Psychedelic Celluloid: British Pop Music — Psychedelic Celluloid( Book)

The late 1960s and early 1970s was probably the most creative and experimental period in the history of both music and film. Alejandro Jodorowsky, Kenneth Anger and Jean Rollin, were but a few of the incredible talents working within cinema at the time. In music we had the Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band and even pop superstars The Beatles were pushing the boundaries to see where new sonic techniques and psychedelic drugs could take them. During this era film and music became almost synonymous bed fellows. The Beatles were at the forefront of those utilising psychedelic imagery to expand on what they were doing in the recording studio with songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, or It’s All Too Much. The resulting films Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine work as signifiers of the future development of the music video. The Incredible String Band made the film Be Glad for the Song Has Ended, and even in America hallucinogenic films, many featuring the involvement of Jack Nicholson, included heavy participation from the likes of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Chocolate Watchband and The Electric Flag on their soundtracks.

The popular concept of this brave new world of psychedelic cinema was different in each part of the world, in America it was very much the dreamy West Coast vibe, or the acid drenched biker movie that came to the fore, whilst in Britain we were treated to a heavy dose of swinging London, as seen in Blow Up, or something wholly more pastoral, as experienced in films like Tam Lin or The Wicker Man. This subgenre of cinema encapsulated everyone from arthouse directors like Antonioni and Godard to occult film makers like Kenneth Anger, and on to budding Hollywood royalty like Stanley Kubrick.

OK, I’ve added a little context, now what about the book? Well, it’s a very lovely thing, the layout is straight forward and simple to read and it is a great book to dip into and read up on things you perhaps don’t really know too well. It features a great selection of films, all the well-known classics of the genre are there, Performance, Clockwork Orange, Psychomania, Blow Up and Bedazzled, to name a few, however the thing that really brings this book to life for me is the fact that there are dozens of less well known, and less obvious titles for me to explore. Titles like The Mini Affair and Tinto Brass’s Nerosubianco make it really worth my while.  It really is a great read for anyone with an interest in British psychedelic cinema, irrespective of your level of knowledge.

The book is laid out chronologically, however dotted throughout are short articles on a variety of related topics, including Italian and French cinema, actress Carole White, James Bond and Jodorowsky. These add a little extra colour to the chapters and make it a little more of a fun read. The appendices carry a wealth of great information about other films of the time, documentaries, concert films, shorts, musicals etc etc. The book is well researched and features a lot of really good information, particularly about the less well-known films. Matthews uses loads of great photos to enhance the experience and I for one shall continue to dip into this volume to help me find more interesting, experimental films to sate my appetite.

Overall, this is a great book with a real wealth of knowledge poured into its pages, however it is not unwieldy to hold and at just over 200 pages it is not overly long. Matthews makes his points succinctly and as with this sort of book, he keeps the word count to a reasonable level, whilst still managing to make his points clearly. A pleasure to read, I am now hoping for a second volume on European psychedelic cinema.