CD: The Pretty Things - The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed Now, of Course)

CD: THE PRETTY THINGS – THE SWEET PRETTY THINGS (ARE IN BED NOW, OF COURSE) Phil May and co find a new lease of life and rich vein of form

Phil May and co find a new lease of life and rich vein of form

Vintage is word I’m not comfortable with. I make it a point of principle not to pay a 3000% mark-up on clothes someone’s already worn, and when it comes to wine, I’m more likely to shop by ABV in truth. Vintage is however, a word at the heart of The Sweet Pretty Things (Are in Bed Now, of Course . . . ), the new album by R’n’B upstarts-turned-psychedelic story tellers The Pretty Things.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Dust on the Nettles

Splendid box set documenting the nexus of British folk and psychedelia

 

Dust on the Nettles – A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967–72Various Artists: Dust on the Nettles – A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967–72

Reissue CDs Weekly: The Damned

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: THE DAMNED Admirably succinct entry point into first five years of Brit-punk pioneers

Admirably succinct entry point into first five years of Brit-punk pioneers

 

The Damned Go! 45The Damned: Go! 45

The Warlocks, Rainbow, Birmingham

THE WARLOCKS, RAINBOW, BIRMINGHAM LA six-piece lay down some dark psychedelia

LA six-piece lay down some dark psychedelia

The Warlocks are a psychedelic band from LA who dress not unlike the Velvet Underground in their prime and are clearly not given to star-like behaviour. They slope onto the stage at Birmingham’s Rainbow, tune up and burst straight into “Red Camera” from their 2009 album The Mirror Explodes. A heavy, dense mediation that comes on like a deep, Spacemen 3-flavoured drone, it whacks up the volume and sets the tone for the evening. It doesn’t get the audience moving around much but it certainly grabs their attention.

CD: Sonic Jesus - Neither Virtue Nor Anger

CD: SONIC JESUS – NEITHER VIRTUE NOR ANGER Debut album from Italian Psych duo blows the mind and moves the hips

Debut album from Italian Psych duo blows the mind and moves the hips

The psych scene is one that has never seemed to really go away since its birth in the mid-60s under the guidance of bands such as the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Pink Floyd. It may have faded into the background from time to time, but every few years it comes back with something new and interesting added to the recognisable template. Out of the present incarnation of this crowd, which includes the likes of Swedish tribalists Goat, the hypnotic Wooden Shjips and a slew of bands that have featured on the excellent Reverb Conspiracy compilations, comes Italian duo Sonic Jesus.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Motorpsycho

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: MOTORPSYCHO Pivotal album by Norway’s veteran genre-smashers is restored to its original form

Pivotal album by Norway’s veteran genre-smashers is restored to its original form

 

motorpsycho demon boxMotorpsycho: Demon Box

Reissue CDs Weekly: 2014 Revisited

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: 2014 REVISITED Lewis’s stunning L’Amour is the best of the year

Essential Christmas gifts and the best of the year

With just over two weeks to Christmas, thoughts might be turning to which of the deluge of 2014’s reissues might be suitable as a gift, worth putting on your own wish-list for Santa or even merit buying for yourself. So if help is needed, theartsdesk is happy to provide a one-stop guide to the essential reissues covered so far this year.

Sci-Fi Week: Space Rock

SCI-FI WEEK: SPACE ROCK Rock and pop’s fascination with realms beyond the Earth’s atmosphere

Rock and pop’s fascination with realms beyond the Earth’s atmosphere

In 1971, the British rock group UFO released their second album. Titled One Hour Space Rock, its cover bore the subtitle Flying and, yes, images of UFOs in the form of flying saucers and a bald, naked and pink humanoid with claw-like fingernails. Musically, although the album had its freaky sections and sported the lengthy tracks "Star Storm" and "Flying", what was on offer was mostly day-to-day blues-rock.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Love, The Red Crayola

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: LOVE, THE RED CRAYOLA One psychedelic-era legend is confusingly repackaged while another is crisply revisited

One psychedelic-era legend is confusingly repackaged while another is crisply revisited


Love Love SongsLove: Love Songs The Red Crayola: The Parable of the Arable Land

CD: The Flaming Lips 2014 - With a Little Help from My Fwends

Horrible Miley Cyrus-assisted redux of Sgt Pepper’s with one redeeming factor – it benefits charity

Choosing the cutesy-pie “Fwends” – as The Flaming Lips have before – for the title rather than "friends" instantly suggests this track-by-track revisit to The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band isn’t going to be entirely reverential. It isn’t. And there’s nothing wrong with that. No music is sacred and reinterpretations can indeed be interesting and fun. Occasionally, they can even be revelatory.