The Band Are Not Quite Right....

Psychedelic Music and Surrealism by Tim Ellison

Tim Ellison, of the Music Chamber blog, writes this in his latest entry:

The Master's thesis I wrote on '60s psychedelia is now online. You can read it here. I spent four years working on this project and I think you guys will enjoy it. I don't think it has to be read from beginning to end. Chapter 1 is a long treatise discussing the aesthetic commonalities between Surrealism and some art music from around the same time as the beginning of the Surrealist movement. The remaining five chapters are all on the subject of '60s psychedelia, though, and the relationship of its own aesthetic with Surrealism. There are some technical, musicological parts which, if they are not clear to you, you can just skip. I think you can read it from any point you like.

http://wizardishungry.com/blog/psychedelic_music_and_surrealism

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION (html)
1. THE MUSICAL OBJECT: MUSIC AND SURREALISM - pp. 6-42
2. SURREALISM AND ROMANTICISM IN PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC - pp. 43-66
Psychedelic Music and Surrealism Proper
Psychedelic Music and Romanticism: An Introduction
The “Classical” Music Signifier
Romantic Lands
Eastern Music
Songs of Innocence: Romanticism and the Child
Conclusions
3. NOSTALGIA AND TERROR: GOTHIC PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC - pp. 67-89
Part Two: “Gothic” Dissonance
The Chords Are Going Wrong
Addendum: They Just Play It Like That
Conclusions
4. PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC AND THE PRIMACY OF THE OBJECT, PART I - pp. 90-122
The All-of-a-Sudden All
Toys
The Land of Lavender and Sky-Blue Pink
The Psychedelic Food Scale
The Clocks Are All Dead So the Living Is Fine
Next Week, a Monkey Is Coming to Stay
Conclusions
5. PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC AND THE PRIMACY OF THE OBJECT, PART II - pp. 123-158
People Are Strange
Worker Archetypes
The Fool on the Hill and the Enlightened Man
Female Archetypes
The Poetic Object
Audio Objects
Crashes, Bombs, and Explosions
Conclusions
6. ALBUMS AND SONGS - pp. 159-181
Sgt. Pepper: A Bizarre Collection of Curios
The Psychedelic Song-Object
Song Structure
Conclusions
Suggestions for Future Research
APPENDIX (html)
Song Chart
REFERENCES

(The link provides a downloadable pdf version of Tim's thesis.)

Thanks, and kudos, Tim!!!