Showing posts with label Psychedelic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psychedelic. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2025

Various Artists - Lysergic Acid 60s Punkers, Raw Mod and Freakbeat Fuzzters (White Trash Soul 60s Punk No.2)

 

Freakbeat! Yeah!! 

First things first, what is it? The term was coined by English music journalist Phil Smee (who later started the Bam-Caruso Label) to describe the harder, fuzz loaded and sometimes psychedelic mutations that happened to the British Mod scene. A rock'n'roll sub-genre, graphic design style, and aesthetic in general that was prevalent throughout the mid-to-late '60s. Freakbeat bands combined aspects of rhythm & blues, beat, pop with psychedelia and proto-punk, a sonically distinct kind of music often drawing parallels with the American garage punk. 

The diversive music style of the Mods, characterised mainly by soul elements, became somewhat lost in the mid-sixties when psychedelic drugs and vibrant clothing became the defining attributes of a (new) generation. These elements included definetely fuzztones which are often manipulated with trippy echoes and other effects. 

As you might have guessed, the lines between what is and isn't Freakbeat are blurry. The same thing happened when I was trying to create the compilation that I'm offering here. The songs have changed many times - I've actually lost count. As always, I wanted to include obscure and unprocessed gems of the era, as well as more well-known songs, at least to those familiar with this period. I also wanted to compile tracks from outside the British and US scenes. I'm fairly confident that I've succeeded, but as always, you're the judge. 

Anyway, to be more precise I changed the title to "Lysergic Acid 60s Punkers, Raw Mod and Freakbeat Fuzzters". All the tracks contain the elements I mentioned in the opening lines. The Who, The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things collaborate with lesser-known acts who are equally brilliant and perhaps even wilder! For example, there's St. Louis Union's amazing take on Bob Seger's early garage stomper "East Side Story", Jimmy Winston covering the band he founded and played on the first single with (The Small Faces), Them going punk R&B under the direction of sleazy mogul Kim Fowley after Van Morrison left and Northwest proto-punks The Kingsmen, (in)famous of course for "Louie Louie", covering this time an unknown Freakbeat tune by The Fairytale. There's also Viv Prince's band after The Pretty Things (The Bunch of Fives), The Action going psychedelic pop under the Beatles' producer, Q65 and the Outsiders' off the rails Nederbeat, and The Fleur de Lys doing "Hold On" under the pseudonym of Rupert's People before handing it to Sharon Tandy. There's even Mickey Finn's "Time to Start Loving You" (before MC5 change it to "Kick Out the Jams"), and an Italian guy who relocated to Greece singing a cover of the Troggs' "I Want You" in... Greek! Τhe range is so big actually that you'll find young savage punks from Quebec and Iceland to New Zealand and Australia. It's almost impossible to write you even a few lines about each song, although each one has a unique story behind, like the ones I've already given you to get an idea of ​​what you'll hear.

In the true spirit of Oscar Wilde ("The drawback of stealing a thing, is that one never knows how wonderful the thing that one steals is"), I even tried to recreate Bam Caruso's label logo, with Joe Meek taking the place of the famous girl for the cover. By the way, if you're wondering who's that guy carrying the guitar and playing the tambourine, look for the golden-haired founder of The Rolling Stones. I even asked myself if "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby" by the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band fitted in, but I gave up in the end - after all, there are so many songs and bands that need more pairs of ears. 

Dig!

Friday, September 5, 2025

Bam Caruso Records (Caff Fanzine No2, 1987)

Caff Corporation was a short-lived Brit indie label founded by Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne fame. The label operated under the names Caff, Caff Records and Caff Corporation. Established in 1989, it ran until 1992, releasing seventeen 7-inch singles. The label grew out of a fanzine that Stanley produced with a fellow band member, Pete Wiggs. 

Here's a piece about the legendary (now) Bam Caruso label, founded by Phil Smee in 1983. Bam Caruso Records was a pioneering British independent label dedicated to reissuing rare '60s psychedelic, freakbeat, and garage pop/popsike music. The label is best known for its 'Rubble' series, a compilation of obscure British psychedelic tracks, quite similar in terms of quality to 'Nuggets' or 'Pebbles'. 



(Right click and select 'open link in new tab' for full scans resolution)


Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Primal Scream - Kill All Hippies (WTS Popkid No.2)

 

Once upon a time, Kris Kristofferson sat down and wrote "Me and Bobby McGee". My younger self would not have appreciated the reference, by the way. Punk rock put me through a fanatically anti-hippie phase, and this is something that I admit has not yet gone away. Could this humble blog post paraphrase this classic song as "Me and Bobby G"? After all, Primal Scream was a mainstay of my music diet since I left my parents' record collection to find my own way. Back when the internet was still the stuff of a sci-fi writer's imagination, I obviously didn't have the knowledge I have now. I grew up just by listening to a band that sounded like the Byrds at first and then like the MC5 and the Stones, and I had no problem with that. Even their acid house delirium seemed fantastic to me!

I now know though that Bobby Gillespie and I have a lot in common — more than I once thought. We both come from working-class families and our parents instilled in us a sense of political awareness, Marxism and pride in our social background. We are still fanatical supporters of the football clubs we grew up with and we love the music, books and films that shaped us as individuals with the same passion. Although Bobby is a little older than me, he is just as fanatical about rock 'n' roll mythology as I am. I imagine he still spends his money on records and books, just like he did back then — and just like I do.

We are also different in (many) other ways. He is the leader of one of the greatest British bands the last 40 years, while I am a network engineer doing nothing that interesting. He used to be the drummer in the most influential band of his generation, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and I am still a network administrator. An when I'm bored and have a little free time, I sit down and write little stories on my blog that probably no one cares about. OK I also share some knowledge and geekiness about the subcultures that shaped us and music that companies normally shouldn't chase. But we live in a capitalist society, so at least we know what to expect.

So, as my typical habits dictated, I wanted to make a compilation to transfer to my iPod for my summer vacation. I wanted it to contain a mix of well-known and obscure tracks. So I did just that and the more I listened to that selection, the more confident I became that this is perhaps the best collection of Primal Scream songs ever compiled by someone (the little devil on my shoulder tells me to relax, but I won't). Companies always concentrated on singles and greatest hits material, but I strongly believe that this one has everything for both newcomers and Primal Scream aficionados.

I then thought, "What's to stop me sharing it in my usual socialist way?" And here it is!

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

The Green Telescope - The Green Telescope Complete? (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.6)


The brilliant early '80s garage/psychedelic band from Edinburgh, Scotland. I mean, fuck yes! The Scots have produced so many amazing bands in so many genres and styles over the years, from garage punk and neo-psychedelia to C86, jangle pop, shoegaze and noise pop. I guess there must be something in the water.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lenny many years ago at a Thanes gig in Athens, Greece. Most of the conversation was between John Alexopoulos of The Sound Explosion and Lenny. I was just sitting there, watching in awe at how well-informed he was. Back then, I was more into the Velvet Underground-inspired bands than the Velvets themselves. But Mr. Helsing put an end to that.

Anyway, the band's original line-up consisted of Lenny Helsing on guitar and vocals, Bruce Lyall on organ, and Colin Blakey on bass. Before any records were made, Colin Blakey left and was replaced by Alan McLeann and the group then added a drummer, Gavin Henderson, soon after. Steve Fraser temporarily took over from Alan, playing bass on the three tracks the group recorded for the Psycho label compilation, 'The Waking Dream'. He also played on the recording of Pink Floyd's "Scream Thy Last Scream", which featured on the Syd Barrett tribute LP 'Beyond the Wildwood', released on Alan Duffy's Imaginary label a few years later, in 1988. The "Face in a Crowd' b/w 'Thoughts of a Madman" debut single was issued in 1986 with a new drummer, Mal Kergan on Wump.

The four-piece line-up of Helsing, Lyall, McLean and Henderson recorded the 'Two by Two' EP for Imaginary again. After this they would change their name to The Thanes Of Cawdor then shorten that to The Thanes. For some (really) strange reason, this outfit lacks a proper reissue treatment of their records or a complete works compilation, so I had to create one myself to secure new fans for them and their legacy.

Dig!

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Various Artists - Modernist Jukebox: Paul Orwell

 

This next one came up when I was searching for more information about Paul Orwell's influences (although it was obvious just by listening to his records). If you're not familiar with his music, the London-area genius will steamroll you with his retro energy. If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was a solo project from a member of the Pretty Things, Small Faces, or the Creation. In a word: Freakbeat! All the basic ingredients are in here, fuzz guitars, Hammond organ and tambourines. I love this guy because he's like me; he doesn't care if he's a mod or a rock 'n' roller. He likes his Fred Perry shirts as much as his bomber leather jackets. Fuck borders in any case!

So, I came across a Modculture.uk post from 2017 in which Paul picked his favorite tunes and made short comments about them. The problem is that this "Jukebox" playlist is on Spotify, and I can't stand people who listen to music on Spotify. To make matters worse, some of the tracks that this guy chose weren't in the streaming site's database. Enter White Trash Soul again to set things straight. The whole list could have easily been mine. If someone had asked me to compile an introduction to that era, I would have only changed a few songs. For example, I would have chosen the amazing original "Shadows and Reflections" instead of the punked version of "I'll Keep Holding On" by The Action. But nevermind, it's still a kick-ass song collection. Head over to the original post to read Orwell's remarks while listening to what I've made for you this time.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Rob 'Throb' Young, RIP




With grief read this morning the tragic news of Rob 'Throb' Young's death. The former Primal Scream guitarist was the original guitar hero in a band I grew up with and still has a special place in my heart. Rob was present in every zenithal Scream moment, especially on 'Screamadelica' and 'Give Out But Don't Give Up', both personal favorites of yours truly. A proper rock & roller indeed. We all gonna miss those licks and riffs...

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Cutmedeadnailmedownandkickmyhead" (LP, No Label JMC 10 - 1985)



For the Mary Chain diehards, probably THE BEST ever bootleg on vinyl! And quite rare as I checked on the net. I found many requests, many questions but very little information about it. Allegedly a 'Live at Westminster Abbey' recording but as I far as I know actually from a mini Creation Records tour of 1984. Anyway, I'm a big Mary Chain fan but not as huge to know such details, so if there's something wrong here, please advice. No track-list printed on the beautiful psych-punk sleeves or the labels, but it's almost sure that contains recordings from two (still unknown) different venues. Overall, a brilliant sounding boot (with an even better rip courtesy of Jean Philippe as usual!), from the classic line up (I assume) of Reid/Reid/Hart and Gillespie with great guitar mix and well chosen covers ("Barracuda", "Ambition", "Vegetable Man") alongside classic now toons. Early Chain at its most chaotic and fuzziest! Dig now, thank us later!


-Early Chain with McGee-


Monday, August 25, 2014

The Prisoners - "Hurricane, The Best of The Prisoners" (CD, Big Beat - 2004)

The Prisoners were among the best (if not THEE best) European garage outfits of the last 25 years or so, period! And if this post would have to end for some reason on the previous quote, it would have been as well completed and justice given!
Really now, I don't know what else to say about them except of the same old cliché that luck was never on their side, as in (m)any of the cult heroes in the history of rock & roll... And that many of the 90s Britpop heroes had them as an obvious blueprint and icons. The Charlatans, The Stone Roses, The Inspiral Carpets, The Shed Seven and The Ocean Color Scene are for sure some among them. None of them though had the guts and the gusto The Prisoners had. I mean, look at The Strypes... Are they an imitation of a lower quality or what?! OK they're not, actually they're quite good but I had to abuse a little the current trends, you know...
Heavy influenced by the Pretty Things of the "Emotions" era and the Kinks (of course!) with a nice ad of Booker T & the MG's, were as much mods as garage revivalists.  Great songwriting skills, danceable rhythm section, raw sounding guitars and heavy Hammond grooves are (in) the Prisoners' DNA. And Graham Day's one of the best and most faithful Marriott students ever. There's a whole lotta soul in here, I'm not joking. These guys really knew where to look for inspiration in the midst of a decade full of bad taste. And as usual Ace/Big Beat guys, did a hell of a good job with this cause that's indeed band's "finest moments all wrapped up on a single CD". Forget Paul Weller, this is still Britain's best kept secret, this is the real shit! Then came the Prime Movers and the James Taylor Quartet...

Pic taken from Ace website

Thursday, May 1, 2014

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Upside Down/Vegetable Man" (7" Single, Creation - 1984)

Fuck shoegaze this is pure rock & roll! And when I say rock & roll, I mean ROCK &
ROLL! As pure, dirty, sexy and violent as it meant to be originally. I know there's this old cliche about Mary Chain's sound, you know Beach Boys meet Velvets or the Ronettes fronting the Suicide or Neubauten nailing the Shangri-Las, but this is totally true. William Reid's chaotic, manic industrial noises are probably the closest thing ever to Ron Asheton, period. I really don't get all this art-fag nonsense about them... If the Cramps were from the Highlands they will sound and look just like the Reid brothers.
This single kick-started Creation's dignity and re-established Britain's proud on producing genuine rock & roll acts/records. And it's no exaggeration saying this single's one of the most important ever in rock & roll.
Don't know how many re-prints officially came out, the first one was surely dressed in black with red fonts but there's more as you can see in here changing main image's black color with pink, red and yellow. This copy as far as I know though, has to be the formal second UK pressing but I'm quite lost and no expert in this... Who cares anyway?  A guy called Neil Taylor who used to write for the NME said to Primal Scream leader, and Mary Chain's drummer during 'Psychocandy' era Bobby Gillespie, that they were the best band since the Pistols... And still remains I should add... 'Upside Down' stands still as a landmark JAMC song and Syd Barrett's 'Vegetable Man' is incredible as well. Dig!


Friday, February 28, 2014

The Beach Boys - "Mok's SMiLE Fan Mix" (CD-R, 2001)

Hey, I’m with a few days off after an exhausting tour on most Greece’s cities for work for about half a
month. So we came to my old lady’s parents yesterday to spend days supposedly ‘relaxed’. Of course no rest when you have two little boys around but can’t complain, I REALLY like the way they’re making my wife MAD (he-he)! So here I am once again, trapped in a city that has ABSOLUTELY no relation to rock & roll and art in general, a house with no stereo but three TV sets (go figure…) and as confederates to me, an iPod and a tablet with a good measure of music and books (BTW, go catch Bobby Keys autobiography, it's a must read)... There is only a big chain record store in the city with a good 99% crap on its shelves and nothing else… Having nothing really cool to do anyway I decide to give a chance (poor me) and kill time in there. For about an hour I was hanging around with no luck at all but with a weird confidence in companion and right when I was ready to give up, BOOM, The Beach Boys’ SMiLE Sessions Box dusty and unvalued, almost thrown behind shit like Michael Bolton was waiting patiently for how long who knows, for someone like me to understand the treasures locked in! I did one last move to check the price even if I had instantly determined to proceed and then there’s another surprise for yours truly… A ridiculously low price to make things even better... There's God somewhere, Brian Wilson was right!
I rushed myself home, opened my laptop, ripped the damn thing and spent the next few hours by trying to read the booklet or Keys’ book, but no way sir! I mean what in the world was I thinking of? Is there a way to hear such a gem and doing at the same time something else except maybe for chain smoking totally released from anything that's annoying?!
I’m pretty sure there’s no need to tell you people what SMiLE is for pop culture in general. There’s no way someone seriously involved with music to not know the whole story, mystery and legend that surrounds Brian Wilson's and Van Dyke Park’s masterpiece for so many decades. After countless bootlegs and reconstructions we’re able at last, to have an officially released monster and another one by Brian and his band (2004’s ‘Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE’) to fulfill the drawing!
Did I just say ‘reconstruction’? Oh well, there are many of them around the net and if you’re a Beach Boys lunatic, you’re gonna have already most of them if not all, right? Of them all I always carry with me on my external hard drive the ones been made by Purple Chick and Mok! I mean, listen again to these 'fan mixes' if you hold ‘em and take notice that in many cases predated ‘Sessions’. Brilliant, exceptional labors by fans for fans only! And you know our approach to this already cause we 've tried many times something similar, so anything created with love and passion by fans through this space always going to have reverence!
In case you 're getting it for the first time, here’s another chance to hear Mok’s SMiLE Version, arguably one of the best around generally and not only to the ones been made by fans. Words bellow by Mok himself:

"I did this Smile edit back in 2001 way before Brian put it all together and basically, it brings in all good quality elements of the original recordings to form a nice listening experience. It's not an attempt to create a complete album, but for the sake of being completionist, it includes almost every available piece from that era, just edited together in a more cohesive manner.

It seems the more time goes by the more nostalgic I get about the time before BWPS. That might not make sense, but there was a lot to dream of then, when Smile was a perfect figment in out imaginations, different each one. Although I was thrilled at Brian's finished album, this 'version' will always have a spot in the rotation. It was quite a surprise to me that after Brian's was done, people would still want to hear what I did - maybe it is that nostalgic thing in others as well. Of course, nothing sounds like the '60s... I continue to be amazed at how it seems every few weeks I am sending out a few more copies. The thing I enjoy most about it now is reading people's comments back - the connection we make through the material. Common emotions linking people in different states and countries. Anyway, just glad to know that there's other folks out there who 'get it' too. Feel free to pass it along to anyone you think would get something out of it.

I'm uploading it in an effort to post my original contribution to this phenomenon that so many were and are involved in creating and perpetuating.  Hopefully some folks will get a kick out of it, and for others, perhaps just a point of reference.

Thanks again,
Mark


Fan Mix - "Mok's SMiLE" - finished 6/28/01 ~ This is *my* created mix of Smile, long before the master finished it himself. Enjoy!

Source: Various boots (original silvers) > Pro Tools 5.2 (Mac) edit > bounced to 16-bit/44.1 kHz AIFF > FLAC (Total time - 62:28)

Here's a rough idea of what's on this disc and the work that went into it:


1 - Our Prayer
This is a synchronization of the beautiful stereo mix with the mono mix found on bootleg (which I believe is a more coherent sound).
2 - Heroes and Villains
This is an amalgamation of all of the great pieces of Heroes, in an order I find appealing. There are attempts at increasing the clarity of the mix made by using the isolated vocal tracks from Sea of Tunes synchronized with the main mono track (making a rough stereo). Longer than I would like (8:00) but I feel complete by the end. (probably 3rd most worked-on)
3 - Barnyard
Pitch matched the instrumental track from bootleg with the demo piano and vocal from the GV box. It fits, amazingly, although a considerable amount of elbow grease was applied.
4 - I'm In Great Shape
The 'waking up' sounds of H&V sections mixed into the actual wakeup "mornings tumble out of bed..." vocal/piano demo by Brian (a bit cleaned up).
5 - Do You Like Worms
IMHO, the right pieces in the right order, this track sounds amazing. I believe one of the finer sounding tracks, 99% in stereo. Vocal clarity was obtained by mixing splits (again) into the stereo track.
6 - Child is the Father of the Man
Hard to get great quality, since most of the material comes from acetates, but I mixed several different 'takes' and 'remakes' of this song into one, satisfying another completions urge. Nobody's thought of *this* yet. Lots of work went into this (probably 4th most worked-on).
7 - Look
Not much editing, just judicial eq to clean up - the sequencing of this song and the next are key.
8 - Good Vibrations
A GV 'greatest hits' edit - the best parts of this song mixed as if it was whole. Now I hear this edit when I hear this song on the radio (and it hasn't ruined it). Find it in your heart to forgive my hacks, I think it's worth it.
9 - Holidays
Segueing out of GV, Holidays is not edited, just cleaned up as well. This track and Look were 'done' IMHO. A clever way in and out of GV.
10 - The Old Master Painter
A tough edit of the stereo instrumental with the mono vocal mix. These do not sync up well, but my crossfades take care of the wonky-ness.
11 - He Gives Speeches
Padded at the beginning and faded out at the end, a minor touch-up to the "beginning of side 2" (for me).
12 - Wonderful
The version from the box set, unaltered. This is beautiful, and never should be messed with.
13 - I Love to Say Da-Da
I know, I know, Cool Cool Water isn't Da-Da, but I felt this made a better flowing track with the two edited together (water chant drops in the middle).
14 - Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
H&V intro is Fire. This segues quite nicely into Cow, and that dies out.
15 - Friday Night
After the craziness, the 'rebuilding' smoothness comes in. Stereo Version was cleaner, sorry for the right channel only woodwork. (Woodwork is always in mono!)
16 - Reprise
A reprise of the H&V theme, with no H&V-specific vocal. I thought it went well here. A cleaned-up edit and fade makes it leaner, but still nice.
17 - Vega-Tables
This was just love from the beginning. This plays everything I want to hear of Veg, with only a slight weird phasing that could not be avoided. So many sections with so many edits, this was probably the most intensive editing on the project. Mostly stereo (where it counts) and I 'never was lazy' putting it together.
18 - Wind Chimes
Almost the same edit as on the box set, but using stereo sources from the bootlegs for (better?) sound.
19 - CabinEssence
This incorporates the 'instrumental' sections from the boots (I can't ever go without hearing that) with the completed Carl vocal version from the box set. I cleaned up some of the vocals on this track so they stand out a little more.
20 - You're Welcome
Regardless of the intent, I couldn't resist putting this on there. Very little work involved, but it might be noticeable to others...
21 - George Fell Into His French Horn
I clipped a small section of this because I heard the segue from this track to the next in my head months before attempting this project. It makes me laugh and works in a way you would never expect.
22 - Surf's Up
One of the hardest things to work on in the project and ultimately the most rewarding. I love the stereo backing track, but wait, there's now Brian's demo vocal (and only Brian) in sync! Pitch correction, time compression, whatever it took, I had to do it just to see if it could be done. This was the whole inspiration for the project, and the last thing I worked on. Try not to cry when you hear it the first time. Goosebumps every time.
Ultimately it's too long and overstuffed to be an 'album', but there never was an album, and this is my way to feel totally complete with Smile (if one ever can)
." - Mok

Good Vibrations anyone?!

Monday, October 1, 2012

The 13th Floor Elevators - "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators - Original Stereo Mix" (LP, Inernational Artist - 1966)

Fuck fake ass psychedelia, SF late sixties hippie scene, peace, love and understanding! What the world (still) need's punk rock! In a time that bankers and religion leaders doing whatever the fuck they want, we 're not having the privilege of 'peace'. I live in a land that day by day all its social spar is collapsing in front of your eyes gloriously and swankily. Everything's for sale now (history, ethos, consciousness - the far right is growing rapidly and all this to the place that gave birth to democracy...) and you just don't have the right to remain in silence. Fuck your generation baby! And somehow all these shit are linked for me with the hippies. I mean, call me crazy you might be right, I never read for a 'leader' of today to admit he was part of the punk scene, but many for the opposite. I wish Joe Strummer to had an influence even a minor to some jerk up there but (naturally) he was not.
The Elevators were the only psychedelic band ever, all others were a bunch of lame ass imitators or some 'let's get some drugs and shag some chicks with a good reason' wankers. Period! OK Syd Barrett's Floyd were the European similar/twin but from there nothing else stands for psychedelic, at least for me (you see - I'm a very Democratic person, he-he!). And what seems crazy and weird to me still is the birthplace of this band. I guess Texas wasn't always the world center of obscurantists... And this is as groundbreaking as a record can be! Come on, you don't need me to tell you HOW IMPORTANT the Elevators were, right? A possessed bunch of acid punks, flushed on drugs and armed with the most dangerous rock & roll of their time. Roky was always a stoned murmuring James Brown in a mix with Dion and Syd Barrett and this album is the shocking ancestor of a generation about to come with 'dope, guns and fucking in the streets'. Thankfully Roky didn't had Syd's future. From time to time fed us with masterpieces like 'I Think of Demons' and 'Don't Slander Me' to quench our thirst. Anyway, what the WTS team has to offer is NOT the usual CD recently remastered version (or not) , but the old plastic grooved STEREO. I was never good at it so here's what Jean Philippe sent me along with the links:

"And FWIW, here's my 2 cents usual audiophile shit contribution (btw, what follows is also true for 'Easter Everywhere'):

As far as we know, the REAL original stereo mix of the 13th Elevators has never been reissued (even as a bootleg). In the late 70's, a slightly different mix was released by International Artist label. These LPs are known as 'Masterfonics' version (because that's what you can read in the dead wax). A good mix, but not as good as the true original stereo mix (some unnecessary echo/reverb was added), which has crystal clear high frequencies. Over the years, 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' has been reissued countless times, unfortunately not from the original mix, but from a very poor copy made from Masterfonics LP. You can easily tell which is which: on Masterfonics LP, the intro of 'You're Gonna Miss Me' has some distortion, and the intro of 'Don't Fall Down' is missing a few notes. The same mix was used for the pricey 2012 vinyl box set 'Music Of The Spheres'. International Artists record label claimed their stereo version is 'a remastered version of the original stereo mix', but that's not true, as evidenced by the aforementioned flaws found on the Masterfonics version. The 2010 CD box set 'Sign Of The 3-Eyed Men', contains an alternate stereo mix, not the original mix. Frankly, those two box sets look incredibly cool, but are a major disappointment sound quality-wise.


The first pressing of 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' is now very expensive and hard to find in good condition, but I'm lucky enough to have a very cool friend (JF) who owns a top mint copy –amongst many other Elevators rarities, such as the insanely rare French EP. So thank you JF, for allowing me to pick up this priceless LP from your collection to rip it for WTS readers pleasure.
"


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Julian Cope's N.M.E. article, December 3 -1983 'bout Garage and Psychedelia

I guess everyone knows who saint Julian is, right? Even if you're an admirer of his work or not (I am), Julian Cope is a person who has a deep knowledge for music (and i mean DEEP) and especially what many of us referred to as "psychedelic".  And we're not talking about hippy crap here sir. His webspace is known widely as "Head Heritage" and if you're not a regular already there, then you must start now (there's a link on the right pane of this blog, just click on it and you're going to have a bad trip assuredly!). 
Twenty seven Decembers back, Julian wrote a piece about garage punk and psychedelia on the N.M.E. paper. This piece turned over the years as an influential essay on what we called today "garage revival". Remember this, this article pre-dated all the Fuzztones and the Chesterfield Kings of this world. And it wasn't written by a Rudi Protrudi or a Greg Prevost but by the singer of the Teardrop Explodes! There was no internet and downloads. There was no plethora of bootlegged 45s in compilations and in the end, there was a huge blur of what was actually 'garage' and what wasn't. Many did the same mistakes as many now-days do again. Embroil psychedelia with the hippies. I wasn't able to read this by the time got out. I was just 5 years old, how could i besides? I found it re-printed in an old 'zine and that was it, my life changed! Then came Tim Warren and all things for me found its way. 
Now's time to do the same with the hope to attract as many new blokes as i can. And as Julian said, "Don't turn Hippy on me!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Dog-star rages! Nay 'tis past a doubt, All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out." - Alexander Pope

WHEN I TELL YOU about psychedelia, you can forget all the Peace-Love-Dove shit. You can forget about all the hippies you ever hated. You can forget about the understanding and the answer. Cast your mind back to the question.
Cast you mind back 5-10-20 years to the first time you ever thought about sex. When a penis, a vagina, were new words in a book.
They fit together, you say? One gets hard and one gets soft? That's repulsive, I'm going to be sick. Never think about it. Do my parents do it? Why did they invent it? Will I ever do it? Why did they invent it? I hate everything.
Your first psychedelic experience. The ship goes down with all your sanity.
So here we are - Psychedelia, when the question gets bigger and bigger, and the answer fades out obsolete.
Forget Timothy Leary and forget about the Tom Wolfe stories. When LSD hit the world, the intellectuals thought about it and the rest freaked out.
It's the rest we're interested in.
It's the rest who made the music. Not The Grateful Dead, not Quicksilver Messenger Service, not the Moody Blues. The ones we should be interested in are the 17-year-old kids from Birmingham to Albuquerque who took acid and tried to play old Van Morrison/Stones riffs. Suddenly they were something very new. True they couldn't play very well and the singer didn't know the words, but we all mean it don't we? So we could be bigger than anyone.

"Look out, I'm gonna get my seven Cadillacs, And maybe I'll drive around the World" - The Silver Fleet

THE SINGER in every great psychedelic group was 5' 10". He stooped because his friends were small and he felt like a spaz. He sung about being himself, his ideal self, which was really Mick Jagger.
His real life was a dry-wank.
This is psychedelia.
Garage-music overproduced in four track studios. Musicians who wanted to be so famous. fuck, I'd sell out if I know how to! People who were too nihilistic to ever get it together.
Say yes to - Ed Cobb, Sky Saxon, Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Eddie Phillips, Arthur Lee, Moulty, Mouse, Dave Aguilar, and all the others who never could.
In their hunchbacked Twilight Zone, they made the best, most formidable sound ever. Rock powered emotion in all kinds of music. Arthur Lee? you say. Wimp music! Sky Saxon? A spoilt rat-faced child!
Then fuck you I say. Fuck your lack of compassion, your world concern, and for forgetting the individual, the small want-to-be-big individual who tore out great handfuls of his soul for a promise of a no-meaning 15 minutes of fame.
I love them. I love their misery. I see their parallels strewn out in front of me: Patti Smith, with baby, in some Midwest Hicksville, thinking she is at peace. Marc Almond hysterical and praying for fame with an on-off switch. John Cale's waking dream of one daytime radio play. Peter Hammill seeing his reflection in Mega-Bowie, Mega-Gabriel, Mega-Marillion. They are many. And I love them too.
So forget the Hippy.
We're talking of pre-Hippy, when even the quietest music had an intent that could not be ruffled.
A three chord riff, delicate voice and; "Oh, the snot has caked against my pants," - Arthur Lee 1967
THIS IS psychedelia. One album, almost alone, inspired new love and attitude to the music.
"I just hope you have as much fun letting it spin as I did putting it together." - Lenny Kaye, on 'Nuggets', 1972.
For the time being, I shall presume that everyone has a copy of 'Nuggets'. If you know nothing else about psychedelia, you should know this. If not, put the paper down and go and listen to all the basics: The first Pink Floyd, 'Revolver', Traffic, The 13th Floor Elevators, 'Sgt. Pepper', 'A Web of Sound', 'Forever Changes', etc.
'Nuggets' was and still is the basic introduction. It gave us groups that were then so obscure but now, to a mass of people, are favourite listening. It introduced us to The Seeds, Chocolate Watchband, Elevators, Remains, Standells, Electric Prunes and so many others who had classic but unknown songs released. By now we know that had also recorded classic LP's.
But during the '70's, these LP's were sold next to garbage like Strawberry Alarm Clock, Josephus, Blue Cheer, Bubble Puppy, anything on International Artists. You had to listen to all the I.A. catalogue to find out that the only things necessary were the 13th Floor Elevators LP's.
Psychedelia was being sold as hippy music by charlatans who thought any journey-thru-my-inner-mind-man nonsense was hip.
But the influence of 'Nuggets' was deep-rooted. This supposed 2nd Division music was the real psychedelia.
"Between thought and expression lies a lifetime" - Lou Reed
SO HERE we are in 1967. The Beatles have already previewed what's going to happen with 'Revolver'. The Rolling Stones are about to give psychedelia a bad name with a piece of 90% trash called 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'. The Yardbirds are featured in Blow-Up, a far-out forerunner of Zabriskie Point where Jeff Beck destroys his guitar during 'Train Kept A Rollin'.
In the US the vanguard was being led by Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, John Cipollina and more mid-twenties graduates intent on rationalising the scene. The Doors had signed to Elektra, successfully promoting previous Elektra biggie Arthur Lee into Total Paranoiac.
And then came the group who drew the line between the hippies and the rest.
They were The Mothers of Invention. They had been signed as a blues band by an acid raving A&R man who committed suicide by self-immolation when the bill for their first masterpiece, 'Freak Out', came to over $20,000. The Mothers were unsafe and unsanitary; unhealthy leaders of the real underground.
Frank Zappa was shrewd enough (and old enough) to laugh at the very scene which bought his records. His songs were anything but the anthems-of-togetherness adored in Haight Ashbury. They were vile attacks on both straights and weirdos. Songs like 'Plastic People', 'Flower Punk' and 'Trouble Every Day' were vicious. Yes, you could laugh, but how did we know he wasn't laughing at you?
The Mothers sound even influenced the suburban punk groups. Teddy and His Patches, from San Jose, did a mind-blowing cover of 'Suzy Creamcheese', available on 'Pebbles III'. Psychedelia Piss-takes continued with 'I'm Allergic To Flowers' by Jefferson Handkerchief. The punks were becoming yippies, long haired peace-haters. It even swept to Britain with the Mothers-influenced Deviants.
In 1967, Frank Zappa produced 'Loose Lip Sync Ship', an instrumental 45 by The Hogs. The Hogs were really The Chocolate Watchband, a collage of musicians like by Ed Cobb, writer of 'Tainted Love' and producer of millions. Until 'Nuggets', The Chocolate Watchband were unrecognised. Now three LP's are re-released and there is even a new 'Best Of' compilation.
A raw diverse R&B group, they were the true psychedelic incarnation of The Rolling Stones. Clattering Bo Diddley beats, zinging guitars, their singer Dave Agular genuinely believed that Mick Jagger was ripping him off. At a time when the right place at the right time counted for so much, The Chocolate Watchband were horrendously mistimed.
Their only hit, 'Let's Talk About Girls', was recorded in such a rush that Dave Agular was not even there to sing it. Don Bennett, a writer and a friend of Ed Cobb, was asked to sing and it started a long relationship. Bennett also wrote some Standells songs and created a precedent for Ed Cobb: the producer used The Chocolate Watchband as a pallet for weird ideas. On the first and second albums the group playing is often utterly different from the supposed line-up. 'Gone And Passes By', the very best song they ever recorded, is a subterranean Stones, played like Brian Jones was actually getting his own way for once. Zing, electric sitar over zombie bone dance, cavernous recording and voodoo-Dr John, 'Walk On Gilded Splinters' into Beefheart's 'Kandykorn'.
Yes they hit low, but when they were up, they left everyone else wanking.
Richard Marsh was an image weasel, sucking on lemons and waiting for fame. In early 1966 as Sky Saxon, 'Pushing Too Hard' made his group The Seeds massive. On front covers of teen mags all over the US, Sky Saxon and his three suede cohorts stared out, eyes wrinkled and blinking, anxious to get back to their nocturnal two-chord world. The follow-up to 'Pushing Too Hard' was 'No Escape'. In all ways, it was the same song. Sky Saxon felt his one emotion very intensely.
You can make a commercial success of almost anybody. Lassie was massive and even Noele Gordon had her day. But in Sky Saxon, we have to draw the line. His ideas imploded and whole albums were devoted to the worship of the E and D chords. The other Seeds were his wanton disciples. Organist Daryl Hooper used the same solo in at least 10 songs. In one uncharacteristically different song, 'Nobody Spoil My Fun', the group has to shift completely during Hooper's solo, so intent is he on playing his regular part.
For the Seeds , success was an uncomfortable bonus. How could Sky Saxon maintain his role as the world's whipping post when they sold records? Titles like 'You Can't Be Trusted', 'It's A Hard Life', 'Can't Seem To Make You Mine'. 'Two Fingers Pointing At You', all sung by a 10-year-old hysterical brat, were to have limited appeal. Their LPs became primeval classics and Saxon held the banner for all punk singers. After three studio and one brilliantly fake live album, his focus became hazier and hazier. A change of style for a terrible blues LP and later a change of name to Sky Sunlight. The backyard and the world became one place. A bit like Roky Erickson.
The 13th Floor Elevators were the Texas group. On International Artists of Austin/Dallas/Houston, they had a massive hit with Erickson's 'You're Gonna Miss Me'. This had already been a local hit for Roky's early group, The Spades, in 1965. By 1967 he was eating peyote, the psychedelic desert drug, and turning on all the local groups who spent the previous months lamenting Texas' lack of surf.
There is now a brilliant six LP set called 'Flashbacks' available which includes covers of such Elevators classics as 'Splash 1' and 'Reverberation'. Tom Verlaine talked wildly of Televisions debt to the Elevators and songs like 'See No Evil' from 'Marquee Moon' are inspiring proof. Television even opened with a cover of 'Fire Engine' from the 'Psychedelic Sound of...' album and their live 'Arrow' LP includes a brilliant version.
Groups like Rising Storm and Mystic Tide took the brutal sound for themselves and even Iggy Pop was enmeshed for a while. 'Flashbacks III' includes an unsafe and magnificent 'I Can Only Give You Everything' by the Iguanas. With a young Jimmy Osterberg on drums and singing, the song nightmares along over cattle crossings and iron bridges. With a familiar Elevators screech-siren sound, the whole song begins and ends in the tunnel.
"I am from Mars," claimed Roky Erickson in an interview. The journalist wondered, had he any proof?
"I call my mother Ma," he replied.
After the first LP Erikson went into an asylum. The second album was written mainly by the other , more coherent members of the group. The only other weirdo was John St. Powell who changed his name to Powell St. John. Erikson repaired, came out of the asylum to record 'Easter Everywhere', the new album. After that he freaked out again and went back to the asylum.
There were no real weirdos in The Electric Prunes. They formed one maniac intent on destruction. All their early recordings are so raw, they are almost unplayable. On 'You've Never Had It Better', from the 'Everywhere Chainsaw' compilation, they are singing from purgatory to a world with no ears. Their manager, a TV personality called Ben Willow, was intent on making them huge. A deal with Reprise and a tab of acid for the in-house writers.
In Hey Presto time, Nancy Tucker and Mary Mantz gave them 'I Had Too Much Too Dream Last Night' plus a follow-up 'Get Me To The World On Time'. Both singles were classically produced psychedelic punk, fake far-eastern organ and ratty vocals. The songs were hits but the LP was a real bore. They didn't seem to have much control and it was mainly wimpish slush.
'Underground was their second LP and is still available. It was their classic. More in control, they start with the brilliant 45 'Great Banana Hoax', Bo Diddley rhythm and squealing Farfisa. The whole LP was massive with its scythe guitar sound and Pete De Freitas clatter. On 'Hideaway', the drums go crazy and the guitar shrieks. On 'Children Of Rain' the organ phases in a familiar funfair avalanche. On 'Antique Doll' the bass is treacherous, the voices sweeter than need. It's their only consistently great moment. After this they gave over power to a writer/arranger called Dave Axelrod. He is guilty of producing two of the weakest ever albums; 'Mass In F Minor' and 'Kyrie Eylson'. These are bogies up the nose of a great group. Amen.
THE BASICS of British psychedelia are far better known. We've all heard 'See Emily Play', 'All You Need Is Love', 'Paper Sun', 'Hole In My Shoe', but it's hard to separate the good from the shit. Psychedelia here became as style. Every group had a rainbow-abstract-world-in-my-head sleeve. Even Vince Hill and Noel Harrison had 'weird' hits. If they were noticing it, it must be selling.
But what about the others? What about the failures?
The biggest losers were The Creation. They were so close to making it. Pete Townshend asked their guitarist, Eddie Phillips, to join The Who. He wouldn't so Townshend joined The Creation fan club.
Because of their lack of success, Creation fans tend to over-rate them now, so intent on telling us what should have been. True their songs are pretty great. 'Painter Man' and 'Life Is Just Beginning' are so like nursery rhymes, so hummable. When Boney M had a hit with 'Painter Man', it was no shock.
Onstage The Creation were pop-art; Kenny Pickett would stop singing and spray-paint a canvas behind him. Eddie Phillips used a violin bow before anyone, and on all their records, his guitar is so barely controlled that it often feeds back during verses. Edsel have released 'How Does It Feel To Feel'. It's a put together LP and it's great.
But even more manic were The Misunderstood. Like some blues version of the Pop Group, plundering both The Yardbirds and Bo Diddley, and ending up like Captain Beefheart; all crescendos and screeching steel guitar.
Until last year their recordings were rare, rare. Then Cherry Red put out the 'Before The Dream Faded' LP. Get it, it's good. I used to hate 'Who Do You Love', but their version made me rethink, it's like a different song, even delicate in parts. Of course they weren't successful, but they did leave California and live on chips for a year while they tried to make it.
For most of the American groups the major influence was obviously The Rolling Stones. But look further and you'll see the other main groups were The Pretty Things and Van Morrison's early group. Them.
Listen to any US compilation and Them feature everywhere in both songs and attitude. Versions of 'Gloria', 'I Can Only Give You Everything' and 'Baby Please Don't Go' are found throughout. Other songs such as 'Mystic Eyes' were a perfect blue-print for the plundering US garage groups. Listen to The Rising Storm, the Mystic Tide duo, and The Moonrakers.
The Shadows of Knight hit big with their version of 'Gloria' and took Them's style for 'Oh Yeah' and 'Light Bulb Blues'.
Ironically, early Them singles featured session men backing Van Morrison. Decca, in their usual three-piece suit attitude, had no faith in the group.
Eventually, Them split from Morrison and went to Texas, the place which had always loved them so much. They recorded some of their best songs there, such as 'Dirty Old Man' on the 'Moxie' no. 2 EP.
'NUGGETS' INSTIGATED a whole new genre: The Psychedelic Compilation. In 1979, two sets of these albums appeared called 'Pebbles' and 'Boulders'. Both were influenced by Lenny Kaye's 'Nuggets' idea but on a far more wanton and amateur scale. Tracks were often so obscure that no tapes were available and the original scratchy single had to be used as the master.
For a while, these two were essential. They gave a glimpse of previously unknown groups. They have also built into hefty sets. 'Pebbles' now has twelve LPs and 'Boulders' nine.
I've never been a fan of the 'Boulders' series. The sound quality is poor and the tracks are available on many of the newer compilations. But 'Pebbles' still has many essential volumes in Numbers 1,2,3 and 5.
Volume 3 is pure garbled garage psychedelia. Some of it is just plain terrifying.
On 'Spider And The Fly' by The Monocles, the singer is a ten-year-old whose body is turning into a spider. He cries "Help me, help me" as he devours his mother, thinking she's a fly.
Of 'Flight Reaction' by The Calico Wall, it is impossible to print a description. If you don't have this album then buy it. Is it essential? Is the moon made of cheese? Songs with titles like 'Horror Asparagus Stories', 'The Reality Of (Air) Fried Borsk' and 'Suicidal Flowers' are essential to any collection.
The volume you have to have is No. 5, the Punk Masterpiece. Every song has the same theme:
singer meets girl, girl bogs off
singer loves girl, girl screws singer's arch rival
singer loves girl, girl is unaware of singer's existence
On 'No Good Woman' by The Tree, the singer berates his girlfriend, "You're ugly and you're fat, and you've got no teeth". Why does he stay? He sings the whole song with his finger pointed at her throat. "I bought you two Mustangs, and a Cadillac".
The album treats women as though they were a tank regiment, to be beaten down into submission.
Unfortunately the latest compilations now make 'Pebbles' and 'Boulders' seem pale in comparison. While these two have wandered into boring areas, the new US and British albums are getting rawer and more far out than ever.
THE HEIR to the 'Pebbles' throne must be the 'Psychedelic Unknowns' LPs. At first just a two EP set, five albums have now been issued. These include real classics: most obviously 'In The Past' by We The People. 'In The Past' also covered by The Chocolate Watchband, is one of the most beautiful psychedelic songs ever, with a high balalaika guitar sound and raga rhythm. At the time, We The People were complete unknowns but the Eva label, from Paris, has issued their 'Declaration Of Independence' album which is raw and beautiful.
The Calico Wall, refugees from 'Pebbles', turn up with a death wail called 'I'm A Living Sickness', a kind of walking pace Doors. Other names from 'Pebbles' included The Squires and The Split Ends, and there's a double speed cover of Love's 'My Flash On You' by The Sixpence.
I've talked about the 'Texas Flashback' series before. They really are necessary but are now very hard to get. Easier to find is the 'Mindrocker' series, again on Eva. You may find you have doubles of certain songs but it's justified because they are all so good. Volume 4 is easily the best. Based on an old bootleg called 'Acid Visions', Eva has added four Moving Sidewalks tracks and created a new LP. The sound is better than the earlier album and cheaper, but you don't get the wonderful one-off sleeve.
I won't spend vast amounts of time on each compilation, but there are certain vital ones and 'Back From The Grave' is a biggie. The guy who has released its two volumes is a maniac. Into the music at 12, he is now 25 and spends his time driving a hired car the mid-west of America in search of gems. These albums are worth it for the sleeve notes alone.
The groups on these albums are true danger. Long hair? No Faggot Way!! The Malibus, The Brigands, Ralph Neilson & The Chancellors. You'd never get names like that in a psychedelic revival. And at the top of the pile is The Nova's version of 'The Crusher'. Sung by a 200lb. redneck, it devours the Bananmen version.
The same attitude reigns for 'What A Way To Die', a new US compilation and probably the best so far. Subtitled "Forgotten Losers From The Mid-60's", it is incredible, so violent and fucked-up.
From Chicago, and probably with Lou Reed writing, are The Beechnuts with 'My Iconoclastic Life'. As the sleeve says, it is one of the scariest records ever.
"My life is nil, I just take pills
sit for hours just watching the flowers".
Richard And The Young Lions are another one-off classic with the amassed guitars and tubular bells on the start of 'You Can Make It'. They're featured on the sleeve and look like members of five different groups. Other big features are the Human Beinz before they wimped-out and the first ever Standells recording. Whoopee!
Others to look out for are 'Psychedelic Sixties' volumes and the two 'Off The Wall' albums. These are very much garage psychedelia.
For out and out wierdos, look for 'Mindblowers'. The sleeve is a bit cosmic in orange and yellow swirls but the music is faultless, with an early 13th Floor Elevators recording of 'Tried To Hide'.
But the true find is 'Go Insane' by The Doors. It's one of three acetates left and is a blues-rant of song later to become 'Celebration Of The Lizard'. I love it. Morrison sounds so young, unformed voice and no chest beating. For Doors freaks , it's on White Rabbit Records.
The final US essential is 'Psychedelic Moose And The Soul Searchers', an album of magnum opuses ranging from Mouse and The Traps wail of Jeremiah's 'No Sense Nonsense' to The Blue Things 'Orange Rooftop Of Your Mind', a kind of Yardbirds thing, Actually, The Blue Things appear on about seven different compilations and each track is incredible. And there we leave America.
THE BRITISH COMPILATION scene is very restrained compared with its US partner. Albums like 'Not Just Beat Music' have been around for a while but the brain damage was only really started with 'Chocolate Soup For Diabetics'. Now running at three volumes, 'Chocolate Soup' is out-and-out classic.
Volume 1 opens with 'Train To Disaster' by The Voice. Like waiting for a late night tube, it comes screaming out of a tunnel and pummels you in the head. Typical end-of-the-world lyrics and snotty, sneering vocals. It ends in a pandemonium of guitars and treads your face into the ground.
The Misunderstood are featured but even they are upstaged by the mania of The Craigs' 'I Must Be Mad'. It's 'I Can See For Miles' at breakout speed, a commando raid of guitars, the drummer frantically over-playing to make up for his lack of time-keeping.
On The Tickle's 'Smokey Pokey World', the melodies are bright and the acid-guitar line is so pure and simple. One real weird-out is a group called One In A Million. Both of their featured songs are The Jam if they hadn't "Souled-Out". Gruff Weller voice, identical Foxton harmonies, how I wished they'd gone in this direction.
Chocolate Soup has a companion album of psychotic R&B called 'The Demention Of Sound'. Far more raw, it features The Bow Street Runners and The Sorrows, both raw and unmanageable. If you like Cherry Red's Misunderstood LP then you'll love this. Syn, who are on 'Chocolate Soup', are featured here as their blues incarnation, The Syndicates. 'Crawdaddy Simone' is a blues 'European Son', surging across the Russian Steppes.
The man behind Chocolate Soup is Sean Gregory. I've no idea who he is but I love him for his records and for his sleevenotes.
Chocolate Soup also has a two-volume brother in 'Electric Sugar Cube Flashback'. Pressed in the US it features many of the Chocolate Soup bands plus other oddities such as 'Jabberwocky' by Boeing Duveen & the Beautiful Soup and 'Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens', an early Family song when Roger Chapman still sounded like Fergal Sharkey. Best track is 'Gong With The Luminous Nose' by the ubiquitous Fleur De Lys. They have tracks on many compilations, each one a Who/Yardbirds dream of a song.
"Nine times the colour red
Explodes like heated blood" - The Zodiac
That colourful piece of doggerel is included to warn you. There may be many great new LPs around but some of the compilers are obviously intent on flooding a brilliant market with Hippy crap.
For example, if you buy 'Perfume Garden I' you get a brilliant shot of charged punk psychedelia. You get The Eyes, The Birds, and a whole load of riches. But beware if you buy Volume II, you get a whole bunch of hippy and pre-heavy metal with a couple of classics thrown in. I read a 4_ star review in Sounds and smelled an incense burner reviewing it.
The Psycho label which releases 'Perfumed Garden' is a weird conglomerate of classic and bad. Similarly, 'Endless Journey I' on Psycho is dirty and brilliantly fucked up whilst 'Volume II' is failed Mellotron groups who would have killed for a Roger Dean sleeve.
Anyway, enough slagging good intentions. The final album deserving of a mention should really go in a "miscellaneous" category. It's 'Ugly Things', a compilation of Australian psychedelia. I included it here because of its British sound; very Yardbirds, very Pretty Things. They promised Volume II about three years ago. But while that has never surfaced, the rest just keep coming.
IF ANYONE is wondering "where's the Byrds section?" and "what about Buffalo Springfield?" forget it. Yes, they were great too, but everybody knows about them. Everybody should know about these groups, too. I hope in 1996, there are articles about Aztec Camera, Flipper, The Undertones, Alan Vega, Pere Ubu. Everyone remembers them now. But everyone should remember them always.
If anyone is wondering where to buy these albums, them you'll just have to look. The best shops are Vinyl Solution in London, Midnight and Venus Records in New York and maybe G.I. Records in Edinburgh. You can find them everywhere if you try.
I hate revivals of any kind so I hope the Psychedelic Revival has finally died down. But one group that has to be mentioned is The Chesterfield Kinds. Their LP could be from 1967, so close is it to the original. They only record the most obscure classics and are pure Chocolate Watchband.
I hope loads of people can be moved by this music but I have one savage plea:
Don't Turn Hippy On Me.


DISCOGRAPHY (Some have no record label)
Nuggets (Elektra)
Chocolate Soup For Diabetics, Vols. 1, 2, 3. (Relics Records)
Pebbles Vols. 1-12 (BFD)
Boulders 1-9 (Moxie)
Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks 1 & 2 (A.I.P.)
Back From The Grave 1 & 2 (Crypt)
What A Way To Die (Satan)
Mindblowers (White Rabbit)
Psychotic Moose & The Soul Searchers (P. Moose)
Texas Flashbacks 1-6 (Flashback)
Ugly Things (Raven)
Off The Wall 1 & 2 (Wreckord Wrack)
Psychedelic Sixties 1 & 2 (Cicadelic)
Acid Dreams
A Gathering of the Tribes (and Son of...) (Bona Fide)
Mindrocker 1-8 (Line)
Demention of Sound (Feedback)
Perfumed Garden I (Psycho)
Endless Journey I (Psycho)
Glimpses 1 & 2 (Wellington)
The Chosen Few (A Go Go)
Psychedelic Unknowns 105 (Calico)
Magic Cube (10")
New England Teen Scene (Moulty)
Everywhere Chainsaw
Relics (dB)
Oil Stains (dB)
Burghers
Texas Punk Groups (Eva)
Sound of the Sixties (Eva)
High in the Mid-Sixties
Hipsville 29 B.C.

BEWARE OF...

Perfumed Garden II
Endless Journey II
Glimpses III
Pennsylvania Unknowns
Houston Hallucinations
Echoes In Time

Julian's piece copied from here

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request Mono Edition (Bootleg CD)

Ok let me set myself clear...I FUCKIN' HATE PSYCHEDELIA! I mean it man - as Johnny Rotten used to say! With a few exceptions to what most of the world refers to as "psychedelic" I'm all the way against it! If are psychedelic (which they are...) the 13th Floor Elevators, i adore them. If are psychedelia the Chocolate Watchband, the Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd (and ONLY with Syd Genius on the band,OK?) or some Nuggets 7inch singles, I'm in! But unfortunately, psychedelia aren't these things. I'm very bored to explain why i hate so many things under this tag but i think it's obvious. I hate Hippies, i hate San Francisco and most of the bands there (lightning exceptions are the Flamin' Groovies and the Charlatans but these lads weren't "IN" between the hippie dictatorship of the era!) and yes Grace Slick was a hell of a chick but it was too grubby for my tastes!
The one and only psychedelic masterpiece ever to this one track mind blogger is "Their Satanic Majesties Request" by the Rolling Stones! Yes, an album that the Stones themselves fuckin' hate! OK, we knew that they're (now) morons but they were also THEE BEST ROCK N ROLL BAND and for a magical reason (sold their soul to the devil...?-don't know i really can't explain it) what they created between their first album and "Goat's Head Soup" is undeniably hot blooded, raw, manic, sex-setional at every sense music!
I'm sure when they cut it, all they have in their minds was a good reason to swallow tons of drugs and that's a good excuse of course and at the same time to make laugh of the trend, cash-in for their pockets and return a few months later to their well known rock n' roll raunchy blues amalgam!
If we must be honest to ourselves, the Stones were psychedelic before this. Tracks like "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby", "Paint It Black", "Child of the Moon", "Dandelion", "We Love You" (Lennon and Maca did the backing vocals here!) and "Please Go Home" are perfect examples to what psychedelic music is-hands down!
I RESPECT the Beatles more than you can imagine but "Sgt. Pepper" was a fanfare without reason! Anyway, this boot here is the shit in glorious MONO! Adds the "We Love You"/"Dandelion" single with the original 7inch mix and some more rough mono mixes and rehearsals. I believe that this is the ultimate edition of the record and forget all the new "expanded and remastered" treatments that saw the light of day until today!
This is the BADDEST TRIP you might confront, enjoy it man!

PS: "Citadel" has the BEST garage riff ever produced by human hands!

This MASTERPIECE uploaded by http://collectors-only.blogspot.com
Thank you man!

320Kbps!                                                     Satanic Majesties!