V.A. - Real Life Permanent Dreams - A Cornucopia Of British Psychedelia 1965-1970

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Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedlia 1965-1970 Review by Richie Unterberger.

There have been previous attempts to marshal a lot of British psychedelia into one compilation, but Real Life Permanent Dreams is a little different from those. This four-CD, 99-song box set isn't a best-of, but more like an attempt to assemble a very wide (though still representative) cross section of material, most of it pretty obscure to the average listener. For the most part, it succeeds in delivering a high-quality anthology that manages to offer a lot to both the collector and the less intense psychedelic fan, though it's by no means the cream of British psychedelia. There are only two famous hit records, for one thing, and even those, Arthur Brown's "Fire" and the Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men," are represented by a previously unreleased alternate version and a BBC recording, respectively. Many of the leading acts of the genre are missing, from the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Procol Harum through the more psychedelic-oriented tracks by Cream, Traffic, the Yardbirds, and numerous other U.K. acts. Also, the cross-licensing isn't as extensive as it could be, though it's not as heavily reliant on tracks controlled by the Sanctuary Records Group as many other comps on the Castle label are.

There's a lot of interesting stuff here, though, ranging from precious twee fantasy-laden pop-psych and freakbeat to psychedelia on the verge of making a transition to hard rock and progressive rock, even though some of the songs are fairly average and even generic British psychedelia. Some of the cuts -- Winston's Fumbs' "Snow White," the Buzz's "You're Holding Me Down," the Peep Show's "Mazy," the Kult's "No Home Today," Paper Blitz Tissue's "Boy Meets Girl," and Lord Sutch's strange "The Cheat" -- rate as some of the best obscure recordings in the entire genre. Also, a lot of major artists -- including Donovan, the Kinks, the Nice, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger & the Trinity, the Small Faces, Marc Bolan, the Incredible String Band, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine, and Humble Pie -- are heard on the box set, though in every instance, they're represented by some of their more obscure recordings, often taken from B-sides, BBC sessions, or demos (and, in Jethro Tull's instance, the debut 1968 single on which they were billed as Jethro Toe, "Sunshine Day"). There are also a bunch of selections that feature big names in unfamiliar guises, like the tracks by Noel Redding's band Fat Mattress, the quasi-supergroup Santa Barbara Machine Head (with Ron Wood and Jon Lord), Episode Six (with future members of Deep Purple), the Bystanders (who evolved into Man), and the Beatstalkers (whose "Silver Tree Top School for Boys" was written by David Bowie, who never recorded the tune himself).

 

Yes, there's a touch of collector elitism at play in some of the choices. A few superior songs -- like the Smoke's "My Friend Jack" (a hit only in Germany) and the End's "Loving Sacred Loving" (co-written by Bill Wyman) -- by acts that aren't exactly international household names are represented by yet more obscure, and arguably inferior (though undeniably rarer), alternate versions. As compensation, though, even collectors who think they have everything are bound to come across items they don't have or were only barely aware of, like Lomax Alliance's effervescent and previously unreleased "The Golden Lion" (including Jackie Lomax), one of the highlights of the whole collection. There's also a superb 48-page booklet featuring wise and witty liner notes by David Wells, perhaps the top expert on all things British psychedelic. It all adds up to a worthwhile addition to the psychedelic aficionado's collection, though it's neither as comprehensive nor as killer as the best such four-CD anthology of obscure British psychedelia could be.

Tracklist:

DISC 1:

1. My Friend Jack: The Smoke

2. No More You And Me: The Tornados

3. Cheat: Lord Sutch

4. Doctor Doctor: Frame

5. Day And Night: The Drag Set

6. Fancy: The Kinks

7. I Don't Want You: Traffic Jam

8. Breaking Up Scene: Honeybus

9. Snow White: Winston's Fumbs

10. I Like It - Christian:Neil & The Crusaders

11. Black Sheep RIP: The Australian Playboys

12. Circles: Fleur De Lys

13. Lilac Hand Of Menthol Dan: Marc Bolan & John's Children

14. You're Holding Me Down: Buzz

15. I Take It That We're Through: The Riot Squad

16. Come On Back: Paul & Ritchie (aka The Cryin' Shames)

17. It's A Crime: Kirkbys

18. Love Me 'Til The Sun Shines: The Kinks

19. Hippy Gumbo: Marc Bolan

20. Gently Tender: The Incredible String Band

21. Sunny Goodge Street: Donovan

22. Linda Loves Linda: Floribunda Rose

23. Up On The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire: The Small Faces

24. Rubber Monkey: Santa Barbara Machine Head

25. You've Got To Hold On: The Deviants

26. Season Of The Witch: Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger & The Trinity

 

DISC 2:

 

1. Loving Sacred Loving: The End

2. All Day All Night: Blonde On Blonde

3. Crazy One: Ramases & Selket

4. Man In Black: Skip Bifferty

5. Yellow Balloon: Icarus

6. Real Life Permanent Dream: The Orange Machine

7. Clown: Eire Apparent

8. When The Wind Arises: Rokes

9. I'm Flying: Serendipity

10. Trip On An Orange Bicycle: The Orange Bicycle

11. Utterly Simple: Smoke

12. London Social Degree: Billy Nicholls

13. Golden Lion: Lomax Alliance

14. Sunshine Day: Jethro Tull

15. Boy Meets Girl: Paper Blitz Tissue

16. Cave Of Clear Light: Bystanders

17. I Wonder Where My Sister's Gone: Anan

18. Man In A Shop: Marmalade

19. Lord John: Bobcats

20. Mazy: Peep Show

21. Bakerman: Moon's Train

22. Love Hate Revenge: Episode Six

23. Good Evening: Tickle

24. It: Excelsior Spring

25. Night Is A Comin' (aka Lindyloo): Warm Sounds

26. Fire: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown

 

DISC 3:

1. Pictures Of Matchstick Men: Status Quo

2. Five White Horses: Sun Dragon

3. Riding A Wave: Turnstyle

4. I Know She Believes: Picadilly Line

5. Hey Mr Carpenter: Fox

6. Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane: Timon

7. Disappear: Gilbert

8. Encapsulated Marigold: Our Plastic Dream

9. Henry Long: Epics

10. Lullaby: Grapefruit

11. I've Seen To Dream: Harmony Grass

12. Nodnol: Spectrum

13. Colour Sergeant Lilywhite: West Coast Consortium

14. Seeing Things Green: Yellow Bellow Room Boom

15. Golden Apples: The Californians

16. Don't Turn Around: Loot

17. Silver Tree Top School For Boys: Beatstalkers

18. Give Him A Flower: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown

19. Fade Away Maureen: Tony Hazzard

20. Yellow Rainbow: Rockin' Berries

21. Sylvie: Hill

22. Fool From Upper Eden: Andy Ellison

23. Love And Best Wishes: Uglys

24. Sunshine: Gun

25. Green Circles: Twice As Much

26. Mr Job: Alan Bown Set

27. Happydaystorytown: The Small Faces

 

DISC 4:

 

1. Circus Days: Junior's Eyes

2. No Home Today: Kult

3. Lady Caroline: Velvett Fogg

4. Go Your Way: Andromeda

5. Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon: The Nice

6. Horse: Sam Gopal

7. Candlelight: Eddie Hardin & Pete York

8. How Can I Live: Fat Mattress

9. Tarot: Andy Bown

10. Light Of Love: Humble Pie

11. On A Meadow Lea: Bobak Jons Malone

12. Open Ground: Pussy

13. Fair Maiden: Woody Kern

14. Empty Room: Man

15. Venus: Samson

16. My Gration Or: Opal Butterfly

17. Thank You Pierrot Lunaire/Have You Ever Been Green/Pataphysical Introduction 2: The Soft Machine

18. Felix: Andwella's Dream

19. Born In A Trunk: Spice

20. All In Your Mind: Stray

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