International Times: Perfumed Garden Column

This page is one of a series related to Peel and the International Times, an underground magazine published in London in the late 1960s. For others, please see the main page for the magazine or the International Times category at the bottom of this page.

1967

IT 18, 1967-08-31, p. 9

Firstly, what has happened? Many good things, some bad. The closing of Radio London was a sorrowful affair but the final hour was exactly right and I was proud to be involved. Losing the Perfumed Garden filled me with a great sadness as it had come to be more important to me than most people realised...

(Warm letters, not mobbed at Liverpool Street; IT "most important newspaper in the country"; new records; Speakeasy with Zappa, Beck, Farren; upcoming Marquee gig; Bolan on Track; gerbils at Harrods.)

Tags (bolded in text, excluding release details): Radio London, Perfumed Garden, International Times, Fugs, Jefferson Airplane, Mothers Of Invention, Velvet Underground, Blues Project, Nico, Paupers, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Firm, Mick Farren, Holland Park, Social Deviants, Shiva’s Children, Marquee, Sam Gopal, Orange Bicycle, Simon & Garfunkel, Adrian Henri, Roger McGough, Andy Roberts, Marc Bolan, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

IT 19, 1967-10-05, p. 13

Written from the depths of quadruple pneumonia with Dandelion, a hamster, surveying me gravely from her bed of lettuce. Clive Selwood, who call himself "the round peg in the square suit" and who is responsible for the British promotion of elevating Elektra records called me "an Underground William Hickey" after reading the last IT...

(“Howling mob” at Tiles, "mini-successes" at Marquee and Saville, “gentle safety” of Middle Earth with Bolan on Dutch TV; Geoffrey Prowse visits Peel Acres; Nirvana acetate, unreleased Misunderstood, reformed Dantalian’s Chariot; support Release; be “childlike”, not “childish”.)

Tags: Clive Selwood, Elektra Records, Tiles, Marquee, Saville, Middle Earth, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Geoffrey Prowse, Nirvana(2), Island Records, Fontana Records, Misunderstood, Firm, Glen Campbell, Family, Alan Bown, Sensory Armada, Dantalian’s Chariot, Zoot Money, UFO, Perfumed Garden.

IT 20, 1967-10-27, p. 11

Written following the premiere of "How I Won The War" and in the midst of resultant heavy gloom."Why gloom?" I hear you cry. Gloom mainly at the sheer desperate futility of it all. Most of the professional film critics whose outpourings I have blanched through seem to find it a bad film. In my strange way I have felt for some time...

(Film “magnificent” despite critics; Beatles “locked in a sparkling castle”; new records; please record Tyrannosaurus Rex; "Perfumed Garden wanderers" address (not Peel Fan Club); support Release.)

Tags: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beatles, Crocheted Doughnut Ring, Mike Vernon, Blue Horizon Records, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Alan Bown, Roy Harper, Al Stewart, Two And A Half, Paul Simon. Ron Geesin, Mothers Of Invention, Blossom Toes, Julie Driscoll, Velvet Underground & Nico, Eric Burdon, Liberty Records, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Mick Farren, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Susan Hale.

IT 21, 1967-11-17, p. 12

There is a remote possibility that this will be the last time the coagulated thoughts of Chairman Peel appear in print (sounds of distant rejoicing). This evening I am contracted to lie underneath an elephant for Billy Smart, the B.B.C., and Christmas Day television viewers. I trust that you will all bear witness to this feast of reason and intellect...

(“Gathered spiritual strength in Liverpool”, visiting Canning Street, Trader Horne; MM writes of Perfumed Garden “seashell sounds”; Indian music on TV thanks to George Harrison; calls for patience with Top Gear, but Tyrannosaurus Rex “messengers from the Gods”; request for “aged skiffle records” or Big Three single.)

Tags: Christmas, Liverpool (city), London, Andy Roberts, Mike Evans, Adrian Henri, Roger McGough, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha, Top Gear, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Fleetwood Mac, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Al Stewart, Big Three, Courtney Tulloch.

IT 22, 1967-12-15, p. 15

Written on the floor at Peel Acres in front of a coal fire and Dandelion, hamster-extraordinary. The time is, as usual, some days after various deadlines and outside the snow is melting and running softly down the steps leading into our own Bag End. On Clive Selwood's elderly gramophone revolves one of the amazing records of John Fahey...

(Christmas traditions “rooted in things much older and more important than the shivering superficialities of our gear, trendy holiday”; no reply to request for old records; attempting “package thing” with Liverpool Scene, etc, for college tour; American music news; Geoffrey Prowse exhibition; reading recommendations.)

Tags: Clive Selwood, John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Liverpool Scene, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, Misunderstood, Dirty Blues Band, Hobbits, Country Joe & The Fish, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Steve Miller Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Mother Earth, Serpent Power, Notes From The Underground, John Fahey, Mothers Of Invention, Velvet Underground, Eric Burdon, Blackburn & Snow, Sons Of Champlin, Malachi, Mystery Trend, Blue Cheer, Morning Glory, Salvations, Mystery Tree, Loading Zone, Only Alternative, Mad River, Freedom Highway, Anonymous Artists, J.R.R. Tolkien, Geoffrey Prowse.

1968

IT 23, 1968-01-05, p. 6

Chateau in Virginia Waters by Marc Bolan, Essex Music
Broken English words cracked the air like a bell...

(Tyrannosaurus Rex recordings for Track deemed “uncommercial”; imagines “Dandelion Records” releases, including T.Rex 4xLP set; listened to pre-recorded Christmas Top Gear with brothers Alan and Francis plus Trader Horne; trees, Narnia, slaughter of animals; Vietnam; with Bolan at Peel Acres.)

Tags: Marc Bolan, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Sam Gopal, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Family, Dantalian’s Chariot, Soft Machine, Geoffrey Prowse, John Fahey, Alan Wilson.

IT 24, 1968-01-19, p. 10

This weekend sees the arrival in Britain of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. They will be at Middle Earth on Saturday night and jostling the pacesetters at the Speakeasy on Sunday. If you never again see another group go and see them. Public taste being what it is it may be that the Captain and his strange crew will not lighten our dank and mysterious shores again. I will be there and we can rejoice together ...

(“Somewhat disheartened” with “lurid” article on pornography in IT 23; “flattered” to be mentioned in Miles column; “casual horse-whipping” by Kit Lambert for comments on Track Records re Tyrannosaurus Rex; news of Glen Campbell, ex-Misunderstood guitarist; interview with KMPX, San Francisco; need for "new morality".)

Tags: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Middle Earth, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jimi Hendrix, Who, Arthur Brown, Dirty Blues Band, Misunderstood.

IT 26, 1968-02-16 p. 10

Peace News is the only paper in this slow-motion whirlpool country posting notice of the raw injustices and cynical, diseases political moves that make each sun that rises on our loves and hopes more of a miracle than that which preceded it. Like much that is worthwhile they shout for support into a bitter wind...

(Tyrannosaurus Rex set for LP on Regal Zonophone; Psyche label plus other recommended records; “life is becoming too frenzied”; music and arts events at Leicester, Leeds universities; second Peel show coming on Radio One, with “poetry, things of great antiquity and beauty from the fabled BBC archives,” etc; recommends BBC2 arts programme "Release" - as opposed to organisation of that name he also refers to.)

Tags: Peace News, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Psyche Records, Roy Harper, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Love, Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Fleetwood Mac, Sensory Armada, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, Traffic, Kinks, Move, Plastic Penny, Bonzo Dog Band.

IT 27, 1968-03-08, p. 11

Sympathies and my love to all those humiliated during and following the recent raid on the Middle Earth. One girl told me that she was searched four times by an assortment of robust lady policemen. They found nothing, but didn't seem to mind. In view of all this may I urge your renewed support for Release. You may be next...

(Rome Festival “impressive” lineup headed by Mick Jagger (33 pounds for travel and ticket); recommends US imports from One-Stop including LPs on Blues Classic and Arhoolie labels, 'The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter' from ISB (“the most striking record due for release”), poetry from Adrian Mitchell and Kenneth Patchen; notice of Spencer Davis Group upcoming gig; contribution to Tyrannosaurus Rex LP already recorded; death of Dandelion, “Hamster - Extraordinary”.)

Tags: Middle Earth, Donovan, Blossom Toes, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Arthur Brown, Crome Stylus, Dantalian’s Chariot, Fairport Convention, Family, Incredible String Band, Steve Miller Band, Move, Nice, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Traffic, Who, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Spirit, Dirty Blues Band, Eden's Children, Arhoolie Records, Love, Fleetwood Mac, Tim Rose, Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield, Leonard Cohen, Adrian Mitchell, Kenneth Patchen, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

IT 28, 1968-04-05, p 11 / p. 12

There is a gathering magic in the air and perhaps this will be the summer when we find that for which we have searched for so long. Following the first of the Wednesday night programmes, featuring the Incredible String Band and Adrian Mitchell, came a flood of angry and bewildered letters. Many of these were of the I-fought-the-war-for-rats-like-you" variety...

(“I’m no more a Communist than I am a Capitalist”; Grosvenor Square confusion; IT Pop Supp “all so superficial that it would have been better undone”; ESP Records; Hobbit on record; new hamster called Biscuit.)

Tags: Incredible String Band, Adrian Mitchell, Family, Phil Ochs, Roy Harper, Al Stewart, Captain Beefheart, Beach Boys, Blues Project, Buffalo Springfield, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Blue Cheer, Bee Gees, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Deviants, J.R.R. Tolkien.

IT 30, 1968-05-03, p. 4-13

"This is going to be mainly LP recommendations interspersed with chat and Morris dancing..."

(Releases discussed include from First Edition ("pretty bad"), The Association ("somewhat disappointing"), the Gunter Hampel Group ("I honestly, and obviously, know very little about this kind of thing"), Simon and Garfunkel ("Bookends ... is a masterpiece ... the best LP currently available anywhere"), and the 'Blues Roots, Mississippi' anthology.)

Tags: John Renbourn, National Gallery, Lollipop Shoppe, Loading Zone, First Edition, Association, Fred Neil, Gabor Szabo, Gunter Hampel Group, Spirit, Fever Tree, Appletree Theatre, Simon and Garfunkel, Tommy Johnson, Mississippi Jook Band, Joe Williams, Bo Carter, Robert Johnson, Charlie McCoy, Tommy McClennan, Robert Petway, Sonny Boy Williamson, Blues Project, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Beacon Street Union, Penny Nichols, Fugs.

IT 32, 1968-05-31

(Lemon Peel: John Peel sends his vibrations with sorrow for silence in this and last issue of IT. Sends message that personal hang-ups are disturbing his time/space arrangements. Forgive him. He still loves.)

IT 33, 1968-06-14 p. 12

("Perfumed Garden" dropped as column name)

The past few weeks have been among the saddest in my life for many reasons that I should not trouble you with. I am sorry that this may have projected itself onto my relationships with other people or onto 'Top Gear' and 'Night-ride'. There seems to be no end in sight either, and I really can't fake happiness - or want to either, actually...

(Deviants LP (“really is quite good”); hamsters Hermes, Buffy; detailed report on new Beefheart LP to come (“all I know is there is no group I’ve heard that has such power and the ability to communicate it to me”); ‘My People Were Fair…’ LP by Tyrannosaurus Rex ("I’ve lived with this so long it feels like a six-month old record”); ‘Lumpy Gravy' from Zappa (“strange, I don’t know if it’s good or not”); ‘The CBS Rock Machine Turns You On’, ‘Ragas from South India’, ‘Blues Anytime’ collections.)

Tags: Top Gear, Night Ride, Deviants, Captain Beefheart, John Fahey, Ars Nova, Tiny Tim, Steve Miller Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Collectors, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention, Eclection, The Rock Machine Turns You On, Roy Harper, Bob Dylan, Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, Taj Mahal, Spirit, United States Of America, Tim Rose, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Electric Flag, Blood Sweat And Tears, Moby Grape, Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac, Elmore James, John Brim, Kenneth Patchen, Arthur Brown.

IT 35, 1968-07-12, p. 6

Written on the wings of the weekend past which carried with it more love and more hope than I believed was possible. Underneath the Saturday skies the blessed drifted and around them music hung in the air and touched the trees. Those who were not there missed, as they must have been told several thousand times, the nicest afternoon of the year...

(Hyde Park free concert, with Roy Harper ("his free songs wheeled and danced in the sun like butterflies"), Jethro Tull (“played with fire and brought out the first rays of the sun”), Tyrannosaurus Rex (“newest songs are really lovely”), Pink Floyd (“sounds fell around our bodies with the touch of velvet and the taste of honey”); OZ show at Middle Earth, with Jeff Dexter (“plays the same records I would play”), Nice (“played very well”): new Peel Acres overlooks Regents Park; Principal Edward (“you will hear a great deal more of them”).)

Tags: Roy Harper, Jethro Tull, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pink Floyd, Middle Earth, OZ, Jeff Dexter, Will Spoor Mime, Family, Richard Neville, Cream, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre.

IT 37, 1968-08-09, p. 12

In a few weeks Ustad Vilayat Khan will be on 'Top Gear' and will play a raga lasting about twenty minutes. Those who don't like Indian music will not appreciate this much but it really is a conspicuous breakthrough. The whole point of Thursday morning's 'Night-Ride' has been to play and do so many different and, hopefully, good things...

(Apple closure, Biafra, aircrash: “In this context, Night Ride and Top Gear seem, and indeed are, trivial indeed. However, they are all I can do”; ‘America’ by Nice (“their protest has crossed from the record into the newspapers"), Folkways repackaging early material via Transatlantic; L’Oiseau Lyre classical label, HMV ‘Music From India’ series; Blues Unlimited address; Leonard Cohen with “the best LP available anywhere at the moment”, new Doors LP “amazing”.)

Tags: Ustad Vilayat Khan, Top Gear, Night Ride, Nice, Big Joe Williams, Elizabeth Cotton, Woody Guthrie, Roscoe Holcomb, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Cohen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Doors, Captain Beefheart, Steve Miller Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Vanilla Fudge.

IT 38, 1968-08-23, p. 17

It appears that I have once again, with the immeasurable grace and finesse at my command, placed my foot in a wide assortment of animal waste products. In a recent edition of 'Disc' there appeared, along with a caption of considerable drollness, a picture of the misshapen Peelian anatomy as it took a bath. Trivial and pointless though the whole exercise was...

(Bath pic “because I thought it was funny"; Ten Years After live LP coming but “danger of their records at least degenerating into heartless virtuoso performances”, Byrds 'Sweetheart' LP (“unreserved recommendations”), One-Stop and Musicland for imports, Band's ‘Music From The Big Pink’ (“another one of those essential records”), Kaleidoscope (US) split; Grateful Dead 'Anthem From The Sun' LP (“overall initial effect is exciting, which bodes well”); poetry; Jeff Beck 'Truth' LP (“full of neurotic, violent music”); new ISB LP coming; guitar, classical albums.)

Tags: Disc & Music Echo, Jethro Tull, Leonard Cohen, Ten Years After, Byrds, Rabbit Brown (actually Rabbit Mackay), Band, Fraternity Of Man, Kaleidoscope, Grateful Dead, Adrian Mitchell, Leon Rosselson, Jeff Beck, Eclection, Incredible String Band, Robbie Basho, Alirio Diaz, Erik Satie, Aldo Ciccolini, Seiji Ozawa.

IT 41, 1968-10-04, p. 7

The autumnal air his heavy with promise — a new Beefheart LP is on the way. Perhaps by the time this is read it will already be in the import shoppes. Following various hang-ups with established and short-sighted record companies the Magic Band's guiding light, Bob Krasnow, has formed his own company. The label is Blue Thumb and the LP is to be...

(Acetate of Beefheart ‘Personal’ LP track by track (“this is such good stuff”); Duster Bennett with “may be the best blues LP yet generated between the seaweed and sand of our coasts”; Brian Jones' ‘Rites Of Pan’ recorded in Morocco (“the feeling at Middle Earth is one of bewilderment”); “nice" letter from MC5 “friend”; new Stones LP “the best thing they’ve ever done”.)

Tags: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Duster Bennett, Brian Jones, MC5, Bridget St John, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Liverpool Scene, Rolling Stones.

IT 42, 1968-10-18, p.12

My dear John Peel, first, to avoid misunderstanding I hasten to say I am a lonely old person (80 in November) and your broadcast on Woman's Hour warmed my heart and raised my faith in human nature which has sunk VERY low in these last few years. The value of even a smile or kindly word in the street from a passer-by . . . for seven years I have lived alone...

(Three letters from Woman’s Hour listeners: “How hard is it for you to say ‘Hello’ to someone?")

IT 43, 1968-11-01, p.2

"From his sickbed last Saturday John Peel sent regrets that he could not get any coherent words together for this issue. He had arrived home from Birmingham where he had apparently been smitten with a strange virus which caused unpleasant eruptions over the Peelian frame. In his own words: 'there were swellings all over as well as the usual ones around my head'."

IT 44, 1968-11-15, p.9

(Peel column space "donated" to allow room for John Lennon drawings.)

IT 45, 1968-11-29 p. 16

I have no idea what to write about this morning, but I got up early and perhaps something will fall into the wasteland of my head in the next few hours. Perhaps the friendliness of "The Beatles', currently charting a million turntable miles at Peel Acres, will help. Sorry about missing the last few issues (Is anyone else?) but things have been ridiculous lately...

(IT space donation for Lennon and macrobiotic magazine; Night Ride Biafra controversy; Third Ear Band at benefit for projected Arts Lab; planned van “quests” with Bolan; guesting on Radio One Club, Beefheart v Dave Clark; Rave, Petticoat, HENRY (Glasgow underground) magazines.)

Tags: Beatles, John Lennon, Night Ride, Third Ear Band, Pete Drummond, Captain Beefheart, Dave Clark Five, Country Joe, Glasgow.

IT 46, 1968-12-13 p. 19

There is always a great air of melancholy about Christmas. Perhaps this is because the modern holiday symbolizes everything that has gone wrong during the past 2,000 years. When I was a child — oh, what Christmases we had. Francis and I would wake around 2.00 in the morning, unable to sleep with the excitement of it all...

(“I miss the Christmases the I have developed in my memory”; the traditions “are being smothered by the commercial interests that hourly rape our reason and pillage our understanding are rooted in wondrous legends and great magicks.”)

Tags: Christmas, Birmingham, London.

1969

IT 47, 1969-01-01 p. 14

Letters have fallen into our lives through the door, there are sounds of small, naked feet on the floor, bathroom lights flicker on and off and on again. The radio rattles out its early morning agony and tells the latest stories of machine-gunners - will this year be that in which the news is of lovers and the loved, of you and the wisdom in woods?

(“Walk far from the towns, touch the bark of a thousand trees, shoeless”; jew’s harp, puffins, jaundice; Peace News; Logue, Lennon & Ono on Night Ride (“a rare outpouring of love and joy”); Hare Krishna visit to Peel Acres; “there are many good blues bands but not that many”; Biscuit returns; Arts Labs.)

Tags: Christopher Logue, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Night Ride, Captain Beefheart, Family, Arts Labs.

IT 50, 1969-02-14 p. 8

It was good to have a holiday in Exeter. The sun shone every day both within and without and Principal Edward's Magic Theatre came and went, some speaking and some not. Instead of promoters and their bullies came Spiderman and Thor and Les and Jeremy and I skulked around Plymouth looking...

(Principal Edwards in Plymouth; mail; recommends side 1 of 'Migration' LP by Amboy Dukes; Mick Farren and wife in Queens magazine ("surprise of the week"); Leicester Arts Festival; Kak LP.)

Tags: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Amboy Dukes, Mick Farren, Kak.

IT 53, 1969-03-28 p.17

This evening there was a touch of spring and other good things in the cinema of the ICA. Principal Edwards Magic Theatre brought their raucous leviathan to The Mall filled with good things (mainly themselves) and played, danced, smiled and sang for a curiously immobile audience....

(Column cut in half, as too long to fit this issue; Peace News, small press publications; LPs by Flying Burrito Brothers ("some really nice fusions of country with what probably would be described as 'west-coast' noises), Byrds ("in the same general area of endeavor"), Los Calchakis ("two really beautiful albums of Latin American Indian flute things"), Harry Partch ("something new"); B.B. King reissues on Blue Horizon, Taj Mahal ("compensates for the increasingly neurotic sounds of what are classified as 'British Blues' records").)

Tags: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Peace News, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Los Calchakis, Harry Partch, B.B. King, Gordon Smith, Steve Marcus, Taj Mahal, Lasry-Baschet.

IT 54, 1969-04-11 p.13

(Second half of above and Peel's final column for IT, mostly record reviews: Umm Kulthum ("truly a beautiful thing by any standard"), Roy Harper ("a very important release'), Creedence ("uncomplicated, skipaboutable"), Mike Cooper ("no-one could fail to like this"), Keef Hartley ("fresh and exciting throughout"), Colosseum ("the most exciting group you'll see for some time"), Hare Krishna Temple 'Govinda' LP ("sense of ecstasy and a beautiful sleeve").)

Tags: Umm Kulthum, Roy Harper, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Mike Cooper, Keef Hartley Band, Colosseum, Family.