Nuggets

 

A couple of days ago I found in the deepest corner of my external hard drive a complilation from the late 60's. Nuggets attempted to provide an overview of the then-emerging psychedelic music scene. Many of these bands were never heard again of - whilst a few songs by others have stuck in the memo. A far cry from the marijuana-fuelled music of California, these bands sought to establish a new guitar sound rooted in the blues. What remains are songs based on a raw, DIY sound. These days, one would classify this as garage rock or describe it as a journey back in time to a carefree era.

The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard

The Standells - Dirty Water

The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

More Houses

 

The first song is well known, as Primal Scream released a cover version on Screamadelica. The original is by 13th Floor Elevators, who released it on their second album in 1967, and it contains everything they stood for: constantly repeating distorted guitar riffs and the electrifying vocals of Roky Erickson.

My New House by The Fall was released on their eighth album, This Nation's Saving Grace, perhaps their most accessible album,  without sacrificing dangerous riffs and Mark E. Smith's sarcasm.

Our House from 1970 was disturbing for many fans of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, as they preferred to see the band as protesters and couldn't relate to Graham Nash's declaration of love for Joni Mitchell. Nevertheless, it has become a classic that is played too rarely.

Monday's Long Song

 

In 1988 Spacemen 3 released Performance, their first live album, recorded during a gig in Melkweg, Netherlands. It shows them at the climax of their musical work between their studio albums The Perfect Describtion and Playing With Fire when they gave as their great combination of distorted guitars and maybe the best psychedelic music since the Velvets. 

The concert was more dedicated to the likes of Pete Kember and Jason Pierce than promoting their last album because they played cover versions of their likes. Songs by MC5 and Roky Erickson. Their version of Rollercoaster shows everything Spacemen 3 were famous for. 

Spacemen 3 - Rollercoaster

Walking With Jesus

 

                                        

Pete Kember and Jason Pierce formed in the early 80's Spacemen 3 and brought back (neo-)psychedelia to our ears. Starting on their first album with covers by 13th Floor Elevators, The Stooges and Juicy Lucy to find their own psychedelia road on their second album The Perfect Prescription in 1987. They said about their concept album it is "a vision of a drug trip from inception to its blasted conclusion, highs and lows fully intact.". This is a very good description how to describe their sound. Trained by psychedelic heroes from the past both transformed it in a unique sound other bands live on this sound until today. Songs between Walking With Jesus a song with two chords and almost close to a perfect song and Take Me To The Other Side a psychedelic song starting slowly and turning to a feedback orgy. Probably one of the best second albums ever.

Spacemen 3 - Walking With Jesus

Nuggets Updated

 

Nuggets was a compilation series of American psychedelic and garage rock songs released in the early 70's. Not only that there were fantastic songs on them and the influence of the upcoming punk and new wave scene was immense also generations decades later explored this sounds. So did The KVB, a London based post-punk electronic duo. On their last album they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Nuggets-sampler in a way that they take the originals by 13th Floor Elevaters and Status Quo to interpret them in a new robe. And the result is more than interesting because they didn't make not only one more cover version but also new songs out of them. That this songs haven't much in common doesn't matter because they shimmer by itself.

13th Floor Elevator - Reverbation

Status Quo - Pictures Or Matchstick Men

Lunatics At The Edge Of The World

While listening to a lot of new psychedelic music especially from Scandinavia in these days I remembered the pioneers of this genre. The 13th Floor Elevators were active from 1965 until 1969 and led by Roky Erikson who passed away almost one year ago. The Elevator's sound was dominated by using two guitars and including a lot of reverb and echo into their music. As far as I know they were one of the first bands calling their music psychedelic rock. And if somebody can take up this for itself, then this band. Their first album is still an all time favorite of mine and you can listen to their legacy by Spacemen 3, Primal Scream or Echo and The Bunnymen.

13th Floor Elevators - Roller Coaster
13th Floor Elevators - Reverbation
13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me

The Foreign Corresondent Returns - Stories About German (Rock) Music # 48

Shiny Gnomes were a Psychedelic/garage band from Nuremberg. They were called earlier than German "The Jesus and The Mary Chain". Their music connects psychedelic rock, the 60s beat and folk keen to experiment with the floating, ethereally active voice of the singer Limo. In a criticism her style became as a "wild garage sound between pop and experimental noise". Rolling Stone once written about them: "... the beaming Gnomes may keep to have put down at that time the probably most pioneering garage punk and Psychedelia album maggot in Germany. If the Farfisa organs whine, the guitars the melodies shreddern and the drummers behind his Kit hyperventilates, then the lift-off factor, measured in US icons lies like the 13th Floor Elevators or The Electric Prunes at least on the same height... Shine On, you crazy Gnomes." And I can't describe it in better words. The Shiny Gnomes could have made it big! Their technical abilities on the instruments and the composition gift absolutely corresponded to an international level. I saw them a few times live and it was always a big pleasure.

Shiny Gnomes - Love Torture
Shiny Gnomes - Temple Balls
Shiny Gnomes - Lazing At Dessert Inn