Acid4

TAB 061

ANT BEE - "Through The Window Pain"

TRACKS: Pre-Cake/Eating Chocolate Cake In The Bath/Silent Mantroid Volume 1/Silent Mantroid Vol 2/Post-Cake.

ANT BEE is the brainchild of Billy James and it was these recordings that helped secure him his first record deal with Voxx. These are the demos for Pure Electric Honey combining the pristine melodic pop of prime era Brian Wilson with the weird noises of dragons heavy breathing mixing with the dinky voices of a kindergarten on helium, backwards vocals, haunted organ, wind blowing through underwater wires. There's "Eating Chocolate Cake In The Bath" (from the Voxx album) with the associated tracks "Pre-cake" and "Post-cake" in embryo. The other two tracks are "Silent Mantroid Vol 1 and 2"; high falsetto voice drifting over the simplest of piano strumming chords then the helium voices and more organ, hissing, caressing up through the cracks in the walls.

TAB 062

EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS "Indian Corn Expansions"

TRACKS: Loose Into The Night/So Easy/The Bells/It's Raining/ Mistic Eyes/Fall In Love With A Leaf/Seven Evenings/Electric Mantra.

EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS were formally known as The Clockmakers and were an Italian psych band. This is their first release on the label and on it they present a selection of pop psychedelia to please just about everyone. We ease in gently with "Loose Into The Night", featuring Lodovico's mellow vocals over a 2 chord guitar riff and some tasty guitar fills. Then the Byrdsian psych/pop jangle of "So Easy", through the acid folk of "Mistic Eyes" (with words by Van Morrison and music like the US band Kaleidoscope), to "Electric Mantra", a keyboard dominated piece which finishes the tape (and sounds like it could have been on Tyrannosaurus Rex's "A Beard Of Stars".

TAB 063

CHILDE ROLAND - "Psychedelic Meadows"

TRACKS: Waltzing With Matilda/Moon/Captain Nemo/ Pomegranate Queen/Patterns Of Love/Squatters Ball/Cuban Missiles/ Salad Days/Midnight/Priest King.

With this, his second release on the label, CHILDE ROLAND has adopted an acoustic approach, replacing the electric guitar of his earlier tape with acoustic guitars and the delicate strains of violin, cello and double bass. He also shares vocals with Jane Ellen, whose vocal delivery is not unlike CHILDE ROLAND's and combines with the strings to give an altogether folkier feel to the songs. "Cuban Missiles" and "Midnight" appear here in very different versions to the tracks on "Evil fetish". This tape shows another side to CHILDE ROLAND and the strings combine with guitar and voice to create an atmosphere of slightly sinister relaxation.

TAB 064

ROCKY THUNDER & THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION "Thunderous Conception"

TRACKS: Satanic Verse.../Love In These Days Of Rage/Stop The Music/It Would Have Been Safer, It Would Have Been Wiser/ Gasp!/Play-time For Ming/Love In These Days Of Rage.

ROCKY THUNDER was partner in crime with CHILDE ROLAND on the X-MACHINA tape "God's From The Sky" (TAB 067) but here he is with THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. "Satanic Verse" leads us in with sonorous chiming of bells, strange breathing and Arabian style singing, followed by electronic drums and crazed, maniacal laughter. A soundtrack to read your copy of the Necronomicon by. "It Would Have Been Safer, It Would Have Been Wiser" once again has a basic rhythm of electronic drums with Vincent Price taking lead vocals. As with "Playtime For Ming", there are a lot of steals from movies, but it's none the worse for that, and together with the eerie music combines to create a strong and interesting atmosphere.

TAB 065

STORMCLOUDS "Psychotronic"

TRACKS: Psychotronic/Lost In Space/The Mushroom Men/The Boy With X-Ray Eyes/Galaxina/The 2 Dimensional Man/The Day The Earth Stood Still/He's Dead Jim/The Creature From Galaxy X/It Came From Outer Space/Altair 4

This tape is in the weirdly psychedelic vein rather than STORMCLOUDS' usual fuzz pop, using keyboards and special effects more than guitar to re-record a bunch of old favourites such as "Lost In Space" and "The Creature From Galaxy X" as well as a bunch of new numbers. The resulting sound is like being caught in an episode of The Time Tunnel, and the songs drift in and out as if in a dream - it's the world of outer space as seen though '50's coloured goggles. "The Day The Earth Stood Still is a gentle lullaby - girl falls in love with spaceman; "The Mushroom Men" is a squelching B Movie soundtrack, the story of fungoid invasion from your mind; "He's Dead Jim" is an affectionate tribute to Star Trek, complete with steals from the show; and "The Boy With X-Ray Eyes", featuring guest vocalist Jim Xavier, details the horror of being able to see through everything! Lose yourself in the psychedelic world of B Movie mayhem!

TAB 066

JAMES T. RAO - "Tao Window"

TRACKS: Zen Lunatic Theme/A Pause For Reflection/Zinc Treasure/Shell-Tribal Chant/My Island/Schizo Blues/Just A Dream- Meteor Shower Curtain/Deja Vu Blues/Just To Be Here/Heaven Smiles On You And The Dress You Wear/Now It's Gone/Shadow Walking Slow/The Very Reason/Forget Me Not/Weird Sky/Micro- cosmic Sister/3 Steps Away From The Void/Memories Mean Nothing When You're Dead/Another Orange Planet/A Garden Gives You Everything.

Another release for the prolific JAMES T. RAO. More shimmering psychedelia. See other entries for more details, (TAB's 049, 058, 066, 081 and 119).

TAB 067

X MACHINA - "Gods From The Sky"

TRACKS: Youth/Cuban Missiles/The Moon And The Sledge- hammer/Over The Edge/Queen Of Hell/Fallen Angels/X-Machina/ Lift-Off/The Reckoning/Youth/Mantra.

X - MACHINA are a collaboration between CHILDE ROLAND and ROCKY THUNDER and while this tape does sound a lot like the recordings by CHILDE ROLAND it is a lot heavier and ROCKY THUNDER's influence is felt in the subject matter and in the excellent bass playing. The tape begins with a warning that listening to it could cause severe damage to the listener and you're given a five second warning to switch it off before we're straight into a collection of heavy, guitar dominated songs exploring the darker side of psychedelic rock.

TAB 068

THE SCARLET DROPS - "Moose Power Au-Go-Go"

TRACKS: Death Boogie/Early In The Morning/I Know A Girl/Out Of Their Holes/Heavy Cow/A Little Cunning/Order Against/Bring 'em Down/Crazy/Playtoe.

Canada's SCARLET DROPS were a hard rock band with a definite punk attitude and were notable for two lead vocalist (male and female) who take turns in singing (on the same song. A solid, dependable beat of bass and drums and some blistering guitar work make this a collection of unpretentious goodtime rock destined to set the toes tapping.

TAB 069

ALICE'S ORB - "Alice's Orb"

TRACKS: Tomorrow's Orb/Sun, Sea, Surf And Sand/Wind Blows/Horace's Magic Pyjamas/Coal Barn Blues/Everyone Is Free/Teardrops/She Runs With The Light Mr. Philips.

A tape of psychedelic songs distinguished by some fine harmony work and lengthy guitar workouts. After a short keyboard intro and a brief burst of "You Are My Sunshine" it's into the Beatles/Beach Boys flavoured "Sun, Sea, Surf And Sand" (flavoured with magic mushrooms that is). It's like a psyched out cross between "Roll Over Beethoven" and a beach Boys surfin classic. Next up, after a short burst of "Do You Like Worms?" is the gentle, acoustic "Wind Blows" with some nice harmonies, (a feature of all ALICE'S ORB songs). "Horace's Magic Pyjamas" is a dirty fuzz guitar instrumental with some fine lead guitar to caress the corners of your mynd. "Mi Lady" once again features harmony vocals, this time over a backing of just keyboards. "Everyone If Free" features more vocal gymnastics with some subtle backwards guitar for effect.

TAB 070

THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS - "13"

TRACKS: The Jangling Man/No Go/Mariette/A Man Of Our Time/Here She Crashes/A Street Called Prospect/Minesweeping Memory Lane/Germayne/Boy From The Home Counties/The Tear Collector/Christmas In Suburbia.

The third release on the label for the excellent CLEANERS FROM VENUS. This tape once again is a collection of classic English psychedelia and Martin Newall gives us another set of killer songs. Jangling tunes for an English summer's day. For more on the CLEANERS FROM VENUS check out Giles Smith's excellent book Lost In Music.

TAB 072

VARIOUS ARTISTS ' "High Everybody"

TRACKS: THE NARC TWINS: Submarine/Tell The Time. ANT BEE: Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree. JAMES T. RAO: Zinc Treasure. EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS: A Rainbow In The Sky. ALICE'S ORB: Sun, Sea, Surf & Sand. SCARLET DROPS:. Death Boogie. MUD PIE: Who I Was. X-MACHINA:. Lift Off. CHILDE ROLAND: Moon. THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS: The Jangling Man. EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS: My Blue Words. ALICE'S ORB: Teardrops. WHAT KATY DID NEXT: The Little Death

Nearly all these songs collected here have been (or would be) included on other releases. So it's a good place to start if you want to sample what's on the label. The two songs by THE NARC TWINS are from "Life With The Lemon" (TAB 073); "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree" by ANT BEE would finally appear on "Lunar Egg-Clips Dances With The Mystic Mother" (TAB 084); JAMES T. RAO's "Zinc Treasure" is from TAB 081; EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS' songs are from "Another Summer Of Grass" (TAB 076); The two songs by ALICE'S ORB are from their "Alice's Orb" release (TAB 069); "Death Boogie" by SCARLET DROPS is taken from TAB 068, MUD PIE's "Who I Was" is from "Rustle" (TAB 074); "Lift Off" by X - MACHINA is from TAB 067; "Moon" by CHILDE ROLAND is from TAB 063 and "The Jangling Man" by THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS is from TAB 070. "The Little Death" by WHAT KATY DID NEXT is the only exclusive on this tape and sounds like heavy acoustic Stooges.

TAB 073

THE NARC TWINS - "Life With The Lemons"

TRACKS: The Twins Of Narcness/Hack A Go Go/Big Green Marble/Tell The Time/Freeform Jazz Freakout/Submarine/ Following Marcia Freegley/Whisper Love/Don't You Know/Slow/ Lackadasical Chain/Oot Poppy/Dumb Angel/Trip To Brazil/Man In The Park/Loave Trans Comet/This Is My Dream/Don't Stop To Think That's It's Too Light/Bite The Wax Tadpole/Crystal Pools.

THE NARC TWINS 20 track demo is a kind of 'Sgt Pepper' recorded in the bedroom (Flowerbedroom Studios). THE NARC TWINS are just plain weird, the world obviously has to come to them on their own terms or pass them by. It's all credited to Buck Quickly and Quick Parkly, but, pseudonyms apart, this avoids being another psychedelic joke as these guys have no respect for traditional song structures like beginnings or endings and are seriously out to lunch. Because of the number of tracks, the more laboured bits, such as their intro to "Freeform Jazz Freakout" are cut short rather than splurging. Standout tracks on side 1 are the two tracks skirting this, the shimmering guitar and repeating mantric vocals of "Tell The Time" (wearing its Rain Parade shades) and the pop-art explosion of "Submarine" (an authentically cool thing to write psychedelic songs about as you are no doubt aware). Whichever one of these pseudonyms is playing the lead here has a fine wail. THE NARC TWINS aren't bound by commercial pressures. The songs and playing have a degree of class that many bands with record deals would give their eye teeth for. From the classic 60's pop of such tracks as "Whisper Love" and "Don't You Know" to the kaleidoscopic spin of tracks such as "Slow" and "The Third Stone" and the bass pulse and droning fuzz guitars of "Oot Poppy where all their drugs return to haunt them.

TAB 074

MUD PIE - "Rustle"

TRACKS: Tilt-o-whirl/Hum Drum/September/A Feeling/Prayer/ Who I Was/Theny Whent/I Saw How/Hat Pie/What You Wanted To Hear.

MUD PIE are an auto smash between a Morris Minor loaded with the solo recordings of Syd Barrett and a souped-up Dream Syndicate at-their-most-experimental hot-rod. They are two guitars (Rob Miller and Steven Pitcherella) and a bass (Tom Quinn) with all three sharing percussion. The combination of acoustic guitars with weird whistling noise and feedback, with ache wearied vocals is something Robert Gilligan and the Submarine prophets have also experimented with, but MUD PIE are less angst shocked than the former and both more tuneful than the latter. A song such as the opener "Tilt-o-whirl" repeatedly changes pace as it changes mood making rhythmic change necessary rather than pointless cleverness. As a journey through contemporary senseless America Rustle would make a fine soundtrack to a remake for the 90's of the classic Two Lane Blacktop. All the songs tease at motion, a feeling that the black hole spirals will straighten out, the maelstrom will convert into momentum and when in "Hat Pie" the guitars hit into a wildly strumming vein, you can just feel the gears changing under your feet. While "What You Wanted To Hear" has that modern hymn for modern times quality that so distinguished the songs on the first Dream Syndicate album.

TAB 075

THEE TROUBLE - "Always Returning"

TRACKS: Summer '66/Don't Leave Me Alone On The Bus/Angela/Chimes Of Freedom/For Greta/In A While/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away/Step Inside Love/Can't Step In The Dark/Life Is Not A Circle.

Italian pop/psychedelia in the Beatles, Byrds vein, from Torino. The covers here tell part of the story but THEE TROUBLE are beginning to find their own style on this, their first Acid Tape' release. Their original numbers are still heavily influenced by the above bands (and nothing wrong with that) with close harmonies, killer melodies and jangling 12 strings, but from it all their own sound is emerging. (A sound which is even more evident on their second release "Swinging London 67 - 91" - TAB 098).

TAB 076

EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS - "Another Summer Of Grass"

TRACKS: John Cipollina's Night/That Human Side Of Play/Grass Session No. 5014/A Rainbow In The Sky/The Trip Of Mr. Four/My Blue Words/The Bee.

The second release for EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS kicks off with an extended instrumental jamming session laden with some fine psych/blues guitar playing from LODOVICO ELLENA. (as you'd expect from a song titled "John Cipollina's Night"; "Grass Session No. 5014 has a jazz flavour with sax and piano; "Rainbow In The Sky" is an Elephant's classic, a fast paced psych/fuzz track (the same goes for "My Blue Words"; "The Bee is free-form jazz with piano; "The trip" is another instrumental workout with layers of Lodovico's wah wah guitar and some great bass playing from Sergio Monti. Hell, what are you waiting for, this is Italian psychedelia at its best, check it out.

TAB 077

LODOVICO ELLENA - "Cats In Love"

TRACKS: I Walk And Walk/Here And Now/Into The Blues/ Somebody To Love/Spanish Roses/Cats In Love/The God's Lunatics/ I Walk And Walk II/The Stone/The Aristocratic Cat/Mistic Frog.

This is the first of several solo releases for LODOVICO ELLENA and showcases his songwriting talents and psychedelic guitar playing. From the heavy, fuzz drenched guitar riff and double tracked Syd vocals of "I Walk And Walk" to the blues guitar workout, backed with swirling keyboards which is "Into The Blues"" This tape is mostly heavy psychedelic fuzz guitar and fuzzed vocals presenting another side to the fine psychedelic music that he did with EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS.

TAB 078

MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS/THE LUCID DREAM "My Favourite Martians/The Lucid Dream"

TRACKS: MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS: High On Drugs/ Smell The Flowers/Castles Of Sand/Afraid To Touch Her/Graveyard Girlfriend. THE LUCID DREAM: I'm On Fire/Fear And Surprise/Shattered Illusion/Aural/Outside Looking In/The Perfect Lie.

MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS were from Sweden and here they present a short collection of some pop/psych classics. The soaring trip through the skies of psychedelia which is "High On Drugs", the equally trippy "Smell The Flowers", the sad "Afraid To Touch Her" and "Graveyard Girlfriend" which hides a sinister tale behind their trademark of 12 string jangle. There's tight, infectious harmonies and hooklines, swirling psychedelic keyboards and subtle, concise guitar playing.

THE LUCID DREAM were from Gloucester in the UK and were put together from the ashes of An Elegant Chaos. Their music contains elements of the early 80's post punk indie psychedelic pop fusing malevolently yet beautifully with the 90's festival sound

TAB 079

VARIOUS ARTISTS - "Sounds From L.S.D."

TRACKS: THE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT: 7 & 7 Is. DEADBOLTS: Watcha Gonna Do?/Mystery Girl. CRYPTICS: I Gotta Problem/Never Compromise. SIDEWINDERS: Blood On Her Hands/What She Said. RIVER ROSES: Set Down/Stay Away From Me. BLACK SUN ENSEMBLE: Dove Of The Desert. THE JOHNIES: Ill Wind/Down Home Girl. AL PERRY AND THE CATTLE: It's Your Grave (Can You Dig It?)/Lower Sonoran Desert.

"Sounds From The Lower Sonoran Desert": A tape put together by Tim Gassen of THE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT, which was intended to be a vinyl release by Get Hip records but it didn't happen. These recordings are raw and direct; each group was recorded in the same living room-studio on the most basic of equipment. There is a sense of continuity to it also because all the tracks were recorded by the same engineer and producer. This is the document of eight groups sharing the personality of a home town and a particular time in its music scene. A collection of American rock, garage punk and psychedelia from a collection of bands who should be familiar to most of you.

TAB 080

ROCKNOCEROS - "We're Rocknoceros And We Eat A Lot"

TRACKS: No One/Big Cats/Sam The Man/Swimming Man/ Posterior/My Hero Zero/Second Skin/Start It All Over Again.

ROCKNOCEROS hailed from Philadelphia, U.S.A. and featured bassist Tom Quinn from MUD PIE. Raw, energetic rock 'n ' roll with a B52 influence (all the band were big fans). The twin male/female vocals are put to good effect on songs like "No One" where they spend most of the time in a heated argument over a hard rock/punk rhythm. Watch out mother - this tape contains the "F-word"! I can hear Patti Smith and X - Ray Spex influences here in this collection of loud, aggressive American rock.