top ten psych lps... and then some rediscovered Mercury Rev!

[Christian Mumford]

At 14:23 29.11.97 +0000, you wrote:

>I'll bet I'm not, I just tend to gush if I like something.
>I do buy as many 60's psyche comps as I can find, though, and I'm rarely
>disappointed. Thing is I'd rather buy something with 20 bands I've not
>heard of, than say a whole album of the best act on the last comp I
>bought, e.g. The Shadows Of Knight (who are good BTW) or Litter, The
>Standells, Erky Grant & The Earwigs etc. And there's *plenty* of bands
>like the excellant "Fe Fi Four Plus 2" who only ever did 2 singles one
>of which was the original I Wanna Come Back (From The World Of LSD)
>(available on Pebbles Vol. 5 - Various Morons) which was covered by ICU.
>And who would ever buy Leather Boy by The Leather Boy on it's own, but
>as part of a comp., essential!

I agree 100% - so much of that stuff was just MADE to be on comps!
Quirky little singles by bands who went nowhere at the time, some
joyously derivative, simplistic and naive - others sheer brilliance
and originality... funny how this unknown stuff at the time has
been rewritten into music history.

>Steve, you must be well up on Pebbles/Nuggets, ICU did a few covers from
>them. Little Black Egg by The Nightcrawlers was another off the top of
>my head.

I'd say ICU outdo the original :) Also, I thought ICU covering THE LEGENDARY
STARDUST COWBOY is totally friggin bizarre. So far, I have only met 1 person
who has ever heard of Ledge and is a "fan", or at least he has an old broken
45 of "Paralyzed". Anyone on this list into Ledge at all?? ICU "covered" his
"I Took A Trip In A Gemini Spacecraft". The man is like a mentally retarded
Captain Beefheart/Garth Brooks on really bad drugs... seriously!

> I'm still looking for a few of the "Rubble" series BTW (UK
>stuff - not highly recommended)

I thought the Rubble series was worth checking into...? I need to explore
brit psych a little more... that liquid paisley lollipop toytown sound...


>I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Ogden's Nut Gone Flake - Small Faces


I thought of this, but since I only have the Castle comp (which IMO is
wonderful but very sleazy), I didn't put it in. Great stuff.

>Screamadelica is also a Desert Island Disc, sho' nuff! One of England's
>Finest.

I thought of this one too! I just never listen to it as much anymore...
I had a sort of "revival" of Screamadelica some years ago when a girlfriend
started playing "Don't Fight It, Feel It" which I sorta ignored way back
when because I thought it was too dancey... but I actually now like... plus
I had gotten the 13th Floor Elevators "Bull Of The Woods" and played the
original "Slip Inside This House" up against the PS version. So... yeah
it goes on the list too now! I just dug the CD out here.... hmm... yeah,
a monster psych classic... I remember catching the video of "Loaded" when
the song was just making inroads and thinking, "wow, I hate dance music
but this fucking ROCKS!". Interesting how things have gone from there
since in the 90s :-)


>Get anything by Lothar & The Hand People. "Hymn To Space" came out in
>what, '67? Big influence on Floyd, Hawkwind and these days The Orb and
>The Chemical Brothers have cited them in interviews. I could be wrong,
>but I believe they were the first band to use synths.

I REALLY want to get something by this band, I guess "This Is It, Machines".
Is there a L&tHP discography availible?

I again strongly recommend Mercury Rev to all space-psych fans. They are like
band from an alternate reality - imagine 1930's Art Deco space psychedelia!!!
A really wonderful band, they use alot of flute and very weird
instrumentation,
a childlike brilliant melodic/lyrical aspect that reminds me of Syd Barrett...
Fuzz-Gong-ish long spacey jams, chants, sax, "beatles trumpets". SO
underrated!
If the "Yerself Is Steam/Lego My Ego" 2fer double CD is still availible, or
the
hour long "Carwash Hair" CD single (!!), get them! Great bargains too. Hell,
get everything - they are all beautiful!

Christian

NP: Mercury Rev "Boces"