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| THE MISTY WIZARDS |
Arf Arf label owner Erik Lindgren has been a top collector of psych singles for decades. Virtually all of his psych comps are worth their weight in gold to fans of the genre. This one includes many pop/psych tracks, which probably explains his choice of title. Comes with a modest booklet, containing most of the known info on the bands featured.
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| THE GURUS |
ARF! ARF! presents two new doses of mind altering '60s psychedelia! This pair of CDs, packaged in colourful 12-page booklets (each over 77 minutes in length!) feature an in depth look at two varieties of Way-Cool Psychedelia. A HEAVY DOSE OF LYTE PSYCH focuses on the more melodic and well-produced material while AN OVERDOSE OF HEAVY PSYCH showcases over-the-top, fuzzed-out masterpieces. Excessive guitars, wild effects and tripped-out lyrics all produce magical and imaginative music from this by-gone era.
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| THE BALLROOM |
For a couple of somewhat familiar names, check out tunes by Misty Wizard, the Tea Company, The Gurus - see my review of their 'The Gurus Are Here' disc, Wild Flowers (is this a possible early Alice Cooper track?), The Chimps and a couple of songs each by Chris Carpenter and the outstanding Crescent Six. Essential - in every sense of the word.
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| THE CHIMPS |
This compilation is excellent. Like such compilations, don't expect to be immediately tripped out by each track. However, there are almost no truly weak tracks here. Some aren't stereotypically "psychedelic", but they are all enjoyably packed full of distinctive character, whether melancholy, haunting, odd, or offbeat.
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| CHILDE HAROLD |
Also get the more stereotypically heavy-psych companion: "An Overdose of Heavy Psych". I strongly and confidently recommend both. There are some incredibly rare tracks here by terrifically obscure bands. The best (and best-sounding) act here is the Gurus (who are also represented on the front cover), identified as five collegiate music majors from New York, who have a muscular yet melodic attack on their instruments.
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| JK AND CO. |
The Misty Wizards' "It's Love" is spacy fun, with electric sitar noodling over ethereal singing, and the Capes of Good Hopes' "Lady Margaret" offers some catchy hooks over engaging folk-rock-style rhythm guitar and lead guitar noodling. But a lot of what's here is uneven, selected based on its rarity rather than its effectiveness or attractiveness.
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| THE FREEBORNE |
Freeborne's "Land of Diana," for example, has so many shifts in tempo and fragmented melodic passages (including a shift out of psychedelic freak-out choruses and into a scat section) that it's difficult to imagine it getting played anywhere.
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| MONGRELS |
There are some real surprises here as well, like "Brink of Death" by Childe Harold, a New York outfit produced by Walter Carlos, complete with orchestral accompaniment, eerie sound effects, and a pleasantly dissolute mood broken by some lively hard-rocking passages -- kind of like the Rolling Stones' "In Another Land."
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| FOURTH WAY |
One number designated as a "Mystery Track," cut sometime in 1968 in Boston, apparently cut for a low-budget exploitation film, does sound like a lost Jefferson Airplane number circa After Bathing At Baxters. The sound is surprisingly good throughout, and producer Erik Lindgren has provided fairly thorough notes.
Various – A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych
Label: Arf! Arf! – aa-062
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1996
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Psychedelic Rock,Garage
TRAXS
01. No Artist – Bonus Track 0:25
02. Misty Wizards – It's Love 2:09
03. Capes Of Good Hopes – Lady Margaret 2:39
04. Freeborne – Land Of Diana 2:58
05. Id – The Rake 2:02
06. Tea Company – Flowers 3:18
07. Truth – P.S. (Prognosis Stegnoisis) 3:11
08. Ballroom – Baby Please Don't Go 3:07
09. Teddy And His Patches – Haight Ashbury 2:51
10. Picture – Evolution 4:23
11. The Gurus – It Just Won't Be That Way 2:21
12. Mongrels – Good Good Man 2:19
13. Wildflowers – More Than Me 2:57
14. Chris Carpenter – This World (Is Closing In On Me) 2:49
15. Childe Harold – Brink Of Death 3:30
16. JK And Co.– Fly 4:40
17. Masada – A Hundred Days & Nights 4:37
18. Crescent Six – And Then 2:43
19. Attic Sound – Look Straight Through You 2:20
20. White Room – Thoughts Of Yesterday 2:06
21. Chimps – Fifth Class Mail 4:26
22. Chris Carpenter – Waterfalls 2:11
23. Fourth Way – The Far Side Of Your Mind 2:51
24. Unknown Artist – Mystery Track 7:46
25. Rock Revival – Venus 2038 2:30
Thanks a lot!!!
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