Hippies vs. Punks: The Holy Modal Rounders' Indian War Whoop

Bathing in the afterglow of seeing a dear old girlfriend last night, staying out until after midnight and imbibing alcohol for the first time in years, I have been continuing my exploration of the ESP-Disk catalog by listening repeatedly this morning to The Holy Modal Rounders' Indian War Whoop (1967). This is the only recording that the Rounders did for ESP, if one discounts the reissue of Live in 1965 (2003).

Improvisational and pyschedelic -- the year was 1967 after all -- fiddle player and band co-founder Peter Stampfel has been quoted saying that no acid was dropped while recording Indian War Whoop. Marijuana and speed were the substances that fueled the album; that, and playwright Sam Shepard's two-fisted drumming.

Hippies vs. Punks: Pearls Before Swine's One Nation Underground

This morning will continue a pattern started with the last Hippies vs. Punks post (on Contact High with the Godz) -- a quick hitter on an important Hippie-era recording that I am exploring thanks to having recently read Lester Bangs' essay, "Do the Godz Speak Esperanto?"

I've listened to One Nation Underground (1967), Pearls Before Swine's debut on ESP-Disk, several mornings this week and I've got to say it has been a real treat. I seem to have found myself in almost a constant state of stress for the last month and partly thanks to listening to One Nation Underground I found that the state has almost entirely disappeared.

To me the record evokes an After Bathing at Baxter's (1967) psychedelia coupled with a flower Punk street corner Hippie rendition of Dylan's super-historical "gone electric" offerings: Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966).

One Nation Underground was recorded right before the Summer of Love and released three months before the Tet Offensive drove a stake through the heart of LBJ's Great Society. You would be hard pressed to find a better vehicle to transport you back to a time when the masses were cohering into Hippiedom. One Nation Underground is an amazing aural document, necessary listening, I think, for any serious student or dialectician who wants to understand how we ended up in our current predicament.

Hippies vs. Punks: Contact High with the Godz

With my current situation -- increased pressures at work, reduced stamina because of ever-eroding physical conditioning -- it is becoming apparent to me that I will never be in a position to post Hippies vs. Punks unless I cut it short.

So here goes. The Godz first album, Contact High with the Godz (1966), is worth checking out. I'm reading Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, and he's got an essay in there devoted to the eccentric label, ESP-Disk. One of the bands ESP featured was the Godz.

Yesterday, wiped out and in bed with Scott Jurek's Eat & Run, I listened to Contact High with the Godz repeatedly. It is available on YouTube.

It is a folk music send-up by a bunch of music store clerks who can barely play their instruments; yet it nonetheless taps into a hoodoo vibe that is real and replenishing. Check it out.