I am with Stuart and Bard on this one - definitely not worth the bucks.

At this point it would seem that where UK psych is concerned, the bottom of the well (or barrel) was struck a long time ago. At this point, it's not so much reissuing as it is recycling. At some point, you just have to say no and get off the merry go round.

As has already been pointed out, the four volumes of the series have already been out on CD as Hen's Teeth (two volumes).

And yes, in financial terms 60 tracks across five CDs is a complete rip-off. But then it's Stephen Carr's current set-up Particles, so what do you expect?

It's actually 77 tracks in total Philippe (which I guess is as the blurb says 'more than 60 tracks'). I wouldn't take the 'improved sound quality' claim on trust. I have the Chocolate Soup CD box set Particles issued and there's no improvement on the sound quality on the vinyl repro issues, though there is on the later extra volumes Particles / Past & Present compiled themselves. I think they're straight rips from the vinyl reissues.

If you can find the two CD editions of the 'Hen's Teeth' comps 'Catherine On The Wheel' and 'Oil Emulsion Slyde vs. The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke'(the third volume 'Blocked' = 1.5 volumes of the 3 LP 'Purple Heart Sugery' set)', then that = all 4 'Psychedelia' comp LPs anyway and is possibly cheaper than this new box. The 11 track 'Mynd The Gap' comp that comprises the 5th disc as has been said is utterly dire soundwise and not worth the cost of the box to get it.

PM

Quite probably, accuracy is not Particles best feature in the physical production department. The blurb for the box on Spin's webiste, which is no doubt supplied by Particles for promo purposes, states that:

'A musical hocus pocus with 77 blasts of psychedelic artefacts and freakbeat enigmas.'

Quite possibly 10 tracks were pulled or Particles can't add up! Given the times they have cocked up the track listings, put the wrong labels on the discs (e.g.'A Gathering of The Tribes' box set) it wouldn't surprise me. Bevis Frond does the track selection and liners I think which is why there are so many cool tunes across the whole range of comps; the cover art / physical production seems to be chosen / done by pinning the tail on the donkey methods. The rubbish art used for the Mixed Up Minds series which musically is largey really good, for instance is a case in point.

However the relationship works, from this end user's perspective the compiler(s) care and concern for the record selections is clearly upermost and I doff my hat to them. Whoever does the rest though, seems more interested in quanitiy and frequency of issue than the overall quality of each project and hence anomolies like what's actually in the track list on this set occur!

PM

I see on Heyday's website, the number has been altered to '67 blasts..' so I guess that is what it is!

PM

Hello Paul M,
You listened to this yet?
Any noticeable improvement on the sound at all?
Ta

No, not yet it's sitting on my 'pending' shelf at the momnt, will be 'engaging' with it later this week. It looks nice enough though. The card sleeves replicate the original LP art work well enough and the booklet's nicely done. Oh, though 'Mynd The Gap' comp disc has had different art work used for it to fit in better with the other four volumes.

PM

Well I've just played 'Mynd The Gap' (Disc 5) in this set. oddly the Particles booklet claims this was an intended but unreleased fifth volume in the 'Psychedleia' set. However, it was issued as a vinyl standf alone comp although not under the 'Tiny Alice' imprint as the othr four vols were. Also the track list on the back of the card sleeve only lists 10 tracks, there's 11 on the disc (the second track by Electric Food is missing from the track list) and the booklet does list all 11 correctly though on the back page.

As for the sound quality, I am ssuming that the MTG comp was sourced from well worn acetates as several cuts sound like acetate demos and hence the enormous amount of surface noise.

This CD edition does improve on the album sound quality quite significantly. The bottom end of the sound has a good presence and much of the needle drag has been eliminated or supressed. The worse offender here is Henry Schifter's 'Another Time' which still has a discernable surface noise, but the others are mainly reduced to the occasional crackle here and there. Given the original's lamentable sound quality, this CD edition is a significant improvement in that respect.

Elsewhere, a couple of the tracks suffer from near collapsing grooves resulting in the sort of woozy 'sea sick' type of wobble where the pitch sounds like its wavering all over the place. (Shere Khan and the second Electric Food tracks). That though is the fault of the original source on the vinyl version.

Overall, I would say this CD edition has made this compfar more listenable now, where the vinyl edition certainly wasn't. Now to try out the other volumes.

PM

I have just played Vol.1 'Oil Emuslion Slyde' from the new box and compared to the Hen's Teeth CD version. Definitely a noticeable sound improvement on the box set edition. The songs now all sound crisp and clear. I'd forgotten how long ago the Hen's Teeth CDs came out, there's noticeable but not substantial suface noise on those, they sound like straight needle drops compared to the re-issues. Plus of course the Hen's Teeth Cds were two LPs on one CD compilations and due to timing limitations on the CD, you get 26 of the 28 tracks of the first two LPs on the first Hen's Teeth CD and 27 of 28 on the second one.

The Hen's Teeth Cds are perfectly listenable, but the sound on the box set is certainly much better. Don't buy the box just to get the 5th disc, it's not worth the outlay, but if you can source this set cheaply on eBay as I did, it's definitely worth upgrading for the 4 'Psychedleia' LP discs.

PM

That's answered all my questions on the matter Paul
Thank You