Sitars, theremin and mellotron, backwards guitar, phasing and fuzz, fringes and mohawks, paisley, black, velvet and leather, feedback, bass and drone, beads, berets and safety-pins, Shindig! and Creem, 3 chord wonders, teenage symphonies and snarl, Rickenbacker, Farfisa and 4-track recorders... onstage at CBGB's, Max's Kansas City or the Trip, the Roundhouse, the 100 Club or the Crystal Ballroom, Catcher's, Big Daddy's or the Squatters Arms.... and the Cat and the Brat on 3D Radio!
Three D Radio announcer, MeganCat (up until recently with her husband, the late Peter Brat)lives in "The BratHaus" a rural seaside home about 100km from Adelaide on South Australia's scenic Fleurieu Peninsula. Veteran musician Peter, and artist/musician Megan, were long-time DJs onThree D Radio 93.7fm, Adelaide's eclectic independent music station. Together Peter & Megan, known as "The Cat and The Brat" created this blog to allow listeners to review the playlists of their radio show, "Technicolour Dreaming", watch clips of selected songs and simply join them in the enjoyment of their favourite music... psychedelia, 60's garage, surf, punk/post-punk, pop, folk-rock, glam, 'Krautrock', goth, 80's electro... and much more!
But The Cat is carrying on the tradition, with guest co-presenters, and "Technicolour Dreaming" will continue in the same format, drawing from the huge "Cat & Brat" music collection, with the addition of new releases and reissues to keep things current. The Brat is hugely missed, but the show must go on, as he wanted...
Wow, how time flies when you have to catch up on blog entries ... I'm so far behind it's not funny! But catch up I will, so enough of my dribbling, here's the show from way back in early October... and onto the next one, post-haste...!
KAK - Trieulogy - I. Golgotha II. Mirage III. Rain ("KAK" LP 1969 Davis, California USA)
The Animated Egg - Sock It My Way ("Animated Egg" LP 1968 USA)
Sullivan - Hashish Faction (7" single 1966 France)
Les Papyvores - Le Papyvore (7" single 1967 France)
Stu Phillips - Skip To My Mary Lou ("Hell's Angels on Wheels" LP 1966 USA)
Crimson Shadows - Even I Tell Lies (7" single 1985 Vallingby, Sweden)
Dolkows - Silent Woods ("Story of Robi & The Nudes" LP 1987 Sweden)
Serendipity is a much-touted term, but when it happens, it really makes you realise that everything (in the musical world, anyway) is connected - sorry, I'm getting all mystical here! Quite unintentionally, my serendipitous connection this week is a fellow by the name of Allan Crockford - and he pulls all the strings together by being an original member of The Prisoners, producer of the first album by fellow-Medway scenesters The Dentists, and he's currently writing and performing with The Galileo 7. All bands which I played this week, with The Galileo 7 having just released their new album "Live-O-Graphic", which was recorded in a working lithographic press (in the workshop, not the actual press itself).
I don't normally do reviews, but these "nearly live" tracks are as good as it gets - compared to "really live", that is! A stupendous amount of energy drips from every cut - a touch faster than the originals, but every bit as accomplished. The swirling organ is a highlight, along with the precise vocal harmonies and pounding, volcanic drums and bass powering it all along - if this is "nearly live", then being at an actual performance would obviously be an event that will endure in the memory, for those ever lucky enough to see the band in the flesh (sadly, the Antipodes are a touch far away for me to get to a gig in the UK). This is The Galileo 7 as you've never heard them recorded before - and as fantastic an introduction to their back-catalogue as you could ever hope to own. And so endeth my rave.
Also on the show (phew, I'm out of breath - and words), I featured the first installment of the Mega Dodo Singles Club - 2 limited-edition slices of 7 inch vinyl goodness from The Octopus Syng and The Honey Pot (the former a lovely strawberry-red colour - I do love my coloured vinyl!), complete with a membership card, colour band picture-postcards, download cards, sticker and a tiny bee! And I'm not even going to get started on the "A Seance at Syd's" hardback book and double-CD combo (also from the nice people at Mega Dodo records) - think I might leave that til next week, so I can do it justice - it's just such a lovely thing to behold! Ok, enough of this ranting - here's the playlist, with some moving pictures....
Vibravoid - What You Want ("Psychedelic Blueprints: An Introspection of the Years 2000-2013" Dusseldorf, Germany 2016)
Robyn Hitchcock - I Want You (She's So Heavy) [Beatles] (7" split single [with Terry Edwards] 2011 UK)
Night Beats - The Other Side ("Night Beats" 2011 Seattle, Washington USA)
The Octopus Syng - Flaming [Pink Floyd] (7" single [b-side to "Reverberating Garden No. 7" ] 2016 Finland)
The Honey Pot - Lisa Dreams (7" single 2016 UK)
The Galileo 7 - Don't Fly Too High ("Live-O-Graphic" 2016 UK)
King Penguin - Thoughts and Words [Byrds] ("A Seance at Syd's" 2 x CD and Book 2015 UK)
The Dentists - Burning the Thoughts From My Skin (7" single [b-side to "Strawberries Are Growing in My Garden (And it's Wintertime)"] 2014 re-issue, The Medway, UK)
The Luck Of Eden Hall - Another High Speed Blowout ("The Acceleration of Time" LP [to be released 1 June 2016] Chicago USA) The Paperhead - She is Above Me (7" single [b-side to "Pictures of Her Demise"] 2012 Nashville USA)
The Dead Skeletons - Psycho Dead ("Live in Berlin" 2016 Reykjavik, Iceland)
Sproatley Smith - Pixieled ("A Seance at Syd's" 2 x CD and Book 2015 UK) Beaulieu Porch - The Colour 55 ("A Seance at Syd's" 2 x CD and Book 2015 UK)
Balduin - Everything ("Choose Balduin" 2011 Switzerland) Jacco Gardner - Notus (7" single [b-side to "The End of August"] 2013 Netherlands)
Graham Day and the Forefathers - 30-60-90 (7"single [b-side to "Love Me Lies"] 2014 UK)
Beaulieu Porch - Keep On Screaming ("Beaulieu Porch" 2012 UK)
Chevalier Avante Garde - Young (7" single 2011 Montreal, Canada)
Dark Ocean Colours - When Both Our Worlds Collide (digital single 2013 Toledo, Ohio USA)
Torpa - Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Theme (digital single 2013 UK)
Flavor Crystals - Ivan in the Park ("Three" 2012 Minneapolis, USA)
Happy Dagger - Waves ("Happy Dagger" EP 2014 Portland, Oregon USA)
Has A Shadow - Can't Stop the Fall ("Sky Is Hell Black" 2013 Guadalajara, Mexico)
MIMICO - Man from Japan ("MIMICO" 2013 Toronto, Ontario, Canada) New Electric Ride - Bye Bye (Baton Rouge) ("Balloon Age" 2014 London UK)
Prince Ruperts Drops - This Evening's Arms ("Run Slow" LP 2014 Brooklyn, New York USA) Quilt - Open Eyes ("New Hampshire Freaks" split 10" [with MMOSS] 2013 Boston, USA)
Lots of
music was played this week from all around the world, some new, some older, but
all interesting. Amongst them, from Moscow we heard the excellent new single by
Mystic Brew, from Tokyo a track off of KikagakuMoyo’s
2013 debut album, from Chicago we heard the Luck of
Eden Hall and Secret Colours, as well
as a single by the Hedgehogs from Denmark, Blondi’s Salvation from Nantes in France with a
song from their new “Crusades” album, plusthe UK’s Elephant Stone and Chile’s Föllakzoid,both with a track from their respective debuts,
and not forgetting a few 60’s gems such as Scott
Walker’s “The Amorous Humphrey Plugg”
for good measure. We were saddened this week by the passing of theMasters
Apprentices’ singer Jim Keays, the only
constant member of the band from their early days here in Adelaide through to
their final recordings many years later in London. I was fortunate enough to
know Jim in the early ‘70’s and even play in
a band with him for a while – being a teenager I was slightly in awe of him as
a rock hero, but he always just treated me as a fellow musician which was a
good lesson to learn – famous people are still just ‘people’ after all. Jim continued
playing until this year and recently released a great new album of 60’s garage
covers – a fine last release! However, we chose to play his 1971 ode to another
psychedelicist, “Our Friend Owsley Stanley III”
not just as a tribute to him but also to Swedish psychedelic philosopher Patrick Lundborg, who also died suddenly this week. He
was a well-known music-writer and author, most well-known for his “Acid Archives” compendium, his recent opus “Psychedelia : an ancient culture, a modern way of life”,
his articles in Shindig!, Ugly Things, Mojo
and other magazines, plus his website of everything psychedelic at http://www.lysergia.com
. Both will be sorely missed!
......
so here is the playlist, plus visuals.......
Kikagaku Moyo –
Zo No Senaka(“Kikagaku Moyo” LP 2013 Japan)
Elephant Stone –
Setting Sun(“Elephant Stone” LP 2013 UK)
New Electric Ride
– All Who You Know(digital-only
single 2013 UK)
Mystic Brew –
Don’t You Want To Stay(7”single
b-side [to Your Reality] 2014 Moscow,
Russia)
the Luck of Eden Hall
– Chrysalide(“Greatest Hits, Vol.1” anthology 2014 Chicago, USA)
Secret Colours –
Tomorrow Never Knows [Beatles
cover](digital-only single 2010
Chicago, USA)
Human Expression
– Optical Sound(7”single 1966
California, USA)
Children of the Night
– World of Tears(7”single 1967
Connecticut, USA)
the Hedgehogs –
Make Me Wanna Cry(7”single 2014
Denmark)
Pinkunoizu –
Death Is Not A Lover(“Free Time!” LP 2013 USA)
Andrew Douglas
Rothbard – Golden Calf(“Abandoned Meander” 2006 Canada)
Jack Ellister –
Dear Prudence [Beatles cover](“The
White EP” 2012 UK)
Cranium Pie – the
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill [Beatles
cover](“The White EP” 2012 UK)
Blondi’s Salvation
– Just a Puppet(“Crusades” 2014 Nantes, France)
Forever Pavot –Le pénitent le passe(“Christophe Colomb” EP 2014 Paris,
France)
the Masters
Apprentices – Our Friend Owsley Stanley 111(”Choice
Cuts” LP 1971 Australia)
Dungen – Panda(“Ta Det Lungt” 2004 Sweden)
Ursula – Through
the Ether(“A Silhouette in the Hourglass“ 2014 Los Angeles, USA)
Jim Noir – The
Tired Hairy Man With Parts(“Jimmy’s Show” 2012 UK)
the Flower Machine
– Summer Ever Comes(demo 2012 Los
Angeles, USA)
Scott Walker –
The Amorous Humphrey Plugg(“Scott 2” LP 1968 UK)
Joy Zipper –
Transformation Fantasy(7”single
1999 Brooklyn, USA)
Octopus Syng – If
You Were a Flower(prev. unreleased
2014 Finland – taken from “Evolver : Mega
Dodo Records compilation” EP 2014 UK)
