Psych /
Ronda
"Brilliant, inspired and somewhat surprising collaboration between
Chicago's premier free-rock trio and the truly legendary percussionist, Hamid Drake, who has played with everyone from Don Cherry to Peter Brötzmann to Lee Perry. This collusion was precipitated by Matt Jackowiak,
a mutual friend, who thought a merging of their sounds might make for
an ecstatic explosion. This feeling became mutual after they played a
show together at Constellation. The set mixes Mako Sica tunes with improvis…
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
One part psychologist, one part psychonaut, and one part huckster, Dr. Timothy Leary was one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures to emerge from the '60s, and the fact that he released a soundtrack to a film that nobody ever saw fits right in with his modus operandi. Indeed, mass confusion reigns as to the origin of the tracks found on Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out. First of all, Leary had released an album by the same name a year earlier on the ESP-Disk label; that one was a spoken-word r…
Paper Garden
Gatefold cover vinyl reissue of 1968 psych record originally released on the Musicor label. Sgt. Pepper taught a lot of bands to play in 1967, including New York's Paper Garden, whose absorption of the Fab Four's Summer of Love statement came out on Musicor Records the following year. What Paper Garden can't match in terms of the Beatles sophistication they make up for in ambition, as exhibited on the harpsichord-enhanced pop genius of 'Lady's Man', orchestrated gems like 'Way Up High', the fuzz…
Begin
The Millennium looms large in the hearts of fans of the '60s sunshine pop genre. The studio group was the creation of legendary tunesmith/studio genius Curt Boettcher, who had previously been instrumental in the formation of the fabled '60s cult acts the Ballroom and Sagittarius. In 1968, Boettcher assembled a group of talented California singers and musicians (including singer/guitarists Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury, Joey Stec and Michael Fennelly and Music Machine drummer Ron Edgar) to record …
Red Weather
After leaving Blue Cheer in 1969, guitarist Leigh Stephens, whose pulverizing roar was an essential element of the band's original sound, made his solo debut with Red Weather. In contrast to his former band's stripped-down metallic blast, Stephens spread his musical wings to explore new musical territory. Although Stephens' trademark guitar sound is still prominent, it's featured in a more eclectic context that encompasses elements of avant-psychedelia and electric blues. Also featured is stella…
Outside Inside
Blue Cheer's second album, Outsideinside, fully matches its predecessor's primal power. The last Blue Cheer release to feature the beloved lineup of Stephens, Peterson and Whaley, Outsideinside is a bracing orgy of volume, distortion and aggression, with such highlights as "Just a Little Bit," "Come and Get It," the instrumental "Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger" and the band's distinctive take on the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction." Like its predecessor, Outsideinside has been out of print on vinyl f…
Vincebus Eruptum
Blue Cheer looms large in the annals of hard rock, laying down the sonic foundations of heavy metal, and serving as a crucial influence on the birth of punk, grunge and stoner rock. While the rest of the rock world was mellowing out and embracing the spirit of the Summer of Love, the seminal San Francisco power trio was churning out ballsy blues-rock anthems whose fuzz-heavy, adrenaline-charged intensity helped to alter the course of contemporary music.Vincebus Eruptum, Blue Cheer's landmark 196…
Balaklava
A record that virtually defies categorization, Pearls Before Swine's 1968 epic Balaklava is the near-brilliant follow-up to One Nation Underground — and second masterpiece from Tom Rapp's merry band. This quasi-historical mystery album featuring a lisping songwriter who was recording 78 RPM cylinders and talking about Florence Nightingale existed, if not in the middle, then somewhere over there. It was fitting that the album had a home on ESP Records then—and now it has one on Drag City. A host …
Bullshit 3 1/4
Ultra limited Israeli reissue (300 only!) of this classic masterpiece of
protest music/freak/funk/psych album from 1970. A mix of freak psych
and avant-garde, full of fuzzed out and distorted guitars, studio
effects, tape loops, tone generators etc. Bullshit 3 1/4 was a quantum leap away from all of Danny Ben-Israel's previous musical endeavours as evidenced by the title's decided lack of commercial potential, the provocative cover artwork and songs that free-formed and furry-freaked all ove…
Bad Trips
Nobody went full-on electro-rock before Fifty Foot Hose. Before their brief-but-groundbreaking run in the late ‘60s, Bad Trips collects the demos, outtakes, and other rarities that complete the story of a band too far ahead of its time to last. Includes both versions of their multi-speed composition “Bad Trip.” From the pre-Hose tracks of boldly atonal, proto-psychedelic freakout music to early versions of songs that would land on their opus, Bad Trips brazenly displays how Fifty Foot Hose chang…
Cauldron
An electronic rock band wasn’t even an idea when Fifty Foot Hose released their landmark debut album at the end of 1967. Their fusion of psychedelia and electronics resulted in a truly trailblazing sound. Cauldron stands as a signal achievement that laid the groundwork for genres that didn’t even exist when it was released. Pressed at Third Man Pressing on custom colored vinyl and featuring a zine-style insert with liners by FFH electronics mastermind Cork Marcheschi and the original sleeve rei…
Pop Espontáneo
“Pop Espontáneo” includes a selection of previously unreleased recordings by Joern and Dirk Wenger’s duo Jodi, registered at their state-of the-art 8-track home studio in Asunción, Paraguay. Living in their own isolated world and free from any commercial pressure, Joern Wenger, a kind of Paraguayan Brian Wilson or R. Stevie Moore, created a particular, ahead of its time sound, using electric guitars, fuzz boxes, Moog, Mellotron, Clavinet, Farfisa… *Superb sound taken from the original master tap…
Music Emporium
Blistering rockers with wispy melodies, Buddhist chants with wild-eyed psychedelic anthems: all part of the unique acid-folk vision of LA's Music Emporium, led by keyboard virtuoso/singer Bill "Casey" Cosby. For this first ever legitimate reissue of their supremely rare 1969 album--now on vinyl pressed at RTI, (with original die-cut, gatefold cover faithfully reproduced!)--we've purchased the original masters, interviewed the band, found never-before-seen snapshots, and added two cool previously…
Side Trips
Like a mind-boggling combination of Summer of Love acid-rock, goodtime saloon music and a Middle Eastern jam session, Side Trips, the debut album by Kaleidoscope, stood out, even in the eye of the psychedelic hurricane, as something altogether different! Staffed by a hall of fame roster of multi-instrumentalists? David Lindley, Chris Darrow, Solomon Feldthouse, Chester Crill (aka: Fenrus Epp) and John Vidican's This San Gabriel Valley, Calif.-based combo cut their dazzling 1967 album with a star…
Come And Have Some Tea With The Tea Company
Repress. From New York City, The Tea Company was one of the early birds from the US psychedelic underground scene, with an LP on the market, originally released on Smash Records, in '68. This album stands for the evolution of the 45 rpm psych-garage bands to the upcoming LP-generation with extended improvisation parts. Tea Company evolved from the Naturals, which were founded in 1963 and played the big ballroom supporting Mamas and the Papas, The Lovin Spoonful, Bob Dylan, Ritchie Havens, and ma…
Mystic Siva
It's the rebirth of Mystic Siva, who are without any doubt one of the ultimate US psychedelic underground bands from the earliest 1970s. Finally, this album is now available with a more superior sound than anyone of us could ever have expected. The original album release featured guitar overdubs on three tracks, done with the intention to give the sound more power. However, the band wasn't entirely happy with the result. This Lp is remastered and remixed from the original tapes, with all the ori…
Coconut Hotel
These legendary recordings were shelved in ’67 for being too freaked-out! Today, they are sweet freak-outs to our ears. As strange as the Red Krayola's debut album was, their proposed follow-up, Coconut Hotel, was far stranger. This all-instrumental recording was more appropriately classified as twentieth-century avant-garde music than rock, and was rejected by International Artists for release in 1967, finally seeing the light of day on Drag City in 1995. All power to the Krayola for doing thin…
Happy Trails
**Pure pleasure limited edition version in 180g vinyl - high fidelity sound, audiophile pressing** Without question, this follow-up to Quicksilver Messenger Service's self-titled debut release is the most accurate in portraying the band on vinyl in the same light as the group's critically and enthusiastically acclaimed live performances. The album is essentially centered around the extended reworkings of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and "Mona," as well as the lesser lauded -- yet no less inte…
Farsa Del Buen Vivir
Sommor Records present a reissue of Fusioon's Farsa Del Buen Vivir,
originally released in 1974. This second album by Fusioon is one of the
masterpieces from the '70s Catalan/Spanish psychedelic and progressive
scene. Produced by the great Josep Llobell, you'll find here
plenty of Hammond, Moog, effects, a solid rhythm section, distorted lead
guitar, and highly inventive arrangements. RIYL: Soft Machine, Egg, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, The Nice, Focus, Goblin.
Master tape sound. Original …
Creation
2018 Repress. Originally released in 1971 on John Peel's Dandelion Records, Creation is the second album by underground folk troubadour Trevor "Beau" Midgley. Influenced by Tom Paxton, Lead Belly, and Dylan, Beau started to write his own songs in the late '60s. After trying to secure a contract with Elektra Records with no success, he was approached by Clive Selwood (Elektra) and Peel as they were launcing Dandelion Records. Beau signed with them and released his eponymous debut album in 1969. F…