OutsideInside
(Akarma) Used LP $15.00
Only eight months after Vincebus Eruptum, Outsideinside “contains Leigh Stephens’s paroxysms [and] proved to be some of the best the ’60s ever produced,” promises Pitchfork. “ ‘Feathers from Your Tree’ begins with a drowsy hush before escalating to a strikingly driving pop song, complete with tortured teenage vocals and backup singers…. ‘Sun Cycle’ is a slow rotating blues that reigns in fuzzed and tangled guitars. The version of Booker T.’s ‘The Hunter’ begins as a bluesy hobble until strains of piercing guitar raze through the dinginess. ‘Just a Little Bit’ and ‘Come and Get It’ slow down the tempo and create … tense interaction between players … absent on Vincebus. The result is vastly more atmospheric and fulfilling, if not quite as stunningly anarchic. The one exception is the cover of ‘Satisfaction,’ perhaps the most exemplary version ever recorded, focused less on the music than the energy. It’s as if Stephens is torturing the original…. If it doesn’t sound as influential as Vincebus’s cataclysmic insanity, it’s because it defines ‘classic’ rock. Everyone else was just shooting for this.” 1999 repress of 1968 album on orange vinyl
Vincebus Eruptum
(Akarma) Used LP $15.00
“The juncture of the lethally lethargic, basement-murder morass of Sabbath and the vomit-spewing anxiety of early punk rock,” is how Pitchfork characterizes this 1968 debut album. “The band makes several attempts to get their instruments to sound like they’re playing together, but whenever singer/bassist Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley accidentally forget that they’re in the same band…, a mind-expanding psychedelic gundown” rushes in, courtesy of guitarist Leigh Stephens, “one of the progenitors of those gloriously nauseating spaz-outs we now know were to be the future of rock: undulations of deafening wreckage and turbulent reverb. The rhythm section is barely audible, and when it is, it can barely stay ahead of Stephens…. And while Blue Cheer, at this early stage, have yet to work out their kinks, their songs are already stunning: ‘Out of Focus’ croaks tales of ‘the magic madness.’ ‘Mystic dream’ [is] a prepubescent version of Zeppelin’s bombast, while ‘Second Time Around’ is a grimier and more explosive predecessor to Yes’s ‘Heart of the Sunrise’…. Eddie Cochran’s version of Summertime Blues’ actually sounded like summer [but Blue Cheer’s] sounds like whatever kind of season they have in a coal mine with skeleton scaffolds. The production is so lo-fi, it’s practically transcendent.” 1999 repress, black vinyl, embossed jacket
The Brain Police
(Akarma) Used LP $12.00 (Out-of-stock)
The band’s sole LP, originally a demo platter in a plain sleeve made with the intention of attracting label interest in their baroque pop, the tight interplay between guitars and organ, the bluesy, heavy psych solos, and the nearly-AM radio pop/rock bounce. 2005 reissue of 1968 rarity. Gatefold jacket.
Dust
(Akarma) Used LP $20.00 (Out-of-stock)
2004 reissue of guitar-driven hard’n’heavy psych rock from 1971 by this power trio that just crunches.
Sun Rise
(Akarma) Used LP $20.00
Italian reissue of the sole album by this Irish group from the late 1960s. Blues-y hard-rock psych with guest appearances by Jimi Hendrix (who also produces), Noel Redding, and Robert Wyatt.
What, Me Worry?
(Akarma) Used LP $20.00 (Out-of-stock)
2011 reissue of the only solo release by multi-instrumentalist Paolo Tofani of Area. A satisfying mix of psychedelia and progressive rock.
THE EYES OF THE BEACON STREET UNION
The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union
(Akarma) Used LP $22.00
2001 Italian reissue of the debut album of experimental psych / hard rock group helmed by Boston’s John Lincoln Wright and Wayne Ulaky. Moments of crashing, Who-like drums and energy, strong harmonies, ripping guitar solos.
HAPSHASH AND THE COLOURED COAT
Featuring The Human Host And The Heavy Metal Kids
(Akarma) Used LP $18.00 (Out-of-stock)
Not far from the dissociational ecstasy being created in NYC by The Godz at the time, this perfectly tranced lysergic blather from 1967 is an underrated document of its time, incorporating flower power, love and peace, and the psychedelic lifestyle. 2002 reissue.
Flash
(Akarma) Used LP $20.00
The songs on the sole album by these psychedelic rockers hint at the blues without fully diving in, yet provide the birthing ground for guitarist Billy Gibbons, later of ZZ Top. Akarma’s 2000 reissue of this 1968 album includes five bonus tracks from singles and an etching. Sealed