1967: THE FIRST THREE SINGLES

These are a few of my favorite things. We are no longer looking at stuff that's mostly from the mold of "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", in case if you were curious about the band's musical direction at the time. We are now looking at somewhat more normal material here. The band is really sticking it to the structured psych-pop-rock, as opposed to those odd-ball, very British ditties (although there is one exception here) and lengthy instrumental freak-outs they used to do. If you can't get enough of catchy psychedelia, come and get it.

'Arnold Layne' is more notable for its originality rather than musical value. It's a story of a very weird person with a very weird attitude towards maternal underwear. I'm not going to write it in detail for you. 'Candy and a Currant Bun' is a one delicious song, something in the vein of 'Apples and Oranges', for which I had previously written some text in another review. Oh, no, it's not as trippy and frightening as 'Vegetable Man'. Oh, yes, I do like tasting ice-cream in the afternoon. Plus, I think that that heavy middle-eight in the song sounds cooler than any track on Serge Gainsbourg's widely acknowledged French pop-rock classic "Histoire de Melody Nelson".

'See Emily Play' is a one nocturnal and spectral song. In terms of quality I personally do not find it any different from the other tracks on here. It's got a fast piano lick, out-there lyrics (purportedly about LSD experience), and a very fast clip in the middle, which means a faster "guitar solo" on it. All of these things bring the song a humorous edge. Are you up for humor? As for 'Scarecrow', I eventually gave it a four, although one day I gave it a five because it really worked on me when I was drowsy. It's funny, but true. Also, I'm not much of a lyrical guy, but I was really amazed with the concept of the lyrics. It's a story about a Scarecrow who is, ahem, black and green, he is sadder than you and me, his head doesn't think, and the mice pick all the meat out of him. It's not like I'm on drugs or anything, but I feel very sad for him, even though he doesn't mind all the trouble. This is probably a song about humanity or, again, LSD experience.

As for the third single, please refer to the review I have already typed up yesterday (as of the time of this writing) so that I wouldn't have to repeat myself.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Arnold Layne' - **

2. 'Candy and a Currant Bun' - ****

3. 'See Emily Play' - ****

4. 'Scarecrow' - ****

5. 'Apples and Oranges' - ****

6. 'Paintbox' - *****

Stamp: "I like it."