Psychedelic Rock

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era is one of the great artefacts of rock and roll. Probably the most revered compilation in music history; its release in 1972 helped inspire the countless musicians who went on to create punk rock, and has inspired innumerable artists since. To help celebrate the 40th birthday of Lenny Kaye’s enduring garage compilation, Warner Music Australia gathered up 18 garage-tinged Australian bands to lend a hand in re-imagining tracks from the seminal original to create Antipodean Interpolations Of The First Psychedelic Era.

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different - an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting - the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside…

When was signed by Jester Records, newly set-up by Kristoffer Garm Rygg of Ulver, and the next album would mark another radical change in When's musical direction. Psychedelic Wunderbaum was indeed a psychedelic mix, with apparent inspirations from rock, noise, and cartoon music, and with lyrics taken from Aleister Crowley and Tom Wolfe.

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different - an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting - the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside…

The Blues Magoos sound less like psychedelic visionaries than a solid garage band with a taste for the blues on their debut album, Psychedelic Lollipop, though the lysergic reference of the title certainly put them ahead of the curve in 1966, when LSD was still obscure enough to be legal in much of the United States. The album leads off with the group's first and only major hit single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," and unlike most albums released by one-hit wonders of the mid-'60s, the single isn't the most exciting song here. That honor goes to the Magoos' cover of J.D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" (which Lenny Kaye selected for his iconic garage rock compilation Nuggets), featuring some gutsy guitar work from Mike Esposito and Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm and impressive organ swells from Ralph Scala as the tune leans into a major rave-up midway through…

For lovers of psychedelic rock, this album has a bit of everything, a vocalist who reminds us of Inga Rumpf of Atlantis and some of the quiet meditative parts are reminicent of Amon Duul 2. Modern rhythms mixed with old German styles alongside excellent cosmic electronics make this a brilliant modern German psychedelic rock album. If your ear is open for everything between triphop, indie-rock, ambient rock, psychedelic and trance, you will love Galaxy Transport.

The Brain Police were an early psychedelic garage band who, in the late '60s, opened for many national acts, including the Who, the Byrds, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Steppenwolf, and Buffalo Springfield…