Various "Pure... Psychedelic Rock" 1966-1976 (rec) 2010 (comp)****

These Pure... comps are a cheap series pairing well-known hits with semi-random songs from Sony Music's back catalogue. And while this isn't a promising premise, it gives the novice a lot of music at a bargain price, and hopefully introduces them to some lesser known but interesting artists. So far I've only bought two box sets from this series; in both cases I already had 70-80% of the songs in other comps or the original albums, but I thought they'd be nice to listen to in the car - yes I have a palaeolithic car with a CD player, the very next model after the Flintstones'. This one really impressed me with its tracklist: at first glance, it's a hodge podge collection. I mean I like Pavlov's Dog and Blue Öyster Cult as much as the next guy, probably more in fact, but they don't fit with the rest of the bands here, either stylistically or chronologically. Then, you have pop hits that do come from the "psychedelic" era but can hardly be considered psychedelic: e.g. "American Woman", "Summer in the City", "The Letter" etc. But you know what? Who cares whether they justify the title of this CD? These tunes are classics for a reason, and are always fun to listen and sing along to while driving. Bob Dylan was probably the only major artist who didn't succumb to the psychedelic craze, but no 60's retrospective is complete without him, so this collection starts off with his "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" which belongs here by virtue of that memorable line "everybody must get stoned". The Beatles and Rolling Stones are just as essential, but it seems the compilers couldn't get permission to include them, so instead we get some nice covers of their songs: a heavily orchestrated version of "Ruby Tuesday" by Melanie and a Hendrix-influenced "Day Tripper" by Randy California (of Spirit, two of whose best songs are also included here). The San Francisco psychedelic scene is represented by the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and Big Brother and The Holding Company (with Janis Joplin on vocals). The Grateful Dead may be absent, but there's a track by their affiliates, New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Also present, of course, is the unofficial anthem of the Summer Of Love "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)", sung by Scott McKenzie and written - which was news to me, until now- by "papa" John Philips. The two Byrds tracks included ("8 Miles High" and "Mind Gardens") are the most conceptually appropriate for this comp, while other famous artists here are Santana, Fleetwood Mac, and Van Morrison - the latter is represented by an early version of "Madame George" i.e. not the familiar one from the Astral Weeks LP. There's also a healthy dose of soul (Sly Stone, Shuggie Otis, 5th Dimension, Redbone, Chambers Brothers etc), as well as garage rock dynamites like "Kicks", "Teenage Head" and "Race With The Devil". But my favourite thing about this compilation is not the big names, but the "padding": genuinely underground artists like Captain Beefheart, Skip Spence (the American Syd Barrett?), electronic music pioneers The United States Of America, or English prog-folkers Trees. The compilers dig further to unearth hidden gems, like Lou Reed's "Wild Child". On hearing it, I though it was a great lost Velvet Underground song, but is turns out it's a cut from his first solo LP, which I own but hadn't heard in a while. Sagittarius were a "sunshine pop" band by LA producers Gary Usher (Beach Boys, Byrds) and Curt Boettcher (Millenium, Association). Yet, the sitar-heavy track included here is dark, melodic, and positively psychedelic. There are a couple more great acid folk pieces by L.A.'s Stone Country and Brewer & Shipley, none of whom I had heard of previously. Also a live recording by Grace Slick's pre-Airplane band, The Great Society; recorded at San Fransisco's Matrix club in 1966, it's jazzier than Jefferson Airplane, with a lot of flute. We even get a fantastic single B-side by those English expats operating in Italy, The Rokes - that's some deep digging, man. Furthermore, it was good to listen to the original versions of "Groupie (Superstar)" (it was a hit for The Carpenters, but the first version I heard was by Sonic Youth, in the 90's) and "Different Drum" (best known by Linda Ronstandt and The Stone Poneys). There's a version of "Hush" by a band called Love Affair that's contemporary to Deep Purple's - the organist would give Jon Lord a run for his money. Lastly, there's some jazz rock/experimental music by Miles Davis, Robert Wyatt, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra etc. That may be too challenging for those who bought the box set for the hits, and the compilers indirectly acknowledge that by bundling most of them towards the end of Disc 3. As I said before, this may not be the most uniform collection, but there's no denying the quality of the music within; there's something here for the novice as well as for the connoisseur, so it's 4* from me.

***** for Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob Dylan), Get Together (The Youngbloods), Summer In The City (The Lovin' Spoonful), Eight Miles High (The Byrds), White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane), Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes I Do (Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band), Teenage Head (The Flamin' Groovies), Journey To The Center Of The Mind (The Amboy Dukes), (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult),  I Want To Take You Higher (Sly & The Family Stone), Fresh Garbage (Spirit), Race With The Devil (The Gun), Time Has Come Today (single version) (The Chambers Brothers), Julia (Pavlov's Dog), Ball And Chain (Big Brother & The Holding Company), American Woman (The Guess Who), Kicks (Paul Revere & The Raiders), Coming Down (The United States Of America), I Got A Line On You (Spirit), Albatross (Fleetwood Mac), Strawberry Letter 23 (Shuggie Otis), Spinning Wheel (Blood, Sweat And Tears)

**** for San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) (Scott McKenzie), Wild Child (Lou Reed), Indian Reservation (Paul Revere & The Raiders), Green Tambourine (The Lemon Pipers), Groupie (Superstar) (Delaney & Bonnie And Friends), Different Drum (Michael Nesmith), Soul Sacrifice (Santana), In The Year 2525 (Zager & Evans), Omaha (Moby Grape), Day Tripper (Randy California), Stoned Soul Picnic (Laura Nyro), Hold Your Head Up (Argent), War In Peace (Alexander 'Skip' Spence), Hoboin' (Tim Hardin), Frankenstein (The Edgar Winter Group), Red Chair Fade Away (The Cyrkle), Theme From An Imaginary Western (Mountain), When The Wind Arises (The Rokes), Road (Trees), Garden Of Eden (New Riders Of The Purple Sage), Sittin' In Circles (The Electric Flag), Mind Gardens (The Byrds), Abba Zaba (Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band), Meeting Of The Spirits (Mahavishnu Orchestra), The Letter (Box Tops), Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo (Johnny Winter), Say You Don't Mind (Colin Blunstone), Hush (The Love Affair), Love Psalm (Stone Country), So You Say You Lost Your Baby (Gene Clark), 8:05 (Moby Grape), The Witch Queen Of New Orleans (Redbone), Up Up And Away (The Fifth Dimension), Simon Says (1910 Fruitgum Company), Witchi-Tai-To (Brewer & Shipley), Daydream Nightmare (Grace Slick & The Great Society), Glass (Sagittarius)

*** for Ruby Tuesday (Melanie), It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (Al Kooper & Stephen Stills), Sweet Blindness, (The Fifth Dimension), Madame George (Van Morrison), John McLaughlin (Miles Davis), Two Heads (Jefferson Airplane), Las Vegas Tango Part 1 Repeat (Robert Wyatt), Singing Winds Crying Beasts (Santana), Waterfall (Weather Report), Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) (Melanie)