VA - Hallucinations - Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults (2004 Rhino Records) Flac & mp3

Since the first Nuggets in 1972, the entire series has been grounded in the gritty, dirty sound of garage rock, so much so that Rhino's 2001 box set of British and foreign psychedelic nuggets favored harder rock over the fruity, precious side of British psych. Collectors treasured rare singles before Nuggets, but the series created an aesthetic that emphasized the raw, trippy, wild, and woolly over the soft, lush, harmony-laden psychedelicized sounds of AM pop radio. The Rubble Collection, Mindrockers, The Trash Box -- all of them were dedicated to freaky guitar rock, and that mindset ruled until the latter half of the '90s, when the well had started to run dry, as labels like Sundazed issued the complete recorded works of obscure garage rockers who had released only one single during their lifetimes.

Around this time, collectors -- including many third-generation music fanatics raised in the era of CD reissues rather than record fairs -- began to favor the soft sunshine pop of the late '60s, when square vocal groups started to get hip and record trippy music. Bands like the Millennium, the Association, and Yellow Balloon became hip currency, as did producers like Curt Boettcher and songwriters like Paul Williams. This was close to anathema for the hardcore garage rock fiends because this was not rock & roll, it was pop music whose commercial aspirations failed. Nevertheless, most hardcore record geeks have a fondness for this stuff, since it's not only melodic and well produced, but it's terribly interesting to hear how underground ideas were borrowed and assimilated into mainstream music; often, it's as strange as it was in the underground, if not stranger. Fans of this breed of psychedelic pop were insatiable, and there was a certain thrill to the fact that it was hard to track down, since it was either issued in Japan, buried as album tracks on reissues, or never made it to CD at all. That's why Rhino Handmade's foray into the sound with Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults and its companion release, Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults, is so welcome -- while they're only available as limited editions (primarily sold via www.rhinohandmade.com), they're also the first widely available American samplers of this style. That alone would make them noteworthy, but what makes them essential (at least for hardcore record collectors), is that they're expertly done.

Where previous installments of Nuggets concentrated on singles, Hallucinations is a true excavation of the vaults, picking overlooked album tracks and neglected singles from a cornucopia of WEA-owned labels, including Warner Bros., Cotillion, Jubilee, Valiant, Reprise, and Atco. While the focus is on acts that released a single or forgotten album, there are a handful of recognizable names -- the Association, Kim Fowley, the Electric Prunes, the Bonniwell Music Machine, the Tokens, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band -- and in the Monkees' "Porpoise Song," there's even a genuine hit. But that song is the exception to the rule: most of these are quite obscure, and it's even arguable that because they were released on major labels (or at the very least, high-profile labels), the songs haven't been given the attention or respect as psychedelia released on smaller, regional labels. That argument is laid out in the introduction of the excellent liner notes, and the music on Hallucinations supports it strongly. Often, collections of rare heavy psychedelia and garage rock can grow a little samey even when the musical quality is high, since bands tended to emulate the same sounds and ideas, using the same production techniques as their peers.

Hallucinations is a much more interesting listen than the average psychedelic rarities collection since these underground ideas are applied in bizarre, unpredictable ways to professionally written, melodic songs that were designed for mainstream radio. Where its companion collection, Come to the Sunshine, is heavy on lush surfaces and harmonies, Hallucinations is overtly trippy and psychedelic, filled with fuzz guitars, echoes, phased vocals, organs, studio effects, and minor-key drones. This brings it closer to familiar Nuggets territory, but there's a much heavier emphasis on studiocraft and production here than there is on anything on the original double-vinyl Nuggets or Rhino's original box set; again, the focus is on the record, not the song, even though there are some excellent songs here. Nevertheless, the sound and effects of the productions are the most memorable aspects, such as the way the vocals and guitars swirl through the Next Exit's Tokens-produced "Break Away" or how Jeff Thomas' "Straight Aero," quite likely the trippiest square anthem ever recorded, has a weird undercurrent of menace in its hiccupping bass and clanging piano
.

Hallucinations is filled with moments as strong as this, and it makes a convincing argument that psychedelic pop is at its best when it's pure, undiluted ear candy like this. It's not just a good introduction to the charms of psychedelic pop; it holds its own next to any collection of freaky, guitar-fueled garage-psychedelic rarities.

This is a real great compilation and highly recommendable.
Have fun
             Frank       Flac p1 & Flac p2  -  mp3@320 p1  -  mp3@320 p2

Psychedelic Prog by The Cleves - The Cleves 1970 Flac & mp3@320

The Cleves' only album was competent but uninspiring, typical early-'70s progressive rock, all the material original save an eight-minute cover of "Summertime." With most of the songs hovering between five and seven minutes, it was given to long, not entirely purposeful vamps on organ and guitar, grinding out repetitive, basic hard rock riffs. The vocal sections were very much of-the-time hippie-oriented messages that aimed to uplift and reflect -- nothing to object to in and of themselves, but hardly profound, and often naïve.

 

Sometimes it's a little like hearing the hardest-rocking, most sophisticated parts of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's arrangements, without the songs of CSNY's caliber. Other styles of the day also get a peek, from Creedence Clearwater Revival-style roots rock ("Waterfall") and humming sustain guitar ("Keep Trying," "Time Has Come") to Lee Michaels-style organ ("For a Time"). Unfortunately, the album is not as good as the far more superior influences it uses as reference points.(R.Unterberger)

Give it a try, it's a real good psychedelic prog effort and much better than a lot of their
contemporarys. Real good songs here.
Have fun
               Frank                  Flac p1 & Flac p2 &  Flac p3  - mp3@320

Paul Jones - The Paul Jones Collection - Vol.1 My Way 1966/67 (1996 RPM Records) Flac & mp3

Jones' debut album, 1966's My Way, found him and/or his record company seemingly determined to follow a far more all-around pop entertainer sound than Paul had trodden as the lead singer of Manfred Mann. Such strategies rarely yield fruitful results, and that was the case here, with a set list that, in trying to please everybody, came up short all around. Much of it is big-ballad pop in a sub-Tom Jones sort of style, and R&B/blues influences are, incredibly, virtually absent. Jones does manage to sneak in a few of his own songs (including an inferior remake of one he had done with the Manfreds, "She Needs Company"), but these are hardly exceptional. Coming on the heels of the Manfred Mann era, the bloated British orchestral-pop arrangements -- more suited to Petula Clark (but not as good as Petula's) -- were disappointing indeed, yet the album did yield a big British hit with "High Time." The CD reissue improves things considerably with the addition of nine bonus cuts from the same era, taken from EPs, singles, and unreleased tracks. These are highlighted by the EP versions of "Privilege" and "Free Me" (the latter reworked by Patti Smith in the mid-'70s), although be aware that this is not the same version of "Free Me" as the one on the soundtrack to the Privilege film. There's also Jones' second and last U.K. Top Ten hit, "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy," as well as an unexpected blast of pure blues with the B-side "Sonny Boy Williamson," co-written by Jack Bruce, who also plays bass on the song.(allmusic.com)
 

Here is Paul Jones' solo debut from 1966 with nine bonus tracks. It's called ''My Way''. RPM released three volumes by Paul Jones. The complete title you see in the headline. This is a fresh rip i have done today. I will post the complete artwork a little later today. Thanks for understanding and your patience Folks.

Have fun
               Frank                   Flac p1 & Flac p2        - mp3@320

                                                                 Complete artwork

The Troggs - From Nowhere 1966 (2003 Repertoire Records) Flac & mp3

The Troggs' debut British LP was substantially different, and distinctly inferior to, their first American long-player (Wild Thing), although eight of the songs appear on both records. The tracks unique to the British edition are all covers: "Ride Your Pony" and the obscure "The Kitty Cat Song" (both taken from Lee Dorsey), "Louie Louie," and Chuck Berry's "Jaguar and Thunderbird."

And none of them are so hot. "Wild Thing" is the highlight of the disc, and the rest of the set is a mixed bag, peaks being the primordial power of "From Home" and "I Just Sing," as well "Jingle Jangle," the first of Reg Presley's tuneful ballads. The vaudevillian "Hi Hi Hazel," on the other hand, is a lowlight. There's no "Lost Girl," "With a Girl Like You," or "I Want You," all of which made the U.S. Wild Thing a better counterpart to this release, although this didn't prevent From Nowhere from rising to number six in the British charts.

All of the good tracks appear on Archeology, but if you want the material anyway, it's been paired with their second British LP, Trogglodynamite, on a single-CD reissue on BGO.(allmusic.com)

To me the Troggs were clearly a Power Pop band with a garage sound but no proto punks like some critics said. They had catchy songs (a lot) and also jangly guitar sounds in her later songs. And they had a very own sound.

Enjoy
         Frank                Flac
                                             mp3@320

Complete 3D Artwork for The Pillbugs - The 3-Dimensional In-Popsycle Dream 2003

Good Morning, Good Day or Good Evening wherever you are. As i yesterday said, i would post the artwork later. Sorry but i was too tired to do it. But now it's ready. I scanned it this morning and i think you will like it. I will add the link in the Pillbug post from yesterday.

Kind regards
                    Frank   

Enclosure item ''View-Master

Martin Newell - The Spirit Cage (2000 Cherry Red Records) Flac & mp3@320

One of the great eccentrics of modern English pop/rock, Martin Newell's songs are recommended listening for anyone who enjoys the peculiarly British eccentricities of Ray Davies, Andy Partridge, Syd Barrett, and the like. His grasp of the pop hook was second to few throughout the 1980s and '90s; his arrangements favor a guitar jangle but are usually infused with a whimsical eclecticism full of goofy sound effects and unusual garnishes of unexpected percussion and string instruments. His voice is winningly quizzical, but his chief assets are his compositions, which reflect contemporary English life with a wry combination of affection and cynicism.

For most of the 1980s, Newell was the mainstay of Cleaners from Venus, who recorded most of their albums at home for cassette-only self-release, although they eventually put out some vinyl product. After a short stint as head of the similar Brotherhood of Lizards, Martin started a solo career in the 1990s that was essentially a continuation of the territory he'd explored in the 1980s; sometimes he re-recorded songs from the previous decade. The difference, if any, was that he was concentrating on the proper official album market instead of the cassette underground, with somewhat higher (though not slick) production values.

Newell's most acclaimed album was 1993's The Greatest Living Englishman, which was produced by Andy Partridge of XTC. The Off White Album (1995) was a bit more baroque in approach, with occasional string arrangements. Spirit Cage was issued in fall 2000, and a collection of home-brewed recordings from 2010 through 2014, Teatime Assortment, appeared in 2015.

Newell has co-written material with Captain Sensible and is a poet/humorist of some renown in Britain, publishing his own prose with a good deal of success and writing humorous pieces for the Independent newspaper. Ironically, his music is virtually unknown on his home turf, although he enjoys a considerable cult following in Germany, Japan, France, and on certain American college radio stations(allmusic.com)

This guy is just great!
Enjoy the album
                           Frank      Flac p1  & Flac p2   -  mp3@320

Canadian Power Pop from The New Pornographers - Electric Version (2003 Matador Records) Flac & mp3@320

Three years after the sonic honey of Mass Romantic, the New Pornographers come up smiling once more with their sophomore effort and Matador debut, Electric Version. These beloved indie rockers stick with the syrupy goodness found on their first album, but opt to turn the amps up for a brighter, slicker sound, hence the title. It's a kitschy play on the band's power pop, and Carl Newman and secret member Dan Bejar keep their clever lyrical twists in tune. Twiddling riffs and organs dance with Neko Case's sunny harmonies on the rollicking "It's Only Divine Right" and "From Blown Speakers." The energy is there, but Electric Version captures a new kind of energy from the New Pornographers. While Mass Romantic was a little more quirky in spirit, Electric Version is more polished. They took just under a year to create this album, so naturally a fresh confidence would transpire and "The Laws Have Changed" highlights the New Pornographers' musical growth.

This album standout is bold as brass, drenched in Case and Newman's perky vocals. "All for Swinging You Around" takes things further with wacky synth beats and tripped-up percussion, Velocity Girl-style, but its the band's own glossed-over rock & roll on "Miss Teen Worldpower" that truly represents the smooth emotion and might behind the New Pornographers' sound. Electric Version is an enjoyable and easy listen, chock-full of hungry hooks and brimming with indie rock's classic humility.

Maybe my favourite album by this fantastic band. But who can say it exactly? They did so much great stuff.

Have Fun
                Frank    Flac p1 & Flac p2      - mp3@320

The Koobas - Koobas 1969 (2000 BGO Records) Flac & mp3

The Koobas were among the better failed rock bands in England during the mid-'60s. Their peers, among the most talented group of the early British beat boom never to make it, included the Roulettes, the Chants, and the Cheynes. Favorites of the press and popular for their live shows, they somehow never managed to chart a record despite a lot of breaks that came their way, including a tour opening for the Beatles, top management representation, and a contract on EMI-Columbia. The group was formed in 1962 by guitarist/singers Stuart Leathwood and Roy Morris, drummer John Morris (who was quickly succeeded by Tony O'Reilly), and bassist Keith Ellis, all of whom were veterans of Liverpool bands such as the Thunderbeats and The Midnighters.

The band, known at one point as the Kubas, did a three week engagement at the Star-Club in Hamburg in December 1963 and out of that built up a serious reputation as performers. They had a sound that was comparable to the Beatles, the Searchers, and the Mojos, as Liverpool exponents of American R&B with a strong yet lyrical attack on their guitars and convincing vocals. It wasn't until after Brian Epstein signed them a year later, however, that a recording contract (with Pye Records) came their way. They got one false start through an appearance in the movie Ferry Cross the Mersey, starring Gerry & the Pacemakers, playing one of the groups that loses a battle-of-the-bands contest, but the Koobas' footage ended up being dropped from the final cut of the film. Their debut single, "I Love Her" b/w "Magic Potion," failed to chart, as did its follow-up, despite the exposure the group received opening for the Beatles on their final British tour.

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Coming off of those nine shows, the group was booked into the most prestigious clubs in London and started getting great press, but two more singles failed to dent the charts in 1965 and 1966. They jumped from Pye Records to EMI-Columbia in 1966, and continued to get good, highly visible gigs, including a January 1967 appearance with the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Savile Theatre (owned by Brian Epstein), and a tour of Switzerland with Hendrix. The group's sound was a lean yet melodic brand of R&B-based rock & roll, similar to the Beatles, though the Koobas didn't start to blossom as songwriters until fairly late, which may have been part of their problem.

They recorded good-sounding and very entertaining songs, but somehow never connected with the right sound at the proper moment. By the middle of 1967, they'd altered their look and their sound, moving away from American-style R&B and toward psychedelia. The group members also began writing their own material, sometimes with help in the lyric department from their new manager, Tony Stratton-Smith. Their singles still utilized outside songwriters, however, and the group's best crack at the chart came early in 1968 when they recorded Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is the Deepest," complete with heavy fuzz-tone guitar. Their single garnered some airplay but was eclipsed by P.P. Arnold's Top 20 version of the same song. Despite his best efforts, Stratton-Smith couldn't help the group overcome the failure of their last single. The quality of their gigs and the fees they were earning began declining, and their morale soon followed. By the end of 1968, the Koobas had agreed among themselves to go their separate ways. Ironically, the group's split coincided almost perfectly with Stratton-Smith's final effort on their behalf. Despite the failure of a succession of singles, EMI-Columbia agreed to let the band cut a long-player in late 1968. The group lasted just long enough to finish the album, Koobas, a mix of topical songwriting, psychedelia, R&B, and nostalgia that might've found an audience if only there had been a Koobas still together to tour behind it and promote the record in early 1969.

Instead, by 1970 the album was already in the cut-out bins. Keith Ellis jumped to Van Der Graaf Generator and then Juicy Lucy (with whom he played on the major U.K. hit "Who Do You Love"), and later moved to Los Angeles. Stuart Leathwood became part of the duo Gary & Stu, with Gary Holton, and was later a member of the group March Hare. The Koobas' early work on Pye is effectively scattered over several CD releases, including Watch Your Step from Sequel Records. In the summer of 2000, Beat Goes On reissued their self-titled EMI-Columbia album with eight bonus tracks drawn from their early singles for the label, thus assembling their complete post-1966 work in one place for the first time.

Very good Psychedelic pop effort. The Koobas were complete underrated.
Have fun
               Frank                  Flac p1 & Flac p2      - mp3@320

British Psychedelia: Samson - Are You Samson 1969 Immediate Records (2011 Flawed Records) Flac & mp3

Originally released in November 1969 on Andrew Loog Oldham's subsidiary to his failing Immediate, Samson sank without trace, which was about as much as could be expected. Oldham's seemingly careless attitude of not even releasing a single to wet the record buyer's appetite however is now easier understood: Immediate was at its end; within weeks of Samson's debut release Oldham's empire went bankrupt!

As the band were eagerly recording their carefully calculated work, Oldham had a lot more to worry about than whether the next album released on his subsidiary would be a big seller. With little assistance from the label, and practically no promotion, it's not surprising that the album had such low sales figures. But the poor turnover of this admittedly tackily sleeved album is by no means an indicator of the music contained within. Samson brought into their music a successful blend of harmonies which sound akin to the Gregorian psych-era choral vocal parts of the Pretty Things and the Zombies, a touch of Deep Purple circa Shades of Purple, and a hint of the increasingly popular concept album.

For sake of classification, their blending of Kinks-ish psych-pop with more progressive elements is befitting of the title progressive pop -- a contemporary handle used to describe everything from the Fox's For Fox Sake, Caravan's early work, and fellow north country lads the Koobas' 1969 album. If the later songs compiled on the superb Rubbles series appeal to you, Samson are well worth investigating.

 Really fine psychedelic pop with  some elements of prog.
 Enjoy
          Frank                  Flac p1 & Flac p2     - mp3@320

New Flac & mp3@320 Rip of The Pillbugs - The 3-Dimensional In-Popsycle Dream 2003

Here is a Flac rip and a fresh rip of  The Pillbugs - The 3-Dimensional In-Popsycle Dream 2003.
I posted this some time ago with a mp3 rip. Here now fresh new rips of the album. I will post the complete artwork later this evening. Hope you have fun,

Cheers 
            Frank       Flac p1 & Flac p2 & Flac p3     -  mp3@320
                                                                                                         Artwork

New Flac & mp3@320 Rip of ''Paul Jones - The Paul Jones Collection Vol.2 - Love Me Love My Friends'' 1967 (1996 RPM Records)

Hello Folks, most of you know that i posted some days ago mp3 rips of the albums from the Paul Jones collection. Today some albums i ordered arrived. Also the Paul Jones Vol.2.
Here is now the Flac rip and a mp3@320 rip. I will do that also with Vol.1. I hope the album will arrive tomorrow. Please don't ask for Vol. 3. I don't found Vol.3 for a correct price. Maybe some of you boys & girls have a good rip of Vol. 3. It would be much appreciated  :-). I will add again a review for the folks who maybe don't know anything about Paul Jones.

Enjoy it
             Frank  Flac p1  & Flac p2  & Flac p3 -         mp3 part1  -  mp3 part2

As lead singer of Manfred Mann from 1963 to 1966, Paul Jones was one of the best vocalists of the British Invasion, able to put over blues, R&B, and high-energy pop/rock with an appealing mix of polish and soul. That made the mediocre, at times appalling quality of his late-'60s solo recordings, on which he pursued a far more MOR direction, an all the more perplexing disappointment.

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As early as 1965, the press was speculating that Jones -- the only one of the Manfreds with any conventional heartthrob appeal -- would be leaving the group for a solo career. Jones and the group denied these rumors for quite some time, but Paul did in fact hand in his notice around late 1965, although he stayed with Manfred Mann through much of 1966 while they arranged for a replacement. The lure of going solo was not purely musical; Jones also wanted to pursue opportunities in the acting field, landing a big role right away as a lead in the '60s cult movie Privilege, which unsurprisingly cast him as a pop singer. Jones also sang a few songs in the film, the best of which was the ominous, hymn-like "Set Me Free," which was covered by Patti Smith in the mid-'70s.

Jones rang up a couple of British Top Ten hits in late 1966 and early 1967 with "High Time" and "I've Been a Bad Bad Boy," although his solo recording career would never get off the ground in the U.S. Both of these were straight MOR pop tunes that sounded much closer to Tom Jones than the Paul Jones of old. Unfortunately, the brassy British pop arrangements of Mike Leander (most noted for his work on Marianne Faithfull's early records) and weak -- at times perversely selected -- material characterized his late-'60s records. After those first two Top Ten singles, he wasn't even that successful in Britain, let alone America, where he was soon forgotten.

Jones at least wasn't starving for work, moving his focus from records to acting in the theater, which he continued to do steadily over the next few decades. He did eventually re-embrace his blues roots as singer for the low-key Blues Band, as well as participating in some Manfred Mann reunion performances. A new album, Showcase, appeared in 2001 from Hallmark Records, followed eight years later in 2009 by Starting All Over Again from Collectors' Choice.

Starting All Over Again was the first of two new Paul Jones albums produced by Carla Olson. The second, Suddenly I Like It, followed in 2009. Both albums featured the same backing band: Jake Andrews on guitar, Tony Marsico on bass, Mike Thompson on keyboards and Alvino Bennett on drums and were recorded in Los Angeles. Both combined R&B, blues and pop songs and featured guests including Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa and Jools Holland.(allmusic)