Hi guys im just wondering why theres virtually been no uk psych reissues of late,whati mean is uk psych albums from the 60s and early 70s?Has the UK psych reissue biz hit the bottom of a barrel?Yeh we got the good 3 cd set Love,Poetry and Revolution......but im on about actual uk psych albums......the last cd i think i bought which was a reissue was the Charge cd reissued by Wooden Hill(tenth planet)apart from that its gone very quiet.Surely theres some good albums crying to be reissued which haven't already done.Or is it such a small market that companies are thinking it just aint worth the hassle and not enough readies to be made.Or are folk getting all their stuff from the Internet??I for one have never been into downloading albums as i like to have a product(in this case cds) in my hand with liners etc.A fab company like Grapefruit(Cherry Red)have kept the uk psych and its pop cousin flag flying over the last few years with releases by the likes of Pacific Drift,Elmer Gantry and the velvet Opera,Philamore lincoln,The Herd,Edwards Hand,Kaleidoscope and more all with nice booklets and fab sound.
What do you think?Has the well run dry??

Hi Stuart,
These are all recent comps from late 60s-early 70s

Imaginations: Psychedelic Sounds From The Youngblood, Beacon And Mother Labels, 1969-1974. Guerssen Records, CD, LP.
Inevitably both sides fo the Taiconderoga single are here, the three Shakane sides are very good too. Gets a little glammy ( a la Electric Asylum) also, I love Rubber Band's 'Moonwalker'. Useful liners too.

Upside Down: Coloured Dreams From The Underworld. Volume 1 1966-1970
Particles, CD.
This one I am sure you would like Stuart as most of it has not been reissued in compilation form. Magic's 'I Want To Fly' and The Trojans 'Even Dolls Can Cry' for instance are pure Forest of Gold Tops. Loads of great chewey popsike as well.

Smokin’ & Trippin’ Audio Archive CD - A sort of sub-10th Planet set of rehersal tapes, self-pressed wax and even live down the local pub recordings from the very early 70s. Flatter than flat production wise, but a great provinicial document.

Electric Asylum Vol.6 CD 1971-6 - If you liike the other 5 volumes, this one's more fo the same. Lots of freaky oddness and glam crunch.

PM

Paul,

You advice Electric Asylum but I was very disappointed by vol. 1 (I stopped the serie there) as I was by the "official" Piccadilly Sunshine serie: too much MOR imoo, as produced in France in the 70's. Is it different from the other volumes?

I notice the 3 others: thanks.

Hi Philippe- If you do not like Electric Asylum Vol.1, you will not like Vol.6 either. Freaky rock and glam stomp, I love it! I think you would enjoy the 'Upside Down Vol.1' CD though. I just played it again and it's full of good pop and popsike. Not unlike an Australian version of the Amercian Capitol label 'Book A Trip' type comps in many places.

Paul

Sunbeam are still knocking them out aren't they? Or have I been buying old stock?

Thanks Paul.

Hi Paul,im actually waiting for the delivery of Smokin and Trippin,more out of curiosity really......but the Upside Down comp sounds good,hopefully next pay day i'll hopefully be able to treat myself.As for the Imaginations cd,kinda a bit thin on the ground....not really that many tracks on it for the hard earned dosh.Leave that till im more financially flush(will i ever be?)As for Electric ASylum 6,that to me is a must get as i have the other 5 issues and i really enjoyed them,and if it stays on the same kinda sound,should be good.Its funny ive not bought Piccadilly Sunshine 17 & 18 or the latest Mixed Up Minds collections.....theyre low on my list of wants as at the moment.

Paul when i was going on about uk psych reissues,i meant actual albums that had originally been released in the 60 and early 70s,which have got the reissue treatment now...there just doesnt seem to be as many of those albums getting reissued these days....and i agree Someone mentioned Sunbeam Records,how could i forget them as they have released a load of uk psych,folk and pop over the last few years........but even there reissues have slowed down considerably,i do like Sunbeams reissues....was the last one Andy Leighs "Magician"album?

Ooooops, I made a mistake: I assimilate Electric Asylum to a MOR serie.

Obviously I mix with something else and, as Paul says, I consider EA as a very good comp serie and I'll buy vol. 6 asap.

Hard times...

I know a couple of people who work in the reissue industry. They always say there are several problems concerning the UK psych field: the really top-notch UK psych LPs have normally been reissued several times, there aren't really that many genuine UK psych albums anyway, it's hard to license material from the likes of Universal (who seem to own 90% of music these days), and, of course, sales aren't great these days, especially with so many people choosing not to buy the physical product. I'm not sure what the answer is (probably there isn't one), but I imagine that's why there are so many various artist compilations coming out rather than single artist CDs.

Can't think of any Stuart.
Couple of US ones come to mind though...must be about a year and a half ago
I posted about 'I See It Now' by Fargo, a gem of a pop album that, I remember JJ
replied that Steve Stanley planned to release it soon but nothing yet...
Cherry Red associated labels releases always have a message on the back these days asking for feedback and suggestions for future reissues, I sent one ages ago and I'm gonna send another in a minute. I think that album should've had a reissue way ahead of loads of others but maybe that's just me...
Another one that I'm surprised has not had a reissue is 'Earth, Air, Fire & Water' by The Lewis and Clarke Expedition.

One band that I'm surprised that hasn't received a legit reissue is Mandrake Paddle Steamer. There was one on what I'm sue is some bootleg label called Forgotten Jewels which I picked up recently. There is some great stuff on it but the sound quality is all over the shop.

There was going to be a full CD's worth of Mandrake Paddle Steamer a few years back on RPM I think, but the project floundered due to an issue over the inclusion of 'Strange Walking Man'if I remember rightly. Pity.

P

I was told that the licensing of the Strange Walking Man single was very much a secondary issue. The main problem apparently was that the band owned nearly all the material, and they allegedly wanted a £3000 advance in order to do the deal! Some people just price themselves out of the market, probably because they have no understanding of just how small that market actually is.

Disappointing if that's the case Andy. There's some great material recorded after Strange Walking Man and enough for a good comp. In fact there was the bootleg cd and an LP but I think the track list differed.
Maybe the offers have passed but you'd think it would be better to take less than get nothing at all.

Hi Stuart

I just came on here to big up Grapefruit's new Shapes And Shadows set and saw this, so I'll post here first and come back to the comp!

There are two types of psych reissue in my book (and I don't just mean good and bad): legit and bootleg. I still look at them in those terms – possibly because I'm lucky enough to work on many of the legit ones and know how difficult and thankless it is dealing with licensing issues and the like.

All the Particles ones are bootlegs so they can, and not doubt will, keep churning out Mixed Up Piccadilly Explosions until the end of time. I still listen to all of these releases and find them less exciting and loveable as time goes on. The damn things take up an entire CD rack on their own and I frequently look at them and think "rip 'n' dump" but never quite get round to it. But that's just me.
And Paul's right – the new Oz one is actually really good as that particular seam hasn't been mined to within an inch of its life... yet.

Grapefruit and the other Cherry Red labels, as well as Guerssen, Sunbeam, LITA and their ilk, are legit and license from owners or, failing that, the artists themselves. As there are now essentially only three BIG multi-national music companies controlling virtually everything (EMI/Virgin, Sony/BMG and Warners), all of whom clearly have bigger fish to fry than signing off paperwork on Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera reissues, you get peaks and troughs where suddenly a dozen titles will be cleared, followed by a period of inactivity.
Universal's Back To Black wing put out lovely straight vinyl repros of The End, World Of Oz and Caravan's second earlier this year and are about to start on the Island folk-rock catalog, if that's the bag you're in.

Meanwhile, the Upside Down Portobello Asylums of the world are left to thrive, unchecked.

There's a great new comp coming out on Grapefruit in September though!

Andy

Thanks to you all for taking out time and for giving your thoughts on this subject,some really good info and i for one look forward to hearing and getting the up and coming new comp from Grapefruit, who are doing a grand job of reissuing some class stuff,so its great to hear they're still going to be releasing stuff.I think its pretty much a shame that our musical heritage is being owned by only 3 big companies who obviously run the show,but if it wasn't for companies like Cherry Red we probably wouldnt get to hear half of the music made and recorded in the last 50 years as those 3 big companies wouldnt make much money say from releasing 60s and 70s uk pop and psych,as for bootleg labels particles or as they were known past and present,they too have their place i feel as they are filling holes by issuing comps of tracks recorded by those 60s and 70s groups i mentioned earlier.Its just a shame that those artists dont receive a penny from those....but someones pockets are jingling with the sound of coins!!!Can i also say the bootleg cd has come a long way from say 10 years ago,where back then you had the tracklists and cover and basically nowt else for your money but now youre getting some nice packages with booklets and some juicy info on some obscure stuff and hallelujah better sound quailty..thats my thoughts anyway!!For what theyre worth!!