(2020) VA – A Slight Disturbance in My Mind: The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds of 1966


Review:
Another lovingly curated rock & roll gem from Cherry Red’s archival Grapefruit Records imprint, is an expansive 3-disc set entirely devoted to the opening phases of Britain’s budding psychedelic movement. By late 1965, the American underground, particularly San Francisco’s LSD-inspired drug culture, had begun to infiltrate popular music. The Byrds and other West Coast groups began to adopt a more experimental attitude while in the U.K. bands like the Yardbirds and, more prominently, the Beatles forged their own new directions away from rock’s more easily digestible conventions. The inventive flourishes on the latter’s Rubber Soul LP set the table for a paradigm shift, and by April of the next year, they were at Abbey Road building the bones of their pioneering psychedelic opus, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which would later blow minds upon its August release. Although outright psychedelia was a concept still bubbling below the mainstream, 1966 was poised for a revolution, and throughout that crucial year, it arrived in paroxysms of creative possibility. At a whopping 84 tracks — all released in 1966 — A Slight Disturbance in My Mind deftly captures a diverse swath of what it bills as “British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds,” ranging from current stars finding new sounds (the Kinks’ droning jewel “Fancy”) to future stars finding their footing (David Bowie’s indelibly groovy “I Dig Everything”), and an array of young acts bringing fresh ideas to what seemed like a new dimension of music. The potential danger — and appeal — of mind-expanding drugs begat dangerous sounds, like the menacing undercurrents of the Creation’s masterwork “Making Time” and the snaky darkness of the Misunderstood’s “I Unseen.” The latter were a mercurial quartet of Californians moonlighting in London at the behest of John Peel, and their influence among the British scene that summer was considerable. Elsewhere are some wild cuts by the ‘N Betweens — whose members later became glam greats Slade — jazzy freakbeaters like the Artwoods, and lush early baroque-poppers the Ivy League, all adding to the pot their impressions of what would loosely become psychedelic rock. A lot of ground is covered here, and peppered in among the knowns and well-knowns is a nice spread of previously unreleased nuggets and demos from cult favorites and curious one-offs. As with all of their box sets, the label provides extensive song-by-song liner notes, scads of intriguing ephemera, and a genuine love for the source material.





Tracklist:

Disc 1
01. The Creation  - Making Time
02. The Yardbirds  - Shape of Things
03. The Action  - I'll Keep Holding On
04. The Fleur de Lys  - Mud in Your Eye
05. The Koobas  - Sweet Music
06. The Hollies  - Oriental Sadness
07. Bee Gees  - Play Down
08. Mick Softley with the Summer Suns  - Am I the Red One (Alternative Mix)
09. The Misunderstood  - I Unseen
10. The 'N Betweens  - Security (Extended Version)
11. Attraction  - She's a Girl
12. Bowie, David  - I Dig Everything
13. The Pretty Things  - A House in the Country
14. Lindsay Muir's Untamed  - Daddy Long Legs (Brass - Free Version)
15. Outrage  - Man with Money
16. The Uglys  - The Quiet Explosion
17. Renegades  - Thirteen Women
18. The Riot Squad  - I Take It That Were Through
19. Katch 22  - Major Catastrophe
20. Marc Bolan  - Hippy Gumbo (Demo Version)
21. Just Five  - I Will Have You
22. The Times  - Tomorrow Night
23. The in Crowd  - Blow-Up
24. The Majority  - Simplified
25. The Ministry of Sound  - Back Seat Driver
26. The Truth  - Baby, You've Got It
27. Rod Stewart  - I Just Got Some
28. Luvin' Kind  - Answers Please

Disc 2
01. The Smoke  - My Friend Jack (Demo Version)
02. The Score  - Please Please Me
03. The Creation  - Painter Man (2017 Stereo Mix)
04. The Downliners Sect  - Why Don't You Smile Now
05. The Graham Bond Organisation  - You've Gotta Have Love Babe (Demo Version)
06. The Animals  - Outcast
07. The Moody Blues  - We're Broken
08. Tony Colton  - I've Laid Some Down in My Time
09. The People  - Well All Right
10. Keith Relf  - Shapes in My Mind (Us 45 Version)
11. The Pretty Things  - My Time (Brass-Free Version)
12. The Kinks  - Fancy
13. Manfred Mann  - You're My Girl
14. The Tremeloes  - What a State I'm In
15. Al Stewart  - Turn Into Earth
16. The Mindbenders  - The Morning After
17. Favourite Sons  - Walkin Walkin Walkin
18. The Searchers  - Have You Ever Loved Somebody
19. The 5 A.M. Event  - Hungry
20. The Artwoods  - Molly Andersons Cookery Book
21. Loose Ends  - Tax Man
22. Deep Feeling  - The Ruin
23. The Wheels  - Kicks
24. The Kingpins  - You're My Girl
25. The Tomcats  - Paint It Black
26. The Cortinas  - Sagittarius
27. The Brood  - Wrong Way
28. Key  - Holidaymaker

Disc 3
01. John's Children  - The Love I Thought I'd Found
02. Wimple Winch  - Save My Soul
03. The Yardbirds  - Stroll On
04. The Downliners Sect  - Glendora
05. The Flies  - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone (Demo Version)
06. The Kirkbys  - It's a Crime
07. The Sorrows  - Let the Live Live
08. The Fingers  - I Go to Sleep
09. Arthur Brown  - Don't Tell Me
10. Beverley  - Happy New Year
11. Bee Gees  - I Am the World
12. The Hollies  - Clown
13. The Zombies  - Indication
14. The Rocking Vickers  - Little Rosy
15. Sounds Around  - What Does She Do
16. Episode Six  - My Little Red Book
17. Tornados '66  - No More You and Me
18. The 'N Betweens  - Girl Child, I Am an Evil Witchman
19. The Spectres  - Hurdy Gurdy Man
20. Tuesdays Children  - Summer Leaves Me with a Sigh
21. The Reaction  - Advertising Man
22. The Ivy League  - My World Fell Down
23. Silence  - Hey, You Lolita
24. The Secrets  - I Suppose
25. Outrage  - Different Kind of Love Song
26. Mirage  - Tomorrow Never Knows
27. The Misunderstood  - My Mind
28. The Move  - Disturbance


Media Report:
Genre: rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits