By the way, does Whats A Mans guitar riff sound like Nirvanas Smells Like Teen Spirits guitar to you guys?
Ive listened through a dozen or so Psych albums this last week but none really worth mentioning. Until now, and not for the better: Kalacakra - Crawling To Lhasa One of those expensive albums where I really think the rarity holds most of the value. Long tracks repeating the same uninteresting tunes, sometimes with an annoying voice whispering unintelligibly in your ears. Who unironically sits down and listens to this whole thing?
Its been a while and Ive heard a lot since then. But to narrow down the best 3 I will start with, Corpus - Creation a Child: Its of the harder rock kind but really enjoyed the instrumentation and melodies of this piece. Its got lots of creativity and variation as well, from harder head bobbing tracks like the opener to more sensual epics like Joy, making it its own unique gem lost in time and rarity. The closesnt I can think of right away would be Dark - Dark Round the Edge but even that is not quite the same and I enjoy this more. Paternoster - Paternoster A largely experimental but still grounded, dare I say religious styled album. As the name might imply there really is a lot of christian related instrumental aspects to it like church organs and reverb filled sounds. But with a drive that takes it to a space like vibe a lot. The singer might be the best or worst aspect pf it all depending on how you look at it. He really does sound like a wailing old man straight from the retirement home. It does remind me a lot of Heronimus Fin - The Pharmacist. Which isnt too strange even though its a 2018 it is a tribute to old psych classics like this. But the singer and some arrangements really sound similar sometimes. Phantasia - Phantasia: A somewhat softer and more poetic piece. One song, I Talk To The Moon even resembles King Crimsons I Talk To The Wind, and not just in name. And you can say that a lot of the album keeps that style. A grand obscurity you really should try.
Just listened to: Ivory - Ivory A nice album with some uneven moments. I mostly wanted to point out how similar the female vocalst Chris Christman sounds to Linda Hoyle from Affinity. Its almost uncanny and I thought they were one and the same before researching. If youve heard one you should try the other.
IVory is a nice listen, veers into tight song oriented AM SoCal soft pop Psych territory, whereas I hear Affinity more in the jazzy early progressive with ambitions and th echops to stretch out.
Are you familiar with Barbara Mauritz's Lamb most people only know them from the Last Days of the Fillmore album. They play a variation of Tim Buckley's chamber folk jazz pop: Lamb A Sign Of Change 1970 USA, Psychedelic Folk Rock, Gospel Rock
Ive heard theirs a while back, but I need to refresh my memory. I didnt take note of it as very great back then however.
Catching up with more good psych Ive heard as of late. Weed - Weed Not the most beautiful cover, but this German album has a great mix of psychedelic and proggy tunes, Before I Die being the highlight for me. Again with lots of organ play and heavy drums. White Noise - An Electric Storm Now this is a classic Ive been putting off for way too long. Its one of those albums where I didnt even listen to the whole thing, because what I heard was enough for me to be convinced that I need to get a copy asap. Weve got heavy Psych themes here and musicians having fun with synths and vocals as much as they want. And as a result it turns into a really fun experience, not just a listen. The best way I could describe it is if you combined The United States of America and Head ( a.k.a 107-34-8933 - Numbers ) ,which is probably too obscure to even use a reference, and you would get An Electric Storm. I strongly recommend this for any serious collector of fan of the genre who hasnt yet heard it.¨ Bröselmaschine - Bröselmaschine Bröselmaschine is the sweeter of the bunch here. Its a very enjoyable folk and psych effort again from Germany. And you can really say that its the German version of Dando Shaft, which is another Folk Psych band I love. If you like either I recommend the the other as well, even if this one goes in on the experimental side a bit more, having more reverb and atmosphere.
Theres been a slight drought of good psych for me lately. Not much I found good enough to mention really, except for these melodic and enjoyable albums: Bit a Sweet - Hypnotic 1 : This is some fantastic psychedelic work with great variety. Just look at the cover, it says it all really. Freaky synths and other random sounds also really take this to another level of strange, and I love it. Reaching high on my wantlist currently. The Griffin - The Worlds Filled with Love: Also a very melodic and softer variety of psych which I can often gravitate towards. Almost Poppy and Jazzy in nature is what makes me really appreciate it. Small Talk reminds me of The Troll - Animated Music because of the less serious vocal performance and little touches like that are so enjoyable as well. Puff - Puff: Lesser known but still not too expensive album. Often utilizing a boys choir type of vocal presentation it can be a little dry at times, but the highs can get up there like Vacuum and Walk Upon The Water is just too catchy not to tap your foot too. The Rainbow Press - Theres a War On: The first and better of their two efforts, at least as I view them currently. This one just has more spark and wholeness to it yet still is employs a lot more styles. The title track shows their capable range and willingness to try it all. Its also one of those albums I could have sworn that Ive seen before on shops or online but just dismissed since Id never really heard it before. Possible too since its decently cheap usually. Boscoe -Boscoe An outlier in this posts group of selections since its nowhere nears as catchy or melodic. But the intro song is really what does it for me here. That first song just sits so right and had my head raking for what it reminded me of, until I realized it was Baby Grandmothers Being is More Than Life, a song which Ive listened to a few dozen more times now since then ;^) After that the album evolves into a more African style funk and soul ordeal which I wasnt a big fan of but I still wanted to mention it because of the opening track leaving me so entranced.
The Mutantes LPs were discussed in a thread on Brazilian music here. The situation with vinyl and CDs of the first three LPs are rather murky. What follows is my best recollection/ guess/ experience. First, the first two albums were issued in Mono despite the late date. I am not sure that any true stereo mix is available. Second, according to several Brazilians, the original LP issues are largely trashed as the group apparently had a very young audience at the time. Clean originals therefore are very expensive. Third, the first two LPs were almost identically titled: Os Mutantes and Mutantes (the third is titled A Divina Comedia). You have to go by the cover. Fourth, in the early 80s a Brazilian record store entered into some arrangement with Polydor to repress the first 3 albums. The (analog?) repressings are sonically very good. I have the second and third LPs from this record store reissue. They have the exact same record number but are on heavier vinyl. I never found a copy of the first LP reissue. Fifth, confusingly Polydor only a year or two later in the 80s reissued the albums again on Polyfar in conjunction with a CD release. This time the LPs were given a similar number to the CDs and I assume are digital remasters. Sixth, more recently in the 2000s there was a 180g release on Polydor that has decent sonics. However a later reissue by Polysom is sonically compromised. Seventh there was a CD Box set from Universal recently. New Os Mutantes Box Set from Universal Brazil The Record Stores of São Paulo, Brazil (with LOTS of photos) Os Mutantes - The Prog Years
So the 80s Polyfar reissues sound good, even as Stereo releases? One guy under you in the linked thread compares and states them as "much worse" compared to originals which also dont sound good. And the Polysom reissues are not good at all? What about the modern Polydor reissues?
No the record store (Baratos Afin) related reissues in the early 80s were all Mono. There were later reissues in the 80s on Polyfar but I do not know them or what source they used. As stated above I believe there is NO true stereo of the first two LPs. Possibly the third LP has a stereo mix but it wasn't released originally AFAIK. I am not an authority; just relaying my best guess.
To be clear, are these actually repressings or just reissues? Because I see no runouts in the original discogs page so I cant really tell if its from the same metalwork. But rarely ever have I seen actual repressings happen so much later. Heres the Baratos Afin 80s reissue on Discogs, but it says Stereo. Is this wrong? Mutantes* - Mutantes
Some heavy jazz, rock and psych fusion going on I see. I cant say Im too big a fan of Krautrock though.
You need to read the original post more carefully. Admittedly it's complicated. I said there were two reissues in the 80s. The first was by Baratos- Polydor, the second by Polyfar. The link you have is to Polyfar which did the CD reissue which I noted I had never heard. I have the Baratos Polydor LPs. There were never CDs of the Baratos reissues which now are about as rare as the originals.
I see, so there is another Baratos release not yet on Discogs then? What would indicate the true Baratos also, red Polydor labels perhaps?
Only the deadwax. I never found the first Baratos Os Mutantes LP, only Mutantes and A Divina Comedia. They are now very rare. They are very close reissues to the originals so yes they say Polydor not Polyfar Polysom etc. The visual difference is heavier vinyl and better quality covers but the record number is the same. Discogs is not the most accurate site in case you don't know.
