Repost
Since the early 1980s the See For Miles Records has specialized in releasing long lost artifacts from the past by compiling flotsam and jetsam of both unknown and more familiar bands as well as nurturing new fledgling talented artists. In the mid-80s the label released one of its most critically acclaimed and most popular series THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP which came out as four vinyl records or three CDs. Comparable to the US Nuggets series, this one focuses on the British 60s scene with the first two editions focusing on the more obscure artists who didn't exactly burn up the singles charts during their day but nevertheless captured the spirt and zeitgeist of era in ways that equalled or surpassed the most famous bands still known today.
THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 1966-1969 begins the series with artists who existed concurrently with the more famous bands like The Who, The Pretty Things orThe Small Faces but never found any success in terms of exposure or sales for that matter. In fact most of these artists never even had the opportunity to release a single album with only a few singles that dotted their short-lived output. Despite the obscure nature of the artists on this compilation, none of which i was familiar with before encountering this psychedelic pop gem, these artists showcase exactly how many talented acts there were in the day crafting excellently constructed psychedelic baroque pop that stood up to the best of the era.
Also falling in line with the 60s marketing trends of confusing the public, there are actually two versions of this compilation released simultaneously with slightly different titles. The vinyl LP edition only featured 20 tracks and sported a different album cover as THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) while the CD edition featured 26 tracks and was released as THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1. This was the result of the limitations of vinyl which split the series into four editions whereas the longer CD format fit everything snugly into three. While most of these tracks will be completely unfamiliar, a couple of them may jump out at you including The Flies' version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" best known as a Monkees single as well as The Californians' version of Warren Zevon's "Follow Me."
What this compilation succeeds in is revealing a completely unknown underground of the richness of the British music scene of the 1960s and although these tracks are psychedelic pop, like experimental artists like The Beatles, many were pushing boundaries while engaging in their trippy fuzz guitar sounds and Beach Boys style harmonies. While all the artists here could ostensibly be considered pop artists, the degree to which they aimed for the singles charts varied with clear missed hits with the sunshine pop "The Muffin Man" from World Of Oz to the more etheral, less commercial sounding track "Renaissance Fair" from Human Instinct. Others such as The Californians actually sound a lot like The Monkees. Overall this is an excellent collection of lost gems that will exhilarate those who can't get enough of 60s British psychedelic pop in the vein of The Pretty Things, The Beatles or The Move. Not every track is equally compelling but none are throwaways either. ~ siLLy puPPy (progarchives)
V.A. -The British Psychedelic Trip (LP's See For Miles Records)
The British Psychedelic Trip 1966-1969
Vol.1 (1986)
Review by Richie Unterberger
A compilation of late '60s British psychedelic rarities from the Decca label sounds rather more enticing than the end product. Much of this is British psych at its fruitiest; at what other time could a band called the Muffin Man release a song called "World of Oz" on a major label? (Ditto for Turquoise's "Tales of Flossie Fillett.") This is too tilted toward fey romanticism for comfort, and the best tracks had already appeared on other compilations (although it must be admitted that the sound quality is often notably better here). It does have some endring moments: the Accent's "Red Sky at Night" has some fine thunder-of-doom guitars, the End's dainty "Shades of Orange" bears production and co-songwriting credits from Bill Wyman, and Tintern Abbey's "Beeside" is one of the most melodic, graceful slices of Mellotron-soaked pop-psych ever.
01. Turquoise - Tales Of Flossie Fillet [1968]
02. The Attack - Created By Clive [1967]
03. The Timebox - Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye [1969]
04. The Poets - In Your Tower [1967]
05. The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here [1967]
06. The World Of Oz - The Muffin Man [1968]
07. The Ice - Anniversary Of Love [1967]
08. The End - Shades Of Orange [1968]
09. The Ice - Iceman [1968]
10. The Fairytale - Run And Hide [1967]
11. Paul & Ritchie And The Crying Shames - Come On Back [1966]
12. Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner [1967]
13. The Virgin Sleep - Love [1967]
14. Turquoise - Saynia [1968]
15. Toby Twirl - Romeo And Juliet [1968]
16. Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician [1969]
17. Tintern Abbey - Beeside [1967]
18. The Fire - Father's Name Is Dad [1967]
19. The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone [1966]
20. The Accent - Red Sky At Night [1967]
Vol.2 (1986)
01. Tomorrow - My White Bicycle [1967]
02. The Idle Race - Skeleton & The Roundabout [1968]
03. Love Sculpture - In The Land Of The Few [1970]
04. Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - Kites [1967]
05. The Locomotive - Mr. Armageddon [1969]
06. Davy Jones & The Lower Third - You've Got A Habit Of Leaving [1965]
07. Keith West - Excerpt From "A Teenage Opera" [1967]
08. Kippington Lodge - Rumours [1968]
09. The Lemon Tree - It's So Nice To Come Home [1968]
10. The Gods - Real Love Guaranteed [1969]
11. The Moles - We Are The Moles (Part 1) [1968]
12. July - Friendly Man [1968]
13. The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Is Born [1968]
14. July - I See [1968]
15. Kippington Lodge - Lady On A Bicycle [1967]
16. Keith West - On A Saturday [1968]
17. The Idle Race - Worn Red Carpet [1969]
18. Tomorrow (2) - Strawberry Fields Forever [1968]
19. The Pretty Things - She Says Good Morning [1968]
20. The Gods - Hey Bulldog [1969]
Vol.3 (1987)
01. The Human Instinct - Renaissance Fair [1968]
02. The Cuppa T - Miss Pinkerton [1967]
03. Toby Twirl - Toffee Apple Sunday [1968]
04. Cherry Smash - Green Plant [1969]
05. The Californians - Follow Me [1967]
06. The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance [1967]
07. Les Sauterelles - Heavenly Club [1968]
08. Elliots Sunshine - Cos I'm Lonely [1968]
09. Jason Crest - Turquoise Tandem Cycle [1968]
10. Kaleidoscope - Jenny Artichoke [1968]
11. The Open Mind - Magic Potion [1969]
12. The Open Mind - Cast A Spell [1969]
13. Keith Shields - Deep Inside Your Mind [1967]
14. Al Stewart - The Elf [1966]
15. Crocheted Doughnut Ring - Happy Castle [1967]
16. The Human Instinct - The Death Of The Seaside [1967]
17. The Virgin Sleep - Secret [1968]
18. Tinkerbells Fairydust - In My Magic Garden [1967]
19. Turquoise - Woodstock [1968]
20. John's Children - Desdemona [1967]
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Vol..4 (1987)
Review by Richie Unterberger
If the fourth volume of this series is "psychedelic," it's really British psychedelia of the mildest and poppiest sort. You'd figure as much from a 20-track LP including tracks by groups named Tinkerbell's Fairydust, Amazing Friendly Apple, Cherry Smash, Toby Twirl, Love Children, and the Chocolate Watch Band (a British outfit, and an entirely different one than the respected Californian garage-psychedelic one of the same name). The material's limited in scope to cuts released on the Decca label in the U.K., but that's not the only drawback that keeps this out of the top-tier of British psychedelic compilations. Even if the pop side of U.K. psych is your thing, these really aren't very interesting songs for the most part, nor do the groups usually do much to indicate they should have had greater exposure. It's often merry and fruity to the point of being cotton-candy sweet, showing more influence from West Coast sunshine pop and soul than most stuff in the genre. Indeed, such is the concentration on cheery songs with gratuitously period production touches that some might question whether this is fairly classified as psychedelia at all; it's certainly a long way from, for example, early Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, and Traffic. One notable exception is the Poets' "That's the Way It's Got to Be," a terrific slice of pulsating mod rock/freakbeat -- and not, as good as it is, a psychedelic song, no matter how many excuses might be vainly made. Also off a different path, though just about qualifying as psychedelic-influenced, is Al Stewart's unlikely cover of the Yardbirds' "Turn into Earth" from an early single. Fans of '60s British rock will also recognize Timebox, whose "Walking Through the Streets of My Mind" is one of the better songs, and Peter Lee Stirling, who wrote hits for the Merseybeats before trying his hand as a solo artist on the 1967 single "8:35 on the Dot" (included here), which is slightly reminiscent of very early Cat Stevens. With so many other, very superior British psychedelic rarities compilations having been produced (some of which include material heard on this LP), however, this has to be rated near the bottom of such projects, and would provide a highly misleading introduction to British psychedelia if it was taken as representative of the style as a whole.
01. The Poets - That's The Way It's Got To Be [1965]
02. The Neat Change - I Lied To Auntie May [1968]
03. Toby Twirl - Movin' In [1969]
04. The Four Kinsmen - Glasshouse Green Splinter Red [1968]
05. Tinkerbells Fairydust - Lazy Day [1967]
06. Pacific Drift - Water Woman [1970]
07. Love Children - Paper Chase [1970]
08. The Ice - Whisper Her Name (Maria Laine) [1968]
09. Life 'N' Soul - Peacefully Asleep [1967]
10. Al Stewart - Turn Into Earth [1966]
11. Double Feature - Baby Get Your Head Screwed On [1967]
12. The Elastic Band - 8 1/2 Hours Of Paradise [1968]
13. Cherry Smash - Fade Away Maureen [1969]
14. The Game - Gotta Wait [1966]
15. Peter Lee Stirling - 8:35 On The Dot [1967]
16. The Majority - All Our Christmases [1968]
17. The Chocolate Watch Band - Requiem [1967]
18. Amazing Friendly Apple - Water Woman [1969]
19. Dream Police - I'll Be Home (In A Day Or So) [1970]
20. The Timebox - Walking Through The Streets Of My Mind [1967]
Thank You!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank You
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ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of those See For Miles LPs, back when records were the thing. As far as I can recall, CDs already existed when the SFM LPs came out, but only a few titles were actually available yet, on CD, so the only way to get a complete set was thru Vinyl. Records were still king in the early 80s, and frankly, most CDs sounded like, er, doggie do ;-) Harsh and abrasive from the too low sampling rates.
ReplyDeleteThese LPs sounded just great, though! I had a lot of them at one time.
Never these ones though.. So thanks, Dmitrich.. looking forward to hearing these..
Thank you for your comment. Once again are convinced that you should not expect better quality just because it is a lossless digital copy taken from compact discs. Standard CDs were stamped with a dynamic range compression of -30 dB... For this reason, sometimes old vinyl rips with a bit rate of 192 - 226 Kbps sound better.. Everything depends on the original source...
DeleteFantastic post. Thanks for all!!!
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