MIND DE-CODER 85
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...transport me out of self and aloneness and alienation
Into a sense of oneness and connection, ecstatic and magical.
The Cocteau Twins - Rilkean Heart Paroles
SPERRMULL NO FREAK OUT
Sperrmull were another of the lesser-known krautrock acts, and, arguably, deservedly so. No experimental kosmische explorations here; this was a band more at home to fuzzy freak out improvisations complete with Hammond organ wig-outs, heavy guitar leads, and epic flute arrangements that are clearly in thrall to early Deep Purple. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and what they lacked in Faustian sonic experimentation they more than made up for with acid guitar reverb mayhem - the mystical No Freak Out, taken from their only release, 1973s eponymous debut, being a rather marvellous case in point.
RADIOPHONIC TUCKSHOP ROCKINGHAM PALACE REVISITED
THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELERIUM BORISKA
The Claypool Lennon Delerium - Primus’ Les Claypool and Sean Lennon - return with another album overflowing with psychedelic excess on their second release SOUTH OF REALITY, released earlier this year. It’s a dreamlike mix of Deep Purple meets The Who doing The Moody Blues filtered through a dusty mixing desk that’s lain dormant since the Beatles recorded a couple of Pepper-esque inspired b-sides on it, funky bass lines, studio-based experimentation and delirious prog mischief. The lyrics aren’t necessarily anything to jump up and down about but the overwhelming sense of lysergic playfulness is undeniably joyous in intent. Boriska appears to be about that Russian fellow Boriska Kipriyanovich, the 21-year-old who claims to have lived on Mars before a war broke out and all life on the planet was destroyed. He was quoted as saying that ‘human life will change when the Sphinx is opened, it has an opening mechanism somewhere behind the ear; I do not remember exactly.’ Someone should look for that, really.
RUFUS ZUPHAL KNIGHT OF THE THIRD DEGREE
Jazzy prog vibes abound in Knight of the Third Degree, accompanied by the Spanish and medieval elements you’d expect from any self-respecting krautrock band who were releasing albums in 1971, and WEISS DER TUEFEL, the debut album by Rufus Zuphal, is no exception. Heavy prog and psychedelic folk are the order of the day, although a liberal use of the flute led to unjust comparisons with Jethro Tull. In actual fact, Rufus Zuphall were far more experimental, introducing a number of world instruments into the mix. The album originally saw a limited release as a private pressing, its rarity leading some to suspect it was the great long-lost krautrock release we’ve all been secretly hoping for. It’s not, of course, but it enjoys a certain unpolished charm all of its own, especially on this track, recorded live in the studio, that captures that moment when psych went prog in your krautrock circles.
ARGOSY IMAGINE
This rather delightful track - full of references to sitting on rainbows and visiting Sgt pepper land - is the b-side to the little-known Mr. Boyd, released in 1969 by Argosy, an equally little-known flower-pop act who had just the one single in them, and who are remembered today, if at all, for featuring a young Reginald Dwight (Elton John, to you) in the line-up and singer Roger Hodgson, who went on to form Supertramp. In essence, that is all there is to be said about Argosy, forever to be known as a footnote to the careers of Dwight and Hodgson, who both went on to bestride the 70s like a behemoth, or, indeed, behemoths.
LADY JUNE OPTIMISM
Lady June, of course (for this is not the first time she has graced Mind De-Coder), was legendary landlady to the Canterbury set, and hostess of London’s premier smoking salon and party venue - it was at one of her parties that Robert Wyatt fell out of a window, breaking his back. Fondly regarded as an endearing eccentric of the Viv Stanshall variety, she was a writer, painter and sculptress in her own right who, in 1974, released LINGUISTIC LEPROSY, a spoken word album of her bonkers poetry, produced for her by her long-time friend Kevin Ayers. If you’re inspired to buy one album from this show, I urge you to make it this one - it’s as an authentic statement of London’s counter-culture as your ever likely to hear, and something of a paean to a time long gone.
WALKER PHILLIPS THE RAIN, THE TOWER AND OTHER THINGS
I don’t know where Walker Phillips came from or how he came to be making such tantalizing, ravishing music, but, what I take to be his debut album, MY LOVE SUNDAY, released last year, captures the very essence of acid folk in all its lysergically enhanced pristine beauty. Think Espers, think Sproatly Smith, think Tyrannosaurus Rex, think Forest, and then think Mark Fry’s DREAMING WITH ALICE and that will give you an idea of where Walker Phillips is coming from. He’s really that good. The Rain, the Tower And Other Things is, admittedly, the most far-out track on the album, but the rest of the album, full of enchanted weird-folk meanderings inspired by Pink Floyd’s Cirrus Minor, is a surreal delight that ravishes the senses.
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE D.C.B.A. 25
I meant to play the lovely D.C.B.A. 25 last year to mark the passing of Paul Kantner but somehow, I’ve only just got round to it. I’m an enormous fan of Jefferson Airplane’ two 1967 releases, SURREALISTIC PILLOW and AFTER BATHING AT BAXTERS, which pretty much book-ended San Francisco’s Summer of Love. This was, in fact, the only song he wrote for SURREALISTIC PILLOW, a song he referred to as an LSD-inspired romp through consciousness. Kantner always had an enthusiasm for mind expansion through acid (and science-fiction utopianism). The letters in the title refer to the chords used in the song, and I understand, the number is a reference to LSD-25, which pretty much makes this the perfect song with which to eulogise him.
THE ORANGE BICYCLE LAST CLOUD HOME
I’ve always had a soft spot for Orange Bicycle despite their being one of those bands which the record buying public overlooked. They started off life as the sort of a skiffle band that would play at the 2 I’s in Soho before changing their name to Robb Storm and the Whispers and joining the pre-Beatles British rock scene in which they recorded a handful of singles that failed to trouble the charts. They were, however, the first British rock ‘n’ roll group to play behind the iron curtain, supporting Helen Shapiro on a tour of Poland. At one point they even boasted a young Lewis Collins (Bodie, to you) in their line-up (interesting fact: Lewis Collins was once briefly considered as a replacement for Pete Best in The Beatles! How different the world would have been in so many ways if that had ever been a thing). The mid-sixties saw a name change to The Robb Storme Group covering the Beach Boys until the psychedelic revolution led them to re-name themselves Orange Bicycle and release a single that at least got them to No. 1 in France. This, sadly, was to be as good as it got for them - despite the support of John Peel who was quite the fan, they were, to the British charts, as a bowl of carrot sticks on the table at a child’s birthday party, which is a pity because they were one of the best harmony pop groups of the psychedelic period. Last Cloud Home was the b-side to a 1969 single which, once again, had no one racing to the record shops with their pocket money jingling away in their pockets although they still had three or four equally unloved singles left in them before they called it a day. Their only album was released in 1970 by which time the psychedelic bubble had burst and that, as they say, was that. Interestingly enough, the drummer also went on to join Supertramp - who would have guessed that psychedelia’s loss would ever be pop-prog’s gain?
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE ALL GREETINGS FROM PLANET LOVE/RAINBOW PEOPLE
The Fraternal Order Of The All is an affectionate homage to the flower power era by Andrew Gold, the man responsible for those late 70s hit singles Lonely Boy and Thank You For Being A Friend (which ended up being used as the intro for The Golden Girls, fact fans), but clearly his heart belonged in the 60s. Claiming to be a long-lost psychedelic artefact recorded between August 1967 and August 1968, GREETINGS FROM PLANET LOVE weighs in with flawless pastiches of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Byrds and, well, some acts whose names start with other letters of the alphabet too, like the Strawberry Alarmclock and The Doors. It was actually recorded in 1997 but Gold knowingly pilfers every trick in the psychedelic toolbox, no doubt with a big, melon-sized grin on his face - had it been recorded in the 60s it would be lauded as a classic.
DEATH AND VANILLA A FLAW IN THE IRIS
In another homage to a bygone era - albeit more to the experimental lounge side of things - A Flaw In The Iris is a taster from what we can expect from the new album by Swedish retro-futurists Death and Vanilla, which is to be released later on in the year. Utilizing vintage musical equipment such as the vibraphone, organ, mellotron, tremolo guitar and moog, to emulate the sounds of 60s/70s soundtracks, library music, German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych, this is a band who are very much at home to the intricate arrangements of Pierre Henry, the United States of America and Ennio Morricone as they are to late 60s baroque harmony pop. Their new album ARE YOU THE DREAMER, will be available in May, and if A Flaw In The Iris is anything to go by, it will match their sublime, eerie melodies to bewitching analogue electronics with psychedelic overtones, and will be quite marvellous, I expect.
THE BEATLES NORWEGIAN WOOD (TAKE 2)
This is one of those tracks that appear on YouTube every now and then. I’ve no idea how they become suddenly available, but this does pretty much what it says on the label - it’s take 2: a heavier, drone-like approach as the band try out a new arrangement and George comes to grips with the sitar. As you might imagine, it’s not as polished as the finished version, but it enjoys a distorted psychedelic vibe that that version lacks. It’s good - I like it.
THE DIFFERENCE SWEET SOUNDS EVERYWHERE
There’s not a lot I can tell you about this band - they were Norwegian band inspired by Procol Harum (although The Small Faces seems to be a closer reference point here) and John Peel was a fan. This gorgeous track is taken from the b-side to their 1968 release, a cover of The Lewis and Clarke Expedition’s This Town Ain’t The Same Anymore - although The Difference dropped the ‘anymore’. As to whether it charted or not, I’m afraid that information is lost to ye olde psychedelic mysts of tyme, although I understand some version of the band is still performing under the name Travellin’ Strawberries. There - I’m spent.
KEITH SEATMAN AND DOUGLAS E POWELL MR METRONOME
Something of a curious oddity, this, but a pleasant enough one for all that. Mr Metronome is taken from the album BROKEN FOLK, an EP of collaborations with folk singer Douglas E. Powell selected from Keith Seatman’s last two albums. It opens with a remix of the title track Broken Folk by that stalwart of British pastoral electronica Belbury Poly, after which Seatman builds a dense collage of electronics, fragmented melody and found sound, around which Powell weaves his dreamlike lyrics. Originally released as 10inch single last year, the albums 5 tracks are subtly psychedelic with an air of melancholia about them, the songs redolent of supernatural short stories and winter afternoons out on English landscapes - dark rustic reveries, occupying the overlapping territory between haunted electronica and wyrd folk. It’s now available to download here.
AMON DÜUL II THE MARILYN MONROE-MEMORIAL CHURCH
Mind-expanding space-rock from the mighty Amon Düül II who, on their third album, 1971’s TANZ DER LEMMINGE (DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS, to you, mein herr), leave behind the guitar freak-outs of YETI and expand their sound to include something altogether more cosmic. The Marilyn Monroe-Memorial Church is entirely improvised and yet its washes of sound, tinkling piano, crashing drums and disembodied instrumental embellishments can draw you in into an interstellar soundscape and keep you there for some 18 minutes or so. This is pretty much the band at their most far-out, or most far-in, because this is a journey into deep space - inside or out - but what a trip.
KRAFTWERK MORGANSPAZIERGANG
The almost unbearably lovely Morganspaziergang (Morning Stroll - only in Germany could they make something so pleasant sound like the sort of noise a tramp in the bushes behind the bus stop might make clearing his throat) is the closing track on Kraftwerk’s fourth album, the classic AUTOBAHN, released in 1974. This was a transitional album for the band - by now their signature hypnotic pulse was all in place but the album is not completely electronic, as violin, flute, piano and guitar are used along with the synthesizers. After the 21-minute title track Morganspaziergang can sound deceptively throwaway, but it’s a lovely piece of music - it begins as a dawn chorus bird-song effect created by the electronic instruments and concludes with an extended finish that uses a repeating variation of the melodic phrase heard in the first instrumental section of Autobahn. So there.
HYBE VENOM
A long time ago - in internet terms - there was a record label called Comfort Stand which championed the free download of the artists on its catalogue and, because this was before your digital music platforms had really taken off, they even provided free artwork and liner notes so you could create your own CD cases. On the whole, their artists created the sort of records that never should have been made. Shotgun weddings and unlikely juxtapositions where styles and genres mingled and smashed up against each other in inadvisable combinations. And because I was listening to a lot of outsider/songs in the key of Z type music at the time (and because I’m a sucker for free downloads) I collected a lot of their downloads, dutifully burnt them onto blank CDs, and slipped them into jewel cases bought from the computer warehouse with the inlays I had printed onto card on the home printer. Anyway, I fancied listening to something a little different in the car the other day so I grabbed one of their 2003 releases called TWO ZOMBIES LATER, an International double album of latter-day exotica, which is where I was reacquainted with this track. Hybe appears to be a hybridization of drum n bass DJ Josee B and lounge Moog Master Brian D, who at some point or other collected from the unconscious, not bothered by time or space, the union of all things possible, musically speaking at least - but like I say, it was a long time ago.
MOON WIRING CLUB SUSPICIOUS SUPERSTICIOUS/RABBIT FOOT DIMENSION
The Moon Wiring Club’s hypnogogic soundscapes are so close to the noises in my head as I drift off to sleep that I sometimes wonder whether they’re slipping out onto the pillow only to be recorded into a craftily placed microphone. These two tracks are taken from Ian Hodgson’s most recent release, PSYCHEDELIC SPIRIT SHOW, released last year - an elaborate, whirlpooling, pop-carousel of sound enlivened with enough baffling-deft temporal mixing to potently confuse the aeons to come!
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