[ aquarius records — Rock Pop 60s Psych Garage ]

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Showing results 951 through 1000 of 1515.

Everyone should own these two records. If you don't already have them you should get this new reissue of both on one cd. The fucking kings of garage. The Seeds are tough and menacing with sneering vocals and a rad style. They are one of the all time great

RealAudio clip: Pushin Too hard
RealAudio clip: Cant Seem to Make You Mine

Surface crackle, yes! And the record from which this cd was transferred sounds maybe a little warped. But no matter, we like all that!! Makes it all the more psychedelic, eh? This is a reissue of some potent Turkish protest pop from the '70s, featuring folky strumming, irresistible Anatolian grooves, and Selda Bagcan's beautiful, often urgent-sounding voice. Sounds like something that should immediately be of interest to any AQ customers into radical East meets West psych-folk from Turkey (of which we know there are plenty, nowadays!) particularily those who've already heard Selda via the inclusion of her songs "Bundan Sonra" and "Ince Ince Bir Kar Yagar" on the recent and quite recommended Turkish installment of the Love Peace and Poetry series ("Bundan Sonra" shows up here, too). As alluded to above, this certainly isn't digitally remastered from the pristine master tapes, but at least folks that put out this cd deserve kudos not only for digging it up for us but also providing lyrics and liner notes in the cd booklet -- although the lyrics are given only in the original Turkish, with no English translations, which would have gone a long way to making Selda's message more understandable to us today, outside of Turkey. Ah well. At least the liner notes, which are in English, provide some context. It's a little unclear, but it seems that Selda was considered a subversive figure by the repressive Turkish government at the time. This record may in fact have been banned -- at the very least we're told that original copies were (and are) hard to find due to government disapproval. And Selda was banned from foreign travel at least until 1987. The first 12 tracks on this cd are from a 1976 album entitled Selda Vol. 2 (aka Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi, it seems), and then there's also eight additional, bonus tracks taken from Selda singles released in 1971 and '73, songs that are slightly less-rock, more-folk than the Vol. 2 material (which are already pretty folky). However, electric guitar, whining and fuzzed, figures into a few of this disc's tracks, while a lot of the rest is much more in a traditional (if electric) folk vein, with lush arrangements and a great emphasis on Selda's powerful, emotional voice. To be filed with your reissues of 3 Hur-el and Mogollar (members of which are apparently are in Selda's backup band for some of this)...

MPEG stream: Utan, Utan
MPEG stream: Askerin Turkusu
MPEG stream: Bundan Sonra

Oh Selda! We are soooooooo in love with your voice! We first heard you on the amazing Love Peace and Poetry compilation of Turkish psychedelic music and ever since then, we just wanted more more more! Last year we got our Selda fix with a collection of vinyl transfers released by World Psychedelia, and now finally we get another full serving of Selda that we've so desperately been craving! No surprise that the fine folks with impeccable taste at B-Music/Finders Keepers are responsible for this amazing collection of Selda at her best! With a singular voice that demands and grabs your attention with such utter flare, seduction and style, Selda is truly a musical treasure who we're sure will win the ears and hearts of just about anyone who listens. Every song has a rich musical backdrop, perfectly cradling her lovely vocals, with a sound that has no easy genre lines to point to, but that so few have touched on with such perfection. It's psych-rock and glorious pop, it's folk and funk, it's fun and dramatic, its whatever it wants to be, and it's a collection of songs with absolutely no misses! There is a playfulness in the performances that totally imbue the songs with a rich full color fever that just can't be denied. While some reissues exist more for history's sake or for just a couple cool tracks, this is one of those records that requires repeated listening, and lord knows we have listened to this over and over and over. In some ways we even think of Selda like a Turkish version of Asha Bhosle, with that sort of amazing voice that turns everything it touches into musical magic. Way beyond recommended!

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MPEG stream: Yaylalar
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Hurrah! We've long been waiting for the opportunity to list something by Italy's Sensations' Fix. A long time ago, we encountered their debut album Fragments Of Light (1974) and were immediately smitten (it also was a great "secret weapon" to use whenever we were called upon to DJ a set of vintage psych/prog music or what have you). But reissues of anything by this spacey synth-based '70s trio have been seemingly impossible to find. We were excited, however, not too long ago when the Emeralds-approved Spectrum Spools label added a vinyl reissue of the 1975 solo album by Sensations' Fix leader Franco Falsini to their catalog of amazing unearthed cosmic electronic artifacts. That record, Cold Nose, or Naso Fredo, we described (well, raved about) as a gorgeously cinematic longform take on psychedelic new age music, a spiralling composition of EMS and Moog washes and floating guitar lines that reminds us of krautrock legends Michael Rother and Manuel Gottsching, with stratospheric guitar leads over organically pulsating synth treatments, constantly shifting and shimmering. Sounds good right? That brings us to this very welcome archival double cd (or triple lp) set released on the obscure electronics oriented RVNG label, featuring 30 tracks taken from Falsini's tape vaults, including several alternate mixes of material from Cold Nose, alongside alternate versions of songs that appeared on all five albums released by his band Sensations' Fix circa 1974-77. Plus a number of previously unreleased tracks from those recording sessions as well. Sensations' Fix and Falsini recorded everything in a home studio, on a TEAC 3340 4-track machine, so fortunately Falsini still has access to all these productions and was able to personally select and mix the tracks for this RVNG anthology release. Especially fortunate considering that apparent record label business BS has thus far prevented the individual, original Sensations' Fix albums themselves from coming out again under Falsini's guidance, though we can still hope for full reissues someday. Regardless, this is a wonderful and extensive sonic glimpse into the spacey output of Sensations' Fix, if occasionally therefore somewhat lo-fi. The blissfulness of Cold Nose is too part of the Sensations' Fix sound, but also there's some krauty rock grooves (some sampled by DJ Shadow, we learned from the liner notes) alongside the electronic-based driftworks. And they have a quite lovely "pop" side to 'em too - while mostly instrumental, some tracks do have gentle, Robert Wyatt-ish singing to go with the hazy, meandering, meditative atmospheres. It's definitely not the usual sort of quasi-operatic, over-the-top, classically influenced Italian prog that we're used to (and love), from bands like Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Le Orme, or Osanna, no. Also fairly far from the sinister soundtrack funk of Goblin. Rather, Sensations' Fix have more in common with the kosmiche krautrock electronics of the era, and also may have indeed been influenced by the Canterbury sound of bands like the Soft Machine, so one Italian prog act we could compare them to would be Picchio Dal Pozzo. We could also compare 'em to a kinder, gentler version of Richard Pinhas & Heldon, from France, with a similar futuristic co-mingling of synth (MiniMoog) and effected guitar, for sure. Music Is Painting In The Air is handsomely packaged, with a booklet full of those aforementioned liner notes presented in both English and Italian, written by RVNG's Joshua da Costa (who like us was also smitten by Fragments Of Light when he first heard it) and Franco Falsini himself. These notes, while not removing all the mystery of Sensations' Fix, reveal much interesting information... like that prior to SF, Falsini was in a "space-blues" band called Flying with Dave Anderson of Hawkwind & Amon Duul. Or that their debut Fragments Of Light actually consisted of basement demos recorded not in Florence Italy, but Alexandria, Virginia, where Falsini had temporarily moved with his wife, who was American. Which is where Falsini found SF's drummer, also an American, and also the guy who turned him on to LSD...

MPEG stream: Fragments Of Light
MPEG stream: Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 5
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Collaboration spearheaded by Zbigniew Karkowski and compiled from performances in Tokyo, London and Berlin. It featuring performances by KK Null, Tetsuo Furudate and 17 other musicians edited into one intense track that builds with caustic fury into a wall of sumptuous noise.

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SORRY. Now on cd, the archival reissue of stuff by this heavy psychedelic rock outfit. From Texas, circa 1970, and heavier than fellow Texans Josephus, man. And, it seems, one of the members is soon to be released from prison (!), so this is timed just right.

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SORRY.

'60s instrumental rock sensations. If you like the echoey guitar sound of Joe Meek (esp. as heard on "I Hear a New World") then you'll cream all over this record. Includes the "Thunderbirds Theme."

Another collection of '69/'70 material by Steve "Peregrine" Took's post-Tyrannosaurus Rex acid-folk-rock outfit, mined from the bottomless vaults of Shagrat drummer/co-conspirator Twink. Includes demo versions of songs previously released on the recent

Last time, we listed a cool comp on the Pharaway Sounds label, good groovy fun stuff from the Persian hit parade circa the seventies, before the Islamic Revolution in '79 anyway. Little did we know that Pharaway Sounds had THIS up their sleeves next, something just a bit more rockin' and freaky from the same scene, and even more to our liking, naturally. A 'best of' collection from Iranian singer/songwriter/producer Shahram Shabpareh, twelve tracks total, each of 'em a treat. It's a wild ride, this disc packed with swirling Eastern melodies, rampaging rhythms, and fantastical mirror ball funk, plus some strange surprises. It's sort of thing that gets you staring at your stereo once in a while, like when the Moog synths get really goofy, or it seems like the conga player has forgotten when he's supposed to come in. Also, Sharhram was the drummer in one of Tehran's top (only?) garage rock bands in the sixties, The Rebels, which helps explain why you'll hear some garagey fuzz guitar here - including, on the track "Woman", an excellent repurposing of the "You Really Got Me" riff by The Kinks. Shahram's music is all about the exotic bombast of his totally over the top arrangements, with horns, hand percussion, vocals and keyboards all vying for supremacy. There's moments that sound like Gershon Kingsley gone Bollywood, and some, like the stomping, storming "Hel Yo Sar", or the surefire hit "1975", that are a sort of psychedelic disco music to the max. Comes with extensive liner notes, complete with vintage color pics, that tell the whole Shahram story (he lives in LA now, still makes music, and has a teenage daughter who's a cheerleader).

MPEG stream: Leila
MPEG stream: Woman
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Kitschy sitar / Moog classic from 1970, featuring a great cover and some amusing covers ("Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire") alongside Shankar's own Indian music meets Western pop experiments...pretty cool. Finally reissued legit.

Reissues of pretty good obscure '70s prog-psych albums, while not a dime a dozen, aren't exactly hard to find (at a shop like ours, anyway). But when the band's from Jakarta, Indonesia, and they're called SHARK MOVE we get extra excited. Just look at the colorful mythology of the cover art. How could this not be cool? And it is. Originally released in 1970, the sole album from Shark Move is a treat for anyone into the long-haired hippy prog excesses of the day, spiced with an extra special something due to being from a non-Western land, where these guys were REALLY freaks for making this music... UK prog stylings derived from the likes of Genesis and Deep Purple are mixed with some more traditional Indonesian musical motifs, and not all the lyrics are in English. Also the results are further warped away from normalcy by the third-world production quality, which we'd say is a good thing. With serious songs, complex arrangements (keyboards, flute!), and melodramatic doses of both thee gently melodic and thee instrumentally bombastic, Shark Move were certainly musically ambitious. A trait perhaps best exemplified by the sweeping nine-minute opener "My Life". Meanwhile, the fuzz-heavy shambolic riff-tumble of "Evil War" with its exotic coloration via keyboard and guitar soling is another of Shark Move's selling points. The sweeter stuff (often on the tracks sung in their native tongue) is nice too, and definitely sets them apart from their European and American contemporaries. Thanks to Shadoks we get to hear this, which has been remastered and has new liner notes for this reissue, all done with the participation of Shark Move's leader, founder, and only surviving member, Benny Soebardja (lead guitar/vocals). Shortly after recording this album, the band's keyboardist was tragically killed in a traffic accident, and Shark Move came to an end, although Benny has continued to rock on with some other groups, including one called Giant Step that may also get a Shadoks reissue we're told.

MPEG stream: My Life
MPEG stream: Evil War

Classic acid folk reissue.

Not the Speed, not the Glue - it's just the Shinki, here. After reissuing the two classics of drugged out early '70s Japanese heavy psych by proto-metal power trio Speed, Glue and Shinki, makes sense that the Phoenix label would turn their attentions to the solo effort by that band's guitarist, Shinki Chen, originally released in 1972, also featuring Hiro Yanagida on keys, and George Yanagi from Flied Egg / Strawberry Path on bass and vocals. For those keeping score at home, this doesn't get nearly the love from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler as do Shinki's albums with Speed and Glue, but we still figure any Speed Glue & Shinki fan will certainly wanna check it out, 'cause it's pretty cool in our book. Truth is, as far as STONER rock goes, its hard to imagine music much more stoned than this comfortably numb slab of swirling, psychedelic blooze rawk. Just look at the album cover... crazy long hair, red eyes, puffing on a joint... that's this album, all right. It starts off with a weird, semi-ambient opening track, "The Dark Sea Dream", five fairly abstract minutes of tinkling piano, barely-there percussion, distant voices (?), amp buzz and feedback drone which would fit right in on a current Miasmah label release, say. After that, the "regular" (though quite relaxed) rock n' roll kicks in, on melodic blues-based songs with such wonderful titles as "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern", "Gloomy Reflections", and "Corpse". Shinki's guitar gently weeps, his riffage more slumbering than lumbering, the rhythms lazy and loping, everything often overwhelmed by blissed out layers of synth shimmer. And it's all quite enjoyable in fact, with a vibe sorta similar to the California dreamin' of Captain Beyond's Sufficiently Breathless (though without the jazziness of that album, which we just realized we've never reviewed!). And definitely of interest to fans of Too Much, Far Out, and of course SG&S. In any case, Shinki and friends fuzz it up nicely here, and remarkably enough, on the album's last cut, the nearly 13 minute long "Farewell To Hypocrites", they suddenly start to display some energy, the drummer at last bestirring himself, making for a rousing finale to a record that otherwise often sorta sounds like heavy Hendrix on 'ludes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if you're in the mood! Hmm, maybe they recorded this last track first, who knows? Limited, numbered, mini-LP sleeve styled gatefold packaging.

MPEG stream: Gloomy Reflections
MPEG stream: It Was Only Yesterday
MPEG stream: Farewell To Hypocrites

Awesome mix, as we would expect from firsthand experience, when he DJ'd in the store!

The music on this cd represents the entire recorded output of this obscure early '70s acid-rock band. Shiver recorded this stuff live to two-track tape in the summer of 1972, and while they never released an album back in the day, it's clear that the world is Basically, Shiver were a bunch of hard-rocking hippie freaks, brought together by a Texas-bred drummer who moved to San Francisco to take up where his obvious heroes Blue Cheer left off. They soon had a rather rough, tough reputation, playing Haight street fairs and Hells Angels biker parties. At one point they even had a singer with an iron hook for a hand, which he could use as a slide for his guitar, or for more violent purposes. Shiver played "heavy psychedelic rock" at its most primal -- no overdubs, raw as hell. Portions of this were previously available as an expensive Rockadelic LP, but the cd adds quite a few extra, lower-fidelity tracks as a "bonus."

RealAudio clip: Bone Shaker

If Googoosh and Shirley Collins were somehow melded together into one incredible singer, you would have Shusha. Shusha was a Persian singer from the early seventies most famous for her debut album, Persian Love Songs and Mystical Chants from 1971. But her love of music extended beyond her native Iran towards the British folk of Shirley Collins and Sandy Denny and the American protest music of Dylan and Joan Baez. That is what inspired her on these two 1974 recordings, Shusha and This Is The Day. Reissued together for a very affordable price, these two albums of chamber folk-rock divide time between English-sung originals, covers and reworkings of traditional British songs and poems. No native songs here, the only inkling that we're given that Shusha is not English born is her woozy phrasing on some of the American covers such as Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and the Elvis Presley social ballad, "In The Ghetto". But her singing really becomes transcendent on the British traditional material, where her range is allowed to soar around the song structures rather than being confined by them. This is an incredible discovery of two rare recordings by this amazing singer. Fans of Bridget St. John, Vashti Bunyan, and Joan Baez take note!

MPEG stream: Ariel
MPEG stream: Wind of Keltia
MPEG stream: South of The Great Sea
MPEG stream: Bye Bye Johnny

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. A new Silver Apples? Yessir, and produced by Steve Albini no less. Simeon and his new band, which we already know are great live, take to the studio for a new opus (with some re-recorded classics included).

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SORRY. Seminal electronics-and-drums duo self-issue their second, impossible to find album. Essential. [As if that isn't enough good news, Andee asks that we mention we're selling his original *vinyl* copy of Silver Apples' selftitled album, a steal at $75. Not sealed (cover is near-mint and has a little promo hole), vinyl is in mint condition, with original full-color poster.]

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SORRY. "Decatur is a voyage of pure exploration beyond the broad established horizons of electronic music. It is an adventure into the perceptions of an unparallel universe all its own." That's what it says on the back, and who are we to argue with Simeon? 42 minutes, one song. Recorded and produced by Tom Smith.

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SORRY. Original Silver Apples drummer Danny Taylor, one half of that famed duo, has been found! On March 17th of 1998, Danny heard himself on the radio and called the dj. The dj emailed Simeon. Simeon immediately drove 300 miles to see Danny. They reminisced in Danny's attic over old Silver Apples paraphernalia. They discovered some lost tapes. Seven complete songs from 1969 and a tape of Danny playing percussion instrumentals in 1968. So this year, Simeon added tracks over top of those to finish the tracks and a new album of fourteen tracks is now available. The Aquarius kids are divided on whether we like it. I would say that though it's a little awkward sounding (not as polished as the first two), it's a great document of an exciting time for music. And it's much better than Decatur. If you consider yourself a fan, you'll be thankful to have one. The only question is--if this all happened in March, why wasn't Danny at Terrastock?

The first, self-titled Silver Apples lp, from 1968 is a brilliant, landmark recording of swirling, pulsating early psych/synth "rock", from the duo of Simeon (playing a self-built synth called "The Simeon") and Danny Taylor (drums), and comes highly, highly recommended by all here at AQ. The follow-up, Contact, from 1969, is also awesome. The major label that owns these records finally woke up and here is the result: both Silver Apples albums on one disc, complete with new liner notes by Simeon himself and diagrams of their instrumentation etc.

MPEG stream: Oscillations
MPEG stream: Seagreen Serenades

In the annals of the "early heavy", the Sir Lord Baltimore (from Brooklyn) is up there with the likes of Dust, Bang, and yes Blue Cheer. Too bad their two albums have been pretty much out of print for ages, the last official cd reissue, a two-fer, was back in the early '90s. But, proto-metal fans rejoice, 'cause now both SLB records are back in action, individually, on vinyl! 1970's Kingdom Come and the self-titled 1971 sequel, both of 'em essential slabs of heavy hard rockin' from this seminal band in heavy metal history. The debut, with the spooky trippy "ghost ship" painting on the cover, alone justifies SLB's cult status. Very few bands in 1970 were this heavy (though, it must be said, Black Sabbath were on an other level entirely). Aside from the primly pretty, baroque ballad "Lake Isle Of Innersfree", this whole record is pretty much a frenzied fuzz blaster par excellance. And when we say fuzz, we mean FUZZ! Just check out the title track, a majestic six and half minutes mixing tripped out lyrics with savage bursts of ultra distorted guitar. There's definitely a sixties vibe to the proceedings; you can imagine bikers totally digging it. And it's as energetic as the proto-punk coming out of Detroit at the time, too. The follow-up album is a little fancier, more diverse, and dramatic, the band expanded from a trio to a quartet, with extra instrumentation (acoustic guitar, organ). There's a 10+ minute prog epic called "Man From Manhattan" (which still gets heavy!), but also ragin' rockers like "Woman Tamer". And you get to hear SLB kicking out the jams in concert on the live track "Where Are We Going". What's not to love about this band? They're a Sir, they're a Lord, they even have a singing drummer! So if you haven't yet been flattened by SLB's fuzz, time to add these to your collection, especially if said collection already includes the likes of High Tide, Tiger B. Smith, Highway Robbery, Leaf Hound, Toad, etc.

MPEG stream: Kingdom Come
MPEG stream: Master Heartache

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Some sort of psychsploitation artifact, all Floyd covers!

Even if we didn't make this Record of the Week, we'd probably still be selling quite a few of 'em, as we're sure we've got a lot of knowledgeable record-collector-type customers for whom adding this to cart will be but the work of a second, the second after their eyes bug out upon seeing the artist and title listed above. But since this reissue is not only of an incredible rarity but also of an incredible record, we wanted to make sure everybody heard about it, besides those for whom it's already a "holy grail". Yep, Joakim Skogberg's original 1972 Jola Rota LP definitely falls into the highly obscure "holy grail" category, a lost treasure for lovers of weird, wonderful acid-folk and underground psychedelia. The sort of thing that develops a legend that it can't possibly live up to... but then DOES, blowing minds when it's finally reissued. The sort of thing that's whispered about among connoisseurs of psych, written of in a few select fanzines and blogs, heard only by a lucky few who got an Nth generation cassette dub or cd-r burn from a friend, who got it from a friend, and so on. The sort of thing, that even a few years after a brief exposure to its wonders, will make you stop and think every once in a while, dang when is someone finally gonna reissue that amazing obscure album??? Some other recently excavated examples would include Moolah's Woe Ye Demons Possessed, Bobb Trimble's Harvest Of Dreams, and Gary Higgins's Red Hash... and before that, once upon a time Comus's First Utterance too would have fallen into that category. Bruce Haack's Electric Lucifer as well, though originals of that were and are much MUCH easier to come by. Whereas *this* album was originally pressed in an edition of around just one thousand copies -- of which only a few hundred were ever sold back in the day, with the remainder of the pressing being, gasp, melted down to be recycled into other LPs! So, here it is, artist Joakim Skogsberg's lone album Jola Rota finally, officially reissued for the very first time! Our hearts went pitter pat when we found out. We first heard this when our friend Loren Chasse (of Of/Thuja/Jewelled Antler/etc. fame) floated us a cd-r burn he had gotten from a pal overseas a couple years ago, as per the scenario outlined above. He figured we'd like it, and of course he was right. What's not to like? Swedish-forest-folk hippie ritual mixed with droned-out psych guitar. Truly strange, and captivating, vocal mumble. And, get this, it was actually mostly recorded out in a forest, on portable reel-to-reel gear!! Once out of the woods, the raw recordings were overdubbed (Skogsberg being responsible for all sounds on this album) in studio, but remain quite raw, the mystery and majesty of northern landscapes, dark shadowy places, placid lakes, tall trees and moss-covered rocks utterly alive in the music of the nature-loving Skogsberg. Side One starts off with "Jola Fran Ingbo", which introduces Joakim's unusual "Jola" singing style derived from Swedish trad folk, also heavily influenced by Buddhist chant, accompanied by staccato bowings of ominous violin. Immediately this is waaaay darker than most other Swedish folk/psych we've heard! Seriously droney and austere. That's followed by the more freaked out, rockier "Offer Rota", which finds Skogsberg singing whilst pounding away on percussion and unfurling a thick layer of distorted guitar murk, with what sounds like a Jew's Harp warbling in the background. The next piece, "Fridens Lijor", on the other hand, is an unaccompanied vocal piece, close-miced and intimate, all about Skogsberg's fragile Jola babble... Beginning side two, "Besvarjelse Rota" builds up a dubby, bassy electronic rhythmic whomp-whomp throb beneath its damaged psych guitar wail, that (in our warped imagination) foreshadows modern minimal techno a la Chain Reaction, "heroin house" beats.... could almost be Pole jamming with Algarnas Tradgard or something! Later, the lengthy "Jola Fran Stensate" harkens back to the solemnity of the album's first track, and then "Jola Fran Leksand" winds up this unique, amazing trip with something of a pagan campfire dance piece, for folky fiddle and rattling hand percussion. Overall, though, Jola Rota's mood is solitary and ceremonial. Skogsberg not a guru leading his followers, but rather one man, inspired, singing devotional songs to nature, in personal communion with the ancient deities of Sweden and the universe... it IS universal, probably why it sounds simultaneously like krautrock and Tibetan worship and Native American prayer-songs. The universality of the drone, and the human voice in spiritual reverence regardless of language. At its droniest, many moments here recall Parson Sound or the aforementioned Moolah. Totally, magically mesmeric. Wow... EVERYONE who's heard this since we got it in has been entranced. And we're extra happy that not only has this been reissued, but that the reissue was done by our pal Johan's Tokyo-based Tiliqua Records (along with EM Records, one of our absolute favorite reissue labels from that part of the world, or anywhere else). Which means, it's done up deluxe, packaged in a swank miniature gatefold LP-style sleeve, and it's been remastered from the original tapes with the help of Skogsberg himself. There's also new liner notes and previously unpublished photos of the long haired and bearded (of course) Skogsberg included. Nice! Sadly, this too is limited to a one-time pressing of only 1,000 copies... and unlike the original vinyl edition, we doubt the label will be left with any unsold copies to recycle! FYI there will also be a super, super limited (and expensive) vinyl version of this coming on on Tiliqua in May, not sure if we'll be able to get any of those at all or if they'll be a label-direct preorder thing only...

MPEG stream: Jola Fran Ingbo
MPEG stream: Offer Rota
MPEG stream: Besvarjelse Rota

Some early '70s vintage, groovy orchestrated French psych-pop sound good to you? Maybe even better if created by a very hip, mystic-minded musician (Skornik) inspired by LSD and the esoteric writings of a controversial Gurdjieff disciple (Louis Pauwels, author of counterculture bestseller The Morning Of The Magicians)? Well then have we got a reissue for you!! Guy Skornik's Pour Pauwels is a fantastic progressive pop opus, its symphonic, psychedelic sounds mixing together dramatic French vocals (both spoken and sung), romantic piano, moody melodies, jaunty horns, sudden curlicues of psych guitar wail, and more. A song-based soundscape, almost cinematic, it's for fans of the freakier side of the Serge Gainsbourg oeuvre for sure, a la Historie De Melody Nelson. Freakier than that, really - this was originally issued in 1970 by the Pathe label, who around the same time also released records by Igor Wakhevtich and Gerard Manset, and this fits right in with the likes of them. If you're like us, oui oui this sounds good, in fact it's pretty much irresistible. The thick cd booklet, in both French and English, features very interesting and extensive liner notes, delving into the careers of both Skornik and Pauwels, including an in-depth, present-day interview with the former.

MPEG stream: What Is Realite?
MPEG stream: Je Ne Sais Pas, Je Ne Sais Plus Rein
MPEG stream: L'ile de Paques

Fuzz guitars, sitar-psych, blues licks, flamenco influences, anarchic comedy, melancholic pop brilliance: that's Smash! Nope, not something new at all, this is actually a 2001 release reissuing music much older than that. Y'know, not only do we try to review as many crucial new releases and newly reissued things as we can (which isn't nearly as many as there are, unfortunately!), there's also all kinds of not so new, but new to us (and quite possibly new to you, too) stuff that we come across and really really dig and want to let y'all know about too. This would be one of those things, just discovered by Allan last year. Now we have finally got enough of 'em to write up on our list. Smash were a psychedelic rock band from Spain that flourished from 1969 to about 1972 or so, and this double cd compiles their complete recorded output as far as we can tell -- all their singles, both their albums Glorieta De Los Lotos and Esta Vez Venimos A Golpear (aka We Come To Smash This Time), and their half of a split LP. 32 tracks on two cds! And it's all pretty great. Since it's everything they ever did, the music here explores wide territory...from the blues to rustic folk to raga rock to psych pop to hard rock heaviness. Variously, Smash would seem to have been Spain's answer to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin, all. We're also reminded a bit of Os Mutantes at times. And we can make a couple of more modern comparisons: the slow n' sad beauty of Smash's "I Left You" totally could be a song off that Elope album we loved from last year, and their dark, drifting "Look At The Rainbow (Flying In The Sky)" is a dead ringer for something by Japanese psych shamans Ghost! They do it all, and really really well. Just imagine that Musica Dispersa reissue we recommended recently, if they also cranked things up occassionally to rock n' roll ya on a Mississippi mountain side... The last time a double cd of vintage psych stuff impressed us this much would have been when that amazing Public Nuisance collection came out.

MPEG stream: I Left You
MPEG stream: Behind The Stars
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This reissue isn't new, but we overlooked listing it when it came out and it's GREAT so figured better late that never. A one-off symphonic pop-psych masterpiece circa 1968, one of the many lost classics of the era, and really this is so good it's hard to understand how it wasn't a big hit. Listen to these songs and you'll wonder why as well. Southern California's The Smoke (not to be confused with the UK's Smoke of "My Friend Jack" fame, though these guys sound British too, and use British spellings and Peter Max style artwork) weren't really a band, but more of a studio concoction, the brainchild of 20 year old wunderkind producer Michael Lloyd, who was a founding member of the legendary West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. He also was responsible for producing (and writing most of the songs for) the lone album from '67 by a band called October Country. Like that fine band (whose Michael Lloyd-penned "theme song" is reprised here), Lloyd's own The Smoke is Beatles and Beach Boys influenced big time, total paisley pop perfection. Lloyd sure knew what he was doing. And we'd be surprised if discerning DJs haven't mined this album for breaks, what with all the fanciful baroque prog bits and lush orchestration in there alongside the wistful balladry. Perhaps since The Smoke didn't play live, album sales never took off. Too bad, but we're so glad it's been reissued. And Lloyd at least went on to a very successful career as a producer for a bunch of big names in the '70s and '80s so you don't have to feel bad for him. But we think you'll be definitely happy to add the likes of "Cowboys And Indians" and "The Hobbit Symphony" to your personal '60s popsyke hit parade...

MPEG stream: Cowboys And Indians
MPEG stream: Gold Is The Colour Of Thought
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Woah! We've got the return of a way, way, way, WAY OUT electric guitar and drums duo document here, an improv maelstrom of uber DISTORTION freakout action that proves there's nothing new under the sun, 'cause this was cranked out by two long haired American hippies back in the early Seventies. In the annals of underground noise, they deserve a special place. This is proto everything! Mick Barr, No Wave, Ascension, Rhys Chatham, Glen Branca, Sonic Youth, High Rise, The Blue Humans, Dead C, Harry Pussy, Lightning Bolt, D!O!D!O!D!, even the Rangda we listed a couple weeks ago... heck, we're hearing all of that here. Wow. A total feedback and bashing attack, but not negative in attitude or anti-musical at all. In fact, it's presented with a lot of positive hippy-dippy charm ("listen for the time when the drums play themselves - when the spirits in the drums themselves are dancing" - that's a quote from drummer Bob Thompson found on the '98 release, and the title Daily Dance comes from the writings of Ken Kesey of Merry Prankster/Acid Test fame). Yet, it makes one of their own influences - The Stooges - seem square in comparison. These two go further in channeling spiritual free jazz a la Coltrane and Sanders into a stripped down, amped up primal "psych rock" context, it's hard to think of many earlier examples of such out-rock exploration. And it was also totally DIY punk too - of course, no label back then, or now for that matter, would have seen much commercial potential in this volume-dealing duo's pioneering skronk fest! Daily Dance was recorded in 1972, and subsequently released as a private press lp in '73 via Carla Bley's New Music Distribution Service. It was reviewed favorably by Creem magazine in '77 (you can see, this didn't get all that much attention when it first came out, but has grown in cult status over the years), with Doug Snyder's guitar squall indeed compared to James Williamson of The Stooges. Snyder also cited the Velvet Underground and Sonny Sharrock as his guitar influences... Japan's Masayuki Takayangi was probably unknown to Snyder at the time but we bet he'd have been into him too, though the Daily Dance duo definitely are more ROCK than they are jazz. Or at least, they manage to combine rock and jazz without coming close to "fusion", not that there's anything wrong with fusion, good fusion anyway, but there's lots of bad fusion and this ain't either. Now it's been reissued on cd for the second time (the previous edition, from '98, is long out of print) and on vinyl as well, making it available to a new generation of improv noise rock freaks. [Vinyl? Yes, unfortunately we're out of stock on the vinyl right at the moment, but will get it back in soon, so please let us know if you want a copy in that format.] Pretty neat to hear music "like this" being made for what might have been the very first time, certainly Snyder and Thompson were "pushing the envelope" as they knew it then, advancing into territory not entirely mapped out by things they'd already heard. And even if it wasn't from '72, anyone who likes loud, full-on freakout, rhythmic skree, and droney noisy textures will be variously entertained, whether it be by the moody, mystic feedback and percussive shimmer that closes out the epic title track, or the dense rumble of "Teenage Emergency" at the end of the disc that makes us think of Sharrock playing some sort of static surf music... Lion Productions, in association with Cantor Records (responsible for the vinyl reissue mentioned above), has done this up nicely, in a fancy Japanese-looking miniature lp style paste-on sleeve, complete with obi. Remastered from the original tapes, and packaged with a 20 page booklet with liner notes and photos. Nice! FYI, this compact disc edition also includes a previously unreleased two-minute bonus track, "Unseen, Unheard", that was left off the both the original and reissued vinyl for reasons of space (and it's not on the previous cd version either).

MPEG stream: Daily Dance
MPEG stream: Hit And Run
MPEG stream: Teenage Emergency

Got a couple of these in, the first album from the '70s Greek hard rock/psych outfit Socrates Drank The Conium. If you dug their On The Wings album that we listed a little while back, you may also want to check out this reissue. Originally released in 1972, their debut isn't quite as ripping as the totally off-the-hook On The Wings, but it's got plenty of wailing kick ass guitar work nonetheless. Unlike On The Wings there's only one guitar in the mix, but when he gets cooking with the bands' driving rhythm section backing him up he really takes off. There's also some more laid-back, rural psych moments on here, but mostly hard boogie-blues-acid-rock numbers harking back to Cream and Hendrix, assuredly big heroes of Socrates Drank The Conium. They've got something to say through their music as well, as titles like "It's A Disgusting World" and "Underground" indicate, although the band's lasting message might not really be one of radical politics but something more basic: rock on!

MPEG stream: It's A Disgusting World
MPEG stream: Starvation

Contains six tracks of the 30 from the 2cd anthology The Lizard Years. Gatefold, limited to 500 copies for the world.

MPEG stream: Circle Of Love

Contains eleven tracks of the 30 from the 2cd anthology The Lizard Years. Gatefold, limited to 500 copies for the world.

MPEG stream: Wise World
MPEG stream: Stroll-On

If you really know your '70s Indonesian psych rock, or (like us) at least picked up the great Those Shocking Shaking Days compilation we raved about a while back, then the name Benny Soebardja may be familiar to you... he was lead guitarist and vocalist for fuzzy progsters Shark Move, and also appeared on that comp with his later band, Lizard. The Lizard track, "Candle Light", we said was so classic '70s sounding, that it coulda been the Indonesian answer to the Steve Miller Band! Well, delving deeper into the dusty grooves unearthed by Those Shocking Shaking Days, the Strawberry Rain label (who did the same with another Shocking Shaking Days alumnus, AKA) now presents this deluxe double cd, compiling all three private press lps that Benny & Lizard released circa 1976-78. (All 3 are also 'available' as individual vinyl reissues too, in rather limited quantities though, in fact, the first one so limited we never even saw it.... we do have the vinyl of Gimme A Piece Of Gut Rock and double lp Night Train though.) On this cd collection, there's 30 tracks, including the aforementioned "Candle Light", all of it great psychedelic stuff, definitely groovy, with English lyrics, progressive chops, fancy frenzied fretwork, lovely harmonies, sizzling synths, spacey mellow moments, and a special vibe indeed. You might get into this initially for all the fuzzed out, "heavy, maaaan" moments, but you'll find yourself coming back for prettier, melodic pop parts too. For sure, this collection reveals Benny S. to be quite the talent in that area, melody being crucial to all these songs, whether he and Lizard are doing heavy rock or jazzy discofunk or Beatles inflected popsike (or some crazy hybrid of all that at once). He certainly didn't limit himself, and it doesn't take titles like "A Signal From Outer Space" to recognize this as truly progressive music (and by the way, that one, which ends disc 2, lives way up to its title!). Lotsa gems here, and it even seems to get better as it goes along, with some of the strongest stuff coming from Lizard's last album, Night Train, though we love it all. Comes with an informative, illustrated 36 page book, the works.

MPEG stream: Candle Light
MPEG stream: Loosing Time
MPEG stream: Circle Of Love
MPEG stream: Wise World
MPEG stream: Stroll-On

13 tracks of prime Soft Machine.

Elton Dean, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge, and Lyn Dobson live 1970. Another fine entry in the seemingly never-ending series of archival recordings being dug up of this classic Canterbury rock-jazz act.

Recorded live for German radio in March of 1971.

Oh how nice! Want to feel the glow of summer's warmth no matter what it feels like outside. Som Imaginario have got the golden rays for all of us to bask in. Brazil, 1970 -- and yeah start thinking Os Mutantes and the Tropicalia revolution of sound. While they never got the wide attention that some of their peers would end up receiving, their music was just as dazzling, delightful and adventures as those whose names are now much more known (Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, etc). Som Imaginario were a six piece who initially came together to back up Milton Nascimento for his short lived Brazilian TV show. This their debut was never released outside of Brazil until now, and with Os Mutantes launching a reunion tour this spring, the time is ripe for other wonderful sounds from that scene to finally resurface. Equal parts sun soaked pop, fun-freak-out and an underlying irreverent spirit make this one of those reissues that doesn't just sound cool in theory but you actually want to listen to it over and over.

MPEG stream: Super-God
MPEG stream: Tema Dos Deuses

A couple of lists ago, we awarded Record Of The Week status to the fantastic Soundway compilation The Sound Of Siam, a collection of vintage '60s and '70s psych/pop music from Thailand (and it just came out on vinyl too, which we're listing this week). Dunno about you, but The Sound Of Siam only whetted our appetites for more, though we had to wonder, who could possibly top that? Well, if anyone could, Japan's EM Records, one of our favorite labels for eccentric, unexpected reissues, would be a good bet. As if on cue, here's EM's first entry into the '60s Thai music reissue market, by the group Son Of P.M., so named because their manager, one Phayoung Mukda, was the father of their keyboardist and arranger, Khabuan Mukda. (Amusingly, their name is making us think of the '90s hiphop groups Son Of Bazerk and P.M. Dawn, neither of which this sounds like of course!). Son Of P.M., and spinoff group P.M. Pocket music, who feature on 3 of the 14 tracks here, were part of Thailand's "Shadow Music" scene back in the day, "Shadow Music" being the uniquely Thai synthesis of their own ethnic folk styles with Western rock, surf, Latin, go-go, and other pop sounds. It's an exciting, groovy, colorful hybrid indeed, a good example being the title track, with its swirling keys, chiming Thai xylophone, wailing group vocals, and drum breaks. Specifically, Son Of P.M. considered themselves to play "Modernized" or "Modified" Thai music, as EM notes that means their use of traditional Thai melodies and instruments (various gongs, drums, flutes, fiddles, etc.) has been augmented with electric guitars, keyboards, and other modern/Western instruments. Despite that, though, to Western ears this is still gonna sound way more Eastern than otherwise. Though the final track here, "King Of Drums", does get pretty darn surf-rock, a la The Ventures or the Surfaris, it's a bit of an outlier, the majority of this is less "rock" sounding, and seems to us to have more in common with the orchestral "exotica" of Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny, which is cool too. Delightful stuff, sure to put a smile on your face and a wiggle in your hip. Another winner from EM. Unfortunately for us, though, the liner notes in this gatefold cd sleeve are all in Japanese.

MPEG stream: Manohraluifai
MPEG stream: Horse Step Dance
MPEG stream: Kaektoimor
MPEG stream: King Of Drums

Like the Onna above, here's another release from Japan's PSF label that we've been meaning to highlight for a while (they put out too much good stuff!). Finally we have enough of 'em in stock to list (for months we've been selling these steadily just by playing it in the store, actually). As the evocative/informative subtitle indicates, this is an archival collection of recordings by one Satoshi Sonoda... who he? A guitarist and composer in the realm of post-progressive rock, and new music avant-garde, part of the late '70s Japanese university scene, with connections to both psychedelic drone minimalists East Bionic Symphonia and noisepunks Gaseneta. From the subtitle, you'll also note that this release is dedicated to the late bassist Yasushi Ozawa, best known perhaps as a member of Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha. He apparently had quite an impact on Sonoda both artistically and personally. The seven tracks here find Sonoda performing with several different lineups/projects/units, several of which feature the presence of Ozawa. The first three tracks are all credited as Sonoda compositions, though they seem just as likely to be group improvisations, and are variously designated as by Free Music Space ("1") or Free Music Revolt ("rehearsal" and "session"). The very first piece, eleven minutes long, reminds us a lot of the oldest Onna stuff, dreamy and spacey, freaky and folky, a combo of raw wandering psychedelic jamming with majestic melancholic vocal balladry. Beautiful. The second track is even longer, over 24 minutes, and encompasses enthusiastic violin string scrape, somnolently nodding grooves, and free form freakout action. Very cool, as is the shorter but similar (sans violin) track 3. Next, tracks 4-6 are by a band called ANARkISS, performing live, and are more punky, with angular raucous jagged guitar, as well as some shakuhachi and sax and what they call "scratch noise"... one of the songs is a Kan Mikami cover, "Piss-Soaked Lake", which figures. The disc then finishes up with the sounds of Free Music Space 6, a large ensemble improv blow-out entitled, "Bound, Opened". The cd booklet contains super personal and detailed liner notes in tiny, tiny type from Sonoda himself, with his recollections of the era, discussion of various personalities including of course Ozawa, and track-by-track commentary on the material included herein. Interesting as that all is, you definitely don't need to know what's in the liner notes, or even what we've mentioned in this review, in terms of historical context or whatever, to enjoy the sounds on this disc. Like we said, just playing it in the store got people plenty intrigued. The unique vibrations from far away and long ago documented here still resonate and compel.

MPEG stream: Dusk, Darkness, Then Dawn
MPEG stream: Poly-Performance
MPEG stream: Piss-Soaked Lake

Another amazing compilation of Cambodian psychedelic music recorded from the late sixties to the mid seventies. This comp, culled from much crate digging in the open air markets of Siem Reip, right next to the legendary temples Angkor Wat focus exclusively on songs performed and sung by legendary Cambodian vocalists Sin Sisamouth and Srei Sothear. Sisamouth is a name that should be familiar to all fans of Cambodian psych, as he is featured heavily on pretty much every single compilation of Cambodian psych from that time (including all four of the Cambodian Rocks comps of course). Sisamouth wrote thousands of songs, many performed by Sothear, and many for films in which she also starred. The two become partners and eventually became two of the most (if not THE most) famous singers in Cambodia. Tragically, both were killed by the Khmer Rouge -- as were their bands and of course millions of their fans. Their musical legacy they left is staggering. Thousands of amazing tunes, from garage rock stomps to full on psych rock blow outs. Wild guitars, buzzing distortion drenched leads, groovy wah wah rhythms, and organs all over the place, whirring, wheezing, warbling, all fuzzy and thick, sometimes spitting out nimble high end melodies, other times a thick carpet of psychfuzz, add in some James Brown funky horns, wild drumming, and some of the most amazing vocals ever, that go from croon to wail to squeal to howl and every place in between, and you've got some of the wildest psych-rock ever made! Full color psychedelic sleeve with liner notes on the back. All proceeds of the sales of this album go to the United Nations' Cambodian relief fund Adopt-A-Minefield. you can learn more or donate by going to http://www.landmines.org.

Yes! The Sound of Feeling were a short lived but influential avant jazz-pop vocal group who recorded one full length album called Spleen in 1969 and a split LP with Oliver Nelson in 1968. Along with a handful of unreleased bonus tracks from the early seventies, Up into Silence collects their complete recordings. Comprised of pianist / arranger / singer Gary David, the counterpoint microtonal vocal talents of twin sisters Alice Rhae and Rhae Alice Andrece and rounded out musically with 2 bassists and a drummer, The Sound of Feeling updated the jazz-scat vocal style made popular by Lambert Hendricks and Ross and The Singers Unlimited by channeling John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk instead of Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong. But at times also referencing 16th-century madrigals, Bartok, the poetry of Paul Verlaine, as well as Simon and Garfunkel and Donovan amongst their many touchstones. Beginning with their take on Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things", the first five tracks are from the split LP with Oliver Nelson. The four others are all originals including "Circe Revisited" which features the unusual instrumentation of Marxaphone, an autoharp type instrument with strings tuned to a microtonal scale. But it's their full length album, Spleen, where the group gets the most interesting. Opening with a bass and piano hook that has been sampled many times, the group's take on Donovan's "Hurdy-Gurdy Man" is one of the strangest and beautiful versions we've heard, taking the song through so many peaks and valleys (and even out on a few limbs) that never materialized in the original. With tracks like "Hex" and "Along Came Sam", it seems they left the jazz world altogether, and entered a lysergic avant chamber pop territory, with the basses, piano, vibes and drums alternating between killer breaks and restrained near-silent passages amongst the oddly tuned vocal acrobatics. The final 5 tracks were previously unreleased as the group were attempting to expand into hipper territories in the early seventies. The best of them, "Born Amongst The Eagles", continues with the amazing drum fills and some very strange vocal effects. Predicting the vocalese fusion style of Ursula Dudziak and Flora Purim, The Sound of Feeling were like a strange cocktail of Patty Water's Out vocals and the cool groove of Norwegian jazz singer Karin Krog. Their recognition is long overdue!

MPEG stream: Hurdy Gurdy Man
MPEG stream: Hex
MPEG stream: Born With The Eagles

Lovely Medieval-tinged French Acid Folk. Like Springuns or Ougenweide or an even more ancient minstral version of Fairport Convention. Full of Sitars, Lutes, Hurdy Gurdy's and lilting male and female harmonies.