting it out (she could be dancing, maybe holding a tambourine).
That’s a shame, because the female voice can add such a rich and ethereal sound to a psychedelic backdrop. Seductive and haunting one moment, and exotic and heartfelt the next, the female voice at times seems better at dealing with the eggshell emotions of acid rock than their male counterparts. Moody, introspective and whimsical lyrics can also seem quite daft coming from a man (unless their name is Syd Barrett), but can seem more sincere through the pipes of a woman.
Some people remember Janis Joplin and Grace Slick as leading female exponents of the psychedelic era. On the surface, they’d be right. But I’ve always considered Janis to be more of a blues singer, and Grace to be cooler with the Great Society than the Jefferson Airplane. If I included them in this article, I’d have to include Mama Cass also, and I can’t see things turning out that well if I did that. So for the sake of shedding some light on some lesser known faces, these ladies have been given the boot.
The mysterious Californian Linda Perhac’s lone album, “Parallelograms”, practically defines the genre of femme psych. The head spinning arrangements, heavenly out of this world vocal and trippy embellishment make this one a total package. Bands such as Sonic Youth, Opeth and Animal Collective all site her as a huge influence. She is basically the reason for the rediscovery of the femme psych genre. Equal parts fragile and weird, a must hear.
Born in New Zealand, Gale Garnett began her career with a seemingly innocent folk-y start. Once 1967 hit however, Gale went full blown hippie goddess with her band the Gentle Reign. Her song “Breaking Through” is one of the pinnacles of the “West Coast Sound” that so many bands were hyped as, but few actually lived up to. Its good sitar/guitar interplay mixed with a folk-ish middle-eastern acid vibe, all topped off with Gale’s majestic voice and lyrics.
History seemed to have forgotten about the Poppy Family, maybe because they were Canadian? That’s a shame, because singer Susan Jacks was the real deal. She could handle pop, country and rock equally, but my heart is closest to her psychedelic songs like “Shadows on the Wall” and “There’s No Blood in Bone” – two excellent semi-downer trips that deserve to be rediscovered. You can’t go wrong with the song “Beyond the Clouds” either.
Once Nico left the Velvet Underground, she found some psychedelic solace in her second album “The Marble Index”. The entire album has a nice claustrophobic, freak appeal with superb arrangements by John Cale and some of Nico’s best songs in my opinion. “The Lawns of Dawn” is a particularly good illustration of this. The sound you get is what fairies hear when they’ve been sprinkled with too much pixie dust.
People only seem to remember Zephyr as the band that Tommy Bolin was in, and completely overlook the unhinged female singer that was Candy Givens. While Candy may have a case of the crazy eyes (check out the back cover of Sunset Ride!), she has the vocal delivery that could make you laugh, cry, long for and let go all at the same time. Check out “Chasing Clouds” and for that matter, all of Sunset Ride.
While still grossly underappreciated, many female psychedelic artists are finally getting the respect and credit they deserve. Modern artist Hope Sandoval, Saint Etienne, Broadcast and Beach House all owe a debt to their female predecessors. They continue to garner new fans from all over the world and the influence of their songs lives on.
TXT: Shane Georges