Very keen toget this:slightly_smiling_face:
PM

Tintern Abbey: Beeside – The Complete Recordings, 2CD out 20th August on Grapefruit

The greatest, most important cache of unreleased vintage British psychedelia to have surfaced for decades, ‘Beeside: The Complete Recordings’ gathers together everything ever recorded by the iconic Tintern Abbey.

• A legendary name from the British psychedelic scene, Tintern Abbey’s enduring reputation rests on one of the definitive forty-fives to emerge from the genre, the November 1967 coupling of ‘Beeside’ backed with ‘Vacuum Cleaner’ which originally appeared on Deram.

• Since its release, just a small handful of skeletal demo recordings have trickled out, all of which were essentially minor addenda to the band’s little-documented but legendary career.

Now, Grapefruit has finally unearthed the full, definitive story. After two decades of planning, research, tape transfer and sound restoration, ‘Beeside: The Complete Recordings’ features over two hours of music recorded by Tintern Abbey between the summer of 1967 (when they spent a month in a Cornwall cottage, rehearsing and taping their performances prior to their London launch) and the end of 1968.

Featuring more than 90 minutes of previously unreleased and unheard material, indeed, everything on the 68-minute Disc Two is now receiving its first-ever public airing.

Alongside that genre-defining Deram single and those previously-leaked demos are some astonishing treasures.

Included are two finished masters of the intended late 1967 follow-up 45 ‘Snowman’ (a disorientating melange of sinister Mellotron, disembodied voices and backward tapes that was abandoned when original guitarist Don Smith left the group); the Arabic-sounding ‘My Prayer’ and the ‘SF Sorrow’- anticipating ‘Let The Wind Blow’, along with late 1968 creations like ‘Raspberry Ripple’, ‘Life Goes By’ and ‘My House’ suggesting that, even at the point of their collapse, Tintern Abbey remained a vital, vibrant unit.

Featuring a new 6000 word essay with band quotes and previously unpublished photos and memorabilia, this lovingly-assembled 2-CD set is the final word on a group that turned out to be as mysterious and elusive as the Wordsworth poem that inspired their name.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE:
1. BEESIDE (Deram single)
2. VACUUM CLEANER (Deram single)
3. SNOWMAN (master 1)*
4. TANYA
5. BLACK JACK*
6. BODMIN BLOW*
7. MY PRAYER (early version)*
8. LET THE WIND BLOW*
9. STICKLEBACK*
10.BUSY BEE
11.SNOWMAN (early acetate version)*
12.BEESIDE (acetate mix)*
13.VACUUM CLEANER (acetate mix)*
14.DO WHAT YOU MUST (acetate version 1)
15.HOW DO I FEEL TODAY? (acetate version 1) 1
6.HOOKAH*
17.PEOPLE CAN’T SEE (acetate version 1) 18.NAKED SONG (aka SEEDS OF DISCORD)

DISC TWO:
1. NIGHTFALL*
2. MRS DAISY (Polydor Studios version)*
3. BLUE PANTS*
4. PEOPLE CAN’T SEE (acetate version 2)*
5. HOW DO I FEEL TODAY? (Decca acetate version)*
6. MAGIC HORSEMEN*
7. MY ZOO*
8. DREAM (aka SONG OF DESPAIR)*
9. MY HOUSE* 10.LIFE GOES BY*
11. MY PRAYER (version 2)*
12. RASPBERRY RIPPLE*
13. MRS DAISY (version 2)*
14. REACHING FOR NOTHING*
15. WITCHCRAFT*
16. SOMETHING*
17. STRANGE DAME*
18. SNOWMAN (master 2)*

*previously unreleased

That does look like a worthwhile release! Thanks for directing my attention to this, Paul!

Thanks for the heads up on this one.

Thanks for the heads up on this one. I vaguely remember hearing at least two Tintern Abbey demos some years back. They didn't sound nearly as majestic as their single. I'm hoping that what makes it onto the CDs will be worth waiting all these years for.

shhhhh! the Tintern tracks are up on YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4V-CI9_GM&list=OLAK5uy_nQO77bjiQ48ZcltK-PjmocDfluade41G8&index=25

Sounds fab.....just ordered my copy. There can’t be many discoveries like this left at this,point.

My thinking as well Steve. I resisted the Youtube clips until my set came which it did yesterday. It's excellent I think. 'Snowman' would definitely have been a very credible follow up single in the same style as VC/BS. It's amazing that for a band of a little over a year's duration, they recorded all this music and not a cover version in sight. It's been worth the wait I think. I like the feel of their progression from psych to a more oncoming progressive underground feel and the occasional pop pleaser. 'How Do I Feel Today' is perhaps what 'Toothie Ruthie' was for Fire compared to 'Father's Name Was Dad' (OK at least TA wrote their pop number rather than having it foisted on them as Fire did). There are two or three versions of some tracks but they are all quite different I think (with perhaps the exception of the acetate versions of Beeside and Vacuum Cleaner). I was very pleased with the quality of the song writing and how it followed the micro changes of the times over the year they recorded for. No filler just over two hours of blissful listening in my opinion. The booklet is very good as well. I love the flyers and ads with the psych drawings and the band photos (3 guitarists in a year, a la The Yardbirds) and the input from band members. Just great to have the whole story in one place with this excellent cache of tunes. Probably the reissue of the the last decade for such a marginal band albeit with a much bigger rep, now we can hear what they really sounded like.

PM:relaxed:

i think this tintern abbey cd is excellent.defintely one of the best uk psych releases of all time.the songs are certainly of a high standard with some quality uk psych on it.i am quite surprised because i did not think it would be as good as this but the unreleased songs are first rate uk psych classics.defintely glad to add this to the ever growing psych collection.one of the landmark uk psych releases im sure. quite blown away really. amazing stuff.

cant believe how good this is.