Losing Touch With My Mind - Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990

DISC 1

1. THE STONE ROSES  - Don’t Stop

2. SPACEMEN 3  - Losing Touch With My Mind (Demo)

3. THE MODERN ART  - Mind Train

4. 14 ICED BEARS  - Mother Sleep

5. RED CHAIR FADEAWAY - Myra

6. BIFF BANG POW!  - Five Minutes In The Life Of Greenwood Goulding

7. THE STAIRS - I Remember A Day

8. THE PRISONERS - In From The Cold

9. THE TELESCOPES  - Everso

10. THE SEERS  - Psych Out

11. MAGIC MUSHROOM BAND - You Can Be My L-S-D

12. THE HONEY SMUGGLERS  - Smokey Ice-Cream

13. THE MOONFLOWERS - We Dig Your Earth

14. THE SUGAR BATTLE  - Colliding Minds

15. GOL GAPPAS  - Albert Parker

16. PAUL ROLAND - In The Opium Den

17. THE THANES - Days Go Slowly By

18. THEE HYPNOTICS  - Justice In Freedom (12" Version)

1. THE STONE ROSES  Don’t Stop

( Silvertone  ORE  1989)
The trip didn’t quite start here for what sounds like Waterfall played backwards on The Stone Roses’ era-defining eponymous debut album, but it sounds like it. Vocalist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire met in 1980 at Altrincham Grammar School. With bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren, it would be almost a decade before The Stone Roses helped spearhead the indie dance revolution. The band’s laddish swagger took hippy-dippy idealism down the class scale, with 1990’s Spike Island gig resembling a scally-delic Woodstock. It would take another four years before their far heavier follow-up, The Second Coming, would appear, by which time the first wave of rave had moved on. The band split in 1996, with Squire forming The Seahorses, Brown embarking on a solo career and Mani joining Primal Scream. It took fifteen years for the inevitable to happen, and in 2016, All for One became the band’s first release for 20 years.

2. SPACEMEN 3  Losing Touch With My Mind (Demo)

(Father Yod  FYP-L25  1990)
Musical cosmonauts of inner space Pete Kember and Jason Pierce met at Rugby Art College as teenagers, where they formed a band originally called The Spacemen before morphing into Spacemen 3. Losing Touch with My Mind was the opening track of the band’s official 1986 debut, Sound of Confusion, released on Glass Records, although this demo version eventually surfaced on the Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to album. made up of a series of 16-track demos recorded in 1986. A cover of The Red Crayola’s Transparent Radiation trailed second album, The Perfect Prescription, followed by Playing with Fire (1989) and Recurring (1991). While Pearce went on to lead Spirtualized through various incarnations, Kember has released material as Sonic Boom, Spectrum and Experimental Audio Research.

3. THE MODERN ART  Mind Train

(Out of Depression  out 0022  1990)

Mind Train opened All Aboard The Mind Train, a rare vinyl outing by Gary Ramon, the prolific auteur behind The Modern Art, who released a slew of self-produced cassettes - one split with Cleaners From Venus - accompanied by associates of uber-DIY auteurs The Door and The Window. Many of these were put out by Ramon’s own Color Disc imprint, which was inspired by cassette labels such as Fuck Off Records. With Ramon on vocals, guitars and sitar, drums were provided by Dave Morgan of The Loft and The Weather Prophets. Ramon went on to take a trip outside the studio for his next project, Sun Dial.

4. 14 ICED BEARS  Mother Sleep 

(Thunderball Records  TBL2  1989)

Strobes, parasols and narcoleptic colourscapes were the order of the day for this Brighton-sired combo formed in 1985 by Rob Sekula and Nick Emery and based around the blissed-out songwriting of Sekula and guitarist Kevin Canham. After several singles on Sarah Records, an eponymous full-length LP was unleashed on Thunderball Records, who also released the World I Love and Mother Sleep singles and the Precision compilation. Another album, Wonder, appeared on Borderline Records in 1991. A decade later, Slumberland Records released a compilation, 14 Iced Bears – In The Beginning. The same year, the band’s 1987 single, The Balloon Song, was covered by The Aislers Set, while 14 Iced Bears themselves were referenced in Tullycraft’s tellingly named 2003 song, Twee. With the band reforming in 2010, a 2-CD retrospective, Hold On Inside, was released by Cherry Red in 2013.

5. RED CHAIR FADEAWAY - Myra 

(Cosmic English Music  CTA 103  1989)

Red Chair Fadeaway were named after a piece of 1967 baroque whimsy on the debut album by future disco kings The Bee Gees, which was later recorded by Jon Lennon-christened American band The Cyrkle. The core of Red Chair Fadeaway themselves were singer Shirley Souter, Tim Vass from The Razorcuts on lead guitar, and Richard Mason playing acoustic guitar, with Peter Momtchilof of Talulah Gosh and Heavenly on bass and Struan Robertson of The Would Be Goods on drums. Myra appeared on Red Chair Fadeaway’s debut 12” Let It Happen EP. Several singles followed along with two albums, Curiouser and Curiouser in 1991 on Tangerine Records and, in 1993, Mesmerised on Aural Records. Vass would later reunite with Webster as The Forever People.

6. BIFF BANG POW! - Five Minutes In The Life Of Greenwood Goulding 

(Creation Records  CRE LP 015   1987)

Biff Bang Pow!, were christened after a song by original ‘60s psych-mod fabulists The Creation, who also gave Alan McGee the name for the record label he formed with Dick Green and Joe Foster. All three played in Biff Bang Pow!, which McGee formed in the wake of his previous band, The Laughing Apple, in which he had paired up with future Primal Scream guitarist Andrew Innes. Five Minutes in the Life of Greenwood Goulding was lifted from the second Biff Bang Pow! album, The Girl Who Runs the Beat Hotel, and came gifted with a title that sounds like a piece of picaresque Brit-pulp tailor-made for kaleidoscopic montage sequences. Four more albums followed, as did numerous compilations, including Waterbomb on Foster’s Rev-Ola imprint. 

7. THE STAIRS I Remember A Day

(Viper CD 111)

The Stairs’ raw brand of sub-Beefheartian Scouse-a-delic garage band psych saw vocalist Edgar ‘Summertyme’ Jones team up with guitarist Ged Lynn and drummer Paul Maguire. Signed to Go! Discs, their 1992 Mexican R’n’B album was presaged by singles including Weed Bus and Mary Joanna. With the band splitting the following year, Jones went on to release various solo albums, Lynn formed The Living Brain and other local acts including Kung Fu and Rhombus of Doom, while Maguire formed Gloss with Icelandic singer Heidrun Anna Bjornsdottir. A collection of Stairs demos, Right in the Back of Your Mind, and long-lost second album, Who Is This Is, appeared on Viper Records. I Remember A Day appeared on The Great Lemonade Machine in The Sky 1987-1994, released on Viper in 2015, the same year The Stairs reformed for occasional shows. Jones continues to play solo alongside fellow Scouse seekers such as former Pale Fountains and Shack guru, Michael Head.

8. THE PRISONERS In From The Cold

(Countdown  DOWN 2  1986)

Not numbers, but free men of the fertile Medway garage band scene, the sometimes volatile quartet of vocalist and guitarist Graham Day, whizz-kid organist James Taylor, bassist Alan Crockford and drummer Johnny Symons released their first album as The Prisoners, A Taste of Pink! on Own-Up Records in 1982. The follow-up, The Wisemiserdemelza, came out on Big Beat the following year, with a return to Own-Up for The Last Fourfathers in 1985. In From The Cold was the title track of their fourth and final album, produced by Troy Tate and released on Stiff subsidiary, Countdown Records, a fortnight before its parent label went bust A live album and a record shared with The Milkshakes followed, as well as several compilations. While Taylor and Crockford went on to form the even groovier James Taylor Quartet, Day went on to The Prime Movers.

9. THE TELESCOPES  Everso

(Creation Records  CRE 092  1990)

Stephen Lawrie was the driving force behind The Telescopes, who debuted with a split flexi-disc with Loop given away with the Sowing Seeds fanzine. Everso was the band’s first single on Creation following several releases on Cheree and What Goes On Records, the latter of whom released the first Telescopes album, Taste. Creation facilitated another four as well as the band’s eponymously named 1992 second album. With Lawrie collaborating with Randall Nieman’s Fuxa incarnation and with Nick Hemming of The Leisure Society as Unisex, it would be 2002 before The Telescopes next release, with Lawrie by now propagating a more out-there sound initially alongside fellow original member Jo Doran. In what is effectively now a solo vehicle, Lawrie released As Light Return under the Telescopes banner on Tapete Records in 2017, and Stone Tape on Italian label, Yard Press, the same year.

10. THE SEERS  Psych Out

(Cherry Red  CHERRY110  1990)

With roots in Bristol as Rip Van Satan and The Earth Rats, The Seers were made up of

vocalist Steve ‘Spider’ Croom, Leigh Wildman and Clive ‘Kat’ Day on guitars, bassist Jason Collins and Adrian ‘Age’ Blackmore on drums. The band initially found attention with their 1988 debut single on Rough Trade, Lightning Strikes. The wicka-wacka-guitar-led title track of the Psych-Out (Fear of Technology) single was recorded live for Swiss radio, but somewhat confusingly didn’t appear on the band’s debut album, Psych Out, although it did appear on the second, Peace Crazies, and on the 1991 compilation, Ambition – The Cherry Red Story Volume One. Two online-only live albums recorded in 1990 and 1991 were released in 2010 on Bristol Archive Records.

11. MAGIC MUSHROOM BAND - You Can Be My L-S-D

(Aftermath Records  AFT 6  1989)

Eyes of the Angel was the fourth album by the lysergically driven mind-expanding ensemble formed in 1982 by guitarist Gary Moonboot and vocalist Kim Oz (actually Gary Masters and Kim Masters nee Russell), on which You Can Be My L-S-D appears. The band’s first album in 1986 was the tellingly titled cassette-only release, The Politics of Ecstacy (not to be confused with the 1992 album of the same name by ambient-dubtastic Magic Mushroom Band offshoot Astralasia). Bomshankar! and another cassette album, Feed Your Head followed prior to Eyes of the Angel. Moonboot and Oz officially left the Magic Mushroom Band in 1995 following the release of Magic on Magick Eye Records. Astralasia went beyond, and are still tripping the light-and-shade fantastic without them. Pictures In My Mind – Anthology 1984-1994 appeared on Cherry Red in 2016.

12. THE HONEY SMUGGLERS  Smokey Ice-Cream

(Acid Tapes  TAB 053  1990)

Sired in 1988’s second summer of love, The Honey Smugglers’ Listen EP was named by Sounds as one of the top 50 records of 1990. Smokey Ice-Cream appeared on an eponymous cassette released the same year on future Imaginary Records boss Alan Duffy’s Acid Tapes imprint. Recognising the medium as massage, vocalist Chris Spence, keyboardist Steve Cox, bass player Ged Murphy and drummer Steve Dinsdale released the Apple Tree flexi-disc on Ultramarine Recordings, and a single, Besides Which, on Ultimate the following year. Future adventures for assorted members included Superfine Dandelion, TV Eye, featuring comic actor Paul Kaye in the line-up and Tiny Electric Company. Dinsdale continues to record and release a plethora of cosmically inclined albums under names including Radio Massacre International and as part of Orchestra of The Upper Atmosphere. In 2016, Spence and Dinsdale worked together as Winners Aftershave, with the Desperate To Please album the result. By this time The Honey Smugglers had long subverted the mainstream when Listen appeared on the soundtrack of Dom Joly’s Trigger Happy TV comedy prank show.

13. THE MOONFLOWERS We Dig Your Earth

(Pop God  PGLP12  1992)

The Moonflowers became a going concern when Sean O’Neill left his native Liverpool for Bristol, only to stumble into bassist and fellow Scouser Paul Waterworth. With guitarist Jesse D Vernon, keyboard and sax player Sam Burns, percussionist Adam Pope, drummer Toby Pascoe and others, they dubbed themselves ‘rainbohemians’, went to court for not paying the poll tax and appeared naked in NME. We Dig Your Earth was the name of the debut 12” EP on the band’s own Electric Stars Record Company. Several singles followed on Pop God Records, including the Tighten Up on the Housework Brothers and Sisters 12” in 1992. Colours and Sounds, released in 1995, was the last full band collaboration, by which time The Moonflowers were big in Japan, where the fans wanted more. The result was Brainwashing and Heartists Blue Life Stripes, a collection of solo tracks and outtakes. Following Don’t Just Sit There… Fly!, O’Neill formed Solar Mumuns, releasing Breaking Waters in 2002, while Vernon released four albums as Morning Star, whose The Opposite is True album was produced by John Parish. The Moonflowers reformed for a one-off show on 11/11/11.

14. THE SUGAR BATTLE  Colliding Minds

(Bam-Caruso Records  KIRI 065  1987)

The Sugar Battle featured vocalist and guitarist Larry Brams, Bill Henshaw on bass and keyboards and drummer Steve Hodge. Colliding Minds was penned by Bam-Caruso and Waldo’s Records boss and so much more besides, Phil Smee, and appeared on the Bam-Caruso compilation, From The House of Lords. Smee had designed record cover art for CD reissues of albums by the likes of Moby Grape and Syd Barrett, and had also created the logo for Motorhead. Smee was also responsible for compiling the Rubble 20-volume series of compilations of 1960s British psychedelia released on Bam-Caruso and modelled on the American Nuggets series.

15. GOL GAPPAS - Albert Parker 

(El  GPO8T  1986)

Gol Gappas may have named themselves after a type of Indian street food but this B-side of the 12” Dinner With Nougat EP led by Saint Lucy and released on El Records was a dark slice of English narrative twang that sounded like an unholy alliance between Felt and the Monochrome Set that told the scary tale of a model railway obsessive who comes a cropper. Penned by Colin Roxborough and Nik East, mainstays of a band that also featured Alice Terell and Bruno Mylonas, Albert Parker refused to lie down, and appeared on the flipside of

Roman, released on the French label, Vogue, as well as on El’s London Pavilions Volume 1 compilation.

16. PAUL ROLAND - In The Opium Den 

(Imaginary Records  Mirage 002  1986)

Described as the godfather of steam-punk, Paul Roland has cut a polymathic dash since his first album, The Werewolf of London, was released in 1980. Like someone who stepped out of the grooviest of Michael Moorcock or Grant Morrison novels, Roland has released umpteen albums of gothic-psych and penned more than 40 tomes of non-fiction esoterica. He has also written three biographies of Marc Bolan, whose wife June once managed him. Roland’s debut single, Dr Strange, was penned by John’s Children/ Radio Stars vocalist Andy Ellison, while the B-side, Madeleine, featured Robyn Hitchcock on backwards lead guitar. In The Opium Den came several singles later, since when Roland has become the ultimate cult figure. Eminently prolific and retrospectively archival, Roland was immortalised on the 2 CD compilation, in Memorium 1980-2010, released on Gaslight Records, and on the 2016 Cherry Red compilation, In The Opium Den – The Early Recordings 1980-1987.

17. THE THANES Days Go Slowly By

(DDT Records  DISP LP11  1987)

As Thanes of Cawdor, Lenny Helsing’s Edinburgh-sired psych-beat-garage crazies suggested a gothic Shakespearian teen-freak gang up for a rumble. Having truncated their name, Lenny Helsing and co certainly looked the part on the cover of the debut Thanes album, also cannily called Thanes of Cawdor, from which the Alan McLean-penned Days Go Slowly By is taken. Like the band’s Hey Girl single, Thanes of Cawdor was released on the DDT label, with tracks later appearing on the One Night As I Wandered on the Moors…The Best of The Thanes compilation, released by Evolver. With the decades merging as The Thanes briefly joined forces with surviving members of original ‘60s garage-gang, The Poets, the current line-up of The Thanes continue to tour and record, and were last sighted at the Funtastic Dracula Festival in Benidorm, where go-go dancers were in abundance.

18. THEE HYPNOTICS  Justice In Freedom (12" Version)

(Situation Two SI 56 T  1988)

Kicking out the jams in High Wycombe, vocalist Jim Jones and guitarist Ray Hanson set out on their incident-loaded anti-career as purveyors of vintage rock and roll and everything that goes with it. The original line-up’s first single, Love in A Different Vein, was released on Vinyl Solution before the band was picked up by Situation Two for the Justice in Freedom 12”. As the first UK band to sign to Sub Pop, Thee Hypnotics released Come Down Heavy in 1990, followed by Soul, Glitter and Sin the following year. A final album, The Very Crystal Speed Machine, was released in 1993. Jones went on to Black Moses, The Jim Jones Revue and Jim Jones and The Righteous Minds, while Hanson returned to music after a 15-year hiatus as  Ray ‘Sonic’ Hanson’s Whores of Babylon. Thee Hypnotics were resurrected in 2018, with drummer Phil Smith and bassist Jeremy Cottingham joining Hanson and Jones in time for the release of Righteously Recharged, a 4 LP box set of all the band’s studio albums to date. Sing hallelujah.

DISC 2

1. SUN DIAL  Exploding In Your Mind

2. ONE THOUSAND VIOLINS  Please Don't Sandblast My House

3. ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE EGYPTIANS  Lady Waters And The Hooded One

4. PRIMAL SCREAM  Imperial

5. BARBEL Income Tax

6. THE PALE SAINTS  Way The World Is

7. BOO RADLEYS  Aldous

8. THE SEA URCHINS A Morning Odyssey

9. ROSEMARY’S CHILDREN (At The) End Of The Corridor

10. THE DARKSIDE  Found Love

11. THE GLASS KEYS  Workshop Of My Mind

12. LEGENDARY PINK DOTS  Princess Coldheart

13. THE BACHELOR PAD  Tumble And Fall

14. JEREMY GLUCK  Burning Skulls Rise

15. SLEEPEATERS  The Last Mile

16. HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS Darkside

17. WOLFHOUNDS  Another Hazy Day On The Lazy "A"

18. THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM  The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion

19. THE SHAMEN  Christopher Mayhew Says

1. SUN DIAL  Exploding In Your Mind

(Tangerine Records TAN 11145  1990)

When Gary Ramon disbanded his studio-bound project The Modern Art in favour of something more live-sounding, Sun Dial’s burst of psychedelic sound swathes on the band’s debut album, Other Way Out, was the result. Exploding In Your Mind was the second track   and a single, with both released on Tangerine Records. Ramon went on to record Kahoutek with Russell Barrett, formerly of Chapterhouse, the result deemed too extreme for release. Ramon moved into production, releasing records on his own Acme label, working with Coil and Current 93 and releasing two solo ambient-kosmische-space-rock-electronica epics under the name Quad. A new iteration of Sun Dial was convened in 2002, and Ramon remains prolific. A 2-CD anthology, Processed For DNA, was released through his Cherry Red-sanctioned Shrunken Head imprint in 2010 alongside various re-releases. Numerous albums have appeared on Acme, while in 2018, Science Fiction was released on Sulatron Records.

2. ONE THOUSAND VIOLINS - Please Don't Sandblast My House 

(Dreamworld  DREAM 008  1986)

The third single by the Sheffield-sired One Thousand Violins gave its title to a mini-album of the same name. Other singles included Locked Out of The Love-In and All Aboard The Love-Mobile, while an album, Hey Man that’s Beautiful, further betrayed the band’s groovy ‘60s sensibility. With roots in The Page Boys, One Thousand Violins featured vocalist John Wood, guitarist Colin Gregory, Darren Swindells on bass, David Walmsley on keyboards and guitar and drummer Peter Day. Their debut single, Halcyon Days, appeared in 1985, and was one of a slew of releases before Wood left and was replaced by ex Hays Office vocalist Vince Keenan. Troubled by ‘mind difference’, the last incarnation of the band split in 1989. Gregory formed The Dylans, Keenan went on to Splendid Fellows and SPIGGOTT, while

Wood formed The Chrysalids. Vinyl Japan released the Like One Thousand Violins compilation in 2000, while Cherry Red released Halcyon Days – Complete Recordings 1985-1987 in 2014.

3. ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE EGYPTIANS - Lady Waters And The Hooded One 

(Glass Fish Records  MOIST 3  1986)

Son of novelist Raymond Hitchcock, whose 1969 comic sex novel Percy was turned into a Kinks-soundtracked film (a sequel, Percy’s Progress, saw pop composer Tony Macauley provide the score), Robyn Hitchcock’s Syd Barrett-esque neo-psych of The Soft Boys was caught in a limbo between the post-hippy Year Zero of punk and the interstellar wave that followed. After releasing three solo albums following the demise of The Soft Boys, Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians fulfilled Hitchcock’s renewed craving for a group vehicle. Formed in 1984 initially with Roger Jackson on keyboards, Andy Metcalf on bass and drummer Morris Windsor, Hitchcock and The Egyptians released several original studio albums plus a couple of live and BBC Sessions compilations. Lady Waters and The Hooded One comes from their third, Element of Light, which followed Fegmania! and Higsons referencing live album, Gotta Let This Hen Out! Since the Egyptians became history, Hitchcock has recorded numerous albums and has toured solo, as well as appearing onstage with the likes of Yo La Tengo and taking part in tribute concerts to The Incredible String Band.

4. PRIMAL SCREAM - Imperial 

(Elevation  ACID 5  1987)

Primal Scream’s third single, and their first on Creation’s major label backed offshoot, Elevation, was something of a watershed moment for the band formed by one-time Jesus and Mary Chain drummer and rock and roll magpie Bobby Gillespie. Imperial first appeared on a bootleg cassette of BBC Sessions, and came from a Janice Long show rather than John Peel. Penned by Gillespie and guitarist Jim Beattie (here as Jim Navajo), the song also appeared on the band’s debut album, Sonic Flower Groove. While much of the album was overseen by Red Crayola mainstay turned Rough Trade in-house producer Mayo Thompson, Imperial was overseen by former Deaf School guitarist and pop hit-maker Clive Langer working alongside Beggars Opera drummer turned engineer and producer Colin Fairlie. This was a bridge between polka dots and Byrdsian jangle and the pick-and-mix mash-up of Stonesian rock and roll, indie dance and every hybrid inbetween that followed.

5. Barbel - Income Tax

(John Peel Session  1991) 

Liverpool’s status as nouveau-psychedelic centre of the cosmos had long been sealed by the time Barbel’s way with a dark lyric and a trippy organ appeared on a couple of 12” Eps, One Horse Planet on Pink Moon Records, and Inferno on Imaginary Records. Led by Greg Milton on vocals and featuring Alison Williams on keyboards, David Morgan on bass and former Benny Profane drummer Roger Sinek, and with extra guitar from Simon Breed, this track is from the band’s second John Peel Session. Barbel also recorded Winchester Cathedral for a compilation of 60s covers on Imaginary Records, and much later made an appearance on Viper Records’ Unearthed compilation of lost Liverpool bands. Milton went on to join Dust, formed by The Room and Benny Profane mainstays Dave Jackson and Becky Stringer, with the alliance eventually evolving into Dead Cowboys.

6. THE PALE SAINTS  Way The World Is

(4AD  cad 0002  1990)

As opening statements go, calling your debut EP Barging Into the Presence of God is a supreme act of bratty self-aggrandisement. So it went for the Pale Saints, the Leeds-sired trio of Ian Masters on bass and vocals, Graeme Naysmith on guitar and drummer Chris Cooper, whose intimations of transcendence were soon picked up by 4AD Records. Way The World Is became the opening track of the band’s 1990 debut album, The Comforts of Madness, which took its title from Paul Sayer’s asylum-set novel, which won the Whitbread Award two years earlier. Later joined by original Lush singer, Meriel Barham, and, later, Heart Throbs bassist Colleen Brown, The Pale Saints went on to record several EPs and two more albums, In Ribbons in 1992 and Slow Buildings two years later.  Masters went on to produce music under numerous names, while Cooper and Naysmith initially formed Lorimer. Barham has released work on the karaoke kalk label under the name Kuchen.

7. BOO RADLEYS - Aldous 

(Rough Trade  RTT 241  1990)

Named after the bogey-man-like savior from Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the Wallasey-born Boo Radleys were a long way from the euphoric bounce of Wake Up Boo! Aldous appeared on the 12” Kaleidoscope EP released on Rough Trade following the debut Boo Radleys album, Ichabod and I, on Action Records. With a line-up of Sice Rowbottom on vocals, Martin Carr on guitar, bassist Tim Brown and various drummers including future Placebo member Rob Cieka, Boo Radleys were based around Carr’s song-writing, which, as the post-grunge shimmer of the Huxley-referencing Aldous shows, fitted in perfectly with Creation Records, who picked the band up after Rough Trade went bust. Aldous also reveals a richer and more complex musical palette that would peak with the band’s masterpiece, Lazarus, before the chart-bound sounds of the Wake Up album took the world by storm. Body-swerving Brit-pop forever after, Boo Radleys split in 1999, with Carr going on to release records as Brave Captain.

8. THE SEA URCHINS A Morning Odyssey

(Sarah Records  SARAH 33  1990)

When the newly-formed Sarah Records released their first record, Pristine Christine by The Sea Urchins defined a sound and image that was both blessing and curse for all parties. Formed in West Bromwich by a core of James Roberts on vocals, Robert Cooksey on guitar, bassist Mark Bevin, Bridget Duffy on tambourine and organ and drummer Patrick Roberts, a couple of fanzine-friendly flexi-discs led to Sarah, by which time Bevin had been replaced by Darren Martin. With Duffy and Martin also departing, A Morning Odyssey was the band’s final single for Sarah, who later released the Stardust, a compilation, while Fierce Recordings released a live album. Roberts, Cooksey and Woodcock later formed Delta, releasing three albums under that name, with Roberts, Cooksy and Patrick Roberts also playing as The Low Scene.

9. ROSEMARY'S CHILDREN - (At The) End Of The Corridor 

(El  ACME 25  1987)

Robert Dimery and Dave Pearce had performed as Ha Ha Ha before forming Rosemary’s Children with drummer Toby Chislett and others. They released a single, Southern Fields/(Whatever Happened To) Alice? On El Records in 1986, and a mini album, Kings and Princes, a year later on Cherry Red. By that time the similarly parentheses-friendly (At The) End of the Corridor had appeared on El Records’ London Pavilion Volume One compilation. Pearce went on to play with the likes of the Secret Garden and Linda’s Strange Vacation before going on in 1992 to become the driving force and mainstay behind Flying Saucer Attack, taking primitive psych into washes of blissed-out delirium last sighted on the Instrumentals 2015 album, released in 2015.

10. THE DARKSIDE  Found Love

(Situation Two  DARK 1  1990)

When Spacemen 3 zoomed into orbit, the focus may have been on the parallel universes occupied by Pete Kember and Jason Pierce, but bassist Pete Bain went on to pursue his own interstellar existence with The Darkside, initially with vocalist Nick Haydn and fellow Spacemen 3 alumni, drummer Stewart ‘Sterling’ Roswell. Picked up by Situation Two, The Darkside’s opening statement to the world was the High Rise Love EP. By the time the band’s debut album, All That Noise, arrived, Haydn had departed, Bain had moved onto vocals and Kevin Cowan had joined on guitar. Found Love was the third Darkside single, with live album, Psychedelicise Suburbia, released through mail order. A second album, Melomania, followed, while a third was rejected by Situation Two. The record remained unreleased until 2017, when it appeared on the 5-CD Complete Studio Masters box set. In the meantime Bain had recorded several albums as Alpha Stone, while Roswell recorded solo album The Psychedelic Ubik and produced Transparency, an album by Sky Saxon of ‘60s psych legends The Seeds.

11. THE GLASS KEYS  Workshop Of My Mind

(Bam-Caruso Records  KIRI 065)

Another one from The House of Lords, Bam-Caruso Records’ owner/creator Phil Smee’s  collection of re-recorded ‘60s obscurities and songs made in their image. This one had been written and recorded previously by long lost LA psych band, Hunger, whose sole LP, Strictly from Hunger was later packaged with The Lost Album. The Glass Keys were made up of Chris Peel on vocals, organ and tambourine, Jackie Stewart on guitar, bassist Sal Florenza and David Bell on drums.

12. LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - Princess Coldheart 

(Play It Again Sam Records  BIAS 153  1990)

Formed in London in 1980 before decamping to Amsterdam four years later, Anglo-Dutch avant-rock combo The Legendary Pink Dots have released a staggering number of studio and live albums over four prolific decades. The band have been led throughout by vocalist Edward Ka-Spel, aka Qa’Sepel, and keyboardist Phil Knight, aka The Silver Man. Joined by guitarist Bob Pistoor, aka Father Pistorious, Neils van Hoorn on flute, saxophone and bass clarinet and Hanz Myer providing electronics, oboe and timpani, Princess Coldheart was loaded with enough extravagant baroque whimsy to see it released as a single taken from the band’s The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse LP, one of more than 20 studio releases in the first decade of the band’s existence. A remastered edition of the album appeared in 2010.  

13. THE BACHELOR PAD  Tumble And Fall

(Imaginary Records  ILLUSION 009  1990)

Formed from the ashes of The Wee Cherubs by vocalist Martin Cotter, guitarist Tommy Cherry and drummer Graham Adam, The Bachelor Pad shared a flexi-disc with Baby Lemonade before releasing singles The Albums of Jack and Do It For Fun on the Warholasound label. The group went on to put out three more singles on Jim Kavanagh’s Glasgow-based Egg Records, including Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown, a homage to the bookish TV presenter turned literary agent. Somewhere inbetween came their sole album, Tales of Hofmann, on which Tumble and Fall appeared as the penultimate track of a collection released by Imaginary Records.  

14. JEREMY GLUCK - Burning Skulls Rise 

(Flicknife Records  BLUNT 043  1988)

As vocalist with surf-beat combo The Barracudas, Jeremy Gluck first appeared on the band’s John Peel-friendly single, I Want My Woody Back. Glucks’s debut post-Barracudas record came in 1987 with the I Knew Buffalo Bill LP, which also featured Nikki Sudden of Swell Maps and former Birthday Party guitarist Roland S Howard. Howard also appeared on the title track of Burning Skulls Rise, a 6-track 12” EP, released, as with I Knew Buffalo Bill, on Flicknife Records. A CDr compilation, This is…, appeared on The Beautiful Music, The Beautiful Music label in 2008, the same year new material appeared on Victim of Dreams. While a new line-up of The Barracudas led by Gluck continued to make infrequent appearances, in 2014 Gluck teamed up with former some-time Barracudas bassist Robert Coyne (son of Kevin Coyne) to record Memory Deluxe – I Knew Buffalo Bill 2. More than thirty releases made with various collaborators often under the name, Nonconceptualism, have seen Gluck pursue a more experimental path.

15. SLEEPEATERS - The Last Mile 

Bam-Caruso Records  KIRI 065  1986)

Taken from from the House of Lords compilation, this is a cover of an Andrew Loog-Oldham and Jimmy Page composition originally recorded in 1965 by future Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico as the Page arranged and produced flipside to her Gordon Lightfoot-penned single, I’m Not Sayin’. This version was credited to Vincent Eno on vocals, guitarist Stuart Hope, The Kestrel on bass, keyboardist Elijah Fuzzmode and drummer Barry Self. While there were suggestions that Sleepeaters were actually The Damned, these elusive purveyors of backwards guitar psych were in fact members of The Barracudas, with vocals by Nick Egan, who was in The Tea Set with Martin ‘Cally’ Calloman, co-founder of Bam-Caruso. Like all ‘60s retro casualties, Egan went into commercial design, directing videos, adverts and films, including six videos with ‘90s purveyors of ‘60s guitar licks, Oasis.

16. HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS - Darkside 

(Dreamworld  BIG 5  1987)

With a nod to The Incredible String Band, Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters were Emily Brown, Philip King and Sandy Fleming, whose cover of a song by ‘60s psych originals The Shadows of Knight first appeared on the Trash Mantra mini album on the Dreamworld imprint as well as on a 7” flexi disc on the flexi only YoJoJo label. On both flexi and record was Pushing Me Too Far, a song penned by Dan Treacey of The TV Personalities, who also produced and played keyboards, as well as co-writing songs with Brown that appeared on several other singles. An eponymous compilation was released in 1989 on Voxx Records.

17. WOLFHOUNDS  Another Hazy Day On The Lazy "A"

(The Pink Label  PINKY 8  1986)

The Cut The Cake 12” was the first release on The Pink Label by The Wolfhounds, formed in Romford by Dave Callahan and Andy Golding. Another Hazy Day on the Lazy ‘A’ was one of four tracks that introduced the band to the world, and was followed by several other singles prior to the band’s debut album, Unseen Ripples from a Pebble, also released by Pink. With David Oliver and Matt Deighton joining, three other albums followed before the band split in 1990. Golding went on to form Crawl, while Callahan formed Moonshake and Deighton went on to Mother Earth. Callahan and Golding reformed the band in 2005 with bassist Richard Golding and drummer Peter Wilkins. Following an EP of new recordings of songs that pre-date Cut The Cake, The Wolfhounds released the Middle Aged Freaks album in 2014, and, in 2016, Untied Kingdom (…Or How to Come to Terms with Your Culture). Lost But Happy: The Wolfhounds 1986-1990 was released by Cherry Red in 1996.

18. THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM  The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion

(Creation Records  CRELP 039  1989)

Andrew Innes had formed The Laughing Apple with Alan McGee after the pair had been in Glasgow punk band The Drains with Bobby Gillespie. While a post Laughing Apple McGee founded Biff Bang Pow!, Innes and Christine Wanless formed Revolving Paint Dream. The opening track of the band’s sole full-length LP, Mother Watch Me Burn, which The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion opened. That was in 1989, the same year as Innes’ other band released Loaded. Another Revolving Paint Dream single, Sun, Sea, Sand, followed, but the indie-dance revolution was very much on. A compilation, Flowers In The Sky: The Enigma Of The Revolving Paint Dream, was released on Rev-Ola in 2006.

19. THE SHAMEN  Christopher Mayhew Says

(Moksha Recordings – soma 3  1987)

Alone Again Or was the original Love-referencing guise of the Aberdeen-sired sonic explorers founded by Colin Angus and brothers Derek and Keith McKenzie, who released a couple of records of ‘60s-influenced psych-indie before morphing into the even more trippy-sounding Shamen. Christopher Mayhew Says took its title from the then Labour politician, who in 1955 took part in an experiment for BBC TV’s Panorama programme, whereby Mayhew allowed himself to be filmed after taking mescalin. The results of the trip were never broadcast, although excerpts were shown in a 1986 documentary. With the he McKenzie siblings departing, Angus drafted in bassist Will Sinnott, aka Will Sin. The rejigged line up signed to One Little Indian records, although Sinnott tragically drowned in Tenerife. Within a year, the band’s Boss Drum album was released, and, with Mr C on vocals, Ebeneezer Goode was ripping up mainstream dancefloors across the globe.

DISC 3

1. THE CHARLATANS  Opportunity

2. CAPTAIN SENSIBLE  Exploding Heads & Teapots (Past Their Prime)

3. THE SNEETCHES  Empty Sea

4. ULTRA VIVID SCENE  Staring At The Sun

5. THE AARDVARKS Save My Soul

6. THE DENTISTS  You Took Me By Surprise

7. THE KING OF LUXEMBOURG  Smash Hit Wonder

8. INSPIRAL CARPETS 26

9. SOMETHING PRETTY BEAUTIFUL  Freak Outburst

10. C CAT TRANCE  Shake The Mind

11. THE MOCK TURTLES  Lay Me Down

12. CLEANERS FROM VENUS  Living With Victoria Grey

13. THE PRIMITIVES Ocean Blue

14. THE TIMES  Oranges And Lemons

15. THE BLACK ATLAS  Living Colours

16. MOOD SIX  When The Time Comes

17. TIME MACHINE Another Scene (In Black And White)

18. THE JETSET  Happy In My Mind

19. BLOW-UP  What Is In Your Mind?

20. JANE FROM OCCUPIED EUROPE Parade

21. PRIME MOVERS  I’m Alive

22. SLEEP CREATURE AND THE VAMPIRES  Look To The Sun

23. OMNIA OPERA Each Day

24. GAYE BYKERS ON ACID  TV Cabbage

1. THE CHARLATANS  Opportunity

(Situation Two  SITU 30 CD  1990)

The scallydelic sounds of Madchester were in full swing by the time The Charlatans scored their first hit with The Only One I Know and accompanying debut album Some Friendly, on which Opportunity first appeared. Originally formed by former Makin’ Time bassist Martin Blunt with keyboardist Rob Collins, drummer Jon Brookes, guitarist Jon Day and singer Baz Ketley, the band’s original brew of 60s’ inspired cellar bar Brit-soul shifted a gear when Tim Burgess took over from Ketley for the band’s debut single, Indian Rope, on their own Dead Dead Good Records. With Mark Collins replacing Day, the result has been one of the most enduring stories in pop, with Burgess steering the band through the tragic losses of Rob Collins and, more recently of Brookes, as well as thirteen albums and counting.

2. CAPTAIN SENSIBLE - Exploding Heads & Teapots (Past Their Prime) 

(Deltic Records  DELT CD 4  1989)

Having scored a novelty solo hit with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific showtune, Happy Talk, in 1982, The Damned’s restless guitarist, aka Ray Burns, ducked back into view in 1989 with his third solo album, Revolution Now. Co-written with the legendary Martin Newell, this elaborately titled slice of sonic whimsy was a very English-sounding leap into the stratosphere that mined a psych-folk sensibility built on morning dew comedowns. The good Captain has continued to steer a peripatetic path both with The Damned and on solo excursions which have included contributing The Snooker Song to Wombles mastermind Mike Batt’s musical, The Hunting of the Great Snark, later used on TV game show Big Break, as well as providing Brain’s Theme to the 2004 film, Skinned Deep.

3. THE SNEETCHES  Empty Sea

(Creation Records  CRELP 043  1989)

Dr Seuss might well have approved of the San Francisco-sired band formed in the mid 1980s by vocalist Mike Levy, guitarist Matt Carges and drummer Daniel Swann, formerly of British punk troupe The Cortinas, and named after the Dr’s anti-discrimination satire involving a group of yellow bird-like creatures. High on guitar melodies, The Sneetches the band introduced themselves to the world with a single, Only For a Moment/54 Hours, in 1987 on the Kaleidoscope Sound label. This was followed by mini LP, Lights Out! With The Sneetches, before Empty Sea featured on the band’s full length debut, Sometimes That’s All We Have, first released in the U.S. on Alias Records in 1988, and on Creation in the UK not long afterwards. A second album, Slow, followed, while another mini album, Marilyn, was recorded with Chris Wilson of The Flamin’ Groovies in 1993. With several posthumous releases following, a compilation, Form of Play: A Retrospective, saw the light of day in 2017 on Omnivore Recordings.

4. ULTRA VIVID SCENE  Staring At The Sun

(4AD  BAD 0004  1990)

Kurt Ralske had played in the JG Ballard-referencing Crash before branching out as Ultra Vivid Scene. After the debut UVS single, Slow You down/Totally Free was released on Justine Records, Ralske signed to 4AD Records, who released the UVS EP, She Screamed, and album, Ultra Vivid Scene, in 1988. Ralske was the only performer on both records. Staring at the Sun was the fourth UVS single on 4AD, and was taken from the Joy 1967-1990 album, which featured guest appearances by the likes of Kim Deal and pedal steel player B.J. Cole. Following a third album, Rev, Ralske went on to produce several bands, including novelist Alex McAuley’s Charles Douglas project, who featured former Velvet Underground drummer Mo Tucker on their The Lives of Charles Douglas album. Ralske self-released several albums on his own miau-miau label under names including Kyrie Eleison and Cathars before moving into digital video. As an artist his digital installations have appeared all over the world, including a 9-channel installation in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

5. THE AARDVARKS Save My Soul

(Screaming Apple  SCAP 003  1989)

Not to be confused with the Michigan-based 1960s garage-beat combo, this London-based quintet was led by Gary and Mark Pietronave along with drummr Ian O’Sullivan and assorted bassists. This cover of a song by long lost Brit-psych ‘60s originals, Wimple Winch, appeared as the final track on the band’s Billy Childish and Bruce Brand produced Arthur C. Clarke EP, released on the Screaming Apple label. Following another Screaming Apple single, You’re My Loving Way/Hold On, Delerium Records released sole original Aardvarks album, Bargain, in 1995. This was followed by a third 7”, Buttermilk Boy/Bad Clothes, in 1999. Save My Soul went on to appear on the Cherry Red Aardvarks compilation, Sinker, Line and Hook, released in 2013.

6. THE DENTISTS  You Took Me By Surprise

(Tambourine Records  SP 006  1986)

Medway absurdists The Dentists featured former members of The Ancient Gallery, Bob Collins on guitar and Mark Matthews on bass, who drafted in vocalist Mick Murphy alongside original drummer Ian Smith to release their first single, Strawberries are Growing in My Garden (and it’s Wintertime). The band’s debut album, the 1966 World Cup Final commentary referencing Some People Are on the Pitch They Think It’s All Over it Is Now, was produced by Allan Crockford of Medway contemporaries The Prisoners. You Took Me By Surprise was lead track on the Down and Out in Paris and Chatham 12” EP released on Tambourine Records and featuring new drummer Alan Jones. A second album, Heads and How to Read Them, appeared on Integrity Records in 1990, followed by two albums on East West America, Behind the Door I Keep the Universe in 1994 and Deep Six the following year. You Took Me By Surprise later appeared on Beer Bottle and Bannister Symphonies: A Collection of Some of The Finer Moments of Dentistry, released on Belgian label Antler Records in 1988.

7. THE KING OF LUXEMBOURG  Smash Hit Wonder

(El Records  ACME 8  1987)

Simon Fisher Turner was a polymathic pop veteran by the time he recorded Royal Bastard, his debut album under his King of Luxembourg nom de plume, released on El Records in 1987. As a child actor he appeared in the 1971 TV adaptation of Tom Browne’s Schooldays before becoming a teeny-bopper idol in 1973 care of his Jonathan King solo album, Simon Turner. He played with the Portsmouth Sinfonia, scored soundtracks for Derek Jarman films and became the ultimate renaissance man. Smash Hit Wonder’s suitably theatrical nod to pop fame penned by El’s in-house songsmith Philippe Auclair, aka Louis Philippe, appeared on an album that saw Fisher Turner cover the likes of The Television Personalities, Public Image Limited and The Turtles with woozily baroque splendour. A second album, Sir, appeared on El a year later. While he continues to perform, work in film and visual art occupies much of Fisher Turner’s time today.

8. INSPIRAL CARPETS - 26 

(Cow  DUNG 4  1989)

They may have had at least one roadie who went on to become a Brit-Pop superstar, but Inspiral Carpets’ swirly street-wise psych had a lot going for it from their earliest releases. Featuring the band’s original vocalist Stephen Holt alongside guitarist Graham Lambert, keyboardist Clint Boon, bass player Dave Swift and drummer Craig Gill, 26 first appeared on the This is Surreal Pop compilation cassette. The song also featured on the band’s own Dung 4 cassette album of demos. Holt and Swift left to form The Rainkings with members of The Bodines, with Tom Hingley taking Holt’s place as vocalist for the Madchester years before the band split in 1995. Reforming in 2003, Holt brought things full circle when he rejoined in 2011 to replace Hingley. Dung was re-released by Cherry Red in 2014.

9. SOMETHING PRETTY BEAUTIFUL - Freak Outburst 

(Creation Records  CRELP 075   1990)

Having survived Crash, Bill Carey teamed up with Joss Cope, brother of Julian, as Something Pretty Beautiful, who landed at Creation Records’ doorstep. Freak Outburst was originally scheduled as the follow up to the band’s debut single, Freefall, but was caught in the fallout of the label’s meltdown and ended up as the opening track of the band’s eponymous 6-track mini-album compiling the tracks from Freefall with those originally planned for Freak Outburst. More recently, Carey has released records under names including Agent 13 and Gone Walkers. A committed environmental activist, Cope recorded a solo record in Finland, which was released in 2017 as Unrequited Lullabies.

10. C CAT TRANCE - Shake The Mind 

(Ink Records  INK 1220  1986)

When John Rees Lewis left slap-bass friendly Medium Medium, whose Hungry So Angry single now sounds like one of agit-punk-funk’s defining moments, he formed C Cat Trance with original Medium Medium drummer Nigel Stone. Adding World Music textures, the result over five albums on Red Flame’s Ink imprint was a kind of ethno-delic trip into serious groovesville. Such fusions of eastern promise and sinewy dancefloor beats peaked on this percussion-heavy single that sounded like it was dancing on hot coals. A remixed version appeared on the band’s Zouve album, as well as shimmying into view on 2005 compilation, Karadara: The Cream of C Cat Trance.

11. THE MOCK TURTLES  Lay Me Down

(Imaginary Records  MIRAGE 017  1990)

It may have been a re-jigged version of the B-side to Manchester janglers The Mock Turtles single on Imaginary Records that saw the band led by Martin Coogan (brother of comic actor Steve Coogan) hit pay-dirt, but the Lewis Carroll-referencing five-piece left behind a lot more than Can You Dig It? Both tracks appeared on the band’s debut album, Turtle Soup, which saw the band picked up by Siren Records, who re-released Can You Dig It? and a second album, Two Sides. The Mock Turtles were thrust into a new era in 2002 when Can You Dig It? was used in a TV ad, with a remix by Norman Cook giving the band a second lease of chart life.

12. CLEANERS FROM VENUS - Living With Victoria Grey 

(Ammunition Communications  Jangle 2T  1987)

Martin Newell was immortalised in a poem by John Cooper Clarke, and can be heard in his original guise as the driving force behind Cleaners From Venus, who began to release cassette albums on the Man At The Off Licence label. With Giles Smith on board, the title track of the band’s Living With Victoria Grey cassette was a trenchant comment on life in post Falklands War Britain dressed up as a wiggy party-scene soundtrack. A re-recorded version appeared on Going to England, released through the German arm of RCA Records. The title of Newell’s first non-cassette solo album, the Andy Partridge-produced The Greatest Living Englishman, summed up Newell’s brilliant anti-career, which sees him continue to self-release a plethora of records and poetry books to this day. In 2018 two Cleaners from Venus albums, Star Café and Life in a Time Machine, continued to restore faith in off-kilter humanity.

13. THE PRIMITIVES Ocean Blue

(Lazy Records  lazy 05  1987)

A year before they had a hit with Crash, the band who took the same name as Lou Reed and John Cale’s pre-Velvet Underground group released this low-key velveteen ballad as a single on their own Lazy Records. It was the last before the Coventry-sired quartet led by Tracy Tracy, aka Tracy Cattell, and Paul ‘PJ’ Court signed to RCA Records, who released the band’s debut album, Lovely, on which Ocean Blue appeared alongside their breakout single. Formed by Court and bassist Steve Dullaghan with original drummer Peter Tweedie and vocalist Keiron McDermott before Tracy Tracy took over. Tig Williams replaced Tweedie for two follow-up albums. The Primitives reformed in 2009 following the passing of Dullaghan, who was replaced by Raph Moore. An EP, Never Kill A Secret, was followed in 2012 by Echoes and Rhymes, an album of covers of lesser-known female-fronted songs. A compilation, Everything’s Shining Bright – The Lazy Recordings 1985-1987, was released in 2013, while more new material followed on Spin-O-Rama in 2014 and the four-track New Thrills in 2017.

14. THE TIMES  Oranges And Lemons

Artpop! Records  ARTPOP 1516  208)

Not to be confused with XTC’s album of ‘60s psych reinventions also called Oranges and Lemons, this previously released offcut from The Times’ mid 1980s reimagining of swinging London came from the sessions that produced the Up Against It and Enjoy The Times albums. The Times had long been the vehicle of Edward Ball, co-founder with Dan Treacey of The Television Personalities, as well as Teenage Filmstars and ‘O’ Level. The first two Times album, Go! With The Times and Pop Goes Art were released on Ball and Treacey’s Whaam! imprint, before Ball formed Artpop! Records after leaving the TVPs. Pop culture references abounded, with Up Against It was based on playwright Joe Orton’s unfilmed screenplay originally written for The Beatles. Ball moved to Creation Records, where he released records as trippy electronic  act, Love Corporation, and Brit-pop era solo works under his own name. Up Against It and Enjoy The Times were compiled on CD by Rev-Ola, before being repackaged with Oranges and Lemons and other unheard material on Ball’s reignited Artpop! label.

15. THE BLACK ATLAS  Living Colours

(Bam Caruso Records  KIRI 055  1987)

Fronted by Bam Caruso label manager Richard Norris, who would go on to form The Grid with Dave Ball of Soft Cell, The Black Atlas’ contribution to the imprint’s The House of The Lords compilation was a short attention-span mash-up of ‘60s primitivist wig-outs full of eastern promise and bratty garage band blues penned by members of Milwaukee-based nouveau-psych troupe, Plasticland. With Genesis P Orridge, Ball co-produced Psychic TV’s Jack The Tab album, which was released in the guise of a various artists compilation. As well as featuring Ball, the album also sampled dialogue by Peter Fonda taken from Roger Corman’s biker movie, The Wild Angels, later used on Primal Scream’s indie-dance classic, Loaded.

16. MOOD SIX - When The Time Comes 

(Cherry Red  BRED 71 1986)

As punk morphed into mod, so mod took a logical leap into nouveau-psych, with Mood Six formed from members of Security Risk, The Merton Parkas and The VIPS. Led by vocalist Phil Ward and guitarist/ producer Tony Conway, their first single for EMI, Hanging Around, was on-trend enough to have been picked up by Toni Basil. The choreographer of The Monkees’ film, Head, and actress in Easy Rider recorded it for her Word of Mouth album and put it on the flip of her 1981 mega-hit, Mickey. After their 1985 debut album, The Difference Is…, Mood Six moved to Cherry Red, with When The Time Comes featuring on second album, A Matter Of!, released in 1986. The same year the band played a young version of The Moody Blues in the video for the ‘60s veterans’ Your Wildest Dreams single. A cover of Todd Rundgren’s I Saw The Light followed, while the band’s work was compiled on Cutting Edge Retro. A Mood Six Anthology in 2006.

17. THE TIME MACHINE Another Scene (In Black And White)

(Bam Caruso  NRIC 056   1988)

Penned by Brian Marshall, this organ-led groover was the B-side of The Summer of Love, a one-off single on Bam Caruso sort of ‘60s on 45, featuring a mash-up of era-defining alternative anthems from 1967 including San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) by Scott McKenzie, Paper Sun by Traffic, Flowers in the Rain by The Move and Procol Harem’s A Whiter Shade of Pale. The original press release described The Summer of Love as ‘A MUST for all beach parties this year!!...’ How that worked out is anybody’s guess, but the B-side is a mini masterpiece.

18. THE JETSET  Happy In My Mind

(The Dance Network  WORK 6  1987)

The Jetset were created not so much in their own image but in that of The Monkees. Taking homage to new heights, The Jetset were formed by teenage friends Paul Bevoir and Melvyn J Taub. Under the wing of Secret Affair drummer Paul Bultitude, the nascent Jetset signed to his Dance Network label inbetween temping as backing vocalists for Neasdon’s bee-hived pop diva Mari Wilson. Self-mythologising from the off, The Jetset merchandised themselves with posters, badges, stickers, flexi-discs and cartoon strips that suggested they were way more famous than otherwise advertised. The fairground friendly Happy in my Mind is taken from the fourth Jetset album, Vaudeville Park, before the band split in 1988 after Five. Bevoir has recently composed theme songs for Spanish cartoon TV shows, Taub appeared in Julien Temple’s short TV film, It’s All True, alongside Koo Stark, before moving into press and promotions with Bultitude. Bassist Paul Bonin appeared in Volker Schlondorff’s Colm Toibin-scripted film, Return to Montauk. His English translation of the autobiography of Tangerine Dream’s late founder Edgar Froese was published in 2017. In 2010, Cherry Red released Swings and Roundabouts: The Very Best of The Jetset.

19. BLOW-UP - What Is In Your Mind?

(Cherry Red  CD BRED 85  1990) 

Named after a Television bootleg rather than Michelangelo Antonioni’s London-set piece of existential ennui adapted from a Julio Cortazar short story, Blow Up allegedly ended up on Creation after Bobby Gillespie was said to have spotted vocalist and former 14 Iced Bears member Nick Roughly’s resemblance to Velvet Underground dancer and muse Gerard Malanga. Debut single, Good For Me, was produced by Mayo Thompson of ‘60s Texan avant-psych absurdists The Red Crayola. After several singles on Creation, the band’s debut LP, In Watermelon Sugar, from which What Is In Your Mind? is taken, belatedly appeared  on Cherry Red. A second album, Amazon Eyegasm, followed, while a later line up featured drummer Paul Reeves. As Billy Reeves, he went on to form Theaudience with future post-modern pop princess Sophie Ellis Bextor.

20. JANE FROM OCCUPIED EUROPE – Parade

 (7% Records  JANE 1202    1990)

Named after the second Swell Maps LP but sounding nothing like it, Jane From Occupied Europe were from Salisbury, and featured former members of local luminaries including Bubblegum Splash! and Mrs Taylor’s Mad. Over their three releases they featured Jim Harrison on vocals, guitarist Colin O’Keefe, Dave Todd on bass, David Ware on guitar and keyboards and Phil Eason on drums. Parade originally appeared on the Little Valley Town 12” EP, the first 500 of which came with an, ahem, ‘Roach-o-matic’ postcard. This followed the band’s debut Ocean Run Dry single, with Parade also featured on the Coloursound LP. All of these were released on the band’s own 7% Records. Interestingly, the sleeve design of the album was credited rather knowingly – and cheekily - to Red Crayola.

21. PRIME MOVERS - I'm Alive

(Cyanide Records  CND 001  1989) 

Not to be confused with 1960s American MC5 contemporaries of the same name who featured a pre Stooges Iggy Pop in their ranks, these Prime Movers were the Medway post Prisoners combo formed by Graham Day and Alan Crockford with Wolf Howard  on drums, and later featuring Fay Day, aka Fay Hallam of Makin’ Time, on organ. Day had briefly played drums for Billy Childish’s The Mighty Caesars before hooking up with Crockford once more, who had played with Howard in the original line-up of The James Taylor Quartet, also sired from the Prisoners split. I’m Alive appeared on the Prime Movers debut LP on Cyanide Records, Sins of the Fourfathers. ‘I would highly recommend this album for safe sex!’ G.Day’ went the legend on the cover. A series of singles and two more albums followed. Day later formed Graham Day & The Gaolers, and, in 2013 with Crockford and Howard, Graham Day & The Forefathers.

22. SLEEP CREATURE AND THE VAMPIRES - Look To The Sun

(Acid Tapes  TAB 025  1985)

Also known as Sleep Creatures and The Vampires From Venus, the Newcastle-sired band of Billy, Carl, Olly and Lynnie featured two tracks on the Acid Tapes cassette compilation, Little Creepy We Shine So Sleepy So Whoopee! The Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil-penned Kicks had previously been recorded by Paul Revere and The Raiders, while Action Woman had been written by Warren Kendrick for his band, The Litters. Both songs, incidentally, were also covered by Naz Nomad and The Nightmares, aka The Damned, on their 1984 album of garage band covers, Give Daddy The Knife Cindy. Sleep Creature and The Vampires’ versions appeared alongside Look to the Sun on the de-Venused cassette album, A Trip in Time. Band mainstay Billy Gilbert has played with later incarnations of Chelsea and Penetration as well as pursuing his own work, latterly with The Tonighters.

23. OMNIA OPERA Each Day

(Self-released   1986)

Omnia Opera were formed in Kidderminster in 1985 by space rock heads Ade Scholefield and Rob Lloyd, who originally styled themselves as The Genetics of Destiny before co-opting fellow traveler Andy Jones into an increasingly expansive fold of psychedelic freaks. Each Day first appeared on the Beyond The Tenth cassette album in 1986, the first of several below-radar releases that included Celebrate for Change sold at gigs in true underground style. Beyond The Tenth and its follow-up, Celebrate for Change were compiled on the 2-cassette boxed set, Rituals of Beyond, released through Belgian psychedelic zine, Crohinga Well. Each Day was later re-recorded for their eponymous 1993 album – their first on vinyl and CD – on Delerium Records. A second album, Red Shift, saw the band split for twelve years before reforming with a new line-up led by Jones and Lloyd. Nothing is Ordinary appeared in 2011 on Umbilical Records, while the band’s two Delerium albums were compiled on CD a year later.

24. GAYE BYKERS ON ACID - TV Cabbage 

(In Tape  IT 040  1986)

Grebo pioneers Gaye Bykers on Acid were formed in Leicester by Mary and Robber Byker, aka Ian Hoxley and Ian Reynolds. Joined by guitarist Tony Horsfall and drummer Kevin Hyde, they released their first single, Everythang’s Groovy/TV Cabbage, on Marc Riley’s In Tape label. Like it’s follow-up, the Nosedive Karma EP, it was recorded with Jon Langford of The Mekons before the band signed to Virgin, with TV Cabbage also appearing as the final track on debut album, Drill Your Own Hole. Initial copies actually did require such action in order to be able to play it. Other pranks included playing in women’s clothes as Lesbian Dopeheads on Mopeds and fictitious East German thrash band, Rektum. GBOA released Cancer Planet Mission on their own Naked Brain label, and, as PFX, the Pernicious Nonsense LP. Mary Byker went on to join industrial supergroup, Pigface, and later Apollo 440. TV Cabbage appeared on the GBOA compilation, Everything’s Groovy.

Unedited notes for Losing Touch With My Mind, commissioned by Cherry Red Records autumn 2018 and released spring 2019.

ends