Hawkwind - 1971 - In Search of Space

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5

Hawkwind has a giant, intimidating discography, and I have to admit that I haven't delved too deeply into it. I do know that I dig this album quite well. The live "Space Ritual" typically gets the love, but I find the sound on that one a little muddy, and Lemmy's bass seems to be out of tune for most of the album (not that this detracts from the awesomeness of Lemmy). I dig the slightly more focused, and better recorded intergalactic musings found here. The band has no problem entering a full on psychedelic heavy metal groove, and there are plenty of wild early synth sounds to keep my attention.

The album opens with the punk rock stomp of "You Shouldn't Do That." It's an absolutely essential track with plenty of wah-wah acid guitar, wild saxophone madness, and some electronic tones to penetrate into the deepest recesses of your brain. This is all capped with some great breathless vocal 'harmonies' making the song's title a mantra. Yeah, it's 16 minutes long, but that may very well be too short. The other classic on this disc is "Master of the Universe," which I suppose is the band trying to usurp Black Sabbath's claim of the title "Master of Reality." I don't know if they quite take down Ozzy, but the psychedelic sludge is a pretty even match and Tomy Iommi probably would have killed all of Hawkwind to steal the guitar riff if he had had the chance (dammit, I need to write about heavy metal more often). "We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago" is a meditation on if the band had focused on progressiv bluegrass I suppose, while "Adjust Me" is a wandering experiment that doesn't quite pay off.

At this point Hawkwind was sitting a point right in the middle of progressive rock, heavy metal, and psychedelia, and it was a pretty groovy place to be. I don't know if this is really Hawkwind's best effort, but it is the one that I find myself listening to over and over again.

Parson Sound - 2001 - Parson Sound

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

A fellow sent me this a few months ago saying that it was the most psychedelic, mind-blowing thing he'd ever heard. While I'm not sure I'd give it that superlative, Parson Sound is a monolith of an album that certainly ranks in the upper tier of the 'trip-o-meter.' The date on this set is 2002, but the recordings of this certifiably insane Swedish band actually date from 1967-1968, during which time these guys rubbed elbows and picked up some pointers from avant-garde royalty like Terry Riley and Andy Warhol. In fact, a lot of this music does recall the Velvet Underground (which is actually a pretty impressive influence for 1967-68) playing krautrock. Most of the tracks are long form, noisy, psychedelic brain busters that will enjoyably test your endurance.

The slightly misnamed "10 Minutes" (it runs 10:30) introduces the band basic sound well, moving from an in your face acid rock and viola barnstormer to a more jazzy Canterbury-like vibe. To really test your mettle, though, head for the 20 minutes of full voltage insanity on "From Tunis to India in Fullmoon (On Testosterone)" or the 30 minutes of acid rockin' blues on "Skrubba." I'm sure Acid Mothers Temple has this hanging around somewhere in their record collection. This is a full blown experimental rock album, and there are some nice deviations from the seemingly endless sonic storm. "A Glimpse Inside the Glyptotec 66" is a cool, tape manipulated track of guitar feedback and maybe some viola - it certainly beats Brian Eno and Robert Fripp's collaborations to the punch. These a fun flute and percussion piece with "On How to Live," and "Blaslaten" goes full Terry Riley style, with of bunch of blaring woodwinds playing cyclic, interweaving parts.

This album really does require a lot of your attention, but it's very rewarding for those who dare to tread upon this sonic ground. It's really unfortunate that it took more than thirty years for this stuff to see the light of day - it would have been amazingly groundbreaking at the time. But at least we've got an awesome psychedelic confection for the ear of the modern listener.

*Hmmm... after taking a look a the All Music Guide, it seems that we're hearing a lot of cello - not viola. That's kind of embarrassing since I actually am a cellist.

Glaze of Cathexis - 2003 - Visits Planet Earth

Once upon a time, Glaze of Cathexis was an actually gigging band in Athens and Atlanta, Georgia. These recordings pretty much sum up the recording legacy of that version of the band. Although I've always been psychedelically inclined musically, I tried to keep the democratic vibe working and there's a definite indie rock vibe to this music that I don't tend to go for these days. Bassist (and occasionally guitarist) Devin Carlen picked up on the fact that I didn't want to be the band dictator and was a major musical contributor to the arrangements and production; he's now part of the ghostly Americana band Gunstreet Glory - based in Seattle ('Dark Alley' is a clear indicator of where he was going).

We headed for the studio with our live set and a few more mellow tracks ready to record and bashed out the recording in a day-and-a-half, with another two-and-a-half days devoted to mixing and mastering. I'd say we did a pretty decent job in the time crunch. I didn't have any real production experience, but we chose Radium Recording because they recorded to half inch tape. I handed the engineer, Chris Bishop, a copy of the Jam's 'Sound Affects' and told him to make the recordings sound like that, and I think he more or less hit the mark. I hadn't really mixed anything at that point either - if I did it today I'd definitely crank up the vocals and the 12-string Rickenbacker (which I've now unfortunately sold), but when you're in the studio for the first time, you definitely feel like a bastard telling the engineer to crank up your own parts. With money and time a concern, I didn't have too many passes at the vocals, so the main thing that makes me cringe nowadays is that some of the vocals aren't quite, uh, in tune.

While I was pretty happy with the finished results, I couldn't resist but do a bit of 'Lucas-ing' to the recordings. I've added tambourine to several tracks, and added just a touch of Moog to three of them. My most drastic recording, though, was to the track 'Folk Hero.' I added some vocals to the instrumental bridge (I didn't have the balls to do Beach Boys harmonies with the guys around in the studio, y'know), along with a double tracked vocal to the chorus as I could barely make out the original vocal. In full disclosure, we also played under the name 'Rocket Number Nine,' but when myspace came around a few years later I realized that there were, like, 27 bands with that name. Thus, we're going to file this as a 'Glaze of Cathexis' recording.

I've added a few bonus lives tracks to the album as well. Devin and I tended to get rip roaring martini drunk live and do our best Replacements impression. Plus, this is about the only way you're going to hear Dr. Schluss in a live setting - in fact, I haven't played a live show since this 2006 recording. I don't have too many gigging opportunities out here in the mountains of Japan.

Listen to me:
Glaze of Cathexis - 2003 - Visits Planet Earth

Oneida - 2009 - Rated O

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

The second album in Oneida's as-yet-unfinished album triptych makes me think that there's nothing other than the artwork to tie them together. Not that that's a bad thing. Oneida gets prolific here and churns out a triple album. It's probably a good rule of thumb that no one should go for the triple album (ask the Clash), but here it seems more of a matter of organization. Each disc is extremely distinct. The first is an electronic fused ball of experimental sounds, while the third is devoted to the band drone jamming to more live grooves. These two discs are probably better than 'Preteen Weaponry' and for me positions the band as the most deserving heirs to krautrock making music today (we'll ignore the fact that Oneida is from the NYC area). The second disc doesn't hold my interest nearly as much, as the band ads vocals and goes for a more standard indie rock sound - granted it's droning, intense indie rock, and it probably works well in a concert setting, but it's by far the disc I play the least.

Just to screw with your mind, the first disc makes me think of a modern update of Can's "Tago Mago," although I'd certainly say that that particular album does remain far ahead of its time. "Brownout in Lagos" definitely fits its title, with a low rent booming bass sound vying with claustrophobic, mildly dangerous sounding electronic squiggles. "Story of O" gives us the unprocessed band's first trip out with Kid Millions providing another amazing drumming setpiece. Of the late space jams, "O" is about as peaceful as this band gets, with some sitar sounds trying to scale a mountain of tribal drumming and electronic drones. "Folk Wisdom" is a long trip through the psychedelic battleground, and could probably be substituted for a side of an Ash Ra Tempel album without anyone knowing the wiser.

Oneida tries out a whole like of different masks on this monster of an album, and typically manages to pull it off. I'll be the first to admit that I far prefer the wild excursions through interstellar space as opposed to the more grounded tunes found on the second disc, but the bands chops shine through the whole thing (well, except those damn indie rock vocals). If you've warn out the grooves on all those vintage Can albums, this isn't a bad place to go.

*Note: Part 3 was released on Jun 6, 2011 under the title "Absolute II"

Oneida - 2008 - Preteen Weaponry

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Oneida has been rocking insane noise drones for years, but I had never come across their music until a few years ago. This release is supposed to be the first of a three album concept (we've seen the second as of this writing as well), but I don't think that really matters when you give your ear over to the music. The band jams with wild, krautrock style abandon while also channeling the punkish sonics of fellow NYC bands like the Velvet Underground, Suicide, and Sonic Youth. It'll pummel you into a musical trance instead of gently nudging you into one as Indian or ambient music tends to do. I'd be remiss not to note strangely named Kid Millions, who serves as the bands drummer. Although always in control, he tends to take the point, pounding the holy hell out his drum kit as the rest of the band grooves on a drone.

There are only three tracks here, all bearing the album's name. Part One lunges into an insane tribal beat, with the guitar and a keyboard occasionally suggesting a bit of melody while the bass serves as an anchor. The second part is a slower drone that suggests a bit of the stranger side of space rock, although it's a space stuffed with fuzz. A electronically processed (but clearly performed) motorik beat grounds the third part as odd electronic sounds float above the surface.

Perhaps not as wildly groundbreaking as the best of the 70's krautrock bands, Oneida certainly knows how to pack a sonic punch. For me it's mostly one hell of a drum performance while the rest of the band does a fine job adding the icing on their, uh, cake of sound.

Faine Jade - 1968 - Introspection

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

I've had this album lying around for a few years now, but I never really got around to listening to it- I think I found the band's name somehow unappealing. Anyway, that was my loss as this is a first rate collection of sun-drenched psychedelic rock. Faine Jade isn't a band either as it turns out this is a solo LP and that's the feller's name - sort of an opposite version of the Lynyrd Skynyrd - Jethro Tull - Pink Floyd conundrum. As often crops up on this blog, Pink Floyd is also a notable signpost for the music here as Faine Jade's songwriting and vocals were definitely taking notes from Syd Barrett, and he does a damn fine job of it. Still, the thing that really makes this a notable release is that Jade takes the sound of British Psychedelia and executes it as a garage-rocking, awesomely low rent version of the L.A. studio sound. A very groovy sound indeed.

There's not a bummer among these tracks - I try to not just throw around my 5 ratings. If you're looking for a straight up Americanized Barrett fix then you can't go wrong with the great "Games People Play," or "In a Brand New Groove." For straight out rocking, Faine Jade gives you the one-two punch with "I Lived Tomorrow" and "Ballad of the Bad Guys." "Cold Winter Sun" manages to sound like Galaxie 500 20 years before that band even started recording. You'll also find some strong psychedelic ballads on the title track and the "All You Need Is Love" echoing closer "Stand Together." I also find that "On the Inside" comes across as a nice extension of David Crosby's freaky later work with the Byrds. The only track here that might try your patience is the freak-out jam/sound collage "Grand Finale," but if you've got a soft spot for "Revolution #9" (as I do), then it'll all be groovy, yeah?

Really, this album belongs in the Pantheon of top rate, obscure psychedelic rockers like Rainbow Ffolly, July, or The End. In fact, it may be the best of that particular bunch. Faine Jade somehow managed to take pretty all of my favorite stylistic touches of 60's psychedelic rock, and get them all in the same place. It's like he was reading my mind eleven years before I was even born!

Afterglow - 1968 - Afterglow

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

Coming out of Oregon, this band doesn't have any particular innovations to offer, but they do have a groovy, listenable sound. They often skirt the boundaries of sunshine pop, all anchored by a wonderfully cheesy Farfisa organ sound. The band doesn't really have a ton of originality - much of this is aping more established acts like the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas. Still, they were able to create a very consistent album that would swing at your retro-party.

None of the songs here are particularly bad, even if many of them do go sailing on the seas of cheese and nothing stands out to strongly. "Susie's Gone" is the most notable freak out on display here with acid-soaked vocals, and oddball beat and a melting, twangy guitar sound. "Chasing Rainbows" got stuck in my head for a few days, while "It's A Wonder' sports a pretty nice guitar riff alongside its sunshine vocals. I can't help but notice that "Mend This Heart of Mind" sounds suspiciously like the Byrds "Here Without You." It makes me think that Afterglow may be coming a little too close to some other songs that I'm just not catching at the moment.

There's nothing here that's going to blow your mind, but this is a pretty groovy slab of garage band sounding late sixties sunshine pop. While the date on this album is 1968, I think this music would have been a lot more at home about two years earlier. Still, most of this album will at least put you in a pretty good mood. Let's call it brain Jell-O.

Beachwood Sparks - 2002 - Make the Cowboy Robots Cry

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Although Beachwood Sparks never came through with a proper third album, they did crank out this wonderful EP, which probably contains their best music. While maintaining true to their borrowed credo of 'cosmic American music,' the band modernizes it's sound somewhat with some synth runs and stylistic acknowledgement of the indie scene as of 2002. Along with the now expected nods to the Byrds, Gram Parsons, and the Buffalo Springfield, there are also echoes of peers such as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Grandaddy. This is especially good news for Chris Gunst - the music here is a much better fit for his vocal style. I'd say the band found their niche here - it's too bad that this is the end of the line so far for Beachwood Sparks.

The EP is bookended with the band's absolute best songs. "Drinkwater" is a trip-and-a-half, taking an awesome guitar part and dreamy vocals through sections of hazy reverb and full blast guitar buzz. "Ghost Dance 1492" is like the late 60's, tripped out Beach Boys moving their operation to an Arkansas hippy commune while simultaneously cranking up the amplifiers and drafting an insane acid guitarist into the band (not like that band's turdish 'Bluebirds Over the Mountain'). The meat inside the sandwich is pretty groovy as well. "Hibernation" is a very creepy ballad with a hint of crazy Roger Waters' era Pink Floyd wafting around in the mix, while "Sing Your Thoughts" brings in a fine mellotron-like part. Every track here has something interesting to offer.

Even as a 30 minute EP, this clocks in longer than some classic LPs that these guys were definitely listening to like the Byrds The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Younger Than Yesterday, or the Beach Boys' Friends, so I think it's safe to think of it as a proper album given the band's slim discography. And what an album it is! It jettisons some of the authentic sounding 60's sounds that the band previously did so well, but the modernist touches create an full-blooded identity for Beachwood Sparks that is surely worth your ear.

Beachwood Sparks - 2001 - Once We Were Trees

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

For their follow-up full-length album, Beachwood Sparks decided to take the old school double LP route. The band has made a few alterations to their sound, which end up pretty much being a zero sum game, but at least keep things sounding different. The songwriting has definitely matured since the debut album, but it doesn't always have the hooks that penetrated your brain on that one. I think the band probably realized that Chris Gunst's unadorned voice wasn't always the best idea, and they slather a bunch of reverb on much of this music. It does sound psychedelically groovy, but it's at the cost of some of the crisp late 60's L.A. sounds that the band recreated so well on their self-titled album.

The band front loads this album with their most hooky material - the rockin' psych hoedown of "You Take the Gold" will become stuck in your head forever, while the band nails their Byrds and Buffalo Springfield homages right of the bat with "Confusion is Nothing New" and"The Sun Surrounds Me," respectively. Later on, the band presents their best echo-chambered ballad on "Close Your Eyes." On this disc, the band ventures a little more into psychedelic freak out territory with some awesome wall of cathedral sound passages in "Let It Run," some full blooded weirdness on "Juggler's Revenge" and the properly epic title track. But this album got attention upon its release due to the left field cover of Sade's "By Your Side." Really, it's not the best thing on this album, but it is nicely appropriated to the band's sound and pretty entertaining.

Beachwood Sparks managed to both mature and find some new sonic territory on this LP - at the end of the day it stands on a pretty even keel with their debut. It seems that in 2011, this band has been all but forgotten, but there are plenty of sounds that will make this a welcome surprise.

Beachwood Sparks - 2000 - Beachwood Sparks

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

Beachwood Sparks took Gram Parsons' concept of 'cosmic American music' very seriously. As much as I like Gram Parsons, I was always a little disappointed by his own execution of this idea - I wanted more 'cosmic' sounds in the music. The Sparks apparently agreed, and this album is a wonderful fusion of the songwriting and vibes of the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo and the psychedelic pyrotechnics of that bands previous three LPs. To sweeten the deal a little, there are some stylistic touches borrowed from the Beach Boys and the Buffalo Springfield as well. That said, Beachwood Sparks does have a bit of an unfortunate Achilles heel - the voice of lead vocalist Christ Gunst. He's afflicted with the same problem that plagued so many indie bands around the year 2000, a sort of over-warbly, sad, whiny tone. The lonesome reedy tone of a Gram Parsons or the confident warble of a Roger McGuinn or Neil Young would have put this album over the top as an absolute classic, but I often find myself wanting to slap Gunst's voice and tell it to pull itself together. Fortunately, Gunst is often in a mix of harmony, where it works much better.

The first song, while well written, is also the worst case of Gunst's unadorned voice muddling up the proceedings. Head for "Silver Morning After," a great harmony-laced, cosmic country pop to get you in the mood for this album. "Sister Rose" takes the sound of Parsons' "Lazy Days" into interstellar space, while "This Is What It Feels Like" takes a brief detour into rockin' Beach Boys territory, while the band goes for a countryfied Smile sound on "Old Sea Miner." The best track here, though, is "Something I Don't Recognize," which detours much of the country sounds to head straight for the core of 1967 L.A. psychedelic rock. You'll also head several well done psychedelic country ballads which are generally well done, but didn't leave as much of an impression on this listener. I do have a soft spot, though, for the short experimental pieces like "Ballad of Never Rider," "Singing Butterfly," and "Sleeping Butterfly."

Coming annoying short of hitting all of their marks, Beachwood Sparks' debut LP still makes for some mighty fine listening. Give enough time to really get into this fine realization of a 'cosmic Americana' sound and you'll find yourself putting this into your rotation.

Dr. Schluss - 2011 - Reprograms Your Mind

This is the music that I tend to listen to while hanging around on my balcony, waiting for inspiration. Quite a bit of it is sort of ambient and drone filled, but it's the kind of stuff that I really dig. I often hang around listening to the sounds around me and looking for glimmers of light while listening to this stuff, predicting the chance that a train will soon pass by. I don't live quite as close to the train tracks as Elwood Blues, but I'm plenty close. Since I'm lazy, I never got around to making a compilation of my favorite albums from 2010, but if you read into this tracklist, you'll get a good idea about what I got into. For the record, Tame Impala's "Innerspeaker" was my number one album last year. There's plenty of other tunes milling about here as well - most of it can qualify as psychedelic, but I've got to give space for musical dieties like Charlie Parker as well. Give it a listen - I hope you'll find it as groovy as I do.

Track List:
1. Desire Be Desire Go - Tame Impala
2. Double Helix - Emeralds
3. Divergent Paths - Panabrite
4. One With the Sun - Santana
5. In Motion - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
6. Please Take - Wire
7. Counting Sevens - White Hills
8. Synesthesia - The Electric Flag
9. Fireflies on the Water - Arp
10. Wasting Time - This Love is Deadly
11. Same Dream China - Gold Panda
12. Bongo Bop - Charlie Parker
13. The Game Has Changed - Daft Punk
14. Chariot of the God - Deodato
15. We Got the System to Fight the System - Maserati
16. Alice et Simon - Sonic Youth
17. Sun Demon - Stereolab

The Electric Flag - 1968 - A Long Time Comin'

Quality: 3.5 out 0f 5
Trip-O-Meter: 1.5 out of 5

With the name 'The Electric Flag,' a great psychedelic album cover, and the fact that the band's previous work was the soundtrack to "The Trip," you'd be forgiven for assuming that this album was a prime psychedelic work. For better of for worse, that's not the case. This is very much an album of horn-driven blues rock, although I certainly dig it more than what Chicago or Blood, Sweat, and Tears ended up doing with their horn sections. We've also got the phenomenal guitar of Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles' awesome drumming to tide us over, but it's not really a psychedelic affair. It's really more of a legitimate take on what the Blues Brothers were humorously aiming for.

There is a pretty groovy version of "Killing Floor" on display here - it's not quite up to the level of Hendrix's cover or Howlin' Wolf's original, but it's pretty groovy. For you psych spotters, the extended "Another Country" is your best bet, although it eventually does settle into blues jam territory - but again, the musicianship makes it worth your time. "Over Lovin' You" also hits a few trippier spots with its harpsichord passages.

Yeah, this is very much a blues rock sort of affair. I'd wager that it's the least psychedelic thing I've covered here at the garage, but if you're in the right mood, it can certainly find a few musical sweet spots.

The Electric Flag - 1967 - The Trip

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5 (but varies greatly by track)

Way back in days of legend gone past (aka 2007), I did a review of the awesome psych-sploitation film "The Trip," which you'll find by clicking "The Trip." I tried to be as objective as possible, and I don't disagree with my old review. Yet despite (or maybe because of) its flaws, it ranks as one of my all-time favorite films and one of the few that I watch at least once a year. This soundtrack, by the Electric Flag, mirrors the film in terms of quality. It has moments of pure, yet manufactured psychedelic brilliance along with a few charmingly dumb sounds. The credits that I tracked down say that blues guitar god Mike Bloomfield wrote all of the music here, which I have trouble believing (and drumming deity Buddy Miles didn't write anything?). Maybe he just did a lot of tripping while working on this one - I guess the whole band did - this sounds absolutely nothing like their proper albums. While there very little horn driven blues rock, there are plenty of great psychedelic tapestries on display, goofy vaudeville inspired tunes, and aimless jamming. Fortunately, when Bloomfield is playing on top of the aimless jams, it remains pretty entertaining. It's even more entertaining in the movie when Bloomfield is wailing away on the soundtrack, yet we see Gram Parsons (who had absolutely nothing to do with the Electric Flag) playing something entirely different on screen. There's also a little bit of early Moog usage scattered about for all of you synth geeks out there.

The real 'money' on this disc musically are the phenomenal Hollywood psych instrumentals. Since we all live in the future, and can program albums however we want now, stick "Peter's Trip," "Joint Passing," "M-23," "Synesthesia," "A Little Head," "Inner Pocket," "Fewghh," and "Flash, Bang, Pow" all together and you'll get one of my personal favorite 15 minute blocks of music. Feel free to add the more traditional jams that actually sound like the Electric Flag from the latter half of the album - you can basically start at "Home Room" and go until the end of the album - but take out the goofy, fake dixieland of "Senior Citizen." You can program that with the equally ridiculous "Psych Soap," "Hobbit," and "The Other Ed Norton," play it in an endless loop, and drive yourself insane. "Green and Gold" is sort of an outlier. It's a pretty groovy fake Tex Mex track. Realistically it probably fits in with the "Senior Citizen" camp, but I like to program it along with the "Peter's Trip" clutch of tracks.

If you're already a fan of this movie, there's no way that you won't absolutely dig this soundtrack - warts and all. For those of you coming in from the outside, there are some treacherous waters, but you'll likely find some psychedelia or blues jamming to your liking. And for that guy out there who considers Harper's Bizarre his number one favorite band - you'll fall in love with the other tracks.

The Electric Banana - 1967-ish - Blows Your Mind

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5

Unfortunately for the Pretty Things, they weren't quite in the top tier of moneymaking British rock bands and had to moonlight recording film soundtrack music under the psuedonym The Electric Banana. Fortunately for us, this means that there are a bunch of other songs recorded by the band around their S.F. Sorrow prime. If S.F. Sorrow is the Pretty Things' Sgt. Pepper, then this is their Magical Mystery Tour. This collection doesn't hold together as an album the way S.F. Sorrow does, nor does the production sparkle quite as much, but it doesn't really need to. You can take these on a song-by-song basis, and on that criteria you'll find quite a few gold sonic nuggets.

I love the tribal pounding "Alexander," which repurposes a short bass riff from "Defecting Grey," and build onto that to make a first rate psychedelic rocker. "Blow Your Mind" and "Rave Up" do just what they promise to do, with the band a full tilt and giving the Yardbirds a run for their money. Elsewhere, "Eagle's Son" is a great anthemic sounding track which the band probably could of used as a single. "If I Needed Someone" is not a Beatles cover, but a horn-laced ballad that shows off the band's softer side (which is good, but admittedly not as awesome as their balls-out rocking side). "I See You" is a rerecording of the S.F. Sorrow track - it's not as good, but it's still an interesting take of a great song. They do drift a little too close for comfort into pop cheesiness on the twee "What's Good For the Goose," while "Danger Signs" goes for the Motown sound and misses the mark. But since there's not really much flow to this collection to start with, they are easily ignored.

You'll hear some of the Pretty Things at their best and worst as the Electric Banana, but the balance definitely tilts to the positive side and this serves well as a companion disc to S.F. Sorrow. I only recently became aware of this set recently, and it was certainly a very groovy surprise.

The Pretty Things - 1968 - S.F. Sorrow

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

A full-length rock opera that predates the Who's Tommy, S.F. Sorrow is also a prime slice of British psychedelia that works just as well as the best of the early Pink Floyd, or psychedelic-era Beatles or Stones. In fact, this album is a third sibling to the better known Sgt. Pepper's and Pink Floyd's debut. These tracks were recorded at Abbey Road studios around the same time, with Beatles engineer Norman Smith serving as producer. The Pretty Things were a grungier, R&B sweating group, however, and this is by far the crunchiest of the three albums. Fortunately for you psychonauts out there, this is not at the expense of great songwriting and psychedelic flourishes. The lyric aren't quite as transcendent as the best of Bob Dylan and John Lennon, but they are good enough to be a reference copy for tripped out 60's psychedelic lyrics. As far as the rock opera story goes, I have no idea what the hell is supposed to be going on, but just as on Tommy, it doesn't really mater when the songs are this good.

There is no lack of phenomenal songs on this recording. While the opening track is very good, the creepy chanting vibe of "Bracelet of Fingers" is the first sign of perfection. It like the ghosts of the 1967 Beach Boys alternating with a whimsical Syd Barrett punch. I'm also a big fan of the insistent beat and sound effects of "Balloon Burning." My favorite thing here, though, is "Baron Saturday," which somehow sounds like a mid-70's Bowie track on the verses, while vocalist Phil May does a dead-on Lennon impression on the majestically psychedelic chorus. We also get a wall of delayed, Sun Ra-like percussion and short trip into an acid-fried happy land before blasting back into the chorus. Great stuff! For the big finally, there's a bit of full-blown, proto heavy metal on "Old Man Going." An amazing thing about this album is how often the Pretty Things managed to anticipate future styles of music. And before we move on, let me give a quick shout out to the criminally underrated guitarist Dick Taylor, who rattles off one awesome lead after another throughout the album.

We have a few fine bonus tracks here, but I'd be remiss not to address "Defecting Grey." This was a single, presented here in an unedited, five minute version. It's one of the best 60's psychedelic singles, period. It juxtaposes wildly demented psychedelic music hall sounds with wild acid rock rave-ups and pop bridge sections and ties it all together with noise and entertainingly jarring shifts. It's sort of like scanning through the 1967 radio dial from beyond the psychedelic curtain.

Like the other psychedelic Abbey Road albums, the mono mix is by far the superior mix. The stereo suffers from ridiculous stereo panning that dilutes the power of the band and a lack of skill in creating a proper psychedelic soundfield. Chances are a fair amount of you reading this are already perfectly familiar with this album, but it always a nice disc to revisit. If you haven't heard this, you're in for quite a treat - this could be your new favorite album.