The High Llamas- Can Cladders (2007)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

The High Llamas, which is basically short hand for producer/songwriter/vocalist Sean O'Hagan, have spent the last 15 years mostly recreating Brian Wilson's 1966-1969 sound (along with a touch of Steely Dan and electronic hints from their sibling band, Stereolab). O'Hagan is a pro at this style of production, and in fact has been consistantly pumping out quality product longer than Wilson himself ever managed. The problems have always been with the songwriting, which is nowhere near the levels of someone like Wilson or Steely Dan's Donald Fagan, and O'Hagan's voice, which is sort of a weak, reedy instrument.

Can Cladders, which is the first new Llamas disc in four years, fortunately takes steps to remedy both of these problems. Although the band started strong on Santa Barbara and Gideon Gaye, later 90's albums like Hawaii and Cold And Bouncy had a distinct focus on the instrumental production sound, and the songs seemed more like afterthoughts. 1999's Snowbug and 2003's Beet, Corn, And Maize tried to be more song-oriented, but just ended up kind of boring (I could never actually pay attention to Beet, Corn, and Maize). Buzzle Bee found a good balance, although it skimped on the string arrangements, but the new album is an improvement over even that disc. Can Cladders ties all the loose ends together and is the Llamas' best album.

O'Hagan will probably never be an A-list songwriter, but there are some catchy tunes here to match the gorgeous production. Songs like "The Old Spring Town," "Winter Day," "Honeytrop," and the title track have all been bouncing around in my head for the past few weeks. Previous Llamas maybe had only one or two songs to accomplish this feat. The instrumental tracks have been reduced here to three one-minute pleasant diversions as opposed to major album features. Long-time string arranger Marcus Holdaway also hits a home run here, as his creative string arrangements perfectly compliment the songs, and I think are in fact superior to those of his late-60's sunshine pop predecessors.

Lyrically, the album is about average. O'Hagan is fixated on surreal travelogues and Americana. He wants to be Smile-era Van Dyke Parks, but never achieves that level of wordplay. It's not really a problem though as folks don't really listen to this stuff for the lyrics, and they are much better than most of the Beach Boys' lyrics (Parks nonwithstanding).

The weak singing problem still remains. Although the melodies are much stronger, O'Hagan still sounds weak. But there are steps towards improvement. I imagine that he is fully aware of his own voice as most of the tracks are lathered with layers of female backing vocals and sometimes even lead lines. O'Hagan has long borrowed electronic sounds from Stereolab, but on Can Cladders he is also following through with the vocal sound (and I guess the Free Design too).

The High Llamas have always been a band better in theory than actual sound and listening enjoyment. I held off a little on buying this album because of this, but Can Cladders is in fact the first disc to really live up to the band's potential. It's a little surprising for a band to reach their peak this late in the game, but Sean O'Hagan has managed this, and I'm excited to hear the next album (which hopefully will not take another four years).

Buy Me:
The High Llamas - Can Cladders

Gruff Rhys- Candylion (2007)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Gruff Rhys is the frontman for modern psych-popsters, the Super Furry Animals. This, his second solo album, is far more than a typical side project and actually features a sound notably different from his day job. Candylion is sort of a psych-folk project highlighted by some bubbling electronics and beats along with some electric guitar leads. There is also a pronounced Cambridge style influence (think Kevin Ayers) that is usually missing in the Super Furries catalog.

The album starts out with the aptly titled "This Is Only The Beginning" which is akin to the introduction tracks that tend to start off hip-hop albums. I find it a little disappointing as the track ends with a synth riff that I would have loved to have heard developed into a full song.

The song "Candylion" establishes the basic sound of the album with it's hazy folkish sound and surreal lyrics. Although very consistant in quality, the album suffers in that the style never strays too far away from this basic sound.

The songwriting is almost always fine ("Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru" leaves me a little cold), but the production, though sounding very hazily cool, eventually ends up also sounding very samey. Still, "The Court Of King Arthur," "Cycle Of Violence," and "Painting People Blue" are all great songs that establish Rhys as a strong solo creative force.

The Super Furries last album, Love Kraft, was partially recorded in Brazil, as were portions of Candylion. I was disappointed that the Brazillian influences didn't really seem to show through on Love Kraft. Fortunately, there is a little more to chew on. "Lonesome Words" and "Cycle Of Violence" in particular both have an awesome percussive bed as their foundation that evokes Brazillian percussion (even though it's basically the same percussive bed).

Unlike Rhys first solo album, Candylion is mostly sung in English. There is still one song sung in Rhys native Welsh, and a Spanish language track. Although Rhys lyrics are often surreal and interesting, his voice is his main asset and he seems to do well singing in any language.

Candylion ends with the 14 minute long "Skylon!," which is the detailed story of an airline hijacking. It sort of evokes Bob Dylan's long story songs, and the focus here is very much on the lyrics. In fact, the main riff and beat really doesn't change over the 14 minutes, and the song relies on sound effects, trippy overdubs, and additional percussion to remain musically interesting.

Although far from perfect, Candylion is a worthwhile detour from the Super Furry Animals more plugged-in sound. Although my quality rating here is a 3.5, I think that Candylion serves up an extremely smooth listening experience, and has ended up being played on my various sound systems more than some theoretically better albums. The cover art also makes me strangely happy.

Buy Me:
Gruff Rhys - Candylion

13th Floor Elevators- Easter Everywhere (1967)

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

On Easter Everywhere, the 13th Floor Elevators managed to refine their sound without sacrificing the things that made their first album so great. Roky Erickson still sounds like a madman, but here he also comes across as much more intelligent and focused. Additionally, while still a little on the low-fi side, the production of Easter Everywhere is much clearer and helps to accent the band's interplay (although the rhythm section on this album is different from the first).

Although they still qualify as garage rockers, the 13th Floor Elevators have a much more noticable folk rock sheen on Easter Everywhere. They even go as far as to include a damn good Dylan cover with "Baby Blue." On "Slide Machine," "Nobody To Love," "Dust," and "I Had To Tell You," the Elevators find a happy middle ground somewhere between the Byrds crystaline sound and Forever Changes-era Love. Fortunately for the garage rock afficianado, the Elevators pull out on the stops on "She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own),"Earthquake," and "Levitation." These helps to give Easter Everywhere a lot of diversity and make it ain interesting listen from beginning to end.

Easter Everywhere provides plenty of improvements over the first LP. Tommy Hall's jug can no longer coast as a strange novelty. It appears less often on Easter Everywhere, but when it is present serves more to create an distinct atmosphere. For me it's like quantum jitters in the typical tapestry of rock music. Stacy Sutherland leaps over his already strong playing on The Psychedelic Sounds Of... His solo on "Step Inside This House" manages to inspire awe and his accompanyment on many of the tracks, especially on "Baby Blue," is graceful and impressive. He is not a flashy guitarist at all, but extremely tasteful and Sutherland always seems to choose just the right notes.

The lyrics are also much better on Easter Everywhere. Hall takes on the lion's shares of the lyrics, and while his worldview is certainly demented, he successfully sidesteps most psychedelic cliches and gives the listener something unique. It doesn't hurt that Erickson's all-for-broke singing usually complements Hall's vision perfectly. This synergy is best sampled on the opening track "Step Inside This House." It rarely makes logical sense, but it's never less than riveting.

The only misstep on Easter Everywhere is the closing track "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)." While not a terrible mistake by any means, it does overstay its welcome at six-and-a-half minutes. I guess the Elevators had already spent their long-form song capital on "Step Inside This House," which may even be too short at eight minutes.

Like The Psychedelic Sounds Of..., the 2005 Charly CD reissue of Easter Everywhere gives us ten bonus tracks. The ones here are fortunately of significantly more value. There are eight live tracks, but this time they are of original compositions from The Psychedelic Sounds Of... instead of rock covers that every band played in the mid 60's. The sound quality is not bad at all (although you still need the 1st album), and it's cool to hear the band really rip into their own stuff in a live setting. It's certainly better than the band's so-called "live" album, which is actually just studio outtakes with overdubbed crowd noise (these mp3s are included with the first album at Dr. Schluss). As for the other two bonus tracks, an instrumental take of "Levitation" is basically filler, but we get an entertaining studio outtake called "I Don't Ever Want To Come Down" that actually comes from the sessions for the band's next album.

Easter Everywhere and The Psychedelic Sounds Of... basically comprise the 13th Floor Elevator's essential catalog. The "live" album is not as advertised and not recommended. There is also a metaphoric pantload of studio alternate takes and other live tracks on a string of compilations only recommended for those completely obsessed with the 13th Floor Elevators. The final studio album, Bull Of The Woods, is missing Hall's electric jug, and his presence as lyricist is much less. Even worse, Erickson's drug use landed him in several kinds of institutions and he is mostly absent from the album. That said, he is fully present for a mysterious and great take on "May The Circle Be Unbroken." This means the band is mostly dependent on Sutherland. He took on the challenge respectably with increased songwriting and great guitar playing, but it's still just not the same as the magical first two albums.

Buy Me:
13th Floor Elevators- Easter Everywhere

The 13th Floor Elevators- The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)

Quality- 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter- 3.75 out of 5

Although the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Carnaby Street psychedelic scenes of the 60's are well documented and revered, some of the also-enviable microscenes are left out in the cold. Chief among these is the Austin, Texas scene from which sprouted a just-starting-out Janis Joplin, the Red Crayola, and the infamous 13th Floor Elevators.

Although a proper band, the most notorious member of these garage-psyche rockers is Roky Erickson, sometimes regarded as America's own analog to Syd Barrett. Like Barrett, Erickson shined with the band for a few albums before embarking on a fractured solo career. Fortunately for Erickson, despite his questionable grasp on sanity, he continues to occasionally pop up to make music to this day. Even better, Erickson possesses perhaps the finest voice ever heard in garage-psyche, a wildman yelp that whcih always sounds obssessed, and manages to make even more half-baked sounds worthy. On the album in question, Erickson is at his finest.

But the 13th Floor Elevators were not a one trick pony. Lyricist Tommy Hall wanted to double as a true member of the band and brought in something called the electric jug. It produces a truly odd, bubbly sound that permeates most of the band's songs. In full disclosure, you'll either love it or hate it, and if you hate it, it will be difficult to get into this band. The real secret weapon here, however, is lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland. His winding and often stately leads compare favorably with even such notables as Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane.

The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators is often cited as the first psychedelic album. Although that's more than up for debate, I do believe it was the first album to actively use the word "psychedelic." The still eye-catching sleeve was definately among the first of its kind.

The Elevators seeked to expand their music making into a strange, acid-drenched form of philosophy. Judging by the rantings on the back cover of the record jacket, they didn't really think out this philosophy, but it does seem to bring a certain level of conviction to the music. It also makes the lyrics a notch above the norm of most of the band's contemporaries. Even when they don't make sense, they seem to being saying more than just the typical boy-meets(or loses)-girl love songs.

Leading off the album is what I consider one of the best rock songs ever, "You're Gonna Miss Me." At heart the tune is a typical mid 60's stomper, but with the electric jug wildly perculating and Erickson sounding truly possessed, the whole track turns to gold. Soon the Elevators start to bring out the truly psychedelic riffs. "Roller Coaster" provides a trance-like guitar part that eventually erupts into a rave-up that rivals those of The Yardbirds. Later we hear a speaker-busting bassline that can consume your mind on "Reverberation (Doubt)." Although arguably at their best on the full-blast psych-rockers on this album, the Elevators churn out some more-than-respectable folk-psych ballads on "Splash 1," "Don't Fall Down," and "You Don't Know." These tracks hint at the path that the band would follow on their next album Easter Everywhere.

The chief problem on The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators is the often-muddy production. I'd imagine that the culprit for this is the recording budget rather than the band or producer Leland Rogers (Kenny's brother!). Still, it makes obtaining a copy of this album worth a little research. There's a 180-gram vinyl pressing that manages to sound pretty good. I'm sitting with a 2005 Charly Records CD, which is my 3rd CD copy of this disc, and the first to remove some of the gauze from the sound. Even on this remastered disc, it's a primitive sounding recording and requires the listener to have some appreciation for lo-fi.

The Charly CD includes 10 bonus tracks that are enjoyable, but are no more than a supplement to the album. First we get several live tracks of rock standards ("Before You Accuse Me," "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love," "You Really Got Me," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Gloria," and "The Word") that are sort of a history lesson. Very few bands could get away with playing all originals in 1966, and playing these tunes were the 13th Floor Elevators' bread and butter on the ballroom circuit. We also get an early version of "She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own)," which later appears on Easter Everywhere, and a single from Erickson's previous band, The Spades. On the single we hear an early, straight-faced version of "You're Gonna Miss Me," which manages to bring into relief exactly what the Elevators brought to the song to make it truly great.

Buy Me:
The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators

Psyched By The 4-D Witch (A Tale Of Demonology) (1972)

Quality: 1 out of 5

Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

This is what complete insanity looks like; at least in movie form. Although produced in the 70's, "Psyched By The 4-D Witch" resurfaced on a DVD from Something Weird video a few years back. Unleashing this film to the unwitting public may be tantamount to selling crack to kindergardeners. It's a depraved tour-de-force of exploitation and psychedelia in the not-so-sure hands of its twisted director, Victor Luminera. As this film is his only credit, I imagine that his follow-up to this must have been some sort of bad trip extravaganza in the local gutter. It's the only real way to follow this spectacle.

The story involves Cindy, a college freshmen exploring witchcraft... (dramatic pause) sexual witchcraft! With the help of her supposed ancestor, communicating from the astral plain, Cindy begins a series of warped sexual exploits, all while "remaining a virgin for her daddy" (I'm not riffing here, this is what the film tells us). Eventually things turn sour and bring in Cindy's innocent older brother as a transformed "sex vampire," thus living up to the psyching promised in the film's title.

Now, this all sounds like a soft core 70's porn, and I imagine that this may have been the intended audience. Through the twisted direction of Luminera, however, the final result is quite different.

First off, much of the film is shot in "transetheric vision," which appears to be shorthand for using every cheap psychedelic camera trick in the book. This refers of course to the film shot for the movie, as I think around 50% percent of this demented journey appears to be stock footage. But even some of that seems to have been tweeked in one way or another. We see interdimensional multi-coloured cars passing through each other, and some completely indecipherable images from the astral plane. Due to the age of the film, a lot of these effects now sport a reddish color.

As this was shot on a Z-grade budget, there is no actual dialog in the film. Cindy narrates with her sweet All-American tone as she details the sordid world of sexual witchcraft. After the first 15 minutes, her occasional obscinities are strangely edited (I don't think it's possible to edit this one for the kids). We also hear a bit of disembodied narration from Cindy's brother and the "gay" neighbor next door, who should offend, well... everyone. Most of the soundtrack music is comprised of stock classical recordings and a touch of Pink Floyd that probably came from Mr. Luminera's personal "stash."

There is one major exception to the soundtrack. Composed especially for the film is the titular track played by a non-descript garage-psyche band and sung by some guy known only as Johnny-By-The-Spot. Actually, I should give a little more credit the band. They don't have much skill or talent, but they're really playing their balls off and show absolutely no restraint whatsoever. Over this, Mr. By-The-Spot bellows out lines such as "Beware of the 4-D witch, beware/She's in your mind, she's everywhere/Born in the belly of the Devil's bitch/Beware of the 4-D witch." The song appears about every ten minutes or so, and is a good sign that the proceedings are about to become even more demented. It's also a horribly catchy little tune that should pop up in your head at inappropriate times in the future.

"Psyched By The 4-D Witch" is certainly not for everyone. It is terribly offensive, and poorly made. Still, for those willing to dive in, it is a masterpiece of trash culture. Everything here seems tailor made for maximum strangeness and I'd personally love to catch this one as a midnight movie somewhere.

The Something Weird disc actually contains "Psyched By The 4-D Witch" as a second feature. The top billed "Monster A-Go-Go" is directed by the legendary Herschell Gordon Lewis, but is unfortunately a dull sci-fi patch job using footage from an earlier aborted film by Bill Rebane. There is also a treasure chest of trailers for bad psychedelic films that actually ups the value of the disc.

Buy Me:
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Go-Go-Psyched-4-D-Witch/dp/B0000687DF/sr=8-1/qid=1171351410/ref=sr_1_1/002-3040409-1725623?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Kevin Ayers- Bananamour (1973)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3 out of 5 (5 for "Decadence")

By the time of this release, Kevin Ayers had spent far more time as a solo artist than as part of the Soft Machine. The sound here still occassionally recalls that band, but there is a much more folky quality permeating much of this disc and the songwriting here is much stronger than his first solo recordings. Still, Ayers does not strive for any kind of unified vibe here. We find a psychedelic drone-fest along side an attempt to recreate a Stax Records sound. It's a little hit or miss, and probably less than the sum of its parts, but fortunately most of the parts are pretty strong. Production-wise, Bananamour recalls other albums of it's time, especially glam rockers like T. Rex and Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, but Ayers sensibilities mostly remain in the 60's.

Ayers' for the most part does a fine job balancing his own psych-folk muse with concessions to glam rock and a singer-songwriter sound on Bananamour. The opening "Don't Let It Get You Down (For Rachel)" is a solidly constructed example with the core song very much recalls Carnaby Street pop, but the female vocals, watery guitar, and fluid bass guitar shift the vibe a little more into the 70's. Many of the best tracks here follow an acoustic template with perhaps a nod or two to contemporary sounds. "Shouting In A Bucket Blues" is a rolling number with great sad sack lyrics and a touch of glam guitar from Gong's Steve Hillage. Later we find "Oh! Wot A Dream" recalling some of Dylan's dream lyrics filtered through Ayers' Cambridge sensibilites and featuring a duck sound on the rhythm track. Although the Soft Machine is firmly in Ayers past, band alumni Mike Ratledge shows up on organ for the somewhat derivative "Interview" (although some strange dissonance and amusing lyrics save this sort of bluesy number), while Robert Wyatt provides harmony vocals to the lilting "Hymn."

The centerpiece and perhaps best track on the album is also somewhat of an anamoly. "Decadance" drones along with almost a kraut-rock vibe, with a bed of delayed guitars, droning analog synths (maybe these were borrowed from Gong too?), and mostly metronomic beats. It's by far the most psychedelic song on the album, and Ayers' absurdist lyrics completely match the music. There's an alternate mix of "Decadence" in the bonus section that is interesting for a comparison, but inferior to the album version and not essential.

The only misstep is the aforementioned Stax knockoff, "When Your Parents Go To Sleep." First off, bassist Archie Leggett gets the lead vocal instead of Ayers and this obscures much of the charm of Ayers' lyrics. The big problem is that the five minute track seriously disrupts the flow of the album, and probably would have been better as a B-side. This is not to say it's a bad song. There's a groovy horn section here and the rhythm section works hard to live up to an MGs sort of vibe. It would have been a great B-side, but sticks out like a sore thumb in the context of Bananamour. I'd probably enjoy "Interview" much more if this track did not precede it.

The album proper concludes with the majestically orchestrated, bad joke of a song (literally and intentionally) "Beware Of The Dog." It a silly track, but short and a perfect way for Ayers to end his album. It's kind of like Ayers' version of the Looney Tunes "T-That's All Folks" closer.

Excluding the alternate mix, the bonus tracks here reveal a unexpected obsession with tropical islands, reggae, and calypso. "Take Me To Tahiti" and "Carribean Moon" reference this directly in their titles while "Connie On A Rubber Band" is arranged with a reggae beat. All three are predictable breezy and make for an enjoyable sundrenched aural dessert after Bananamour.

Ayers' would soon depart Harvest Records to work out his prog-rock mojo on Island Records. Bananamour was an undeserved commercial flop and in fact Ayers would never experience any large scale success. This is unfortunate as Bananamour is a strong testament to his songwriting skills.

Buy Me:
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour

Kevin Ayers- Joy Of A Toy (1969)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Kevin Ayers is sort of a lesser known musical cousin to Syd Barrett. His distinctive baritone voice exists in the same strange netherworld as Barrett, although Ayers seems much more in control of what he's expressing. Ayers served for one album as the leader of the tripped out and reknown London based Soft Machine (although significantly less reknown than Pink Floyd) and quickly split to start his solo career. Unlike Barrett, Ayers left more for the infamous creative differences, which seems to be accurate in this case. Ayers wanted to explore poppier avenues while the rest of the band soon followed their jazz-fusion, prog-rock muse. And like Barrett's The Madcap Laughs, Ayers created A Joy Of A Toy with the blessing, and even active particiption of his former bandmates.

A Joy Of A Toy has some definite attributes. There is a folkish vibe from the late 60's Cambridge scene audibly present, but Ayers does view into many interesting and sometimes unexpected venues of sound. Ayers' lyrics are uniformily of a high caliber surrealist nature that is worth paying attention to. It's not quite Dylan, but can be quite mindbending. Better yet is Ayers ability to create distinctive musical atmospheres. The are a slew of instruments included in the arrangements of this album including cello, celeste, melodica, Hawaiian guitar, mouth organ, and electronics along with the more conventional rock instrumentation.

A carnival atmosphere begins the album on "Joy Of A Toy Continued," a mostly instumental Soft Machine rewrite that doesn't really resemble its mother song much at all. "The Clarietta Rag" is a full fledged pop song that revises this bouncy feel. "Town Feeling," "The Lady Rachel," and "All This Crazy Gift Of Song" echo, but do not emulate, the acid drenched vibe of Barrett's solo performances. "Girl On A Swing" is truly haunting and provides some truely stirring psychedelic imagery. On Joy Of A Toy, Ayers is much more in control of his facilities than Syd Barrett's somewhat similar solo LPs, but Ayers trades in the mystery of Barrett's unhinged performances for a little more musicality and stability. As I stated before, The Soft Machine's presence is clearly heard and drummer Robert Wyatt provides most of the beats on this album. In fact the floating "Song For Insane Times" features the entire band, and might be considered a Soft Machine band as it contains the complete 1968-1969 line up (who never played together elsewhere as Hugh Hopper was Ayers' replacement).

I've often heard that Ayers is regarded as a bit of a musical slacker. This is hard to dispute on A Joy Of A Toy. The shorter compositions do not at all overstay their welcome, but still tend to rely mostly on a single groove. This becomes a problem on the longer songs. "Stop This Train" comes out on top due to its concept of train travel although the track does not reward close attention. "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong" unfortunately more than overstays its welcome. The different iterations of "Religious Experience/Singing A Song In The Morning" in the bonus section are musically pretty cool, but suffers from the fact that Ayers only bothered to write one verse of lyrics.

The bonus tracks here are extremely valuable, and add a considerable amount of music to this 2003 reissue. Among the different versions of "Religious Experience" is an early take that actually features Barrett on lead guitar. His part is slightly disjointed, and absent from the final single, but sounds a lot more together that Barrett's reputation suggests. Also present is "Soon Soon Soon," an album quality outtake and some interesting later versions of "The Lady Rachel."

Buy Me:
Kevin Ayers - Joy Of a Toy

Syd Barrett- Barrett (1970)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Barrett's second disc is basically a mish-mash of some great songs mixed with some literally half-baked creations. By this time, both Richard Wright and David Gilmour had taken some time away from Pink Floyd to try to shore up Mr. Barrett's music ideas. Whether this stemmed from guilt over Barrett's departure from Pink Floyd or genuine respect is up for debate (I like to opt for respect), but the fact is that on this recording Waters and Gilmore did quite a bit of sonic manicuring and created a much more polished recording that The Madcap Laughs.

This unfortunately erases some of the charm of Barrett's debut solid album. There is some consistant backing on Barrett in the form of James Shirley (drums) along with Wright (keyboards) and Gilmore (guitar and I'd imagine bass). This creates a much less polarized sound than The Madcap Laughs, but tend to homogenize the sound.

Some of the winners here include "Baby Lemonade," which features an awesome 12-string guitar intro from Gilmore and some of Syd's lyrics at its best. "Dominoes" is a hazy yet evocative suggestion of what Pink Floyd may have sounded like had the maestro remained with the band. "Wined And Dined" is a composition that rivals anything on The Madcap Laughs and may be one of Barrett's best songs, with or without the Floyd. "Effervescing Elephant" is a twisted kids song whose composition apparently predates Barrett's days with Pink Floyd. I've also always had a soft spot for the sometime maligned "Gigolo Aunt." The song itself resembles a mildly twisted version of something you might hear on the Brady Bunch. Regardless, it's damn catchy and is one of my personal highlights on the album.

The problem with Barrett is that there is a fair amount of material that suggests lazyness, or Barrett's detachment from reality a bit too strongly. "Wolfpack," for example meanders on for almost four minutes without much of a pont or a melody. "Rats" provides one of Barrett's signature word games, but once again basically wastes its running time musically. Although the acoustic material on Barrett is greatly reduced, "Waving My Arms In The Air" and "I Never Lied To You" are spare tracks that sound much more like the results of mental ravages than anything on The Madcap Laughs.

Despite it's shortcomings. Barrett is one of the few solo recordings that Syd Barrett left behind. The highlights here are truly great and deserve your listening ear. Once again the EMI version of this disc includes some alternate takes that give the listener a window into Barrett's fractured mind.

Buy Me:
Syd Barrett - Barrett

Syd Barrett- The Madcap Laughs (1970)

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Syd Barrett's first solo album is the work of a man completely falling apart. As the founder of Pink Floyd, Barrett ingested enough LSD to drive a medium sized country mad, and by 1968 and 1969 (when this album was recorded) his mental state was very schizophrenic. Even with these problematic mental disorders (or maybe becasue of), Barrett managed to create a classic.

Following Barrett's dismissal from Pink Floyd in early 1968, the band's managers followed Barrett, assuming that the band could not survive without their creative light (oops). While time has obviously proved them wrong, they soon set Barrett to work with producer Malcolm Jones and the trippy combo The Soft Machine to create a pop album. Barrett's performances soon proved to be erratic and strange, and it was soon apparent that the music was not going to set the teen scene on fire. The sessions were shelved (although temporarily as many tracks are included on the album) and "Octopus" was unleashed as a single. It unsurprisingly did not go far.

Cut forward a few months and former bandmate Roger Waters and Syd's own replacement David Gilmore wheel Barrett back into the studio for some more fun and games. These sessions were acoustically based, and allowed Barrett to do pretty much whatever he wanted to do, even if it was endlessly strange.

The final album is a somewhat daunting listen, but quite phenomenal if you can get your mind into Syd's world, where things like rhythm are rather amorphous. "No Good Trying," "No Man's Land," "Octopus," and "Late Night" are strange but amazing masterpieces of psychedelic rock. On the first two especially, the backing musicians sound like they're furiously trying to keep up with Syd (no good trying?) and the music is always on the verge of flying apart at the seams in a wonderful and interesting sort of way. "Terrapin," "Dark Globe," and "Golden Hair" are more acoustic-based classics.

Now I'm guilty of a bit of blasphemous resequencing in regards to my own copy of "The Madcap Laughs." I've taken out "Feel" and "If It's In You," which I think qualify as acoustic shambles, and replaced them with "Opel" and "Silas Lang." These are outtakes from the Malcolm Jones sessions that I think are amazing (especially "Opel") and bewilderingly left off the album. I think that these tracks better compliment the strange vibes of the other material on the LP. These tracks can be found on the otherwise hit or miss odds-and-sods complation "Opel."

Although more expensive, I heartily recommend the EMI reissue of this disc. The remastering is far superior to Capitol's disc, and the alternate takes are illuminating. Barrett never played a song the same way twice; that was likely part of his madness.

Buy Me:
Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs

The Zodiac- Cosmic Sounds (1967)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

I first came across this album from a buddy of mine living in a concrete warehouse practice space who had procured a vinyl copy of this baby for use in his electronic performances. I was greatly amused by the oddness of The Zodiac and spent the next 5 years searching for my own copy.

The seeds of this particular disc stem from Elektra Records guru, Jac Holzman. At the time primarily a folk label, Holzman was taking some initiative in searching for new, hip sounds. He probably decided that "What's your sign?" was indeed a groovy pick up line in bars, and proceeded to construct a 12 track album based on the signs of the Zodiac. He recruited former folkster Alex Hassilev (of The Limelighters) to produce and far-past-his-youth Mort Garson to arrange the music.

Maybe one of the first rock and/or psychedelic concept albums, Cosmic Sounds is a truly demented journey through pre-fab sound. The Zodiac itself was not really a band, but in fact an Elektra Records project which utilized many members of the Wrecking Crew. These players, who can be heard on most 1965-967 Beach Boys recordings, the "Mr. Tambourine Man" single by The Byrds, and about 8067 other 60's hits are probably among the most renown sessionmen and women ever. They also considered themselves mainly jazz players, and "slummed" to play on rock and pop sessions basically for the money. Still, drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Carol Kaye have admitted their presence on most of the tracks here, and both of them are amazing musicians.

With the talented, but admittedly white collar, musicians in place we'd of course have a highly competent album. To set this one over the edge, however, a few ringers are necessary. Three folks on the record fortunately fit this bill. Emil Richards was recruited as percussionist wildly bashing on anything in hand (including a wide range of ethnic percussion). Electronic experimenter Paul Beaver came about after the initial tracking sessions with his early modular Moog synthesizer in hand, or uh.. trailer (modular Moogs are crazy big). This contributed some properly strange sounds for the time as Cosmic Sounds was likely the first commercial appearance of a Moog synth.

The real lynchpin of this endeavor was narrator Cyrus Faryar. Although the words describing the Zodiac were hacked out by a fellow by the name of Jacques Wilson, Cyrus really brought them to life. Speaking with a seriousness and hubris that would put Jim Morrison to shame, Mr. Faryar somehow managed to intone lines like "Nine times the color red explodes like heated blood" while sounding like he really meant it.

As far as the songs themselves, some of the signs stick out more than others. "Aires-The Fire Fighter" managed to work up a quintessential (if not completely inspired) acid-rock groove, while "Cancer-The Moon Child" creates an atmosphere of 1967-vintage new age bliss. Apparently Cancer wants to be touched by everything. "Libra" takes a musically odd route to being a "Flower Child" which actually manages to not use what are not folky cliches. "Sagittarius-The Versatile Daredevil" gives us a carnival sound which resembles a chopped up and mutilated "Mr. Kite." Unfortunately my sign, represented by "Pisces-The Peace Piper," is a little on the dull side as well as a few other tracks. Fortunately, even on the lesser tracks, Cyrus comes through with his dramatically stated, but incomprehensible ramblings. "To be afraid, and not care that you are afraid, is the courage of which Scorpio is made" indeed.

To be honest, Cosmic Sounds rates a lot higher on the kitsch level than musically. Still, there's a strange naive charm permeating the record. It's a lot of fun to listen to, and as the all-capital purple letters plead on the rear sleeve, Cosmic Sounds MUST BE PLAYED IN THE DARK. If you're looking for something to stack next to Pet Sounds or Forever Changes, Cosmic Sounds will be a massive disappointment. A better mainstream comparison might be The Doors' throwaway track "Horse Lattitudes" found on Strange Days. Cosmic Sounds is a novelty, but one of a high order as far as novelties go.

Buy Me:
The Zodiac - Cosmic Sounds

The Hollies- Evolution (1967)

Quality: 4 out of 5 (mono)
3.5 out of 5 (stereo)
Trip-O-Meter: 3 out of 5

Evolution is the Hollies first profound attempt to dive in the pool of psychedelia. Unlike the later Butterfly, the Hollies brand of Brit-pop doesn't mix particularly well with the psychedelic elements here. Like the weaker tracks on Butterfly, however, the songwriting saves the day and makes for a solid album.

This review focuses on the 2004 Japanese issue of both the mono and stereo Evolution along with the "Carrie Anne"/"Signs That Will Never Change" single.

The old adage that you can't judge a book by its cover applies to Evolution, but unfortunately not in its favor. The cover is an amazing image by The Fool which represents a paisley clad band seemingly reaching through the shrinkwrapping of the album. There is a strange psychedelic overlay consuming the image. The musical contents of the album, however, are basically solid British Invasion pop with some window dressing representing the more cutting egde bands of the period.

"Then The Heartaches Begin" is a solidly constructed opener with a touch of somewhat misplaced fuzz guitar. The first real winner here is in the slightly skewed ballad "Stop Right There." It has a perfect balance of melancholy and hesitant cheeriness that make it a prime candidate for the soundtrack of a future Wes Anderson film. The strange gypsy-like violin part weaving through the later part of the song helps to distinguish the ballad further.

The best parts of the album stay away from psychedelia and reaffirm the Hollies mastery of 1965 styled pop. "You Need Love," "When You're Light's Turned On," and "The Games We Play" would have been plumb singles two years earlier, but probably served to alienate their contemporary audience. "Have You Ever Loved Someone" makes the mistake of using fuzz guitar on what should be a poppier track. The result comes out like The Beach Boys' similarly misguided "Bluebirds Over The Mountain." "Rain On The Windows" add a bit of reverberating orchestation to color its sound to better effect, and the helium voices in "Water On The Brain" anticipates some of the later sound experiments on Butterfly.

Evolution remains strong despite a few questionable decisions, and only grinds to a standstill on two tracks. "Lulluby To Tim" utilized a truely grating warbling vocal effect, while "Ye Olde Toffee Shop" is dated in the most flagrantly twee manner. It's like Willy Wonka, sans any irony, and tends to make me cringe a little bit.

This disc's value is upgraded by the wonderful "Carrie Anne"/"Signs That Will Never Change" single. "Carrie Anne" has some of the best vocal harmonies recorded in the 60's and spices things up a bit with some bongo action. The B-side doesn't overshadow the main attraction, but it's a very pleasant album quality track with a groovy bassline and manages to point towards the future a little more than the past.

Evolution is very much superior in its mono incarnation, with the stereo tracks sporting poorly considered stereo separation and a lack of balance or impact.

Although a little spotty, Evolution provides an interesting bridge between the Hollies beat-based sound of their early albums and the full-on psychedelia of their Butterfly period. The pop aspects are still the main attributes here and the sometimes indiscreet and missplaced psychedelic aspects don't completely ruin the sound.

Buy Me:
The Hollies - Evolution

The Hollies- Butterfly (1967)

Quality: 5 out of 5 (mono)
4 out of 5 (stereo)
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Although the Hollies were one of Britain's biggest pop bands in the 60's, they would remain relatively obscure in the States until the 70's, by which time Graham Nash had left the band and the remaining members had converted to a rather schmaltzy soft rock band. Butterfly is a prime piece of British psyche pop which has never really been noticed in the US. In fact, I'm not sure if it has had a proper American release to this date. I'll be reviewing the 2004 Japanese reissue which includes the mono and stereo British release plus the "King Midas In Reverse"/"Everything Is Sunshine" single.

One of the unfortunate conceits of British psych is that band's ideas and intentions often surpassed their recording capacity. Butterfly escapes this fate as the Hollies had recent hits such as "Carrie Ann" and "On A Carousel" and benefitted from a A-list recording budget. Thus, Butterfly features plenty of exotic instrumentation and full, live orchestration. Much of their experimentation on the album reflected other prominent releases of the past year (Sgt. Peppers, The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday, etc.) but these ideas had not yet passed their freshness date and the phenomenal songwriting of Clarke-Hicks-Nash more than compensated for any redundancies.

Apparently, the band as a whole was not too excited about the dive into psychedelia that they had begun with Evolution and continued here. But it was the prevailing style of 1967 and Graham Nash was gung-ho about taking that direction. This caused creative strain and Graham Nash would depart for America shortly after this album, but on Butterfly the tension provides a perfect balance between pop and psychedelia.

Butterfly starts with "Dear Eloise," a lurching number that provides sort of a manifesto for the rest of the album with it's tripped out mellotron passage shifting into a full blast pop-rock section rivaling even some of the better Lennon/McCartney singles. Nash would also specifically reference The Beatles on the sitar-laden "Maker," which is not as complex as George Harrison's sitar excursions, but has more of an immediate pop edge.

The band scores a couple of should-have-been singles with the soaring "Would You Believe," which is my personal favorite on the album, and the poppy "Step Inside," which recalls prime 1965 Brit-invasion pop. On the other side of the spectrum, the band tries to search for the astral sounds of the day on the one-two punch of "Try It" and "Elevated Observations?" In full disclosure, their "experimentation" here is rather tepid when compared with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, The Soft Machine, or a host of the edgier psych bands, but their pop instincts save the day and make the songs enjoyable, if a bit dated. The one major misstep is the silly lyrics and goofy orchestration on "Pegasus." This song has missed most US Hollies compilations, and it's not really worth searching out if you don't already have it. The closing title track is a much better bit of orchestration, and sound of a piece with contemporary Moody Blues efforts.

"King Midas In Reverse," which may be The Hollies' best psychedelic number, includes amazing vocal harmonies and what starts as deceptively simple production morphing into a huge orchestral wall of sound. "Everything Is Sunshine" is an enjoyable but run-of-the-mill B-side.

My release includes the mono and stereo versions of all of the tracks. As is common with British 60's pop, the mono mix was intended as the definitive mix while the stereo was almost an afterthought. This is especially true here as the mono mixes are finely textured and provides a punch in all the right places. Unfortunately the stereo mix suffers from pointless separation anda poor balance that weakens the sound and immediacy of many songs. I only listen to the stereo version as an occasional curiosity and in fact rate it a full point lower than the mono.

Butterfly is a somewhat neglected release that I believe is one of the definitive psychedelic pop albums. You may recognize "Dear Eloise" and "King Midas In Reverse" from airplay (or not, they don't get played that often) but there are plenty of other tracks here to match the majesty of those songs.

Buy Me:
The Hollies - Butterfly

The Trip (1967)

Quality: 3 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

The Trip is a summer of love vintage exploitation film with an impressive pedigree. B-movie guru Roger Corman directed this time capsule in his search for a "new thing" as his well of Edgar Allen Poe films was running dry. None other than Jack Nicholson wrote the twisted screenplay. He wouldn't firmly commit himself to acting until after Easy Rider. His Easy Rider screenmates Peter Fonda (in the lead role) and Dennis Hopper (in a smaller but impactfully insane role) appear on screen. Bruce Dern also shows up with a full beard as Peter Fonda's "trip" guide.

As a sometimes subjective writer, I must admit that this film has a special place in my heart. I first saw it at a screening at Georgia State in downtown Atlanta back in the winter of 1997. This was before the Nuggets sets made it to CD, so in many ways seeing The Trip ignited my pointless, but impassioned, search for off center psychedelia.

The somewhat disposable plot involves Peter Fonda as a commercial director named Paul in the ending stages of a messy divorce. He approaches his friend (played by Bruce Dern) to guide and babysit him during his inward search enhanced by the controversial (but still legal!) drug LSD. After visiting the dealer (Dennis Hopper), Paul begins the titular trip at Dern's swank pad, where the interior design would make Austin Powers (ok, and me too) weep with joy.

Although not lacking in star power, the real selling points of this film are the production design and goofy camera effects. Cormans' films were always filmed on a shoestring budget, but we really do see every dollar on the screen. Unlike many cult films, this is a nice looking and professional film. I feel like Corman managed to set many summer of love cliches in stone with this production. During his trip, Paul finds himself in a primordial forest coming across horse bound sentinals and fair maidens. Later he experiences a whole series of wacky camera effects while trippin' down Sunset Blvd. I doubt what we see on the screen is a particularly accurate description of an LSD trip, but it sure is a lot of fun to watch. While in a groovy basement club, we spot Gram Parsons' (of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers) with his International Submarine Band. Unfortunately for Parsons' fans, his music is overdubbed with what I believe is The Electric Flag.

Everything comes together during a scene (that takes place in Paul's mind) where Paul finds himself on trial for being a selfish bastard. The sets resemble a circus in hell as the camera aimlessly twirls around. And to really set the mood, Dennis Hopper puts in double duty in a second role as the judge/inquisitor.

The dialog in this films is also of note as we find ourselves listening to endless logic loops as Paul tries to answer the inquisitor's questions, make conversation at a laundromat, and almost fail to order a drink at a club. Nicholson really out did himself, or just a lot of drugs, while penning these lines.

Film lore says that the over-30-at-the-time Roger Corman went a little overboard preparing for this film. Apparently, he sampled LSD and spent an evening trying to become a tree or something. He still regarded this as a good trip and had to grill Nicholson and the rest of the cast over what a "bad trip" was like. Strangely enough, the younger and hipper counter culture icon Bruce Dern had never experimented with the drug.

As LSD was well on its way to becoming illegal, Corman was compelled to moralize the ending a bit. This was obviously done in post production. Storywise Paul seems to have found insight and gotten the girl of his dreams, but a cracked mirror effect on the final frame is supposed to suggest that he has in fact gone insane. Fortunately this is followed by the kaleidoscopic credits so I guess insanity much be kind of groovy after all (at least for Paul).

The Trip is far from a masterpiece. To the modern viewer it is cliche-ridden and a little slow moving. Still, it serves as a great time capsule with some visual tips to the avant-garde and give a "before they were famous" glimps of several future stars. The Trip serves especially well as a party movie for some background weirdness.

On DVD the trip is paired with Psych Out, also featuring Bruce Dern and including Jack Nicholson on screen. Many people consider this the better film (I wouldn't agree) but there is some controversy as Psych Out features some unfortunate edits. I'll review Psych Out in more detail at a later date.

Buy Me:
http://www.amazon.com/Psych-Out-Trip-Susan-Strasberg/dp/B00008973J/sr=8-1/qid=1169695203/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3040409-1725623?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

The Millennium/The Ballroom- Magic Time (1966-1968)

Quality: 4 out of 5 (5 for Begin)
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5 (4 for Begin)

The Millennium was a short lived project headed by the master sunshine pop producer, Curt Boettcher. This 2001 Sundazed collection includes the Millennium's sole album, Begin (1968), along with the previously unreleased album from one of Boettcher's previous acts, The Ballroom (1966), and some odds and sods from these acts and Sagittarius, a project headed by producer Gary Usher and involving Boettcher's input.

We'll work through this set backwards, as the strongest material here is the Begin album on disc three.

Although the Begin album is Boettcher's baby, it is also very much the work of a functioning band. In fact, the members make up a sort of an obscuro 60's supergroup. Ron Edgar and Doug Rhodes joined in from the Music Machine ("Talk Talk"), and Sandy Salisbury was a holdover from the Ballroom project.

Begin is truly a lost classic that has not yet received it's due. The basic sound of the disc harkens back to Beach Boy Brian Wilson's 1966-1968 productions. In fact, many moments of Begin stand up well to Pet Sounds and surpass the sunshine pop of later Beach Boys albums. Like Wilson's productions, Boettcher, along with co-producer Keith Olsen, created difficult to pick out instrumental combination, and use potential dissonance to create a wall of sound. The band also uses many other sounds, such as raga singing, steel drums, and sound effects, to create amazing atmospherics.

The opening medley of "Prelude" and "To Claudia On Thursday" (the latter of which makes me think of 90's psych poppers The Olivia Tremor Control) reveal production that was state-of-the-art for its time, including compressed drums and full use of stereo range. The tripped out folk sound is similar to The Byrds The Notorious Byrd Brothers (produced by Usher), but to my ears surpass even that enviable achievement. "I Just Want To Be Your Friend," "5 A.M.," and "It's You" all stand out as should-have-been singles, but the full impact of The Millenium can be found in the tracks "The Island" and "Karmic Dream Sequence #1." Both of these songs have stellar hooks, but are far too weird even for singles. "The Island" creates a tropical lysergic sound. The songs seems as much a threat as an invitation. The band pulls out all of the stops for "Karmic Dream Sequence #1." Starting off as a hazy ballad similar to Crosby's songs for The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane, things start to collapse into a wild sound collage, even sampling "Prelude" from the start of the album.

Unlike most sunshine pop concoctions, the lyrical content of Begin holds up to scrutiny. Many tracks, especially "The Island," "It's You," and "There Is Nothing More To Say" have almost a strange cult-like ambiance. As "There Is Nothing More To Say" admits, "There is something that you hear in so many of our songs, but it's something that we want you to know." The album slowly reveals it's spiritual convictions, but the details of their philosophy is never quite ironed out. It's an interesting precursor to the modern psychedelic cult pop of The Polyphonic Spree.

Although this set is worth it for a well remastered Begin, disc two is interesting only as a curiosity. Most of the tracks are demos, instrumentals, or alternate takes of Boettcher's various projects. Of note are the tracks "Milk and Honey" and "Too Young To Marry," which was a more straight forward sunshine pop single produced by Boettcher for the act Summer's Children. There are also a few inferior but interesting versions of Millennium songs recorded by The Ballroom two years before Begin, and a brief sampling of the great Sagittarius.

Disc one serves as the home for The Ballroom's rejected LP. It's a not-bad collection of sunshine pop with a few slight hints of psychedelia. Think of it as a second rate Mamas and Papas. The first two tracks, "Spinning, Spinning, Spinning" and "Love's Fatal Way" are worthwhile am radio style pop, and there is an interesting version of "Would You Like To Go," which Sagittarius later re-recorded. Another Sagittarius track present here is "Musty Dusty" (in fact Sagittarius just used the Ballroom's recording), but this ultra-syrupy ode to childhood was by far my least favorite track on Sgaittarius' Present Tense, and it remains so here.

Just as a fun fact, the cover of this set (which is a slight variation of the Begin cover art) was designed by Arni Geller. Geller's other album art was for the similarly styled, but more colorful Friends by The Beach Boys.

If you haven't already heard it, I can give The Millennium's Begin my highest recommendation. The version here sports much better sound than the Columbia Records CD from the early 90's, but the first two discs here are far from essential. The LP is still occassionally in print (I bought a new copy on vinyl last month) and would be worth seeking out. Still, if you're willing to spend a few more bucks, there are some interesting tracks from the earlier project, and the set serves as a valuable musical history lesson.

Buy me:
The Millennium/The Ballroom- Magic Time