Music Reissues Weekly: The Mirage - The World Goes On Around You

THE MIRAGE - THE WORLD GOES ON AROUND YOU Exhaustive excavation into Hertfordshire’s ill-served Sixties psychedelic pop band

Exhaustive excavation into Hertfordshire’s ill-served Sixties psychedelic pop band

Each new Beatles album offered a chance for other acts to record their own versions of songs which didn’t make it onto singles. What was on the long-player could pick up attention if it was covered. Revolver was no exception. Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers’s version of “Got to Get You Into my Life” was in the charts the August 1966 week Revolver was issued.

Music Reissues Weekly: Perú Selvático - Sonic Expedition into the Peruvian Amazon 1972-1986

PERU SELVATICO 1972-1986 Salute to Perú’s cumbia-influenced regional grooves

Salute to Perú’s cumbia-influenced regional grooves

"Descarga Royal" by Los Royal’s de Pucallpa opens proceedings. After flurries of wobbly wah-wah guitar, a driving percussion bed interweaves with a rolling guitar figure. Then, about two minutes in, the guitarist steps on the fuzz pedal. Groovy. Psychedelic too. The band’s name is taken from the tropical east-Perú city of Pucallpa, located on the Amazon tributary river Ucayali.

Music Reissues Weekly: Trevor Beales - Fireside Stories

TREVOR BEALES - FIRESIDE STORIES Recognition for Seventies Hebden Bridge troubadour

Belated recognition for previously obscure Seventies Hebden Bridge troubadour

When Trevor Beales’s band Havana Lake released their only album in 1977, it was on a label which also issued records by The Ryman Country Band, The Saddleworth Male Voice Choir, The Slaithwaite Brass Band, The Thurlstone Bell Orchestra and a version of Sixties beat band The Merseybeats. Look was the offshoot of West Yorkshire studio September Sound Studios – anyone booked there could have a record pressed as part of the deal.

Music Reissues Weekly: Goin' Round In My Mind - The Merrell Fankhauser Anthology

GOIN' ROUND IN MY MIND - THE MERRELL FANHAUSER ANTHOLOGY Tenacious US cult hero

Persuasive box set dedicated to the tenacious US cult hero

Merrell Fankhauser's first outing on record was with Californian instrumental surf band The Impacts, who issued their sole album in 1963. Thereafter, he was the prime mover in an unbroken succession of pop, psychedelic and freak-rock bands. His first solo album arrived in 1976.

Music Reissues Weekly: Ride - 4 EPs

RIDE - 4 EPS Welcome celebration of the early years of Oxford’s psychedelic pop-rockers

Welcome celebration of the early years of Oxford’s psychedelic pop-rockers

“When we started out we were really just an amalgamation of three bands – the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and the House of Love,” said Ride’s Andy Bell in 2012. The arrival of the literally-named double album 4 EPs – collecting their first four EPs in one place – brings a chance to ponder this.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Beatles - Revolver

THE BEATLES - REVOLVER Perception-shifting box set of the Fabs' momentous 1966 album

Perception-shifting box set of the Fabs' momentous 1966 album

John Lennon does not appear on “Love You Too” and “For No One”. With “Taxman”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Here, There and Everywhere”, “Good Day Sunshine” and “I Want to Tell You”, his contributions are limited to backing vocals and, on odd occasions, some percussion too. He appears semi-detached from seven of Revolver’s 14 tracks.

Music Reissues Weekly: Living Daylights - Let's Live For Today

Essex psychedelic pop band’s album emerges after 55 years on the shelf

In the third week of April 1967, Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Somethin’ Stupid” topped the UK’s single’s chart. Sandie Shaw’s “Puppet on a String” was number two, and The Monkees’ “A Little Bit me a Little Bit You” snapped at her heels. Englebert Humperdinck’s recent number one “Release me” was at number five. All very pop, very mainstream.

Music Reissues Weekly: Maha - Orkos

MAHA - ORKOS Terrific but previously little-known Egyptian gem from 1979 resurfaces

Terrific but previously little-known Egyptian gem from 1979 resurfaces

Orkos was originally released in 1979 on cassette. The only album by Egyptian singer Maha seems to have been little known. The liner notes for its first-ever reissue say “it was not a success when it was originally released. While nobody remembers the exact numbers, sales must have been very limited and the project was quickly forgotten about and no follow up release was produced.”