This blog is an extension of the Psych Trail Mix fanzine that had a run of 10 printed issues from Winter 2008 through Spring 2016. The Psych Trail Mix archive of full, free PDF files of the printed zine will continue to be hosted at this link. Print copies remain of  issue #10 only, see the main PTM page to purchase copies.

I know you're a bootleg collector too, so I can feel comfortable asking you this - any bootleg recordings of Philly shows, or any for the last couple years, board recordings?

I don't know. We get live recordings from places we do multiple nights at. So San Francisco is obviously a big one, even though I'm in L.A. now. I'm always online looking for like old punk... Even if there's something on YT, I'll rip it and.... I have like a massive digital music collection in addition to vinyl. I also love bootleg records, I got one from Roxy Music like a couple years ago that was really really good.

You guys have come a long way with touring, I saw a recent interview with Brigid Dawson and she was saying how you guys used to take like sleeping bags on tour, I'm sure you probably have nicer places to sleep now, right? (laughter)

Yeah, now we're like diamond, like Spire Elite or whatever at Holiday Inn, so the IHG hotels, but sometimes you get free rooms at the Crown Plaza and shit. Basically the trick for me touring at this age for all these years is to have it be like everybody gets their own room, so nobody is on top of each other, you get like 10-12 hours to just be on your own, do your own shit. Have some peace at the end of the night. And just having a comfortable vehicle... I mean me and Brigid used to be like sitting in each other's laps touring across the country in like a minivan. So now we take a sprinter. I don't like bus touring, it's not for me, I don't want to drive overnight. It's just the way I've always done it, it's cheaper this way.. Yeah man, I haven't had to sleep on a floor in a long time.

After the show is it straight to the hotel, or do you party at fan's houses anymore?

No, we don't usually end up going to fan's houses anymore, that's probably a fuckin' mistake... We used to always end up spending the night at someone's house and doing drugs all night, and then you realize they're racist at 4:00 in the morning, there's always like a little rub to that, you know (laughter). We don't even end up staying at friend's houses anymore because all of our friends that we used to stay with all have like kids and shit now, so I don’t wanna be like ‘can I bring the band back to your house.’ So it’s like spend a little money, everyone is happy. We'll go out I mean.. we might go out drinking sometimes after the show a little bit. Philly it's usually straight back to the hotel.


What's the secret man? I couldn’t believe it when I heard you were 50. I’m like this guy’s jumping around all animated on stage, you’re stage diving… I mean what’s the secret?

Well, I don't have kids. Kids obviously take a lot of your bandwidth, because you know, that becomes your main concern, taking care of a child. For me, I don't have a kid, I have a dog. So every morning I work out, I'll either go climbing or I'll go for a run, stretch, you know.. just something. I try to do something everyday now. Because basically when you get to be 50, you kind of have to hold on to it with two hands. My grandmother died when she was 94 and I'm like I don't want to make it to 94, that seems... especially now when things are kind of moving really quickly, to be 94 with it all seems to be like... what the fuck is going on? You know, you got to take care of yourself. I still drink, I still smoke weed. I don't really do hard drugs anymore. I got to the point where I don't want to do blow anymore. Dude, the only thing I want to take to the grave with me is marijuana. I would love to be able to smoke weed as an old man, I mean it would be nice to have a fucking drink too, but you never know, booze is tricky…  I quit cigarettes about a year and a half ago now, after 34 years of smoking, which somehow just kind of happened, I don't even know how, don't even want to think about it 'cause I don't want to fuck it up. I had to quit because one cig would fuck me up, my voice the next day, so the show would suffer. I still drink, I'll drink a little bit before the show usually. I'll wait until the opening band is on, I usually try to pick a band we like, so we engage with them with watching them and getting the energy flowing for the night. If you have a great opening band, it gets the whole motor going. But it's all about moderation and drinking fucking water, don't drink on an empty stomach. I never like being drunk thankfully and I'm half Irish so It's like be careful. My grandmother in her nineties was like 'be careful moving to California.' I'm just not a good drunk, when I get drunk I would like vomit and I just didn’t like the way it felt.

Yeah, like I saw you stage diving at your age and I’m like…

Well, the thing with stage diving is like, let the crowd know you're coming (laughter) Don't just jump into the crowd surprising them. Because I weigh 205 pounds I think, they will drop my ass. It's just about trying to pay attention to my body. Crowd surfing is probably not a great idea honestly. I’d probably crack like a vase if they drop me on the floor.

Well, it looks cool anyway!

Yeah, get a picture of it, done you know… It’s funny Because I started crowd surfing again like a year or year and a half ago, and I hadn't done it since I was 30. I remember that because we had a metal band called 400 Blows play at my house, in my bedroom, and I crowd surfed in my bedroom and I screamed I'M 30!!! So it had been nearly 20 years since I crowd surfed. Which is pretty crazy, you know?

Are you able to work from home?

Yeah, I've been working from home now since the pandemic, that's how we were able to get out here.

Yeah, that's great. So you don't have to commute anymore. As long as you're doing your job, who should give a fuck? Better for the environment too man, ya gotta get a bunch of cows to equate that methane from your drive now..

It's beautiful out here in Lancaster County, it's peaceful.. I mean touring I doubt you guys would ever make it out here, it's so out of the way.

Ironically, the first band I was ever in that toured, in Providence.. We toured, Joe Kayak, who is out here now in L.A., he was the drummer at the time, I went to school with in Providence, fuckin' great drummer, he was from Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania. So we played three shows in the middle of fuckin' nowhere.. And the only one that I really remember the name of was Schwenksville, and we played for like three or four people. And also Zern's, like a huge flea market that's like 3 square miles and it's fuckin' awesome, that's where you buy like old military gear and shit, and you're like I wanna build a synthesizer, and you're coming out carrying like a pulse generator. All the Silver Apples shit was built from that kinda stuff ya know..

I was gonna say, your Damaged Bug stuff, I get like Silver Apple vibes off that.

Oh yeah, totally. Yeah! They're another band like Chrome that were like super ahead of their time. I don't think anybody ever cared about Silver Apples.. You know they played an inauguration for a New York Mayor? Something like that.. That's what those photos of them playing live are from I think. They have a crazy story too, how they got back together and shit.  

You're asked this every interview, and like I said before - I was trying not to repeat questions here, BUT since it hasn't come out yet... Any news on new Damaged Bug?

Yeah man, I'm hoping by the end of the year. I got something in the works. It's the same record I've been working on, but I stopped working on it like three fuckin' years ago.. I don't know what happened, I like lost steam.. So I got back in with that Michael Yonkers cover record was my way to like reboot. I have this record I just finished, the new Osees, then that is the thing hopefully for the end of the year, to have a new record for Damaged Bug.

What's a perfect record for you? I know there's so many but...

I mean there's so many perfect albums out there in my opinion.. Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam & The Ants, Monster Movie from Can was my start... I love Malcolm Mooney, and I love Damo Suzuki too, but Malcolm Mooney was my first love in that band, like as the American G.I., you know, black American dude over there making great poetry in my opinion. He's still around, I saw him a few years ago, probably 5-6 or maybe 10, I can't even tell now, but he was fuckin' great man. And he did a record with this art gallery in Marfa that's really awesome with just him and a pianist, and one side of the record is a really long version of "She Brings The Rain" with a piano, he's got a kind of old man voice now a bit. Oh, the one from COVID for me was David Bowie's "Let's Dance." Somehow that 80's era... Dude, like wall to wall hits, ya know? Same thing too with Neil Young has some records like that... I think Hard To Earn by Gang Starr is a fuckin' perfect album. There's a lot of 'em out there man, I could on all day. Total Control by Henge Beat, perfect album..  

I was listening to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust just the other day, what a great album.

Bowie was the perfect artist in my opinion. I actually didn't realize how much I loved him until he died. Because you know people fuckin' die all the time, people who I love their music. Mark E. Smith, John Fahey, fuckin' Lou Reed even.. But something about Bowie was like so personal to everybody.

I just read an Iggy Pop bio book and didn't realize just how inter-twined he was with Bowie, just how much time they spent together.

Dude - another perfect album, Lust For Life and The Idiot, I mean those records that he worked on with him are great, smokin' fuckin' albums. Station To Station by Bowie is another perfect record. I would say The White Album by the Beatles is a really close to perfect record, most because it has Helter Skelter on it which is such an insane song for the time. I always loved, and I know Pink Floyd hates it, but the Pink Floyd record More, it's a soundtrack record, but I always thought it was a perfect album. Michael Yonkers Microminiature Love, another solid wall to wall hits.

David Peel & The Lower East Side - And The Rest Is History: The Elektra Recordings (2000)
I originally had a vinyl rip for a number of years of American Revolution that left a lot to be desired, a lot of snap, crackle and pop. I didn’t realize until recently that this official anthology release of the Elektra recordings existed; Have A Marijuana (1968) and The American Revolution (1970). I was delighted to discover that this set had excellent sound quality as is sourced direct from the Elektra vaults. These albums are just pure FUN! Don’t expect some mind-blowing musicianship or ‘concept’ album etc.. But I can tell you that FUN is what I think we need for these times that are coming around the corner in Trump cult-land ‘Murica with the clown show we’ll be living for the next 4 years, I think these records will be getting more play in my listening room, you can laugh or cry at this point, laughing is the better option. Between the two records compiled on this handy single disc, I think that The American Revolution is superior, it just rocks harder and totally fits into the proto punk classification w/its style and just sheer attitude, laden with loads of snarky sarcasm… The debut record, recorded in ’68 ‘on the streets of New York’ as the album cover states (specifically Washington Square Park) was very edgy and controversial for its time, especially sporting the giant marijuana plant on the album cover, this was an album likely hidden from parents. Apparently, the get a permit to record this, but cops still tried to yank the plug (literally) on them, I guess the songs about them being pigs, fully equipped with oinking didn’t sit well with the ol’ NYPD! The debut is more of a folk-rock affair, well freak-folk really. It takes the seriousness that a lot of folk music was from the time and sort of turns it on its head, like sometimes we just want to have FUN, rather than thinking about the ‘political issues’ of the time too seriously.  “Mother Where Is My Father?” is a really good anti-war song! There’s loads of songs about weed and disliking cops… Ya know, fun for the whole family! Again, the debut is more of an unplugged drum circle type vibe w/bongos, people clapping and hollering, but it’s loads of FUN. “Up Against The Wall” has got to the be the first use of ‘motherfucker’ in a recorded song, right? And not just A use of the word, it’s most of the song! Hahaha… “The Alphabet Song” sounds like it could be a kids song based on the title, but it’s just a song about drugs like LSD, DMT, MJ etc… The alphabet of drugs…  Moving on to their second album and my favorite of the two – “American Revolution” is more polished sounding and rocking, recorded in an actual studio instead of the park in NYC. This would be the group’s last recording with Elektra, I guess the label just couldn’t take anymore of the antics and the lack of radio-playable tunes! This album continues on the theme of anti-establishment fun of praising marijuana and ripping the cops, but again it rocks a bit harder, could even consider it ‘proto punk.’ “Pledge Of Allegiance” is a funny poke at what kids across America are still required to say daily at the start of the school day, but instead… maybe you could even have guessed it, the group is pledging allegiance to MARIJUANA! “Oink Oink” is hilarious, mocking a cop who is frisking and hounding the ‘long-haired hippy freaks’….. “If you say you don’t have it on you then I find it on you’re gonna be charged”……  Sounds like it could written today about some loony MAGA weirdos with the line “ya drive around with a flag on top of your car, you try to make this place…” “I Want To Get High” is great, starting w/an ode to LSD and getting high… ‘L-S-D got a hold on me”…. “I Want To Kill You” is a kinda’ wild for its time! Pre-dating GG Allin, I think he had a song of the same title? David Peel’s version even has simulated gunshots and ambulances, some keyboards in there that are kinda’ groovy, drumming actually rocks on this. “God” is a great song, a sort of knock on organized religion combined w/an anti-war statement, a great way to close out the record, even getting a final word on pot there at the end with ‘God don’t smoke pot!’ Like I said, this stuff is all just good, goofy FUN! And given America sadly turning far right here with our recent embarrassing election outcome, I feel that I’ll be spinning this a lot more lately. This compilation of David Peel's debut and follow up album is the way to go WRT sound quality, glad I can toss my shoddy vinyl rip now!

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (2013)
The Osees had been around for years already by this point, but I feel like this record is a true demarcation of them stepping head-first into psych rock. The other albums were in more of a garage-rock vein, but still unique and killer in a way that only Osees could do it, but this record has some more trippy elements and heady themes that set it apart from the rest up to this point in their discography. Also, the record has a really nice, beefy, fat production thanks to Chris Woodhouse that just kick your ass quite nicely. The album also gave us a few live staples that the band would carry with them up to present day including the opener “I Come From The Mountain.” This song starts off straight rock & roll, but in a cool 60’s rock vein, then it drifts into some lovely wah-guitar that gives it a tasty psych edge. “Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster” is a song that the band would integrate into their live set for years to come and for good reason – the song is a slower one but w/an acid-punk pogo inducing groove and tasty as fuck fuzz guitar, it’s also got that quiet then loud thang goin’ on that hits the spot. The live versions of this song just SCORCH, and it sounds like Dwyer employs some sort of trippy phase effect on his guitar during the slow fuzz leads as he moves the neck of his guitar around methodically like some sort of laser fuzz gun. There is a music video to this song, but WARNING: DO NOT watch it on psychedelics….. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean. “Night Crawler” is killer, a slow dirger w/dee-lish fuzz guitar, tripped out synth sounds and feedback, a song that massages the brain quite nicely indeed. “Tunnel Time” has the boys shot right out of a cannon, classic Osees sound w/some sizzlin' Dwyer leads. “Minotaur” closes out the album in a mellow way, it starts off with what sounds like a string section, but done via synthesizer? They played this live at their last tour and Tom, the synth player was doing this part from what I could see… It’s actually quite beautiful and a really cool way to close out the album, just lovely. Bravo Osees.

The Beau Brummels - Bradley's Barn (1968)
The Beau Brummels 5th studio album and a masterpiece of cosmic country, this is one of the early ‘country rock’ albums, along with the Byrds “Sweetheart Of the Rodeo” released just shortly before, but I much prefer this! To explain ‘cosmic country’ – it’s country, but with a bit of rock & roll and other elements thrown in, sometimes a smidge of psychedelic even. Country with a bit of alternative or progressive sort of flavor to it. Essentially the total opposite of any bro-country garbage being released to the mainstream Republican Trump voter these days. No, this isn’t the country music of boot-lickin’ goobers like Jason Aldean, this is TRUE RURAL ROCK that’s actually GOOD. True outlaw rebel music, not cornball boot-lickers! Basically, country music performed by hippies! Bands like the Byrds got into it, Grateful Dead, Gram Parsons, Kris Kristofferson, David Crosby, Doug Sahm. People who smoked dope getting into the genre. Back to the record at hand – this album was recorded on a literal barn just down the road from Nashville in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The band was surrounded by nature and beautiful pastoral farm landscapes, the perfect backdrop to induce the mental state necessary to put together a cosmic country epic like Bradley’s Barn! The band was down to only a couple of core members at this point – Sal Valentino on vocals and Ron Elliott on guitar, they brought in some session musicians to fill the void. The session musicians indeed fill the sound quite handsomely with two of them being guitarist Jerry Reed and drummer Kenny Buttrey, both veterans who had played with Dylan previously, these were GOOD players. Sal Valentino’s vocals are pure perfection for this genre the Beaus are going for here. The musicianship is fantastic, featuring banjo, mandolin, even some gorgeous orchestral elements, it’s quite diverse with regard to the instrumentation within. The album kicks off with “Turn Around,” - a breezy, pastoral sound and lyrics of passing seasons and feelings. I live near a lot of farmland, and this music, to me, authentically gives off that sort of country/farm vibe – big, open spaces, w/lots of room to breathe, to be REAL – not hustlin’ city BS. “Cherokee Girl” is another standout, excellent acoustic guitar with Valentino crooning of the ‘coyote’ and the ‘moon,’ and the Cherokee girl taking no chance with it all. The lyrics paint an image of a rural landscape, even the vibe it evokes is so authentic – rural Americana, an earthy sort of realism… “Love Can Fall A Long Way Down” is another one that just takes you back to another place and time, an old western feel, I get the vibe of a drinkin’ n’ smokin’ card game gone wrong and love heartbroken, a man taking a long walk along a rural landscape to contemplate the previous night and its events and implications. In a stark contrast to the Beau’s pop past, it seems like they were made for this countrified rock and they’ve finally come into their own. This is a record you could sit in solace on a farm porch in mid-summer, contemplating things and just letting your mind drift away with the breeze. Admittedly, I haven’t compared many versions of this – but I’ve got the 2002 disc on Collector’s Choice, it sounds fantastic, and I doubt I’ll ever need an upgrade.

Euphoria - A Gift From Euphoria (1969)
Here's another record in the cosmic-country realm that I recently discovered. This was a one and done by two guys from Southern California, however they apparently did a lot of traveling from Texas to California, hence the reason perhaps for the wide array of influences within. They certainly look like a coupla' cosmic cowboys don't they? I mean look at that album cover! There's a LOT going on with this album, but somehow it all pulls together and works. Starts off with a symphonic trip with "Lisa," and honestly I didn't know what I was in for with this album, as this song is a grand orchestral type deal.... "Stone River Hill Song" is straight-up country-rock, but good country rock with a rockin' pace and played to perfection. "Did You Get The Letter" gets things very much tripped-out with some delicious fuzz guitar, a 5+ minute trip fully equipped with a Sgt. Peppers-esque freakout in the middle consisting of wailing backwards guitar and sound effects, an explosion, silence then back to finish the song, a full circle trip! "Through A Window" is fantastic and right up there with my top favorites on the record - I guess it's a simple song, but it's got this beautiful, natural sort of flow to it that brings it to rather heady states, and there's some great fuzzy guitar leads in there to boot. "Lady Bedford" is another favorite, with its beautiful acoustic guitar work and echoed-out, almost whispered vocals that add a nice ethereal sort of effect to the delicate, sincere sort of nature of the song. You go back and forth between these beautiful orchestral elements and really heady psych-rock throughout the album, and it all actually works quite nicely. "Sunshine Woman" is another standout track, a top-notch folk-psych number with a Donovan sort of vibe to it. Things get deep with the closer, "World," and there's some awesome wah-infused guitar within this sort of somber song, it goes into this sustained like fuzz-tone sound before some really tripped out backwards guitar and effects, amazing way to end this trip!! A relatively unknown gem of gorgeous symphonic psych that's essential for any head. Cowboys on acid! I've got the disc from '96 on the See For Miles label, sounds great.

Osees - A Foul Form (2022)
Here we have the Osees stepping into a full-on HC punk album. Now, you may be thinking, as I was – hardcore punk album? Hasn’t hardcore punk been done a zillion times, what else could be done in the genre in an original way? However, John Dwyer and co. manage to knock it out of the park and keep things incredibly fresh and unique sounding, and they do HC punk better than a lot of the so-called ‘HC’ punk bands. This album was recorded completely in lead guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist John Dwyer’s basement while he was recovering from a bout of COVID, adding a bit to the snarl gruff style of his vocals in the process. If you’re a fan of early HC punk rock like Bad Brains, Weirdos, Black Flag, Stooges etc. you should dig this. But like I said, you can still totally tell it’s Osees. I feel like early punk had some creativity to it, before the jocks caught on and it all got a bit too formulaic, well this Osees punk output I feel is in the spirit of the great earlier original punk bands, not predictable pretentious jock-laden-HC or the yawn-inducing snore-fest of ‘street punk,’ uggghh. Its still got Osees’ lovely stench all over it, from the start of the opening track “Funeral Solution,” you hear buzzing sound effects and swirling synth before it launches into balls-to-the wall hc punk thrashing. A great, tight opener to kick things off. More samples and weird sound effects open the next track, the start/screech-stop of "Frock Block" with great angry lyrics about the hypocrisy of organized religion. Again, most of the songs have these weird Chrome-like intros that make it mighty tasty to your synapses, this goes for “Too Late For Suicide” – a change of pace, slowed down a bit, a groover, again with that Osees touch of tripped-out synth sounds within. The title track "A Foul Form" is an easy favorite on here, some of the best riffs you’ve ever heard in ANY punk song, again with that Osees touch - Dwyer sliding up and down the guitar neck maniacally – I can’t not want to go nuts and jump around the room anytime I hear this banger! This is what I like in my punk, CREATIVITY, I mean listen to "A Burden Snared," basically a short sound collage, but also very HEAVY, and one of those things you can hear something new in upon each listen that you hadn’t heard previously. Back to the HC crust-punk literally with "Scum Show," another banger of epic Osees proportion. The production is great too, sounds like the drums are mic’d-up very nicely, very in-your-face recording, how a great punk record should be. They end this onslaught with "Sacrifice," a Rudimentary Peni cover, a nice one-minute banger to close out Osees full on HC punk album! Again, I was skeptical when I read HC punk album, but if you dig Osees and old hc punk rock, you should fall in love with this like I have as it gives us the best of both worlds - an acidic-PUNK epic. They nailed it.

The Saints - (I'm) Stranded (1977)
This is a CLASSIC punk album that I'm frankly embarrassed to have only acquired recently! I mean I was aware of the all-time punk classic "(I'm) Stranded" that opens it, a snarling attitude-laden punk epic of outcast and alienation that any true fan of punk rock should devour while frothing at the mouth.... But only recently did I get my hands on the full album and MAN what I've missed! All-killer/no filler from start to finish, with some of the most raw and abrasive distorted guitar sound to grace the grooves of an early punk classic, or any record for that matter! "One Way Street" keeps the tempo and energy going that the opener has and the lyrics are as punk as it gets; 'Even if you play their game it won't do you no good, There's too many creeps out there hungry for your blood, yes they are, They put you down when you are not around, drives you insane.' I mean come on, does it get any better? They do an absolutely killer cover of "Wild About You" by 60's band The Missing Links, taking the song to new heights by upping the tempo as well as the distortion, the song sounds like it was made for The Saints! Oh, just look at that album cover below - these guys didn't give a FUCK about punk 'fashion!' I always found that my favorite punk bands just look like normal guys who'd pump your gas at the gas station or work a factory job or something, they always seem to be the best ones. They slow things down a bit with the slow, soulful burner of "Messin With The Kid," I get the feels with this song man, and it displays the top-notch lyricism. The band is Australian, but I get Iggy vibes with the vocals at many times here, especially this song. I hear some people bitch about "Messin With The Kid" as it's a longer song, at over 5 minutes, and kills the 'momentum,' I say BULL-SHIT, punk has no rules and this burner slays me every time man. The closer, "Nights In Venice," is another longer, balls-out, energy-laden epic, clocking in at just under 6 minutes (again - punk has no rules poseurs), and that guitar just ripping and right up-front in the mix, treble is cranked here folks, a warning, but it works on this album. I've got the OG cd on EMI from '87 and it sounds great, with excellent dynamic range. This is an ESSENTIAL masterpiece, classic punk album from '77 that should be on the shelf of any true fan of punk rock.

T.I.M.E. - Time/Smooth Ball (1968/1969)
Twofer disc here with great sound quality of T.I.M.E. and their self-titled record from '68 and their follow up from '69 entitled Smooth Ball. Now, I'll be honest in that I heard this description elsewhere, possibly one of those 'vinyl finds' YT videos most likely, but the description was so apt that I must repeat it - as far as their debut, it's like a collection of songs from one of the Nuggets compilations, but all the tracks are killer! This is excellent pop-psych from start to finish. From that opening wail of guitar feedback that starts "Tripping Into Sunshine," you know what you're in for, great vocal harmonies and jangly guitar, all the things that make up great 60's rock. I love the feedback reappearing later in the opening song and the woozy drugged-out ending. As far as the sound on this, it's not too polished, it's got some grit to it, which I really dig. It's not all just jangly guitar either, they employ the fuzz-tones to massage our brains thoroughly as well. "Finders Keepers" includes some great ripping fuzz guitar and again some great vocal harmonies to get you floating. Even the more poppy tracks like "Make It Alright" and "Let The Colors Keep On" stand-up w/any of the best 60's pop of the era, I challenge anyone to dispute this! I'm not sure why this band wasn't bigger than it was. Even some of the poppier love-songs like "You Changed It All" bring your speakers to life with some great blisteringly STINGING fuzz-guitar! That's gotta be a Maestro pedal, right? I'd even venture to say that their debut is a cut-above a lot of the 60's rock/pop bands that made it big, they rock harder than a lot of those bands. AND - all the songs are originals! For their second album, 'Smooth Ball,' the band went through some personnel changes, but it's still killer. Like any great band, T.I.M.E. evolved their sound, where their first album is more psych-pop oriented in a Nuggets sort of style, this album veers more into heavy psych/acid-rock, and the fuzz is employed a lot more liberally here with blistering acid leads throughout. The sound is right on the cusp in a way - it's not fully into a 70's rock sound, it's more in-between, with flourishes of psychedelia still present in their sound, best of both worlds, if you will.. Some effects are used to great affect, check out the phasing/spacey effect on "I Think You'd Cry." The album does have some blues rock on here, but the guitar work saves it from being boring. "Flowers" is a highlight, sort of hazy/drugged sound, and dig the contrast of the fuzzed-out guitar leads with the piano, I love that hard/soft contrast in songs. Clocking in at over 10 minutes, "Morning Come" is the longest track on the album, with just relentless guitar jamming that never bores. The closer "Trust In Men Everywhere," yeah, I know, corny name, gets a bit more experimental and stoney with effects galore and a spacey, tripped-out vibe to close out the album with fuzzed-out phaser tastiness! The twofer cd on See For Miles label from 1996 offers great value and sound quality.

Thee Oh Sees - A Weird Exits (2016)
This is actually the first album I got after being turned on to the Osees. The usual advice is to start at their 2013 album The Floating Coffin, but I'd been around for a while in the world of psychedelic music and could handle the more heady trip that is A Weird Exits, and that's what it is at many times. The band gets a bit more tripped-out, krauty and experimental here. Dwyer's Can influence coming through and me likey! This is also the first Osees I believe to have dual drummers, adding additional power to their sound. This album has the best of both worlds - there's the hard and heavy, but also some lovely ambient, mellow spaced-out psych. "Dead Man's Gun" starts things off with John Dwyer going back and forth between his falsetto vocals and his almost metal sort of growl, a signature in many Osees songs, and we get our first taste of dual drummers, a signature of Osees that would remain over the years and it sounds f'n awesome here. Chris Woodhouse as usual with great production. "Ticklish Warrior" is up next, a banger that would become a staple of the band's live set and for good reason, this is the ultimate song to pogo to! A heavy song with killer riff. "Jammed Entrances" is a 5+ minute trip, getting into the ambient spacey psych I was spekaing of, a funky sort of keyboard-driven song. I dig the contrast here: so after that ambient space rock trip we get "Plastic Plant," another song that would become a live staple of the band, featuring ripping guitar from Dwyer and the quiet/loud element going on, they opened with this song when I saw them this past October, it was a great way to kick off the set. Dwyer inserting a quick slide on his guitar between falsetto verses here is a signature to the Osees exciting brand of acid punk. "Gelatinous Cube" is a clear standout, a fast paced rocker w/searing acid leads from Dwyer and his growly vocals this time 'round, John Dwyer f'n SHREDS on guitar, he's so freakin' good. "The Axis" is such a beautiful closer to this amazing album, a moog-driven love ballad, well kind of... love gone bad if you listen closely, a break up, but it's a tender sort of sounding vibe. Mostly keys, with Dwyer's guitar coming in at just the right times to punctuate things. The last minute and a half of the song is Dwyer igniting us off into a world of fuzz guitar and feeback swirl, beautiful closer!

Wire - Chairs Missing (1978)
Wire's 2nd album - released in September of 1978, and it actually made it to #48 on the UK album charts. Kind of hard to believe, can you imagine anything as avante garde/experimental and REAL as this topping any sort of major music chart THESE days? I’ve always wondered what the title meant, I dug into it and apparently it refers to Brit slang for a person who is a bit ‘disturbed,’ kind of like in the states where we say someone’s got a ‘screw loose.’ They get a bit more experimental here than in their debut, and I love the change. Keys/synths are incorporated to great effect, giving many of the songs a sort of dark, brooding vibe to them. The album retains this dark, ambient vibe throughout that envelopes the listener into its icy sort of world. The opener, ‘Practice Makes Perfect,’ is a clear standout, just builds and builds with intensity as the track progresses, some delicious fuzz-tones and then some well-placed echoing maniacal laughter thrown in there as the singer repeats ‘waiting for us, waiting for us, waiting for us!!!’ I wonder what the ‘punks’ who bought Pink Flag thought when they dropped the needle on this? “French Film Blurred” is another standout; a dark, eerie vibe w/icy keyboards that also manages to be tripped-out… Yes, ‘unconventional song structures’ holds very true to this album. The record is very experimental, yet still manages to rock quite well, and it’s actually quite dance-able, check out “Men 2nd,” Wire rocks hard on this guitar-driven track, but even this song retains an experimental edge to it. “Sand In My Joints” hearkens back a bit to their debut record, a quick rockin’ punk song… That’s another thing I like about this record – its got the best of both worlds: the ambient new experimental direction the band decided to take, but you still get hit with guitar-oriented slabs of raunchy Wire-style punk that hearkens back to Pink Flag, the contrast works wonderfully… Even a Wire song you’d consider ‘punk’ is more original and imaginative than many of the so-called ‘punk’ bands back then, Wire can play and they play well! “Outdoor Miner” is a lovely song with some beautiful backing vocals. This song is about an insect that eats leaves called a serpentine leaf miner, the band was apparently watching a nature show at the time the idea was sparked. “Go Ahead” gives me Chrome vibes! With all of the tripped-out, atmospheric elements to this record, I’m sure any head would approve. This is my favorite Wire album, they retain their punk edge while also taking us to the fringes and getting ‘out there’ to keep things interesting for the duration. For digital release, nothing bests the original cd on Harvest Records from ‘87 or the identical mastering release on Restless Retro from ‘89, great dynamic range, no compression/brickwall nonsense.

That's my happy place, my refuge from a world gone mad. You can't see it in the photographs, but on one end of the couch there's a mini fridge stocked with ice cold beer if the mood should strike you. I carefully curate my playlists through the week for the upcoming Friday and Saturday evening listening sessions, where I primarily listen alone. My guest for this post has similar habits and I was always fascinated as well as felt a kinship with his passion for listening to music, and being an audiophile. I'm speaking of the mighty HENRY ROLLINS! A great quote in a 2021 piece; "People come and go but the music remains." Henry has a way of laying out true music lover's feelings in words. In the same piece, Henry states "About 99.9% of the time, I listen to records alone, so I’m not imposing on anyone." To this I can agree, listening sessions are mainly solo affairs for me as well. In a piece entitled "I Am An Audiophile" from back in 2011, Henry delcares "the least you can do besides buying their records is pay the respect due them by giving their music the best possible means to fill the air."  To this I couldn't agree more, why would you not want the best possible sound quality to fill your space? Many of these artists endured grueling tours and true hard work to make their music heard, establish themselves and cement their legacy that we now revere them for. Audiophiles are looked at like elitist snobs, but Henry takes a knife to that notion with another quote from the same audiophile piece: "People can hurl any epithet they want about the snobbishness they think audiophiles retain. Let them drink their wine from boxes." Henry moved from his place in Los Angeles about three years ago to Nashville, TN, mainly to be close to where he's working on a massive project of which is not to be disclosed of until its completion. I got a chance to talk to Henry and couldn't wait to delve into all things music and listening rooms! For reference - Henry's main system includes Wilson Alexandria XLF speakers that go for six figures!

I remember for your Alexandria speakers, you had a team come in to sort of 'dial it in' and set them up, did you have do the same after the move?
The room the speakers are set up in now was actually built for sound, so they were able to get the speakers positioned rather quickly compared to the old place in Los Angeles that proved it to be very challenging for the technicians due to the shape of the room. The new room is very straight ahead by comparison and it sounds noticeably better. The speakers and the rest of it is such that chances are, the average person, even if you’ve set up a lot of systems, you probably wouldn’t be able to build this one from the separated parts. Also, everything is heavy and probably easy to break. To get the parts to the area to reassemble them, we had to build a ramp and have people on both sides to make the descent. Getting the parts out of the house in LA, into a truck, off the truck, into a house and down some stairs was a fantastic pain in the neck. It’s said you get into vinyl for the expense and inconvenience. I hope I never have to move any of it again.

How does your new listening room in Nashville compare to your previous one in LA?
The one in Nashville is far superior. As I said, the room was built for sound and it has commercial grade power, so the amps can really do or what they’re supposed to. The sound difference is not subtle. Imagine the power to your amps going through a fire hose rather then a garden hose. I’ve had some great listening sessions in the new room. It was up and running in November of 2021. I hit the road on tour on and off for two years several weeks after it was up and running, so I’m playing a lot of catch up right now.

Do you enjoy watching live music shows as well, or are your listening sessions strictly for listening?
I don‘t own a television. I watch some news on the internet but past that I just have a Netflix account, but don’t use it very much. I do have many DVDs that I’ve never watched. I should at some point get a screen so I can check them out. My mother had a small television and she used it primarily for watching the news and PBS cooking shows. Her place was more about books and records, so I ended up being more into those mediums. When I’m on tour and living on a bus, the TV is on all the time but I don’t really pay that much attention to it.

When do you begin curating the playlists for the incoming weekends? And is it always prepared playlists for listening sessions or are there spontaneous sort of listening sessions as well?
Actually, quite a bit of planning can go into this. Sometimes records that I’ve been waiting on come in and I’m eager to play them as soon as possible. Also, there are records I save for the weekend, when I dial back my work schedule slightly. For the most part, I try to schedule the listening as much as possible, even to the point of pulling the records out and having them ready days in advance. After those records get listened to, I sometimes go to a shelf I have of unplayed records and grab a few of them. I also try to make sure to not get too behind on 7” records. It’s easy to forget them. I have found it’s a lot easier to get records than it is finding the time to play them. The older I get, somehow the busier I seem to be, so I have to keep prioritizing listening to music. As it is right now, I’m working 11-14 hours a day, so by the time I’m in front of the speakers, I’m pretty done. I’ve been listening to a lot of new records simply because they’re right next to the turntable. As far as playlists, I also make them digitally and take them to the gym. I’m in there sometimes twice a day, so having a soundtrack to look forward to is something.

What sort of activities do you partake in whilst listening to music? Do you browse old fanzines, mags and things from your archives, are you creating something, or is just simply sitting and listening?
Sometimes I take notes, but for the most part I’m trying to listen with concentration and hopefully enjoyment. When I’m taking notes it’s usually to remember the songs I want to put on my radio show. If it’s a reissue I might take some notes on the mastering. I don’t want to be too preoccupied when I’m listening to a record, so I try to just sit still and lean into it. However, I’m usually too busy or too tightly wound to just sit still and listen, so I’m usually listening and typing. That’s probably not the way to go. I’m probably better at concentrating on listening in the colder months of the year.

What is one of the most important elements of a good listening room?
For me, a good listening room, besides being optimum for listening, would be lighting I can control. My mood is affected by light and so when I can, I try to customize my lighting environment. Medium to slightly less than medium, warm and ambient, which I achieve by up-lighting. I'd rather not see the actual source of the light. With ambient light, it's not as if there's lights and speakers working but that the air is transmitting light and sound.

Check out Henry's new listening room in Nashville below - click the image for the FULL-SIZE version!

Some additional Henry Rollins links of interest:

Henry Rollins Weekly Show On KCRW
I Am an Audiophile
Henry Rollins Explains His Seasons of Listening to Music
Henry Rollins Hilariously Trolls Modern Rock Radio
Henry Rollins On The Best Time For Listening

I hope you all enjoyed reading that as much as I did asking Henry about his listening room and listening room habits! Closing out this post as usual with some album reviews below.

Cold Sun - Dark Shadows (1990) [2024 Guerssen Reissue]
I've written enough about this record that I'm not going to get into reviewing the actual music as much as I am with highlighting this new remastering, however I'll provide some links at the end here where you can read more about the band and the record. A LOT of time and effort went into the remastering of this psychedelic masterpiece and I can confidently say that we now have THE definitive version. I've had them all, here's a rundown; the WIS reissue from 2008 was my intro to the record but the treble is obscenely JACKED, it doesn't sound natural at all and it's compressed to all hell and chock full of abrasive digital artifacts, the original release on Rockadelic gave me high hopes when I tracked down a nice copy, but I was massively let down as it sounded rather dull and muffled to me. Guerssen, one of the best in the game for reissuing obscure lost psych records has done it once again here folks, I honestly never thought this record could sound this good. The remaster was done by Ezra Lesser, a psych music enthusiast and audiophile who spent countless hours remastering this peyote-inspired epic. The dynamics are phenomenal and it's so SMOOTH! Put this on, crank it up and forget any other version exists. The liner notes are also definitive in telling the story in great detail. I played a bit of a part in facilitating this release with lending my ears and inspiration during the remastering process.. OH, PTM gets name-dropped in the liner notes as one of the print issues I did years back was cited. Guerssen opted for new album art consisting of melting green peyote buttons, really tripped-out and you can see faces all over it! I'll drop some links below on where you can read more on Cold Sun, but this reissue/remaster comes with my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!

*Album Review (see page 24 of PDF)
*Geckos On Peyote: The Lost Sounds Of The Cold Sun (see pgs 12-14 of PDF)

The Animated Egg - Guitar Freakout (2008)
This record was a project of Jerry Cole, a guitarist who was on many TV shows and played with some of the big acts of the 60's including The Byrds, Frank Sinatra, he even played on both "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B" from the Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds." This set includes the entire s/t Animated Egg record from '68 and many cuts from Cole's various other projects of the 60's including T. Swift & The Electric Bag among others. As far as the music on the s/t Animated Egg record itself, I think 'guitar freakout' is stretching it, as many of the tracks are sort of boring uninspired instrumentals in my opinion. It's a bit cooler when the fuzz gets cranked up a spell like on "I Said, She Said, Ah Cid." But most of this is more surf guitar than psychedelic acid 'freakout' guitar. Some effects are employed on "Sock It My Way" that make it more interesting than most of the other tracks here. I didn't have this record and the one I obtained was this reissue on Sundazed and I must say the sound quality is fantastic. BUT - more importantly I must point out that the BONUS TRACKS are BETTER than the album, this is quite the rarity with reissues, as bonus tracks are usually disposable fluff, filler not killer. I was turned on to some of the other cuts from T. Swift & The Electric Bag and was wondering when the hell I'd add the old comps that contained these tracks to my archives, I was pleasantly surprised that a majority of those choice nugs are here within the bonus tracks. The fuzz is employed more on some of these bonus cuts as well as more experimentation, they do more for me than the snoozers on Animated Egg. "Hard Times" has some nice sustained fuzz guitar and tasty leads, "Expo In Sound" is another standout of the bonus tracks with its wailing feedback and jangly guitar. Again, it's nothing that blows you away, but I'm glad the Sundazed package here came with bonus tracks galore from Jerry Cole's various other projects.

Chrome - Blue Exposure(2024)
Helios Creed - the man just never stops! This version of Chrome features just a two man team - musician/producer Fernando Perdomo and Helios Creed play all the instruments here, with the exception of Mel Collins who is a special guest on "Repo Man." One of my favorite tracks is the opener, a sequel to a song from 1977's Chrome classic - Alien Soundtracks - "Chromosome Damage II." I really dig this version as it expands on the sort of lo-fi affair that the original was, opens it up a bit more into a modern amped-up version with more scorching acidic lead guitar from Helios infused into it. I love that on this record Helios' unique acidic lead guitar work is the driving force throughout, squealing feedback and warped leads throughout all the tracks engulf you, and a TIGHT rhythm section backs him. Being a massive fan of the movie, I was hoping "Repo Man" would have been a Chromed-out cover of the Iggy tune from the cult classic, it is not, but it's still great and it includes some tasteful sax thrown in that works surprisingly well in accompanying Helios' fuzzed-out guitar explorations. There are some fantastic mellow King-Crimson-esque songs on here that round things out and diversify the sounds nicely, like the angelic "Bathing In Life," an ambient excursion that tones the trip down a hair for a bit. In perhaps a nod to Pink Floyd's "Careful With That Axe Eugene," at least in name, we have "Careful How You Pour That Wine," another standout track here with again that constant Helios lead guitar throughout and a riff that is still stuck in my head. "Waiting For The Sun, Waiting For The Moon" is possibly my favorite track on the record, Helios' vocals a little less distorted here so you can make out the lyrics nicely, and that delicious swirling fuzzed-out wah-infused lead guitar from Helios, the entire song driven by a Sabbath-like riff of the highest order. Definitely do not miss this one!

The Glass Family - Electric Band (1969)
The front cover of this threw me off a bit, I was thinking oh boy, a commune setting? Am I in for some monotonous Yahowa 13 type chanting and nonsense on this one? Well, luckily that wasn’t the case. Also, this album cover is more in the spirit of the great west-coast psych bands you’d see hanging out in San Francisco like the Jefferson Airplane and the Dead gathered on some steps in front of someplace in SF. Released in ’69, here we have a collection of awesome organ-driven tracks of West Coast psych rock that sounds like it could have been recorded 2-3 years prior during the early incarnations/birth of that classic psychedelic rock sound, reminiscent of Country Joe & The Fish. We kick things off with a killer tripped-out opener, the title track “House Of Glass” begins with some psychedelic effects and backwards feedback, what a way to start the trip! This song is fantastic with some ethereal whispered vocals and echo. “The Means” is also a highlight, driven by organ and guitar, clearly another standout – clean guitar and organ, but still gives off a tripped-out sort of edge even with the clean instrumentation. I love the excellent swirling organ throughout this record, doesn’t it just reek wonderfully of that classic west coast 60’s psych sound to great affect? “I Want To See My Baby” goes hard with some tasty brain-massaging fuzz guitar and a pounding delivery. I love that line ‘I don’t want no hassle with the man’ followed by blistering fuzz guitar, and I love the intense vocal delivery from Ralph Parrett on this one, screaming like a banshee in a way similar to that of Jim Morrison at his best, but sustained at length here! “Guess I’ll Let You Go” is the first song I heard off this record and possibly my favorite – a breezy psych affair w/bongos and fantastic jangly guitar sounds, killer bass line. The album ends with a great instrumental and a nod to Star Trek (read more in the write-up in d/l link below) entitled "Agorn (Elements of Complex Variables)" with pounding drums and rhythm section guided by that delicious signature organ sound dripping in west-coast 60’s psych vibes, this one builds and builds until wrapping up w/some tripped-out sound effects and an excellent way to end the record! Apparently, the only official reissue from 2015 on Maplewood Records has been brickwalled, but luckily the great UPV has our backs with a pristine transfer from an original pressing from 1969 in NM/M- condition – uncompressed, full dynamics present, how this album is meant to be heard! Grab it here and also enjoy the full detailed write-up on the history of this band/album:
The Glass Family Electric Band (1969) [US Original]

Kristyl - s/t (1975) [2023 Guerssen Reissue]
This is an album that I hadn't gotten into for years due to the fact that there was no good reissue available, and the vinyl rips I got my eager hands on were disappointing to say the least, sounding muffled and dull. Guerssen, one of the absolute best in reissuing lost underground sounds from decades gone by, has finally released a worthy reissue of this in 2023, vinyl only, straight from the master tapes and it sounds absolutely glorious! Apparently, originals were pressed on extremely thin vinyl, so we likely have THE superior sound in our hands compared to any copy of even an original pressing you could track down. This has been said to be "Christian rock," but really ONE of the guys in the band was religious. Also, any Christian influence is done very tastefully here and not preachy in the least. It's more of that brotherly love and positive vision for the world vibe than preaching any sort of conformity to religious ideals. "Deceptions Of The Mind" is maybe the only song with a sort of direct message, this one warning about the dangers of excessive drug/alcohol use, but it's one of the best songs on the album with some glorious vocal harmonies and heavenly lead guitar break at 3:50 in. The album features dreamy psychedelic soundscapes with one of the most delicious guitar tones you'll ever hear along with angelic vocal harmonies. The giant snake encircling the planet on the album cover is a good representation of the sound here, as the lead guitar has a sort of serpentine quality about it thanks to Sonny De Vore! "Valley Of Life" is an obvious standout, a 6+ minute epic with De Vore's soaring wah-infused leads taking center stage along with a very sincere sounding vocal delivery from Bob Terrell. Man, the guitar on this album just RIPS! Of course their sound is all formed as a whole, but Sonny De Vore's guitar is what truly makes the record unique and shine in my opinion. There's moments where he's just absolutely tearing it up, then the song winds down and mellows out with great vocal harmonies and driving, tight rhythm section. It's a nice contrast that reoccurs on various parts of the album; the melodic nature of the vocal delivery and harmonies, then things amp up and they just let Sonny RIP on guitar and let loose before bringing us back down to earth again, very trip-like ain't it? Oh, these guys where from Louisville, Kentucky! That makes it that much cooler to me, this came out of Kentucky?? MUST-HAVE reissue on Guerssen!

The Farm Band - s/t (1972)
I saw the album cover for this with its psychedelic fractal imagery and immediately thought that I need to give it a listen. This record was actually born out of a commune from Nashville, Tennessee, led by a guy named Steven Gaskin who was called an 'acid guru' at the time. Their commune was penned 'The Farm' due to it being on a massive working farm and the album is titled appropriately enough The Farm Band. Now, I'm not really into 'communes' for the most part, especially where there's a central sort of 'leader' or 'guru' who is eventually found to be fleecing everyone and porking all the wives, and where all the people sort of conform to rigid ideas.. Don't even get me started on the whole Yahowa 13 thing... I wasn't into any of the Yahowa 13 records, maybe a couple cool jams within their catalogue and that's being kind. Anyway, enough of my rant on communes, back to The Farm Band. I was very skeptical going in because the first 'song' if you want to call it that is entitled "Om" and that's the entire thing, people chanting Ommmmmmmmmmmm. Later I found out that this held significant meaning to the commune as they'd meditate in the forest and chant this first thing every morning to start their day, so I give it a pass, especially after hearing the rest. "Loving You" is up next, my favorite track on the album, a 10-minute long epic that starts off with some good vibes and message, then a few minutes in we get this beautiful flute that takes things to new heights and gets us floating, a little after that we get some ripping guitar leads. Now, I'm not a big Dead guy, and endless noodling jams bore me to tears, but this was none of that, this never bored. There's even some squealing feedback later in the jam used to great effect. I was blown away. There are some religious themes in here, but not preachy in the least; "Lord's Work" and "Prayer" are done in a sincere enough sounding way that with their laid-back country-rock vibes, they fit in as a nice contrast sandwiched between the soaring jams which are the true treat of the album in my opinion. "Being Here With You" is another favorite - this starts out innocently enough with a mellow earthy vibe then it just soars to lysergic heights with tripped-out guitar and swirling feedback tastiness, you feel high even sober listening here! And at a lengthy 11+ minutes, it never bores. Also, the whole album just has this sort of earthy feel to it that just works. Country-rock-farm vibes whilst getting OUT-THERE quite nicely as well, highly recommended! Oh, their commune was actually a GOOD one, they had the right idea and did many noble things - there are several easily findable docs on youtube to check out:
American Commune
The Farm - Origin Story of the Stephen Gaskin Family Farm - 1975
The Farm Commune - 1973-75

Ladies W.C. - Ladies W.C. (1969)
Here's a true BANGER that flew under the radar for so many years for me until an old-head friend of mine turned me on to it. It’s a rather unassuming album cover – a  cartoon image that looks like something out of a Friz Freleng cartoon such as Pink Panther! The record begins with a toilet flush, which… I don’t know why, but it’s kinda’ cool to me, but I’m weird. I’m also a big Butthole Surfers fan so maybe it reminds me of something they’d do (they have in fact flushed in songs). This is South American psych, Venezuela specifically! This is raw, in your face fuzzed-out glory my friends, you are in for a true treat if you’re a virgin to this record like I was, so if you are - sit back, light up and indulge in this baby! Kicks off with “People” and some delicious fuzzed-out wah-wah guitar work that breaks into mellow choruses and then rips your head off again with mind-melting fuzz. “I Can’t See Straight” starts off with more brain-massaging fuzz guitar and some wailing harmonica by vocalist Stephen Scott - that combo of the wailing harmonica with the super fuzzed out guitar really scratches all my itches quite nicely. “To Walk On Water” is a more mellow track on here, but it still is quite stoney with its breezy vibe and reverbed vocals, quite beautiful actually. “Heavens Coming Up” is a favorite here, totally badass sounding, a slow delivery with great drum fills, harmonica, bluesy guitar – but don’t be turned off thinking this is some boring blues song, this is actually quite satisfying, gritty/dirty sounding… I need a dirty woman like I need my dirty blues psych rock, like THIS! Be FOREWARNED: the sample of the baby crying thrown in at the end of this track is PIERCING, not sure why they’d do that… The guitarist employs the wah-wah pedal quite liberally throughout the record, luckily for us, because even on a mellow tune like “And Everywhere I See The Shadow Of That Life” that wouldn’t be quite as memorable as other tracks, it is enhanced with wah-wah guitar and an absolutely BLISTERING fuzz guitar solo! “Searching For A Meeting Place” is another one, just CONSTANT wah-wah guitar work that makes the repetitive sort of nature of the song doable and quite pleasing to heads of all ages. How’s “Put That In Your Pipe & Smoke It” for a song title? A great harmonica-laden stomper that doesn’t bore at all.. Like I said, a true banger! I wanted to point out the two different digital version so of this; the original cd from 1995 on Essex Records, and a cd on Shadocks from 2004. I don't think either sound BAD, althought I'd love a quality reissue at some point, or a pristine rip of an original. The Shadocks is the first one I heard, and for some reason they folded it down to mono, not sure why. The Shadocks has a bit of a higher dynamic range rating than the original cd on Essex from '95, BUT the Essex is the original stereo mix, so it's most preferable. Either way, this record comes HIGHLY recommended!

Velvert Turner Group - s/t (1972)
Velvert Turner was apparently a protégé of Hendrix, and the influence is quite apparent, I mean the guy's vocals are strikingly similar to Jimi. Some people write this off as 'oh he's just a Hendrix imitator.' Sure, the influence is there, mainly in the vocals, but Velvert has his own songs here and they're freakin' fantastic. I'm surprised that I'm just now being turned on to this record, and I couldn't stop playing it even after the first listen. The version I am reviewing is a 2019 reissue on ORG Music. The mixes and releases can get a bit confusing, so I’ll explain: there are two versions of this album – a ‘rock mix’ an a ‘soul mix,’ essentially the big difference is the ‘rock’ mix has some additional guitar parts. THIS particular reissue from 2019 contains a combination of original rock mix versions, original soul mix, and even a handful of unreleased alt mixes! This reissue contains the mixes direct from the master tapes and the sound is primo! You get some Hendrix vibes here of course, but these aren’t a collection of covers, they’re mostly all originals and contain elements of funk and soul to make them shine on their own as original pieces of art. “Madonna (Of The Seven Moons)” is the first thing I heard off this and from Velvert Turner all-together, I was immediately hooked. Some excellent Hendrix-esque riffage and glistening psychedelic leads throughout, this alt mix of the song also contains a vocal chorus not heard on any of the other release that will give you goosebumps! I compared to the other mixes of this song and this one tops all in my opinion. This record rocks HARD throughout, just listen to that flanged out heady riffage on “Strangely Neww” – ahhh yeah, the drumming on this track is also just unrelenting! Funny too, this version of the song is from the ‘soul mix’ – man, I wonder what the ‘rock mix’ of this one sounds like then?? The album closes with a nod to Hendrix with a cover of his song “Freedom,” but even here Velvert puts his own spin on it and even changes up the lyrics to the song. PLEASE check this out if you have yet to do so, there’s not a dud on the entire thing! ThePoodleBites over at UPV has done a pristine transfer of this reissue for our digital convenience, this is a MUST-HAVE as no official digital release has been released to date of this forgotten, somewhat unknown gem! Grab it here:
Velvert Turner Group - s/t (1972) [2019 Reissue]

01-19-2024 - Flying Through The Ether: Z Sylver On Her Life & Times With Helios Creed
Most of you reading this blog know by now how much Chrome & Helios Creed are a big part of my musical muse. I mean the ROOT of this website is HELIOS CREED TRIBUTE SITE! Helios Creed is a legendary psychedelic guitarist who created some of the most out-there, otherworldly, mind-blowing psychedelic acid-punk sounds EVER. Helios is a true original, he can NOT be imitated. CHROME are THE kings of tripped-out, alien music that also ROCKS hard - a feat that few of those in the genre could accomplish - getting REALLY weird but at the same time ROCKING HARD. Arguably, the best Chrome years were when Helios was in the band ('77 - '83), after he left it just didn't ROCK hard enough for me... That's not to say that what Damon Edge was doing wasn't interesting, but that fuzzed-out, mind-melting guitar of Helios Creed was one of the key elements to the true Chrome sound for me. Helios left Chrome and continued a solo career, putting out loads of great records, even up to present day. This post has been in-the-works for quite a a while, and I've wanted to pick this person's brain for many years. She was around during the hey-day of solo Helios Creed, the AMREP label days and beyond, hell... even BEFORE... We're talkin' well over a decade of recording albums and touring with the man. Responsible for many of the tripped-out synthesizer sounds and samples that created the signature other-worldly atmosphere of those early Helios Creed solo albums and live shows, I'm speaking of the great Z SYLVER! Z was cool enough to sit down and access her read-only-memory banks for an exclusive interview for Psych Trail Mix Blog, enjoy! 

How did you come to being invited to join him onstage playing synthesizer and how long had you been playing synth prior to joining him?
When I was in high school I played around with the bass a bit, but I never really had a chance to get good at it, and then I got into keyboards and synthesizers and I really loved them, but I didn’t have one, and I was too wild to ever sit in one place long enough to practice and learn my instruments. I just listened to a lot of music in the 70’s and 80’s. I’ve always been very into music and the people who make it.

When I separated from my first husband Jill St. Jacques, he had a sequential circuit keyboard, a Prophet 5, and when we broke up, he gave it to me. And then when Helios would go out on tour, he needed a keyboard player, and I had just the right keyboard for the job. So I guess that’s really synchronistic! So, I started playing live and just whatever he wanted me to play that was
already recorded, and then slowly I developed into my own player and writer.
H did all the keyboards before I came in. So, I was playing his parts for "The Last Laugh" and any records prior to that. "Lactating Purple" was the first record that I was on where I really began to write my own keyboard parts. By the time we got to "Kiss to the Brain," I was writing, creating samples and using effects all over the place. Did I mention vocals and lyrics? Yeah, I did those too!

Lactating Purple would be the first record you were on with Helios, can you recall your memories of those recording sessions?
Honestly, we were so high when making that record that I barely remember anything, except that it was awesome! That was my first time playing with Paul Della Pelle (drums), and Paul Kirk was on bass. We parked the bus outside the studio, Razor’s Edge, so we didn't have far to go to get to the studio. I left a candle burning in the bus and when we came out to it, there was a padlock on the door and a note for us to go to the cop shop. The cops had broken into the bus, put out the candle and padlocked it! H busted out one of the door panels and we slid in and drove away to park somewhere else. Bwahahaha!! I do remember the beautiful sounds that were created over those few nights and writing my first keyboard part with Paul Della Pelle and naming the song, "Amenti." They were crazy, good times! We recorded "Kiss To The Brain" at Hyde Street Studios, "Lactating Purple" at Razor's Edge, and most of the records that came after that we recorded in our home studios, one in Hawaii, and one in Northern California. For "Kiss To The Brain," [I have to check the facts but] I believe that we used the same mixing board that was used for Pink Floyd’s "Dark Side of the Moon". There were a lot of psychedelics in the studio for "Kiss To The Brain," per the title. The line up was Paul Kirk on bass and Delle Pelle on drums and it’s a masterpiece. I love that album so much! Krystl Chamber, one of our best friends, she’s also doing vocals with me on that album, so that is special. I think we spent about 72 hours probably, and it’s cool when you go in the studio, you all go in and you lay everything down together, but then, for the next couple days, it was just me and H. Mixing, producing, saying ‘I think this should go there,' laying a couple extra tracks here and there on things, stretching and splicing tape, so we would finish them out. After that, with "Kiss To The Brain," we were really trying to create this ‘ancient - modern’ sound, so I did a lot of pipe organ stuff, but also having it sound futuristic too. The next album was "Planet X" and a new badass bass player, Chris McKay. Some of my fondest memories in life will always be hanging out with Paul and Chris on tour. I love those guys! There’s always been a huge alien theme running through our music all the way from Chrome on. But Planet X was more of a direct focus. Planet X is a planet, they call it Nibiru. And supposedly the sun is blocking it, because the sun’s so bright we can’t see it. It’s debatable whether it’s real or not. So, yeah, a lot of alien stuff.

Do you have a favorite Helios Creed record that you played on?
I think "Planet X" is my favorite, and then "Kiss To The Brain," and then "Cosmic Assault," I also really love "Colors Of Light" - it’s hard because I love them all so much. "Cosmic Assault" was titled because we always try to pull in celestial events to our music, and it was made during the time when the Shoemaker Levy 9 comet was impacting into Jupiter. You could actually see where it hit. "Colors Of Light" is a reference to Timothy Leary going to prison for advocating the use of LSD and other psychedelics.

Delving a bit deeper into the last question, any specific songs you’re most fond of and why?
I’d say "Kurt Zombie" is one of my favorite songs and god I have so many, it’s so hard, it’s like they’re my children and I love them all so much and there are so, so many songs. So, I did like 13 albums, well I’m on 13 albums, they’re not all full albums. Some are just on compilations, but yeah, there are so many songs. I think "Plato’s Cave," "Anubis Warpus," "Kiss To The Brain," "XL-35," those are some of my favorites. And then also there are my favorites to play and my favorites to hear. I especially love playing "The Federation" and "World Infiltration III-The Dragon" live. Some songs might not be as exciting to listen to as they are to play live with the energy of a live audience. Playing live shows was just phenomenal, nothing beats it!

What was it like touring with Helios? Can you share some wild, funny, amusing road stories?
We really liked to visit interesting places on tour, and me and H would pick out things to see on the tour because you’re living on the road, you want to see cool stuff. We went to Meteor Crater, and Borrego State Park. We wrote "Anubis Warpus" out in that desert. We camped there overnight in this area that’s completely prehistoric looking and Paul Della Pelle, our drummer, had this cymbal that was just a big brass thing, and he got a beat with that, we did some shrooms and we found this cool wall that went up like this, not a full cave, but like this and then we had a fire, and we were just seeing the lights flicker, and we were just jamming out, so we wrote "Anubis Warpus" out there and that was really cool. One time me and H climbed Picacho Peak in Arizona. We climbed all the way to the top! We took some really great acid up there to give our latest album "Kiss To The Brain," the acid test. You know how everything used to be underwater in that desert. It’s an ancient sea bed. When you’re up there and you’re tripping, it looks like you’re at the bottom of the ocean. So, it was mind blowing, and it was so cool because there was an area where everybody goes, but there’s a little tiny peak and if you go this way, there’s nobody there, and we sat at the top and just tripped and we could just see all the little white and pink hat people way down there and you could just see for miles, it was so vast and you could just feel so ancient, you could feel time slowing down. That was really incredible. Touring with Helios Creed was an amazing experience! The fans were the coolest, weirdest people and they would travel for miles just to see us play. In Europe, our shows were a lot bigger because there’s a lot more weirder and cooler people there. So we played small clubs here, but in Europe we played large venues. When we toured Europe we were on another level, so that was so fun.

Can you tell the story of how you and Helios ended up as extras in the Willie Nelson/Kris Kristofferson movie "Pair Of Aces"? Were you guys living in Texas at that time?
We went out to hang out with the Butthole Surfers, but they were mostly gone once we got out there, always on tour. We moved there after we lived in Seattle. We drove our bus out there and rented a small ranch outside of Austin and there really wasn’t much going on there, so I was trying to find work, and I got work as an extra in the movie "Pair Of Aces" with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. We were on the shoot all day, and they kept going in their bus to smoke out. Helios and I wanted to have a look in their fancy tour bus, but they kept shutting the curtains on us, so they could get stoned in private, haha! As an extra, I played a biker chick that was in the bar where Kristofferson came in to get information on a suspect. The film was a cop/grifter theme. H was just standing around because he had driven me to the shoot and the director saw him and said, “Hey dude, do you want to join the crowd of thugs? We’ll pay you to just stand in the back of the crowd and look thugly!” I don’t think H was very flattered, but the pay was great.
[ laughter ]

What have you been up to for the last 20 years or so?
I moved outside of Detroit, Michigan when my son was born and we’ve been living here for 18 years. I went to college to get both my child development degree and my art degree. I spent many years working as a special education para pro until I couldn’t hack it anymore and went back to school for art, specifically painting, which I have been doing most of my life off and on.

Check out the artwork below created by Z in 2023 (click thumbnails for full-size)! Also, read up on the meaning of Z's artwork, specifically the below three pieces in this PDF doc - The Trials Of Transfiguration

Also, please check out Z Sylver's website!

MASSIVE THANKS to Z Sylver for opening up and regaling us with tales of her days with Helios Creed!

Big thanks to Michelle Curry for transcribing the interview!

Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
I was a bit of a late bloomer in turning on to this record, but recently delved into this gem....finally in my late 30's. Television came out of the NYC punk scene in the late 70's and here is their debut record, recorded in '76 in NYC and released in February of '77. They get slapped with the 'punk' label quite often, but this is a punk album where the band can actually play their instruments! They were leaps and bounds above many bands in the scene when it came to that. Apparently, Brian Eno produced some demos as early as '74, but Tom Verlaine wasn't satisfied with the "cold" sound of them, he wanted a BIGGER rock 'n roll GUITAR sound, like a Rolling Stones album, so they enlisted Andy Johns, who was a veteran who had produced the Stones, Zeppelin and more. Opens with the killer "See No Evil," with its jumpy, frenetic pace and delicious jangly guitar riffs, a standout for sure. "Venus" is one of my favorites, one of the more mellow tracks on here, apparently about ingesting some psychedelic drugs and walking the streets of downtown NYC, and the lyrics would support that; 'You know it's all like some new kind of drug, My senses are sharp and my hands are like gloves, Broadway looked so medieval..... Dig the mesmerizing, almost trance-inducing bright-tone guitar work on this one, it evokes a vibe that works so well with the theme of the song. "Friction" is a another standout, with its nervous, jumpy sort of pace and the jazz-like interplay of the guitars. One of the things that shines on this album is the fantastic guitar work and the guitar TONES, they really pierce through the speakers nicely as you crank this baby. The album title track "Marquee Moon" is of course a centerpiece here, a 10+ minute epic, building up more and more with fantastic guitar work until finally reaching an ectstacy crescendo of epic proportions! FYI - best sounding cd version is the original cd from Elektra, 1989 1098-2. Don't sleep on this one like I did! 

The Perth County Conspiracy - Kanada (1975)
Just when I thought I'd heard all the creme de la creme of PCC, a friend of mine hooked me up with a quality vinyl transfer of an original pressing of this album and the FINAL album of the PCC's discography. Released in 1975 also as 'Break Out To Berlin,' this was recorded at Amiga Studios in East Berlin representing Canada at the Fifth International Festival of Political Song In East Germany. The opener, “Old Ways/Hurray For The Farmer” is a great one that emits PCC vibes all-around. A song by Cedric Smith & poet Milton Acorn that tells of pining for the ‘old ways’ when the ‘neighbor lent a hand and you work close to the land.’ Also, praising the farmer as the ‘backbone of the country.’ This album still preaches the ‘back to the land’ ideals the band is known for and it was hitting all the right spots for me when I began to spin this. Like I said, I thought I heard the best, but I’ll go as far as saying this album is fantastic and stands with the band’s other works. “Does Not Exists” is the band’s true masterpiece and in a league of its own, but this is not one to sleep on. The musicianship is fantastic with some fiddle and fantastic piano work on several of the tracks. Richard Keelan’s “Heart of The Beast” is a standout track with a great groove to it, Keelan waxing poetic wisdom with the line ‘truth feeds the soul.’ Cedric Smith's “Memory Stains/Lining Up To Go” is a story of older times, harder times of days of the old, and this one comes with the delicate vocals of Dorit Cheyne accompanying Cedric’s theatrical/deep vocal style, a contrast that comes through quite nicely. “Live With Me On Earth” is a delight, again with the combination of Cedric and Dorit’s male/female vocals. I gaze outside at a snowstorm as I type this review, the fluffy white blanketing everything… This song is a fitting soundtrack to the view of the storm, especially those echoey vocals of Dorit there at the end… ahhhh hits the spot! “Military Spectatorship” puts the theatrical style of the band’s live show on display, I even get a little Incredible String Band vibe here…. This is a satirical take on the military, a quick, humorous little ditty… “The Pioneer Song” is another great one with Cedric and Dorit joining forces on vocals. Possibly my favorite cut on the whole record is the closer, Richard Keelan’s “Voice Of The Wilderness,” a song that speaks of heading out into the wilderness to right our course. This song features some beautiful piano and what sounds like most everyone joining Richard on vocals at times. Fantastic lead guitar/piano interplay as well. What a brilliant way to close not only the record but PCC's entire catalogue. The last several years I’ve found myself hitting trails and the woods and streams to sort of clear my head as life and this planet have been quite heavy for various reasons both personal and on a larger global scale, this song's message helps bring you back to base, a life-guiding message on what to do in these times… Whaddaya waitin’ for bub? Get-to steppin’ and get out on the trails and to the streams, end the doom-scrolling on your ‘smart’ phone and get back to the REAL… Oops… sorry I’ve gone off on a rant here… Anyway, DO NOT sleep on this one, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard this and added another PCC gem to my collection just in time to get me through this dark, cold winter.

*NOTE: there are two versions of this album, one released on Rumour entitled 'Break Out To Berlin,' and one on Amiga entitled 'Kanada,' which is the superior pressing and the transfer I've been blessed with for this review

Hawkwind - Space Ritual [50th Anniversary Box] - (1973/2023)
They've opened up the vaults of the mighty Hawkwind for what is arguably one of the greatest live albums EVER, the Space Ritual tour! The options for the set were either a 2-disc version with the 'Remaster' of the original album and the 'New Stereo Remix,' or a 10 cd plus Blu-Ray set that contains the previously-mentioned remaster and the new stereo remix AND the addition of THREE previously unreleased COMPLETE gigs from Brixton, Liverpool, and   Sunderland. Also included in the larger set - a 68-page booklet w/new essay and unseen photos, as well as a replica of the 1972 SR Tour Program. A couple things to note here... One is that the 'new stereo mix' by Stephen W Tayler of the original album includes UNEDITED versions of "Brainstorm," "Time We Left This World Today," and "You Shouldn't Do That." The shows all come from the master-tapes and have fantastic dynamic range! Thank the psych godz that no amateurish techniques were applied to these historical documents and the recordings weren't brickwalled into oblivion, so if you decide to fork out the cash, you can be assured of that. As far as the 'new remix' of the original album, I don't see it as a "revelation" like many reviewers claim - maybe I need more listening sessions? In doing a direct A/B comparison, I'd say that my old 2-disc set of SR from 2001 sounds a bit more in-your-face, where the new remix is a bit more subtle... I do notice a few things that are more audible in the new remix that I don't hear as much in the old set I have, but by the same token, the old 2-disc set I have has some more things up-front that seem a bit buried in the new remix.. BUT the remix contains UNEDITED versions of the three songs in bold above. Anyway, with all this said, you might be asking yourself if this set is overkill, speaking of the 10 CD/Blu-Ray set. I'd answer that, NO, it's not too much. This is a LEGENDARY era of Hawkwind and a tour/set that is unmatched to date for fans of psychecelic space/acid-rock. There are differences in the previously unreleased gigs that vary enough to make it worth owning it all. Personally, it's not overkill for me. I dim the lights, crank this baby on my speakers and it's like I'm shot right into space.... DO NOT PANIC! I now have extra, UNEDITED shows from this tripped-out HW experience to enjoy.

I must include this great article from Melody Maker that is mentioned in the essay of the 10-disc/Blu-Ray set. Enjoy!

04-07-2023 - Back To The Land: The Mystical, Bewitching Psych Of The Perth County Conspiracy (part 2)
I managed to get another post up within a reasonable amount of time and not a YEAR! Yay! Less procrastination has been a goal of mine ever since moving into my new place here. I've rambled on about this in the last post a bit, but must say again how infinitely BETTER life is out in-the-country, so many less fucking idiots surrounding you, and more SPACE to BREATHE. Now that I'm a bit more settled in after a few additional upgrades to our new abode, it's even more like a breath of fresh air, NOW 6 months after moving in can the true decompression begin. I'm PSYCHED to present this post in a continuation of the previous one on The Perth County Conspiracy! Again, their "Does Not Exist" album came at such a perfect, pivotal time of my life, when I was striving for peace and solitude, eventually working my way to a more 'pastoral peacefulness' as the band's Richard Keelan did when he escaped urban Detroit for open Canadian farmland. I've gone on a similar journey/quest and have landed myself in similar pastures, surrounded by farmland and an overall friendlier vibe and lifestyle compare to the urban ugliness I dwelled in previously... So I feel a kinship with these folks and what they were trying to do and the lifestyle they were out to achieve. I thought it would be hard to top the interview with Richard Keelan in my last post, but I think with the combination of PCC goodies and another amazing interview with this post that we'll come damn near close! Let's start off with an interview that I gave with Connie Keelan, former wife of Richard and co-conspirator. Connie was around at the earliest inception of PCC, she designed the multi-colored iconic blanket/album artwork that dons the cover of "Does Not Exist," she also designed the album artwork for the fantastic psych-folk album "Gypsy People," by friends of PCC Jan & Lorraine. Here's my interview with Connie followed by some other PCC treats. Enjoy!

To start, can you just talk about your overall recollection of that time with the band and people involved?

That’s a big question. Looking back to 1969 when we first landed in Canada I was a new mother, mostly focused on nursing and raising my infant daughter in the swirl and chaos of lots of music, new people, and new surroundings. We were young and energetic and wanted to change the world for the better. There was so much going on and we were living our back-to-the-land ideals. Most of my memories are of being surrounded by music, musicians, visiting friends at different farmhouses, gardening, canning peaches, tomatoes, pickles, jams and jellies. And so much driving the distances on country roads of SW Ontario to get from place to place. That was a huge adjustment after Detroit freeways and everything being relatively close. I must say I missed Detroit radio, jazz and classical stations hosted by friends, Motown at the beginning of its heyday, and the lively music scene all around the Motor City. And sad to leave family, friends, and career behind. I was so surprised when at my daughter’s first medical visit here, that there was no charge. Free health care! That was, and still is…huge! Especially now as the years roll on. But the fresh air of the countryside was, and still is, an inspiration. We lived with Cedric and his then wife, Joan when we first arrived in Canada in June 1969. One treasured memory is of waking up before dawn each morning while nursing Caitlin, hearing the quiet clip-clop of horses’ hooves, then looking out the window to see an Old Order Mennonite man in his horse-drawn buggy, appearing out of the mist on his way to market. This dawn vignette felt other-worldly, private, and sacred somehow. Often various friends and musicians would drop by with their instruments and “home-grown” for visits and to jam. As for people, there were so many creative loving souls that welcomed us, and sadly many no longer with us. The sixties were a chaotic time for relationships. For some it was the best time of their lives. For some, not so much. For me it was a mix of both. Overall, it was a time of adjusting as couples broke up, changed partners, or just moved on.

Did you sit in on the recording sessions for "Does Not Exist"? If so, can you tell me about the atmosphere of the recording sessions and any memories or stories you can think of from it?

No, I didn’t sit in on the recording sessions for DNE, though I had sat in on the sessions for The Spikedrivers. What impressed me most about those earlier experiences was how the professional session musicians conducted themselves.  They arrived on time, sat down in front of their sheet music, did their job to perfection, then packed up and left when the session was over. From what little I recall hearing about the DNE sessions, they went quite well. There was much excitement about the pending release. Richard has pretty much detailed what happened next.

Can you recall what the band, Richard, Cedric.. thought of the album when they initially heard the recording?

Everyone, Richard, Cedric, band members, fans, were quite excited about it all and had high hopes for its success. We were all on a positive wavelength, flying high.

What are your memories of the songwriting process?

In 1970 we lived in an old farmhouse in Motherwell that overlooked the Thames River. It was a beautiful, picturesque house that I loved dearly, at the end of a rural winding dirt road. Strawberries grew in the garden and delicious mint grew at a wellspring that fed the river deep in the valley across the road. I’ve never tasted mint this sweet. I still have plants grown from cuttings of that mint here in my garden that I use for tea and blender drinks. My memories of Richard writing are of him in the little room upstairs at his desk in that house. He was always writing, writing, writing, and more writing. As you must know, writing can be a lonely task in a way. Then there were times when Richard and Cedric would get together with their instruments and toss ideas and lines back and forth, just the natural part of the sharing experience. We’d usually be together at one or other of our rented farmhouses and it was just an organic process. The guitars would come out after a meal, then likely a smoke, and there would be the relaxing creative time…

Can you talk about the front cover that you designed for "Does Not Exist"? Did you also stitch together that cover quilt that's on there? And can you talk about the design, did you have complete freedom on the design exclusively, or was there input from band members?

Yes, the musicians trusted me, and I pretty much had freedom with the design. I’d done a lot of commercial design work previously. I was also the photographer with my Rollei twin lens reflex on a tripod at the farm where everyone congregated in front of the barn at Embro. It was an “event” so to speak. I was one of the group of women who met numerous times and worked on the quilt at “The V”, the farm where Cedric and Joan lived at the time, just outside of Tavistock. Some of the scraps of fabric were gleaned from offcuts of costume-making at the Stratford Festival Theatre. Those were the days when worn and used costumes were sent to the dump. People would go dumpster-diving and come up with great items. That was when the theatre was in the red. Now they have a huge warehouse to store costumes, and offer warehouse tours, rentals to other theatres, and occasional sales.

Are you one of the people on that front cover?

I’m not in the picture, but our daughter Caitlin is the baby on the right in the picture sitting on Richard’s shoulders. I can name everyone in the picture and miss many, some of whom are no longer with us.

Do you still have the original artwork for that?

Yes I believe I still have the art work filed somewhere.

You also designed the cover artwork for Jan & Lorraine's album. Could you talk about that and you and the PCC's association with them?

Yes, I have an emotional attachment to that album cover. I finished the work on it for our dear friends Jan Hendin and Lorraine LeFevre on the day before Caitlin was born in April 1969. It was truly a work of love for friends I admired. Richard and I had a close relationship with them when we lived in Detroit. We were always at each other’s homes, or clubs where they played, or where Richard happened to be playing, or on tour somewhere. I have a fond memory of traveling with Jan and Lorraine in Jan’s psychedelic floral-painted VW bus to Boston to visit Jim Kweskin and Maria Muldaur (of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band) before heading for Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. I’d just sold 3 art posters to Personality Posters and was flush with cash. I think it was 1965 or ’66. Some of the posters still appear on eBay from time to time and are scooped up by collectors. Those were heady days to put it mildly. We stopped at Timothy Leary’s place on the way to The Cape and have videos of us taking turns swinging on a huge swing in the front yard there. We laughed and sang and laughed so much! Sadly, Jan passed away a number of years ago, much to my shock. She was a great supporter of my artwork, having bought several of my stained-glass pieces and watercolor paintings. She was so talented and was such a great friend. I’ve kept her letters all these years. I miss her a lot.

I know the word 'commune' gets thrown around a lot, but if you really look into and read about PCC, it was more of a community of farms that lived in close proximity of one another who created together. 

That’s correct. It was more a loosely scattered community of farms that happened to be in Perth County. They were mostly miles from each other. It took me a long time to get used to how much time we spent driving the distances from one place to another. We shared a lot of music and meals, etc. together. I still have pen and ink sketches I made of friends during some of those visits.

Could you share your thoughts on the lifestyle at that time? Richard and yourself initially went there to get away from the noise of the city and for a more serene sort of existence, correct?

We initially immigrated to Canada in 1969 because Richard was offered steady work at The Black Swan Coffeehouse. The previous year, in 1968, Harry Finlay had scouted Richard and Ted Lucas as the Misty Wizards at the Retort Coffeehouse in Detroit. Richard and Teddy had played The Black Swan in Stratford all that summer. After Richard and Ted parted ways, Richard accepted Harry’s offer to return to The Black Swan and we decided to move to Canada. Also, we’d experienced the closing of the Canada/USA border for three days during the Detroit Riots and wanted to be north of that border after living at the edge of the riots. We’d witnessed armored tanks driving down Woodward Avenue, seen armed guards posted to protect various businesses and Richard and Ted were enlisted to protect Ted’s father’s restaurant. One evening as I passed by the front window of our apartment, an armored car passed by and a soldier pointed his rifle at the window. From then on during the nights of the riots I had to crawl past the window as soldiers were ordered to shoot at anything that moved. However, I was reluctant to leave as I had a solid career as a designer in promotion for The J.L. Hudson Company, as well as a good client base for free-lance work. When we visited Chuck and Joni Mitchell at their apartment in Detroit, with the beautiful cupboards she had painted in floral motifs, she encouraged me to go to Canada, assuring me I’d love it. I will be ever thankful for her encouragement at that time. After Caitlin was born and before we emigrated, we made numerous excursions to Stratford. We noticed our baby Caitlin’s sinus congestion would always clear up when we crossed the border into the cleaner air of Canada and unfortunately returned as we reached the outskirts of the lower air quality around Detroit, on our way home. The difference in Caitlin’s health was so noticeable, we had to make the change. And then there were the politics and the Vietnam war. I have vivid memories of the friendliness of the uniformed immigration officers when we first arrived here in Stratford.

As for the lifestyle at the time, on the one hand there was the uplifting joy, energy, and idealism of the poetry, music, social gatherings, and living close to the land. On the other hand, there was a more naïve socially open environment influenced by the pill as well as by Playboy. This open activity was not limited to the PCC. The free love movement had its discomforts and casualties. People experimented without thought of the consequences, sadly leaving some emotionally damaged. A lot was learned.

Could you share some thoughts and memories of Richard and Cedric as people. Differences, similarities etc?

That’s a tough one. Each is a strong artist in his own right with strong egos and personalities. Both are very creative. I miss seeing them play together and banter back and forth as in the old days. Cedric is more theatrical, as shown by his long list of acting accomplishments. Richard is more of a poet/dreamer. I remember some of Richard’s mesmerizing ragas played on his 12-string guitar that left audiences spellbound and breathless. Richard and Teddy had studied with Ravi Shankar years ago in California, and his (Richard’s) musical style was so uplifting and strong. I’d love to hear more of that. It would be wonderful if Richard and Cedric could get together again for old time’s sake, if only to revisit those days.

What are you up to these days? Are you still involved in the creative process in any way?

These days I’m into photography, taking too many pictures on my daily dawn walks. It’s amazing how the same route will offer such differing moods, colours, and inspiration, depending on the weather and season. I graduated from Parsons School of Design and took photography classes there. Later I studied with Freeman Patterson, one of Canada’s foremost nature photographers. My dad was one of the forerunners of the dye-transfer process in colour photography and my uncle was also a well-known photographer, so I was surrounded by pros. My dad was also an art teacher at Cleveland School of Art before becoming art director at Life Magazine for many years. I started taking pictures for fun and then as inspiration for paintings, something I plan on getting back to soon. And then there’s the gardening which is also a source of inspiration and inner peace. I’m a grandmother now so I have a focus on three grandchildren as well. I have so many ideas, maybe too many, and so much to do looking forward. Thank you Brent for your thoughtful questions. It’s been a pleasure working with you and revisiting the old days.

As I mentioned, I have a few other choice PCC goodies up my sleeve to end the PCC portion of this post. One of the choicest nugs is an hour long CBC radio broadcast that aired a little over a decade ago and delves deep into "Does Not Exist." It includes interviews with Richard, Cedric and more! A truly fascinating document that is in my opinion an essential companion piece to the album. Also, we have a documentary on 'hippy' communes. The most interesting footage of course is live PCC footage, particularly snippets of a live performance of "Crucifixation Cartoon" as well some awesome footage of one of the PCC farms in the Canadian countryside, snow-covered, and in one clip on said farm we see Cedric Smith singing "This Moment" by Incredible String Band! Thanks to Ezra Lesser for doing some restoration work on the video, which originally had some washed-out color issues. Lastly, Terry Jones of PCC was recently interviewed by It's Psychedelic Baby! where he gives some interesting insight into each song on "Does Not Exist" as well as loads of other information on the band, highly recommended! All these links outlined below. Enjoy!

-Inside the Music - Dream Times: The Perth County Conspiray... Does Not Exist

-Hippie Commune Documentary (restored)

-Terry Jones Interview (It's Psychedelic Baby!)

Moving on to other topics... Finally, without having to fork over a mortgage payment price-tag for a long out-of-print used hard copy, ENDLESS TRIP was released in digital format in PDF! I'm perfectly fine with digital-only here for a few reasons; it's SUPER simple to search/jump to wherever you want, now we've got a digitally preserved copy of the book for the ultimate backup, and you can pop the PDF onto your phone and have a 700+ page reference book with you when you shop for records! Digital is where it's at in my world at this point, I've fully embraced it 100%. I have so much more room in my music lair now that I've got multiple shelves of cd's and DVD's stored in my crawl-space! Back to Endless Trip... This book is a massive index of 60's/70's psych, hard-rock and beyond. One of my favorite things about it is that it will include multiple reviews of an album from the time it was released as well as contemporary reviews. It's really amusing reading how some of these music critic snobs stuck their pompous, snooty noses up the air to some phenomenal albums! Especially corporate whore rags like Rolling Stone. I also really dig the record ads that are thrown in here throughout, as well as various photographs. This is an amazing reference book that I imagine will lead to more musical discoveries. Well worth the modest price to purchase the PDF compared to the hefty sums used print copies fetch. DEF snag this!

An unfortunate item of note is the passing of the mighty thunder rider Nik Turner this past November. Nik Turner was of course one of the original members of the great psychedelic space rock band HAWKWIND. Nik appears on the BEST of Hawkwind's discography, which are those classic early HW records; self-titled debut (1970), In Search of Space (1971), Doremi Fasol Latido (1972), among others, including one of THE best live albums of all time, Space Ritual (1973). Nik's unique sax in which he ran through effects to garble and warp it, Dik Mik emitting warped other-worldly sounds of all dimensions on an 'audio generator,' Del Dettmar adding more mind-fuckery w/his synthesizer sounds, and of course Dave Brock's driving guitar riffs... Hawkwind could really get you 'out there,' and they lived up to the hype especially with their live stage shows. I had the pleasure of meeting Nik on a few occasions. I even opened for him on guitar back in 2004 in Philadelphia, my mind was blown to smithereens at one point mid-set where he joined us on-stage with his sax! I've had conversations with him in which he describes embodying the 'true spirit' of the band. Nik welcomes audio/video recordings and such whereas grumpy Brockie sends goons into the audience to nab anyone who even attempts to capture any live footage. I'm grateful to have made the journey to witness Nik blast us into outer space with Hawkwind songs on a handful of occasions, shows I will never forget. Below is a pic of Nik and myself after a show of his in 2013. RIP Nik, you are gone but never forgotten.

Mighty Baby - s/t (1969)
Formed out of 60's mod group The Action, Mighty Baby expanded their minds a bit from their 60's pop/mod days with this record. Now, this is English psych, which if often a bit 'twee,' with lyrics of sipping tea in quaint loafers and good ol' auntie's scarf knitting and kindly watchmakers etcetera.. BUT I can confidently say that this band did not fall into the trappings of petty wankers and the like. This is a genuine sounding effort, and a fantastic album that I only discovered about a year ago. The opener, "Egyptian Tomb" is of course one of the highlights with the mesmerizing dual-guitar work and alienated lyrics, the sound gives me a desert-trip vibe with the sun gleaming in the misty air... This is another one that came along at a pivotal time in my life, and it will always flash me back to it, this past year when I was trying to move out of the urban ugliness in which I lived and get out 'in the country.' The lyrics sort of spoke to me. "I'm From The Country" is always one that gets knocked as the stinker on the record, but to me, it came along at a time when I was trying to make big changes. After I reached my desired destination here among the farmlands of PA, the song took on an heir of a fine-wine to me as I listened, much like the plea in the lyrics of this song. "House Without Windows" is another one... I'll add another true story here: at one point I had to put kevlar (bulletproof) material over my living room windows due to a bullet that went through the neighbor's house, missing my window by mere inches. So a 'house without windows' felt like my life for a few years! This song has some fantastic lead guitar work as well, which must be noted for the entire record. "Trials Of A City" again hit close to home, I was trying to escape the trials of the city, thankfully managing to do so! This song also has some great, ripping guitar work. Speaking of ripping guitar work, "Same Way From The Sun" has it in spades from Martin Stone! Wow, this song tore my head off and was a big one that drew me in upon being initiated into this record. Just unrelenting, killer lead fuzz guitar work that flashed me back at certain moments to Jay Donnellan ala "August" on Love's 1969 effort.. Hey, same year as this release, was Martin diggin' on some Jay or vice versa? I read an interview where a band member ripped this song as one of the worst, I assume he's pointing to the lyrics, he thought pretentious, but I dig the cosmic sort of questioning of the universe and its meaning, and the answers that lie within... I know I've put a lot of personal meaning in this review, but I think any psych head who can appreciate a diverse-sounding record will mostly certainly dig this. I've got the cd on Big Beat which sounds fantastic and is apparently from the tapes.

Chad & Jeremy - The Ark (1968)
The final album by Chad & Jeremy here and possibly their finest work. People normally always cite 'Of Cabbages & Kings' as the band's best album as far as their foray into psych, but 'The Ark' is THE one to me. Although, "Rest In Peace" off Cabbages is undeniably fantastic I must say. "The Ark" was not well received, at least commercially, upon its release. You should read some of the reviews, one of the pompous fucks even alluded to the guys having a bit 'too much sunshine' on their brains when they recorded this. What a square, pompous wanker! This album is deliciously chock-full of beautiful, floaty, dreamy pop-psych with lush orchestral arrangements. "Sunstroke" is my favorite on here, the clear winner with that eastern vibe and tripped-out sitar, 'is the sky really that bluuuuuuue.' "Pipe Dream" is also another great, stony one, dreamy lyrics with floating background vocals, a violin thrown in at one point for good measure and to change the mood, it's all really well done. "Painted Dayglow Smile" gives Beatles vibes, but it fits the overall vibe of the record. There's lots of flute in here too, which I'm a sucker for, you throw some flute in their with psychy-vibes and you've got me reeled in. Honestly, the ONLY stinker to me is "You Need Feet," the closer... And I mean it's not HORRIBLE, I just think it detracts from the greatness of this record with its silliness. Pair this album up with like "Odessey & Oracle," and I think back to back you've got an orchestral pop-psych evening for the ages. This is it, Chad & Jeremy dipping their tongues into some of the Owsley stuff here, their true baroque/pop-psych gem. I've got the 2006 cd from Sony Japan (MHCP-979) and it sounds great to my ears, if you're going to seek out a digital version, I highly recommend it.

Fresh Blueberry Pancake - Heavy (1970)
This is a record that flew under the radar for a long time, I only recently discovered it thanks to an old, wise head I've known for years. I SHOULD have known about these guys too, being that they're from just a couple hours drive away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The music is HARD-ROCK that is propelled by some delicious FUZZ guitar throughout. You can debate if this is PSYCH or not, but I'll tell you - the way that tasty fuzz guitar massages my brain, I'd say it can absolutely veer into the psych category personally, but call it what you will... I must note that this is actually just a demo LP the band put out, and VERY little copies were pressed, I saw one report that it could be under 60! "Hassles" opens the record just walloping you with delicious fuzz guitar and some tasteful rebellion in the lyrics about not wanting to cut your hair to conform... As a fellow 'long haired punk,' as I've been called, I can relate to this and love to just CRANK this sucker LOUD. The sound is a bit raw, but it just works with this style of fuzz-driven rock, it's not too polished, just rough 'round the edges... "Clown On A Rope" is another standout track, again with that brain-massaging fuzz guitar, and a killer solo thrown in... I dig the raw sound of the drums on this record, they're so fitting with the overall vibe, speaking of the drummer's style too, it all just gels together perfectly; that primitive beat with the stripped-down heavy fuzz riffage. A song that doesn't get much credit on this is one that I really enjoy, "Bad Boy Turns Good." No fuzz on this one, but a harmonica-driven song about what sounds like it could be a current day nutty MAGA right winger.. I mean listen to those lyrics 'I scream at the people who knock my country, if they don't like it they can leave.' Sounds like the same folks today who are worried about drag shows and having weird delusions of children being 'groomed' and 'indoctrinated.' As the title of this song says, the bad boy 'turns good,' if only we can have that outcome with the current state of some of the knuckle-dragging morons who walk around 'ol 'Murica lately eh? A man can dream... The fuzz-driven tunes and "Bad Boy Turns Good" are the winners here in my eyes.. They're not all winners, there are a couple boring fuzz-less blues rockers here, but this is still worth checking out. I have both the unofficial Shadocks cd from 2001 as well as the OFFICIAL reissue on Ancient Grease Records on colored vinyl from 2022. Both aren't PERFECT by any means: the reissue improves on some things from the Shadoks release, but falls short of being 'definitive' due to it being cut loud from a brickwalled digital master. At any rate, pick up what you can as originals are essentially unobtainable.

Markley - A Group (1970)
This is the final album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. However, at the insistence of Bob Markley, it was released under 'Markley' as the band name. Why? Who knows... Markley was clearly an odd dude. I think this one often goes under the radar and is generally underrated, but it's DAMN good to my ears. It gets dark too, definitely not standard 60's pop. "Booker T & His Electric Shock" is one of my favorites, a fun tune that brings visions of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, I find myself singing along when the song isn't even on lately. The strange, eerie sort of paranoia of "Roger The Rocket Ship," the sweet, melancholy of "Elegant Ellen" and "Little Ruby Rain." The song that probably sounds most like earlier WCPAEB would be the closer, "Outside/Inside." I find this album to be great hiking music, personally. I discovered it when I was going through a lot of things, specifically some introspection and things going on in my life, and the feel of this music with its breezy, ethereal vibe just sort of worked on long hikes through the woods to clear the head. Do NOT sleep on this one if you have yet to take the trip! I have the cd on the Acid Symposium label, there's not much info on it, not even a release date, but it sounds good to my ears.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Strictly Personal (1968)
The most lysergic effort from Mr. Van Vliet indeed! Weed and acid were big with the band at this time and that's reflected in the grooves here for sure. This was the first album recorded for the label Blue Thumb Records. Apparently, label owner Bob Krasnow added psychedelic effects like phaser and such after the fact, and Don was pissed! I think it works though, this is a great acid-blues record. The combination of that delta blues with Don Van Vliet's howlin' vocal delivery in combination with the mind-warping aspects of the effects really mix up the medicine quite nicely. It's like backwoods acid-swamp music! Down and dirty psychedelic blues bubba! "Safe As Milk" is a big favorite of mine, a groovin' foot-stomper that just f'n ROCKS, with that tribal drumming and the twangy sliding guitars! A tripped-out flange effect closes out the song to great effect. "Trust Us" is super hazy and stoney, tripped-out with flange-galore. As much as Don Van Vliet was irate at the psychedelic effects being added, they just WORK, even with his lyrics throughout this record, a lot of them are very introspective and just sort of abstract and unique.... And the effects are added TASTEFULLY in my opinion, not too much or too little, but peppered in JUST right. And with the best of psych records, this is one that I feel like I'm noticing new things upon each listen, there's a lot going on. For example, on "Trust Us," right at about 1:49 in, just listen to those layered guitar sounds, that sort of cacophony of sound in each channel damn near defines psychedelia. The whole album is a trip and instantly became a top ranking CB record for me! It's a unique trip, in an unconventional sort of way, it's like late-night tripping stumbling upon a weird film with a backwoods setting that is genuinely psychedelic in the TRUEST, natural sense of the word, not trying too hard, but GENUINE, the kind of trip you remember most. "Kandy Korn" is another favorite of mine on here, totally psychedelic lyrics too - "be reborn, be reformed," like being spit out the other end of an acid trip, and that chaotic BEAUTY that starts at 2:10 in and stretches on for a full 3 minutes is pure bliss, orgiastic layered guitar madness and beauty all wrapped into one, and in my opinion one of the most god-like psychedelic things ever recorded in the late 60's! This is such a phenomenal way to close the record too! No GOOD digital release of this album exists, apparently a 1994 cd that did use tape-source also heavily noise-reduced it, essentially killing the life of the sound, and reissues on vinyl aren't even up to par with the way this NEEDS to be heard to appreciate it. You're in luck because ThePoodleBites over at UPV has transferred a genuine original pressing in M- condition, finally preserving this record for our digital archiving and listening pleasure. This is THE definitive master and likely will be for the remainder of time. Grab it here: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Strictly Personal (1968) [US Original]

09-09-2022 - Back To The Land: The Mystical, Bewitching Psych Of The Perth County Conspiracy (part 1)
This post takes on a bit of a personal significance for me. I've recently sold the home I've inhabited for the last 13 years, this place was just outside the city of Philadelphia. I was then fortunate enough to land a new home out 'in the country,' where I really want to be. In fact, launching this post the second weekend in the new place! It took a lot of work to get here, but it's pure joy to be away from all of the urban ugliness and just being so CROWDED on top of people essentially (row home life). The neighborhood wasn't getting any better either; a mugging on the corner in broad daylight, multiple shootings just down the road... Twas' certainly time to head for zee hills! So, I'm currently OUT here near the farmlands of Pennsylvania, MUCH more open space and room to BREATHE. It's a sort of a Relatively Clean Rivers Phil Pearlman-esque trip, as Patrick Lundborg once said; 'the fallout from the post-acid lifestyle, told from the third cardinal point,' ya dig? Anyway, this leads me to the main topic of this post, centering upon THE PERTH COUNTY CONSPIRACY. Richard Keelan, one of the founders of the group had been residing in Detroit, MI and he and his wife were witnessing the Detroit riots in 1967. Part of the neighborhood had been completely destroyed and in Richard's words, the 'pastoral peacefulness' in rural Southern Ontario sounded very appealing to him at the time. Richard and his wife Connie moved into Cedric Smith's farmhouse in Ontario, it was there that the early seeds of PCC were sown and some material started to be worked on. There's always been this notion of a COMMUNE, and when you look at the "Does Not Exist" album cover, it can be easy to see how that notion could be gleaned. However, instead of a single central 'commune' in the purest sense of the term, it was more of a commune of several different farms with people working together in a creative sense and even just as family; looking out for one another, sharing food from their farms w/one another, making toys for the children, meeting up at the local coffeehouse to perform together. It was in a sense like a society unto itself, w/many of the members seeking peace from the big city, or even fleeing the U.S. due to the draft. A 'back to the land' culture of like-minded folks who wanted to create their own culture rather than conforming to what society has deemed as 'normal' or appropriate.

Its been a long time since I've gone on a hunt for a live show video, unofficial live show video that is. This one proved to be quite the challenge. I'd enjoyed a live clip of The Red Telephone from youtube for a number of years, I always thought it was a primo live version of the song. I also always wondered if a FULL live version of this Love concert existed. I went on the hunt and found out that a FULL LIVE VIDEO of this concert was filmed - House of Blues - Aug. 19, 2003 in West Hollywood, CA! I began scouring the internet with deep searches of all kinds. It seemed every lead I got eventually led to nowhere. I was elated to have FINALLY found a dedicated Love fan who dug this out of his archives and uploaded the full, uncompressed DVD files for me. This show blew me away even more than I could have imagined. The official live Forever Changes DVD? I can't even see myself putting that show on anymore now that I've obtained this show. This is an audience-recorded video, but it's nicely done; filmed on a tripod, center-stage, tasteful close-ups throughout and nice full-stage shots. Nice, beefy setlist, but of course the centerpiece is the sublime, the timeless, the life-guiding majesty that is the great FOREVER CHANGES, and they play the album start-to-finish with a full orchestra just like the studio album to do it justice. You can tell Arthur is really feeling it here and in a fantastic mood, dancing about the stage and traveling the length of it, gyrating about. I got goosebumps throughout the set, no joke. "Old Man" was one of those moments, Arthur is brilliant in his tribute to the late Bryan MaClean, and at one point he's looking at the lyrics then just tosses them as if saying 'I don't need these.' After the FC set, they play some other favorites including the frantic "7 & 7 Is," and a couple of my faves off Four Sail including "August" and "Singing Cowboy." Unfortunately, the DVD ends just prior to Johnny Echols joining on guitar and Don Konka on drums for the encore, BUT this DVD has those two in some sweet bonus footage of a jamming a little "Smokestack Lightning" with Arthur in an intimate little rehearsal space. This is one for the archives folks! It took a bit of sleuthing, but it was worth every minute to track down this treasure. The link above (FULL LIVE VIDEO) goes into more detail on the personnell and a first-hand review of this show. And they also mention like I do how THIS show is worlds better than the officially released "Royal Festival Hall" DVD. A shame the pro cameras weren't there to capture THIS night instead, but this is a MORE than watchable live show video that's well-shot indeed and we should be forever grateful to the dedicated fan who recorded this legendary gig. I can see repeated viewings of this well into the future.

Wildfire - Smokin' (1970)
If you're just looking for some killer HARD rock with RIPPING guitar work, this album is where it's at. These guys hailed from Austin, TX and Laguna Beach, CA. Apparently, they played LOUD and their massive Quilter amplifiers are what gave them their sound, built specially for them in Pat Quilter's garage. This album was recorded at Sonobeat Records in Austin, TX, produced & engineered by Bill Josey Sr. Hey, wonder if they ever ran into the Cold Sun crew? Would've been right around the same time-frame. This record has been criticized for its songwriting/lyrics, but I think they're just fine for what this is. A great record to put on an just rock out with loads of killer fuzz guitar leads that sound so tasty BLASTING out of your speakers. Yeah, play this one LOUD! The opener, "Stars In The Sky" is my favorite track off the record. Stinging fuzz guitar throughout with heavy, pounding drums. Simplistic lyrics, but I think they work nicely and convey a cool message, dare I say 'life-guiding,' a pondering of life then a sort of ode to all to just be fucking cool... to look at the beauty in things. Simple, but effective. The first handful of songs are my favorites and "Down To Earth" is another great one - a bit more mellow than the opener, but still rocks pretty hard. Simple lyrics, sure, but like I said before, they work for what this is. You'd have to be a total snob not to take at least SOME enjoyment out of this album. And believe me, I've been called a music snob on more than one occasion in my life! "Free" is another standout for me - starting in typical Wildfire fashion w/Grand Funk-style heavy jamming, but then it breaks into this gorgeous piece a little over a minute and twenty secs in with some acoustic guitars and sounds of birds chirping, ya know I always love a bit of contrast like this. I have the 2006 reissue on cd, self-released by the band themselves, which is sourced from an 'open reel dub' of the master tapes which were apparently lost years ago. This discs sounds plenty good to my ears. Snag it if ya don't have it and CRANK IT!!!

Krokodil - Invisible World (1971)
Here we've got a Swiss band that started in 1969, apparently getting their name from their guitarist who kept a young crocodile as a pet! Their first couple of records are a more bluesy/garagey sound, still great records, but this one is my favorite as they get bit more tripped-out and experimental, diving into the psych waters and other-worldly for our listening pleasure. The album opens with one of the band's best - "Lady of Attraction," effect-laden vocals from Walty Anselmo, flute, and some harmonica in there. Yes, harmonica is not abandoned from the band's earlier bluesy output, but they do it tastefully and I think it workss quite nicely and fits the mood. "Looking At Time" is a lengthy 14-minute track, but it does not bore and I never found myself reaching for the skip button. It's done nicely with a contrast of acoustic/electric guitar combo and some tasty leads, floaty Gilmore-esque leads at one point, trippy/contemplative lyrics.. An excellent track indeed. Also, possibly my favorite on here is the 15+ minute "Odyssey In Om," I highly suggest dimming all the lights, lighting up the lava lamp and listening intently without distraction to this one as it gets quite heady my friends; loads of tripped-out sitar, background sounds coming from all-around, and again that lovely flute... Doesn't flute work so nicely in psych music when done properly? "Odyssey In Om" also includes a heady little spoken word piece close to 10-minutes in that gives vibes of Group 1850 'Agemo's' era, yes this song has all a head could ever ask for! This record makes you feel like you're in another land, perhaps that freaky album cover at times... then the inside gatefold at other times where the band is all sitting with multiple candles lit in a somber-looking foresty cemetery. Anway, no great digital version exist, so The Poodle at Ultimate Psychedelic Vinyl HQ transferred an original M- pressing so we can all hear this gem how it was meant to be heard. Hi-Res scans of the brilliant album artwork also included! Grab it here: Krokodil - An Invisible World Revealed (1971) [German Original]

Twink - Think Pink (1970)
This is one that I can't believe flew under my radar for so many years. Twink was no stranger to psych-rock, he was in the band Tomorrow of "My White Bicycle" fame among others, he also played drums on a few tracks off the Pretty Things "SF Sorrow." Oh, his name comes from a brand of hair used for perms, referencing Twink's curly hair and not the slang used for a slim, fem-boy type of male! It's 2022, and this album was released in 1970, slang has changed a bit! This one was recorded in '69, released in '70 and features a recognizable crew including the great Viv Prince from the Pretty Things on "Mexican Grass War," Mick Farren from the Deviants doing some vocals, who also produced the record, and even Steve Peregrin of T-Rex! The album opens with an acid-freakout sound collage "The Coming Of The Other One," this could be seen as a bit goofy and self-indulging upon first listen, but it sets the mood for the killer songs laden with acid-guitar that make this album a joy for all heads from all around the globe. Next up is my favorite track on this record and what initially drew me in - "Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box" - dark-acidic lyrics with loads of delicious, unrelenting fuzz guitar accompanied by pounding drums that are nice and up front in the mix. Yes, this is heady, dark psych my friends... Here we have English psych that is not about auntie's tea-sipping and scarf-knitting, this is stuff you wouldn't blast around old gam-mah." "Tiptoe On The Highest Hill" is another big favorite of mine on here; heady, sort of contemplative big-picture lyrics, and a hazy-stoned vibe throughout. Starts with the mellow sort of hazy-stoned vibe I mentioned, then a couple minutes in some killer swirling fuzz guitar comes in and out of the mix, this is like the coming-down of an acid-trip, sitting on a hill and realizing how small you are and contemplating life, the universe and all of its creations. The two songs I mention are by far the best that grace the record, but the rest is no slouch either. "Fluid" is a great instrumental, again with some great experimental acid-guitar, dual guitars in fact in each channel, really dig this one. "Rock & Roll The Joint" is another great instrumental with lots of fuzzed-out wah guitar and feedback. "Three Little Piggies" is really the only dud on here, a total unnecessary, goofy throwaway that should have been saved for the 'bonus' outtakes track on a cd reissue decades into the future or something! The first cd reissue from 1991 on World Wide Records is the one you want to go for as far as excellent sound quality.

The Travel Agency - s/t (1968)
Formed in San Francisco, this group released their one and only record on Viva in '68. Now, the album cover might be deceiving to say the least. I could see being in a record shop on Haight St. back during this time and without a doubt thinking this could be something that's going to be so tripped-out that I might need to make a night out of it, BUT that's not the case here. With that being said, there's still a great album that has gone fairly under the radar as far as I can tell. It's more of a pop-rock album, but there's some tinges of psych peppered in here and there. The first few tracks are the best, and the album opens with a haunting, moody keyboard intro with tripped-out sound effects on "What's A Man," before launching into a killer guitar riff. Great anti-war lyrics that are sadly still quite relevant. They don't mince words on the lyrics here - "we've got to fight them while they're small, or they're disease will soon be spreading, and then we then we'll never kill them all." Whoa! Bit of a Beatles Revolver-era flavor in spots here, including "Sorry You Were Born," with its great message of 'just find something that you can do, something that you enjoy will do.' A simple sort of life-guiding message that many of our fellow talking apes should start following! "Cadillac George" is a fun little goofy tune, great for anyone who enjoys brain-massaging fuzz! "Lonely Seabird" is probably my favorite on here, and the most PSYCHEDELIC, probably the one TRUE psych song on the entire album. A breezy, floaty, mesmerizing piece of psych that in my opinion stands up with some of the best breezy/light psych of the time. "So Much Love" is a nicely done little acoustic piece, more despair than the title would lead you to believe. "Make Love" is rather cheesy I must admit, but the only one that's a sort of throw away on here in my opinion. No other tracks stand up to the first handful, but I dig "I'm Not Dead," it's catchy and enjoyable, again with a sort of Beatles flavor. "She Understands" is another very catchy, enjoyable song that stands out side from the creme de' la creme of the first side. "Come To Me" is also another great pop track. Come to think of it, I think a few songs on side one outshine things on this record so much that it leaves much of the rest of it unappreciated. They should have spread these songs out differently perhaps! As per usual, with many of these old 60's records, a quality digital reissue has yet to see the light of day, but the great ThePoodleBites at UPV has ripped us a nice mint copy for our listening and archival pleasure. Full hi-res scans and all here: The Travel Agency - self-titled (1968) [US Original]

Nurt - s/t (1970)
This is a band from Poland, they've been described as prog-rock, but I think that sort of does a disservice to their sound. I'd equate it more to hard-rock with psych elements peppered throughout, some jazz elements as well. Guitarist is incredibly talented and one of the main draws of the album, and ya gotta love that fuzz bass! "Synowie Nocy" (English translation: Sons of The Night) is one of my favorite songs off the album - some groovy wah guitar jamming, then it breaks into some tasty sitar that sends you to liftoff. That's one of the things I really dig about this album is its diversity in that it can rock hard, then it has some beautiful mellow pieces as a contrast, it all blends quite nicely. "Holograficzne Widmo" (English translation: "Holographic Spectre") - just killer winding, wah guitar work and that drummer really shines, trippy effects peppered in with a few mood changes throughout the song, certainly a trip I must say! The closer, the 9-minute epic "Syn Strachu" (English translastion: Son of Fear) is another highlight - some tasteful trumpet throughout, which actually works quice nicely, again with all the time-changes throughout, these guy knew their craft and were not novice by any means. Not a dud on here really, super enjoyable start to finish. You'll see a few different reissues of this, but the one you want is the cd on Yesterday from 2003, the sound quality clearly outshines all other relases.