English psychedelia was very much the merry little cousin of its American elder. Less portentous, artier, frothier and far nearer the Kasenetz-Katz stable of 1910 Fruitgum Company and Ohio Express. As a sweeping generalisation, English psych could care little for mind-expanding revelations, content instead to ride through meadows on neon pink hippos, overdosing of twee […]
It’s impossible to start to discuss anything relating to The Residents without doffing a giant eyeball to Hardy Fox, whose passing at the end of October marks the finishing line for the band. As co-founder and producer, he has been responsible for some of the most ingenious, challenging, beautiful music of the 20th Century and the […]
In 1967, to extract himself from a contract he had with Bang Records, Van Morrison recorded 31 songs, reputedly improvised and all, certainly, examples of Van putting in zero effort, even by his standards. It worked, and Van was able to carry on with his career elsewhere, one of the most notorious examples of throwing […]
Among aficionados and collectors, ‘Fingerprince’ and its associate EP, ‘Baby Fingers’, are considered a pivotal moment in The Residents’ career. No longer feeling the need to even pretend to ingratiate themselves to radio pluggers or sell millions of records, they pitched to their label their next opus – a three-sided record to be titled ‘Tourniquet […]
When The Mothers of Invention released ‘Freak Out!’ in 1966, although it was groundbreaking in its vision and appropriately ignored by the record-buying public, it was very much an album that fitted its environment and reflected the gnarled and disgusting elements that the 1960s did a terrific job of airbrushing. In contrast, The Residents’ debut, 1974’s Meet […]
Various Artists – ‘Pour a Little Sugar On It The Chewy Chewy Sounds Of American Bubblegum 1966-1971′ On the face of it, the bubblegum pop sounds of the late 60s are everything the name promises – easily accessible throwaway pop with a day-glo sheen and enough gooey cloying sweetness to make your teeth crackle. But, […]
The Devil Rides In – Spellbinding Satanic Magick & The Rockult 1967-1974 A pretty irresistible set on the surface – 3 discs focused on the weird, occult and devil-themed rock of the 60s and 70s with curly typefaces and alluring ladies dug out especially for cover duties. A quick look at the track listing and […]
The Residents – Demons Dance Alone (pREServed re-issue) I’ve long since lost track of whether these releases are in any sort of order, but let’s at least rejoice that so much time and care has been given to a band’s legacy which could so easily have disappeared into complete obscurity. Of course, we’re still on […]
With recent collections springing up covering Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, it’s no surprise that Righteous now turn their attention to Les Baxter. So, where does Les fit into the exotica landscape? Well, Les is the exotica landscape. He started it, built the roads it still travels on and wrote many of the themes which […]
Various Artists – ‘March of the Flower Children – The American Sounds of 1967’ ‘March of the Flower Children’, as well as delivering exactly what you might well expect, is cunning enough to throw in the odd curveball. Yes, three discs of sounds from 1967 include psych, pop, and daisy sniffing, but there’s also a […]
