Category: Playlists

One interesting factor regarding archive releases has been the amount of demos and acetate recordings that have surface. For those who have not heard of an acetate, they are discs that look like vinyl records but they are not and they are not accurately named because an acetate disc does not contain any acetate. They are an aluminium disc covered in a nitrocellulose lacquer. An engraving machine is used to transfer the recording on to the disc. This process was more common before the widespread use of magnetic tape but it was also used by musicians to take a copy of what they had produced in the studio home with them, either to hear what the song sounded like on their turntables or as a way of shopping that song around to labels and/or music publishers.

The most famous acetate recording is arguably ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’ by Carol King. King had written the song with her then husband, Gerry Goffin for Bobby Vee. However, Vee’s management did not want to release the song as a single but Don Kirshner, music publisher and the man behind The Monkeys heard Kings’ version and released it on his Dimension record label. The record was a reasonable hit in the USA and quite a big one in the UK, but the song was not recorded to tape. It was a demo recorded to acetate which is why it does not sound as good compared to other recordings of the era, especially in the digital age. 

For some artists, the only evidence that they recorded anything could well be an acetate because even though they have made the original recording to tape, that might have been wiped or lost in the years since. Even for well known artists, acetates can be the source of an interesting recording, be it and alternative mix or otherwise lost recording. However, acetates are not designed for heavy use and the lacquer starts to wear out after about ten plays. Modern technology can only do so much to improve the sound but it has been great to at least have the opportunity to hear recordings that would otherwise have been lost. 

This, Volume 6 in my look at the Psychedelic Years, includes many recordings that were taken from demos and acetates. One of the rare exceptions that isn’t is ‘Love Make Sweet Music’ by Soft Machine. The reason for that is down to the sound of the recording fitting better here than my usual compilations. Many of these tracks come from the ‘Psychedelic Schlemiels’ series which sought out recordings from bands who were all but unknown to anyone who did not have extensive knowledge of obscure names on gig posters for venue listings from the music papers from the era. Another source for tracks was the compilations released by RPM that looked at artists signed to Apple Music. The rest are made up of bonus tracks from band specific archive releases and the awesome Jesse Harper album (real name Doug Jerebine) ‘Guitar Absolution In The Shade Of A Midnight Sun’, arguably one of the great lost albums of any era. 

Out of the all of the bands represented on this compilation, most disappeared in obscurity but not all. Soft Machine, one of the pioneers of prog rock as well as jazz fusion and The Iveys, who changed their name to Badfinger had some success during their lifetimes. There are some rough diamonds to be found in these recordings but it is important to remember that the source of the majority of these recordings come from sources with plenty of surface noise. 

Side A

1. Jug-A Jug Song – Jesse Harper
2. Come On Up – Carley Hill Blues Band
3. Broken Man – Peanut Rubble
4. Helen Doesn’t Care – Penny Peeps
5. Do What You Must – Tintern Abbey
6. Great Shadowy Orange – Jade Hexagram
7. Try Me On For Size – Those Fadin’ Colours
8. Love Makes Sweet Music – Soft Machine
9. Mirror – Coconut Mushroom
10. Second Generation Woman – The Factory
11. Brace New Lights – Phoenix
12. You Can Run – The Majority
13. Great Ideas – Jigsaw
14. Our Love Will Be Strong – The Majority
15. Magic Time – The Flies
16. Will I Find Love – Fire
17. Sunshine Help Me – Carley Hill Blues Band
18. Sad Sad Sad – Sheridan’s Bitter Sweet
19. I Think I’ll Say – Airbus
20. Thinking Pictures – Rawlings & Huckstep
21. In The Sunset – Barnaby Rudge
22. Dark Star – Pussyfoot
23. Maybe Tomorrow – The Iveys
24. As He Sees Them – The Intruders
25. Sitting In The Sun – Cellophane Cloud

Side B

1. An Apple A Day – The U (Don’t) No Who
2. Blow Up – Those Fadin’ Colours
3. Just A Dream – Peanut Rubble
4. Blues News – Jesse Harper
5. Sailing – Joker
6. Wax Candle – Haverson Apricot
7. Uncle Henry’s Magic Garden – David Matthews
8. How It Is – John Pantry
9. How Does It Feel – The Perishers
10. You & Me Baby – The Obscured Rays
11. Sunshine Train – The Mirror
12. Something New Everyday – Timon
13. Sister Saxophone – Turquoise
14. In The Park – The Cortina’s
15. Live For The Sun – Phoenix
16. I’ve Been There Once Before – The Iveys
17. Childplay – Sweet Marriage
18. Somebody Save Me – Paradox
19. Ginny Stop – West Coast Consortium
20. This Little Man – Grapefruit
21. Crushed Purple – Jade Hexagram
22. I (Who Had Nothing) – Herbal Remedy
23. Together – The Montanas
24. Shadow Man – Schadel
25. Who Is The Man (Death) – Cellophane Cloud

It is the fifth month so it must be time for Volume 5 in my series of collections looking back at the Psychedelic Years. Like previous efforts, this one is a collection of well known bands mixed with a lot of obscure (some would say very) artists. The better known include The Rolling Stones with a song from their underrated psychedelic effort, ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’. Fairport Convention were not always the folk rock band and their first record was closer to the Jefferson Airplane than the songs they found at Cecil Sharp House. Genesis also make an appearance in their pre-prog days with a song from their much maligned debut album. Personally, I really like this record.

On the other side, we Bobak, Jons, Malone which included cult producer Will Malone in their ranks. Jessie Taper makes an appearance with ‘Fall Down’ taken from the ‘Guitar Absolution In The Shade of The Midnight Sun’ album. Lifted from the only known acetate of this record, this is possibly the greatest unreleased album of all time. Andy Ellison was a member of the infamous John’s Children before going soloing Kippington Lodge featured a pre-fame Nick Lowe.

More of the same next month.

Disc 1

1. S. F. Sorrow Is Born – The Pretty Things
2. Care Of Cell 44 – The Zombies
3. Tarot (Ace Of Wand Theme) – Andrew Bown
4. Jenny Artichoke – Kaleidoscope
5. The Castle Has Fallen – The Ghost
6. Sueno – The Truth
7. It’s Alright Ma, It’s Only Witchcraft – Fairport Convention
8. The Eagle Flies On Friday – The Exception (UK)
9. Silver Tree Top School for Boys – The Beatstalkers
10. Good Times – Eric Burdon & The Animals
11. 2000 Light Years From Home – The Rolling Stones
12. Boy Meats Girl – Paper Blitz Tissue
13. I Wonder Where My Sister’s Gone – Anán
14. Trip On An Orange Bicycle – Orange Bicycle
15. Let’s Live For Today – The Living Daylights
16. Nodnol – The Spectrum
17. Hey! Mr. Carpenter – The Fox
18. Shout It – Kate
19. And Life Goes On – The Mirage
20. Fairylights – Bent Frame
21. Love & Best Wishes – The Uglys
22. With A Little Help – World Of Oz
23. Sylvie – The Hills
24. Lord John – The Bobcats
25. On A Meadow Lane – Bobak, Jons, Malone
26. Sunshine – Gun

Disc 2

1. Rainbow Chaser – Nirvana (UK)
2. Hey Conductor – The League
3. I’m Flying – Serendipity
4. Colour Of My Mind – The Attack
5. Flight From Ashiya – Kaleidoscope
6. Wildflowers – The Holy Mackerel
7. Lydia Purple – Dunn & McCashen
8. In The Beginning- Genesis
9. Fall Down – Jesse Harper
10. House Of Many Windows – Motherlight (Bobak, Jons, Malone)
11. My New Day & Age – The Mindbenders
12. Supernatural Fairytales – Art
13. Good Evening – Tickle
14. Drizzle – 14
15. A Night To Remember – Alan Avon & The Toy Shop
16. I Can See Her Face – Kippington Lodge
17. Yellow Balloon – Icarus
18. The Golden Lion – The Lomax Alliance
19. Yellow Rainbow – The Rocking’ Berries
20. Fool From Upper Eden – Andy Ellison
21. 53 Summer Street – Turquoise
22. World Spinning Sadly – The Parking Lot
23. Castles In The Sky – Blonde On Blonde
24. World Of You – The Aerovons
25. It Brings Me Down – Billy Nicholls
26. Look At Me I’ve Fallen Into A Teapot – Cliff Wade

The summer months are almost upon us so what better time is there to present a compilation looking at the period in the mid 60s where music makers from the USA* were producing tunes that reflected the then more innocent age. There are songs about cars, mopeds, having fun, girls (and boys) and there are hints at the more reflective music that would become more prevalent later int he decade. ‘Guess I’m Dumb’ by Glen Campbell being a good example of that. Brian Wilson’s finger prints are all over this compilation as well. He was churning out so much music in the mid 60s that he recorded with more than just The Beach Boys. These included The Honeys which featured his future wife, Marilyn, within their ranks. The songs by The Survivors, the aforementioned Glen Campbell as well as Jan & Dean have Wilson’s fingerprints all over them. 

Future Beach Boys collaborators, Bruce Johnson and Terry Melcher are also represented here, not only under their own names (Bruce & Terry) but as The Rip Chords. Harry Nilsson and Phil Spector are both represented by their writing credits on the song ‘This Could Be The Night’ by The Modern Folk Quartet. Phil Spector also produced the original version of ‘Chapel of Love’ by Darlene Love. This was not released until 30 years after it was recorded. There are numerous other artists, some more well known than others but whenever I play this, it always makes me think of summer. 

Disc 1

1. Let’s Dance – Chris Montez
2. Johnny Angel – Shelley Fabares
3. Walk Don’t Run ’64 – The Ventures
4. Surf City – Jan & Dean
5. Kick That Little Foot Sally Ann – Road Robin
6. I Get Around – The Beach Boys
7. Not The Lovin’ Kind  – Dino, Desi & Billy
8. Three Window Coupe – The Rip Chords
9. Little Honda – The Hondells
10. I Live For The Sun – The Sunrays
11. That’s The Way The World Has Got To Be (Part 1) – Chris Lucey
12. For You – Rick Nelson
13. Anywhere The Girl Are – The Fantastic Baggys
14. Another Saturday Night – Sam Cooke
15. Strange Love – Darlene Love
16. Rising Sun – The Deep Six
17. Everybody Loves A Clown – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
18. The Big Beat – Bob & Sheri
19. I’m A Drifter – Joe & Eddie
20. Meet Me Tonight Little Girl – Philip & Stephan
21. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes – Bobby Lee
22. Man With Money – The Everly Brothers
23. Summer Means Fun – Bruce & Terry
24. Smokey Joe’s – Donna Loren
25. Let Me Be – The Turtles
26. You Say Pretty Words – Ramona King
27. So Hard To Find – The Critters
28. Guess I’m Dumb – Glen Campbell
29. I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound – Dion & The Wanderers
30. Baby What You Want Me Top Do? – Bob & Bobby
31. This Could Be The Night – The Modern Folk Quartet
32. Keep On Dancing – The Ronettes
33. Land Of The Free – Bonnie & The Treasures

Disc 2

1. Pamela Jean – The Survivors
2. Ride Away – Bob & Sheri
3. Walk Right In – The Moments
4. Twistin’ The Night Away – Sam Cooke
5. Hey Little Cobra – The Rip Chords
6. Tell ‘em I’m Surfin’ – The Fantastic Baggys
7. Dream For Sale – Joey Paige
8. The Rebel Kind – Dino, Desi & Billy
9. Roses & Rainbows – Danny Hutton
10. That’s How It Goes – Joey Heatherton
11. Somebody Groovy – The Mamas & The Papas
12. Haloween Mary – P. F. Sloan
13. They’re Jealous Of Me – Doona Loren
14. The Birds & The Bees – Jewel Akens
15. Many Are The Times – Lee Mallory
16. Over You – Paul Revere & The Raiders
17. I’m Sweet On You – Tina & The Mustangs
18. June Bride Baby – The Goldbriars
19. The Sh-down Down Song (You Better Leave Him Alone) – The Ginger-Snaps Dandee Dawson
20. Deep Purple – Nino Tempo & April Stevens
21. I’m Through With You – Mark V
22. He’s A Doll – The Honeys
23. The End – Ian Whitcomb
24. This Diamond Ring – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
25. Baby I See You – Deana Martin
26. Eve Of Destruction – Barry McGuire
27. Bye, Bye, Bye – The Tikis
28. What Am I Going To Do – The Dovers
29. Call Me – Chris Montez
30. Baby Dear – Wildflowers
31. Chapel Of Love – Darlene Love
32. All Summer Long – The Beach Boys

The cover art is adapted from one used by Andrew Sandoval for his podcast of the same name. If you have not heard any of the episodes, I would highly recommend it. 

This compilation could not be reproduced on Spotify due to one or more songs not being listed don that platform.

*I think that is where all of the artists on this compilation were from anyway

It is the fourth month so it must be time for Volume 4 in my series of collections looking back at the Psychedelic Years. This one includes songs that could be said not to be psychedelic at all. For instance, ‘Baby, Come On’ is a bit of prog mixed with hard rock. ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ by The Yardbirds, freakbeat and ‘Except From A Teenage Opera’ by Keith West, a straight pop record. It all depends on what your definition of psych is and does it really matter as I think this compilation holds together quite nicely.

The first few songs on Disc 1 come from the ‘Circus Days’ compilation and there is the usual mix of well known artists (The Rolling Stones, Traffic, The Kinks), bands who were just starting out but would end being hugely successful (Genesis, The Bee Gees) and people in bands other than the one that made them famous (Jeff Lynne of The Idle but more famous for being in ELO). There is also quite a few artists on here who needed up not doing very much at all but let us with at least one memorable song.

Disc 1

1. Baby, Come On – Opus
2. Finding It Rough – Hat & Tie
3. Nobody Wants You Now – Los Brincos
4. Don’t Make A Sound – Kate
5. Mr. Jones – Apple
6. He’s A Dear Old Weatherman – Mark Wirtz
7. Girl From New York – Billy Nicholls
8. Phoebe’s Flower Shop – The Cortinas
9. Colour Sergeant Lillywhite – West Coast Consortium
10. Within’ The Night – Velvett Fogg
11. Love Me ‘Till The Sun Shines (BBC Session) – The Kinks
12. Five White Horses – Sun Dragon
13. The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane – Timon
14. Seeing Things Green – Yellow Bellow Room Boom
15. Paper Man – Noah’s Ark
16. Golden Apples – The Californians
17. Crazy One – Ramases & Selket
18. Grey Skies – The Pretty Thins
19. Real Life Permanent Dream – Orange Machine
20. The Clown – Eire Apparent
21. LIfe’s Sweet Music – Mortimer
22. When The Wind Arises – The Rokes
23. Cryin’ To Be Heard – Traffic
24. Tide – Octopus
25. A Place To Call My Own – Genesis

Disc 2

1. Time Will Show The Wiser – Fairport Convention
2. Over Under Sideways Down – The Yardbirds
3. Send Me A Postcard -Shocking Blue
4. That’s The Way It’s Got To Be – The Poets
5. All Day All Night  – Blonde On Blonde 
6. Water Woman – The Amazing Friendly Apple
7. Pink Dawn – Human Instinct
8. Baby Get Your Head Screwed On – Double Feature
9. Lady on A Bicycle – Kippington Lodge
10. Looking For The Sun – The Plague
11. Frederick Jordan – The Glass Menagerie 
12. Trick Or Two – Shy Limbs
13. Hurry Up John – The Idle Race
14. Man In Black – Skip Bifferty
15. Henry Long – The Epics
16. Holiday – The Bee Gees
17. 2000 Man – The Rolling Stones
18. Except From A Teenage Opera – Keith West
19. Lady Caroline – Velvet Fogg
20. Oh! What A Performance – Nirvana (UK)
21. Circus With A Female Clown – The Fingers
22. Dream Machine – Svensk
23. Last Cloud Home – Orange Bicycle
24. The Light Of Love – Humble Pie
25. Memories – Red Dirt
26. This Will Be Our Year – The Zombies
27. Back To The City – Sandy Coast
28. Nite Is A-Comin’ – Warm Sounds

To end of this month, I present Volume 3 of my ‘Psychedelic Years’ compilations. This is the first one that did not take the majority of its tracks from one, or two compilations. The songs were from whatever was left over from the already used compilations, mixed in with tracks from more famous artists such as The Beatles. I have also used artists on more than one occasion which is something I normally try and avoid, but those tracks fit into the overall sound of the playlist.

Some musicians that appeared in bands here before going on to be more famous elsewhere include King Crimsons’ Robert Fripp (Giles, Giles & Fripp), Andy Summers from The Police (Dantallion’s Chariot), Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan & Roger Glover (Episode Six) and Dave Edmunds (Love Sculpture). Jimmy Winston was going the other way, having originally been in The Small Faces but here fronting his own band, Winston’s Fumbs.

Disc 1

1. My White Bicycle – Tomorrow
2. I Can Hear The Grass Grow – The Move
3. Father’s Name Was Dad – Fire
4. My Friend Jack – The Smoke
5. Fire – The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
6. Magic Potion – The Open Mind
7. I See The Rain – Marmalade
8. Celeste – Donovan
9. Love Hate Revenge – Episode Six
10. It’s A Sin To Go Away – We All Together
11. Walking Through My Dreams – The Pretty Things
12. Listen To The Sky – Sands
13. Days Of Broken Arrows – The Idle Race
14. I Wish I Was Five – Scrugg
15. I Talk To The Wind (Version 2) – Giles, Giles & Fripp
16. Come On – The Atlantics
17. Madman Running Through the Fields – Dantallion’s Chariot
18. Real Crazy Apartment – Winston’s Fumbs
19. Word’s Enough To Tell You – The Mascots
20. Garden Of My Mind – The Mickey Finn
21. You Stole My Love – The Mockingbirds
22. Dance ‘Round The Maypole – The Acid Gallery
23. War Of Hands Of Time – The Masters Apprentices
24. In The Land Of The Few – Love Sculpture

Disc 2

1. Paper Sun – Traffic
2. Ginza Strip – The Executives
3. I Can See Through You – Episode Six
4. Venus – Shocking Blue
5. Candy – Cinnamon Quill
6. Time Seller – The Spence Davis Group
7. Vacuum Cleaner – Tintern Abbey
8. Tamaris Khan – The Onyx
9. Locked In A Room – The Poets
10. Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) – The Zombies 
11. Citadel – The Rolling Stones
12. Fire Bridge – The Move
13. Royston Rose – The Koobas
14. Season Of The Witch – Donovan
15. Come Back June – Pussy
16. A Girl Named Sandoz – Eric Burdon & The Animals
17. I Won’t Hurt You – Neo Maya
18. Loving Sacred Sacred – The End
19. Country Life – Blonde On Blonde
20. Feeling Easy – Billy Nicholls
21. This Wheel’s On Fire – Julie Driscoll With Brian Auger & The Trinity
22. Ice In The Sun – Status Quo
23. Red Chalk Hill – The Factory
24. Thursday Morning – Giles, Giles & Fripp
25. Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles

By 1995, Quentin Tarantino was riding on the crest of a wave. He had received an OSCAR for writing the film Pulp Fiction, his film Reservoir Dogs was critical as well as financial success and his screenplays for True Romance as well as Natural Born Killers had only increased profile. Four Rooms was the only blip in this upward momentum. Posters for both Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs as well as their soundtracks graced the rooms of many of my fellow students when I was at University. It is the soundtrack albums that I am going to focus on here. 

Film soundtracks at that time could be classed into two categories. The first was the one which had a soundtrack specifically written for it. These tended to be, but not exclusively, classical in nature. John Williams seemed to do quite a number of these but he did not have exclusive on this. Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and James Horner are but a few of the composers who produced film scores before the rise of Tarantino. Even Queen got in on the act when the scored Flash Gordon. The other was to take a few star names with a below par song they were looking to offload, some relative unknowns and some up and coming acts who were desperate for the exposure. These songs would be shoehorned into the film and then a soundtrack album would be released with the hope that they might shift a few units or that one song would become a massive hit. Top Gun, Mallrats and Cocktail are but a few I could have mentioned that fit into this category.  Then there were the films of Tarantino. 

These films had soundtracks of already released music, some of which had been used in other films that seemed to have been carefully considered beforehand. The choice of music was instrumental in some of the scenes. Look at the use of ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ by Steelers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. Would another piece of music have worked as well as that in that scene?  There were also snippets of dialogue from the films that would sometimes, but not always, introduce the song that was about to be played. This was a man, it would seem, that took the music as seriously as he did the film he was going to make. 

What I was looking to produce here was a compilation of songs from Tarantino films. These would also include some the dialogue as having played some of these soundtracks to death back when they were released, I find it difficult to listen to them without the actors in there as well. This compilations includes films from Reservoir Dogs up to Grindhouse. 

Disc 1

1. Shaw Brothers Theme
2. ‘Pumpkin & Honey Bunny’/Misirlou Amanda Plummer & Tim Roth/Dick Dale & his Del-Tones
3. Jungle Boogie – Kool & The Gang
4. Who Is He (& What Is He To You?) – Bill Withers
5. Son Of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield
6. Baby, It’s You – Smith
7. Natural High – Bloodstone
8. Strawberry Lette 23 – Brothers Johnson
9. ‘And Now Little Green Bag’ – Steven Wright
10. Little Green Bag – George Baker Selection
11. Staggolee – Pacific Gas & Electric
12. ‘Everybody Be Cool’ – George Clooney
13. Truck Turner – Isaac Hayes
14. ‘Super Sounds’ – Steven Wright
15. Stuck In The Middle With You – Steelers Wheel
16. Jeepster – T.Rex
17. Foolish Heart – The Mavericks
18. Bustin’ Surfboards – The Tornadoes
19. Graceland – Charlie Sextion
20. Hooked On A Feeling – Blue Swede
21. You’re So Cool – Hans Zimmer
22. Sentimental Journey – Esquivel
23. Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) – Delfonics
24. The Grand Duel (Parte Prima) – Luis Enrique Bacalov
25. Since I First Met You – The Robins
26. You Belong To Me – Bob Dylan
27. My Grudge Blues (Urami Bushi) – Meiko Kaji
28. ‘Let’s Get A Taco’ – Harvey Keitel & Tim Roth

Disc 2

1. ‘Kill The Band’ – Tom Savini
2. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Nancy Sinatra
3. That Certain Female – Charlie Feathers
4. Surf Rider – The Lovely Ones
5. Rumble – Link Wray & His Ray Men
6. ‘Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest’/You Never Can Tell Jerome Patrick Hoban & Uma Thurman/Chuck Berry
7. Coconut – Nilsson
8. Lonesome Town – Ricky Nelson
9. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Urge Overkill
10. If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags) – Maria McKee
11. Street Life – Randy Crawford
12. Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
13. Run Fay Fun – Isaac Hayes
14. The Green Hornet Theme – Al Hirt
15. Battle Without Honour & Humanity – Tomoyasu Hotei
16. The Lions & the Cucumber Vampire’s – Sound Incorporated
17. Flowers One The Wall – The Statler Brothers
18. Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
19. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Santa Esmeralda
20. Summertime KIller – Luis Bacalov
21. The Flower Of Carnage – Meiko Kaji
22. The Lonely – Shepherd Zamfir
23. ‘Ezekiel 25:17’ – Samuel L. Jackson

Both the title and the cover of this compilation were taken from an actual release from 1996 which was the inspiration for completing this in the first place. 

This playlist could not be reproduced on Spotify because the it would seem that that platform has not secured the rights to the dialogue.

The second volume of my trawl through the Psych years and both of these discs have songs taken from ‘The Rubble Collection’ compilations. This was originally a series of 20 LPs released by the Bam-Curoso label, intent on digging up rare gems from the psychedelic period. The series started in 1984 and continued until 2002 before being collected in two rather fine box sets in 2003 (which is where I first heard them). As a side note, the band Argosy could be argued to be something of a supergroup in the making as both songs were written and sung by Roger Hodgson, who would later go on to form Supertramp. Also included on the disc was Elton John, Caleb Quaye (who was responsible for the rather good song ‘Woman of Distinction on Disc 1) and Nigel Olsson.  Quaye and Olsson would later become members of the Elton John band.   

Disc 1

1. Faster Than Light – The Mirror
2. Woman Of Distinction – Caleb
3. Hold On – Ipsissimus
4. Cast A Spell – The Open Mind
5. Tracy Took A Trip – The Executives
6. Here We Go ‘Round The Lemon Tree – Jason Crest
7. Lollipop Minds – Wimple Witch
8. William Chalker’s Time Machine – The Lemon Tree
9. Barricades – The Koobas
10. Celestial Empire – Dragonfly
11. On The Beach – Finders Keepers
12. Daughter Of The Moon – Sharon Tandy & Fleur De Lys
13. Matrimonial Fears – The Cymbaline
14. Anymore Than I Do – The Attack
15. Anniversary Of Love – Ice
16. Love & Beauty – The Moody Blues
17. My World Fell Down – The Ivy League
18. Tales Of Flossie Fillet – Turquoise
19. Why May I Now Know? – Waterloo
20. You Know That I’ll Be There – Peter & The Blizzards
21. Wedding Of 100 Brides – The Motions
22. A Place In The Sun – Jason Crest
23. That Day – The Golden Ear-Rings
24. Twenty Ten – Tinkerbells Fairydust
25. 3:30 A.M. – Unit 4 + 2
26. After Tea – The Spencer Davis Group

Disc 2

1. Guess I Was Dreaming – The Fairytale
2. Woodstock – Turquoise
3. Fade Away Maureen – The Cherry Smash
4. Gong With A Luminous Nose – Les Fleur De Lys
5. Baby I Need You – Curiosity Shoppe
6. Magic Rocking Horse – Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours
7. Grounded – The Syn
8. Eagle’s Son – The Pretty Things
9. Romantic Attitude – John Fitch & Associates
10. Turquoise Tandem Cycle – Jason Crest
11. With Love For 1-5 – The State Of Mickey & Tommy
12. Jack In The Box – The Jackppots
13. Brother Can You Spare A Dime – St Valentine’s Day Massacre
14. QIII – Eyes Of Blue
15. The Real Thing Parts 1&2 – Russell Morris
16. Come Again – Billy Nicholls
17. Imagine – Argosy
18. Buffalo Bully Can – Apple
19. Love-Maker – Callum Bryce
20. The Wall – The Fruit Machine
21. Dream With Me – Andy Forray
22. Spot The Lights – The Barrier
23. Pain Of My Misfortune – The Moving Finger
24. Mr Boyd – Argosy
25. Dear Mr. Fantasy – Traffic 

For many year, I didn’t have a lot of Otis Redding records in my collection. A couple of singles and a best of, but this changed in 2015 when Rhino decided to put out the great man’s albums in a box set called Soul Manifesto 1964-1970. This contained all of the albums he released during his life time, and the most of the posthumous albums with the exception of 1992’s Remember Me. What was most surprising about this posthumous releases was the high quality fo the music that was on them. When an artists has died, these releases can be seen as a cash grab for the record label and full of substandard material that the artist had felt was not worth releasing at the time. Not so in Redding’s case. He seemed to have a knack of writing a good tune, but also picking out awesome ones to cover. Hence this three disc set. I set out to make a single or double disc compilation at most, but there was so much good material, it was hard to keep it to three. The story of Redding’s life and untimely death have been told many times so I came going to let his music do the talking, especially as I am still putting the finishing touches to my next post and that one is taking a lot longer to research and put together than all of the other posts I have put together before this put together. Well, that is the way it seems anyway. Enjoy.

Disc 1

1. Shake
2. Love Man
3. Any Ole Way
4. Pain In My Heart
5. Tramp*
6. Chained & Bound (Single Version)
7. Direct Me (Mono)
8. Hard To Handle (Mono)
9. Security
10. That’s What My Heart Needs
11. These Arms Of Mine (Single Version)
12. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
13. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
14. Come To Me
15. Down In The Valley
16. You’ve Made A Man Out Of Me
17. Tell The Truth
18. 634-5789
19. That’s A Good Idea
20. Your One & Only Man
21. Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down & Out)
22. Bring It On Home To Me*
23. It’s Growing
24. I’m A Changed Man (Mono)
25. Don’t Mess With Cupid
26. Tennessee Waltz
27. When Something is Wrong With My Baby*
28. For Your Precious Love
29. Change Gonna Come

Disc 2

1. Stay In School
2. The Boston Monkey
3. Trick Or Treat
4. Look At The Girl
5. Home in Your Heart
6. A Woman, A Lover, A Friend
7. I Love You More Than Words Can Say
8. I’m Coming Home To See About You
9. The Hucklebuck
10. Got To Get Myself Together
11. I Got The Will
12. Lovely Dovey*
13. Johnny’s Heartbreak
14. Remember Me
15. I’m Coming Home
16. Open The Door
17. Groovin’ Time
18. I Can’t Turn You Loose
19. Let Me Come On Home
20. You’re Still My Baby
21. Free Me
22. Are You Lonely For Me Baby?*
23. Give Away None Of My Love
24. The Happy Song (Dum-Dum-De-De-De-Dum-Dum)
25. Champagne & Wine
26. Everybody Makes Mistakes
27. You Don’t Miss Your Water
28. Amen

Disc 3

1. Demonstration
2. She Put The Hurt On Me
3. Tell It Like It Is*
4. Rock me Baby
5. Don’t Leave Me This Way
6. I Need Your Lovin’
7. It Takes Two*Living By The Pund (Take 1)
8. The Dog
9. I’m Sick Y’All
10. Something Is Worrying Me
11. I Want To Thank You
12. Keep Your Arms Around Me
13. You Got Good Lovin’
14. Mary’s Little Lamb
15. The Match Game 
16. You Left The Water Running
17. Sweet Lorene
18. A Lover’s Question
19. Nobody’s Fault by Mine
20. A Little Time
21. Love Have Mercy
22. Think About It
23. The Glory of Love 
24. That’s How Strong My Love Is
25. My Lover’s Prayer
26. I’ve Been Loving Too Long
27. Try A Little Tenderness

* Otis Redding & Carla Thomas

Only Disc 1 could be reproduced on Spotify to some of the songs not being available on that platform. 

I really love the period of music that is known as the Psychedelic era. No other time period of music (in my opinion) was so experimental, or interesting on the ear. This was because artists were keen to push the boundaries. The most famous of these is arguably The Beatles. Just look at their output between the 1962 and 1967. Their first single of ‘Love Me’ had the classic two guitars, bass and drums line up. I know there is a harmonica in there as well but the lyrics are not exactly earth shattering. Move forward to ‘Sgt Pepper’ and we have songs about parking meter ladies, victoriana and whatever ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ is about? The instrumentation includes sitars, tambours, swarmandals, piano, organs as well as combs and tissue paper.  

Where The Beatles led, others would follow. What we got was songs with modulations, influences from what we would now call World Music (especially India at this time), surreal or whimsical lyrics and extended instrumental passages. The studio also became an instrument in itself, with artists employing panning across the stereo spectrum, tape effects, reverb as well as employing early synthesisers. 

So here is my first of a year long set of compilations looking at this era with some of the most well know bands of the era rubbing shoulders with a good deal of those who did not make much headway at the time, but their contributions have been recognised and compiled since. There is even a well known act going under a different name (Idle Hands is really Supertramp).

Disc 1

1. So Much In Love – McGough & McGear
2. 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box – Aquarian Age
3. Granny Takes A Trip – The Purple Gang
4. Dream On My Mind – Rupert’s People
5. Imposters Of Life’s Magazine – The Idle Race
6. Light Of Your Mind – The David 
7. Shine On Brightly  – Procol Harum
8. Strange Walking Man – Mandrake Paddle Steamer
9. Mind’s Eye – Ramases & Selket 
10. Life Is Short – Billy Nicholls
11. Hurdy Gurdy Man – Dondvan
12. Monday morning – Tales of Justine
13. Am I The Red One – Mick Softly With The Summer Suns
14. Subway (Smokey Pokey World) – Tickle
15. Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room – Orange Machine
16. Talkin’ About The Good Times – The Pretty Things
17. Screams In The Ears – Bill Fay
18. Model Village – Penny Peeps
19. I’m A Man – the Spencer Davis Group
20. Relax – The Who
21. Pools Of Blue – Barclay James Harvest
22. I Can Take You To the Sun – The Misunderstood
23. Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon & The Animals
24. Reputation – Shy Limbs

Disc 2

1. Path Through A Forest (Sound Effects Version) – The Factory
2. London Social Degree – Billy Nicholls
3. Peru – Chimera
4. Shirley – Cliff Wade
5. Painter Man  – The Creation
6. Michaelangelo – 23rd Turnoff
7. The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime) – Scott Walker
8. Run The Night – Wicked Lady
9. I’d Like To Walk Around In Your Mind – Vashti Bunyan
10. Time Of The Season (Mono Mix) – The Zombies
11. Red Chalk Hill – John Pantry
12. Drop Everything & Run – Thame Russal
13. The Otherside – Apple
14. Smokey Wood – Peter & The Wolves
15. She’s A Rainbow – the Rolling Stones
16. Forty Thousand Headmen – Traffic
17. I Don’t Know Where I Stand – Fariport Convention
18. Julia Dream – Pink Floyd
19. The Days Of Pearly Spencer – David McWilliams
20. Hole In His Hand – Jesse Harper
21. Meditations – Felius Andromeda
22. Remember – The Idle Hands (Supertramp)
23. The Bird – Nimrod
24. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) – Fleetwood Mac  

The cover is a stock photo, which I believe was on Microsoft Windows but given some effects to make it look a bit more psychedelic. 

Disc 1 is made up of tracks from the ‘Mojo Presents Acid Drops, Spacedust and Flying Saucers’ compilation from 2001.

Back in the dim distant past, or before the internet, finding out information about more obscure bands was a very hit and miss affair. Record Collector Magazine was a good place to start but this did depend on if the editor felt that that particular artists would help sell more copies that month, or the odd reference book. In my case, it was whether I or my family knew someone who had a record collection that they had built up throughout their life and didn’t mind me playing them. Even better was when some of these family friends donated their vinyl to archive. One such occasion happened in 1992. This  particular collection contained records that mostly dated from the 70s and was full of bands and artists a good many I had never heard of. One of those is the featured artists in this post, and that is the Pink Fairies. 

The album in my hands turned out be part of record label Polydor’s Flashback series. The Flashback series was Polydor mining their back catalogue but in a different way from other labels. Whereas other label would produce Greatest Hits or Best Of compilations, Polydor took a different route and produce a good number of budget priced compilations of big names (Cream, Hendrix), bands that had been on the label, or associate label but moved onto pastures new (Fairport Convention), cult acts (Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa) and half forgotten acts (Pink Fairies). Now, at the time, I knew nothing of this. In front of me was an album with a pink background with three hairy looking musicians giving it plenty on stage and a list of songs contained within. The back cover gave a very short history of the band which included a limited list of records the band had released. As soon as I put the needle on the vinyl and the first song played, I knew I was entering into a different world. 

The Pink Fairies came out of the Ladbrooke Groove underground scene of the early 70s. They played the first Glastonbury as well as appearing outside the gates of the Isle of Wight festival. On the second of these, the band played outside because not only were they not on the bill, but felt that music should be free. That being said, they did release three albums on a major label in their first incarnation and people would have had to pay for these. Anyway, it from these early years that this collection is drawn from. The music the band produced was a heady mix of good time rock ’n’ roll from their most self written material with the odd cover in there. Original guitar player Paul Rudolph played a mean guitar and it was wild solo on the opening track of the Flashback album that mesmerised me in the first place. That song was ‘The Snake’, and when you hear it you will see what I mean. Rudolph left after the second album to be replaced with first Mick Wayne, who only appeared on the ‘Well, Well, Well’ single and then Larry Wallis who stuck around for the last album, ‘King Of Oblivion’. After this taster, I was after more Fairies records to add to the collection.

Back in the early days of me collecting records, having to find a record by an obscure artist I was getting into was a very hot and miss affair, and mostly it involved misses. That was down to one simple factor; luck. Not only did the second hand record shop you went to have to have it (which was unlikely), I also had to hope that it was within my merger budget. As it was, on my first trip out I picked up a copy of ‘King Of Oblivion’. That might explain why it has more songs on this compilation that the other Fairies records. The original trio of albums were available in the early 90s on some rather pricey Japanese import CDs, but being a student at the time, I was unable to afford them.  I did pick up a couple more albums along the way but these were from one or more of the numerous times the band has got back together down the years. None of them held a torch to what the band had produced before and that was not probably the reason why they were so cheap. You live and learn. There was the odd semi legitimate release (most of which came from Italy) which had some live stuff, especially from he archives of the BBC. Then, in 2002, the original albums were dusted off by Polydor and released on CD with bonus tracks. Finally I was able to hear then all for the first time after ten years of waiting. As with most of these things, the anticipation only lead to the hardest of falls. I had already heard most of the best songs on the records I had in the collection already. it did feel like a bit of a let down, but it was great to hear them finally and I was able to put this compilation together that I present to you here. Enjoy.

1. Thor – Never Never Land
2. Johnny B. Goode – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
3. The Snake Single – A-Side
4. Portobello Shuffle  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
5. Say You Love Me – Never Never Land
6. Lucille – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
7. City Kids – Kings Of Oblivion
8. Chromium Plating – Kings Of Oblivion
9. Raceway – Kings Of Oblivion
10. Well, Well, Well – Single A-Side
11. Do It – Single B-Side
12. Chambermaid – Kings Of Oblivion
13. Going Down  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties (2002 Reissue)
14. Right On, Fight On – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
15. I Wish I Was A Girl – Kings Of Oblivion
16. Street Urchin – Kings Of Oblivion

Out of all of the bands that I have posted about, I thought that this would be another one in which I would not be able to produce a Spotify playlist. Well, it just goes to show how wrong you can be. Every song is on there, even the BBC In Concert session. I was amazed. What that does mean is that you can enjoy this Pink Fairies compilation as much as I have down the years. 

The front cover is adapted from their debut release, ‘Never Never Land’.