February 26, 2018 - The Brain - Nightmares in Red (1967)

For the longest time, I thought this group's name was The Brian, due to a typo in the mp3 file. I wondered if all the band members were named Brian. I felt a twinge of disappointment when I found out their name was really The Brain.

Nightmares in Red begins with piano chords that remind me of Love Me Tender, when Elvis sings "for my darling", but then the final piano chord goes up instead of down on what would be the "I love you" part. A sudden cacophony of horns shakes us at 0:09, then at 0:15 the dreaming begins:

Close my eyes what do I see...I am looking at the back of my eyelids followed by hysterical laughter from an invisible gallery of observers.

In this world of red and black...I imagine you will come back.  What happened in this person's reality? Did someone close to him die in a bad way or leave him? A sustained organ chord gives us pause to ponder the situation, then a couple of observers present their thoughts on the matter in weird operatic voices. Cascading harmonies lead to the center of the mind:

Nightmares in Red race through my head why wake the dead...why said said said (or something like that), and the dreamer snores. The subconscious will sort things out. One more loop around the track, then the curtain closes on this disorienting psychedelic experience.