Wednesday, 25 February 2009

V/A - Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults

Hallucinations gathers 24 psych pop treasures released between 1966 and 1969, none of them available on Rhino's Nuggets boxed sets.
_______________

Hallucinations is a true excavation of the vaults, picking overlooked album tracks and neglected singles from a cornucopia of WEA-owned labels, including Warner Bros., Cotillion, Jubilee, Valiant, Reprise, and Atco.
While the focus is on acts that released a single or forgotten album, there are a handful of recognizable names... the Association, Kim Fowley, the Electric Prunes, the Bonniwell Music Machine, the Tokens, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and in the Monkees' "Porpoise Song." Most of these are quite obscure, and it's even arguable that because they were released on major labels (or at the very least, high-profile labels), the songs haven't been given the attention or respect as psychedelia released on smaller, regional labels.
Hallucinations is a much more interesting listen than the average psychedelic rarities collection since these underground ideas are applied in bizarre, unpredictable ways to professionally written, melodic songs that were designed for mainstream radio.
Hallucinations is overtly trippy and psychedelic, filled with fuzz guitars, echoes, phased vocals, organs, studio effects, and minor-key drones. This brings it closer to familiar Nuggets territory, but there's a much heavier emphasis on production here than there is on anything on the original double-vinyl Nuggets or Rhino's original box set
Hallucinations makes a convincing argument that psychedelic pop is at its best when it's pure, undiluted ear candy like this. It's not just a good introduction to the charms of psychedelic pop; it holds its own next to any collection of freaky, guitar-fueled garage-psychedelic rarities

HALLUCINATIONS
side one/side two
HALLUCINATIONS- Baker Knight & The Knightmares
IT'S LOVE- The Misty Wizards

BREAK AWAY- The Next Exit

LOOKING AT A BABY-The Collectors

HER NAME IS MELODY- Adrian Pride

PANDORA'S GOLDEN HEEBIE JEEBIES- The Association

LANTERN GOSPEL- The World Column
WHO PLANTED THORNS IN MISS ALICE'S GARDEN- Tom Northcott

MAN OF STRAW- John Wonderling

THE WHITE PONY- Ellen Margulies

STRAIGHT ARROW- Jeff Thomas

MY MIND GOES HIGH - M.C.2

HELL WILL TAKE CARE OF HER- Brass Buttons
LUCIFER- The Salt
STRANGERS FROM THE SKY- Kim Fowley

ANTIQUE DOLL- The Electric Prunes

ASTROLOGICALLY INCOMPATIBLE- The Bonniewell Music Machine

HOW NICE?-The Tokens

YOUR LOVE BELONGS TO EVERYONE- The Coronados

THAT'S THE WAY IT'S GONNA BE- Lee Mallory
HOUSE OF GLASS- The Glass Family
WILDFLOWERS- The Holy Mackerel

PORPOISE SONG- The Monkees
SMELL OF INCENSE- The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

0 comments: