Psychotic Reaction

If you know this San Jose band, you probably know the essay Lester Bangs wrote positively drooling over this album, which got him so excited he made up a bunch more Count Five LPs that didn’t exist. The Count Five – who wore Bela Lugosi-style Dracula capes – had a touch of the Zombies about them, and some similar melodic and rhythmic panache, albeit with less flexible grooves. This record is catchy as hell, with a couple Who covers, but more highlights in terms of originals. The hit title track “Psychotic Reaction” borrows the rave-up gambit from the Yardbirds’ “I’m a Man” – a pretty bold pilfer – but opener “Double-Decker Bus” is the real rabble-rouser. Again, the American guitar-wielding teens of 1966 loved British stuff. And the reconceptualization of everyday British imagery could be pretty heady in its new seedy American digs. Don that cape! – Rolling Stone: 10 Wild LPs From Garage Rock’s Greatest Year

It features the hit single of the same name which reached number 5 in the Billboard charts in 1966 and was selected as one of the five hundred most influential songs in Rock n’ Roll History by the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and is consistently ranked as one of the top Garage Rock songs of all time.