Julie Driscoll: the underappreciated voice of Britain’s psychedelic age
Revolutions often arrive from the most unexpected of places. Back in the 1960s, it was little tabs of blotting paper that forged a cultural revolution, as legions of artists and young people alike realised the mind-expanding power of LSD. Ushering in the age of psychedelic rock counterculture, the influence of acid took hold of everybody from the fresh-faced pop stars of The Beatles to the underground experimenters of the Grateful Dead. Eventually, the psychedelic age dominated the musical mainstream, yet the powerful tones of Julie Driscoll were rarely given the credit they deserved.
Although groups like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Soft Machine were flying the flag of psychedelic rock in the United Kingdom, among various other groups, the bulk of the acid revolution occurred across the Atlantic. San Francisco, in particular, became a stronghold for this bold new era of rock and roll, with artists like Jefferson Airplane, Big Brothers and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Dead coming to define the hippie counterculture through compelling acid anthems.
Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane is often cited as the greatest vocalist of the acid age, and it is easy to see why. However, the ethereal tones of Julie Driscoll could certainly give the San Francisco icon a run for her money. Driscoll rose to prominence during the late 1960s after performing a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘This Wheel’s on Fire’ alongside Brian Auger and The Trinity. Released as a single in 1968, the track exposed Driscoll to a widespread audience, but her subsequent work with Auger and the gang fell into relative obscurity despite its undeniable quality.
Auger himself was a true original within the British music scene of the 1960s, devoting himself to the mastery of the Hammond Organ and lending his distinctive style to everybody from The Yardbirds to Jimi Hendrix. However, Driscoll’s voice was the final essential part of the puzzle in his solo work, adding a real sense of power and emotion to the proceedings. Her voice was expansive, capable of taking on a wide variety of different styles and themes, stretching from mellow jazz to out-and-out soul.
Everything about Julie Driscoll and her collaborations with Brian Auger and The Trinity exuded the innovative rebellion of the psychedelic age, albeit opting for the flamboyant cool of Carnaby Street and London’s mod culture rather than the subversive hippie fashion of the United States. Arguably, their finest work as a unit came with their psychedelic version of Richie Havens’ ‘Indian Rope Man’, initially released in 1969.
Bizarrely, the song was largely ignored upon its initial release, perhaps because it was issued as the B-side to ‘Take Me To The Water’, their rock rendering of the classic Nina Simone track. Either way, ‘Indian Rope Man’ perhaps typifies the British psychedelic age better than any other song. Not only is Driscoll’s voice in top form, but every aspect of the single, down to the image of the band itself, was inseparable from the cultural revolution of psychedelia, even if the music was largely ignored upon its initial release.
In fact, the quality of ‘Indian Rope Man’ transcends the ultimately short-lived age of psychedelia, with its soul and R&B influences making it a natural anthem for mod dancefloors and all-nighters. As a result, the original single has become sought-after by collectors and DJs, fetching upwards of £200 second-hand.
Driscoll herself parted ways with Brian Auger in 1970, as the dust cleared on the transformative period of the 1960s. Following on from her psychedelic exploration, the vocalist dedicated herself to jazz and experimental music, crafting some truly far-out releases over the years, her quality as a performer never wavering. It is high time that the vocalist receives some of the credit she so richly deserves, not only for being the defining voice of Britain’s psychedelic age but for her lifetime of groundbreaking releases.
