This internet radio station is so totally far out groovy, you might feel like the Z Man himself, Ronnie Barzell, is hand picking every track. Some of these songs are fairly well known (you're going to hear a lot of Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Donovan songs that are pretty familiar to our demographic by now), but the real gold is stuff I never even knew existed. Here's a list of the songs they've played since I tuned in tonight:
Electric Flag – Synesthesia
The Orange Swirl Society – The Fourth Pipe
Jefferson Starship – Let's Go Together
The Electric Prunes – Get Me To The World On Time
Acid Talk – LSD Warning
Chris Carpenter – This World (Is Closing In On Me)
Kaleidoscope – To Know Is Not To Be
C.A. Quintet – Fortune Teller's Lie
The Scandal – Girl, You're Goin' Out'a My Mind
Blue Cheer – Peace Of Mind
Traffic – Medicated Goo
Dave Davies – Creeping Jean
The Kinks – Death Of A Clown
The Rolling Stones – Dandelion
Rocky Cabbage – Birds Must Learn To Fly
Eire Apparent – Yes, I Need Someone
H.P. Lovecraft – At The Mountains Of Madness
Donovan – Season Of The Witch
Colosseum – The Kettle
The Beatles – I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Small Faces – Red Balloon
While a couple of those songs aren't so unfamiliar; the majority are totally new to me. And while it's true that in some cases the band names are actually a lot more memorable than the music itself, a few of these songs are pretty amazing. The Electric Flag and H.P Lovecraft tracks are awesome and worth serious investigation.
And then there are the ads. I'm sure you've heard me say before that if I ever owned a radio station I'd broadcast entire segments from the past: the songs, the banter and the ads; just as it went out from 2 to 3pm on December 1st, 1954.?Isn't that a great idea?
Well, that's exactly what they do at TWoS. The ads are phenomenal, 'Have you ever been to a Psychedelic Circus?' asks a man with the kind of authoritative male radio voice you just don't hear on the airwaves these days. There are ads for Easy Rider, local concerts, Coca Cola, the new Chad and Jeremy record… the programming and selection of these vintage spots is pretty amazing.
I'm not going to say I don't love Classic Rock, I do, but there's so much amazing stuff from the psychedelic era that never made it to the Clear Channel stations that pretty much defined the rock lexicon I grew up on that this station is a God send. We were so excited when we got into Amon Duul II, it had been such a long time since we'd come across something so radical–and we only discovered it because Brittany was pouring over allmusic for hours–you're not going to hear Amon Duul II on this station, but I can guarantee that you will get turned on (get it?) to at least one new band within an hour of work day listening.
I always pretty much figured I was relatively familiar with the sounds of the '60s. I'm not; not at all–and that's awesome. Please enjoy.
But what do you think?