We’ve got something brand new for you from PBR–the band, not the beer you drink at the bar because it’s the cheapest one on the menu.
We’ve got something brand new for you from PBR–the band, not the beer you drink at the bar because it’s the cheapest one on the menu. Who’d expect anything new from Pabst Blue Ribbon anyway? After all, they’re still bragging about an award they won in 1893! Where was I? Oh yes! People’s Blues Of Richmond have been working on some new material recently, in the studio with Mark Neill, who is best known for producing the Black Keys album Brothers alongside Danger Mouse. Neill also did production work for J. Roddy Walston & The Business’s Essential Tremors, and has worked with the Old 97s and Los Straitjackets, among others.
Neill’s been helping to bring that Black Keys-ish psychedelic edge to a band already intimately acquainted with the down and dirty blues-garage sound of the Black Keys’ early records. Fans who checked out PBR’s 2013 album Good Time Suicide found out just how heavy and gritty these guys can get; now, with “Outta My Mind,” the first results of the PBR Mark Neill sessions to be made public, we see a new, more psychedelic side to the band’s sound.
There’s quite a bit of organ on this new track, which may mean the band coaxed a temporary return from former keyboard player Tommy Booker (now with the Southern Belles), or may mean that one of the remaining trio has been learning his way around an organ. Either way, when mixed with the reverbed-out production Neill gives the song, and the downbeat mood of the lyrics and the chords used, the result has the feel of those spooky late 60s acid-rock jams that revealed a dark underside to the psychedelic hippie dream. Think Procol Harum mixed with the longer deep cuts on Creedence’s Bayou Country album, or something like that. It’s an excellent tune, though probably not the ideal soundtrack for your next acid trip–unless it’s a colossal freakout you’re looking for. Regardless, this definitely makes me eager to hear more from the PBR boys. Hopefully we will soon!
Listen to “Outta My Mind” exclusively at PopMatters by clicking here.
