(Translated from
my original Italian text
by Ornella C. Grannis)
The Blues Magoos, who emerged from New York's Greenwich Village in
1965, represent the transition from the genres of the early 60s to
psychedelic rock. They drew inspiration from blues and from
Italian-American bands that were fashionable before the hippies, so
much so that guitarist and child prodigy Emil Thielheim renamed himself
Peppy Castro. Yet they managed to emancipate themselves from the
traditional image of the rock star, enlivening their concerts with
psychedelic lights and bizarre costumes.
Psychedelic Lollipop (Mercury, 1966) was one of the first psychedelic
albums. After a small furious hit, We Ain' t Got Nothing Yet (1966),
they came back with an endless and wild remake of J.D. Loudermilk's
Tobacco Road (1966) disguised as a blues piece that degenerates into
pure guitar devastation - an epileptic sabbath of deafening instrumental
noise in an infernal crescendo of rockabilly rhythm, throbbing syncopations
and orgiastic flights, accompanied by a church organ.
While the media discovered in their looks the psychedelic iconography
to define the era, their clothes were actually the product of top
professional designers. Meanwhile, the hypnotic Gloria, from the album
Electric Comic Book (Mercury, 1967) was their last musical jewel.
They tried, without success, to return to the pop charts with Pipe Dream.
They disappeared after Basic Blues Magoos (Mercury, 1968) without a soul
able to discover the fine electric suites hidden within the album.
Kaleidescopic Compendium (Mercury, 1992) presents an abundant selection
from the three albums. The first two albums have been re-released by
Collectables in CD format.
Castro reformed the band for Never Goin' Back to Georgia (ABC, 1969) and Gulf Coast Bound (ABC, 1970).
Almost 50 years after the fact, the Blues Magoos (Castro, Scala and Daking) reformed for Psychedelic Resurrection (Kayos, 2014).