World Psychedelic Classics

Like Stevie Wonder and Allen Toussaint before him–and Prince and D'Angelo afterward–Shuggie Otis was a musical visionary whose early 1970s recordings showed he could do it all, writing, arranging, performing, and producing some of the decade's most satisfying, innovative, and, unfortunately, overlooked music. This reissue of his 1974 Inspiration Information album–a soulful song cycle that took three years to create and was worth every minute–ranges from early drum machine-driven experiments like "Xl-30" and "Aht Uh Mi Hed" (note the Sly Stone spelling influence) to Otis's most stunning pop confection ever, "Strawberry Letter 23." (The latter song, which ended up being a big hit for the Brothers Johnson, is one of four bonus tracks taken from Otis's 1971 Freedom Flight album). Otis, who once turned down an offer to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, continues to perform around the Bay Area on his own and with his father, bandleader Johnny Otis. Hopefully, the long-awaited resurrection of this material will help bring him the attention he deserves.

A 14-song, 63-minute collection (originally a double LP) comprising many of the highlights (but no "Light Flight") of the original group's history from 1968 through 1972. The notes are minimal, and there are no original release dates or any identification of the albums (The Pentangle, Sweet Child, Basket of Light, Cruel Sister, etc.) whence this material originated. The latter are the only flaws in what is otherwise a fine if not completely comprehensive cross-section of the group's work, showcasing their many and varied sides – Bert Jansch's, Danny Thompson's, and Terry Cox's jazz leanings in "Train Song," John Renbourn's more traditional approach in "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme," their forays into medieval music ("Lyke-Wake Dirge") and progressive folk ("House Carpenter," "Bruton Town"), etc., much of it projected by Jacqui McShee's clear, soaring vocals. The CD also highlights their early records' effective use of stereo as a format for their contrasting technique, especially among the guitars and the rhythm section.

Various Artists - Looking At The Pictures In The Sky: The British Psychedelic Sounds Of 1968 (2017) {3CD Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.06 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 565 Mb
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© 1968, 2017 Grapefruit Records / Cherry Red Records | CRSEGBOX040
Rock / Psychedelia / Psychedelic Rock / British Psychedelia

It goes without saying that 1968 doesn't have the same kind of cachet as 1967 - a year that, in musical terms, will always be indelibly associated with the Summer of Love, Sgt Pepper and the emergence of psychedelia. •But although the major players turned away from the excesses of the previous year in favour of a back-to-basics musical approach, there were arguably a greater number of psychedelic records made in 1968 than during the preceding twelve months. •Vital, lysergically-inclined 45s emerged from a whole host of younger groups, with The Factory, Mike Stuart Span, Fleur de Lys, The Fire, The Barrier, Boeing Duveen, Rupert's People and numerous others all releasing singles that have long been widely regarded by psychedelic collectors as genre classics.

As its title makes clear, Children of Nuggets is the first Nuggets release to stretch beyond the '60s heyday of garage rock and psychedelic music. Instead of once again returning to that seemingly bottomless well – which has not only brought the original 1972 double LP, Nuggets, but such imitators as the Pebbles and Rubble series, plus Rhino's expanded four-disc 1998 box set and its 2001 sequel, which focused on singles from the U.K. and around the world – the four-disc box Children of Nuggets is devoted to bands from the '70s, '80s, and '90s (but primarily the '80s) that were inspired by the original Nuggets LP, along with other trashy, intoxicating rock and guitar pop from the '60s…

Consisting of just three tracks and less than 20 minutes of music, the Easy Chair’s one-sided demo LP is a legendary westcoast artefact. Few people have actually heard it, but among those some have expressed surprise at how good it is, apart from the collector wet-dream perspective.

Crocodiles age well.So it comes as no surprise that the band, named after the primeval reptile with the killer instinct, is, once again, back in the game. Over 50 years after forming the group in Zurich, and 45 years after their break-up, Düde Dürst, drummer, band leader, graphic designer and archivist of the first Swiss “supergroup”, decided to take another stab at it. In the midst of working on a rerelease of Krokodil’s psychedelic masterpiece «An Invisible World Revealed» (1971) he couldn’t help himself but get inspired. His latest vision? Recording an album that unites Krokodil’s pioneering creative spirit with the zeitgeist of the 2020s. Together with the two founding members Walty Anselmo (guitar, sitar, vocals) and Terry Stevens (bass, vocals) as well as two younger and gifted musician friends, Adi Weyermann (guitar, vocals) and Erich Strebel (keys) Düde embarked on his latest, bold undertaking.

Jefferson Starship was among the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s, an even greater commercial entity than its predecessor, Jefferson Airplane, the band out of which it evolved. Many Jefferson Airplane fans decried the group's new, more mainstream musical direction, especially after Airplane singers Grace Slick and Marty Balin departed in 1978. But with shifting personnel, Jefferson Starship managed to please its new fans and some old ones over a period of a decade before it shifted gears into even more overtly pop territory and changed names again to become simply Starship.

Among hardcore 1960s rock collectors who have an interested in Japanese bands of the period, the Mops are one of the biggest acts in the genre, even if that genre is barely known to English-speaking listeners due to some linguistic barriers, and its general obscurity outside of Japan. Their 1968 album Psychedelic Sounds in Japan is certainly the Mops LP that's gained the widest international exposure, as it's the one with the most garage-psychedelic style and has rewarded the efforts of avid collectors around the world. In fact, the Mops were even marketed as "the first psychedelic band in Japan" in their homeland, though as psychedelia goes, it's pretty raw, verging on garage-punk at times. In truth, it's more attractive for the crazed energy of the performances - and the odd juxtaposition of the earnestness of the singing and playing with the unhinged bent of the arrangements - than for the originality of the music…