![]() ![]() ![]() (Rogers, Newbury and Campbell all went on to wildly successful mainstream solo careers. Jimi Hendrix allegedly told Rogers he was a big fan of the single. A lot of people liked the catchy song back then, and a lot of people like it today. “Just Dropped In” earned its keep on Top 40 radio. The invocation of the Byrds’ great psychedelic classic still a rankler after all these years.* I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high I found my mind in a brown paper bag, but then… The lyrics, by Newbury, offer a cautionary tale about LSD. Mike Post’s production is top-notch and the (by then outdated) psychedelic studio effects kept things palatable. The beat came from Hal Blaine, the drummer on “Good Vibrations” and many other (real) psychedelic songs. Terry Williams, the First Edition’s rock-minded lead guitarist, takes it from there, doing a tasty Jorma Kaukonen-style solo near the end. Campbell, as a session man, lures in listeners with some slithery backward guitar licks. “Just Dropped In” strays into acid rock territory, not entirely unsuccessfully. Plenty of mainstream musicians and producers sought to cash in on the hippie craze, but most confined themselves to what Pete Townshend called “the post-psychedelic wetness” - MOR music dressed for success in Nehru jackets. If San Francisco hadn’t declared the Death of the Hippie a year earlier, the success of this faux freakout would have done the trick. Rogers played bass and was known as “Hippie Kenny” around that time. The unknown Rogers sang the number with authority, but he wasn’t the band’s lead singer. The record - by ex-folkies the First Edition - got plenty of airplay in 1968, peaking at No. Someone has to be last, and their 1968 collaboration “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)” slides nicely into the 100th slot on PsychedelicSight’s list. None has any business being associated with a list of the best psychedelic rock songs. What do Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell and Mickey Newbury have in common? ![]()
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