Over the last few years, thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of a bunch of excellent globally-focused "research & reissue" labels, the typical AQ customer, as a dedicated sonic adventurer in the pursuit of cool music, has likely amassed quite a collection of vintage international pop, often on the psychedelic side of things, lots of great stuff previously obscure to Western ears. We've been introduced to surf rock from Thailand, funk from India, fuzz rock from Africa, film music from Pakistan, etc., etc. One of our faves has to be B-Music's Pomegranates comp of Persian grooves from the pre-revolutionary era, the '60s and '70s. Now here's a double cd/triple lp collection on Vampisoul deeply mining the same territory. And chances are, you'll recognize some of the names on here, like Googoosh and Kourosh Yaghmaei, from various other reissues/anthologies that have come out recently.
There's 28 tracks/treats dusted off from a scene that "flourished during the 1960s and 1970s before vanishing into exile or oblivion." Sadly, it was the same story elsewhere in the world too - political repression clamping down (with varying degrees of terminal harshness) on the era's vibrant pop music scenes in such far flung locales as Cambodia, Ethiopia, Brazil, and, under consideration here, Iran.
The Shah might have sucked, but as the liner notes here put it, after the Ayatollah took over, "'having fun' was banned entirely"! And what fun this is, the songs selected here chock full of impassioned crooning, lush swirling orchestration, bombastic dance beats, slinky grooves, some doleful acoustic balladry, and of course much in the way of ornate ethnic Eastern motifs... It's like an infectious Iranian blend of 50's exotica, '60s easy listening, '70s disco... with some strong hints of freakier, more psychedelic youth sounds like funk and rock. And most of it would make a great soundtrack if the Love Boat ever took Persian Gulf cruise.
Artists include: Abbas Mehrpouya, Fereidoon Farrokhzad, Neli, Habib, Hamid Shabkhiz, Simin Ghanem, Dariush, Ahmad Zahir (who is from Afghanistan, but presumably had his records released in Iran), Aref, Leila Forouhar, Giti, Hassan Khayatbashi, Googoosh, Shohreh, Afshin Maghaddam, and Kourosh Yaghmaei. The thick cd booklet (or lp sleeve) contains plenty of interesting notes on each of 'em, each artist/track boasting an informative blurb, lyric translations, and full-color photo. There's a comedian with an operatic voice (and unfortunate Hitler mustache), an openly gay poet/TV host/political scientist (assassinated in exile, presumably by agents of the Revolutionary regime), and many attractive songbirds with celebrated hairstyles....
Reissue of this long lost seventies Swedish release, originally purported to be a Trad Gras Och Stenar album, when in fact, it's something much more interesting. Bo Anders Persson, a member of Trad Gras Och Stenar, as well as Harvester, International Harvester and Parson Sound, traveled around Sweden, collecting field recordings of amateur musicians performing (the title roughly translates to 'Play Yourself'). So this is essentially like a Swedish drone rock, gypsy hippy folk version of Smithsonian Folkways (or Sublime Frequencies).
Wild fluttery flutes, chimes and rattles, whistles and tribal drumming, much of this definitely reminds us of modern soundmakers like Avarus and Sunburned Hand.
Simple hypnotic drumming over acoustic guitars and hand claps, whoops and hollers, still more flutes, violins, strings, hand drums, simple skeletal guitar melodies, lots of jaw harp, will percussion freakouts, occasional stretches of groovy spaced out kraut psych jamming, the whole time, the surrounding sounds become a part of the music, people talking, crowds in the distance, tinkling bottles, birds singing, total idyllic outsider psychedelic hippy jam.
A couple tracks on the B side stand out, one that sounds almost African, gorgeous and moody, percussive, but super melodic, like some sort of marimba, looped and loping and rhythmic and so mesmerizing, and another sprawling rhythmscape, cool, and acoustic, all deep lo thrum, big strings buzzing, a warm whirring sound peppered with all manner of jaw harp buzz, and some almost throat singing, really haunting and mysterious and so gorgeous.
Definitely recommended for anyone into the above mentioned Swedish outfits, but also anyone into field recordings and abstract psychedelia.
Exact reproduction of the original 1970 lp release, and of course, LIMITED!
Subtitled, "The Amplified Side Of Heavenly Grooves". This ain't your momma's gospel music. Nope, this collection brings together some bizarre, funny, and downright groovy '60s/'70s tunes by/for Jesus-loving hipsters. Everything from garage rock to folk to
It's again time to liberate your inner Austin Powers, and get down to the Swingin' Sixties sounds of Return Of The Instro-Hipsters, Vol. 2! That's right, another 20 "groovy instrumentals from the UK, 1965-1973" compiled by noted collector Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond. His first volume, entitled On The Brink, was a big hit 'round here, and this second one is just as much fun! This is what you'd have heard in the hip discotheques of Swinging London back then, rock n' roll beat music influencing jazz orchestras to get all freaky and psychedelic, filling dancefloors with shiny, bubbly tunes considered totally sophisticated and hip at the time. Honkin' organs, bright stinging horn sections, and swirling rock guitar are all part of the many lush arrangements found here. There's slinky lounge vibes, and fully day-glo, go-go dancin' funkiness.
In addition to getting you wigglin' your hips, there's definite goofy kitsch value to a lot of this, ferinstance the gimmick track "Fuzz Duck" by Jerry Allen, with all its crazy quackin'. Another group, Thunder Road, does a version of "Peter Gunn" that certainly fits right in. And Cliff Adams's track appears to be from an advert for P.G. Tips tea... Other artists heard here (and almost nowhere else, these days): D. Cordell's Tea Time Ensemble, The 4 Instants, The Roger Coulam Quartet, Harold McNair, Music Through Six, Sounds Sensational, The Masked Phantom, The Johnny Harris Orchestra, Tony Newman, The Tony Evans Band, Kenny Clare, Sharks, The Outer Limits, Oliver Bone, Paraffin Jack Flash, The Helmut Zaccharias Orchestra, and Ning. Groovy, baby.
Fuzz and groove from the Andes, mostly circa 1969-1974, uh huh! If there's anything we've learned from all the cool comps and reissues that have come out over the years, is that almost ANYPLACE on Earth you can think of, no matter how out of the way, chances are they had their own happenin' psychedelic garage rock band scene back in the day, chock full of cool bands that we'd never have ever heard of but for the diligent efforts of collectors and compilers. Certainly we already know this to be the case in '60s/'70s Peru, as we're already in love with such great bands from that land as Traffic Sound, We All Together, and Tarkus. Now from the same Lima-based label, Repsychled, that just so happens to be responsible for reissues of albums by all of those, we get this killer compilation devoted to bands from Peru's second largest city, Arequipa, located in the south of the country, high up in the Andes. None of these groups recorded full albums, but they did release rare singles and make live 'party' cassettes and left behind enough cool music that this disc is packed, 21 tracks from five bands: Los Texao, Free Love System, Los Incognitos, Madera Fresca, and Opus.
Los Texao, named after the type of flower associated with Arequipa, have the lion's share of the tracks, ten of 'em, including some covers (Cream, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf). They are also responsible for several of the best originals on here, especially their druggy groovy freakout "Stone", which by itself may justify the purchase of this disc, and exemplifies their own musical style called niebla (= fog in English), we're told "because of the effect produced by the band's rotor amps and reverb and echo effects". But Free Love System don't let us, or Arequipa, down either (with a name like that, you gotta be good!) and their four cuts are also pretty cool and, uh, foggy, including one with driving fuzz guitars and a kind of "You Really Got Me" riff, entitled "Correteando Anoranzas". They (as well as Los Texao and the others) also do some dreamy pop stuff, with melancholic psych guitar solos, so it's not all heavy and rockin', but mellow and moody too.
Meanwhile Los Incognitos have more of a twang, sounding a bit like something out of a Spaghetti Western on their four cuts. And then there's a couple by Madera Fresca. In particular, their track "Anytime" is pretty crazed, though also extremely lo-fi (fortunately it's the exception in that regard amongst the tracks here), and heck even if it wasn't, that'd be ok with us, we'd happily crank a whole album of this sort of distorted worbbly-warbly instrumental jamming. And then Opus, a band formed by Free Love System's former guitarist in '76, wraps up the disc with track #21, the only one on the disc that's not actually from the '69-'74 time frame, though it sounds it, despite being recorded as late as 1982.
Whoo! Along with our recent initiation into the wonderfulness of the "chicha" sound (which combined Andean folk traditions with psych/beat influences), this comp certainly adds to our infatuation with Peruvian music of the psychedelic era. If you dig stuff like the Love, Peace & Poetry: Latin America comp you'll want to hear this. The cd booklet is illustrated with vintage photos and press clippings, and includes informative liner notes in Spanish and (somewhat abridged) English.
We know we aren't the only ones crazy for the sounds of Chicha, at least judging by the number of copies we sold of the first Roots Of volume, not to mention the amazing collection of songs by Juaneco Y Su Combo. It's pretty much impossible to be into a wide range of music and not be floored by the rad sounds of Chicha. Fuzzy and psychedelic, washed out and surfy, all wrapped in the sounds of cumbia, carimbo and Peruvian traditional music. Barbes is doing such a great job with this series helping expose the truly amazing music coming from this scene in Peru from 1968-1981. It not only has such a cool sound that tons of bands today wish they could recreate, but the songs also have such a sense of soul that makes this one of those records that gets everyone in the store shaking gently back and forth and tapping their toes and we have lost count with how many times we get asked what is playing when this is on as its a record that appeals to such a wide range of tastes.
It shows how rich this scene was that Juaneco Y Su Columbo aren't even on this volume, yet all the other bands included we would kill to hear more from. We know if this was on Sublime Frequencies we would sell even more of these, so c'mon if you love amazing sounds from different parts of the globe you've got to get on the Chicha train!
Although this compilation was compiled by Gearhead (an SF magazine devoted to the awesomeness of cars and rock'n'roll), you don't have to be a gearhead to love this cd. Lots of raunchy, fun tunes. Leaning heavy on the garage rawk horn, this 23-track collection includes songs by the Donnas, Man Or Astro-man?, Rocket From The Crypt, The Fastbacks, The Hellacopters and many more. If you've been an avid reader of the magazine, you probably already have these songs in 7" form (each issue included a bonus 7"), but here they are all together for ya with fun-filled liner notes and original cover art included.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We've been skipping around through this "New Rubble" series -- we reviewed Volume 2 a little while back (entitled Speaking My Mind, it was devoted to rare prog-psych singles). Now we've settled on this killer comp of obscure '60s British female vocalists to mention this time. These soulful girl singers are backed by some outright freakbeat bands, though (like the Fleur de Lys), so instead of ballads (the stuff that made for hits) these are harder-edged, dancefloor-ready groovers filled with fuzz guitar and Hammond organ action. These ladies have plenty of sassy, "my boots are gonna walk all over you" attitude to match. Nobody's fools, their "love" songs are telling it like it is. There's lots of "baby baby baby" stuff but they're letting "baby" know he'd better behave or he won't be their baby no more... Lines like "It's understood / if you hurt me / you're gone for good" (from Samantha Jones "Go Ahead") are the norm. As is the saucier, sexually aggressive stance of tracks like "Scratch My Back". Great stuff, even the dated kitsch silliness of Laugh-In gogo dancer Judy Carne's "Sock It To Me" (wherein she opines, in a very proper British accent, "you know if this is what they call funky, it's a bit of all right"). Excepting that one, perhaps, we think AQ pals The Husbands should be mining this comp for new cover material...
Curious about freaky '60s (and early '70s) pyschedelia? Well the good people at Germany's Shadoks label have not only made it their business to reissue a slew of pretty cool, previously unaffordable and unfindable psych LPs on cd (as well as doing some lovely vinyl reissues that soon enough become unaffordable and unfindable themselves...), but have also selected some representative songs from 'em to make up this 18-track, budget priced sampler. From heavy, blues-based psych rawk and fuzz-filled garagey punk to folkier, gentler fare, all the bands on here share, shall we say, an LSD-derived sensibility. Some are better n' others but even the not so good ones make up for in kitschy psychedelic era charm what they might lack in songwriting ability or musicianship. I mean, there are reasons why some of these LPs were obscure! But then again, several are undeservedly neglected classics, and this sampler makes for a great, cheap way to check out the full variety found in the Shadoks catalog. From all around the world (USA, India, Brazil, Philipines...), the line-up here features: The Spoils of War, Peacepipe, The New Tweedy Bros!, Juan De La Cruz Band, The Brain Police, Maitreya Kali, Merry Airbrakes, Butterfingers, My Indole Ring, Framework, The Wallflower Complexion, Brigade, Pete Fine, Fate, Spectrum, Confusions (from the Simal Beat compilation) and Tony, Caro & John.
Originally reissued some years ago as a double cd, this killer collection of Indian psychedelic garage rock, has now been split into two different compilations, delineated by date, one disc for 1970, the other for 1971, but odds are you're probably gonna want both of them anyway. If not, either one is a great place to start. Some of you may remember the Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 compilation we made our Record of The Week a while back, a few of those tracks were taken from these comps, but for the most part, most of this stuff is exclusive.
While Simla Beat may sound like some cool record nerd classification for Indian psych from that era, Simla was in fact a cigarette company, who recognized that besides smoking, the kids also really dug rock and roll, specifically the sort of Western influenced sounds that were bringing surf and garage rock to India, so they founded a battle of the bands, complete with an awards show with the prizes presented by Bollywood stars, and the winning songs would get released, and hence we had these Simla Beat compilations. There were rumors, that since none of these tracks feature sitar or tabla or any distinct Indian instrumentation, that they were in fact hoaxes, and that none of these bands were in fact Indian, which was obviously proven to be false, and while there may not be sitar or tabla, there is a distinctly Eastern vibe to these tracks, and the sound, as well as the various productions, definitely takes the more Western version of surf rock and garage rock and makes it into something new and exciting.
Both discs contain some killer jams, and we could easily go through both track by track, but we'll just pick out a few highlights, and there are samples below too, which you should check out, pretty hard to resist we think. Simla Beat 70 starts off with "Voice From the Inner Soul" by the Confusions, which is so good, and catchy, it sounds like it must be a cover, but as far as we can tell it's an original, crunchy guitars, fuzzy organs, a groovy stomp with a KILLER chorus. Then there's the Dinosaurs, who offer up another original that sounds super familiar but is not a cover, the vocals raspy and scratchy, wound around some skittery drumming, and some fuzzy guitars, and another wicked hook. You probably remember X'lents' "Psychedelia" with its "Secret Agent Man" opening riff and some seriously kick ass psychedelic garage rock. The Dinosaurs also cover Creedence Clearwater Revivals's "Sinister Purpose" and make it their own, even more raw and fuzzed out than the original.
The 1971 installment is just as great, starting off with The Fentones' "Simla Beat Theme" which is total surf rock bliss, a littler off kilter, with some killer guitar playing, which gives way to the Nomads' "Nothing Is The Same" which begins with a dark swirling cloud of heavily effected guitar buzz, before slipping into a woozy surfy groove, then there's Hipnotic Eye's "Killing Floor, which is a dead ringer for the imaginary band the Sacred Cows from Get Smart (YouTube it!), and then there's Velvette Fogg's droned out organ heavy nearly 8 minute groover "I'm So Glad", and so it goes, like the 1970 volume, killer jam after killer jam!
Again, not sure why they split em up, cuz it's tough not to want both, but even if you choose just one, each has much to offer, although if you're music nerd obsessives like we are (and we're figuring you are), you might as well just grab 'em both...
Originally reissued some years ago as a double cd, this killer collection of Indian psychedelic garage rock, has now been split into two different compilations, delineated by date, one disc for 1970, the other for 1971, but odds are you're probably gonna want both of them anyway. If not, either one is a great place to start. Some of you may remember the Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 compilation we made our Record of The Week a while back, a few of those tracks were taken from these comps, but for the most part, most of this stuff is exclusive.
While Simla Beat may sound like some cool record nerd classification for Indian psych from that era, Simla was in fact a cigarette company, who recognized that besides smoking, the kids also really dug rock and roll, specifically the sort of Western influenced sounds that were bringing surf and garage rock to India, so they founded a battle of the bands, complete with an awards show with the prizes presented by Bollywood stars, and the winning songs would get released, and hence we had these Simla Beat compilations. There were rumors, that since none of these tracks feature sitar or tabla or any distinct Indian instrumentation, that they were in fact hoaxes, and that none of these bands were in fact Indian, which was obviously proven to be false, and while there may not be sitar or tabla, there is a distinctly Eastern vibe to these tracks, and the sound, as well as the various productions, definitely takes the more Western version of surf rock and garage rock and makes it into something new and exciting.
Both discs contain some killer jams, and we could easily go through both track by track, but we'll just pick out a few highlights, and there are samples below too, which you should check out, pretty hard to resist we think. Simla Beat 70 starts off with "Voice From the Inner Soul" by the Confusions, which is so good, and catchy, it sounds like it must be a cover, but as far as we can tell it's an original, crunchy guitars, fuzzy organs, a groovy stomp with a KILLER chorus. Then there's the Dinosaurs, who offer up another original that sounds super familiar but is not a cover, the vocals raspy and scratchy, wound around some skittery drumming, and some fuzzy guitars, and another wicked hook. You probably remember X'lents' "Psychedelia" with its "Secret Agent Man" opening riff and some seriously kick ass psychedelic garage rock. The Dinosaurs also cover Creedence Clearwater Revivals's "Sinister Purpose" and make it their own, even more raw and fuzzed out than the original.
The 1971 installment is just as great, starting off with The Fentones' "Simla Beat Theme" which is total surf rock bliss, a littler off kilter, with some killer guitar playing, which gives way to the Nomads' "Nothing Is The Same" which begins with a dark swirling cloud of heavily effected guitar buzz, before slipping into a woozy surfy groove, then there's Hipnotic Eye's "Killing Floor, which is a dead ringer for the imaginary band the Sacred Cows from Get Smart (YouTube it!), and then there's Velvette Fogg's droned out organ heavy nearly 8 minute groover "I'm So Glad", and so it goes, like the 1970 volume, killer jam after killer jam!
Again, not sure why they split em up, cuz it's tough not to want both, but even if you choose just one, each has much to offer, although if you're music nerd obsessives like we are (and we're figuring you are), you might as well just grab 'em both...
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the first of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Christine Lebail, Agnes Loti, Christine Delaroche, Francoise Hardy and Les Petites Souris avec Pussy Cat. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the second of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Les Roche Martin, Liz Brady, Audrey, Les Twins and Cris Carol. These ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the third of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Les Roche Martin, Liz Brady, Christie Laume, Anne Kern and Ria Bartok. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the fourth of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features four single-named gals Clothilde, Cleo, Celine and ZouZou. They're dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah!
Here is the fifth of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Christine Pilzer, Elsa Leroy, Vetty and Elsa. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We always like to have a good '60s/'70s psych-pop compilation to recommend, when we can. Happily enough, this list we do, it's Some Songs Stuck In My Mind, an international comp of utterly killer tracks from rare 45s by 18 different, totally obscure artists that we'll go ahead and list here for the hell of it, so you can feel all collector-music-nerd-snobby if you've heard of any of 'em before: Springwell, Manolo Y Ramon, Don Curtis, The Comforts, Michael, T.M.L., Eduardo Araujo, Bluebeard, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, Serge Et Christine, La Metamorphosi, Adriano Celentano, Puzzle, Little Sammy Gaha, Francois De Louville, Les Playboys, Vincent, and Injun Joe. All of it wonderfully groovy, fuzzy, catchy and funkily far out. If this were a DJ set spun in a bar 'round here, there would be a either a stompin' dancefloor and/or a bunch of bearded guys bugging the DJ about what they were playing as each track came on.
The cd booklet's got liner notes talking 'bout each track, and lil' full-color pics of the cover art from the original singles. Recommended, in the tradition of Neurotic Reactions (from the same label), Andergraun Vibrations, Cherrystones Hidden Charms, Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils, Nightmares At Toby's Shop, all those cool Psychic Circle comps, etc.
NOW AVAILABLE ON GATEFOLD VINYL, WITH A BONUS TRACK!!
So we've actually already had quite a few amazing compilations of '60s and '70s popular music from Thailand, including a whole bunch of discs from the infallible Sublime Frequencies label (Thai Pop Spectacular, Siamese Soul, Molam: Thai Country Groove, Shadow Music Of Thailand, etc., etc.), and also the Subliminal Sounds label's Thai Beat A-Go-Go series, but we were still super excited when we heard about the upcoming release of this new comp of vintage Thai tunes, 'cause it's been put together by Soundway, the UK-based label that also seemingly can do no wrong when it comes to international crate diggin'. Soundway is responsible for all those Nigeria Special comps, and the Ghana Soundz ones too, among other fine collections and reissues, most focused on music from Africa or Latin America. This is their first venture into Southeast Asia, as far as we know, and boy did they do the job well! A more lively, colorful comp could hardly be imagined. The compilers, who have spent hours and days on the ground in Thailand searching out vintage vinyl, know their stuff (their DJ night, "Bangkok Paradise", must be a blast).
Nineteen tracks, 66 minutes of music, ranging from yearning love songs to super groovy funk, all of it quite undeniably 'exotic' to our ears, so that even with Western psych and pop influences, incorporating surprise rock riffs, synths, and brass sections, it's most definitely music from Thailand, utilizing Thai folk traditions, sung in the Thai language, though some of it also reminds us of Bollywood stuff (which makes sense), or possibly the Ethiopiques series as well (a less likely connection there). We recognize a few of the artists' names from those other abovementioned comps, though they seem aware of what's been comped already and we're assured that most of the tracks here have never been released outside of Thailand before.
The subtitle doesn't say "leftfield" for nothing, this probably isn't the most typical mainstream Thai pop from the period, more like the hippest and freakiest, though often from quite popular artists, many revered to this day. Soundway treat us to some wonderfully eccentric picks, gems like Waipod Phetsuphan's "Ding Ding Dong", a song inspired by a dumb 1971 Italian sex comedy about prehistoric cavemen (and cavewomen) that was inexplicably a hit film in Thailand. And the spaced out lounge-jazz of The Viking Combo band's "Pleng Yuk Owakard" must be mentioned. Mindblowing. Walking bass, spooked out electric organ, maniacal vocals, loud shuddery chords, sudden percussion, woah it's a weird one, almost disturbing. Whichever DJ/collector first dug that one up must have been stoked. So much good stuff here, our point is, the treasures of vintage Thai pop are plentiful enough to require this comp, those that came before, and hopefully many more to come. You gotta be thankful when you think about it, without the efforts of labels like Sublime Frequencies, and Soundway, etc., we'd be missing out on so much incredible music that we now listen to on a daily basis, whether it be from Thailand or Nigeria or wherever.
Here's a disc we'd definitely recommend to those of you who love exploring the realms of hitherto unknown (we'd assume, pretty much) '60s and early '70s garage/psych bands from overseas. In this case, from Spain, which seems to be the land of hot reissue action lately. 23 tracks in total taken from rare 45s, ranging from poppy psych to heavy-duty hard rockers. There's lots of wild, fuzzed-out groovers here! Including the stompin', super-distorted but also totally bubblegum rockin' of Cafe Con Leche, whose "Land of Light" sounds like the Jackson Five run through a giant fuzz pedal. Other faves include the off-the-rails Deep Purplish bludgeon of Storm, Los Roller's Creamier-than-thou Spanish-language "Camino Cortado", and the raucous psychedelic R&B belted out by Clock, among others. Si senor, plenty to dig on this comp for sure. The booklet includes band photos, sleeve shots, and liner notes in both English and Spanish.
Like prog? Like psych? Well hey, check it out, the bands on this comp are all what the compilers consider to be "prog/psych", a hybrid that flourished circa '69-'72 as the psychedelic sixties transitioned into the progressive rock era of the seventies. Give a listen and you'll see what they mean, even if such musical taxonomy is a generally vague pursuit. The deal there is that even though prog is known as an album-oriented genre, that didn't stop bands who hoped to make the Top of the Pops from cutting some killer singles, obscure though they may be (fortunately each track is annotated in the cd booklet with a few tidbits of information). The bands, all from the UK, include: The Rats, Rescue No.1, Triconderoga, Eire Apparent, Rumplestiltskin, The Imposters, Glass Managerie, The Open Mind, Nancy, The Montanas, Raw Material, Opus (who do a dead-on rip-off of Led Zep), Putney Bridge, The Fruit Machine, Andromeda, Rumble, Rare Bird, and Walrus. Many of 'em we've never heard of before, though we certainly do remember the Triconderoga track ("Speaking My Mind") from the excellent Cherrystones Rocks compilation Lo Recordings put out a while back. If you liked that comp, or the "hairy funk" of Andy Votel's Vertigo Mixed cd, this may also be up your alley. Lots of organ grooves, wailing vocals, fuzzed out guitars, and catchy beats make the scene here. Bombastic horn sections, sweet melodies, and heavy riffs all coexist in these tracks. Maybe the so-called "prog/psych" documented here truly is a long-lost hybrid genre of music, nobody does stuff like this anymore do they??
Subtitled "17 A-Go-Go Ultrarities From the 60's Singapore and South-East Asia Underground", this comp fairly smokes in a psychedelic pop haze. Covering standards like "Buttons and Bows", but mostly playing by-the-numbers originals, bands like October Cherries, Rosnah and the Siglap Five, Ronnie Ong, and Naomi & the Boys (playing a great Peter Thomas number) played a mixture of surf, soul, r&b, and plain ole psych pop. A couple of the groups here even went to #1 in their home countries. Fuzz guitar! The tracks featuring girl singers sound just like the Ultra Chicks French girl group comps, thus testifying to the universal appeal the rock music of the day held for young people the world over.
On transparent blue vinyl. Dutch import. ----* ----* Also New In Stock, Reviews Coming Soon : ----* 400 BLOWS "Black Rainbow" (Tone Capsule) cd 11.98 ANZELLOTTI, TEODORO "Leos Janacek" (Winter & Winter) cd 16.98 AROVANE "Icol Diston" cd 16.98 ATMOSPHERE "God Loves Ugly" (Fat Beats) cd 16.98 BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Actuel Sessions" (Fuel 2000) cd 12.98 BREAD LOVE AND DREAMS "s/t" (Hugo-Montes) cd 17.98 CANDIRIA "The Coma Imprint" (Lakeshore Records) 2cd 17.98 CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND "Magnetic Hands" (Viper) cd 19.98 CARDIACS "A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part Two" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part One" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CASSERLEY, LAWRENCE "The Edge Of Chaos" (Sargasso) cd 14.98 CERBERUS SHOAL / HERMAN DUNE "The Whys And Hows Of Herman Dune and Cerberus Shoal" (North East Indie) cd 9.98 CHERRY, DON "Blue Lake" (BYG / Toho / Get Back) 2lp 19.98 CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY "s/t" (Rhino) cd 16.98 COMETBUS "Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus" (Last Gasp) book 14.95 FELDMAN, MORTON "Complete Works For Two Pianists" (Alice Musik Produktion) cd 14.98 FORBIDDEN PLANET "(OST)" (Moving Image Entertainment) lp 21.00 FUNGAL HEX "s/t" (Ministerstva Kultury Cr) cd 11.98 FURSAXA "s/t" (Ecstatic Peace) lp 13.98 GORILLAZ "Spacemonkeyz versus Gorillaz - Laika Come Home" (Astralwerks) cd 16.98 HEADLANDS BAND "California" (Headlands Band Music) cd 11.98 HERMANO "...Only A Suggestion" (Tee Pee) 2cd 14.98 HIDDEN "Spectral Magnitude" (Red Stream) cd 11.98 HURLEY, MICHAEL "Blueberry Wine" (Locust) cd 14.98 INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ VS. DA KLAMZ UV DETH "Furious Ostrich Tracks" (Asphodel) lp 7.98 MISERY INDEX / COMMIT SUICIDE "Split CD" (Willowtip) cd 12.98 NARGAROTH "Black Metal Ist Krieg" (No Colours) cd 14.98 NARGAROTH "Hervstleyd" (No Colours) cd 14.98 OMIT "Rejector" (SySecular) cd-r 9.98 ON FILLMORE "On Fillmore" (Locust) cd 14.98 ORTHRELM / TOUCHDOWN "Split" (Troubleman) cd 12.98 PARTON, DOLLY "Halos & Horns" (Sugar Hill) cd 17.98 REINHARDT, DJANGO "Djangology" (RCA Victor) cd 16.98 RITUAL CARNAGE "The Birth Of Tragedy" (Osmose) cd 14.98 RJD2 "Deadringer" (Definitive Jux) cd/2lp 17.98/17.98 ROWE, KEITH & OREN AMBARCHI "Flypaper" (Staubgold) cd 14.98 SHIOMI, MIEKO "A Musical Dictionary of 80 People Around Fluxus" (? Records) cd 22.00 SPUNK "Den Overste Toppen Pa En Blamalt Flaggstang" (Rune Grammofon) cd 15.98 STARS AS EYES "Important Youth Movement / People Kill People" (Tigerbeat6) 7" 4.98 TABLA BEAT SCIENCE "Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove" (Axiom) 2cd 17.98 TATSUYA, YOSHIDA "Magaibutsu" reissue w/ bonus tracks (Review Records) cd 13.98 THORNSPAWN "Wrath Of War" (Osmose) cd 14.98 TROLLHEIM'S GROTT "Bizarre Troll Technology" (Woodcut) cd 14.98 V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4" (PCP) cd 14.98 V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5" (PCP) cd 14.98 VINTERSORG "Visions From The Spiral Generator" (Napalm) cd 14.98 WALDAMSEL / FOREST BLACKBIRD "s/t" (Natural Sound / Wergo) cd 18.98 WARLORD "Rising Out Of The Ashes" (Atrheia) cd 14.98 WOLF EYES "Fuck Pete Larsen" (Wolf Eyes) lp 14.98 ZORN, JOHN "Filmworks XI" (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Like the Vertigo box, but for Island Records.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Are you a fan of those great "Ultrachicks" compilations of female French '60s pop? Do you feel like your turntable has been missing out on the fun? Well, here's a vinyl-only comp of similar cute Francophone chanteuses (Stella, Cleo, Charlotte Leslie, Berthe, Delphine, Liliane, and many others mainly with one nme only) circa 1965-1968...
NOW ON VINYL!
Oh...oh my... God...it's all so trippy. This compilation revolves around Bud Mathis, an ex prize fighter turned manager / songwriter / man about town / guy on LA's Sunset strip in the '60s. All of these songs are rare and/or previously unreleased songs that Mathis had a hand in during his career. Mathis's 'work' ranged from rock and roll to grungy garage to stripped down RnB, producing/recording such obscure bands as Brain Train, Joint Effort, Wolfgang, The Fairviews, and more. Even his teenage son, Mike, does a song, "My Old Lady", which just happens to be the best song on the whole record. So rad! Authentic, unaltered recordings of rockin' Sunset strip garage psych. If you love '60s rock and roll, check this out!
Take the Brain Train to the Third Eye. Oh...oh my... God...it's all so trippy. This compilation revolves around Bud Mathis, an ex prize fighter turned manager / songwriter / man about town / guy on the Sunset strip in the '60s. All of these songs are rare
Now on vinyl!! Here's some of what we said when we reviewed the compact disc version, though as before the programming of the cd and vinyl versions differ somewhat, but even if the track list isn't quite the same (the cd had 5 more songs), the general thrust of the following review still stands:
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best - though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock, but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a '70s Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! 2+2=5, THE "Into The Future..." (Spittle) cd 21.00 ARCHITEUTHIS REX "Dark As The Sea" (Utech) cd 14.98 AUBRY, GILLES "s6tr8" (Winds Measure Recordings) cd 12.98 BASSHATERS "Harsh Lovers Sick Zoo" (Yik Yak) cassette 5.00 BOSSE-DE-NAGE "s/t" (Flenser) cd 9.98 DADAWAH "Peace And Love" (Wild Flower) cd/lp 16.98/24.00 DIVORCE "s/t" (Optimo) 10" 13.98 DURUTTI COLUMN "LC" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 DURUTTI COLUMN "The Return Of The Durutti Column" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 ECHOSPACE "Liumin" (Modern Love) 2cd 15.98 ENDTABLES, THE "s/t" (Drag City) cd 14.98 FEROCIOUS FEW "Juices" (Birdman) cd 12.98 FNS "S/t" (Miasmah) cd/lp 15.98/19.98 FOOT VILLAGE "Anti-Magic" (Upset The Rhythm) lp 17.98 HEALTH "Disco 2" (Lovepump United) cd 14.98 JJ "N� 3" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 KEEPAWAY "Baby Style" (Lefse) lp 14.98 KNIGHT SCHOOL "Revenger" (Make A Mess) lp 14.98 MAGIC BULLETS "s/t" (Mon Amie) lp 14.98 MAX PLANCK "Kill The Pain" (Buried By Time And Dust) lp 32.00 NEON "Oscillator" (Spittle) cd 21.00 NORTH SEA, THE "Bloodlines" (Type) lp 19.98 PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE "Say No To Love" (Slumberland) 7" 5.98 PERNICE BROTHERS "Goodbye Killer" (Ashmont) cd 10.98 ROEDELIUS "The Diary Of The Unforgotten" (Bureau) cd 17.98 ROSE, JACK & GLENN JONES "The Things That We used To Do" (Strange Attractions) dvd 20.00 ROSE, JACK WITH D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX "Ragged And Right" (Thrill Jockey) cd ep/12" 11.98/14.98 SWORDS & SANDLES / VHOLTZ / WOMAN'S WORTH / ETTRICK "s/t" (self released) cassette 5.00 TRANS AM "Thing" (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98 URAL UMBO "s/t" (Utech) cd 14.98 V/A "Clicks And Cuts 5.0" (Mille Plateax) cd 17.98 V/A "Head Over High Heels: Strong & Female 1927-1959" (Trikont) cd 17.98 V/A "Karl Rove: Courage And Concequence" (Seismic.Wave) lp 14.98 V/A "Milano New Wave 1980-83" (Spittle) cd 21.00 V/A "The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol.II Ethnic Music Classics; 1925-48" (Outernational) 2lp 31.00 V/A "To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings From Istanbul" (Honest Jons) 2cd 26.00 V/A "Zulu Stomp!! South African Garage Beats!!" (Nosmoke) cd 25.00 VANGELIS "Who Killed The Dragon? (The BYG Sessions)" (Finders Keepers) 12" 14.98 WE LIKE CATS "Proper Eats" (Marriage) lp 13.98 WINDSOR FOR THE DERBY "Against Love" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 ZUMPANO, JASON "Room And Mansion" (Inflight) cd-r 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ Please place your order via our website. [1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings! [2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive. [ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.
This all-time AQ favorite is finally available on vinyl!
From the label that brought us Dungen, Parson Sound and Abner Jay comes a crazy collection of Thai Go-Go. We're still reeling from the double whammy of the two volume Cambodian Rocks releases and the excellent Cambodian Cassette Archives and now this. Though to be fair to the latter, this release might not necessarily cater to all the same fans. The music here is more likely to appeal to fans of obscure 60's pop and garage than say, fans of off kilter pop influenced Thai music. In fact, much of what's on this disc would be difficult to place within any particular country, let alone region of the world through listening alone. Apparently the musicians here were first and foremost concerned with reproducing an accurate replica (there are many overt copies included here) of popular American music of the day. This was, after all, during the Vietnam war and plenty of American servicemen were stationed in Thailand and American music was being broadcast far and wide for their benefit. That said, there are still plenty of great rocking vocal and instrumental tracks here and a few nutty renditions of classics. Of note is The Son Of P.M.'s version of the "James Bond Theme", which gets a little spicing up with Thai drums and The Cat's "Meow" or Louise Kennedy's "Poo Yai Lee", either of which would have been an excellent addition to the Ultra Chicks compilations. There's also a version of Hank Williams' "Kaw Liga" with augmented Native American drumming and a super upbeat bridge, and Johnny Guitar's "Klongyao", probably the best representation of Thai-Western pop hybrid on the collection. Definitely stick this one out to the end when you pick it up though, as it seems heavily weighted with the best tracks in the second half.
Hot on the heels of the first volume, Subliminal Sounds has released this second collection of Thai garage beat pop go-go madness. And we have to say it's better than the first. Much better (and cheaper too). Like the first volume the tracks here are all distinct replicas of popular music from the Occident of the late sixties. Some notable covers include the King's "All Shook Up", Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna". What makes this collection stand out for us though is both the inclusion of a wider range of severely demented production aesthetics and a great deal more songs that, vocally, sound more Thai. The album starts off with a bang to Viparat Piengsuwan's "YoK YoK" with chipper plosive vocals that could only come from Thailand. So cute it'll make you barf. Not skipping a beat we're led into Surapon's "Ding Dong", which sounds like a seriously fucked up deconstruction of the "Surfing Bird". A little later Waipot Petsuwan's "Mia Chaa" throws a monkey wrench into our expectations with a dreamy ellyptical vocal line -- that sounds reminiscent of Mo Lam -- over an otherwise standard garage beat tune, instantly transforming it into a classic. Then, of course, there's some demented production like excessive reverb in the oddest places and a strange Thai version of the Chipmonks that'll have you spitting your lunch out your nose. Highly recommended!
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best -- though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock (including "Hang On Sloopy" and another Elvis number "Heartbreak Hotel"), but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. But the real gems on this collection are two tracks -- "Thai Boxing" and "Siamese Boxing" -- by Jiraphand Ong-Ard which nearly bookend the anthology and completely fill their own void of strange rock. Both tracks pay homage to Muay Thai boxing and raam muay -- the traditional music that accompanies boxing events. The music of raam muay features a Thai reed instrument that sounds like a kazoo run through a Marshall amp. Both the tracks use this music as an odd bridge mixed in to them -- almost arbitrarily -- in such a way that they sound bi-polar. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a 70's Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well!
Another Finders Keepers / B-Music treat here, folks! A collection of kooky, creepy, very cool music from the films (many of them about vampires, and many of THOSE about sexy lesbian vampires!) by French underground auteur Jean Rollin, circa 1968-1979. The late Rollin has been proclaimed the "father of European Horrortica". On the freaky fringes of free jazz and psych rock, the tracks found here are the perfect accompaniment to the director's sexy, surreal cinematic phantasmagorias. And unless we're much mistaken, we recognize one of the tracks here, Acanthus' theme to "Le Frisson Des Vampires", as having been surreptitiously covered in heavier fashion by drugged-out doomlords (and horrotica fans) Electric Wizard on their Witchcult Today album!
Another one of note is Pierre Raph's aptly-titled "Gilda & Gunshots", a track of consisting of excited percussion, jazzy bass and pretty trumpet, overlaid with whipcrack-like gun shots, girlish whimpers and cries. It could almost be some noir-jazz experiment by the Boredoms. What the heck was happening in the film scene this scored, we don't know...
We could go on describing this track by track, but there are 31 cuts in all on this disc! With great titles like "Abstract Procession", "Bizarre Cult 2", "Crotch Batterie", "Crimson Gates", and "Violent Library", these vary widely and weirdly, encompassing spooky theremin-like tones, chamber music drones, somber choirs, flute-laced grooves, melodic reveries, arrhythmic interludes, all sorts of stuff. It's a real cornucopia of suspenseful strangeness and freeform avant-rockin'. Composers/performers responsible include the aforementioned Acanthus and Pierre Raph, along with many more by Phillipe D'Aram, Yvon Gerault, Francois Tusques and others. Much of this is previously unreleased. And of course Finders Keepers provides plentiful, fully illustrated liner notes in the cd booklet.
By the way, we also have a couple copies each of the soundtracks to Rollin's films Requiem Por Un Vampire (1972, composed by Pierre Raph) and Fascination (1979, Phillipe D'Aram) on import 10" vinyl, reissued by Finders Keepers as well (key tracks from which appear on this cd collection, naturally).
For a lot of us, buying comps and reissues and stuff put out by Finders Keepers / B-Music is pretty much a no-brainer. These folks know their stuff. They can DJ for us anytime! So mentioning that The BYG Deal is the latest from 'em might be all we need to say, though dropping some names like Brigitte Fontaine, Jean-Claude Vannier, Daevid Allen & Gong, Giorgio Gomelsky, Robert Wyatt, Vangelis, Ame Son, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago couldn't hurt. Or perhaps a name like Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band - never heard of 'em before, no, but they've gotta be good, right!!? (And they are, their track "Floating" anyway being a blissful bit of la-la-la space psych ceremony).
What we have here is a collection of tracks released by France's BYG, a post '68 radical rock/jazz label that flourished 'til about 1974. We'd heard of 'em before mainly in conjunction with the famed BYG/Actuel series of African-American jazz releases, stuff by the Art Ensemble, Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, etc. But this disc demonstrates that BYG (which according to one graphic here stands for Beautiful Young Generation, though elsewhere we're told it's the initials of the three label owners) was as much about psychedelic pop rock and groovy "hairy funk" as it was about avant-garde free jazz... an awesome blend in our opinion, and blend they do, some of these tracks really hard to classify. Maybe it's the "Total Space Music" of which they speak. In any case, whatever discotheque played this stuff must have been REALLY hip and happenin'.
The music here is almost all super groovy, but often quite quirky too (take Gong's circusy nursery rhyme freakout "Hip Hypnotise You" for instance!), these various tracks loaded with flute, orgasmic female vocals, heavy psych guitar, and equally heavy prog organ (running wild alongside frenetically shuffling drums on Vangelis' "Stuffed Tomato", for example, among many standout spots here). From chanteuse Valerie Lagrange's ye-ye grooves to the poppy psychedelic stomp of Coeur Magique to Banana Moon's Beefheartian crunt, this is pretty far out and awesome.
Here's the complete lineup of artists appearing here: Alice (2 tracks), Francois Wertheimer, Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, Gong (3 tracks), Alan Jack, Couer Magique (2 tracks), Valerie Lagrange, Jacques Barsamian, Alpha Beta, Ame Son (2 tracks), Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Freedom, Vangelis, Paul Semana, Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band, Banana Moon, Joachim and Rolf Kuhn. Yep, the disc is crammed, 22 tracks, almost 80 minutes, and the thick cd booklet is equally full up with full color graphics and extensive liner notes, it's amazing the compilers could dig up so much info on this stuff, considering how obscure a lot of this is, but that's their biz!
There's a few tracks you could have run across elsewhere on other reissues, but most of 'em you haven't, that's for damn sure. For instance, the awesomely named track "Astral Abuse" from the rare 7" by Alpha Beta, a one-off Vangelis project. And there's plenty more from other collector's-only, never before on cd sources.
If you liked other B-music compilations like Andy Votel's Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, this ought to be right up your alley. Likewise if you enjoyed the two Pop Made In France comps we've listed, this is a bit like those (some of the same artists appear, in fact) but way weirder. And of course any fan of Jean-Pierre Massiera's strange productions is gonna find this of interest as well... in fact there's personnel connections to his Visitors project, and connections also to the likes of Magma and Aphrodite's Child for that matter.
Another keeper from Finders Keepers that's for sure, thankfully available domestically, complete with slipcover!
Those crazies at Past & Present are gonna have to add a whole new wing to their Electric Asylum, we're up to volume 3! More late '60s, early '70s "Rare British Acid Freakrock" from 20 obscure acts, these are they: Renegade, Primitive Man, Sensations, Puzzle, Barracuda, Grumbleweeds, Boneshaker, Barron Knights, Dynasty, M.A.S.K., Shakane, Wheels, Spode, 1984, Greg Robbins, Things Fall Apart, Roger Ruskin Spear, Don Crown, Zebedee, and Amazon Trust. Never heard of most of 'em before, probably won't hear of 'em again, but we're enjoying the one-off treats (some fun bubblegum, some grooving glam, some trippy prog pop) found here, now. And we'll be humming along with some of these for a while. One we did know was Primitive Man, whose outrageous "Animal Love" appeared on another cool comp, Neurotic Reactions, a few years back.
Another worth the price of admission highlight has to be "Little Girl" by a band called 1984, a remarkably jaunty number, upbeat and energetic and so very catchy, the bright and bouncy qualities of which contrast with the lyrics, the singer smugly telling off some girl who wronged him. And somehow also this song is replete with heavy psych guitar. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Likewise with the rest of the stuff on the disc, really! On the other hand, there's the super gruff voice used on the maniacal "Drop Out" by one Roger Ruskin Spear, that was probably a novelty back in the era it was recorded, though unwittingly a precursor to the likes of Killdozer!
The pseudo-occultic, proto-proto-metal percentage is down somewhat compared to the previous 2 volumes, but this still rocks, and the delightful kitsch quotient hasn't changed at all. Fuzzy, goofy, good times.
Like the other Electric Asylums, the cd booklet contains info on each track, as much as the compiler (who calls himself "Psychomania", so you know where his head's at) could dig up anyway, which actually often enough is more than you thought you'd ever want to know. Nicely done, with plenty of colorful original sleeve/label graphics illustrating the thick booklet.
It's back to the Electric Asylum for more of their specialized shock (and schlock?) treatment! A follow up to the excellent first volume, compiling more "bubblegum Black Sabbath" (our term) songs, a lot of 'em one-off singles, examples of obscure psychedelic-pop-prog from England, circa 1969-1974. We knew this one would be good just from the tracklist. Not that we'd heard of most of the bands, they just had cool names, evocative of the sort of eccentric, druggy, creepy-kitsch we loved about volume one: Wolfrilla! Humbug! Iron Cross! Lost Dog! Cats Eyes! Buster Jangles Flying Mattress! (Ok, so maybe that last one's not cool, but it's funny.) The bands we HAD heard of include Steamhammer, whose recently reissued album Speech is an AQ fave. And there's not one, but another two cuts by the female-fronted (Janis-ish) J.C. Heavy who appeared on the first Electric Asylum. Choc's here again too. Furthermore this includes the excellent Wishbone Ash-alike "Falling" by Iron Maiden - not THE Iron Maiden, but an earlier band of the same name, who also appeared with this same track on the proto-metal comp Downer Rock Genocide we listed last year.
There's 20 tracks here, lots of fuzzed out "freakrock" to pick favorites from. Humbug's track "Ebeneezer" (natch) is a good heavy groover. J.C. Heavy's "Mr. Deal" is all about their "pusher man". Steamhammer's "Windmill" is super flute-y, with a bit of a Doors vibe too. Gentry's "Attempted Contact" is a fine one for freaky swirling organ and occult seance themes. We could go on... but you'll find your own wilted flower power faves amongst the many charming efforts of hippie-glam "heaviness" committed to this asylum, bands who thought themselves possible alternate universe versions of the likes of Cream, Iron Butterfly, The Who, Steppenwolf, and/or the aforementioned Black Sabbath...
The illustrated cd booklet includes, extensive notes on each band/track, except for the most mysterious ones, often explaining the whys and wherefores of how each group of hopefuls never quite "made it" in the end, though some individuals from among these promising and/or peculiar acts went on to success in other outfits.
So, all good things must come to an end. Volume 5 of The Electric Asylum series is reputed to be the last, turning the lunatics loose. Uh-oh. For your next dose of musical electro-shock therapy you'll have to look elsewhere (maybe P&P's new series, curated as many if not all of these were by "The Psychomaniac", Psych Bites?).
Perhaps this is the last 'cause there seems to be a bit of bottom of the barrel scraping going on. A cover of "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin"? Really? Though, really, everything here has its charms, especially if you're in the mood for some obscure '70s glam. And there are a few quite solid surprises. We'd described earlier outings in this series as specializing in "Bubblegum Black Sabbath" bands. Well, ok, nothing was ever all that Black Sabbathy, but there was a kitschy occult vibe to some of the selections early on, certainly some heavy fuzz as well. Freakrock indeed. But this one definitely leans towards the Bubblegum, goofy more than freaky, which is fun too of course, but maybe not what we were hoping for after the relatively hard rock action of the previous volume, number 4.
As with all Electric Asylum entries, again with more silly names: Colonel Bagshot, Biggles, Squeek, Whistle, Mustard, Baby, Boston Boppers, Dunno... among others. 20 tracks in all by 19 artists. That's on account of them including both sides of the sole '74 single by singer Tracey Dean, a studio project produced by Giorgio Moroder, so that's pretty cool. Definitely one of the standouts here due to the catchy combo of Dean's weird wavery voice (kinda like the guy from Family) and the odd electronics of the production. Another neat one is Iron Horse covering "The Obeah Man", a voodoo-psych number originally by the amazing Exuma. And getting fully glam, the Jets' "Yeah!" is aptly named. So, Vol. 5 not the best in the series, mind you, the most hit and miss, but still not without some glammy, grin inducing gems and jams.
Includes excruciatingly detailed notes on each track in the thick cd booklet, with full color sleeve and label graphics reproduced. Nice. Too bad the cover art is another crappy CG job, dunno why they don't realize that doesn't jibe with the '70s aesthetic of what's been dug up here.
If any compilation series deserves to go to six volumes, the Electric Asylum series devoted to cult '70s British "freakrock" does. At least, we can't get enough of the stuff, so we're stoked on this latest installment, which brings us another big batch of obscure old acid psych / garage prog / hard pop weirdness sourced from rare 45's. 20 tracks, all circa 1971-'76. We recognize a few tracks - like the biker fuzz funk of Frog's "Living Dead", which also appeared on the soundtrack to Psychomania - but most are new to us. You get bubblegum glam, you get Moog-laden psych, you get novelty sci-fi grooviness... regarding the latter, John Pertwee, one of the actors who played TV's Dr. Who, contributes a track called "Who Is The Doctor", based on the Dr. Who theme!
Great & sometimes goofy stuff all around. The other artists on here include: Pioneers, Danaa, Bambi, Smoke, Marsha Hunt's 22, Barron Knights, Colin Young, JSD Band, Jeff Smith, Rococo, Jigsaw, Buster, Dawn Chorus, C. Star, Winston, Chris Garrett and Sweet Poison, Memories, and Henry Turtle. 16-page cd booklet provides notes on each, plus vintage color photos/graphics.
We've been lucky lately with all the cool comps of reissued fuzzed out vintage rock that have been coming our way, particularly including quite a few from the Psychic Circle label, discs like A Visit To The Spaceship Factory, Cosmarama and White Lace And Strange. Folks (like us) into late '60s/early '70s intersection of psych-pop, prog, and proto-metal have been very very happy with those. This one's not on Psychic Circle, but might as well be. It immediately piqued our attention with its subtitle, "Rare British Acid Freakrock". We weren't disappointed. This is freakrock indeed, from the wild synth soloing on Asylum's "Suzy's Back" to the demented drama of Monsoon's awesomely overwrought "Night Of The Fly". And as for rare, well we'd only heard of two of these acts before, Atomic Rooster and Steel Mill (whose "Get On The Line" is heavy, hairy funk by way of the Beatles, in the vocal dep't). Meanwhile the obscure likes of J.C. Heavy, Legs, Iron Horse, Galahad, Choc, Grumbleweeds, Satisfaction, Mighty 'Em, Puzzle, Renegade, and all the other none-hit wonders here are welcome discoveries. And this is only volume one, bring on volume two!
At its heaviest, The Electric Asylum offers up we might term "Bubblegum Black Sabbath". Doomy and druggy, but also poppy and groovy. Lumbering fuzz riffs and soaring female backing vocals abound (you'll find both on Rainbow Family's "Travellin' Lady"). Elsewhere, there's some kitschy horns, badass drum breaks, and lots of wah wah guitar... More than a few of these tracks, like Iron Horse's "Magic Love" and Galahad's "Rocket Summer", would have fit in nicely on Psychic Circle's recent Blitzing The Ballroom collection of glam rock rave ups, being hard rockers with handclaps and "hey!"s. There's 20 tracks total, a colorful cornucopia of catchy craziness that we're definitely digging.
