Albums to check out – as recommended by Butterflyrobot.


STEAM KODOK. Actually this is not one of the half dozen as it is a compilation. If you can find it its a great trip through the 60s “Pop Yeh Yeh” (as they referred to western music of the time) in a tidy little package featuring all sorts of delights : Rock :The Trailers Great pop Naomi and the Boy's Bad Loser to wonderful oddities such as Ronnie Ong's “Buttons and Bows”

The QUESTS- the 33rd revolution.

The Quests were a very accomplished group who specialized in shadows like instrumentals and were in great demand as a backing band for other vocalists. 1967 was a turning point globally. Not just with the acceptance of psychedelia and, unfortunately for the quests, the disappearing of beat instrumentals. The group saw that change was in the air and released The 33rd revolution. This was a interesting change for them. They bought on more contemporary western covers and included broader instrumentation, and vocal arrangements and one of the few albums at this time with psychedelic touches. Its not a bold album by UK standards as it had one foot in the beat era and one in modernity. But for this group (And music in Singapore) it was brave. And what's more there are really good tracks on it why else would I recommend it. Their cover of Mr Rainbow is great – a standout on the album. It is backed with a bunch of solid tunes. A world of tomorrow which is a rare original- a melodis dreamy piece of psych. The third psych tinged tune is the most unusual. Hurpi tzu shau hsiang was a traditional mandarin song but given a western arrangement and adds a droning sitar which which gives it a bit of psychedelic colour. Then there are strong non psychedelic covers eg: come on down to my boat and whats wrong with the way I live which were very current pop hits. There were competent covers of other songs too. Maybe not my favorite LP but a significant one for the area .

The STROLLERS -Waiting is
The Strollers were the premier Malaysian psychedelic group and this was the most psychedelic of their two albums. The big advantage they had over the Quests was that they were far more polished in their vocal arrangement and harmonies as well as highlighting their own original material. Their songwriting was more melancholic such as do what you gotta do and just as I am. The album has three tracks that clearly psychedelic. The upbeat psych pop of Fire, the trippy Children and my favorite the beautiful Maybe tomorrow. It also contains some cracking pop/ rock tunes such as the big brassy Please don't let me down.

I should note there are two other Psychedelic songs worth seeking out on the Strollers later singles- namely the gentle folk psych of Travels and their psychedelic opus the freaky Organ heavy Dying Path. Their first LP is also a good listen but has nothing approaching psych.


TRUCK Surprise surprise.
The October Cherries released two albums under their own name in the 60s and on the 70s three albums under the names Jade & Pepper; Truck and Col.Truck. All of which were psych or psych adjacent to some extent. My favorite of all of these and my favorite of all the Singapore/Malay albums was Trucks' Surprise Surprise. The group had a habit of re recording tracks from earlier singles/LPs so there are quite a few shared tracks abeit in different versions out there. In general I think the group were at their peak in 1974. They share 6 tracks with the October cherries' earlier Dreamseller LP Both could be listed here. I prefer three of the originals and three of the reworked versions. The use of cleaner more modern production and the use of the synthesizer is the big difference between the two. The synthesizer use is a mixed blessing as sometimes it adds interesting psychedelic textures (as on this is our love song) and at other times (as on the reworked One fine day) it is just irritating. I think the cherry picking of the best Dreamseller songs and the inclusion of two new real banger tracks (the rocking Surprise Surprise and the atmospheric pop psych Earth Song) means I have no hesitation in naming the Truck album as my favorite. I can understand that the synthesizer makes for a odd out of time psychedelic sound but unlike in the UK psychedelic songs were still being produced well into the 70s in this neck of the woods and so it was not seen as unusual as it might to our ears.

Now that pretty much ends it for the big name psychedelic albums. But hold up my friends because there are a couple more you should know about.

Adnan OTHMAN
Now this guy was a bit of a legend in Malaysia with his aggressive take on beat. He is not well known internationally as he did not release any LPs at the time- his output limited to EPs and singles but he does have retrospective albums that can be picked up. His best period in my opinion are the EPs with the Rhythm Boys dating from 1968 right through to his political EP with the Wanderers called Revolusi in 1970. And, surprise, this also ties in with the time of his dabbling with Psychedelia. Its in this time you find his most highly regarded work- such as his electric Revolusi and the emotional Bershukor. My personal favorites include the joyful Hidupku Tambah Gembira the poppy sampah pemuda and especially his psychedelic standouts Bila kah gembira and Tumpas

A Rahman HUSSAN

This guy is fairly obscure. I came across a album released in the 1980s with him and Azizah Mohammad Iringam. It was unusual as there are no duos between them – just tracks with him and tracks with her. Its basically a retrospective album compiling singles. Whats more the songs were genuine 60s songs- and some of the best beat from this area of the world. I looked him up on the various sites to find if he had released any E.Ps in the 60s to no joy at all. However after a lot of searching I found he had – but as a lead singer for the group Orkes Nirwana which did – even through they are not mentioned under his name in the discographies either. But mystery solved- this is him. And she sang with the group too so there you have it And its a darn good thing because some of the best beat of the era comes from this group and I would have missed out had I not discovered this album. There are some great songs here- from him Tak Mengapapa and Bimbang and from her Syurga idaman. However this album has only 12 tracks and the group released many more so there is still things out there waiting for discovery.

Jury TENG
I have stated my favorite album was by Truck, but my second favorite is out of left field. That is Judy Teng's third album. Judy Teng (also known as Deng Xuehua) released her first 4 albums in 1976. Don't ask me why but that's what she did. Of these the first album is pretty much full of sentimental mandarin ballads with soft orchestral arrangements, the second album is similar but does contain some more western pop. Its the third album that is the stunner. While there are couple of covers in it and also a bit of early mando pop (Which was to be the next big thing in Singapore- replacing pop yeh yeh and beat) However as you play this album you are in for a surprise. The first track you hear are urgent guitars and a furious fast paced beat with blasts of horns and Judys 100 mph vocals as she tears through Loves maze. Then BANG another burst of guitar and you are blasted into a psychedelic dimension as Judy sings about frantically Looking for love. Then inexplicably you are hit by a slow sentimental Chinese ballad. So just as you think the album is turning to crap out jumps track 4 with dark ominous organ and guitar that suddenly opens up into a funky beat and Judy crying please love me (yes in english !) and suddenly you are enjoying yourself again. Than I was hit by track 5 with another funky guitar line but this opens up into the best thing on the album. Best thing on the album- no no the best pop song from this era in Singapore maybe. I can't think of one that's definitively better: 溫暖在秋天 a.k.a warmth in autumn. After this there is nowhere to go but down and that's exactly what it does. Side one ends with an unfortunate cover of save your kisses for me which was contemporary if nothing else. Side two is not a patch on side one. There's some good mando pop (風飛飛雲飛飛); pretty ballads (Johnny 不要哭 ) and a cover of sukiyaki but the guitar is gone for good. the rest of it is not really worth mentioning.

Her 4th album continues the trend to mando pop and this fab era of Judy era ended after side A of one LP. So sad.


Anyhow that's my take. But let me assure you there is actually a lot of really good songs out there that I have not mentioned if you are into pop soul and even some good rock. I mean songs like Teresa Koo's You don't know and The Cyclones The Dew are world class 60s songs. But my writing is from a psych perspective because that's what this site is all about.

Selamat Jalan.