Journey

Chequered! is chock-full of the musical and lyrical touchstones of late 1960s psychedelia – screaming Hammond organ, Hendrix-styled fuzz and wah-wah guitaring, thunderous drumming, and abundant appearances of the words “trippin’” and “high”.

“How Does It Feel?” is seven-plus minutes of country-gospel swing, accented with overdriven organ and lyrical proclamations like “how does it feel when you’re trippin’ with somebody else”. In “My Mind”, Chubby and the band sound like a fusion of Iron Butterfly and the Chambers Brothers. Checker does a call-and-response with thick fuzz-toned guitars, deploying grunts and squeals as he returns to the refrain “my mind comes from a high place”.

“Stoned in the Bathroom” features a carnivalesque organ and a military snare drum march as Chubby sings about being in this altered state in his bathroom on a Sunday afternoon. “No Need to Get So Heavy” is a boogie that sounds like the bastard offspring of Canned Heat and early Deep Purple, while “Slow Lovin’” is a sludgy blues akin to Grand Funk. “He Died” is a funereal lament—the story of Jesus’ crucifixion—which wouldn’t sound out of place on 666, the apocalyptic concept album by proto-prog rockers Aphrodite’s Child.

Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh has been a long-time fan since she became acquainted with the record via this 2012 reissue. “A fellow musician who knew I hated industry crap gave me a CD of it, saying, ‘Trust me on this one,’” says Hersh. “As for the mythology of the album, I heard Chubby went a bit mad, moved to Holland, discovered weed and Hendrix, and this was the result.”

The opener, “Goodbye Victoria”, is one of Hersh’s favorites, one she plans to cover with her noise rock band, 50 Foot Wave. “This song is a special moment in music,” says Hersh. “We’re so used to being sold fake passion that when you hear the real thing like this, someone lost on Earth and in sound, it hits really deep.”

Hersh has also witnessed the reaction to Chubby’s virtually unknown psych music when it’s deployed on an unsuspecting audience. “Once I guest DJ’d at a club in Edinburgh and played this record start to finish,” continues Hersh. “It had everybody on the dance floor. I had 50 drinks bought for me that night, all balanced precariously next to the turntable.” 

Just how obscure was Chequered! at the time of its release? It’s one that even slipped unnoticed by one of rock’s most knowledgeable authorities, musician/author/producer Lenny Kaye. “I never knew it existed, even though I was working in a record store and writing about music at the time of its initial release,” adds Kaye. “It’s a strange album, almost as if Chubby had entered an alternative universe and turned into a credible soul singer with overtones of Curtis Mayfield and Baby Huey, escaping the caricature as a dance choreographer. It recreates the quasi-psychedelic soundscape of the late 1960s but was overlooked to the point of invisibility.”

New York drummer Dave Donen had the unique opportunity to both see Chubby perform his psychedelic album live and then play with his band a few years later. “At the time I was playing with people like Slim Harpo and Chuck Berry and knew the owner of Ungano’s, so I would get in free every weekend to see new bands like Free and Fleetwood Mac,” says Donen. “When I heard Chubby was going to be there, I went, thinking it would be a bit of a laugh.”

“What I saw was a very different Chubby,” continues Donen. “He was dressed in a psychedelic shirt and pants with colorful scarves and a headband, playing thunderously heavy music, a bit of cliched psychedelia, and, yes, he didn’t play ‘The Twist’ even though the audience kept calling for it.” Donen continues: “Ironically, four years later, I auditioned for and toured with his band for six months.  The set list was all rock ‘n’ roll oldies, with no psych or headband in sight.”

Klemen Breznikar, the founder of It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine, is another fan. “From the first needle drop, you can feel this album has a remarkable momentum. It’s especially fascinating to compare it to his early 1960s recordings and see how he developed into a guy who wrote songs with a sort of streetwise soul with psych overtones.”

Peter Negroponte, drummer for the New York art rockers Guerilla Toss, concurs. “This is a compelling listen, perhaps a forgotten psychedelic gem. It’s full of big riffs, ripping organ, fuzzy guitars, and his attempt at socially relevant lyrics. There are some strong songs here, for sure, like ‘My Mind’ and ‘Stoned in the Bathroom.’”

As for Checker, his opinions on the album remain mysterious. He reportedly distanced himself from it soon after its release. In fact, according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and his management, he will not be present at the induction event.

On Checker’s brief psychedelic chapter, Lenny Kaye offers a final word. “I have to applaud Chubby for trying something unexpected,” concludes Kaye. “Too bad it had to wait half a century to be unearthed.”