ACTION NOW
All Your Dreams…and More: 1981-1984 (Avebury; CD)
     As most Shindiggers know, the music scene in Los Angeles circa late '70s/early '80s was one of the richest in history, spawning movements like Skinny Tie and The Paisley Underground, and Action Now is surely one of that scene's forgotten heroes. Action Now neatly embraced the dark, jagged jangle of bands like The Last, along with a healthy injection of that vintage, moody folk/garage sound that graced those wonderful Highs In The Mid Sixties: Los Angeles LPs. The band, featuring lead vocalist Jim Schuster and a pre-Pandoras Paula Pierce, played countless shows around Southern California and released a fine album, All Your Dreams, in 1984. All Your Dreams…and More: 1981-1984 contains the entire album, along with a bonus studio track and a 1981 concert the band did at the legendary, departed Los Angeles venue Madame Wong's under their previous monicker, The Direct Hits. 
     All Your Dreams is filled with classic power pop like 'Then And Now' and 'I Want You,' warm, jangly tunes like 'So Much On My Mind,' 'Every Word I Say,' and 'When Wednesday Comes,' an early version of The Pandoras' 'Stop Pretending' (which became the title track of The Pandoras album from 1986), and a cool cover of The (U.S.) Outsiders 'I'm Not Trying To Hurt You'. The bonus studio track, 'Try', is probably the best thing the band ever recorded. The Madame Wong's showcase, while somewhat raw and ragged, is spirited and boasts several of the songs that ended up on All Your Dreams, as well as a devoted cover of Bobby Fuller's 'Never To Be Forgotten'. Fans of Los Angeles music, as well as timeless garage and power pop, need to own All Your Dreams…and More. The release of this disc, along with the recent reforming of the band (with Kristi Callan ably filling in for the late Paula Pierce), will ensure that Action Now are indeed, never to be forgotten.
www.aveburyrecords.com/actionnow
David Bash

BLUES IMAGE
Open (Sundazed; CD)
     This "one hit wonder" band's 1970 follow-up album, containing the million selling hit 'Ride Captain Ride', features a mixture of bluesy pop/rock, jazzy latin grooves and driving rock (the Hendrix-inspired opener 'Love Is The Answer' and the tough 'Pay My Dues' and 'Take Me' are undoubtedly the highlights). Everything is played with finesse and oompth, yet underneath the sheen and sweat are very few memorable songs, making this neither a particularly good or bad album. Sure, the playing and singing are of a high calibre, but the band veer towards the formulaic. If they had stuck with hard rock this could have been excellent.
www.sundazed.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
Bad Moon Rising - The Best Of (Fantasy; CD)
     For those wanting a solid 22-track compilation of the great Creedence this is the perfect purchase. If owning all of the albums is just a bit too much for you, and the box set too expensive, this album will be ideal. Featuring the hits and more, one listen through this makes one realise the ease Fogerty had in turning out catchy rockers with instant melodies and BIG choruses, punctuated by his unique whiskey soaked vocals. When the '60s had killed itself by getting too clever Fogerty came to the rescue. Of course, I don't mind "clever stuff", but the basic, honest approach of Creedence - eg: the rootsy pop of 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain?' or the magnificent visceral version of 'Susie Q' - was a breath of fresh air in an era that was rapidly disappearing up its own arse! 
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE EVERPRESENT FULLNESS
Fine And Dandy: The Complete Recordings (Rev-Ola; CD)
     Here we have an interesting unit, little more than a footnote in the history of the LA scene and sound historically, but widely regarded as hipsters who would happen at the time. The line up included Paul Johnson, formally guitarist with surf instro unit The Belairs and Terry Hand of The Crossfires, later The Turtles. The nucleus for the band were Jack Ryan and Jim Opie who Johnson heard acoustically and mentally added bass and drums and made the suggestion they gel! They were signed to the newly formed White Whale label and recorded an albums worth of material during 1966 overseen by Bones Howe. Ryan and Opie however did not like the production and the overly commercial edge being honed to the recordings and consequently the band split up and the album was only released in 1970 as White Whale were sinking. Needless to say the album disappeared without trace until now. The full story is provided by Steve Stanley and track by track commentary is provided by Paul Johnson. Many of the tracks were remixed in 2003 by Johnson, Stanley, Nick Walusko and Steve Pugh to get more of a sound the band had originally wanted (no tweaking, just a remix of the original 4 track). The result is most pleasing to the ear. 
     The first and title track, 'Fine And Dandy' is one of those annoying faux 1920s speakeasy type numbers that seem to have been popular in the 1960s (Think Esther & Abi Ofarim's international hit 'You're The Lady That I Love'). Unfortunate as an opener I say, but there again I'm listening to it 38 years after its production which probably just highlights the difference in how we hear things (then again the album wasn't issued by White Whale until 1970, four years after it was recorded and probably sounded dated even then!). Anyway, things improve as we go along. The next two tracks 'Wild About My Lovin' and 'Leavin' California' are good numbers, but are pushed off kilter by the insistence of the heavily blues accented harmonica overlay which only serves to heighten what the band's sound was not about. From then on, the set picks up in form and style. There are folk-rockin' takes on tunes like 'Susie Q' and The Byrds' version of 'Rider', and punk folk-rock in the form of a cover of Dylan's 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue' and the mile-a-minute 'The Rovin' Kind'. 'Darlin' You Can Can Count On me', 'Sometimes I Don't Know Where I'm Bound' and 'You're So Fine' for instance all hit the spot perfectly and after a couple of plays through, this reveals itself as a delightful snapshot of prime '66 Sunset Strip folk rock where the balance between the hick and the hip in the songs is kept in harmony to produce a subliminal sound. Folk-rock and Califonia pop fans will want to hear this.
www.revola.com
Paul Martin

THE EXCEPTION
Exceptional Exception: Complete original album recordings + 16 Bonus Tracks (Oxford; CD)
     The date of issue for this CD says 1995 on the back of the jewel case, but as it's brand new at the mail order I just got it from, it may be a reissue or a late coming second pressing! Anyway, it's worth reviewing here. The Exception (without the 's', the group with the 's' are a different band altogether) are probably best known for a spate of tracks that have been comped in recent years, most notably their modtastic debut 45 form 1967 'The Eagle Flies On Friday' (Rare British Beat Treasures Vol.3, Chocolate Soup Vol.4, Oddities Vol.1); 'Woman Of The Green Lantern' (Incredible Sound Show Stories Vol.12); 'Girl Trouble' (Rare British Beat Treasures Vol.5) and 'Don't Torture Your Mind' (Electric Lemonade Acid Test Vol.1). All of which are amongst their best work and also appear on the CD. What we have here is the group's sole 1969 LP on President plus all the A&B sides from '67-69 on CBS and President (some duplicate album tracks but of the 28 tracks on the disc, this accounts for only about five).
     The Exception are a bit of a footnote, but one of those bands that had people who became famous later in it. All three (the drummer seems to have been an afterthought!) 'Bugsy' Eastwood, vocals, Roger Hill, guitar and Dave Pegg, bass were all at one time or another in Fairport Convention, Pegg of course also played in The Uglys. On this set, the updated pastoral Englishness of The Fairports seems light years away, as this is something of rum mixture. There's a lot of blues (think The Artwoods betwixt 'Chicago Calling' and 'In The Deep End'), accounting for about half the CD's numbers. These tunes are perfectly fine, but rather perfunctory (e.g. 'Hong Kong Blues', 'Tailor-Made Babe', 'Karen Train Blues', 'Mrs Cocaine') but sung with that white-boy soul voice possessed by those such as the singer in The V.I.Ps (later spooky Tooth). There are a couple of real stinkers in the shape of 'Rub It Down' a horrible cod ska number with a mimicked Jamaican accent (I shudder at this sort of stuff) so best skipped. There is also a retro rock'n'roll number in 'Back Room' replete with faux Presley (Elvis that is, not Reg) affectations. This was of course in the spirit of Sha Na Na and the 'At last The 1958 Rock 'n' Roll Show' group tradition of back to the roots r'n'r just burgeoning in reaction against the progressiveness of underground bands at the time. This track however sounds more like proto-Mud glam slumming than anything more serious (think Fleetwood Mac's 'Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight' for instance). 
     That all said, there are some beauties on here as well. For those who have heard 'Eagle Flies...' there's a few more in the same vein 'Gaberdine Saturday Night Street Walker' is a quirky late mod gone frayed round the edges corker of a number worth the cost of the disc on it's own, try and track the 45 down. 'Saturday Night At The Prince Rupert' and 'Helicopter' also have that 'Eagle Flies...' feel and the vibes to the fore whilst 'Pendulum' has a curious badly double tracked vocal which makes it stand out as something interesting.
     Of the album tracks, 'Rock Bottom Cinder' and 'Too Much Of A Bad Thing' are especially good freakbeating rockers. The album also features 'Don't Torture Your Mind', 'Woman Of The Green Lantern' and the under-two-minute kick off track 'Jack Rabbit' which also hits the spot. All in all, a mixed bag, but certainly enough of interest in its 28 tracks to justify the modest price (about £10 from Wolfgang Voelkel). There are also some nice 45 pic sleeve shots in the cover art too.
Paul Martin 

BILL FAY
From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (Wooden Hill; CD)
     He was dubbed "Britain's pop Salinger" by Jim Irvin in Mojo, but it's doubtful that the record Holden Caulfield dropped and smashed into a million pieces was the Bill Fay 45, 'Screams In The Ears'. Seriously, one could see where Irvin was coming from, as Fay's deeply personal lyrical profiles of several people either real or fictitious are quite insightful. From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock is a collection of demos Fay recorded between 1966-1970 (with a little help from members of Unit 4 +2 and Honeybus) which, from a musical perspective, fall somewhere between the stark imagery of Dylan and the baroque, dark side of Duncan Browne. Sons like 'Warwick Town,' 'Maxine's Parlour', 'Camille', and 'The Sun Is Bored' are most typical of that hybrid, but almost every song on this collection has dark, disturbing overtones. Only 'We Want You To Stay' and 'Katie & Me' are even remotely cheerful, and the sound quality on some of these tracks is pretty dodgy, but listeners will definitely be captivated by the raw beauty of every one of the 25 tunes. A very nice treat for '60s collectors, from the CD division of Tenth Planet.
David Bash

THE FIFTH ORDER
Bonfire! The Return of The Fifth Order (Break-A-Way Records; LP / CD)
     The recordings on this album date from 1966-7 and pulls together the released 45s (all six sides here) and some unissued recordings from Ohio's Fifth Order. This just may be Break-A-Way's strongest release to date, featuring as it does ten (on the LP, the CD has 13) tracks of crisp and fiery folk-rocking pop. Their kickin' 'Goin' Too Far' / 'Walkin' Away' is likely to be well known by garage fans, their second, 'A Thousand Devils (Are Chasin' Me)' / 'Today (I Got A Letter)' was even picked up nationally by Laurie records. Their third 45 'I Was a Fool' / 'The Moment I Saw You' was issued in tiny quantities and sunk without trace after the band split, making this a juicy rarity. The unreleased tracks such as title cut 'Bonfire' are every bit as good and clearly deserved to see the light of day before now.
     It was the band's good fortune to come across one Jack Sender who wrote all but one of the ten cuts featured on the LP (the other being a solid cover of 'Little Black Egg'). All of which are bright, vibrant and totally convincing period folk rocking gems and played with a lot more conviction and panache than your average garage band. That's not to say they're over polished by any means. In fact the comparison that came to mind when listening to this for the first time was The Dovers (which is praise indeed, check out their 10" singles collection on Misty Lane). The LP is accompanied by an A4 double-sided insert with pics and the full story of the band from Bill Carroll, the group's lead singer and lead guitarist Jim Hilditch. It's great to have all The Fifth Order's stuff in one place and this is currently seeing plenty of rotation on my turntable. A quality package that deserves your patronage!
www.break-a-way.de
Paul Martin 

THE PAISLEYS
Cosmic Mind At Play (Sundazed; CD)
     Wow, talk about your "what's old is new again"! The Paisleys were a band from Minneapolis who recorded Cosmic Mind At Play in the late '60s and finally got it released in early 1970. As was the usual fate of independent bands, lack of distribution and funding sealed this album's perpetual obscurity, but its recent re-release by Sundazed reveals that Cosmic Mind At Play sounds a lot like what today's neo-psychedelic bands, like The Apples In Stereo and other Elephant 6 types, are doing. Most of the songs on Cosmic Mind At Play were written by the band's keyboardist, Bill Smith, which is fairly unusual in and of itself, and their keyboard orientation certainly reflect this. 'Cosmic Mind At Play' is appropriately playful, the extremely lysergic 'Now' features some cool warbly tape effects, 'Smokey Windows' is kinda like Country Joe rediscovering his childhood, and 'Diddley' marries a Diddley-esque backbeat to Association-flavoured harmonies. The 18-minute 'Musical Journey' is exactly what it would seem to be, but contains a very high percentage of vocals and is filled with hippie-styled exhortations of "we love you", "ay yiy yiy yiy yiy", and "Liberation".
     The bonus tracks included on this reissue are well worth the price of admission. 'Something's Missing' is probably the band's tightest track, and almost could have been a hit. The live 'The Fool With The Jewel' showed the band could do it without the aid of a studio, and 'Elf In A Magic Bottle', written and (presumably) sung by guitarist Rick Youngberg, sounds like Dylan gone really electric!
     One wonders if the surviving members of The Paisleys can imagine just how influential their sound really was! 
www.sundazed.com
David Bash

QUINTESSENCE
Oceans Of Bliss: An Introduction To... (Island; CD)
     These guys may well be written off as the ultimate stereotypical hippy band from Notting Hill Gate's notorious love and peace community the Grove. Indeed the Grateful Dead guitar jams, delayed flute passages and lyrics of consciousness couldn't have sprung from any other place or time, and if this kind of hippy malarkey revolts you, then of course Quintessence will too. There's no disputing that this isn't lacking in structure and conciseness; but psychedelic guitars, clattering drums, and the searing London freak-out tendency of such tracks as the free-form Pretty Things-like 'St Pancras' abound on this compilation of select tracks from the band's Island albums. Yes sure, it's wanky to the extreme. It's ponderous... and, of course, spiritual… but there are few better examples of what West London sounded like at the close of the '60s. File under: historical, educational, mind-expanding nonsense.
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

SLEEPY JOHN
Sleepy John (Gear Fab; CD)
     Like so many other small pressing regional American albums of the late '60s (which whether good or bad are always interesting to hear) Idahoans Sleepy John's 1970 effort has a few inspired moments. Some good vocals, a raw muddy guitar and lots of Hammond work around the rock format, whilst a few progressive signatures can occasionally be heard - think somewhere in-between Salvation and Hunger. This is edgy stuff, which when on a roll rocks!! 
http://www.swiftsite.com/gearfab/
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

SHARON TANDY
You Gotta Believe Its Sharon Tandy (Big Beat; CD)
     She had already started to build a musical career by 1964, but found local audiences far to conservative for her preferred singing and musical style. So Sharon Tandy (nee Finklestein), a Jewish South African girl, left her homeland for Blighty in 1965 under the mentorship of her erstwhile manager and later, first husband, the flamboyant music fanatic Frank Fenter. Fenter must have been a committed individual as he worked his way up from a dishwasher to head of Atlantic Records UK. As such he was able to sign Sharon to one of the hippest labels of the era. The CD covers the five-year duration of Tandy's UK stint between 1965-'69. The sides are mainly Atlantic 45s and backed in various pop moods by Tandy's much-loved Fleur De Lys along with a smattering of PYE sides (hard to believe that there is anything left on PYE that hasn't been recycled at least twice by now!). 
     Broadly speaking the 26 tracks on this delicious disc fall into three categories. Firstly there are the raunchy freakbeaters which (at least initially) propelled Tandy into the consciousness of 60s fans and here they all are in pristine master tape quality; 'Hold On', 'Our Day Will Come', 'Daughter Of The Sun, 'Look And Find', Gotta Get Enough Time' and 'He'll Hurt Me'. The sonic feel is cleaner and a little less dense than other reissues (from vinyl), but that just adds to the variety I think. Secondly, there are the girl-pop numbers (especially from Pye in 1965) which range from the dark and broody to the bright and breezy (e.g.'You've Gotta Believe It', 'Perhaps Not Forever', 'The Way She Looks At You', 'Hurtin Me', 'I've Found Love', 'Border Town', 'Now That You've Gone'). Thirdly, there is Tandy as white soul diva. Jerry Wexler may have sent Dusty Springfield to Muscle Shoals to record with the renowned wreckin' crew, but Sharon Tandy got sent to Memphis to record a proposed album at Stax with Booker T & The MGs and the Memphis Horns -- imagine being able to tell that to your kids!!! She was indeed the first white act to sign to Stax (other than one or two one-off singles acts in the late '50s during the label's formative years). The results are also here, nearly all Steve Cropper or Porter / Hayes compositions, mainly unreleased making this of great interest to soul fans as well: 'I Can't Get Over It', 'One Way Street', 'Toe Hold', 'I Wanna Be Your Baby', 'For A Little While', 'Move A Little Closer', 'Things Get Better'. 
     Across the whole range Sharon Tandy is never less than magnificent. The only duffer in the set is the rather empty sounding take (despite Fleur De Lys backing) of Lorraine Ellison's 'Stay With Me' which once heard can never be surpassed. It's a song that requires an emotional commitment so complete you'll need intense rehab to recover and this doesn't really come across in Sharon's version. However, the rest of the disc is sublime throughout. Tandy at this time was a consummate musician's musician. Widely admired and revered in the biz, commercial success eluded her (though she did have some minor success on the continent). 
     Disillusioned and with relationship break-ups compounding this, Tandy returned to South Africa and made a new singing career there throughout the 1970s, but never with the same fervour of her British career. Introduced by Alex Palao, Tandy narrates her own story in the choc-packed with pics booklet whilst Fleur De Lys members and others contribute their own memories. Ultimately, this is not so much just another best of compilation, but a testament (oral and aural) by, and reinstatement of, an immaculate and under-appreciated musician to the historical record of Britain's grooviest decade. Buy this and cherish it as though it were an heirloom.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Paul Martin

TWIN ENGINE
Twin Engine (Rev-Ola; CD)
     This charming little item adds another title to the ever-expanding list of bona fide discoveries from those splendid chaps at Rev-Ola.
     Twin Engine was a duo comprising Randy Naylor (ex-Poor) and LA singer/songwriter Constantine Gusias who cut this set in 1971 for a scrapped United Artists album. It was plucked from potentially permanent obscurity after an acetate copy was discovered in Randy's ex-wife's attic.
     The style is laid-back country-pop, dominated by excellent songwriting and honey-coated Everly Brothers-style vocal harmonies. Indeed, The Everlys' 'When Will I be Loved' is given an original bouncy rock treatment here. Gusian's songs particularly shine. 'Give My Love A Chance', 'My Life Gets Better Every Day' and the gorgeous 'Gold Mine' are highlights while Naylor's 'Mistress Of The Morning' shows he was no slouch in the melody department. 
     The ubiquitous country-rock wrecking crew of Clarence White, Chris Hillman, Randy Fuller, Byron Berline and 'Sneaky' Pete Kleinow are in evidence throughout and the production, courtesy of Joey Stec and Ralph Scala (whose album as The Dependables from the same year bears striking similarities), is warm and welcoming despite claims that "it was never really mixed right". Well, it sounds great to these ears.
     A timely reminder that summer's on its way.
www.revola.co.uk
Andy Morten

VARIOUS
Girls Go Zonk!! (RPM; CD)
     On one level this is a sister set (and hopefully only the first of a series rather than a one-off collection) to RPM's UK Dream Babes series. The earlier tunes (c.1963) especially draw this comparison. However, this being, as it is, an all-American affair, the OTT factor gives it much more of a Girls In The Garage feel. Indeed, the two kick-off tracks at least, Donna Loren's 'So, Do The Zonk' and The Girls' 'Chico's Girl' have appeared on the seminal Girls In The Garage series. Patti Seymour's 'The Silencers' (theme from the 1966 Dean Martin spy film), has appeared on RPMs Thriller Memorandum set (in their Mood Mosaic series), but most of the others are new on me. 
     It's a real jamboree bag of styles from sub-Spectoresque harmonising (The Honey's 'The One You Can't Have', The Victorians 'You're Invited To The Party' for instance) to Kim Fowley and Shadow Morton inspired (and in a few cases connected) numbers such as The Satisfactions 1966 outing 'Daddy You Just Gotta Let Him In' (seemingly about Hell's Angels no less!) or fifteen year-old Jamie Carter's, (aka Sandra Elayne Hurvitz, aka Uncle Meat) 'The Boy With The Way' and its absolutely over the top flattened trumpet notes that take it to another dimension entirely! The whole CD is worth the entry price for this alone along with an alternate version of The Tammys 'Egyptian Shumba' which you could never imagine any Brit girls of the time even contemplating, and the sublime 1968 vocal take on Lalo Schiffrin's 'Mission Impossible' by the Kane Triplets. Add to this a sunshine pop attempt on Traffic's 'Paper Sun' by The Murmaids and you have yourself an intriguing, esoteric and highly enjoyable platter of girl power c.1963-8. Enjoy and marvel!
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
Living In The Past Vol.1: 19 Forgotten Nederbiet Gems 1964-'67 (Misty Lane; LP / CD [500 only])
     Just when you thought that there was nothing left to explore in the way of Nederbeat, a compilation like this turns up. Some of the names will be familiar to long-time collectors The Dukes, Sharons, Maskers, Short '66, Johnny Kendall & The Heralds, Midnatt Fyran etc. The songs however will not be familiar. Detailed and often enlightening liners are written by Neder-nuts Erik Meinen and Lenny Helsing. This is no easy pickings type of a comp. All those involved in its production are more than cognisant with what's already been comped, and that has been carefully avoided. Put it this way, I've got the complete run of the Beat Express 10" comps and a case full of others, and there were only two songs I recognised out of the whole bunch on here, so you can buy this with confidence. 
     No, there's no undiscovered Q65 or Outsiders cuts, but there is a blissfully jangly version of 'We'll Meet Again' by Sandy Coast from an unissued acetate. Otherwise these groups were the minnows in the Nederbeat pond, and all the more interesting for it. The kick-off tracks, Johnny Lion & The Jumping Jewels' (who later, sans Lion, became the Jay Jays) 'I Wanna Dance With You', 'Crazy Rockers' 'I Feel Alright', and Johnny Kendall & The Heralds' 'You Tell Me Why' start us in a Merseybeat-ish mode. From then on, the Neder is largely beat of the kind we all know and love (or you should do!). Nothing really fuzzed out or frenzied but rather upbeat and melodic, mainly with harmonised vocals and a good dose of jingle jangle and R&B guitar breaks etc. All of them are nuggets and deserve to be loved but a few that hit first time round include The Sharons' 'I Can't Leave', Fashions' 'All Alone' The Young Ones' (later Chapter II) 'She Won't Even Let Me In' and Short '66's 'I Don't Know Why'. Crisp and punchy, this is a knockout comp which is the first of two volumes and another winner from Misty Lane.
MistyLane@iol.it
Paul Martin

VARIOUS 
Psicofasicos De Bolivia: Go-Go A 4000 Metros! (Condo; LP)
     Yes, that's right, Bolivia!!! So you're all hip and happenin' enough out there to be familiar with Latin garage grooves right? Well you're spoiled for choice this month. Not only are there six groovy volumes of the Psychodelicias series (see the following review) but also this here slab o' wax, which would have made a great volume seven! Fourteen of the gnarliest, grittiest and outright RAW garage tracks you're ever likely to hear from south of the border. 
     The liners (in both Spanish and English) tell us that these toons all date from 1966-'69 "from incaic go-go to the psychophasic sound". Kick off track, Los Daltons' instro 'Alto Y Seco' has the trademark lack of sophistication that tells us it was recorded inside an empty baked-bean tin, but this hits where you want to feel it. In fact, the whole album has a very full and rich sound which implies a decent vinyl to vinyl transfer job has been done on it, despite the apologies for the surface sound (man, that's obligatory for atmosphere!). You wonder how records of any kind were made at all in a country where even in the big cities the power was regularly shut off at 11:00pm every night and where farm carts still outnumbered cars on the roads. Groups like Grupo 606 had to make their own instruments before they could get to play anything! In common with Warsaw Pact Europe of the time, Bolivian police in La Paz and other cities like Cochabamba especially looked out for local long-hairs to practice their shearing techniques on. In general, not a well-disposed environment to start a band, but plenty of reasons to want to!
     This whole set is troglodyte magic. Los Ecos for instance featured an eleven year-old girl as their drummer, but she sounds like any demented howling teen and keeps a damned good 4/4 beat. Los Dhag Dhags' 'Tipo Sicodelico' is a psych creeper, but most of this stuff is primal (think Peru's Los Saicos, for instance). Groups like The Donkeys, Loving Darks, Los Tennyson and (I kid you not) Los Bunny Boy's Hots presumably grabbed any opportunity that presented itself to do their thang. Maybe it was the thinness of the air at 4000 metres above sea level, but something sure put the dementure into these cats! A must have comp and I insist there is a volume 2 soon!
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
Psychodelicas Vols. 1-6 (What's That Sound; CD-Rs)
     It wasn't all that long ago that compilers of South American Sixties groups seemed to go out of their way to find the thinnest sounding and least inventive tracks that could be found. They were often full of generic cover versions of big US or UK hits. Then came the Big Beat label's anthology of Uruguay's Los Shakers minus the obligatory cover versions and another dimension was entered in the regional genre. Of course, fans had for some time been aware of Latin locos like Peru's Los Saicos and Los Shains, whose albums were reissued as 10" platters some years ago by Electroharmonix. However, Argentina, Chile and Peru's respectively premier popsike exponents Los Walkers, Los Macs and Los Yorks have only very recently (and in expensive and limited import quantities) been made available again, and others are still awaiting acknowledgement (see for instance the revelations from Bolivia in my previous review of the Psicofasicos De Bolivia: Go-Go A 4000 Metros! comp).
     Amongst avid fans of the region's sixties output, it was always known that there was better stuff waiting to be discovered than was making the grade on available comps. It was in this spirit that the Psychodelicias series of CD-Rs was compiled. Each disc comprises of "Nineteen Sixties South American Pop Delights.." with just the occasional Spanish inclusion (becoming more pronounced towards the end) and come from both the familiar and the rare vinyl of the period. The great thing about these discs is that they are a labour of love. Home-made for sure, but then you are being offered them at cost! Just a small cover charge for postage, artwork and blank CD-R. No profit! This is a fan's project in an attempt to spread the good news about what (in some cases) has still not been comped or made more readily available. The artwork is superlative, picturing luscious '60s lovelies in various pop-art poses. The 19 tracks on each CD are all hand-picked for quality and coolness, there is simply no filler here.
     The rationale is that if something is cool it goes on. Therefore across the series you will find familiar cuts by Los Shakers coupled with hopeless obscurities by Los 007 or Los Chijuas. The one thing they all have in common is that they push the right buttons and have a synchronicity of sound. The volumes vary between poppy beat and outright popsike with most cuts dating from 1966-'68. This is effectively, the nearest thing to a Nuggets box set of the region's output that we currently have and it's a damned shame that one of the US (at least) reissue labels hasn't seen fit to do the decent thing and put this kind of stuff out more widely. As is so often the case, it is the fans who put things right. Because these comps are being given away for pretty much the postage & packing costs, they have only been produced in very limited numbers, so contact the e-mail address at the bottom of the review to check on availability.
     It would be difficult to pick a favourite volume much less a favourite track as they all hit the spot in their own way. But some of the more esoteric names that stand out (even to those of us with some familiarity of the region's groups of the time) include, Los Vidrio Quebrados, The Same People, Los Flecos, Los Sprinters, Los Nivram, Los Chijuas, Los Qunis, Los Pasos, The Seasons, The Sunshines, Los Spectros and Kano Y Los Bulldogs! Most of the other groups already mentioned are featured and thus make both an excellent primer set for the uninitiated and a great reference point for those already hooked. Most of the numbers are in Spanish some are in English, but whatever, the music tells the story better than the words. 
     The latest and final volumes in the series, 5 & 6, follow he same line of quality. Vol.5 is one of the strongest volumes centring as it does on a beautiful blend of baroque pop and outright popsike. There are beauties from We All Together's earliest (and best) period in 'Symbolic Queen' and 'I'm A Blue Bird'. Others like Los Macs ('Secuencias', 'Que Clase De Sentimiento'), Los Walkers ('La Casa De Juan') and Los Brincos ('Un Mundo Differente') and Los Iberos ('Summertime Girl') provide some familiarity, even if just in name. The beautiful starter track 'Espelhos Quebrados' by Ronnie Von, connotes the other side of the style on this set, a lovely baroque orch pop number. Other groups like Los Pasos, Oz Brazoes The Chants and Los Pepes provide the more obscure band end of the spectrum but with no less affection. Even Os Mutantes contribute a pop ballad in 'Virginia'. Volume 6 takes a beatier route providing offerings by The Tasaday ('Nena Nena Nena'), New Juggler Sound ('I Must Go', 'Baby Baby'), Los Gatos ('Hey Soy Muy Pobre'), Los Silvertons ('Se Que No Vendras') as well as more Brincos, Shains, and Shakers. There's some great proto-power rock type stuff by The Knacks ('Te Evtranare', and 'Dejame En El Pasado'), whose output has recently been compiled on LP, grab it if you see it!
     Personally, I find these sort of collector generated comps to be the very breath of why this otherwise obscure music means so much to me and so many others. Get these while you can, you owe it to your ears!
psychodelicias@hotmail.com
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
We Love The Pirates - Charting The Big 'L' Fab 40 (Castle; 2-CD)
     Yes, this does feature some good pirate radio hits - The Shots' 'Keep A Hold Of What You've Got', The Ivy League's 'My World Fell Down', Eric Burdon & The Animals' 'Help Me Girl', Episode Six's 'Morning Dew'… …. - but what makes this lengthy double CD especially the treat that it is are the old radio jingles (many by the brilliant Kenny Everett). These epitomise the Swinging '60s just as much as the glossy Technicolor shots of mini-skirted Dolly Birds shopping down at Carnaby Street. This is quite possibly one of the best snap shots of '60s British pop culture. Here's to the Big 'L' and radio's glory days!
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills