Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
Highly-touted ‘Sophisto-pop’ trio with too many hats get some sort of an inkling that there’s something in the air, and decide to jump on the bandwagon in their own special way. A bit like when people like Herman’s Hermits sang about flowers and love for one or two singles before they got spooked by that bloke from Procol Harum dressed as a druid on Top Of The Pops and went ‘normal’ again. Not off to a good start, then. THREE POINTS.
Brought His Mellotrode And Freaked ‘Em All Out
Hmmm, there’s really not that much in this that could warrant the label ‘psychedelic’, coming across as more of an updated pastiche of sixties West Coast harmony pop outfits than their more lysergically-frazzled contemporaries. Which, to be fair, was pretty much Danny Wilson’s usual musical template anyway. Still, you have to concede it’s very well done. FIVE POINTS.
On The Bus Or Off The Bus?
“Acid on the radio/acid on the brain/acid in the calico/acid in the rain”. Outstanding. NINE POINTS.
The Green And Purple Lights Affect Your Sight
A real big hitter from the days when having a ‘good video’ could still be a major selling point, this impressively realised effort sees Ver Wilson mime to the song forwards while shoppers perambulate and bikinied lovelies leap in and out of swimming pools backward. They also do some A Hard Day’s Night-esque spinning around on chairs and leaping about in jerky motion, and act the goat with giant L, O, V, and E letters on a hillside, ending up looking oddly like an insert from Jigsaw. EIGHT POINTS.
I’m Picking Up Bad Vibrations
Always one of those bands whose profile and critical adulation seemed to far outstrip their actual chart statistics, The Second Summer Of Love was one of only two Danny Wilson singles to chart (they were very much an ‘albums band’ of course), and only managed a paltry number 23. Not that you’d know it from how often it was on the radio. SIX POINTS.
Ha Ha Ha… We Blew Your Mind!
Danny Wilson didn’t last too much longer, splitting up in 1991, and their ‘psychedelic’ phase lasted for considerably less time than that. Still, just about anyone you care to question will remember their two hits, and oddly the lesser The Second Summer Of Love in particular, which is more than you can say for most of their musical contemporaries, which nets them a reluctant TWO POINTS. Which means they walk away – backwards – with a respectable TWENTY FOUR POINTS.
Next Time: it’s the turn of Donnie, Danny, Jon, Jordan and Li’l Joe, as New Kids On The Block go puzzingly pop-psych…
It was all about the backward handclapping.