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Track Listings
| 1. Song For Insane Times (2003 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 2. Dandelion Seeds (single version) (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 3. Real Life Permanent Dream (1999 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 4. Hold On (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 5. Strange Walking Man (1998 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 6. Towards The Skies (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 7. Model Village (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 8. The Dog Presides (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 9. Hurry Up John (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 10. Last Cloud Home (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 11. Is It Love? (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 12. Nightmare In Red (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 13. The Equestrian Statue (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 14. Sun Sing (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 15. Castle In The Sky | |||
| 16. Monday Morning (1998 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 17. Mr Commuter (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 18. All The World Is Love (1998 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 19. World Of You (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
| 20. William Chalker's Time Machine (2007 Digital Remaster) | |||
See all 25 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
Review
Novelty has always equalled sales. In the mid-60s when the UK blues beat boom gave way to bells, beads and flower power wafting over from San Francisco, the biz was quick to follow.
For some, opening the doors of perception was genuinely embraced as a means of expanding the mind. However, for most of the corny curios collected here, it was about trying to expand the wallet by cashing in on a craze. Amongst the heady scent of incense was the inevitable whiff of exploitation.
This album cites The Beatles at the epicentre of UK psychedelia, but for every Sgt. Pepper leading the parade there follows a conscript army of no-hope duds. In 90% of cases, strip away the wah-wah guitar, sultry sitar, backwards sounds and spaced out vocals, and what you're left with is awkward, sub-standard pop bereft of original ideas.
The promising beginning of Rainbow Ffolly's 'Sun Sing' shamelessly lifts the bridge from 'Day Tripper', whilst The Idle Race rip off The Who on 'Hurry Up John.' The verses of Yardbirds' 'Think About It' appear to be based on the 1940s novelty song 'I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.' Provincial covers band Trendsetters Ltd grab their last-gasp regeneration as The Brain, releasing the wince-inducing, 'Nightmares In Red' - a bit like The Goons, but lacking wit or style. Were they having a laugh? Well, somebody was.
The psychedelic era has long been mined by prospectors looking for treasure, but with a only few genuine gems here and there, a huge chunk of it turns out to be fools gold: pretty but pretty worthless. The real value is charting the pre-underground/progressive careers of characters such as Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and those who would form King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Yes, ELO, Uriah Heep, Groundhogs, etc. Like a lot of anthologies of this period, Insane Times is lightweight, ephemeral fluff, though, like any fashion from a bygone era, not entirely devoid of its period patina and charm. --Sid Smith
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Product Description
25 BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC ARTEFACTS FROM THE EMI VAULTS including tracks by bands featuring Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Jeff Lynne (ELO), Steve Howe (Yes) and Greg Lake (ELP).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The great strength of this release for me is the excellent and informative cd booklet. Packed full of photo's and interesting snippets about the songs and the bands featured, it really does help a 'newbie' to this genre of music like me enjoy the album. There are a lot of gems on this album, Mandrake Paddle Steamer's 'Strange Walking Man' (a glorious slice of 60's progressive psych), Mike Proctor's - 'Mr Commuter' (always reminds me of the start of the Reginald Perrin programme because of the lyrics!) and The Aerovons -'World Of You' being especially good. Also well worth buying this for are the hilariously bizzarre, 'Nightmares In Red' by The Brain and Simon Dupree & The Big Sound's little heard but excellent 'Castle In The Sky'. There are a few duffers along the way but I suspect that these will differ wildly depending on personal taste (I'm not keen on The Yardbirds, Syd Barrett or Koobas tracks myself). A distinct bonus is the way that this cd 'hangs together' very well as an album listen. So often this is not the case with compilations in spite of the quality of the tracks on show but you will find this album an engaging and constantly changing 70 minutes listen. To sum up then, an intelligently compiled collection that will appeal to both collectors and those new to the genre. A definite purchase.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As the excellent liner notes begin..."It was 40 years ago today..." that 1967 proved to be the turning point in Pop History, when the experimental nature of the Psychedelic Scene moved Pop Music into a different Stratosphere and heralded the arrival of Progressive Rock. Interestingly, alot of the Band Members featured on this Comprehensive Collection of Curios went on to become better known in Prog Rock Bands. To name but two, Steve Howe from "Tomorrow" and Ken Hensley from "The Gods". It is the latter Band that, not surprisingly, produce the heaviest number here "Towards The Skies".
However, by far the most bizarre track is "Nightmares in Red" by "The Brain" which manages to make The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band sound sober. "Insane Times" is an apt title for some of these cuts but don`t let that put you off, there are many fine Psyche artefacts here as Deltic says in the previous review. For the money, another fine set, well worth buying. Full credit to John Reid who compiled and annotated the collection from the EMI Vaults.
However, by far the most bizarre track is "Nightmares in Red" by "The Brain" which manages to make The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band sound sober. "Insane Times" is an apt title for some of these cuts but don`t let that put you off, there are many fine Psyche artefacts here as Deltic says in the previous review. For the money, another fine set, well worth buying. Full credit to John Reid who compiled and annotated the collection from the EMI Vaults.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this because of its price which seemed good, and that I needed a British Psyche compilation to compliment my 'Nuggets' CD of Californian garage rarities (which is also excellent). I am only 16 years old, so it is probably unusual for someone my age to be into this sort of stuff, but I have listened to a lot of stuff in the last few years, and got very much into this sort of music as well as many other genres.
Upon first listen, I thought there seemed to be little that I liked, but it turned out to be one of those CD's which grows on you. There are some really great tracks on there, particularly 'Is it love?' by JON and 'Last Cloud Home' by Orange Bicycle. Some of the tracks are extremely bizarre, which is not bad to hear... just interesting, although I have taken a particular liking to 'Equestrian Statue' by Bonzo-Dog Band.
If you like 60's psychedelia with nice vocal harmonies, mellotrons, jangly guitar and occasionally bizzare instrumentation, then this is for you. You could relate this to artists such as The Byrds, The Beatles, Arthur Brown, Love etc...
As with most compilations there are some crap songs though, but mostly down to personal preference. Overall a good compilation, which I thought was worth it :-)
Upon first listen, I thought there seemed to be little that I liked, but it turned out to be one of those CD's which grows on you. There are some really great tracks on there, particularly 'Is it love?' by JON and 'Last Cloud Home' by Orange Bicycle. Some of the tracks are extremely bizarre, which is not bad to hear... just interesting, although I have taken a particular liking to 'Equestrian Statue' by Bonzo-Dog Band.
If you like 60's psychedelia with nice vocal harmonies, mellotrons, jangly guitar and occasionally bizzare instrumentation, then this is for you. You could relate this to artists such as The Byrds, The Beatles, Arthur Brown, Love etc...
As with most compilations there are some crap songs though, but mostly down to personal preference. Overall a good compilation, which I thought was worth it :-)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Groovy Baby!
Some overlap with other 60's UK Psych compo's but this worth a spin.I am too lazy to review this in depth but it is worth adding to your collection for some of the rarities... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. David J. Garrett
Rare Treats
A wide selection of late 60's semi-psychedelic influenced music,very little of which I had heard. (I am not a great music expert. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2010 by P. HEATH
Instructive
Besides the strange sound effects cobbled onto the front or end of many of these songs, the factor that links most of them is that they were commercially not successful. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2008 by Gavin Wilson
Love and peace man.
Most of these tracks sound refreshingly sixties to me even after all these years.
The late sixties early seventies have long since being my favourite musical era. Read more
The late sixties early seventies have long since being my favourite musical era. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2008 by Armchair Pundit
Intresting but, maybe forgotten for a reason?
I was waiting in aticipation for this CD TO arrive, expecting some new gems from the British 60's alternative pop scene. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2008 by K. Archer
Great Brit Psyche
A fine selection of late 60s (and one early 70s) examples of British Psyche. Some tracks will be familiar but there is plenty new to me and, at the price, worth it for the new... Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2007 by Deltic
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