SFA 2 ( first published Oct 2001 )

"I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again.
Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force doth move me
On the first view to say, I swear, I love thee."

~Bill Wigglestick (Inspired by John's Children)


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S*F*A* SWEET FLORAL ALBION
~The Journal of UK PSYCHEDELIC CULTURE.
-----------(October 2001)------------(No. 2)--------------(Price: GRATIS!)-----------

Hello Trippers!
We're back again! Hope you enjoyed our first issue- here's the second.
Ok baby- set phasers to 'stun', light the incense, plug in the mellotron, unwrap your mescalin popsicle, get out the sound-effects tapes... and let's away...

SFASFASFASFASFASFASFASFASFASFASFSASFASFASFASFASFASFASFASFA

CONTENTS
O--EDITORIAL
O--OUT IN THE COLD
O--THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS
O--GILBERT GREEN
O--UK PSYCHEDELIA DISCOGRAPHY Continued
O--TRACY TOOK A TRIP
O-- WEB WATCH
O-- YE OLDE TECHNICOLORED SWAPPE SHOPPE
O--'Til we meet again/ Odds 'n' sods

Remember, SFA is also posted on Jim Mac's "Marmalade Skies" web site: "The Home Of British Psychedelia"- http://www.marmaladeskies.co.uk/
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EDITORIAL
Here we are with issue 2 already out. The scribes and I are keeping our fingers warm by desperately typing away. The landlord won't let us have the boiler on, and last time we plugged in that pre-war electric fire, the dodgy wiring caused Barry's Afro to glow orange. We can still smell burning hair...Anyway, our hearts at least were warmed somewhat the other day by the arrival of a fan letter, as opposed to the usual pile of bills and junk mail which we clamber over every morning in our eagerness to start the daily grind. The letter writer- Julie Stanton- asked us, amongst other things too personal to replicate here, if we had an "agenda". After consulting the O.E.D., and convincing ourselves this word had nothing to do with "pudenda" (look it up, Colin!), we set about trying to formulate a reply. Well, here it is, for Julie and anyone else out there- We want to write an informative mag devoted to UK Psychedelia and its various manifestations. We will try to focus our attentions on amongst other things music that has been marginalised, neglected, and made peripheral, and hope that some of gear can be rehabilitated, and brought back into the fold, where it can receive fresh attention from lovers of psychedelia. Not everything we write about will strictly speaking be "psychedelic", but we hope it will turn on those who have the type of mind that likes to turn on. If it can be fun too, then it's all worthwhile.
~Dave Thubron & Gang.

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OUT IN THE COLD- By Jason Scott

CZAR - Czar (Fontana 6309 009) 1970
Here's another one from the mist-shrouded wastelands of progdom. And yet... open one's ears and what does one hear? Is it the overblown pomposity one would expect? Is it the lush and multi-tracked-out-of-existence Cecil B De Mille productions? Cast of thousands? Moogs? orchestras? Conceptualized lot of fat old muso twaddle? No, it's none of these! What we have here is a tight, neat and precise album of late-60s style, art pop with a progressive (in the best sense of the word)/psych edge. It's at the 'Waterloo' and 'Arzachel' end of the psych-spectrum, not at the opposite 'Mark wirtz' or 'Alan Bown' end. The opening track is magnificent. 'Tread Softly on My Dreams' is a mellotron-dominated pop/rock hybrid with stunning guitar work ( a colleague of mine thinks the riff is like the 'Bat Man' theme slowed down, which I guess, it is, sort of), which epitomises all that was good about underground music in that uneasy period when psych submerged into prog. It manages to retain all that was good about late 60s sound and yet remain a fresh piece of 1970 music. 'Cecilia' is another gem it again is a blend of 60s and 70s, in parts it's reminiscent of Blossom Toes' fantastic 'Love Bomb', but then it goes all ethereal like, yet still holding on to a degree of bombast, again there's a ton of mellotron and even a little touch of electric harpsichord. The best track off the album and the most overtly psych-orientated, in my opinion, is 'Follow Me' (not the Fruit Machine song). Stunning stuff very 60s in arrangement, with some fabulousFleur de Lys -style guitar licks and hammond, great Gods-style harmonies too. There's enough her efor any hardened 60s only fan to enjoy. 'Dawning Of A New Day' is a nice ballad, but now't special. With a title like 'Beyond The Moon' you know where you stand- out there with your feet on the clouds...'Under the stars we have travelled afar / Without the sun in our eyes or the wind and the rain in our hair / Starry-eyed faces from deep in the night / Without food, without thought, without even a glimpse of the light'...skin up and enjoy! 'Today' is the other extreme, whilst 'Beyond The Moon' is ecstatic, 'Today' is a mellotron and vibraphone-lead slice of downer-pop of the first degree. Not recommended for students, those who've recently suffered a break up, or anyone of a sensitive disposition. The final track is 'A Day In September'. Again of a very sixties-persuasion and again another highlight of the LP. A superb trippy opening that has a kind of Mighty Baby-ish feel, leads into the main body of the track, which is fairly restrained, great hammond and vocals that reminds me of The Fruit Machine (them again?), the break is quite freaky and the wee fair ground ending is a nice little extra surprise treat. Like the sixpence your gran used to push into your hand as you were leaving... A Great LP.It' high price reflecting its rarity but also its intrinsic musical worth. The Fingerprint CD version of this LP has 2 bonus (!) tracks- 'Oh Lord I'm Getting Heavy' / 'Why Don't We Be A Rock 'n' Roll Band', ie -both sides of the 45 (Philips 6006 071) from 1970, but they are totally dispensible and have nothing very much going for them.

FAT MATTRESS - Fat Mattress (Polydor 583 056) 1969 This band were called "an unlikely combo" to include in a psych discrography and their 45s insulted, in an old fanzine. "Unlikely Combo"? What? A group from the UK who made great music during the years 1968 to 1970 are an unlikley combo??? No, a group of Yugoslavian hip hoppers from the late 80s would be an 'unlikely combo' to include. It's a shame that some people feel they have to snipe all the time. Primarily cos this bandying around of negative opinion puts people off the music. Some people may not wana investigate stuff, cos its been labelled incorrectly as rubbish, htis kind of thing doesn't do the band, fans or music as a whole any favours. There are some great moments on this LP. Fat Mattress, to remind those of you with Impaired Memory Syndrome, was Noel Redding's first band after split of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their music doesn't resemble Jimi's very much. In fact the differences between the two bands are in many ways like the differences between the two halves of Cream's 'Wheels of Fire' LP - You've got studio-crafted psych/pop & blues (sides 1&2), juxtaposed with live 'n' heavy, up-front, guitar-driven rock (sides 3&4). Of the ten tracks that comprise this album only a couple are dull, the rest are quite lovely in one way or t'other. 'Fat Mattress' was recorded at Olympic in August '69, and capture the fag end of the decade to perfection. 'All Night Drinker', the first track on side one, has a title suggestive of relentless pub boogie- not a pretty thought. But the lyrics are really concerned with drinking "your love", as opposed to boozing it up. The track is competent but unexceptional, still there's some attractive flute passages and loads of flanged guitar for lovers of such things. 'I Don't Mind' has blissed out vocals, a psych edge with a faint Byrd feel, some nice balailaika-style gutar and a great echoed-vocal ending. Next, is 'Bright new day'- lyrically it's Ok, but its got a nasty case of the folk/country twangs. Scintillating psych pop is on offer with 'Petrol Pump Attendent'. A tale of an alien who visits earth, mistakes a petrol pump for an intelligent life form (it happens), and ends up working on a garage fore court. Brilliant stuff. "One day soon I think he'll take his ship / And he'll go off on a trip..." Indeed. 'Mr Moonshine'. A Number One hit in The Netherlands! Those guys certainly know a good thing when they hear it. Multi-part song with lots of time changes, a jazz moderne interlude and distorted vocals. 'Mr Moonshine, put a little something in my wine...' Yes, please! 'Magic Forest'- a different (stereo) version to the 45 with a "fuller" sound is pre-empted by silly voices. This is an excellent track. Both lyrically and musically it is spot on. Some 'Path Through The Forest' -type distorted vocals deliver lines such as"Toffee-tasting toadstools flying in the air / When you catch the flavour you know that you are there..." The penultimate song on the album is a finely-crafted slice of baroque flower pop in waltz time- the beatific, pertinently entitled 'Walking Through The Garden'. Lastly but by no means leastly, 'How Can I Live'. A fanastic song, masterfull, understated keyboards and guitar take us through a poignant ode to the fragility of the post-Acid ego. Beautiful and melancholic 'How Can I Live' deserves a wider audience. And that all thing considered, is that. Oh... except that we ought not to miss this opportunity to briefly mention the 45-only 'Irridescent Butterfly', which is another lysergic lovely, which isprobably is best appreciated in unreleased-at-the-time stereo. Two other meritorious unreleased songs are the Small Faces/ Dave Mason -sounding 'Little Girl In White' which is pop psych perfection. And the psych-ish odd ball instrumental 'Eric The Red'. Also the second album- 'Fat Mattress II' (1970) has some interesting moments. Which will doubtless surprise certain people.

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*REVIEW*
CARAVAN- Re-Masteredby Dave Thubron
Caravan, who emerged from the late-60s Underground to become stars of the 70s Canterbury scene, are still with us today, albeit in a "franchised" form and are still cutting the mustard, as anyone who's seen 'em lately will tell you. There's been a major re-mastering programme devoted to their work. From this programme we gonna take a brief peep at the CD of their second album 'If I Could Do It Again I'd Do It All Over You' (Decca/Universal 8829682). In October 1968 the selt-titled debut was issued by Verve ( S?VLP 6011). It was then, and remains today an astonishing, if somewhat inconsistent album. It stands confidently astride the chasm dividing prog from psych, like an heraldic lion. And whilst its steely eye is focused on the future, it paty homage to the psych sounds of the past few years. It included both sides of the first 45- 'A Place Of My Own' / 'Ride' (issued January '69). This was followed in October 1970 by 'If I Could Do It Again...' By now the sound of Caravan had moved on, become more personal (well, self-referential) and displaying dazzlingly adept musicianship and compositions, and was now recognisably a Canterbrigian sound. The album has been digitally re-mastered (believe me it sounds stunning!) and comes with an additional four previously unreleased tracks. The first of these, 'A Day In The Life Of Maurice Haylett', is an absolute treasure. It is included here in its studio version, slightly different from the Top Gear version (14/09/69), which was entitled 'Excerpt From The Daily Life Of Maurice Haylett'.It is an amazing track and for me both versions, together with their BBC-only version of Soft Machine's manic 'Feelin', Reelin',Squealin'' are the absolute pinnacles of their late-60s output. It also, in a very satisfying way, acts as a bridge from the 60s underground sound to that of the more self-indulgent 1970s. Mr Haylett was, of course, Caravan's very dapper road manager. There's a nice picture of the geezer on the back of this LP. Other tracks known from the same BBC session and now made available here for the first time as studio versions are 'Why?'- an earlier version of 'And I Wish I Were Stoned', 'Clipping The 8th'- a demo take on 'Hello Hello', and a demo of 'As I Feel I Die'. To my mind this is a landmark reissue. And with its great restored artwork (Phil Smee), inclusion of ads / band photos and very detailed notes it is also an absolute bargain. Go buy, and savour the sounds of Hippie England cica 1969-70.
Talking of lovely Canterbury things, check out the on-line Canterbury Discography (and loads of related bands too), at perso.club-internet.fr/calyx/cantdisco

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TRACY TOOK A TRIP- by Paul Hodges
'Tracy Took A Trip' by The Executive is another one that gets a right slagging off from those of a "we know better than you do" persuasion. I 'spose it's the need to distinguish themselves amongst their peers, coupled with that hoary old two-pronged devil - a pustullent, swollen ego and a nasty case of 'complexii inferiorensis'. Yeccch! The track itself is, as true fans know, a gemstone of the purest water. It ain't OTT contrived psych, nor is it a fuzzed up freakbeat pounder. It is simply and honestly a piece of pop music with a laddle-ful of wah-wahed "trendiness" poured over it to give it that kaleidoscopic aura of fasionable domestic psychy-ness. Beneath its brass-laden radio-friendly poptastic fantasticness it's as worldy wise and cynical as any 'genuine' artist could ever hope to be. Especially in its caustic and insightful comment on the repellent absurdities of fame! After the two behemoths - 'Prog' then 'punk' had bulldozed over all things pop, we had somehow "lost" our innocence & naivete we winced at all things "twee", "whimsical", "middle class", "poetic", "namby pamby" ... all things that had their place in psych-era pop were now taboo. And this track (and other goodies by The Executive) were placed by the Thought Police's on the 'Hit List', and labelled "bad taste"/"unacceptable"/"lacking-credibility", etc etc, ad nauseum. [Yet those same 'Thought Policemen' praised Tony Crane's 'Patterns In The Sky', which is now't more than M.O.R. ballad with an inappropriately suggestive title!!!- Ed.] Whereas, in fact we should embrace music like this, precisely because it is unacceptable to the 'arbiters of taste', because within its self-consciously multi-faceted Carnaby Street mirror surface we see reflected the hopes and dreams of all those who threw flowers in the face of their 'elders and betters'. Lyrics like these are priceless. All together now...

Look at her there, drifting away down the river
Leaving the clothes that she wore, on the shore
She doesn't need pretty clothes anymore
She has gone
Look at her boyfriend, reading the note that she left him
Holding the flowers he bought her today
He can't believe the unusual way
She has gone


Chorus:-
Tracy took a trip, took a trip down river
She thought she was a boat
But she found she couldn't float
Tracy took a trip, took a trip down river
Goodbye Tracy
Tracy has gone

Look at the people, everyone trying to see her
She was an actress but didn't go far
She wanted so much to be a big star
But she's gone
See the reporters filling their notebooks about her
Asking her boyfriend for somethig to state
She's in the papers, but now it's too late
She has gone

[chorus]
[chorus]

...We've long suspected that the 'City of Angels Suite', from whence this track was supposedly taken, was only a P.R. invention. However, confirmation or additional info, would be greatly apprecited. Mersey buckets.

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Here, one of our dearest readers, viz the rotund but devilishly handsome Mr Tony Burton, of sunny Eastbourne, tells us about the fings wot 'e likes, in a feature we call-

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS...

THE ZOMBIES-'Hung Up On A Dream' (Mono)
Hippie dippy Mr Whippy, let's get trippy and don't get lippy! A superlative, creamy slice of classy psych from a superlative, creamy album (Odessey and Oracle). It is one of the great tragedies of western civilisation that The Zombies got better as time went on, and as time went on they sold less records. If their is a God, he certainly didn't come from St Albans, unless his name was Colin Blunstone. Amen.

THE MINDBENDERS- 'Yellow Brick Road' .
Zounds! Zounds! What pretty sounds! To quote Brian Matthew.
THIS is a MONSTER sound! It amazes me that psych fans aren't singing it's praises from the very rooftops. Hold on! I think that's what I'll do! Just got to get mi leg over this guttering..."creeeak"... Oh dear, what was that?..."crack!!" Oh, shiiiiiii..."SPLAT!!!"
McGOUGH & McGEAR- 'Ex Art Student' (Mono).
OK,OK,OK I admit it, I like mono recordings. It don't make me a pervert or nothing. 'Ex Art Student' is more punchy in mono. It's basically a well-crafted, catchily commercial pop song (Nothing wrong with that!), which skips along happily until...the acid cuts in. And man, do things get weird! Jimi Hendrix does hir best Ravi Shankar impression and Paul McCarney does the studio knob-twiddling (Ooh Pardon!). Mental. Then as the incense smoke clears, we're back where we came in, with the radio-friendly poppiness, and you're left thinking "Wha...?"
Readers are hereby encouraged to submit their faves.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

JAGGED TIME LAPSE, bring my nerve back, yeah or, that's the way to do it!!

Jagged Time Lapse Volume 1 (Flashback Records FB001)
Volume 2 (Flashback Records FB002)
Volume 3 (Flashback Records FB003) -CDR compiliatons

When these landed on the doormat of SFA Central Office, we were initially surprised, then suspicious, then finally elated! If one single series of 'privately produced' material can show us the way ahead for UK Psych compliations, then this is IT. We're aware that the 'legits' (eg Tenth Planet, Castle/Sanctuary/Essential, et al) have been, are, and hopefully long continue to issue fine-quality, well-sourced, attractively packaged, fairly-priced products, that are accessible to the consumer. But this stuff, the lower-profile, 'underground' production, is equally deserving of your attentions. This shows us a way out of the impasse in which we've been trapped for 20 years, in which the same old tracks are constantly regurgettated- for example no matter how classic or wonderful a track like 'Red Sky At Night' by The Accent is, and it is both "classic and "wonderful", we simply don't need it comped again. If a legitimate operation can sort out the licensing problems (and man, I know it ain't gonna be easy) and put out these comps officially, then we've made progress in a very real sense and in a very positive direction. Hopeless optimism? Yes, maybe... The person behind this, obviously cares about psychedelia in the same way that Phil Smee cared about his Rubble series, and David Wells cares deeply about Tenth Planet/Wooden Hill products. OK, so JTL has neither the high quality studio production nor the lavish packaging of these professional labels. Nonetheless, the series is very attractively packaged indeed (especially 'Volume 3' , with its cover-art taken from Salvador Dali's painting 'Hallucinogenic Bullfighter' [1969-70] - A superb choice!!!), and as an artistic 'D.I.Y. job' they are without peers. The contents needless to say, once you've read the track-listings (enclosed below), are superb. Bearing in mind that these are 'dubbed from disc' with not even a whiff of a master tape, what they lack in quality of production and musical expertise is more than compensated for by sheer enthusiasm. They quite simply evoke the sheer pleasure one gets from sharing one's treasures with others. The final volume is more mod/club-oriented than psych of the three. But Hey! It's still damned good.Here's the full tracklisting for your delectation - plus a few notes:-

Volume One (Flashback Productions FBCD01)
1 THE CROCHETED DOUGHNUT RING - Get Out Your Rock 'n' Roll Shoes (Wild 'Cool Jerk' riffing raver from Southend's finest)
2 THE FACTORY - Gone
3 THE MOVEMENT - Head For The Sun
4 LEVIATHAN - Second Production
5 NASHVILLE TEENS - Ex Kay One LX (Great sound. Well, compared to other bootlegs)
6 THE DAVE CLARK FIVE - Concentration Baby (Raw 'B' of 'Everybody Knows')
7 PAUL JONES - The Dog Presides (Lovely jubbly! one of our faves)
8 FREEDOM - Where Wll You Be Tonight (Nice mellotron)
9 THE EXCELSIOR SPRING - It (vide 7 above - pure class and until now ignored by the hoi polloi and psych compilers alike)
10 PANDAMONIUM - Fly With Me Forever
11 FRESH WINDOWS - Summer Sun Shines
12 JON - Is it Love
13 APHRODITE'S CHILD - Magic Mirror (Look out for a piece on these Greek gods in a future SFA)
14 NEO MAYA - I Won't Hurt You
15 SLEEPY - Love's Immortal Fire
16 THE SOFT MACHINE - Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin' (Fantastico!)
17 THE BEATSTALKERS - Little Boy (First issued ver of The Action, with fab & wobblicious ending)
18 THE END - Loving Sacred Loving (Alt ver, lifted off Tenth Palent's 'Retrospection' comp- Naughty, naughty!)
19 TURQUOISE - 53 Summer Street
20 THE KOOBAS - Gypsy Fred (A nice old feller. He used to camp in the field behind our house, sold pegs in the village but frightened small children)
21 EPISODE SIX - I Can See Through You
22 BLOSSOM TOES - Postcard

Volume Two (Flashback Productions FBCD02)
1 THE MAGIC MIXTURES - So Sad (Off their LP)
2 BALLS - Fight For My Country (What a song! and best (longer) German 45 ver.)
3 VILLAGE - Long Time Coming
4 BULLDOG BREED - Friday Hill
5 NASHVILLE TEENS - Widdicombe Fair
6 CAT'S EYES - The Loser (Pop-sike treasure)
7 THE NICOLS - She Had A Name To Find Out (Dutch classic)
8 CUBY & THE BUZZARDS - Window Of My Eyes (Dutch)
9 KEITH MEEHAN - Hooker Street (Tony's brother who is credited, although Tony was responsible for this)
10 GRIFFIN - I Am The Noise In Your Head
11 LEVIATHAN - The War Machine
12 NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY - Which Way To Go
13 LACE - The Nun
14 THE TOWER - In Your Life (Blimey matey, it's nice to see this one! One of our faves. Top ten best ever 60s Dutch tracks!)
15 NITE PEOPLE - Morning Sun
16 THE ORANGE BICYCLE - Last Cloud Home
17 REVOLVER - Imaginations (Another brill tune. From 1970 ... yikes!)
18 HEAVY JELLY - I Keep Singing That Same Old Song (the 45 version)
19 THE MOOCHE - See Through A Light (Great sound quality, by far the best side of a splendid 45)
20 NING - More Ning (Total madness)

Volume 3 (Flashback Productions FBCD03)
1 BEVERLEY - Happy New Year
2 THE ROKES - Ride On
3 THE ROULETTES - Junk (Minor chord instrumental magic)
4 CHRIS ANDREWS - Hold On 5 JULIAN COVEY & THE MACHINE - Sweet Bacon 6 THE DAVE CLARK FIVE - Maze Of Love
7 DAVE DEE DOZY BEAKY MICK & TITCH - The Sun Goes Down
8 LEVIATHAN - Remember The Times
9 NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY - Love Me Two Times
10 CATS' PYJAMAS - Camera Man
11 THE STOICS - Search For The Sea
12 THE SYN - Flowerman
13 MANFRED MAN - You're My Girl
14 MUD - You're My Mother (Again, look out for a short piece on these lads' late 60s activities in a futute issue of SFA)
15 THE LOOT - Whenever You're Ready
16 THE BUNCH - We're Not What We Apear To Be (Mod-tastic)
17 THE FRESH WINDOWS - Fashion Conscious (ditto)
18 THE MINDBENDERS - My New Day And Age
19 THE NIGHTRIDES - It's Only The Dog (Pre-Idle Race freakbeater)
20 THE ROCKING VICKERS - I Don't Need Your Kind
21 THE EQUALS - The Skies Above
22 THE SCENERY - Thread Of Time (Superb Euro-only release. Small Faces-style, featuring Miller Anderson and Ian Hunter (see a future SFA for more info)
23 THE SOFT MACHINE - Love Makes Sweet Music
24 JOHN FITCH & ASSOCIATES - Stoned Out Of It
25 THE VIP'S - Straight Down To The Bottom (Mod/soul)
26 THE KINETIC - The Train
(PLEASE NOTE:- we must point out that JTL is a "private" production with very limited circulation, and is Not For Sale, it is therefore strictly speaking not a bootleg.)

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From Roger St John's Bumper Book Of Psych Quotations
Entry No. 2- BILL AITKEN (BBC studio Engineer) on Phasing techniques at the Beeb:-
"...the only way then to get a really good flangeing or phasing effect was to play back two recordings of the sound you wanted to phase off separate tape recorders, and knock one slightly out of phase with the other, by rubbing your fingers against the flange of the tape reel. At the BBC, you never had the time to attempt such convoluted techniques. Consequently we had acquired a little box which attempted to simulate such phasing effects automatically. It didn't work very well, but it was all that was around..."

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GILBERT GREEN - Bee Gees Toy Town Pop, by Paul hodges.
Gerry Marsden, is most infamous as singer of those dreaded "anthems" 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and 'Ferry Cross The Mersey', oh and of course as a "close friend" of the Fab Four. In 1967, with his pop career well and truly on the skids, due in no small part to the nation's temporary adoption of all things brightly-hued and paisley, and just prior to his move into the West End ('Charlie Girl') and kids' TV, Gerry- as we'll call him (pardon our presumption!), attempted this desperate last-ditch assault on the bastions of chartdom- some hope. The Brothers Gibb, recently returned to these shores, with their 15,000 page song book (they were charged extra by P & O for exceeding their baggage allowance), were approached by hard-up Gerry for a hand-out. They blithely tossed him this, one of their many old cast-offs. 'Gilbert Green' is another mini-epic, a Bee Gees toy-town pop classic. It bears all the hallmarks of 'Craise Finton Kirk' and 'Town of Tuxley Toymaker', and whilst it wears its period kitchen sink over-production with pride, it manages- by close degree- to dodge the syruppy excesses of Mark Wirtz's less inspiring Bee Gees-derived efforts, such as 'Grocer Jack', 'Fireman Sam', and 'Rosie and Jim'.

*** UK PSYCH DISCOGRAPHY - Pt 9 (Addenda) ***
Due to the veritable slag heap of complaints letters that have landed on our door-mat since SFA 1 went to press, we find it necessary to state the following- (1) "Psych" is meant in its broadest sense and we're gonna include stuff under this umbrella if we think it fits and if we think 'psych fans' will dig it; and (2) if we want to include "the boring foreign stuff" (as some isolationists have called it), from time to time we will, if you don't like it then we will visit you in the middle of the night and stick a bat up your night-dress. OK ya? See you down the wine bar.

JOHN WONDERLING-Midway Down / Man Of Straw (USA: Loma 45)1968 Here is a REAL treasure and a mystery too boot. Both sides are magnificent productions/arrangements/performances. Topside is the ORIGINAL version of a track more-commonly known by The Creation. To mine ears John Wonderling's version has the edge- beautiful pop psychedelia with echoooooed vocals. 'Man Of Straw' is even better, it's very similar in subject matter to ROB DE NIJS' fabulous-beyond-compare 'Bye Bye Mrs. Turple'- ie "Ha! Ha! You're dead, I'm not" type songs- Spookily enough, they both appear back-to-back on 'Exploiting Plastic inevitable:Lesson II- Globular Lightning' (Yahoo Records), but in truly in shyte sound quality. The identity of John Wonderling is a total mystery. We know of two theories about this record / his I.D. We print them both here, in the hope that the truth will out. Any additional info will be greatly appreciated and will be published in a future issue of SFA, fully credited, of course. THEORY #1- John W was a US citizen. The record a US production. This is probably the most likely of the two. If so, this doesn't explain how The Creation got hold of 'Midway Down'. THEORY #2- John W was a UK citizen. Record was a UK production, but leased to US Warner Bros. It was at the publisher's London office that The Creation / their management came across the song. Unfortunately, I sold my copy years ago so I can't check the labels for any clues. Can any kind person please help with a xerox copy of labels?

GARDEN ODYSSY [sic} ENTERPRISE- Sad And Lonely (Deram DM 267) 05/09/69 Nice to see this back in the fold, after years of neglect (and even hostility in some quarters!). We think it fits even if some know-alls don't. It's a wonderful creation. Effortlessly catchy, Graham Gouldman-penned late 60s pop magic, with Stones-style "doo-doo, dood-doo" harmony vox...and an exquisite guitar break. You can find it most easily on the fine 'The Psychedelic Scene' comp CD ( Deram 844 797-2) 1998.

PURPLE GANG-The Wizard
Magical stuff! One of the Gang's most overtly "psychedelic" recordings. Off their LP. We at SFA are inordinately fond of this track. Was it inspired by delusions of acid omnipotence? Or simply by lead singer Peter "Lucifer" Walker's occult dabblings...? Hypnotic, distant, jingly backing and a vocal pitched somewhere between vibrato and whisper. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law! (See 'Web Watch' this issue, for more on the Purple Gang.)

HELL PREACHERS INC.- Supreme Psychedelic Underground LP (Marble Arch MALS 1169)
Another one that's at best ignored and at worst treated with disrespect. Because it's a "cash-in" job on crappy vinyl ? Because it's got some weird connection with Deep Purple? I dunno, but it's nice chunky album. It's an extremely freaky, self-assured performance. And, although it's been booted, it would be most agreeable if some enterprising and courageous outfit would grasp the nettle and give this LP the legit and master tape sound quality repackage it most assuredly deserves. We've heard it told that said master tapes are long gone- can anyone confirm, please? Prices for originals seem to be climbing of late... Also, one must ask- Will we ever get to the bottom of the Purple connection, if any? A guy I know who knew Jon Lord well, years back, still swears blind that the Maestro told him en confidence that D. P. were behind it...food for thought methinks. But then, there's that old guy who works down the chip shop who swears he's you-know-who...

ARGENT- Dance In The Smoke Best track off the 'Argent' LP (CBS 63781) 1970, and also CBS Argent was a bit compilation/sampler 'Fill Your Head With Rock.' Most people seem to be of the opinion that Rod crap prove 'em once he left The Zombies, but this track (and others on his first two solo albums-e.g. 'Schoolgirl') wrong. runs and This is very much late-60s style pop, with a tinge of psychedelia, especially the marvelous keyboard delicious re-christened guitar work. Because of its fey Englishness and its beautiful harmonies, it should have been "Six Minutes of Post-Zombie Heaven". Anybody know if Rod still has his shop in Denmark Street?

MINDBENDERS- Airport PeopleSorry! We inadvertently omitted this from it's rightful place, in SFA 1. It's on the 'With Women In Mind' Lp we discussed there. A languid lil lovely, perhaps only bettered by the following...

THE ROULETTES- Airport People (Fontana TF 822) 1967.As above, and a worthy of your love. All / most of the Roulettes' output is great, albeit outside our kandy-koated katchment area, although it must be said 'Junk' is truly scrumptious.

EASYBEATS-Peculiar Hole this In The Sky ( Aussie Parlophone 8892) 1970. This is an amazing piece, especially from band. They could never seem pop to make up their minds what it was they wanted to be, so they veered from classic ('Friday On My Mind') to the vile ('Rock And Roll Boogie') via M.O.R. ('Can't Take My Eyes Off You', 'Hit The road Jack'). And, somehow along the way, they managed to produce this three-minute piece of madness. It manages, like a lot of the best pop psych, to successfully marry Ryan Bros-styled high "camp" absurdity to genuine creepiness and thereby create something utterly compelling. The vocal-distortions in particular are quite eerie. We love it and so will you, we hope. Finding a copy ain't gonna be easy, although it is on the wondrous Ugly Things; Volume 4', which unfortunately is itself now a rarity, especially in the UK and US,so,failing to make any better suggestions, we'll simply wish you good luck and bon voyage! I'm sure it's on at least a dozen Easybeats comps...

DR. Z- Lady Ladybird (Fontana 6007 023) June 1970.Yes, the LP is almost unlistenable and yes it is a super-rare swirly Vertigo jobbie. However, this 45 is somewhat different. It's still off-the-wall, although not in the same way, yet it retains the merest pretence of late-1960s pop commerciality, a sort of post-psych hangover, quite frantic, quite wonderful.

NIRVANA- Oh!, What A Performance (Island WIP 6057) 1969. What a performance indeed! One of their best and least known songs.Superb pop, lead by barrel-house piano with hand claps and a ton of fuzzzzz.

STATUS QUO- Shy Fly. An absolute gem. Off the LP-'Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon' (Pye NSPL 18344)September 1970. General consensus is that by this time they'd become irredeemably crap...WRONG!!! Checkout this Bubble Puppy-flavored beauty to see how taking other peoples' opinions too seriously can lead you completely astray. Same song also appears, in an ever so slightly less-appealing (acetate) version by Autumn (another great lil' band), on the ever so slightly foul-sounding 'Mynd The Gap'comp.

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GRAHAM GOULDMAN'S HOT LIL' CHESTNUT- by Jon Kerr
Surreptitiously lurking on the B-side of Graham Gouldman's 'Upstairs Downstairs' (RCA RCA1667) 1968, is this velvet-shelled little conker of delightfulness. 'Chestnut' is the type of track that somehow encapsulates all those qualities which the "wish lists" of pop-psych lovers demand from their records. For example:- RHYTHM- Pretty funky and nice 'n' high in the mix. Not unlike The End. Loads of breaks. MELLOTRON- Absolutely loads of it, laid on with a trowel (just you wait!) GUITAR- Twangy, Stax house-style, melody has a slight echo of 'Hey Joe'. HAMMOND- Purring, caressing. Stabs and squiggles a go go, Mmmm. VOCALS- Effete, ethereal English upper crust enunciation, with that excessive degree of otherworldliness . LYRICS- Poetic doggerel with a domestic/London setting-" If all of were doomed to die, When we had lived a minute, I think I know what Anne and IWould wish to happen in it, We'd let our sixty seconds run, Where chestnut blossom's harden, Some early morning in Kensington,When spring is in the garden." 'Chestnut' also appears on the astounding 'Graham Gouldman Thing' LP (USA only), which is choc o' block full of high-quality pop performed by this master songsmith, all superbly arranged, with nice baroque / popsike frills. If anything mars 'Chestnut's' perfection it is that it is far too short. I'd like to have another ten minutes (at least) of the same, please.

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What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? The unstoppable force stops, the immovable object moves...

WEB WATCH: Cyber-delia Our very own cosmic-naut, Jon Kerr, goes fiddling about in cyber space (Fear not! his mummy is keeping her eye on him, we wouldn't want him checking out those dodgy sites, would we?)

MARMALADE SKIES http://www.marmaladeskies.co.uk/ Up and running since late '99. It is simply the best presented and most informative site on the web devoted to UK Psychedelia. Certainly, by far the only one of any consequence. We also love the new discussion forum- very pithy!

PINK FLOYD http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/ The largest Floyd site on the web! Find out all you'll ever need to know, and more, about this mighty band. Tons of fine pics too.

PURPLE GANG http://www.thepurplegang.co.uk/ One of the very best band sites we've visited of late. In particular, the recollections by Joe Beard make this site an essential source for psych historians.

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HELP!
We would be interested in contacting the following Down under Dream timers- Glenn A Baker (Oz) D Karakov (Kiwi) John Baker (Kiwi) Hopefully someone knows where these guys are.

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READERS' LETTERS
Dear editor, Pease help! I am suffering from a bad case of halitosis. It usually gets worser when i go to record fairs, or sit on armchairs stuffed with horse hairs. Yours truly, David Culyer (aged 10 and three-quarters)
OUR EDITOR REPLIES- Dear Whiffy, from one David to another I can only really recommend one product, namely "Thubron's Patent Electric Anti-Macassar" (only £99.99, inc p&p). Plug it in twice a day for a fortnight and you'll be wowing the ladies, rather than laying them low with your vile odour. Also, I discern some link between 'fairs', 'chairs', and 'hairs'. Drop all these 'airs' and graces and get yourself a job. Ed.
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Dear Dave, What can I say? Your mag is amazing! You are a top bloke! I'm very proud of you, son! Love, Mum.
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"come on ladies, I got a dozen of yer Turnstyle demos for two and thrupence, and I'll chuck in a nice fresh Purple Barrier 45 'an all, for nuffink. Jus'ta make yer 'usbands 'appy, come on ladies...
***YE OLDE TECHNICOLORED SWAPPE SHOPPE***
2.01: FOR SALE: US Psych LPs, 45s (1000+ items)
2.02: WANTED: Any Nancy Sinatra memorabilia
2.03: TAPES TO SWAP- BBC Sessions. Your list gets mine. 100s of items.
2.04: PSYCH NITE IN LONDON? Anybody interested in a Psychedelic Night, sort of like Middle Earth (c 1967), The Groovy Cellar (c 1981), or Plastic Bubble (c 1995), with the emphasis on obscurity and a beatifically good time. If there's sufficient interest we will announce details via Sweet FA. (NOTE:- This is in addition to the 'Smashing Time' Xmas Bash.)
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an half-filled void is an half-empty solid is an half-filled void is an half-empty solid is an half-
'TIL WE MEET AGAIN
Good bye-ee! Afore ye go, here's what to expect next month- A Bee Gees mega rarity discussed, the Discography rumbles on, Human Beast, quotes and all the usual old toss- bet you can't wait!

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Roger St John, The Bumper Book Of Psych Quotations, is copyright (c) of the publisher- Tangerine Books, London, and is quoted with their kind permission.
Sweet FA is published monthly.
All contents copyright (c) Sweet Floral Albion 2001. Mess with us, and by Jove, we'll mess with you, sonny boy.
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