(2020) VA – A Slight Disturbance in My Mind: The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds of 1966





Review:

Another lovingly curated rock & roll gem from Cherry Red’s archival Grapefruit Records imprint, is an expansive 3-disc set entirely devoted to the opening phases of Britain’s budding psychedelic movement. By late 1965, the American underground, particularly San Francisco’s LSD-inspired drug culture, had begun to infiltrate popular music. The Byrds and other West Coast groups began to adopt a more experimental attitude while in the U.K. bands like the Yardbirds and, more prominently, the Beatles forged their own new directions away from rock’s more easily digestible conventions. The inventive flourishes on the latter’s Rubber Soul LP set the table for a paradigm shift, and by April of the next year, they were at Abbey Road building the bones of their pioneering psychedelic opus, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which would later blow minds upon its August release. Although outright psychedelia was a concept still bubbling below the mainstream, 1966 was poised for a revolution, and throughout that crucial year, it arrived in paroxysms of creative possibility. At a whopping 84 tracks — all released in 1966 — A Slight Disturbance in My Mind deftly captures a diverse swath of what it bills as “British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds,” ranging from current stars finding new sounds (the Kinks’ droning jewel “Fancy”) to future stars finding their footing (David Bowie’s indelibly groovy “I Dig Everything”), and an array of young acts bringing fresh ideas to what seemed like a new dimension of music. The potential danger — and appeal — of mind-expanding drugs begat dangerous sounds, like the menacing undercurrents of the Creation’s masterwork “Making Time” and the snaky darkness of the Misunderstood’s “I Unseen.” The latter were a mercurial quartet of Californians moonlighting in London at the behest of John Peel, and their influence among the British scene that summer was considerable. Elsewhere are some wild cuts by the ‘N Betweens — whose members later became glam greats Slade — jazzy freakbeaters like the Artwoods, and lush early baroque-poppers the Ivy League, all adding to the pot their impressions of what would loosely become psychedelic rock. A lot of ground is covered here, and peppered in among the knowns and well-knowns is a nice spread of previously unreleased nuggets and demos from cult favorites and curious one-offs. As with all of their box sets, the label provides extensive song-by-song liner notes, scads of intriguing ephemera, and a genuine love for the source material.











Tracklist:



Disc 1

01. The Creation  - Making Time

02. The Yardbirds  - Shape of Things

03. The Action  - I'll Keep Holding On

04. The Fleur de Lys  - Mud in Your Eye

05. The Koobas  - Sweet Music

06. The Hollies  - Oriental Sadness

07. Bee Gees  - Play Down

08. Mick Softley with the Summer Suns  - Am I the Red One (Alternative Mix)

09. The Misunderstood  - I Unseen

10. The 'N Betweens  - Security (Extended Version)

11. Attraction  - She's a Girl

12. Bowie, David  - I Dig Everything

13. The Pretty Things  - A House in the Country

14. Lindsay Muir's Untamed  - Daddy Long Legs (Brass - Free Version)

15. Outrage  - Man with Money

16. The Uglys  - The Quiet Explosion

17. Renegades  - Thirteen Women

18. The Riot Squad  - I Take It That Were Through

19. Katch 22  - Major Catastrophe

20. Marc Bolan  - Hippy Gumbo (Demo Version)

21. Just Five  - I Will Have You

22. The Times  - Tomorrow Night

23. The in Crowd  - Blow-Up

24. The Majority  - Simplified

25. The Ministry of Sound  - Back Seat Driver

26. The Truth  - Baby, You've Got It

27. Rod Stewart  - I Just Got Some

28. Luvin' Kind  - Answers Please



Disc 2

01. The Smoke  - My Friend Jack (Demo Version)

02. The Score  - Please Please Me

03. The Creation  - Painter Man (2017 Stereo Mix)

04. The Downliners Sect  - Why Don't You Smile Now

05. The Graham Bond Organisation  - You've Gotta Have Love Babe (Demo Version)

06. The Animals  - Outcast

07. The Moody Blues  - We're Broken

08. Tony Colton  - I've Laid Some Down in My Time

09. The People  - Well All Right

10. Keith Relf  - Shapes in My Mind (Us 45 Version)

11. The Pretty Things  - My Time (Brass-Free Version)

12. The Kinks  - Fancy

13. Manfred Mann  - You're My Girl

14. The Tremeloes  - What a State I'm In

15. Al Stewart  - Turn Into Earth

16. The Mindbenders  - The Morning After

17. Favourite Sons  - Walkin Walkin Walkin

18. The Searchers  - Have You Ever Loved Somebody

19. The 5 A.M. Event  - Hungry

20. The Artwoods  - Molly Andersons Cookery Book

21. Loose Ends  - Tax Man

22. Deep Feeling  - The Ruin

23. The Wheels  - Kicks

24. The Kingpins  - You're My Girl

25. The Tomcats  - Paint It Black

26. The Cortinas  - Sagittarius

27. The Brood  - Wrong Way

28. Key  - Holidaymaker



Disc 3

01. John's Children  - The Love I Thought I'd Found

02. Wimple Winch  - Save My Soul

03. The Yardbirds  - Stroll On

04. The Downliners Sect  - Glendora

05. The Flies  - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone (Demo Version)

06. The Kirkbys  - It's a Crime

07. The Sorrows  - Let the Live Live

08. The Fingers  - I Go to Sleep

09. Arthur Brown  - Don't Tell Me

10. Beverley  - Happy New Year

11. Bee Gees  - I Am the World

12. The Hollies  - Clown

13. The Zombies  - Indication

14. The Rocking Vickers  - Little Rosy

15. Sounds Around  - What Does She Do

16. Episode Six  - My Little Red Book

17. Tornados '66  - No More You and Me

18. The 'N Betweens  - Girl Child, I Am an Evil Witchman

19. The Spectres  - Hurdy Gurdy Man

20. Tuesdays Children  - Summer Leaves Me with a Sigh

21. The Reaction  - Advertising Man

22. The Ivy League  - My World Fell Down

23. Silence  - Hey, You Lolita

24. The Secrets  - I Suppose

25. Outrage  - Different Kind of Love Song

26. Mirage  - Tomorrow Never Knows

27. The Misunderstood  - My Mind

28. The Move  - Disturbance





Media Report:

Genre: rock

Format: FLAC

Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM

Bit rate mode: Variable

Channel(s): 2 channels

Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz

Bit depth: 16 bits