Acid5

TAB 081

JAMES T. RAO - "Sadhanna & The Sick Muse"

TRACKS: Sadhana/One Tree Contains The Wisdom Of A Million Souls/Felt/The Sick Muse/Fun Ship Sea Vegetable Head/Sun Breaks Through/Dr. Fossil Returns/The Whole World revolves Around You/Bed/She Says Groovy/For Children Of Light Who Have Already Seen/Valentine/Ancient Sky Pt 3/For The TV Personalities/Summer Was/Older Than Tomorrow.

Enter the surreal, imagination of JAMES T. RAO and his understated brand of melancholic psychedelia for yet another release on the label. Check out his earlier listings for more details.

TAB 082

VARIOUS ARTISTS - "Isotopic Moments"

TRACKS: THE NARC TWINS: I Can See Your Face/I'm Already Gone. THE PETALS: The Garden Gate. MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS: High On Drugs. ROCKNOCEROS: No One/Big Cats. TWITCH: Splash. DARXTAR: High Tide. ANT BEE: Do You Like Worms? JAMES T. RAO: Something Like A Shadow. ALICE'S ORB: . Telescope.

The two NARC TWINS songs come from TAB 083, THE PETALS song isn't available anywhere else - another of their charming folk flavoured psychedelic gems; MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS' "High On Drugs" is from TAB 078; ROCKNOCEROS check in with two songs from TAB 080; "Splash" by TWITCH is exclusive to this tape and was originally released on ALICE'S ORB Strangely Brown label, as is the Orb's "Telescope. "High Tide" by DARXTAR is another exclusive from these Swedish space-rockers; "Do You Like Worms?" by THE ANT BEE appeared on TAB 089 and JAMES T. RAO's "Something Like Shadow" eventually turned up on TAB 119.

TAB 083

THE NARC TWINS - "LMNOE"

TRACKS: Include The Hits/Ole Joe Mushroom/Somewhat Arnold Major/Magic Dot TV/Death's Door/Listen/I Can See Your Face/ Pretty Theme (From Freak Out)/Onion Overture (Parts 1 and 2)/ Christmas On The Moon/The Lake/Fall Of The Eyemen/ Subterranean Man/Flower Garden/Miracles Abound/I'm Already Gone/And 10 More.

The NARC TWINS were the cosmic powered duo of Quick Parkly and Buck Quickly and they were from Marlboro, N. J. U.S.A. where they obviously put strange things in the drinking water if this tape is anything to go by. Here is another collection of psychedelia which filters the Beatles Sgt Pepper through free-form jazz and 60's beat pop to produce a cassette of dense, weird, mind expanding music. There's great tunes amidst all the lysergic madness too and you'll be humming some of these tunes for days afterwards, especially the sublime "I Can See Your Face".

TAB 084

ANT BEE - "Son Of Lunar Egg-clips Dances With The Mystic Mother"

TRACKS: Intro/Petrouska - Where's My Llama?/My Cat/Kandy Korn/The Wrong At Once (Has Gone)/Greenbeans, Stringbeans And Other Assorted Vegetables/Son Of Orange County/Dancing Lips In Cloriform/Homage To Other Worlds/Lunar Egg-Clips Runs Amuck Black And White Cat, Black And White Cake/The Green Gin/Do You Like Worms?/Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree.

Another collection of ANT BEE'S Beefheart, Beach Boys, Zappa influenced lysergic lunacy. Side one of this tape has been edited together from live rehearsals of the ANT BEE band (which included members from the above mentioned groups) and you'll hear that they could cut it as a live band, moving through all the complicated time changes and rhythms with ease. The next best thing to seeing the band live. Side two comprises two classic covers and demos.

TAB 085

MAGIC MOMENTS AT TWILIGHT TIME - "Flashback #1"

TRACKS: State Of The Art/Acidic Heaven/Spirit/Bewitched/The Soultakers/Blitzkrieg!/Sister Jody.

A compilation tape put together by Mick Magic capturing his band MAGIC MOMENTS AT TWILIGHT TIME in the studio and jamming live. Powerful drum machines, spacy cosmic synth sounds and Hawkwind style guitar over which soar female vocals, sublime harmonies and melodic hooklines. MMATT have a number of releases (including a CD) and this tape is as good a place to start as any. Side one features studio tracks with lots of lysergic powered space-rock and side two is taken up with an extended instrumental jam.

TAB 086

MUD PIE - "These Days"

TRACKS: These Days/Lazy/Now, Here/Something Awful/ Everything Around Me Wasn't Right/I Can't Do Anything/Slip, Fall Down/On This Cold Day/ Rob Goes To The A/Your Word Is Good For Nothing These Days/Silver Noises/One Minute/I Didn't Know.

Another collection of intense and thoughtful songs from Steven Pitcherella and Tom Quinn with help from Rob Miller. A mixture of intense folk and discordant, raging fuzz with a Dream Syndicate, Pixies flavour. For more on MUD PIE see TAB 074.

TAB 087

THE 14TH WRAY - "Wig Man! Wig!"

TRACKS: 14th Wray Theme/My Ball And Chain/Psycho Girl/Yuppie Deadhead Party/It's My Pride/Corpse Grinders/Your face Is In My Mynd/I Married A Witch/Magical Drinking Box/ Hallucination Generation.

THE 14TH WRAY were a punk/garage band from Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Alan Wright, drummer with the band, was also the editor of the ultra-cool Canadian garage fanzine Cryptic Tymes (Canada can sure produce the goods when it comes to garage zines - check out back copies of What Wave as well if you don't believe me). Also in the band we have Pat Shanks (vocals, guitar), Greg Watson (vocals, guitar, organ) and Gordon Mylks (bass, vocals). Side 1 is the garage/punk side starting with a Link Wray inspired instrumental (Yup, that's where they got their name from) and then straight into teenage tales of psycho girls and corpse grinders witch wicked fuzz guitar and snarling vocals. Side 2 is the psych side which cools the pace a bit add lysergic swirling keyboards which seep inside your mynd, especially on the very psyched out "magical Drinking Box". A bunch of wyld, ravin' teenagers from Hell!

TAB 088

MIRRORS IN MOTION - "From Planet Mirror"

TRACKS: Awake!/Born To Be Wild/Let The Music Shining In Your Mind/Pretty Illusions/Hyacinth House/Pagan Sacrifice/ Shake You By The Hand.

MIRRORS IN MOTION were the band LODOVICO ELLENA put together after the demise of EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS. Taking bassist Sergio Monti with him and adding vocalist Rita Francois and Claudio Giachino on drums he put together a more rockier combo, and with the Janis Joplin/Grace Slick inspired vocals a blusier feel to the music as well. There is still 'Vico's distinctive guitar work though, with it's Pink Floyd/Rain Parade feel, but with a harder edge.

TAB 089

ANT BEE - "Evolution"

TRACKS: In A Star/In Yellow Plastic Shoes Vol 1/Silly Fat Fingers/The Wrong At Once (Has Gone)/Evolution #7/Part III/Sluch revisited/Hello Sunrise/The Wrong Way At Once (Has Gone)/Cat Cry/Velvet Horses Sailing/Lunar Egg-Clips/In Yellow Plastic Shoes Vol 2/By The Sea-Sad.

Everything you wanted to know about ANT BEE but were to cool to ask" It includes outtakes from the Electric Honey album (different to those songs which appeared on "Through The Window Pain TAB 061), demos from various stages in the ANT BEE history and a stunning new song. Let's let ANT BEE tell it like it is: This compilation is for ANT BEE fanatics only! all material represents the progression from the beginning of ANT BEE to the present. So sound quality varies drastically from good to really lousy. Each composition holds some sort of key to where I'm at now."

TAB 090

VARIOUS ARTISTS - "Something In My Soup"

TRACKS: ANT BEE: In A Star. ORANGE CAKE MIX: High Flyin' UFO. REEFUS MOONS: See Through. THE UNDER- GROUND: Snapshots. LODOVICO ELLENA: The Window. STORMCLOUDS: Looking Glass World. SKYSAW: Killing Time. WHAT KATY DID NEXT: The Mare's Lemon. THE TWITCH: Home In Time For Tea. THE 14TH WRAY: Psycho Girl. MIRRORS IN MOTION: Mirrors In Motion.

This time it's up to ANT BEE to get things rolling with his psychedelic classic "In A Star" which appears on TAB 089). JAMES T. RAO follows with "High Flyin' UFO" which finally turned up on TAB 119). REEFUS MOONS' song is another outtake from The Word Raven album. THE UNDERGROUND give us "Snapshots", dominated by violin and female vocals, like a more laid-back Curved Air. "The Grave" by LODOVICO ELLENA is a slice of Italian psychedelia and is taken from TAB 115. "Looking Glass World" by STORMCLOUDS is a different version of the song on "House On The Borderland" (TAB 095). SKYSAW were a Calne band, inspired by the tribal punk beat of Killing Joke and "Killing Time" is exclusive to this compilation. Other exclusives are "The Mare's Lemon" a kind of acoustic Stooges workout by WHAT KATY DID NEXT, and the psychedelic "Home In Time For Tea" by THE SWITCH. "Psycho Girl" is a blast of garage punk from Canada's THE 14TH WRAY and is lifted from TAB 087. MIRRORS IN MOTION wind things up with "Mirrors In Motion" from TAB 105.

TAB 091

SPLENDID ISOLATION - "Cauldron"

TRACKS: Small Talk/Judgement/Indian Sky/An End To A Means/Fading...

SPLENDID ISOLATION were the brainchild of John Caddick who wrote all the lyrics and music to these songs which were recorded in 1992. A collection of English flavoured, sparsely arranged folk/rock with warm vocals and some catchy melodies.

TAB 094

ALICE'S ORB - "Ektachromeplane"

TRACKS: What's In The Cupboard?/Psycho Doodle/Hyacinth/ Round And Round/Chalets &Bungalows/My God, My Car/Radio News/Opel.

This second Acid release for ALICE'S ORB has all the trademarks you've come to expect from the band. "Psycho Doodle" is another of their understated psychedelic numbers; "Hyacinth" is a love song with chiming guitars proving that ALICE'S ORB can write great pop songs. It sounds uncannily like something from the early release by THE GIFT; "Chalets and Bungalows" has lots of lead fuzz guitar and "My God, My Car" is another of their 13th Floor Elevators flavoured numbers, which captures perfectly the feeling of Roky's classic band. It also includes some especially nice slide guitar.

TAB 092

TODD SHUSTER - "Todd Shuster"

TRACKS: My You Museum/The Breakfast Man/His Secret Vest/Veronica lake/Safe As Sal Mineo/My Imaginary Friend/Was I There At All.

TODD SHUSTER was/is from Philadelphia and plays all the instruments (and sings) on this 7 song collection of intense Beatlesque introspection. And that's basically all the information we have on the man except that this is a fine collection of sparse, acoustic based, mellow pop with an emotional edge. Kinda like something of "Abby Road" with all the sunlight stripped away.

TAB 093

EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS - "Sand And Wind"

TRACKS: My Blue Words/Cats In Love/A Rainbow In The Sky/ Sinner Man/That Human Side Of Play/Baby Lemonade/Loose Into The Night/The Bells/So Easy.

Most of the songs on this tape have appeared on earlier EFFERVESCENT ELEPHANTS tapes but these are all new versions. Notable alternate versions are "My Blues Words", which is faster and "A Rainbow In The Sky" which has some wild psychedelic wah wah guitar at the end. "Sinner Man" is a gentle acoustic number, and a new song, (though it would turn up re-recorded by THE MIRRORS on "Out Of The Shadows" - TAB 105).

TAB 095

STORMCLOUDS - "The House On The Borderland"

TRACKS: House On The Borderland/Ocean Jewel/We Believe/Look At Her Eyes/Looking Glass World/Sailors On The Seas/Baby Moonlight/When You Dream/Midnight Sun/Shooting Star.

A collection of acoustic songs with just Louise Allen on vocals and Steve Lines on acoustic guitar and occasional embellishments. Songs of the sea and the edges of the world like the title track, "Ocean Jewel" and "Sailors on the Seas"; or songs about the edge of reality like "Looking Glass World". The only known song is a re-recording of "Look at Her Eyes" from "Raindrops (TAB 045). On these songs what comes across is a sense of wonder in living in such a magical world.

TAB 096

THE KITCHEN CYNICS - "Seagull Girls"

TRACKS: Kisses/Seagull Girl/Even The Most Boring People/ Jennifer Is There Anywhere?/Daddy, Look That Man Is Dancing/ Just Remember This/Backwaterslide/She's So Out Of Touch/Forgive Me/Heavenly Bodies/She Has Everything I Love/The End Of The Tunnel/Four Little Sex-Gods/The Land Between The Bedclothes And The Bed.

THE KITCHEN CYNICS are from Aberdeen, Scotland and this is the first of two releases on the label (although they have many tapes and vinyl releases under their belt). Dense and intense arrangements based mainly around acoustic guitars and soft vocals (almost whispered in places), overlaid with sombre keyboards and weaving bass riffs. Slow, gentle and quiet for the most part, but the songs manage to convey a world of darkness and doubt. There is fuzz guitar as well, especially in "Daddy Look That Man Is Dancing" where it is a searing wash over the whole song, and the almost garage-like (except for the vocals which float rather than snarl) "Even The Most Boring People".

TAB 097

MUD PIE - "New Swing Mood Thing"/Two At Noon"

TRACKS: New Swing Mood Thing/Someone I Know/Any Minute/ Month Of Sundays/Aztec Head/5 Days After/Where You Belong/ Sending Everything/Just Like You/Blue Saturday/Hurt Me More/ Revisited/Goodbye.

This time around MUD PIE are Steven Pitcherella (lead vocals, acoustic guitars and drums on side A) and Tom Quinn (guitars, bass, percussion and stand up drums on side B). Here they give us two tapes for the price of one. "New Swing Mood Thing" is the studio side recorded in Tom and Steven's homes and it's predominately acoustic based, with sparse arrangements. Side 2; "Two At Noon" is recorded live at Tom's house and features a more electric approach (and a cover of Nikki Sudden's "Hurt Me More") with Tom Quinn providing percussion to Steven's guitar and vocals. For more on MUD PIE see TAB 074.

TAB 098

THEE TROUBLE - "Swinging London '67 - '91"

TRACKS: Swinging London '67 - '91/Gabrielle/Time Enough For Love/Saynia (Turquoise)/Losers Of The World Unite/Here We Are/ Big Surprise/The Elf.

THEE TROUBLE were a four piece from Italy and this is their second release on the label. Like their earlier "Always returning", this album is also influenced by The Beatles and The Byrds, with jangling 12 string guitars and warm, melodic harmonies. This time there aren't so many covers though and the band are rapidly building a sound and character of their own. "Swinging London '67 - '91" tries to capture that 60's feel that THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS do so well, and in fact this song sounds not unlike them, even down to the voice over at the fade out. Jangling guitars, great hooklines, and soaring harmonies all mesh, along with the occasional keyboards and horn section to create sounds for those lazy Summer days.

TAB 099

THE CONSPIRACY - "Retro 1"

TRACKS: Annihilation/Liars In Love/Let's Go Back/Little One/ Daddy/Do Or Die/Up & Away/You & Me/Schiz Attack/YRCTNOD/ Many Odd Years/Welcome No. 1/Green Tambourine/Dary Eyed Girl/Close Watch/Dave Hammerton/Heart Of Darkness.

This is a retrospective collection covering the years 1987-92. The music ranges from hard hitting fuzz to acoustic folk and is inspired by Hawkwind and Mark E Smith amongst others. From acoustic folk flavoured numbers to soaring psychedelic fuzz tracks with inspired lead guitars and even stranger things at points in between.

TAB 100

VARIOUS ARTISTS - "Open Channel D"

TRACKS: REEFUS MOONS: World Clock Prison. THE CONSPIRACY: Liars In Love. SANITY ASSASSINS: Passenger Seat. JOHN BARTLES: I Threw A Pitcher On My Baby. THE MIRRORS: Hyacinth House. THEE TROUBLE: Big Surprise. THE UNDERGROUND: M. K. U. MUD PIE: Someone I Know. ANT BEE: The One Who Is Gold/Thrills, Spills And Chills/Wheeze Pt 2. HERMAN MONSTER: Uncle Roy And His Band From Another Planet. ALICE'S ORB: Psycho Doodle. PROFESSOR X: Isotopic Moments.

REEFUS MOONS kicks off this collection with an exclusive outtake from his excellent Word Raven album. He is followed by THE CONSPIRACY and SANITY ASSASSINS whose tracks are both lifted from their respective releases. JOHN BARTLES' "I Poured A Pitcher On My Baby" is exclusive to this collection and is a fine example of John's brash, hard edged and humorous brand of American rock. THE MIRRORS turn in a version of The Doors' "Hyacinth House" from TAB 105. "Big Surprise", a slice of Byrdsian summer jangle by THEE TROUBLE is from TAB 098. M. K. U. by THE UNDERGROUND is another exclusive, notable for it's soaring violin and female vocals and the MUD PIE track is from TAB 097 ANT BEE contributes three more examples of his Zappa/ Beach Boys/Beefheart inspired psychedelia (featuring Don Preston on one track), which appeared here for the first time and are not on any of his other Acid releases. Side 2 opens with HERMAN MONSTER'S "Uncle Roy and his Band from Another Planet", otherwise known as Roy Herman, guitarist for ANT BEE. The tape is rounded off with a song by ALICE'S ORB from "Ektachrome- plane" and an exclusive from the mysterious PROFESSOR X.