Oldish Psych and Prog

genre: psych

country: us

quality : lossless(flac, cue, log, scans, 437 mb), mp3 (320k, scans, size: 212 mb)

time: 1:15'57"

misc: compil.

Fuzz Acid & Flowers:

The Baroques came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and were one of the first psychedelic bands in the area. Their original album Baroques is excellent and also includes their best track, Musical Tribute To The Oscar Weiner Wagon. This, starts slowly, culminating in a kaleidoscopic interplay of guitar and drums. A consistently high standard is also maintained throughout almost all the album with Rose Colored Glasses, In Silver Light and Purple Day featuring fine guitar interplay which captures the band at its best.

Originally known as The Complete Unknowns they dressed in baroque costumes and always played with a white pot-bellied stove on stage which contained the controls for their light show. After the first album Chess wanted them to record material like Chippie, The Hippie From Mississippi which the band refused to do. They were subsequently released from their Chess contract and released their own 45 I Will Not Touch You in April, 1968. The band split some six months later.

Wayne Will, an original member, was drafted in August 1966. Jay stayed in music business, Jacques is now a communications professor at University of Colorado, Dean an art professor at Massachusetts College of Art, and Rich is a travelling salesman.

Anyone interested in finding out more should take their pick between two retrospective compilations. The vinyl The Baroques put out by the band on their own label, contains some of their finer tracks from their original album (Mary Jane, Musical Tribute To The Oscar Weiner Wagon, Iowa, A Girls Name and Bicycle), otherwise the material is all new. Sunflowers and At The Garden Gate, both from February 1968, are more in a progressive vein with lots of extended instrumentation. Still, quite interesting though. The CD, Purple Day covers similar ground with rarities and "best of" material alike. ~ (Vernon Joynson / Max Waller / Lloyd Peasley)

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genre: psych folk

country: us

quality : lossless (WavPack, cue, log, scans)

time: 42'09" size: 197mb

"This Is the Way" – 2:53
"A Sight to Behold" – 2:26
"The Body Breaks" – 2:43
"Poughkeepsie" – 2:17
"Dogs They Make Up the Dark" – 1:20
"Will Is My Friend" – 3:04
"This Beard Is for Siobhan" – 2:36
"See Saw" – 3:22
"Tit Smoking in the Temple of Artesan Mimicry" – 1:25
"Rejoicing in the Hands" – 1:41
"Fall" – 2:53
"Todo Los Dolores" – 2:30
"When the Sun Shone on Vetiver" – 3:34
"There Was Sun" – 1:31
"Insect Eyes" – 5:08
"Autumn's Child" – 2:40

Devendra Banhart - bass, guitar (acoustic, electric), piano, vocals, producer, drawing

Vashti Bunyan - vocals

Paul Cantelon - violin

Thor Harris - percussion, vibraphone

Julia Kent - cello

Joe McGinty - organ, piano

Steve Moses - percussion, drums

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genre: heavy prog

country: uk

quality : lossless (flac, cue, log, scans) & mp3 (256k, scans)

time: 46'54" size: 322 or 88 mb

Tapestry of Delights:

Only around 80 copies were reputedly sold of this keyboard-dominated progressive album, making it one of the most difficult major label releases to trace. It is, however, better than its reputation would suggest. The main concept is the division of human nature in three parts which are inimical to each other and this philosophical point of view is strongly reflected in the lyrics:-

'The more I live, to love, caress and tend
The more I know the need to rave and rip and rend
So liberate my soul, come see the trinity - Neither good nor bad

It's dead - that makes you free.'Although this inevitably hangs heavy on the music, the careful approach applied to most of it saves a lot. The parts where the shadow-side of the soul plays the cardinal role are full of real despair and get a convincing musical treatment. The sparse instrumentation, virtually without guitar, is skilfully used. If you don't mind being showered with philosophical content while listening to rock, then this comes recommended.

The 1991 CD reissue came in two formats and included both sides of their earlier non-album 45, which was a fine example of inventive late sixties pop. Aside from the straight-forward CD reissue, there's also a lavish 7" sleeve CD package which tries to replicate the original open-out sleeve which had been designed by Barney Bubbles who was better known for designing Hawkwind's sleeves.

Robbie Watson was later in The Speedometers in 1979. The band were the musical vehicle of a North Wales professor called Keith Keyes. They were signed to Vertigo by Patrick Campbell-Lyons after he'd been sent a tape of Keyes' singing accompanied only by a piano.

(Marcel Koopman/Vernon Joynson).

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genre: soft

country: uk

quality : lossless (flac, cue, log, scans) & mp3 (320k, cover+)

time: 59'13" size: 255 or 171 mb

Tapestry of Delights:

Donovan was born in Glasgow on 10 May 1946. He was hanging around the South with a guitar when he was discovered in early 1965 and given a residency on ITV's brand new rock programme, 'Ready Steady Go'. In these early days he played a form of gentle, melodic folk and was inevitably dismissed as a poor man's Dylan. He also carved a distinctive image with his blue denim cap. Without the exposure on 'Ready Steady Go' it's doubtful if his career would have gone anywhere, but with TV exposure Catch The Wind and Colours were both catapulted high up the Charts as was his first EP, which also included Buffy Sainte-Marie's Universal Soldier. However, by the Autumn of 1965 there were signs that the frequent and unfavourable comparisons with Dylan were beginning to harm him. His first folkie album had sold well but the more reflective Fairytale only peaked at No 20 and his third single, Turquoise, peaked at No 30. These factors led the singer to change musical direction and to this end he enlisted the assistance of producer Mickie Most and musical director John Cameron. However, a legal battle between his new management and his previous management agency froze his progress initially. To maintain public interest in him, Josie from his first album was issued as a 45 in February 1966 but it made little impression. Another EP was put out, too, and Remember The Alamo was released and then withdrawn.

The legal battle delayed the release of Sunshine Superman in Britain from January 1966 until December of that year. Along with Eight Miles High by The Byrds it was one of the first psychedelic singles to be recorded and when it was released in America in July 1966 it climbed to No 1 in a few weeks. It's reference to 'blowing your mind' was ideally suited to those heady days. It was a classic 45 with its distinctive guitar work, whilst the flip was more uptempo R

The legal disputes also delayed the release of the Sunshine Superman album, which had climbed to No 11 in the US after its release in July 1966 in the US. It's certainly well worth checking out. Highlights included Seasons Of The Witch, a chilling song with a sparse arrangement later covered by Vanilla Fudge; Fat Angel, which became a big favourite for Jefferson Airplane and was covered by them on their Bless It's Pointed Little Head live album (Donovan referred to the band in the lyrics 'fly Jefferson Airplane, getcha there on time'); Legend Of A Girl Child Linda, a fairytale set to a string backing with lots of harpsichord and woodwind; Bert's Blues, a jazzy song which acknowledged his influence on Donovan's music and the beautiful finale Celeste.

His follow-up 45, Mellow Yellow, came out in November 1966 in the US and was almost as good as Sunshine Superman. It again had a very catchy intro tapped out on drums but was essentially a jazzy sorta pop song, with lots of brass and percussion. The flip side, Sunny South Kensington, was similar in style to The Trip. A sorta R&B style description of swinging London with references to Mary Quant. In the US it climbed to No 2. In the UK it was not released (because of the legal wrangle) until February 1967 and came with a different flip side, Preachin' Love, a jazzy number which was also used to back Donovan's next US single, Epistle To Dippy, which featured trippy lyrics but was weaker than its two predecessors. It was not released in the UK presumably because of its lyrics.

His Mellow Yellow album (a US-only release) came out in March 1967 and climbed to No 14 in the US Charts. Aside from the title track other highlights were Sunny Goodge Street (later covered by Marianne Faithful on her Country Maid album); Hampstead Incident, Sand And Foam (about smugglers in Mexico); Young Girl Blues (a song about bedsitter living) and Museum, which had an unusual string accompaniment and was later covered by Herman's Hermits and Beverly (Martyn).

When the Sunshine Superman album was eventually released in the UK in May 1967 it comprised a selection of tracks from Donovan's US Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. Inevitably much good material was omitted, including The Trip and Fat Angel (from the US Sunshine Superman) and Museum, Sunny South Kensington and the title track (from Mellow Yellow) and readers are recommended to buy the two US releases.

Donovan's next 45 was the calypso-style There Is A Mountain, which marked a further change in musical direction away from his early more psychedelic sound. It peaked at No 11 in the US and No 8 in the UK. This was unusual for he was far more popular in the States than in his homeland. Indeed, he toured the States regularly in this era and his next Donovan In Concert album used material from a performance at the Anaheim Convention Centre in LA.

In December 1967 Donovan provided three songs for the Soundtrack of the film 'Poor Cow':- Colours, Be Not Too Hard and the title cut itself.

His next album, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, was a double package which was also available separately (each album had its own title). The first, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, was named after his next US-only single. It tended to consist of fairly simple rock numbers and the better tracks included There Was A Time; the organ-driven The Land Of Doesn't Have To Be and Someone Singing, which featured some nice horns, strings and harp and Jack Bruce on bass. The second disc, For Little Ones, contained twelve charming songs including The Tinker And The Crab and Epistle To Derroll, a lengthy nursery tale. Lavishly packaged, this double set is generally regarded as an essential item of the flower power era. In the UK it was preceded by the lovely love song Jennifer Juniper, which climbed to No 5 in the Charts. The 'B' side, Poor Cow, was a folk-influenced song. ...

(Vernon Joynson / Ronald Halmen)

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genre: psych

country: uk

quality : lossless (ape, cue, log, scans)

time: 49'22" size: 252 mb

Tapestry Of Delights:

This early seventies outfit was most notable for Mick Hutchinson's fine guitar work. Clocking in at 50 minutes their debut album was certainly good value in terms of length. It can only be recommended to those of you interested in clever guitar instrumentals. The band didn't deploy vocals and the tracks on this album are long, Eastern-influenced and slightly mystical with titles like Impromptu In 'E' Minor and Improvisation On An Indian Scale. Hutchinson's and Clarke's other outfits included Sam Gopal Dream, Vamp and Dogs, which became Clark-Hutchinson. 

'Ptolemaic Terrascope #9' contains an article about the band and Hutchinson also had one track, Ragamag, on the EP which accompanied the magazine.

The Blues album was recorded in 1968 before A=MH2 and featured Andy Clark, Mick Hutchinson, Walt Monahan (bs) and Franco Franco (drms). It was released by the German label Little Wing.

Stephen Amazing and Andy Clark later played in a mid-seventies combo called Upp.

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genre: prog

country: uk

quality : lossless (ape, cue, log, scans)

time: 37'39" size: 233 mb

issue: 1993

1. Reflection (12:06) 
2. Charing cross (6:45) 
3. Thank Christ for George (12:07) 
4. It could only happen to me (6:45)

Robert Calvert / saxophone

Bryan Hanson / drums

Anna Meek / lead vocals

Ralph Rawlinson / keyboards

Carl Wassard / bass

Graham Wilson / guitars

see also: Catapilla ~ 1971 ~ Catapilla 

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