Psychedelic Shack (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Psychedelic Shack
Artist = The Temptations
from Album = Psychedelic Shack
B-side = "That's the Way Love Is"
Released = December 28 1969
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Hitsville USA (Studio A); November 21 & December 2, 1969
Genre = Psychedelic soul
Length = 3:56
Label = Gordy
G 7096
Writer = Norman Whitfield
Barrett Strong
Producer = Norman Whitfield
Last single = "I Can't Get Next to You"
(1969)
This single = "Psychedelic Shack"
(1969)
Next single = "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)"
(1970)

"Psychedelic Shack", released December 28, 1969, is a 1970 hit single for the Motown label performed by The Temptations and produced by Norman Whitfield.

This single features the Temptations and Whitfield's continuing their submergence into psychedelia, with multilead vocals, hard rock guitars, synthesizer sound effects, multitracked drums, and stereo-shifting vocals giving the record a distinct sound. The song is a dedication of sorts to psychedelic shacks, describing the activities and atmosphere within.

"Psychedelic Shack's" LP mix begins with the sounds of a person entering a psychedelic shack and dropping the needle on a record, which is, interestingly enough, the Temptations single which immediately preceded this one, "I Can't Get Next to You". The use of the re-recording of "I Can't Get Next to You" from its 45 RPM single makes "Psychedelic Shack" one of the first songs to use sampling, a technique that would become a stable of hip hop music in the coming decade.

The song ends, after its fourth verse, with the Funk Brothers backing band going into a jam session as the song fades out. Keyboardist Earl Van Dyke remembers "Psychedelic Shack" as one of his favorite recording sessions. [Weinger, Harry (1994). "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day". The Temptations: Emperors of Soul [CD Box Set] . New York: Motown Record Co., L.P.] The full extended version of the song, with the complete jam session, went unreleased until a new six-minute mix of the record was done in 2003 for the "Psychedelic Soul" compilation set.

"Psychedelic Shack" was the title track from the "Psychedelic Shack" album, released in March 1970. The song reached #7 on the US pop charts and #2 on the US R&B charts.

Credits

* Lead and Background Vocals by Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers.

Footnotes