Psychedelia and Other Colours

Rob Chapman

Sep 2015 · Faber & Faber

About this ebook

In Psychedelia and Other Colours, acclaimed author Rob Chapman explores in crystalline detail the history, precedents and cultural impact of LSD, from the earliest experiments in painting with light and immersive environments to the thriving avant-garde scene that existed in San Francisco even before the Grateful Dead and the Fillmore Auditorium. In the UK, he documents an entirely different history, and one that has never been told before. It has its roots in fairy tales and fairgrounds, the music hall and the dead of Flanders fields, in the Festival of Britain and that peculiarly British strand of surrealism that culminated in the Magical Mystery Tour.
Sitars and Sergeant Pepper, surfadelica and the Soft Machine, light shows and love-ins - the mind-expanding effects of acid were to redefine popular culture as we know it. Psychedelia and Other Colours documents these utopian reverberations - and the dark side of their moon - in a perfect portrait.

Ratings and reviews

This book's crying out for a severe editor and to be rearranged in structure. In the introduction the author notes how it got out of control and he had to leave a lot out: should have focused on either the American or British aspects. He writes more perceptively on the latter. Too many long lists of records the author admires (some of which have precious little to do with psychedelia), too much purple prose and repetition but got me relistening to my music collection and onto YouTube.

About the author

Rob Chapman is the author of perhaps the most acclaimed biography of Syd Barrett: An Irregular Head. He has written three other books and was a member of the Bristol based group, The Glaxo Babies.