E02: Turn Off Your Mind, Relax and Float Down Stream…

Hear the full episode here:

In this week's episode Tim and Jeremy are tuning in and dropping out as we talk all things Acid. We hear a history of the psychedelic movement within the Anglophone world, taking in the accidental maiden trip of chemist Albert Hoffmann, the activities of Timothy Leary at Millbrook and the Merry Pranksters on their Magic Bus, and The Beatles' musical rendering of the classic trip.

Tim and Jeremy also consider how dancing is incorporated into the Acid experience, with a grateful nod to the role played by the Dead and their sound engineer Owsley Stanley, and draw out the tensions between the post-war consumer culture and the emergent psychedelic movement that rendered Acid such a uniquely potent political - as well as pharmacological - phenomenon.

Note: At Love is the Message, we don't encourage our listeners to take Acid, which is of course illegal! Also, more prosaically, in this episode Jeremy refers to Ralph ‘Metzinger’ - he is of course talking about Ralph Metzner, the American psychologist and not Thomas Metzinger the contemporary American philosopher.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:
Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar - Raga Palas Kafi
The Grateful Dead - Alice D. Millionaire
The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
Country Joe and the Fish - The Acid Commercial
Country Joe and the Fish - Colours for Susan
Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet