The Freak Scene - Psychedelic Psoul (1967 us, sensational experimental psych rock)

The story of pop music in the 1960s is littered with “bands” that were never truly bands, but were, rather, the creation of record companies and record producers anxious to cash in on prevailing trends. This, too, is the story of The Freak Scene.

The Freak Scene was the creation of Rusty Evans, an ostensible folksinger who’d gotten his start recording rockabilly for Brunswick Records. The Kasentez-Katz of psych-pop, Evans was responsible for several albums by “bands” that were, in actuality, Evans and a group of studio musicians.  The Freak Scene was the second of Evans’ psych-pop groups, following on the heels of The Deep, and featuring many of the same musicians who’d played on the The Deep’s sole album.

Like The Deep, The Freak Scene was credited with one album before Evans lost interest. Psychedelic Psoul, the lone contribution by The Freak Scene, is a fascinating late-60s curio, made up of songs interspersed with spoken word vignettes that address all the hot-button issues of the time – the Vietnam War, civil rights, the plight of hippies. The result is as much art-rock as psych-pop.

Not surprisingly, the spoken word vignettes have not aged well, but several of the songs on Psychedelic Psoul have lasting appeal. “A Million Grains of Sand,” “Rose of Smiling Faces” and “My Rainbow Life”’ bear heavily the Indian influence that dominated the music of the Summer of Love, with their mystical lyrics and swirling strings; however, “My Rainbow Life” suffers from banal lyrics that make it sound more like a soundtrack entry on an acid exploitation flick than a real song. “Behind the Mind,” “The Center of My Soul” and “Mind Bender” bear a striking resemblance to garage-psych on the level of the Electric Prunes (another pre-fab band) or the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

By far the best offering on Psychedelic Psoul is “The Subway Ride Through Inner Space,” which somehow manages to mash-up the stream-of-conscious lyrical quality of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and any of George Harrison’s sitar-heavy Beatles tracks, all on top of a loping, hypnotic rhythm.

Evans abandoned The Freak Scene after Psychedelic Psoul. Evans worked in A&R for a time, establishing Eastern Productions, which signed both Third Bardo and The Facts of Life, and producing the Nervous Breakdown for Take Six.

Although The Freak Scene was short-lived, Evans wasn’t quite finished with the band’s output; when he re-emerged as a recording artist in 1969 under his given name, Marcus, he recycled “A Million Grains of Sand” as “Grains of Sand,” slowing the tempo, simplifying the instrumentation, and generally going for a more seductive vibe.

by Jeanna (The Rising Storm)

Tracks

1. A Million Grains Of Sand (Rusty Evans) - 2:36

2. "...When In The Course Of Human Events" (Draft Beer, Not Students) / Interpolation: We Shall Overcome (Rusty Evans, David Bromberg, David Rubinson) / (Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan, Pete Seeger, Zilphia Horton) - 3:33

3. Rose Of Smiling Faces (Rusty Evans) - 4:14

4. Behind The Mind (Arthur Geller, Rusty Evans) - 2:20

5. The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space (Rusty Evans) - 2:41

6. Butterfly Dream (David Richard Blackhurst, Lenny Pogan, Rusty Evans) - 1:37

7. My Rainbow Life (Rusty Evans, Teddy Randazzo, Victoria Pike) - 2:51

8  The Center Of My Soul (Rusty Evans) - 2:25

9. Watered Down Soul (David Richard Blackhurst, Rusty Evans) - 2:36

10.Red Roses Will Weep (David Richard Blackhurst, Rusty Evans) - 2:18

11.Mind Bender (David Richard Blackhurst, Rusty Evans) - 2:26

12.Grok! (Rusty Evans) - 1:37

*Rusty Evans - Vocals, Arrangements

Related Acts
1966  The Deep - Psychedelic Moods
1967-70  Marcus - Marcus Original LP And Outtakes

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