The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind is a disc of highlights from recording sessions that took place from 1967 to 1969. Three of these albums were recorded in the 60s with the best of these tracks (all the tracks with vocals) collected for this reissue. For contractual reasons, the Pretty Things recorded this music under the Electric Banana moniker for the De Wolfe Sound Library. The original Electric Banana albums had one side with vocal tracks while the other side had instrumental versions of those same tracks. For many years the music on the Electric Banana series were unavailable through retail music outlets which is why few people were familiar with these Pretty Things songs.

While not as essential or as groundbreaking as S.F. Sorrow or Parachute, The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind does indeed include some killer tracks. The album opens with one of the Pretty Things truly great songs, the psychedelic punk classic Alexander. Dick Taylor’s guitar work remains distinctive as heard on the droning pop of It’ll Never Be Me. Eagle’s Son, from the third and best Electric Banana LP (1969 – Even More Electric Banana), features plenty of guitar distortion and an inventive arrangement. Blow Your Mind is a Yardbirds style psych rave up with good organ and fuzz guitar interplay – very trippy in the best sense. There’s an early version of S.F. Sorrow’s I See You that features a cleaner arrangement but with treated/echoed vocals. Dick Taylor even steps up to the mic for the contemplative A Thousand Ages From The Sun. Finally, Love, Dance and Sing is a good swinging London psych style track that’s worth hearing. Admittedly, there’s a couple of throw away pop tracks with horns and sappy vocals but most of this is truly essential stuff for psych fans.

Again, the best tracks on The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind are on par with S.F. Sorrow and their 45 releases from around the same time. Overall, not an all time classic but a very good release nonetheless.

Alexander:

Eagle’s Son:

Love, Dance and Sing:

LP | Tenth Planet | discogs ]

$100 Fine was the Litter’s second LP, coming off the heels of an otherwise excellent, mostly covers album titled Distortions. The $100 Fine LP was released in 1968 by the Hexagon label.

This time around the Litter focused their efforts on more group originals. There are a handful of lesser known covers that were originally written/recorded by artists such as Jeff Beck, the Eire Apparent, the Zombies and Procol Harum. The album opened with the powerful acid punk madness of Mindbreaker. After hearing this track, one would think or hope this album would be a garage psych monster but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Mindbreaker is only matched by another freaky hard guitar psych gem titled Under The Screaming Double Eagle. These tracks are absolutely essential. The rest of the album falls short. Tallyman and the heavily phased Kaleidoscope are solid, worthy covers that have held up over time. Morning Sun, a group original, features lots of excellent Zippy Kaplan fuzz guitar work. She’s Not There, a Zombies cover, is a 9 minute jam that could have been cut in half but was probably added to pad the album out because the group was short on material. Also, Blues One, a pure blues rock number doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album’s psychedelic ambitions. So while $100 Fine isn’t a bad album, it’s not the masterpiece that some record dealers or psych experts claim it to be. Their next and last album, Emerge, would be a more consistent hard rock effort that’s worth tracking down.

Kaleidoscope

Under The Screaming Double Eagle

LP | Sundazed |2016 | buy from Sundazed ]

The Troyes were a garage psych band who hailed from Battle Creek, Michigan. The group formed in 1965 and later on released two coveted 45s in 1966/1967 by the Space label. In later years, Cicadelic Records/Lion Productions released two CDs/LPs of fantastic, unreleased music from the group’s prime years, 1966-1968. These recordings stand up with some of the very best local garage/psych of the era – without a doubt essential listening.

Most of the songs recorded by the Troyes were in the 2 to 4 minute range. Some of these tracks, such as Morning of the Rain, the Good Night and Tomorrow verge on acid punk (all tremendous cuts), with fast tempos, crazed vocals, fuzz guitars, and raga guitar solos. Blanket of My Love recalls the folkish cuts on the Beatles’ Revolver LP, with its circular guitar riffs and stoned sensibility. One of my personal favorites, Someday You’ll See My Side, has raw vocals and buzzing organ that remind me of the Monks. Some tracks are repeated with alternate versions but none of it is overkill. We also get the classic Rainbow Chaser and Love Comes Love Dies 45 versions, which are perhaps the group’s best cuts.

The CD/LP has 3 earlier teenbeat folk rock cuts and one late period (1968) guitar fuzz monster that clocks in at nearly 5 minutes which effectively ends the Troyes story. The Lion Productions vinyl repro is preferred but beware as it’s relatively expensive. As mentioned above, garage psych sounds don’t come any better than what’s on this first-rate reissue. Well above average songwriting, strong pop instincts and tight playing make this a very attractive package.

Love Comes Love Dies

Morning of the Rain

LP | Rainbow Chaser | Cicadelic/Lion | ebay ]
Stream | Glimpses V1 & 2 | amazon ]

Of the thousands of 1960s garage bands who progressed from garage rock to psychedelia, The Misunderstood were quite possibly the best. They were a legendary group who at the peak of their powers, could meet groups such as the Yardbirds and the Animals on a level playing field.  In Rick Brown they had a commanding vocalist who at the end of the group’s legendary run began writing songs that are now acknowledged psychedelic classics. Their lead guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell had an unorthodox playing style but what he lacked in technical form he made up with in innovation. In 1966, they were a force to be reckoned with.

The Misunderstood started out in Riverside, CA in the mid 60s.  They began playing the blues, much like their British Invasion counterparts the Animals and the Yardbirds. The second side of Before The Dream Faded is made up of recordings from this formative era (1965).  While these songs aren’t up to the standards of the first side (6 psychedelic era tracks from 1966), they are still enjoyable pieces that show the group developing a signature sound. Among them, “I Need Your Love” is a fine garage cut that weds Mersey style harmonica with raw, under-produced American garage. Another track, “Who’s Been Talking” is a strong rendition of an old Howlin’ Wolf blues classic.  The best song on side B is a powerful psych rendition of “I’m Not Talking.” This gem features squalling feedback and a huge, guitar-heavy sound that could only be compared to the Yardbirds. The only real dud on this album is the sappy teen ballad “Like I Do.”

In 1966, just before Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Pink Floyd began recording their great psychedelic era material, the Misunderstood walked into the studio and laid down 6 outstanding tracks that even today are still revered as some of the finest rock n roll ever cut. Most of these tracks are originals although note the radical psych reworking of “Who Do You Love” and the hard rock arrangement of “I Unseen.”

mp3: I Need Your Love
mp3: Find a Hidden Door
mp3: I Can Take You to the Sun

Compilation | 1997 | Cherry Red | buy here ]
Compilation | 1982 | Cherry Red | search ebay ]
Spotify link | listen ]