"I'm A Freak 2 Baby: A Further Journey Through The British HEAVY PSYCH and HARD ROCK Underground Scene 1968-73" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Album and Single Tracks from 1968 to 1973 by Atomic Rooster, The Jeff Beck Group, Bodkin, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Budgie, Clark-Hutchinson, Dark, The Deviants, High Tide, Leaf Hound, The Move, 9:30 Fly, NSU, Patto, Pluto, Purple Haze, Red Dirt, Sam Gopal, Stack Waddy, Stray, Three Man Army, Thor, Warhorse, Writing On The Wall and more (25 January 2019 Grapefruit UK 3CD Clamshell Box Set – Simon Murphy Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Shapes Of Things..."

Having reached what must have been a satisfying 500th outing-zenith in their December 2019 issue - England's celebrated Record Collector Magazine quite rightly nominated a few Grapefruit Records anthologies for gongs in their 'Best Of 2019' annual round up. And I nor any other frazzle-top gent was too shocked to see this little musical brute and underground beastie nestling in the 'PSYCH Collector' column - in at No. 1 with a smack in the establishment jaw.

Following on from their 2016 Grapefruit 3CD Box Set "I'm A Freak Baby..." - round two offers up 50 more fistfights from 1968 to 1973 (only this time, it might even be better than that previous musical knuckleduster). There are a lot of hairy men with attitudes and busted lips to examine here, so let's have at England’s Vosene marauders...

UK released Friday, 25 January 2019 - "I'm A Freak 2 Baby: A Further Journey Through The British HEAVY PSYCH and HARD ROCK Underground Scene 1968-73" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX050 (Barcode 5013929185005) is a 3CD Mini Clamshell Box set of 50 Remastered Tracks that breaks down as follows:

CD1 (78:21 minutes):
1. Guts - BUDGIE (from their August 1971 UK debut album "Budgie" on MCA Records MKPS 2018)
2. Shapes Of Things - JEFF BECK (from his August 1968 US debut solo album "Truth" on Epic Records BN 26413)
3. Run The Night - WICKED LADY (not originally issued, recorded 1969)
4. The Man Who Paints Pictures - STRAY (not originally issued, recorded November 1968)
5. Rosie - SLOWROAD (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded 1971)
6. Turkish Tram Conductor Blues - THE MOVE (from their December 190 UK LP "Looking on" on Fly Records HIFLY 1)
7. Chocolate Piano - ORANG-UTAN (from their April 1971 US debut album "Orang-Utan" on Bell Records BELL 6054)
8. Clawstrophobia - IRON CLAW (not originally issued, recorded December 1970)
9. Plastic Man - BODKIN (from their privately pressed 1972 LP "Bodkin" of 100 copies on West CSA 104)
10. Let's All Watch The Sky Fall Down - ANDROMEDA (not originally issued, recorded late 1969)
11. Mother Grease The Cat - ANCIENT GREASE (from their July 1970 debut album "Women And Children First" on Mercury 6338 033)
12. Rosalyn - STACK WADDY (from their November 1972 UK LP "Bugger Off!" on Dandelion 2310 231)
13. Horse - SAM GOPAL (not originally issued, recorded late 1968)
14. Sabre Dance - LOVE SCULPTURE with Dave Edmunds (A-side to their November 1968 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5744)
15. Dog Man - MONUMENT (from their October 1971 debut album "First Monument" on Beacon BEAS 15)
16. Freelance Fiend - LEAF HOUND (from their October 1971 debut album "Grower Of Mushrooms" on Decca SKL-R 5094)
17. Loud Green Song - PATTO (from their November 1972 UK LP "Roll 'Em Smoke 'Em Put Another Line Out" on Island ILPS 9210)
18. Winter Of My Love - SAM APPLE PIE (from their October 1969 debut LP "Sam Apple Pie" on Decca SLK-R 5005)

CD2 (77:27 minutes):
1. Woman For Sale - TEAR GAS (from their August 1971 UK LP "Tear Gas" on Regal Zonophone SLRZ 1021)
2. Death Walks Behind You - ATOMIC ROOSTER (from the November 1970 UK LP "Death Walks Behind You" on B&C Records CAS 1026)
3. Apache Drop Out - EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND (A-side of a November 1970 UK 7" single on Harvest HAR 5032)
4. Turn On, Or Turn Me Down - N.S.U. (from the June 1969 UK LP "Turn On, Or Turn Me Down" on Stable SLE 8002)
5. Brain Worker - RED DIRT (from the April 1970 UK LP "Red Dirt" on Fontana STL 5540)
6. Early In Spring - THE RATS (not originally issued, recorded November 1969)
7. Somewhere To Go -THE DEVIANTS (from the October 1968 UK LP "Disposable" on Stable SLP 7001)
8. Armageddon - DOGFEET (from their February 1972 UK LP "Dogfeet" on Reflection REFL 8)
9. Down And Out - PLUTO (from their October 1971 UK LP "Pluto" on Dawn Records DNLS 3030)
10. Brush With The Midnight Butterfly - THE HUMAN BEAST (from the November 1970 UK LP "Volume One" on Decca SKL 5053)
11. R.C. 8. (Demo Version) - DARK (not originally issued, recorded October 1971)
12. Wolf A While - PURPLE HAZE (not originally issued, recorded early 1969)
13.  Daze - THREE MAN ARMY (from their August 1971 UK LP "A Third Of A Lifetime" on Pegasus PEG 3)
14. Old Father Time - TONGE (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded 1971)
15. Ashen Besher – MOUSE (from the December 1973 UK LP "Lady Killer"
16. Fussing And Fighting – SUNDAY (from the October 1971 German LP "Sunday" on Bellaphon BLPS 19066)
17. Going Down – FREEDOM (from the July 1972 UK LP "Freedom Is More Than A Word" on Vertigo 6360 072)

CD3 (77:26 minutes):
1. Futilist's Lament - HIGH TIDE (from their September 1969 UK LP "Sea Shanties" on Liberty LBS 83264)
2. Yesterday - LIGHTYEARS AWAY (from their May 1971 UK LP "Astral Navigations" on Holyground HG 114)
3. Woman - SAMUEL PRODY (from their May 1971 German LP "Samuel Prody" on Global 6306 906)
4. Confusion - EUGENE CARNAN (not originally issued, recorded March 1972)
5. So Long I'm Moving On - HARD HORSE featuring Paul Thomas (B-side to "(Get It) Up-Down", an October 1972 UK 7" single on D'art ART 2012)
6. Fire! (Demo Version) - THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN (not originally issued, recorded circa March 1968)
7. Early Morning Sun - TARSUS (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded May 1971)
8. Is There Any Doubt? - NATURAL GAS (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded 1972)
9. Back In Time - WARHORSE (from their June 1972 UK LP "Red Sea" on Vertigo 6360 066)
10. Name Of The Game - LITTLE BIG HORN (from their October 1971 German LP "Little Big Horn" on Bellaphon BLS 19067)
11. Sinister Minister - BULLET (B-side of "Hobo", a November 1971 UK 7" single on Purple PUR 101)
12. I Need Someone - FROZEN TEAR (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded October 1969)
13. The Nymph - SARDONICUS (January 1973 UK privately-pressed 7" single of 101 copies on County COUN 240, A-side)
14. Someone's Been At My Woman - CLARK-HUTCHINSON (not originally issued, recorded March 1969)
15. Big Jim Salter - STONE THE CROWS (from their October 1971 fourth and final album "Ontinuous Performance" on Polydor 2425 071)
16. Paranoid - THOR (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, recorded circa October 1970)
17. Lucifer Corpus - WRITING ON THE WALL (B-side of "Child On A Crossing", an October 1969 UK 7" single on Middle Earth MDS 101 and a debut release for the label)

A 40-page booklet features the usual feast of period memorabilia, Oz and Zig Zag underground magazine covers, rarest of the rare LP covers and single picture sleeves, Apple acetates, publicity photos of varying hairy men in bad need of a ex-army disciplinarian barber – DAVID WELLS (compiler and annotator) pouring on the factoids like it was getting close to Christmas. SIMON MURPHY of Another Planet has done the mastering and apart from the odd ropey demo or two – the grunge assault is pleasingly loud, in yer face and full of presence (even menace). Fans will be pleased...

Proceedings open with our favourite Welsh power trio BUDGIE whose fabulous debut-album opener "Guts" comes at you with more grungy guitar riffage than a Black Sabbath commune with dark materials. Budgie's first three albums on MCA Records ("Budgie" from 1971, "Squawk" from 1972 and "Never Turn Your Back On A Friend" in 1973) had a huge and long-reaching influence on so many world-dominating metal bands of the future (Iron Maiden and Metallica to name but a few). And the Sabbaths tie-in is real too, coming in the shape of their go-to Producer Rodger Bain who went nuts for the simple rocking brilliance of Six Ton Budgie and promptly produced their debut (our heroes wisely shortened their name and employed Roger Dean to do their fab cover art). Rod Stewart adds top vocals to Beck's strident guitar for "Shapes Of Things" but even that hero of axe worship is given a run for his wild money by Wicked Lady's "Run The Night" (named after a cocktail drink) - a stunning rarity where guitarist Martin Weaver lets rip on a solo like he wants to bleed his fingers to death.

After a stint with late 60ts Pop whimsy – pre ELO bods Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan decided in 1970 to rock like the proverbial mother and the kick-ass brilliance of "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues" from their "Looking On" album is the result. I'll admit I've never heard of Orang-Utan but their multiple-guitar-layered moment in "Chocolate Piano" is brilliant – like Derek & The Dominoes mating with The Groundhogs – gung-ho guitars ahoy. Proper heavy and hard Rawk ala a Budgie rehearsal comes in the doomy shape of the delightfully titled "Clawstrophobia" by (well blow me but its only) Iron Claw. This is the kind of bad vocalist, wild guitar, drugged-up maniac rocker then sends collectors into a mini cardiac arrest. 

Other angina-inducing highlights on Disc 1 include a shockingly good Ancient Grease, the very Crazy World of Arthur Brown budget vibe to the Monument tune "Dog Man" (play those echoed vocals to any of your ailing wealthy relatives and that'll kill them off for sure) and the pre Help Yourself "Winter Of My Love" from a guitar-slashing Sam Apple Pie clearly channeling Fleetwood Mac and their 1969 album "Then Play On" as they practiced in Walthamstow. Those darlings of the £1000 LP Leaf Hound do the price tag justice on their excellent "Freelance Fiend" - another amp-kicking guitar chugger while Patto's Ollie Halsall plays his staggering style that attracted Kevin Ayers so much.

Disc 2 opens with Tear Gas charitably offering their "Woman For Sale" which feels so wrong lyrically no amount of phased vocal effects save it (shame cause it has some ace axework). Vincent Crane's Atomic Rooster (ex Crazy World Of Arthur Brown) holds a special place in the hearts of heavy-heavy lovers and the title track to their second album shows why. A righteously nasty vocal that is clearly mashing up Captain Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" with Hank Marvin's tremolo guitar gives a genuinely weirded out moment at the hands of The Edgar Broughton Band for their "Apache Drop Out" single on Harvest. Session ladies Sue and Sonny lend some badly needed vocal class to N.S.U.'s slightly heavy-handed "Turn On, Or Turn Me Down". Both Red Dirt and The Rats amp up the hard-hitting homemade Rock while Pluto gets some funky back-beat in for their decidedly Pop-Rock "Down And Out". Other highlights include a rare Demo version of "R.C.8." by another hugely sought-after cult band, Dark. The nearest Disc 2 gets to commerciality is the piano-bop-Rock of "Fussing And Fighting" by Sunday - a band whose seven-minutes of guitar soloing vs. keyboards would have given Grand Funk a run for their money. Our second vaults-haul ends Disc 2 with the very Thin Lizzy vs. Budgie twin guitars assault of Freedom informing us that they're "Going Down".

Disc 3 opens with the take-no-prisoners nor wall-paint of High Tide and their guitar-wailing assault "Futilist’s Lament" – a thrasher which I find hard to take at the best of times though I know there are collectors out there who love it to distraction precisely because of hedonistic abandon. The Yorkshire co-operative label Holyground has attained near mythical legend amongst collectors of hard-hitting noises and the fuzzed-up acid-crazed guitars of Lightyears Away and their "Yesterday" - a band that featured future Be Bop Deluxe axeman Bill Nelson - is proof as to why. And with only 250 copies of the Lightyears Away LP in existence, I'll admit, even after 30 years in the rarities game, I've never seen an actual 1971 original. Bullet are an early incarnation of Hard Stuff who released a brace of albums on Deep Purple's Purple Records and again I've never seen nor heard the raw rock of Sardonicus and their uber-rare self-financed UK 7" single "The Nymph" from 1973…but then again this Box set is full of that kind of discovery (and more). And any compilation that features the wonderful vocals of Stone The Crows' Maggie Bell and the note-bending of axeman Les Harvey (Alex's younger brother) is all right by me - represented here by the very cool "Big Jim Salter" from their fourth and final studio album "Ontinuous Performance".

For damn sure after wading through a bruiser like "I'm A Freak 2 Baby..." you may need a very tall Scotch with no ice, half a bottle of Kalms and a three-month holiday in tranquil-land by the sea. But what great fun those halcyon mad musical pirate years were. And a times me hearties, genuinely cocked and loaded blunderbuss-exciting too. Well done to Grapefruit and all involved...