Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

On this subject, wondering, if the Byrd's "Eight Miles High" is considered psychedelic rock or folk-rock ?

I remember it got banned air-play at many radio stations in that day, for the reference to "high" .
I saw Roger McGuinn quoted somewhere saying it was "just a folk song" but his trippy guitar solo sure sounds psychedelic to me...

Rich F.

I think I would classify "Eight Miles High" as the band's exit from folk-rock to psycadelic sounds. Seldom does a musical genre spring fully formed from the mind of Zeus, as it were.

JimK

Im loving this thread.Mitch you gonna love this....

HP Lovecraft - Mobius Trip


Walking down the street I feel like crashing
Everybody's groovy, all their eyes are flashing
Do you think that this could be the time
In the world behind the pantomime
Where everybody's really feeling fine
A thought like that would really blow my mind

In the park the air is cleaner
And the smell of grass is greener
Do you think that this could be the place
In the world, where only time's erased


It happened just like every body said
You crossed the line and never left your head

Walking down the street I feel like crashing
Everybody's groovy, all their eyes are flashing
Do you think that this could be the time
In the world behind the pantomime
Where everybody's really feeling fine
A thought like that would really blow my mind

Love it............

Wow that was trippy!I remember HP Lovecraft.They were from Chicago(I think) and their LP was on Dunwich Records.

In regard to the posts above about the Byrds here is the original vid for "Eight Miles High" You can judge if this is folkrock or psyche.Kinda looks like it was made by Paul Morrissey

8mileshigher wrote:On this subject, wondering, if the Byrd's "Eight Miles High" is considered psychedelic rock or folk-rock ?

I remember it got banned air-play at many radio stations in that day, for the reference to "high" .
I saw Roger McGuinn quoted somewhere saying it was "just a folk song" but his trippy guitar solo sure sounds psychedelic to me...

Rich F.

Wikipedia has song listed as psychedelic and I would have to agree. The Byrds never got pigeon holed when it came to different music styles... Folk Rock, Psychedelic, Raga, Country Rock, etc.. This thread is very educational because growing up I always thought The Beatles ushered in Psychedelic Rock with Sgt Peppers, but the Byrds release of 8 Miles High on March 14th,1966 was released way before Pepper and even The Beatles album Revolver. Revolver IMHO was more tinged in Acid Rock sounds than Psychedelic.

Jeff --- that alternate version of Eight Miles High you posted, is that the famous one from the end of 1965 recorded at RCA studios ?

Rich F.

Mitch! Excellent thread. Thank you!

8mileshigher wrote:Jeff --- that alternate version of Eight Miles High you posted, is that the famous one from the end of 1965 recorded at RCA studios ?

Rich F.

Hey Rich,

Yes sir the very famous one. I had heard the legend for years how Columbia made them record another version since they were peeved that The Byrds used an RCA studio. Even though The Byrds themselves prefered the RCA version, personally I like the 2nd (Columbia) version better.

'Eight Miles High' is most definitely psychedelic rock...as contrasted with 'Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In', the most frightful example of a cynical attempt to cash in on the mid-60's popularity of that particular genre, the perpetrator of which went on to embrace and be embraced by an increasingly sequinned and clueless Nashville scene. 'Coward Of The County', indeed...

"Yeah...yeah...oh-ohh yea-a-a-ahhh...

Kenny (and his band The First Edition) dropped out of the pop scene and he distanced himself from his poor attempt at Psychadelic rock fairly soon after that song eh Dane?

The "boys" in Nashville liked his stuff and it's no wonder. He was light years ahead of them at the time and he could sell records by the bucket load. Money talks.

You're right, Brian...and without Kenny, there never could have been a Garth Brooks...

Thank god for Willie...and Allison Krause...without them, Nashville would have gone up in a massive hairspray-and-polyester explosion years ago...

Excuse me, and I hope I don't come off as a pedant, but her name is properly spelled Alison (one l) Krauss (double s). And no, she's no relation of mine.

JimK

You, Jim? A pedant??? Absolutely not! And I'm no pedantophile, I can assure you...

But thanks for your timely and forthright corrections...it takes a man of real integrity to deny a relationship with Alison Krauss...

Correction noted James......... She is indeed a great artist Dane even if you can't spell her name(s) correctly........you have good taste.

I really like that band of hers, Onion Station, as well...