Psychedelic Lunch

Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch”series, where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore music and musicians from the 60’s to today. Enjoy the trip!

In the days when folk-rock first emerged from Sunset Strip nightclubs, Sonny & Cher were its King and Queen, with Top 10 hits like “I Got You Babe,” “Baby Don’t Go,” and “The Beat Goes On” pulsing from transistor radios across the country. With the duo as hot as they would ever be, Sonny Bono recorded and released Inner Views, his first — and only — solo album. As it was in 1967, it remains today a singular listening experience. The opening track, the nearly thirteen-minute long opus grande, “I Just Sit There,” is the perfect example of what listeners are in for.

Sonny briefly dropped Cher (and a lot of LSD by the sound of it) for this surprisingly hip psychedelic opus. There are sitars all over the place and the lengthier tracks (like “I Just Sit There”) have the slightly unhinged quality of Eric Burdon’s San Francisco narratives. It all fits together marvelously as an album and has moments that suggest a wiggier Lee Hazlewood. Why this potential cult favourite has remained largely unchampioned is a mystery.

Sonny Bono “Inner Views” November (1967)