Most helpful client reviews
48 of 49 persons found the following review helpful.
Excellent volume of psych-pop from WEA vaults
By hyperbolium
Producer Andrew Sandoval has pulled together twenty-four superb psych-pop tracks from the WEA vaults, including sides culled from master tapes of Warner, Reprise, Loma, Atco, Valiant, and Cotillion. The focus is on singles, with a few album tracks mixed in, and mainly from artists who were either unknown, or were stepping outside their regular domainname for an experimental run down the psychedelic highway. Some of the best known names here are those of the session producers, including Lenny Waronker, Jerry Yester, Don & Phil Everly, Don Adrissi, Jimmy Bowen, Joey Levine, Curt Boettcher, and Richard Perry.
Better known artists, like The Tokens, are represented by sides that step away from their intimate hits, and the one-off singles and rare album tracks explore lesser known sides of the mercantile psych boom. Though recorded in proper studios for major labels, these tracks still temper their hit-seeking with a healthful dollop of experimental. The key years of 1966 through 1968 yield an entire program of psych-tinged folk and sunshine rock, heavy on the harmonies and studio craft.
Highlights include the trippy vocals, space sounds and discothèque beat of Baker Knight’s “Hallucinations,” the raga jangle of Adrian Pride’s “Her Name is Melody,” the funky “Straight Aero” by Jeff Thomas, the jugband-styled harmonies of MC^2′s “My Mind Goes High,” the Sgt. Pepper-esque “Lucifer” from future Ohio Express mastermind Joey Levine, and the droning “Hell Will Take Care of Her” from Brass Buttons. Fans of the mid-80s paisley underground, particularly The Rain Parade, early Bangles and Three O’Clock, will find this volume intimate and compelling.
’60s folk fans will want to check out the Curt Boettcher-produced cover of Bob Gibson and Phil Ochs’ “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be,” finish with a variable-speed guitar and backward koto instrumental break. Songwriter Paul Williams’ debuts as a performer on The Holy Mackerel’s “Wildflowers,” finish with Leslie-fied lead vocals, and the primary mono single mix of The Monkees’ “Porpoise Song” makes it’s CD debut. Producer Sandoval lovingly documents each side with details on the band and the circumstances of the track’s creation. The insert booklet likewise includes a good deal of photos and label reproductions, and the purpose-built tri-fold digipack features a neat pop-art color wheel. Originally issued by Rhino Handmade as “Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults,” this has been reissued with a minor track modify underneath the title, “My Mind Goes High.” [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]
7 of 7 persons found the following review helpful.
Very listenable, and at times…dare I say, beautiful!
By Blind man Wayne
Firstly, this is fundamentally the same release as Rhino’s Handmade issue titled ‘Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults’. The main divergences are the packaging and one track is substituted with another. On Rhino’s release, track 19 is ‘Your Love Belongs To Everyone’ by Los Coronados and here track 19 is ‘Sign Of The Queen’ by Noel Harrison.
Although the cuts here drip with psychedelia, they have a pop feel with strong melodies. We’re talking severe ear-worms that get stuck in the head! A bestloved of mine on this lovely CD is ‘How Nice?’ by the Tokens, who had a huge hit in 1961 titled ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. Here, through their enchanting harmonies and lyrics, they sing with regards to a walk in the park and the approcach of a thunder-shower. Another awful track is ‘Wildflowers’ by The Holy Mackerel. This exquisite and trippy tune will take your breath away with it is pretty Mideastern Indian influences and attentiongetting melody that will get stuck in the noggin huge time! I look forward to this tune finally seeping into my nighttime pillow dreams. Dig it! This is good stuff!
The liner notes and photos, along with audio quality are top-notch! A ought to for any individual who enjoys late 60s psych-pop.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
‘My Mind Goes High: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets’ (Rhino) Various Artists
By Mike Reed
Another must-have respective artisan collection – comiplation CD of galore genuinely outstanding psychedelic bands of days long gone by. Total of twenty-four audio gems here to be exhaustively taken in. Some lesser-known tunes by a great deal of of the more prominent names from that golden age of psych – treasures by the Association, Music Machine, Tokens, Electric Prunes, the Monkees and West Coast Pop Art Experiemental Band. Then, of course for good measure, there are galore goodies from a lot of unknown bands – like Misty Wizard, Adrian Pride, Jeff Thomas, Michael Clough, sunshine pop artisan singer / songwriter Noel Harrison (has got a couple of CD’s out), Brass Buttons and a group called Salt with their pop gem “Lucifer”. As I’ve dabbled around on Amazon, I’ve not so long ago came upon a great deal of the must-own respective artists titles like this one. Does this trip ever end? I sure hope not.
See all 4 client reviews…
