Psychedelic Jukebox: [1967] The Misty Wizards - It's Love

 

The Misty Wizards emerged from Detroit’s folk-psych milieu as a short-lived duo formed by Ted Lucas and Richard “Dick” Keelan, two musicians who had come through the same Retort Club/coffeehouse circuits and who moved from the multi-member Spike Drivers project into a pared-down pairing that foregrounded sitar and modal ideas within concise pop forms. Their only commercial imprint is a Reprise 7" pairing, catalogued 0616, released in 26 July 1967, the A-side It’s Love running about 2:09 and backed by Blue Law Sunday.

Credits attach the composition credit for It’s Love to Ted Lucas and show an unusual split of production attributions: the A-side is tied to Harvey Brooks while the flip is tied to Jerry Ragovoy. Musically the record compresses raga-inflected gestures into a radio-length pop format: prominent sitar figures and drone-like motives sit alongside tambourine accents, insistent bass patterns and tight drum parts, while the vocal presentation alternates lead and supporting lines in a way that includes both masculine lead parts and supplementary vocal parts that reads as a counterpoint to the lead voice. Both principals (Ted Lucas and Richard “Dick” Keelan) were openly interested in East-Indian practice and modal methods; the duo pursued sitar study and that Lucas in particular engaged with teachers in the Los Angeles area.

Promotion for the single was modest: label listings and collector traces document DJ/promotions and college/freeform radio pickups but there is no evidence of national pop-chart placement or broad trade success in the mainstream periodicals of 1967; the song’s circulation in later decades owes more to specialty radio and curated reissues than to an initial hit run. That later circulation explains how the record survived: It’s Love has been anthologized on various WEA/Rhino-style and sitar-themed compilations and lives on through uploads and small-label reissue series, which moved the single from local obscurity into the reach of crate diggers and program hosts on specialist stations and shows.

After the partnership the two men followed distinct pathways: Keelan relocated to Canada and became connected with the Perth County Conspiracy circle documented in Canadian scene history, while Lucas continued to issue recordings and has reappeared in archival reissue activity and local feature pieces that trace his post-1967 work and continuing engagement with modal guitar approaches.

Ted Lucas spoke about musical honesty and the effort of mastering instrument practice in an contemporary reportage: “You can’t b.s. on an instrument—it's impossible! Everything that's there just comes out. What I got to do is just get my head together enough so that when I play I can just be what I am—Hey! What a groovy title for a song! ‘I Wanna Be What I Am!’ Where’s a pencil?” This on-the-record line from Lucas is one of the few direct participant statements available in the press and it helps place the single in the mindset of practitioners who treated exotic instrumentation as an active study rather than a gimmick.

    You might also like following song from the Psychedelic Jukebox: "[1967] John Martyn - Rolling Home".

Sources:

1. https://techwebsound.com/artist/
2. https://www.45cat.com/record/0616
3. https://www.allmusic.com/song/its-love-mt0013722667
4. https://www.45cat.com/45_list_view_record.php
5. https://www.allmusic.com/album/hallucinations-psychedelic-pop-nuggets-from-the-wea-vaults-mw0001340395
6. https://www.discogs.com/release/6447458-The-Misty-Wizards-Its-Love-Blue-Law-Sunday
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_County_Conspiracy
8. https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/68-december-12-25-1968/ted-lucas/
9. https://www.shugarecords.com/products/081227947330
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Brooks_(bassist)
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spike_Drivers
12. https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2022/12/perth-county-conspiracy-interview-terry-jones.html
13. https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/third-man-records-announces-reissue-of-1975-ted-lucas-album-ted-lucas-om-out-february-21st
14. https://www.nts.live/artists/107812-the-misty-wizards
15. https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/electric-psychedelic-sitar-headswirlers-vol-1-mr0003646361
16. https://archive.org/stream/Bomp13Spring1975/Bomp%2013%20(Spring%201975)_djvu.txt
17. https://www.ebay.com/itm/162027317438
18. https://psychedelic-jukebox.blogspot.com/2008/
19. https://monocledalchemist.com/2024/05/20/underground-60s-gems-the-pink-floyd-hamilton-streetcar-the-ban/
20. https://www.senscritique.com/album/It_s_Love_Blue_Law_Sunday_Single/6007076
21. https://sonichits.com/video/The_Misty_Wizards/It%27s_Love_-_The_Misty_Wizards
22. https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard%201967-07-29.pdf
23. https://www.discogs.com/de/master/225257-Various-Hallucinations-Psychedelic-Pop-Nuggets-From-The-WEA-Vaults