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
- So Much In Love – McGough & McGear
- 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box – Aquarian Age
- Granny Takes A Trip – The Purple Gang
- Dream On My Mind – Rupert’s People
- Imposters Of Life’s Magazine – The Idle Race
- Light Of Your Mind – The David
- Shine On Brightly – Procol Harum
- Strange Walking Man – Mandrake Paddle Steamer
- Mind’s Eye – Ramases & Selket
- Life Is Short – Billy Nicholls
- Hurdy Gurdy Man – Dondvan
- Monday morning – Tales of Justine
- Am I The Red One – Mick Softly With The Summer Suns
- Subway (Smokey Pokey World) – Tickle
- Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room – Orange Machine
- Talkin’ About The Good Times – The Pretty Things
- Screams In The Ears – Bill Fay
- Model Village – Penny Peeps
- I’m A Man – the Spencer Davis Group
- Relax – The Who
- Pools Of Blue – Barclay James Harvest
- I Can Take You To the Sun – The Misunderstood
- Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon & The Animals
- Reputation – Shy Limbs
Disc 2
- Path Through A Forest (Sound Effects Version) – The Factory
- London Social Degree – Billy Nicholls
- Peru – Chimera
- Shirley – Cliff Wade
- Painter Man – The Creation
- Michaelangelo – 23rd Turnoff
- The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime) – Scott Walker
- Run The Night – Wicked Lady
- I’d Like To Walk Around In Your Mind – Vashti Bunyan
- Time Of The Season (Mono Mix) – The Zombies
- Red Chalk Hill – John Pantry
- Drop Everything & Run – Thame Russal
- The Otherside – Apple
- Smokey Wood – Peter & The Wolves
- She’s A Rainbow – the Rolling Stones
- Forty Thousand Headmen – Traffic
- I Don’t Know Where I Stand – Fariport Convention
- Julia Dream – Pink Floyd
- The Days Of Pearly Spencer – David McWilliams
- Hole In His Hand – Jesse Harper
- Meditations – Felius Andromeda
- Remember – The Idle Hands (Supertramp)
- The Bird – Nimrod
- 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.