VARIOUS – Im A Freak, Baby: A Journey Through The British Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72 [Repress] – 3CD Clamshell Box Set [JUN 6]

Description

Limited Edition 3CD housed in a Clamshell Box and featuring a lavishly illustrated and annotated 36-page booklet.

Although vintage British psychedelia is viewed by many these days as an Alice In
Wonderland-style enchanted garden full of beatific flower children innocently gatheringflowers or chasing butterflies, there was always a more visceral element to the scene.

Pointedly free of such fripperies as scarlet tunic-wearing gnomes, phenomenal cats andtalismanic bicycles, the power trio format that was popularised by the likes of Cream andthe Jimi Hendrix Experience spawned a host of imitators. As the 60s drew to a close andpop evolved slowly but inexorably into rock, psychedelia gave way to a sound that washarder, leaner, heavier, louder.

Across three discs and four hours of music, Im A Freak, Baby: A Journey Through TheBritish Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72 investigates that largelyunder-documented period, incorporating everything from some of the biggest names in theburgeoning hard rock/proto-metal firmament (Deep Purple, Uriah Heep) all the way downto a significant number of provincial semi-pro bands who gigged extensively but wereunable to land a recording contract during their lifetime.

We feature some of British rocks pioneering acts (The Yardbirds, The Move), a handful ofbands who travelled far beyond their blues boom roots (Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack,The Groundhogs), the infamous Ladbroke Grove scene (The Deviants, The Pink Fairies,Hawkwind, The Edgar Broughton Band), a smattering of inspired, where-the-hell-did-that-come-from one-shots like The Velvet Frogs and the mighty Egor, and a clutch of previously-unreleased recordings (The Kult, Hellmet, The Phoenix) that have even eluded thespecialist reissue companies and bootleggers…

Housed in a clamshell box featuring a lavishly illustrated and annotated 36-page booklet,Im A Freak, Baby is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging anthology to appear thus farof an underground scene that, in addition to being responsible for some magnificent music,also acted as a signpost to the subsequent emergence of British punk and heavy metal.

Tracklist: (*See also Gallery Pics)

DISC ONE

1. STRAY – All In Your Mind

2. THE OPEN MIND – Cast A Spell

3. THE MOOCHE – Hot Smoke And Sassafras

4. CRUSHED BUTLER – My Sons Alive

5. CHICKEN SHACK – Going Down

6. CYCLE – Father Of Time

7. THE DEVIANTS – Im Coming Home

8. THE PINK FAIRIES – Do It

9. FACTORY – Time Machine

10. THE GROUNDHOGS – Cherry Red

11. WICKED LADY – Im A Freak

12. CHARGE – Rock My Soul

13. HAWKWIND ZOO – Sweet Mistress Of Pain

14. STONEHOUSE – Nightmare

15. THE IRON MAIDEN – Falling

16. BARNABUS – Apocalypse

DISC TWO

1. WRITING ON THE WALL – Bogeyman

2. DEEP PURPLE – Fireball

3. JERUSALEM – Primitive Man

4. EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND – Love In The Rain

5. HELLMET – Trust

6. SECOND HAND – Rhubarb!

7. LITTLE FREE ROCK – Dream

8. IRON CLAW – Skullcrusher

9. DARK – Zero Time

10. THE VELVET FROGS – Jehovah

11. THE MOVE – Brontosaurus

12. STACK WADDY – Bring It To Jerome

13. SAMUEL PRODY – Mr Make Believe

14. BARE SOLE – Flash

15. THE PHOENIX – Street Walking Woman

16. SKID ROW – Go, Im Never Gonna Let You

DISC THREE

1. THE GUN – Race With The Devil

2. BLONDE ON BLONDE – Heart Without A Home

3. THIRD WORLD WAR – Ascension Day

4. EGOR – Street

5. SAM GOPAL – Escalator

6. URIAH HEEP – Gypsy

7. THE MICKEY FINN – Garden Of My Mind

8. THE YARDBIRDS – Think About It

9. MORNING AFTER – Trying To Find My Way Back Home

10. VELVETT FOGG – Yellow Cave Woman

11. ANDROMEDA – Too Old

12. FLEETWOOD MAC – The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)

13. SWEET SLAG – Twisted Trip Woman

14. THE KULT – Occult

15. THE TASTE – Born On The Wrong Side Of Time

16. FUSION FARM – Hollis Brown