Ah yes—Mort Garson’s The Wozard of Iz (1968): a truly unhinged jewel in the crown of late-’60s countercultural psychedelia. If The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds was cosmic mysticism, then The Wozard of Iz is its technicolor acid trip cousin—equal parts satire, prophecy, and synthetic mind melt.
The Wozard of Iz: An Electronic Odyssey (1968)
Tagline: “An electronic odyssey through the land of Oz.”
Created by: Mort Garson (music) & Jacques Wilson (libretto/lyrics)
1. A Psychedelic Parody of The Wizard of Oz
This album rewrites The Wizard of Oz as a 1968 acid-era allegory. Dorothy is now a counterculture seeker looking not for Kansas, but herself. Her journey through Oz is now a trip through groovy archetypes and groaning systems of conformity, with characters reimagined as stand-ins for society’s institutions and neuroses.
“I want to be a different person. I want to find the real me,” Dorothy pleads—not in Kansas anymore, but in a dreamscape of identity crisis and post-hippie disillusionment.
2. The Sound of Synthetic Surrealism
Mort Garson absolutely goes wild with his Moog synthesizer. This was one of the earliest albums to fully embrace the Moog as an instrument of satire, beauty, and madness. Sounds shimmer, squawk, squeal, and melt like an LSD-drenched cartoon.
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The Scared Crow is now a neurotic intellectual.
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The Tin Man is a disillusioned hippie robot.
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The Lion has stage fright and internalized cowardice.
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The Wizard? A psychedelic con man.
The voice cast delivers it all with a mix of beatnik jazz cadence, theatrical sarcasm, and hippie idealism.
3. Jacques Wilson’s Libretto: Weird, Witty, and Way Ahead
The lyrics and dialogue are drenched in wordplay, satire, and double meanings. The writing parodies the era's counterculture and its commercialization.
“Reality is a crutch for people who can’t face drugs,” one character says—summing up both the era’s aspirations and its contradictions.
4. A Cult Classic That Disappeared
The album was too weird for radio, too theatrical for rock audiences, and too political for easy listening. It disappeared almost instantly but grew into a sacred artifact among psych collectors, synth historians, and those with a taste for beautifully deranged storytelling.
It prefigures:
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Rock operas like Jesus Christ Superstar
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Synth-theater works like Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds
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Adult animation absurdism, à la Fantastic Planet
5. Mort Garson’s Dark & Delightful Mind
Wozard of Iz was the first sign of Mort Garson’s ultimate transformation—from pop arranger into electronic wizard. After this, he leaned into:
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Occult synth (Black Mass Lucifer)
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New Age plant music (Mother Earth’s Plantasia)
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Zodiac concept albums (more with Jacques Wilson)
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