Imagine the thought of a folk album that stretches across two sides and clocks in at an astonishing fifty-three minutes. It's also filled with spoken word recitations of a Dylan Thomas poem, excerpts from Shakespeare, Firesign Theatre-style dramatics, idealistic hippie lyricism, children's poetry, and sound collages. The very thought of all of the above might make you dismiss it as pretentious, hippie bullshit. Yet make no mistake, The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist (Columbia, 1970) may be a product of its era, but it's also a hidden gem of acid folk and a high-art masterpiece that deserves your attention.
The Perth County Conspiracy (PCC) was a merry brotherhood of friends, lovers, kids, and animals living communally in rural Stratford, Ontario. The roots of the band date back to late 1969 when American Richard Keelan (ex-Spikedrivers) finally left a looming draft and the urban riots of Detroit behind and moved northeast into transplanted Englishman’s Cedric Smith’s rural Perth County, Ontario farmhouse. It was here that Keelan and Smith’s ideas for the PCC were sown and would eventually bear their magical fruit. Songs were written, weed was smoked, vegetables were grown and many noteworthy gigs were played at the Black Swan Coffee House in Stratford. Eventually attracting the attention of Columbia Records and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, PCC quickly put themselves to work on what would become their official major label debut. Supplying themselves with a lot of cannabis, a handful of psychedelics, members of their communal family, and a wealth of new material, the band entered the studio with a professional producer, a fantastic recording engineer, and ample time to record. Showcasing Columbia's innovative technology that extended playing time on each side, Keelan and Smith began to craft their magnum opus that would ultimately surpass the length of many albums from that era.
When art reaches its pinnacle in aesthetics and meaning, it can stimulate and arouse one's senses, elicit deep-seated emotions, and inspire profound introspection. The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist, not only does all of the above but it respects its listeners and asks them to interact and engage with its songs. With aural engagement comes great rewards and from its opening track to the final note, this album is a wonderful journey told through songs, stories, and poetry.
Opening with ‘Midnight Hour’ we are immediately transported into Keelan and Smith’s visionary trip. Sound effects lead into a chorus of warbling voices chanting “You Have The Power, With You Every Hour,” Smith then begins the first of several spoken pieces the listener will encounter on the album:
As the midnight hour approaches
I search for spirits flying
(You have the power with you every hour)
And looking all around me
At an age that is dying
Well, some have discovered joy, but many others are still crying
But it seems that all along, the teacher has been lying.
The tune flows effortlessly into the song, eventually opening up midway for Smith to recite Dylan Thomas’ classic poem ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art.’ A poem Thomas wrote about the desire and need to write regardless of any monetary gain from his craft. Perhaps foreshadowing that despite signing with a major label, Keelan and Smith knew they were making the art they needed to craft rather than what Columbia probably wanted or expected.
In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon, I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Wrapped around the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.
Risk-taking is an essential aspect of the art-making process, and mistakes can often teach us more than our successes. Including spoken word on an album is an extremely daring and risky endeavor, which cannot be overemphasized. It either works or it doesn’t. Fail and you lose the listener forever. Yet, on this album, the band not only manages to pull it off, but they do so in an engaging and heartfelt manner. Through brilliantly executed diction, clever uses of language inflections, thought-provoking lyricism, and a wonderfully sublime acoustic backdrop, the PCC welcomes its listeners to their circle and entices them to stay and listen.
Now people tend to say wait till another day for
A love to make its touch
But it doesn't matter much
Cause love will leave its mark
And your heart will play its part
No need to try to plan
The way to play your hand
Love is not a game love is not the same
As acting in a play
This beautiful lengthy opening track eventually moves into a gorgeous piano and acoustic guitar number entitled ‘Epistle to the Borderliner.’
Timothy Leary once wrote of the importance of having both “Set and Setting” before undertaking an LSD trip. Having set the scene at the beginning of the album, the setting naturally falls into place and Smith & Keelan rightfully become our trustworthy psychedelic guides.
When your mind has spoken
Thoughts cracked and broken
Don’t be weeping
The tide will soon be shifting
Your spirits lifting
Towards the moonbeam
The leaves
I hear them calling
Why are we falling
We are too young
Unfortunately, by the time PCC was recording this gentle, introspective masterpiece the hippie dream of peace and love had descended deeper into a nightmare. The Vietnam War continued to rage, heavier drugs stripped the vibrant dayglo colors of their hues, and flowers withered under the weight of the horrors brought by the Manson murders and the Altamont Festival. Even though Woodstock was a magical event that marked the end of the 1960s, Manson and Altamont were perceived as signs by many in mainstream society that the ideals the youth subculture spoke of had failed and faded away forever.
The National news reveals the clues
Rational views are breeding the blues
To sing a song of youthful loss
And deal the dope to cover the costs
Fear is fed on what to make
Of fear still, others generate
In his first Inaugural speech in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt famously stated "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fast-forward thirty-seven years later, PCC's album warned about how the media manipulates and profits from fear. Unfortunately, society has continued to wholeheartedly embrace and be brainwashed by the anxiety being marketed through the Nightly News and now the Internet. Consequently, an entire economy has arisen, with its main focus being the sale of fear to the general public. In a Capitalist system, violence is a profitable commodity and there is no shortage of individuals willing to purchase it.
‘Easy Rider,’ the hippie counterculture film opened in the summer of 1969 and the voice of the youth had found its Hollywood image with both Fonda and Hopper. Like the movie, Richard Keelan’s homage to the film makes for uncomfortable listening. Especially when a gunshot jarringly destroys the serene soundscape the band has thus far created. This startling noise is quickly followed by a hammy Southern-accented spoken verse that is as much anti-war as a far-out comedy skit in the style of Firesign Theatre. It is also probably the one part of the album that may provoke its highest criticism from new listeners. Bear with it, however, as on reflection and repeated listens one will see that it works as a bridge to arguably the two finest songs on the album’s opening side.
After the cacophony of maniacal sound at the end of ‘Easy Rider,’ we hear Keelan’s voice telling us that both “Truth & Fantasy live together and forever.” Dueling acoustic guitars begin to swing back and forth as the song takes off into orbit. Less than two minutes after the previous prose we are presented with yet another set of voices, this time requesting that we “Come to the edge…”
Come to the edge
(well uh, we might fall)
Come to the edge
IT’S TOO HIGH!
Come to the edge
And they came, and he pushed, and they...FLEW!
Again, the manic skit treads the fine line of ridiculous comedy. We are now at a crossroads in our journey and the voices bring reason to a trip that began to feel both perplexing and spiraling out of control. A Native whistle gently whispers a few notes that help soften our freefall from the edge. It is followed by a sumptuous guitar melody as Keelan and Smith sing what I find to be some of the album’s most arresting and poignant lyrics:
Would that you could be drifting on the lee side
Sailing on the sea side of the moon
Floating in a seashell
You can watch the sea swell
And fall broken to the sand
The sun is rusting away in the western sky
Reminding me of why I fear the tomb.
At this very moment, all the elements on the album harmoniously merge into a single entity, and we have fully entered into PCC’s new realm of consciousness.
The side continues with the delicious melody, ‘Don’t You Feel Fine’ as Keelan repeatedly sings:
Who you are is only an illusion
And what you are determined by your fears
This is a perfect summary of the nonsensical violence that we were told earlier is the “Americanadian Way.” The trials and tribulations of a complex life focused more on possessions than our moral and spiritual well-being. Instead, PCC invites its listeners to think for themselves, question authority, and find good in everything.
The opening side comes full circle with the closing track, ‘You Are The Power.’ The song’s production transports the listener to a warm campfire sing-along/chant with Smith, Keelan, and their commune. Our dreamy comedown picks up with a haunting acid folk number to open side two called ‘Keeper of the Key.’ Smith and Keelan’s voices are juxtaposed beautifully with one another. Not surprisingly, it was this song that was chosen as the album’s sole single.
‘Lady of the County,’ is reminiscent of Nick Drake and the English West country folk of Clive Palmer’s solo band, COB. Smith’s lysergic vocals are overly affected as he sings a touching love song around a delicate folk guitar melody.
Poetry returns with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-inspired ‘Listen to the Kids.’ This time, it is through the children’s words and is divided between the kids’ voices and Cedric Smith’s narration. The featured poems are specifically chosen from Peter Lewis’ 1966 collection, Miracles - Poems by Children of the English Speaking World. The four poems seamlessly blend into the established setting we inhabit. The final poem, in particular, by an eleven-year-old Peter Kelso is brilliant and much wiser than his years suggest:
Go perfect into peace
Peace mighty majestic and molded, mounted
Upon the satin-whipped waves of the heavens
Roam in orchards of twilit apples and
Drawn by a million vermillion stallions
Shadow dappled across the fields of legends
Go perfect into peace
Go perfect into peace
Grave and golden
Free of fiery furry
Bathed in the glowing tears of dawn
Night-washed, night-webbed
Go perfect into peace.
These magnificently insightful words lead the band into the most upbeat song on the album, the Orwellian ‘Trouble on the Farm.’ At first, the music shatters the calm of Smith’s poetry reading, but like the theatrical end bit of ‘Easy Rider’ being perfectly placed in the middle of side two allows, ‘Trouble on the Farm,’ to work as a bridge for the final three songs.
Whereas Smith recited Dylan Thomas in the album’s opening track this time we have Keelan reading Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ and picking up from Duke Senior’s monologue in Act II, Scene I. Complete with a campfire backdrop, crickets, and other nightly sound effects, a tender piano accompaniment follows Keelan’s lead:
Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp?
Here, feel that the penalty of Adam,
The seasons’ difference,
As the icy chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
“This is no flattery. These are subjects
That feelingly persuades me of what I am.”
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
And so, our life, free from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
I would not change it.
When Keelan says “I would not change it” you can hear the heartfelt honesty in his voice. This is an artist, who believes every word and every note he and his partner have thus far committed to tape. They have been our trusted guide throughout our soul-searching journey, and we find comfort in his words when he assures us that there is “good in everything.”
The album moves into the eastern-tinged penultimate tune, ‘The Dancer’ which brings to mind Smith’s earlier tune, ‘Epistle to the Borderliner.’ We are told that -
Love is the answer to give to inquiring eyes
Love is the dancer that lives in the spirit and never dies
Keelan softly reminds us to embrace courage instead of succumbing to fear. Trust in ourselves, trust each other, remain curious, and live an honest, zestful life.
The album finally closes with the six-minute-long ‘Crucifixion Cartoon.’ A fantastic psychedelic folk tune full of discordant guitars, haunting introspection, and gentle harmonies showcasing both men’s voices once again to superb effect. It is the perfect closer to what quite possibly is the perfect folk album. Smith and Keelan’s final words leave us plenty to reflect on and cherish.
There's a cross on every tree
when you are learning to be free
It’s in the air around above your heads
It whispers to you from nearly far away
What do you say?
There is no question that the album risks being accused of self-indulgence and walks a delicate balance of coming off as pretentious. If, however, someone can pull off these airs honestly and successfully, they deserve to be forgiven. Like all exceptional works of art, The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist exudes unwavering self-assurance and firmly believes in its conceptual significance. The marvel of this album is not only the scope of its ambition but also how fully realized the final product is.
The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist also highlights a band at the zenith of their career. The record is brimming with creativity, complex ideas, elegant textures, and intricate layers. It showcases a visionary approach that is simply breathtaking and quite frankly, couldn’t be made today.
Akin to embarking on a meditative, spiritual, and self-reflective journey, the album demands your complete focus, as it guides you on its engaging narrative from start to finish. Not only does it offer multiple interpretations, ensuring each listen differs from the previous, but it shines when experienced without any interruptions.
To grasp the frenzied spoken word in the final moments of ‘Easy Rider’ or the eloquent prose of "Excerpt from As You Like It," it is crucial to comprehend its context by attentively listening to what precedes and follows it. Only then does this remarkable album's true depth reveal itself into the charming and exquisite beauty that it is.
Enjoy!
The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist is not currently available on any streaming service nor has it been officially reissued. Original copies can range in price depending on the condition and country of purchase. At the time of writing, several copies in varying conditions, are listed on Discogs.
Other releases by PCC:
In August 1970, three weeks after the completion of The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist, Smith and Keelan recorded radio sessions for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). No songs from their debut album are featured on the CBC record. The recordings were released solely for use in radio broadcasts and as a promotional tool. Very few pressings were made and originals are impossibly rare and extremely expensive. In 2018 the Flashback label reissued the CBC recordings sourced from original tapes and is currently the band’s only album available to stream.
In 1971 a double album entitled Alive was recorded at the Bathurst St. United Church in Toronto. Of their five official albums, this is the easiest one to find.
In 1973 the band self-released What School Bus Tour (also known as Rumour/Rumour II) which has differing covers, one hand-drawn (amazingly, a few years ago I found one in beautiful condition in a local store!). Their final album Kanada (also pressed as Break Out To Berlin) was released in 1975.
While all their later albums have wonderful moments, The Perth County Conspiracy Does Not Exist remains their masterpiece.
Cedric Smith worked with Loreena McKennit on her early albums, doing background vocals. He also was the voice of Professor Xavier in the mid-90s animated version of the X Men.
The CBC did a documentary on the PCC a few years ago on a music-themed radio program, so that was how I found out they existed...