Thursday, August 18, 2005

Riders of the Mark: The Electronic Insides And Metal Complexion That Make Up Herr Doktor Krieg/Gotta Find Somebody (20th Century Fox 45-6694)

WHEW! How's that for the title of an A-side? Well, if you guessed that it's hard and crazy psych, you are correct! But you also get a tasty garage punker on the flip, so you get the best of both worlds here.

But first, let's get to the crazy psych. "The Electronic Insides, etc." opens up with the thud of a bass followed by lots of wild keyboards and electronic effects and a fast drumbeat A heavy layer of fuzz guitar is then plopped over the whole mess as the singer sings some kind of science fiction tale or something. I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy letting my head soak in the morass of whacked-out psychedelic heaviness, which may just be your reaction, too. (You can hear this song on the "Beyond the Calico Wall" compilation.)

And now, let's get to the garage punker. The drummer kicks it off and the farfisa and guitar take over with the singer going through the motions of finding a chick to be his. You know the drill. Before it's all over, there's a really cool guitar break with a touch of fuzz. Don't know if this has been comped, but it oughta be.

As far as I know, this is The Riders of the Mark's only 45 and it came out in 1967. But you get two perfectly good winners with this one, so that ought to make you feel a little better about draining your beer money away again.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think they're from Tucson.
I think this is one of the few DMT-rock garage (subgenre of acid rock); the DMT-laden sonoran desert toad and Tucson are synonymous and this is SCI-FI psychedelia which is DMT to the core.
May be my favorite single EVER.

Anonymous said...

"His metal mind remembers war/his metal hand is on the door"
Does anyone know more about this
John Hill or Don Cochrane?

Anonymous said...

This group had members from southern New Jersey and also Pennsylvania.
No connection to anything Tucson or Arizona related

MopTopMike

Anonymous said...

Thanks, moptop.
I was trying to figure out if there was a DMT connection..the hallucinogenic science-fiction microgenre is rare indeed.
obviously a one-off I heard some other tune these two did, something about onions it was...
yeesh.

Anonymous said...

You mean "Got to Find Somebody", the B-side... different kettle of fish, it's an uptempo garage R&B... pretty tidy tho. Agreed, Nondor, "Krieg" is one of the best...

Jonny Sawade

Anonymous said...

Nope, NOT the B-side, it was something recent and regrettable.
Ne'ermind, focus on the KRIEG.