"Mind's Eye" is a song by Australian

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Wolfmother Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since t ...

. Written by band members

Andrew Stockdale Andrew James Stockdale (born 20 July 1976) is an Australian singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and only continuous member of the rock band Wolfmother. Early life Andrew J ...

, Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, it was produced by

Dave Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...

for the group's self-titled debut album in 2005. The song was also released as the first single from the album on 16 October 2005, initially as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with "

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

". The track reached number 29 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

, number 88 on the

Scottish Singles Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

and number 142 on the UK Singles Chart.

Background

Two weeks prior to the domestic release of the band's self-titled debut album, "Mind's Eye" was released as Wolfmother's debut single in Australia on 16 October 2005. The Australian edition of the single was a

release featuring fellow album track "

", with "The Earth's Rotation Around the Sun" featured as the B-side. The single debuted on the

at its peak position of number 29, remaining in the top 50 for four weeks running. It later re-entered the chart for a single week each in January and February 2006. Outside of Australia, "Mind's Eye" was issued as the band's first single on 9 January 2006, backed only with "The Earth's Rotation Around the Sun". It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 142, as well as the

at number 88. "Mind's Eye" is primarily categorised in the genres of

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. In a brief review of the single, ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' compared the style of the song to progressive rock bands

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

, Rush,

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

and

Premiata Forneria Marconi Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: ''Award-winning Marconi Bakery'') is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group ...

. In a feature for the retailer

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

, the song was compared to hard rock acts

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

and

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

, and progressive rock group

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' writer Brian Hiatt called the track a "psychedelic power ballad", while Chris Taylor of

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site featuring music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 in ...

identified it as an example of modern psychedelic rock. Dan Macintosh of music website

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

claimed that the band's "progressive rock vibe" was "especially apparent" when "Mind's Eye" was performed live, often with an extended keyboard and guitar solo. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Mind's Eye" was directed by

The Malloys The Malloys is the working name of music video and film directors and brothers Emmett Malloy and Brendan Malloy. They have been with Superprime Films since 2010. Videography *" DANCE WITH ME" by blink-182 (2023) *"Holiday" by Vampire Weekend ...

, who would later collaborate with Wolfmother again on videos for "

Dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...

" and " Joker & the Thief". According to Steven Gottlieb of VideoStatic, it depicts the band "wandering around various outdoor settings". It was filmed at the

Devil's Punchbowl The Devil's Punch Bowl is a visitor attraction and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest situated just to the east of the village of Hindhead in the English county of Surrey. It is part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protection ...

in the

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in Southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabri ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

, and is said to have been influenced stylistically by '' Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii''. The video was nominated for Best Rock Video at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2006 (the band were also nominated for Best Group and Spankin' New Aussie Artist), but lost out to " One Way Ticket" by The Darkness. The "Mind's Eye" video was later featured on the 2006 EP '' Dimensions'' and the 2007 video '' Please Experience Wolfmother Live''.

Reception

In reviews of ''

'', some critics praised "Mind's Eye" as one of the album's highlights. Writing for the website

, Adrian Begrand described the song as "a terrific epic ballad in the grand tradition of '70s

arena rock Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences. As hard rock ...

", claiming that it "impeccably pulls off that quiet-loud-quite-loud formula perfected by the

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

, and

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

30 years ago". Similarly, James Jam of the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' described it as the "standout tune" on the album, while

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

's Keith Bergman suggested that it "merits" the band's comparisons to

. Michael Dwyer of the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' praised the song's "howling and crashing chorus cadence". On the other hand,

E! Online E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

criticised "Mind's Eye" as a "jokey cut", while other reviewers mocked the presence of the keyboard solo. "Mind's Eye" was recognised by several Australian music bodies. At the end of 2005, radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

included the song at number 6 on its

Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll presented by the publicly-funded Australian youth radio station Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Music of Australia, Australian and alternative music of th ...

list, with five other tracks from the album also featured: " Joker & the Thief" at number 9, "Apple Tree" at number 16, "

" at number 37, "Colossal" at number 39 and " White Unicorn" at number 84. The track was also nominated for Single of the Year at the ARIA Music Awards 2006, where Wolfmother won the awards for Best Group, Best Rock Album, Breakthrough Artist – Album; however, it lost out to " Black Fingernails, Red Wine" by

Eskimo Joe Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Aus ...

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar * Chris Ross – bass, keyboards *Myles Heskett – drums *

– production, mixing *Ryan Castle – engineering *Cameron Barton – engineering assistance *Pete Martinez – engineering assistance *Andy Brohard – Pro Tools editing *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chr ...

– mastering *

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

– illustration

Chart positions

References

External links

*
"Mind's Eye"
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

(music video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mind's Eye (song) Wolfmother songs 2005 songs Modular Recordings singles 2005 debut singles Songs written by Andrew Stockdale Song recordings produced by Dave Sardy Music videos directed by The Malloys