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 Love and peace man. June 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Most of these tracks sound refreshingly sixties to me even after all these years.
The late sixties early seventies have long since being my favourite musical era.
The only big names that jumped out at me here were The Hollies, The Yardbirds and Syd Barrett, but it's the lesser names that got me groovin'.
The Idle Race's; "Hurry up John" (with ELO's Jeff Lynn) shows Lynn's precocious talent was emerging even at this time (1968).
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's, Equestrian Statue (1967) does likewise for Neil Innes (The Rutles with Eric Idle).
Take a trip down memory lane and check this album out, it's for all you ageing Flower children and Hippies at heart.
Love, peace and sugar lumps man.
 Insane Times Indeed, A Nice Collection June 2, 2008
I bought this because of its price which seemed good, and that I needed a British Psyche compilation to compliment my 'Nuggets' CD of Californian garage rarities (which is also excellent). I am only 16 years old, so it is probably unusual for someone my age to be into this sort of stuff, but I have listened to a lot of stuff in the last few years, and got very much into this sort of music as well as many other genres.
Upon first listen, I thought there seemed to be little that I liked, but it turned out to be one of those CD's which grows on you. There are some really great tracks on there, particularly 'Is it love?' by JON and 'Last Cloud Home' by Orange Bicycle. Some of the tracks are extremely bizarre, which is not bad to hear... just interesting, although I have taken a particular liking to 'Equestrian Statue' by Bonzo-Dog Band.
If you like 60's psychedelia with nice vocal harmonies, mellotrons, jangly guitar and occasionally bizzare instrumentation, then this is for you. You could relate this to artists such as The Byrds, The Beatles, Arthur Brown, Love etc...
As with most compilations there are some crap songs though, but mostly down to personal preference. Overall a good compilation, which I thought was worth it :-)
Intresting but, maybe forgotten for a reason? March 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was waiting in aticipation for this CD TO arrive, expecting some new gems from the British 60's alternative pop scene. There's alot of things heard before and a few gems, but on the whole a bit disapointing! but hey for 4 a bargain.
'An Interesting And At Times Bizarre Listen' October 21, 2007
30 out of 30 found this review helpful
The great strength of this release for me is the excellent and informative cd booklet. Packed full of photo's and interesting snippets about the songs and the bands featured, it really does help a 'newbie' to this genre of music like me enjoy the album. There are a lot of gems on this album, Mandrake Paddle Steamer's 'Strange Walking Man' (a glorious slice of 60's progressive psych), Mike Proctor's - 'Mr Commuter' (always reminds me of the start of the Reginald Perrin programme because of the lyrics!) and The Aerovons -'World Of You' being especially good. Also well worth buying this for are the hilariously bizzarre, 'Nightmares In Red' by The Brain and Simon Dupree & The Big Sound's little heard but excellent 'Castle In The Sky'. There are a few duffers along the way but I suspect that these will differ wildly depending on personal taste (I'm not keen on The Yardbirds, Syd Barrett or Koobas tracks myself). A distinct bonus is the way that this cd 'hangs together' very well as an album listen. So often this is not the case with compilations in spite of the quality of the tracks on show but you will find this album an engaging and constantly changing 70 minutes listen. To sum up then, an intelligently compiled collection that will appeal to both collectors and those new to the genre. A definite purchase.
Nightmares in Red October 8, 2007
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
As the excellent liner notes begin..."It was 40 years ago today..." that 1967 proved to be the turning point in Pop History, when the experimental nature of the Psychedelic Scene moved Pop Music into a different Stratosphere and heralded the arrival of Progressive Rock. Interestingly, alot of the Band Members featured on this Comprehensive Collection of Curios went on to become better known in Prog Rock Bands. To name but two, Steve Howe from "Tomorrow" and Ken Hensley from "The Gods". It is the latter Band that, not surprisingly, produce the heaviest number here "Towards The Skies".
However, by far the most bizarre track is "Nightmares in Red" by "The Brain" which manages to make The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band sound sober. "Insane Times" is an apt title for some of these cuts but don`t let that put you off, there are many fine Psyche artefacts here as Deltic says in the previous review. For the money, another fine set, well worth buying. Full credit to John Reid who compiled and annotated the collection from the EMI Vaults.
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