"Spaced Out: The Story Of Mushroom Records" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring Magic Carpet, Second Hand, Andreas Thomopoulos, Callinan-Flynn, Simon Finn, Lol Coxhill, Les Flambeaux, Chillum, Jon Betmead and more on CD1 with Sixties Productions (on CD2) by Mushroom Records Producer Vic Keary of Alex Korner Blues Incorporated, Denis Couldry, Felius Andromeda, John Williams, Tuesday’s Children, Mel Turner, The Attraction, The Carolines, The Mark Leeman Five, New Faces, Angelina and more (May 2017 UK Grapefruit Records 2CD Anthology) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Fortune Finder..."

Everything but the kitchen sink (and if you look hard enough)...

When I worked at Reckless Records as a Rock Rarities Buyer (a penal servitude of some 20 years) - the distinctive/pretty label afforded North London’s Mushroom Records was known to us, but mostly to no one else. Apart from occasionally stumbling on say Second Hand or the legendary Magic Carpet album (or on a really good day, say Lol Coxhill) - their undoubtedly eccentric and wildly diverse hairy-chested lentil-munching catalogue never crossed our hallowed counter tops.

This stuff is rare. CD1 gives you 21 tracks from 1971 and 1972 from artists lost to time across fifty years (the LPs began in April 1971), whilst CD2 lays on 25 more obscurities from Mushroom label Producer Vic Keary's time at Maximum Sound Productions Studios in the Old Kent Road during the Sixties. Twenty-one of those are highly collectable British singles from 1963 to 1969 with four stragglers from 1970, 1972 (2) and a 1962 recording not issued until 1991 on a See For Miles compilation. Forty-six obscuro cuts in all, two of which are Previously Unreleased…

Genre-wise you’re getting a right royal mix - Seventies Folk-Rock, Traditional Folk, Acid Folk, Indian-Raga, Steel Band Music, Free Jazz, Avant Garde, Prog Rock with a few more eclectic points in-between (I've never seen 99% of the memorabilia depicted in the 20-page booklet before nor the Discography on the rear inlay). Impressive for a division of Fungus Productions at 1A Belmont Street, Chalk Farm, London NW1 - opposite The Roundhouse and around the corner from The Belmont Pub. Time to get vegetively spaced baby...

 UK released 19 May 2017 - "Spaced Out: The Story Of Mushroom Records" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Grapefruit Records CRSEG036D (Barcode 5013929183629) is a 46-Track 2CD Compilation of Remasters covering 1962 to 1972 and plays out as follows:

CD1 - "Mushroom" (77:38 minutes):

1. Folk Piece In Kharwa - PANDIT KANWAR SAIN TRIKHA (from the April 1971 UK LP "Three Sitar Pieces" on Mushroom 100 MR 7)

2. Evil Ways - LES FLAMBEAUX (from the December 1971 UK LP "Les Flambeaux" on Mushroom 150 MR 13)

3. Hangin' On An Eyelid - SECOND HAND (from the April 1971 UK LP "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" on Mushroom 200 MR 6)

4. Fortune For The Finder - CALLINAN-FLYNN (from the June 1972 UK LP "Fortune's Lament" on Mushroom 150 MR 18)

5. Dandelion Blues - JON BETMEAD (from the December 1971 UK LP "The Mushroom Folk Sampler" on Mushroom 100 MR 16)

6. Where's Your Master Gone? - SIMON FINN (from the April 1971 UK LP "Pass The Distance" on Mushroom 100 MR 2)

7. Or Alternatively Nine - LOL COXHILL, PIERRE COURBOIS and JASPER VAN'T HOF (from the July 1972 UK LP "Toverbal Sweet" on Mushroom 150 MR 23)

8. Lark In The Morning - HEATHER, ADRIAN & JOHN (from the December 1971 UK LP "The Mushroom Folk Sampler" on Mushroom 100 MR 16)

9. False Eyelashes - ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS (from the April 1971 UK LP "Born Out Of The Tears Of The Sun" on Mushroom 200 MR 4)

10. Cham Cham Cham Cham - NITAI DASGUPTA (from the June 1972 UK LP "Songs Of India" on Mushroom 150 MR 22)

11. Funeral - SECOND HAND (June 1972 UK 7" single on Mushroom 50 MR 19, A-side)

12. We Are The People (The Road To Derry Town) - CALLINAN-FLYNN (from the June 1972 UK LP "Freedom's Lament" on Mushroom 150 MR 18)

13. Report To The Sad Lady - ANDREAS THOMOPOULOS (from the April 1971 UK LP "Songs Of The Street" on Mushroom 100 MR 1)

14. The Ould Triangle - THE LIVERPOOL FISHERMEN (from the August 1971 UK LP "Swallow The Anchor" on Mushroom 100 MR 9)

15. High Germany - MAPPA TANDI (from the December 1971 UK LP "The Mushroom Folk Sampler" on Mushroom 100 MR 16)

16. Land Of A Thousand Dreams - CHILLUM (from the December 1971 UK LP "Chillum" on Mushroom 100 MR 11)

17. Puckaree - URBAN CLEARWAY (not originally issued, recorded 1972)

18. Don't Wait Till The Morning - GORDON, ELLIS & STEELE (Previously Unissued, recorded 1972 for unreleased Mushroom Records LP)

19. The Phoenix - MAGIC CARPET (from the June 1972 UK LP "Magic Carpet" on Mushroom 200 MR 20)

20. Take To The Skies - SECOND HAND (from the April 1971 UK LP "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" on Mushroom 200 MR 6)

21. Jerusalem - SIMON FINN (from the April 1971 UK LP "Pass The Distance" on Mushroom 100 MR 2)

CD2 - "Vic Keary's Maximum Sound Productions" (75:04 minutes):

1. Party Line - THE ATTRACTION (November 1966 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8010, A-side, Ray Davies song, Kinks cover, for B-side see Track 15)

2. Summer Leaves Me With A Sigh - TUESDAY'S CHILDREN (October 1966 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8018, B-side of "High On The Hill", a Phillip Cordell song)

3. She's That Kind Of Woman - JOHN WILLIAMS (February 1967 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8128, A-side, John Williams song, for B-side see Track 11)

4. See See Rider - ALEX KORNER (March 1965 UK 7" single on King KG 1017, A-side, La Vern Baker cover)

5. James In The Basement - DENIS COULDRY (February 1968 UK 7" single on Decca F 12734, A-side, Denis Couldry song, for B-side see Track 19)

6. Cheadle Heath Delusions - FELIUS ANDROMEDA (November 1967 UK 7" single on Decca F 12694, B-side of "Meditations", a Denis Couldry song, for A-side see Track 20)

7. The World Will End Yesterday - SECOND HAND (from the March 1969 Debut LP "Reality" on Polydor 583 045)

8. Rainbow Chasing - ANDROMEDA (August 1972 UK 7" single on Cactus CT 2, B-side of "After The Storm", for A-side see Track 18)

9. Knock On Wood - OLIVER BONE (November 1966 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5527, A-side, cover version of the Eddie Floyd hit written Floyd and Steve Cropper)

10. Wishing My Life Away - ANGELINA (December 1965 UK 7" single on Fontana TF 648, A-side, real name Jacqueline Mumford)

11. My Ways Are Set - JOHN WILLIAMS (February 1967 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8128, B-side of "She's That Kind Of Woman", a John Williams song both sides, for A-side see Track 3)

12. A Strange Light From The East - TUESDAY'S CHILDREN (January 1967 UK 7" single on King KG 1051, A-side, A Phillip Cordell song)

13. Love Made A Fool Of Me - THE CAROLINES (November 1965 UK 7" single on Polydor BM 56027, A-side, a Caroline Samuels song, also known as The Carols)

14. Jungle Harlem - MEL TURNER (June 1970 UK 7" single on United Artists UP 35121, A-side)

15. She's A Girl - THE ATTRACTION (November 1966 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8010, B-side of "Party Line", see Track 1)

16. Taboo Man - ALEXIS KORNER'S BLUES INCORPORATED (not originally issued, recorded 1963)

17. Ramblin’ Boy - JOHN WILLIAMS (from the October 1967 UK Debut LP "John Williams" on Columbia SX 6169, a John Williams song)

18. After The Storm - ANDROMEDA (August 1972 UK 7" single on Cactus CT 2, A-side, for B-side see Track 8)

19. I Am Nearly There - DENIS COULDRY & THE NEXT COLLECTION (February 1968 UK 7" single on Decca F 12734, B-side of "James In The Basement, for A-side see Track 5)

20. Meditations - FELIUS ANDROMEDA (November 1967 UK 7" single on Decca F 12694, A-side, for B-side see Track 6)

21. Never Gonna Love Again - NEW FACES (September 1965 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 15931, A-side, catalogue number mistakenly credited as 15932 in the booklet)

22. Chasing Shadows - THE MARK LEEMAN FIVE (unissued 1962 recording first released 1991 on the UK LP "Mark Leeman Five Memorial Album" on See For Miles SEE 317)

23. Come On, Be Mine - THE CHEROKEES (Previously Unreleased, recorded circa 1964)

24. White Christmas - MEL TURNER with THE SOUVENIRS and THE MOHICANS (December 1963 UK 7" single on Carnival CV 7003, A-side)

25. Reality - SECOND HAND (from the March 1969 Debut LP "Reality" on Polydor 583 045)

The problem with Mushroom Records becomes abundantly obvious as you wade through CD1 - a lot of this isn't very good and in the harsh light of 2020, some of it is just plain unlistenable – unknowns or not. It opens with Pandit Kanwar Sain Trikha twanging and janging on an Indian Sitar without ever igniting anything only to be followed by Steel Band music – a cat-on-a-tin-roof cover of Santana's "Evil Ways" by Les Flambeaux that sounds like some Woolworth's LP you took a chance on for 50p (that gives you an idea of the diversity we're talking about here). From those two genres we leap into the Jazz-Rock Prog-Rock of Second Hand doing "Hangin' On An Eyelid" – a sort of Todd Rundgren with Runt sounding piece of indescribable. We're then greeted by the first of the Folk tracks, Callinan-Flynn doing "Fortune For The Finder" where the Irish duo of Dave Callinan and Mick Flynn sound like a weaker version of Tir na nOg. More cutesy comes in the shape of the acoustic "Dandelion Blues" from Jon Betmead, but like singer-songwriter Simon Flynn, it sounds like out of tune finger-in-the-ear folk best avoided.

Things go Avant Garde with Lol Coxhill and his unlistenable "Or Alternatively Nine" - painful flute noodling that hasn't aged at all well. Heather Smith, Adrian Bell and John McDonald give us "Lark In The Morning" but far better is the Greek singer Andreas Thomopoulos with an Acoustic Guitar and faint Jews Harp on "False Eyelashes" - a very pretty entry. Flute and tambourine shake across your speakers for the Indian-language sung "Chum Chum Chum Chum" - a sweet little upbeat song that is surely destined for a movie soundtrack any day soon. Second Hand pour on the melodrama with their stand alone 7" single "Funeral" - in the garden of the maker - a brass and weird vocal number that's stylistically baroque 1967 meets Scott Walker meets Jacques Brel - released to an undoubtedly bewildered public in June 1972.

Back to Folk for a second dose of Callinan-Flynn and their William of Orange death and shame song "We Are The People..." - a better tune. Sung in his native Greek, "Report To The Sad Lady" has Andrea Thomopoulos strumming big acoustic chords and is again a sweet melody. The soundscape brings in the Chillum song only lasts about a minute and you wish it were longer and it's so easy to hear why the gorgeous acoustic/sitar acid folk of the Magic Carpet track "The Phoenix" and its accompanying album are so sought after (Alisha Sufit the Vocalist and Clem Alford on Sitar) - a very real highlight on CD1 (a phoenix rises from the ashes).

CD2 arrives as if from another world - mad 60ts Pop, Psych, Baroque and Freakbeat. The wild fuzz guitar of "Summer Leaves Me With A Sigh" by Tuesday's Children is the kind of 45 B-side that drives collectors into frenzies of delight - great chunks of menace guitar amidst harmony vocals. The John Williams single is Cello and Acoustic Folk left in the dust by a piano cover of La Vern Baker's "See See Rider" from the distinctive vocals of Alexis Korner. - the future CCS and Snape front man (his "Taboo Man" is later on). But stuff like Andromeda and Denis Couldry is pretty awful.

In the end, I'd advise a listen before a purchase. There's good discoveries on this double for sure, but there's also far too many examples as to why this stuff never caught on in the first place...