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The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – ‘A Door Inside Your Mind (The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968)’

One of the quirkiest, most idiosyncratic, yet original groups to come out of Los Angeles in the 1960s, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band served up a unique type of psychedelia, blending gorgeous vocal harmonies with a sound ranging from folk to heavy, guitar driven rock.

Following a privately pressed debut the band released three major label LPs on the Reprise Records. Cherry Red Records present these albums, in both stereo and mono mixes, the latter all making their CD debut here, along with a full disc of outtakes, alternative versions and single edits in a new four disc box set.

Disc one contains February 1967s ‘Part One’, the group’s second long player, the WCPAEB consisting of brothers Danny (guitar/vocals) and Shaun Harris (bass/vocals), Michael Lloyd (guitar/vocals), Ron Morgan (lead guitar), John Ware (drums) and Bob Markley (spoken words/backing vocals). The album is an even mix of originals and cover versions. The opening tune ‘Shifting Sands’, penned by Baker Knight, is a nice bit of folk psych, the band’s vocal abilities joined by a nicely restrained lead guitar line by Morgan. ‘I Want You’, a band original, is a Byrds/Bobby Fuller Four style folk rocker. The band’s debut single ‘1906’, another original, features spoken word lyrics and a nice lead guitar line. ‘Help, I’m A Rock’, a cover of Frank Zappa and the Mothers, released as the band’s second single, showcases Morgan’s feedback laden guitar work. ‘Will You Walk With Me’ with its ethereal vocals is, in reality, a cover of Bonnie Dobson’s ‘Morning Dew’ with a few lyric changes. The remainder of the LP is a fine mix of folk rockers such as ‘Transparent Day’, a jangling take on P.F. Sloan’s ‘Here’s Where You Belong’ and covers of Van Dyke Parks’ ‘High Coin’ and Bob Johnston’s ‘’Scuse Me, Miss Rose’ and heavier rockers such as Knight’s ‘If You Want This’ and band original ‘Leiya’. Despite good reviews which have grown stronger as time passes, neither single, the album or any subsequent release by the band made the Billboard charts.

Disc two comprises October 1967s ‘Vol. 2 (BreakThrough)’. The band was now a quartet with Lloyd and Ware having exited the band. Opening tune ‘In The Arena’ is a space rocker with spoken intro, swirling vocals and a hot guitar solo. The anti-Vietnam conflict ‘Suppose They Give A War And No One Comes’ has a tasty bass intro and African tribal percussion sound with Morgan’s roaring guitar driving the tune to its finish. The album has gentle numbers such as ‘Buddha’ which lends the box set its title with the lyric “and a door inside your mind that you won’t open”, the country rock number ‘Delicate Fawn’ with its Markley references to young girls, a recurrent theme in the band’s catalog, and album closer ‘Tracy Had A Hard Day Sunday’. In contrast the LP showcases the heavy side of the group on ‘Overture/WCPAEB Part |I’ with its feedback fueled intro and machine gun drumming, ‘Unfree Child’, a Morgan driven psychedelic rocker and ‘Carte Blanche’ which references credit cards, in this case for meeting ladies at hotels and more heavy guitar from Morgan, as well as the album and band’s best known tune, the Markley/Ron Morgan original ‘Smell Of Incense’ featuring melodic vocals from the Harris brothers and distorted guitar from Morgan. The LPs longest track at nearly six minutes, the rhythm section shines with the loping, heavy bass of Shaun Harris and drums courtesy of Wrecking Crew session player Hal Blaine. Issued as a single, the tune somehow failed to sell. Regardless, the song stands as the WCPAEB at its pinnacle and has continued to gain popularity over the years, finding a place on numerous compilations.

Disc three presents ‘Vol. 3: A Child’s Guide To Good & Evil’, poorly received critically and sales wise at the time, but which has come to be recognized as the band’s most ambitious work, and a classic of the psychedelic rock genre. With Danny Harris departing, the group was reduced to a trio of Shaun Harris, Ron Morgan and Bob Markley. The LP opens with the melodic, folk rockers ‘Eighteen Is Over The Hill’ and ‘In The Country’ before moving to the heavy ‘Ritual #1’ featuring Mogan’s sitar and snarling lead guitar. ‘Our Drummer Always Plays In The Nude’ is light hearted pop to which Morgan adds a tasteful solo. ‘As The World Rises And Falls’ has a Pink Floyd vibe thanks to Morgan’s trippy guitar. ‘Until The Poorest People Have Money To Spend’ is social commentary with Morgan carrying the melody and adding a killer solo. ‘Watch Yourself’ begins with heavily distorted guitar, settles into a comfortable groove, then closes with a solo by Morgan. The album’s title track begins gently before the tempo quickens as Morgan’s sitar joins Markley’s spoken word vocal. ‘Ritual #2’ serves up more sitar from Morgan. ‘A Child Of A Few Hours Is Burning To Death’ is a rocker with more shining guitar from Morgan and strange Markley lyrics “we should have called Susie and Bobby/they like to watch fires”. ‘As Kind As Summer’ is a short, just over one minute, tune dominated by guitar and drums, while ‘Anniversary Of World War III’, a Markley original consisting of 1:46 of silence, is a fitting WCPAEB way of closing the album.

Disc four is a treasure trove for fans of the band, the first fourteen tracks previously unreleased, having been intended for a Rhino Handmade historical release in the late 2000s. Two takes of the unused ‘I Feel Sorry For You’ are followed by an alternative mix of the entire ‘Vol. 3: A Child’s Guide To Good & Evil’ album with the exception of ‘Anniversary Of World War III’, while ‘Watch Yourself’ is presented in electric and acoustic versions. Next up are mono single edits of ‘Help, I’m A Rock’, ‘Smell Of Incense’ and ‘Unfree Child’, with the disc and box set closing with a previously unreleased radio promo spot for the album.

‘A Door Inside Your Mind (The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968)’ comes in a clamshell box with each disc coming in a cardboard mini-LP sleeve. The box set also includes a 40 page full-color booklet with an extensive band history by Gray Newell supplemented by rare photos and other memorabilia. The band sounds incredible thanks to the remastering job by Alec Palao. This box set will appeal to fans of psychedelic rock and 1960s rock in general and comes most highly recommended.

Kevin Rathert

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – ‘A Door Inside Your Mind (The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968)’ (Grapefruit Records, 2023)

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Many years ago I came across the compilation Transparent Day in a 2nd-hand shop. I might have to shell out for this and I can feel my wallet’s pulse racing. Worth getting for Transparent Day and Smell Of Incense. File under “Shoulda Been Huge”.

@John Woodfield. Very well put indeed. “Shoulda Been Huge”.

I love the band very much but will refrain from buying it. Whether it’s a mono or stereo version of the record is pretty uninteresting. You only play the stereo. Otherwise far too little new. Anyway thanks Kevin for the review.

It’s good and compelling to have one of the finest and most interesting groups of the time given the box set treatment. It’s about time and is one that every Rock fan should have.

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The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Los Angeles band that plays an experimental blend of heavy psychedelic, orchestral, and British Invasion-inspired rock.

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The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – A Door Inside Your Mind (The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968) (Grapefruit)

It’s almost like Christmas, the morning you open the brightly coloured parcels. Stripping them of their temporary covering, searching for what’s hidden beneath. In this case, it’s not Christmas and this 4-CD box set was not wrapped in brightly coloured wrapping paper, but as I hit play all of those emotions were reawakened from childhood memories of a Yuletide morning. But is this a Yuletide surprise, more than it is a psych parcel of Yuletide ghosts? The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band were a collaboration between a trio of well-heeled teenage musicians from the Hollywood Hills, Dan and Shaun Harris, and schoolmate Michael Lloyd, along with wealthy wannabe-hipster playboy in his mid-30s, Bob Markley. The recordings here are of the band’s second, third and fourth albums and include both the stereo and mono versions. A fourth bonus disc has been compiled, comprising an abundance of previously unissued recordings, out-takes and alternate versions.

Regarded as one of the most idiosyncratic groups to emerge during the psychedelic era, they attracted a devoted cult following thanks to their unique sound and recorded three albums for the Reprise. Their debut album released in 1966 was imaginatively titled Volume One and looking at the titles assembled here, all apart from 1968’s Volume 3: A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil and maybe Vol.2 (Breaking Through) , would suggest that music was their primary concern. In contrast to their debut album, the three albums that followed provided a psychedelic tone to their approach. It’s this work that provides greater insight into the musicians thinking at the time and echoes the title, ‘A Door Inside Your Mind’ . The track that opens the first album is ‘Shifting Sands’ and would suggest a hippie’s outlook. A chilled approach is provided, tambourine, treble led guitar and the soft patter of drums. The vocalist leads with his narration, “You know the love I gave you, is slipping from your hands.” , sung with a soft sweet resonance. Any thoughts of stress, simply slip away. (I’ll have whatever it is they had with their breakfast). The album continues by approaching the subject of the San Francisco earthquake, in the number ‘1906’ . An event that recorded a magnitude of 7.9 and is remembered as one of the deadliest in the history of the US. ‘Help I’m A Rock’ follows, which I’d consider an absurd musical folly. A sun-drenched west coast vantage seeps into the music and provides 11 tunes with an uplifting feel to their timbre.

The follow-up revelled in their success. Starting with ‘In The Arena’ , the announcer voices the crowd was restless and suggested an air of upcoming trouble. This perhaps echoed the general unease. The U.S. had been involved in the conflict in Vietnam since 1955 and it was the likes of The WCPAEB to keep the issue at the top of the agenda. Unlike their previous album, this was filled with anxiety, which was reflected none more so than in the second track ‘Suppose They Give A War And No One Comes’ . The guitars, when they were featured, had been ramped up with a distorted tone that reflected the song’s message. It was suggested that this was based on an African tribal chant, the lyricist announces “… I hate war… I have seen war on the land and the sea… I have seen blood running in the streets… Seen small children starving…” This emotive narration continues, as the band plays beneath. The chorus chimes in “Hear the marching, hear the drums/Suppose they give a war and no one comes,” repeated over and over, culminating in a child left crying. The band certainly had a statement they wished to make in 1967, one which would not be realised for a further eight years. This unease was tempered by other tracks on the album, the likes of ‘Buddha’ , and ‘Queen Nymphet’ a number with a C&W leaning, culminating in the track ‘Tracy Had A Hard Day Sunday’ and coming as a perfect conclusion. Tracy certainly had a better end to her week, although the vocalist describes it as cyclical, suggesting that we should all take the rough with the smooth.

Their third album begins with ‘Eighteen Is Over The Hill ‘ , and is a wonderful coming of age. ‘In The Country’ which in some ways reminded me of later Charlatans . The vocal had me chuckling as it told “San Francisco is dead, in LA no-one is on the street,” the pace at which this number runs is so uplifting, that the vision left by the lyrics made me smile. ‘Another Covid,’ I thought, ‘I remember that’. The image left by the track, ‘Our Drummer Always Plays In The Nude’ was amusing; a track in which the lyrics run “I like very comfortable girls/Who are straight but not quite/Who are ready for new adventures/Ready for the altogether unexpected.” I think that’s what those of us who were not around to remember; 1967 and the Summer of Love were all about. Even though this album is filled with the feeling of free love, it shows a darker side, that of the war in Vietnam and witnessing the casualties that returned. This fed into the work written by the likes provided by Neil Young , Bob Dylan , The Doors and The Grateful Dead , and of course, The WCPAEB tested this, although in not as quite a palatable manner. Songs like ‘A Child’s Guide To Good And Evil’ , and its continuing chorus, “Evil doesn’t exist anymore except for the war,” are words you won’t forget. This is songwriting whose brief musical phrasing is strong enough to carry the number with its melody. These darker undercurrents continue, the likes of ‘A Child Of A Few Hours Is Burning To Death’ and ‘Anniversary Of World War III’ , whose almost two minutes of silence illustrate what was expected.

The fourth disc titled Under Butterfly Skies features alternative takes of some of the previously featured numbers, except for ‘I Feel Sorry For You’ . This is a remarkable demonstration of just how good a recording can be, stripped back and bare of accompaniment. Provided are two versions: the first simply (take four), is better than the second (take 6 – master). Here you are given the engineers vocal “take 6”, but the musician’s breath is also heard during the playback – hardly what I would call a master. Recorded before Ralph McTell’s ‘Streets of London’ , it echoes this song, but I would have to ask, how many people remember ‘I Feel Sorry For You’ . I found my time spent with this set an enlightening one, travelling back through time and experiencing the feelings and recording practices of a band, other than those who found immense commercial success. Its spaced-out, drug-infused thoughts and feelings, are not necessarily those for a 21st-century audience. Or perhaps we are more enlightened today. This is a volume of the times and events that brought us to where we are and not necessarily one that history will repeat, but who am I kidding?

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ALBUM REVIEW: WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND – A DOOR INSIDE YOUR MIND, THE COMPLETE REPRISE RECORDINGS 1966-1968

Posted by Paula Farr on Sunday, July 16, 2023

With a lot of bands from the 60’s Californian psychedelic scene, there’s a tendency to think everyone was off their face on top notch acid, (just watch documentaries on the 60s festivals and everyone is wafting around like wildflowers in a country field), yet The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, despite probably enjoying a few trips of the non motoring kind, reflected the times and music scene in their area, and managed to produce some great tunes which, whilst not reaching the dizzy heights of say The Byrds, or Love, still managed to move seamlessly between delicate folk, heady psych rock, and plain bizarre, often in the space of a few tunes.  

The story of the WBPAEB is a weird one! The WCPAEB were three musicians who ended up in California being joined by a wealthy older wannabe pop star who the three original musicians soon tired of, and have distanced themselves from, due to him being an all round unsavoury creep who chased after teenage girls, and who also allegedly managed to rip off the other band members for publishing, although barely wrote anything for the band. Nice! The other three members though, created some of the most intriguing psych rock of that era and in the intervening years since their demise many bands have gone on to cite their music as an influence, Even to this day they divide opinion  as to whether they were genius or no better than many of the garage rock bands around at the time, but the WCPAEB’s back catalogue is still heralded by many in the psych rock community as a worthy addition to their collections.

The album ‘Part One’ opens with ‘Shifting Sands’ which floats out of the speakers lighter than a Californian coastal breeze, with psych fuelled guitar work nestling on top of harmonious vocals. There’s plenty of gorgeous harmonies and folk infused psych across the three albums and extras in this boxset, with songs like ‘Transparent Day’ and the glistening sun ripened pop of ‘Here’s Where You Belong’ with it’s comforting refrains of “yesterday’s failure is today’s success”. Possibly their biggest hit was ‘In The Country’ with its slide guitars and gentle melodies, yet as tracks like ‘Ritual 1’ prove they were also masters of psych rock with hypnotic riffs underpinning sublime melodies then there’s the likes of  ‘As The World Rises And Falls’ recalling The Beatles at their most folk psych heights. There’s also plenty of  truly bizarre tunes designed to send anyone’s mind into overdrive, such as their cover of  ‘Help I’m A Rock’ (written by Frank Zappa) yes, it really is supposed to be a rock wishing it was something else! Along with the three albums, there’s also 15 previously unreleased tracks on here, most of which are alternative mixes of album tracks and a brilliant acoustic version of ‘Watch Yourself’.

Although there were plenty of bands that emerged from the Californian psych scene in the 60s, there’s a reason some have risen to greater prominence than others. With the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, the combination of playful melodies, balanced with folk rock and sometimes heavier guitar riffs has left a legacy of songs which encapsulates the psychedelic 60s spirit, yet still manage to be head and shoulders above many of the bands of that ilk. ‘A Door Inside Your Mind – The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966 – 1968’’  is a beautifully presented box set which manages to be both an introduction for the curious and also carries enough extras to keep the psych rock enthusiasts entertained too.

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – A Door Inside Your Mind: The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968: Out Now (Cherry Red Recordings)

Post By Paula Farr (195 Posts)

From the early days of creating handmade zines, in a DIY paper and glue style, interviewing bands around town, then pestering Piccadilly Records to sell them, to writing for various independent mags such as Chimp and Ablaze, writing about the music I love is still a great passion. After testing the music industry waters in London with stints at various labels, being back in my hometown again, writing about this city’s vibrant music scene is as exciting as ever. All time favourite bands include Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Patti Smith although anything from electro to folk via blues and pysch rock will also do nicely too. A great album, is simply a great album, regardless of whatever musical cage you put it in.

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West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – Tim Forster interview.

Way back in 2009 Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills interviewed WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND super fan and biographer Tim Forster on behalf of Shindig! Magazine and Cherry Red TV.

One of the more offbeat acts to emerge during the psychedelic era, the WCPAEB were certainly eclectic and ambitious enough to live up to their slightly clumsy moniker, capable of jumping from graceful folk-rock to wailing guitar freakouts to atonal, multilayered, avant-garde compositions at a moment’s notice, but they also reflected a strongly divided creative mindset.

Tim’s original piece ‘Teenage Dreams Diverted’ was spread across three issues of Shindig! Magazine, issues 5, 6 and 7 which can be ordered HERE .

Alternatively read Tim Forster’s huge article on WCPAEB in Shindig! Magazine Annual No. 2 available HERE .

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