I played the Hideout with Ed Burch again last evening, and we did a few more song poems from the excellent documentary Off the Charts. Finding good pop music has always been like mining low-grade ore, but this is especially the case with song poems. Most of them are virtually unlistenable, but the good ones are strangely compelling.

Ed and I played a tune called ‘Ecstacy to Frenzy’, which was one of the more unusual tunes set by Rodd Keith at MSR records. It’s a stunning little tune, from the wordless Beach Boys-style vocal intro, to the harp-like piano hits, the Mellotron flute solo, and the wordless staccato background vocal at the outro. The degree of craftsmanship evident in the arrangement is especially impressive given the conditions under which the song was produced — assembly line production, ruthless work schedules, and single takes.

Keith was reportedly a heavy user of psychedelics, so it’s tempting to link his sensitive setting of the amateur bad trip lyric to his personal history. Whatever the case, it’s an interesting piece. Like a lost Pet Sounds track cranked out in an hour in a demo studio. ‘Ecstacy to Frenzy’ is available on the excellent American Song Poem Anthology. I’ve also posted a short excerpt here.