Hey Gyp

Upon his emergence during the mid-'60s, Donovan was anointed "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan," a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadour's own unique vision. Where the thrust of Dylan's music remains its bleak introspection and bitter realism, Donovan fully embraced the wide-eyed optimism of the flower power movement, his ethereal, ornate songs radiating a mystical beauty and childlike wonder; for better or worse, his recordings remain quintessential artifacts of the psychedelic era, capturing the peace and love idealism of their time to perfection…

Particles presents the first ever box set anthology of Ireland's 1960s rock music scene. Only two long-out-of-print compilations have ever emerged to profile Ireland's rock roots, making this anthology doubly inviting. From the R&B/blues scene in Belfast to the late 1960s psychedelia of Dublin, People! Let's Freak Out reveals a wider account of the beat scene, and its transition into psychedelia and blues rock. While Ireland has never been given equal acclaim to that of its neighboring England, it nevertheless produced some of the most iconic and influential bands of the period. As Van Morrison and Them were leaving Belfast for London, a slew of new hopefuls arrived to establish their own niche under the nose of the dominant showband scene. Compiled here, are 125 original recordings featuring various groups from Eire and Northern Ireland, some of whom went on to huge success in the 1970s. From Ian Whitcomb to Eire Apparent, The Bye-Laws to the Belfast Gypsies and Gentry to Sugar Shack, People! Let's Freak Out is a fascinating account of Ireland's more obscure and vibrant music scene of the 1960s. Spanning five discs with rare and previously unreleased recording People! Let's Freak Out offers an excellent companion to similar anthologies such as Nuggets, Rubble, and Buried Alive.

This may seem like a strange way to listen to a group's legacy, 42 songs on 11 CD platters in a box. It is a bit pricey, as well, but going up four songs at a time with the Animals sort of makes sense, at least as far as distilling down their most successful and interesting work. The group never quite got the hang of making successful albums; that doesn't mean that they didn't do some very good ones, including their two for EMI, but their 12" platter sales never remotely matched the popularity of their nine hit singles from 1964 through 1966. Their EPs were a different matter - while the group strained in the studio to assemble 40 minutes of attractive listening, their songs made great four-track platters. In England, they issued five extended-play singles, while in France the group saw twice that many issued in their name, both by EMI Records and the Barclay label…

Of the numerous British blues-rock bands to spring up in the late '60s, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation was one of the better known, though solid reception on tours did not translate into heavy record sales. Musically, the group recalled John Mayall's Bluesbreakers during the 1966-1967 era that had produced that group's A Hard Road album, though with a somewhat more downbeat tone. The similarities were hardly coincidental, as the band's founder and leader, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, had been in the Bluesbreakers lineup that recorded the A Hard Road LP. Too, bassist Alex Dmochowski would go on to play with Mayall in the 1970s, and guitarist Jon Morshead was friendly with fellow axeman Peter Green (also in the Bluesbreakers' A Hard Road lineup), whom he had replaced in Shotgun Express.

Various Artists - The Rubble Collection, Volumes 01-10 (2007) {10 CD Box Set - Fallout FALLBOX001 rec 1960s-1970s}
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© 2007 Fallout | FALLBOX001
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Acid Rock / Freakbeat / Garage Rock / Mod

Originally appearing on LP from the Bam Caruso label in the 1980s, and then on CD on the Past & Present imprint in 2003, these first ten volumes (boxed) in the Rubble Collection were conceived and collected by Phil Smee. For fans of the Nuggets series, both the two American volumes and the British Nuggets, you won't find a lot of overlap. The Nuggets comps were and are for people who want what was at least the stuff of legend, if not readily available. The collection here digs deep and are, for the most part, flawless in what they present. This set, and its companion volumes 11-20 (a separate box), are very different creatures. For starters, they dig a lot deeper into the hopelessly obscure 45s and tapes of Brit psychedelia, freakbeat, Mod, and pop.

Donovan's second album found the Scottish folkie in possession of his own voice, a style of earnest, occasionally mystical musings indebted neither to Woody Guthrie nor Bob Dylan. True, Fairytale's highlights - "Sunny Goodge Street," "Jersey Thursday," and "The Summer Day Reflection Song" - use a sense of impressionism pioneered by Dylan, but Donovan flipped Dylan's weariness on its head. His persona is the wistful hippie poet, continually moving on down the road, but never bitter about the past. The folkie "Colours," already a hit before the album's release, is also here (though without Donovan's harmonica). A few of his songs are inconsequential and tossed-off ("Oh Deed I Do," "Circus of Sour"), but a few of these ("Candy Man" especially) succeed too, thanks to Donovan's effervescent delivery.