"The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" by GENESIS – Double-Album from November 1974 on Charisma Records (UK) and Atco Records (USA) – featuring Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins with Guest Brian Eno (November 2014 Japan-Only 2 x SHM-CD Reissue with HR Cutting and Mini LP Repro Artwork 'Standard Edition' – Using The 2007 Remaster by Tony Cousins) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...It's Only Knock And Knowall, But I Like It!"

I've told this story a few times. I was in a Dublin bar with a mate of mine in the early Eighties and we were getting legless. For some reason lost to time, alien abduction and cosmic wormhole reasoning - we decided to start singing "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and about an hour later and a few bevvies in - we'd done all four sides including the two instrumentals! And like some spoilt celebrity salaciously stroking his Sage Oracle Coffee making machine in my landing strip of a kitchen (who's Daddy's favourite eh) - I'm so proud of that! 

So as I was prepping for this review in my 62-year-old dotage, I tried it again and with a hearty pat on my greying but still suspiciously intact hairline, I remembered about half of the lyrics without having to refer to the repro'd lyric inserts provided in this gorgeous Japanese reissue. That's how it is when you truly love an album. I would imagine it's the same for Soul Boys when it comes to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" or once rowdy young men when it comes to The Pistols and "Never Mind The Bollocks..." In fact, we need only see the artwork of our fave-rave and a quickening of the pulse occurs, rushing blood in the trouser area makes a valiant effort and a wee tear of nostalgic joy appears in our cataract-addled eyeballs. Could have been the Guinness mind...

I love double-albums and after the creative highs of 1972's "Foxtrot" and 1973's even better "Selling England By The Pound" - the Peter Gabriel led period of Genesis finished on a total humdinger - a 1974 2LP groovy Hipgnosis artwork splurge that had many fans reaching for such highbrow phrases as 'the last great concept album' or 'bugger my NYC Apple Pies but that's brill boys'. But what issue of this Progtastic Lilywhite Lilith double-dip do you buy?

After years of false digital starts, the fantastic Tony Cousins Remasters that first appeared in the 2007 Box Set 1970-1974 were issued as stand-alone SACDs in 2008 and then standard 2CD sets in 2009. That 2009 variant on Barcode 5099926570228 is widely available to this day for about a tenner or maybe a tad more. But such is my love for this extraordinary double, I want the best - and choosing between the Platinum SHM-CD from 2014 (over £50 on some sites) or this standard edition for about £25 which is still on catalogue in 2020 - I've settled on this. And I love everything about it. But to the Colony of Slippermen first...

Released 26 November 2014 in Japan-Only - "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" by GENESIS on Universal/Virgin UICY-76719/20 (Barcode 4988005858214) is a 2-Disc SHM-CD Format Reissue of the 1974 Charisma Records Double-Album in Mini LP Repro Artwork with a Gatefold Card Sleeve, Inner Sleeves, Foldout Booklet, Obi Strip and an Outer Plastic Protective. This 2014 Reissue uses the 2007 Remaster but also features HR CUTTING for the SHM-CD discs to get optimum sound retrieval. It plays out as follows...

CD1 (45:36 minutes):

1. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [Side 1]

2. Fly On The Windshield

3. Broadway Melody Of 1974

4. Cuckoo Cocoon

5. In The Cage

6. The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging

7. Back In N.Y.C. [Side 2] 

8. Hairless Heart

9. Counting Out Time

10. The Carpet Crawlers

11. The Chamber of 32 Doors

CD2 (48:49 minutes):

1. Lilywhite Lilith [Side 3]

2. The Waiting Room

3. Anyway

4. Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist

5. The Lamia

6. Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats 

7. The Colony Of Slippermen [Side 4]

(a) The Arrival (b) A Visit To The Doktor (c) Raven

8. Ravine

9. The Light Lies Down On Broadway

10. Riding The Scree

11. It

Released November 1974 in the UK on Charisma CGS 101 and November 1974 in the USA on Atco SD 2-401. Produced by Genesis and John Burns – it peaked at No. 10 in the UK and No. 41 in the USA.

The packaging is beautiful on these Japanese reissues, the fold out booklet with its Japanese and English lyrics. You get the story of Rael - a spunky Puerto Rican kid living in New York - runs the gamut of weird and wonderful experiences, a lot of which feels like drugged-out trips into colonies of Slippermen and dark drafty Chambers with 32 Doors and water-rafting on the scree to some ‘it’ ending. And that Hipgnosis artwork was mesmerizing too with Rael jumping through glass and bodies with snakes draped over them and Gabriel’s "…Keep your fingers out of my eye…" story on the inside and the sheer volume of lyrics on the two inner sleeves (only "The Waiting Room" and "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" are instrumentals). It was a lot to digest at the time and still is - and there were many who weren’t too convinced. But time has shown this staggering artistic outpouring as a properly brilliant thing. I never saw the legendary tours with those boil-in-a-bag outfits but I’ve seen the photos and read the Phil Collins recollections of masterful slide shows which featuring the whole double whether the crowd wanted it or not. Hardly surprising that PG was gone by 1975 - solo stardom beckoning in 1977 with "Solsbury Hill" (again on Charisma Records).

The Tony Cousins audio is fantastic and again that noticeable oomph given by the better-format disc. When Gabriel sings "Early morning Manhattan..." as the opening title track kicks in, the punch is palpable. But like most longtime fans, I went straight for deep album tracks like "Anyway" (beautiful piano playing from Banks), those shimmering Hackett guitars 'wrapped up in some powdered wool' in "Cuckoo Cocoon", crucial dilation of the pupils in the witty sexual awakening song "Counting Out Time" and the track that was always hard to hear on the original LP - the almost imperceptible "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" – now a gorgeous instrumental. I remember Hackett's wife did beautiful 'Wind And Wuthering' type paintings depicting those tracks in a book that came out in the 80s (can’t remember its name). Everywhere you turn, the audio thrills. That wonderful chorus with the harmonizing vocals in "Lilywhite Lilith", the wind synths and acoustic guitars actually depicting in sound a "Ravine" and of course that final run of three "Riding The Screen" (stunning Banks synth solo) segueing into the strangely peaceful acoustics of "In The Rapids" and that synth burst with Collins giving it some superb drumming on "It" with the "...it's only knock and knowall, but I like it..." lyrics.

Niggles - It's known that the 'Evil Jam' version of "The Waiting Room" on the B-side of the April 1975 British 7" single for "The Carpet Crawlers" (Charisma CB 251) is a different mix to the LP cut and I suppose could have been included here on Disc 2 as a Bonus Track - but it's hardly a huge loss. What you do get is fabulous just as it is (Audio and Presentation).

Prog Rock used to be such a maligned genre, but as the years have gone by and with so much blandness masquerading as music coming off the airwaves - new listeners are discovering what we loved first time around – its complexity and inventiveness and wild out there nature – and damn it – on occasion – its tearful beauty.

"...We hold together and shoot the rapids fast…" - Peter Gabriel sang all those decades ago as the band made a successful dash for the finish on Side Four. 

Well, if you want to get down to this 1974 Broadway fantasy, then this gorgeous 2014 Japanese SHM-CD2 reissue is the 2020 Times Square audio buddy you need…

"Hooker N' Heat" by CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER – Double-Album from January 1971 (USA) and March 1971 (UK) on Liberty Records (19 July 2017 JAPAN Universal/Liberty Records SHM-CD x 2 Reissue In Gatefold Hard-Card Mini LP Repro Artwork with a Booklet And Obi Strip and One Bonus Track – part of their 'Deluxe Double Series' - Akihito Watanbe Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Boogie Chillen No. 2..."

In March 2020 - "Hooker 'N Heat" is an obscurity you rarely see on either vinyl or CD. Yet for such a long distant memory (50 years in 2021), it's had its fair share of reissues.

England's See For Miles got to the digital first in 1989 followed quickly by an EMI/Liberty 2CD Remaster in 1991 widely issued in the UK and USA. Then Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab give it the ultimate audiophile accolade in 1996 by putting the Boogie Chillen double on one of their pricey and limited 'Ultradisc II' Gold 2CD sets (a fiercely expensive item these days).

Following that a company in France called Magic Records had it remastered by Beat Goes On's resident audio engineer Andrew Thompson in July 2002. That 19-track issue was more than interesting to fans as it contained a song mentioned by Hook in the studio dialogue to the band at the beginning of "Send Me Your Pillow" called "It's All Right" – a tune he was to record the following night but frustratingly never showed on the released double. Magic Records included both "It's All Right" and the US 7" single edit of "Whiskey And Wimmen" (2:25 minutes as opposed to the LP cut of 4:33 minutes) as Bonus Tracks on Disc 2.

And while BGO issued the Andrew Thompson high-definition 24-bit remastered double as a 2CD set in 2005, it was the bare 17-Track 2LP set only. This new July 2017 Japanese double SHM-CD reissue in gorgeous Mini LP Artwork includes the "It's All Right" outtake as a single song bonus - even if the packaging is a tad vague about it to English-language eyes. And to top its cool looks and grinding boogie bonus track, this new version does have something else worth raving about - truly fabulous and clean audio - care of a new Remaster by Universal’s Akihito Watanbe from original tapes done in Japan. Let's get to the boogie - children...

Released19 July 2017 in Japan-Only - "Hooker N' Heat” by CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER on Universal/Liberty Records UICY-78388-9 (Barcode 4988031229569) is a 2-Disc Set Reissue of the 1971 Double-Album on the SHM-CD Format In Gatefold Hard-Card Mini LP Repro Artwork with Booklet, Obi Strip and One Outtake from the Sessions as a Bonus Track. It plays out as follows:

CD1 (41:06 minutes):

1. Messin With The Hook [Side 1]

2. The Feelin' Is Gone

3. Send Me Your Pillow

4. Sittin' Here Thinkin'

5. Meet Me In The Bottom

6. Alimonia Blues [Side 2]

7. Drifter

8. You Talk Too Much

9. Burning Hell

10. Bottle Up And Go

CD2 (50:58 minutes):

1. The World Today [Side 3]

2. I Got My Eyes On You

3. Whiskey And Wimmen

4. Just You And Me

5. Let's Make It [Side 4]

6. Peavine

7. Boogie Chillen No. 2

The double-album "Hooker N' Heat" was released January 1971 in the USA on Liberty Records LST-35002 and March 1971 in the UK on Liberty Records LSP 103/4.

BONUS TRACK

8. It's All Right - Previously Unreleased Session Outtake first issued on CD in July 2002 by Magic Records (Barcode 3700139302323) 

The hard-card gatefold sleeve is an exact repro of the American original double-album, the fold-out white inlay has the lyrics in English and Japanese and it comes with an Obi strip and SHM-CD stickered outer plastic protective. The Remastering Engineer for Universal Japan is AKIHITO WATANBE and the 2017 Audio is gorgeous - so damn impressive as the band lay into the five minute boogie that is "Peavine" and the eleven and half minutes of "Boogie Chillen No. 2" - an updating of his Forties and Fifties chugging classic (Wilson keeping up on the heavy-heavy Harmonica).

Produced by SKIP TAYLOR and BOB HITE Jr. with all tunes by JLH - the double was split into two phases – the first LP with just him and his electric guitar plugged in and turned up loud while the band only briefly joins him on some songs on Side 2. I mention this because if you're expected rocket-fuelled Rock-Blues, then taper those expectations. LP1 is very sparse but eerily effective as he taps his foot and flicks those Hooker licks – the second LP featuring the band lifts up proceedings a little more - especially with Al Wilson blowing some fantastic Paul Butterfield-type Harmonica. And what blows you away too is the new audio here that has made the echoed vibe all the more intense and powerful. 

Surely one of the great lost 45s of the Seventies is the double's only outing - an edit of "Whiskey And Wimmen" issued Stateside in April 1971 on United Artists 50779 with the equally fab "Let's Make It" on the flipside (no British equivalent but there are other territories like France and Australia). The LP cut for "Whiskey And Wimmen" is 4:33 minutes while the single edited it down to a spoken title intro of nine seconds and the song at 2:25 minutes. "Let's Make It" saw its album version of 4:05 minutes only shortened a little to 3:50 minutes. Damn shame its not on here too, but the Magic Records double-disc that does have the A-side is deleted and therefore hiking it with a huge price tag.

The Hook plays fantastic guitar on "Boogie Chillen No. 2" as he shouts "I Feel Good!" enjoying the band cooking up a bass and drums driving chug. He mixes and matches lyrics from so many Blues references into "It's All Right" – a genuinely superb addition. You can so hear the band just digging being in the same room as the great Blues legend. Cool and then some...

I got my copy on a well-known auction site for under £20 though I've seen this Japanese beauty go for about £25 or a little above that. "I heard that whistle blow...comin' down the railroad track...hey hey..."

Let that child boogie-woogie, mama used to say - you gotta let it out! Well he did in the company of admirers and cohorts and weren’t we the better for it. Go Johnny Go...

"Labour Of Lust" by NICK LOWE – Second Studio Album from June 1979 featuring Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams (all of Rockpile) with Guests Elvis Costello, Pete Thomas (of The Attractions), Huey Lewis (of Clover and later The News) and songs by Mickey Jupp and Ian Gomm (March 2011 UK Proper 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue – Vic Anesini Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...In The Right Measure..."

Following on from his New Wave groovy debut album "Jesus Of Cool" in 1978 (called "Pure Pop For Now People" in the USA on Columbia Records) - the former Brinsley Schwarz Bassist and front man Nick Lowe and his band of Rock 'n' Roll reprobates (Rockpile) needed a follow-up - and preferably one with a big fat hit like "I Like The Sound Of Breaking Glass".

Back from a US tour where the support act foursome of Nick Lowe (Bass and Vocals), Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner (Guitars and Vocals) and Terry Williams (Drums) regularly slaughtered the crowd for mainliners - Lowe and his ageless 32-year-old all-singing all-dancing rockers spent the next two months on the graveyard recording-shift alongside Dave Edmunds who was simultaneously putting down Swan Song's "Repeat When Necessary" LP in the same place (Eden Studio in Chiswick, West London).

An arm-twisted Nick was then directed back by Columbia's A&R executive Gregg Geller to an old 1974 Brinsley Schwarz tune called "You've Gotta Be Cruel To Be Kind". The song was recorded after the final "New Favourites..." LP sessions as the group was winding down (it first appeared on a 1988 compilation LP in Britain) and Geller felt Cruel and its incessantly catchy chorus had the chops to be a radio-friendly winner in the USA. With Rockpile in tow, Lowe recorded the shifty little brute with a yawn only to find that Geller’s A&R instinct was very much on the dollar when the song launched the "Labour Of Lust" LP – especially Stateside. 

His second studio LP came in June 1979, the Columbia 3-11018 single following in July, and helped by a quirky promo video featuring Nick and Carlene Carter’s wedding and its superb UK-LP-only B-side "Endless Grey Ribbon" enticing American collectors, the "Cruel To Be Kind" single and video combined to push sales on the chipper album - eventually seeing it climb to a very healthy No. 12 LP spot in America (no mean feat in those days). Released in his native Blighty in September 1979, the Radar ADA 43 single did the same, ramming the well-received Radar LP up the charts – also to a No. 12 high.

As Geller's liner notes wittily imply on Page 9 of the booklet - Nick's been singing Cruel To Be Kind (in the right measure) ever since. Which brings us to this hugely likeable reissue – details first…

UK released 15 March 2011 - "Labour Of Lust" by NICK LOWE on Proper Records PRPCD077 (Barcode 805520030779) is an ‘Expanded Edition’ CD Reissue and Remaster with One Bonus Track. It will allow fans to sequence both the UK and US LP configurations and plays out as follows (39:03 minutes):

1. Cruel To Be Kind

2. Cracking Up

3. Big Kick, Plain Scrap

4. American Squirm

5. Born Fighter

6. You Make Me

7. Skin Deep

8. Switchboard Susan

9. Endless Grey Ribbon

10. Without Love

11. Dose Of You

12. Love So Fine

BONUS TRACK:

13. Basing Street

Released June 1979 in the UK on Radar Records RAD 21 and also June 1979 in the USA on Columbia Records JC 36087 - the UK and US LPs both had eleven tracks each but with different configurations. The British variant had "Endless Grey Ribbon" as an exclusive (Track 2 on Side 2) whilst the US LP had that song replaced with "American Squirm" as their exclusive cut (Track 4, Side 1). All songs written by Nick Lowe, except "Cruel To Be Kind" which was a co-write with Ian Gomm, "Switchboard Susan" by Mickey Jupp (credited as "Switch Board Susan" in the USA) and "Love So Fine" which is credited to the four in Rockpile – Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams.

To sequence the UK LP from this CD use the following tracks:

Side 1: Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7

Side 2: Tracks 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12

To sequence the US LP use:

Side 1: Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7

Side 2: Tracks 8, 11, 10, 5 and 12

The three SINGLES around the album were:

UK - "American Squirm" b/w "What's So Funny 'bout (Peace, Love And Understanding)"

October 1978 on Radar Records ADA 26

The B-side is an Elvis Costello song credited to Nick Lowe and His Sound, but it's actually Elvis Costello and The Attractions and is unfortunately not on this CD. "American Squirm" wasn't released as a 45 in the USA - is on the US LP only.

UK - "Cracking Up" b/w "Basing Street"

June 1979 on Radar Records ADA 34 - B-side was non-album and is the 'bonus track' on this CD

US - "Switch Board Susan" b/w "Basing Street"

October 1979 on Columbia 1-11131 - "Switchboard Susan" was the A-side in the USA instead of "Cracking Up"

UK - "Cruel To Be Kind" b/w "Endless Grey Ribbon"

September 1979 on Radar Records ADA 43

June 1979 USA on Columbia 3-11018 with same songs

US fans would not have had the B-side as it only appeared on the UK LP

You get a gatefold card-sleeve; the Barney Bubbles cover artwork on a picture CD, a 12-Page booklet with new liner notes from Canvey Island/Pub Rock aficionado WILL BIRCH with added notes from Columbia's then A&R guy GREGG GELLER. In-between are repro photos of very cool period memorabilia like the 'I Made An AMERICAN SQUIRM' button, the Survival Kit promo pack, Radar Records track promo trinkets, the "Cruel To Be Kind" UK 7" picture sleeve, a billboard add for the album, US tour shots, unreleased proof artwork for Barney Bubbles sleeves and loads more. The read is witty, informative and more than tinged with the huge affection Lowe, Rockpile and the album are remembered with. Tasty.

But best of all is a Remaster by Columbia Records Audio Engineer supremo VIC ANESINI - a man who has twiddled the knobs on The Byrds, Nilsson, Santana, Elvis Presley, The Jayhawks, Stevie Ray Vaughan and oodles more. I mention this because the album was always a low-fi audio affair to me and in truth it generally remains that way. But Anesini has done a clean transfer and the oomph the tracks so desperately needed is in evidence - even if it isn't as much as you would have hoped for (Anesini also did the "Jesus Of Cool" album reissue for Proper Records).

Co-written with fellow Pub Rocker Ian Gomm, the album opens on the knock me back down winner that is "Cruel To Be Kind" and Terry Williams' drum kit is suddenly Everly Brothers clear as the band kicks in. When asked to contribute to a tune to the "Labour Of Love: The Music Of Nick Lowe" 2001 CD compilation, none other than the sorely missed Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers did "Cracking Up" – and from the I don’t think its funny anymore lyrics – you can so hear why. I love the Dave Edmunds doubled-vocals on the chorus. And again the Bass and Drums of the drugs song "Big Kick, Plain Scrap" is indeed kicking and not monkeying around (great remaster, even on the flanged vocals). Edmunds again adds so much to "Born Fighter" on the vocal and guitar front, as does Huey Lewis (of The News) on loan from Clover giving it some mean Harmonica.

The US album had "American Squirm" slotted in on Side 1 and it must have felt weird (or thrilling) to have a Brit say "I made an American squirm and it felt so right…” The song also featured Elvis Costello on Vocals and Pete Thomas of The Attractions on Drums. A sort of dry run for "Basing Street", the almost hurting quiet in "You Make Me" features Nick strumming a barely perceptible acoustic – love making our hero weak and confused (a good excuse really). Things go back to beat city with the catchy-as-a-cold "Skin Deep" where Nick is belly to belly but unfortunately not eye to eye (love that guitar work from Edmunds, subtle and effective). Other cool ones come in the shape of the Rockabilly swinging "Without Love" (all by himself in the heartbreak sea) and the final slice of Rockpile chugging in "Love So Fine" – a track I always felt would have been a far better single than "American Squirm". And I must rant and rave about the B-side "Basing Street" – a bare bones acoustic tale of ugly inner London misery that used to slay me every time I flipped the single. I played this sucker to death, the half spoken lyrics, the sort of Johnny Cash unplugged feel, the tale of a cut homeless 17 year old, something about its eerie loneliness used to affect me and to hear it now so clean and clear is frankly even a little jarring.

"Each time I see her, I can't wait to see her again…" – Nick Lowe sang on the lyrically clever "Love So Fine". I suspect so many of us have felt the same about his first two albums and this Remaster only hammers home our initial faith. A gentleman and a scholar and that's just the left leg. Fab stuff and then some…

"Looking At The Pictures In The Sky: The British Psychedelic Sounds Of 1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – featuring Fleur De Lys, Eyes Of Blue, Mike Stuart Span, The Orange Seaweed, Skip Bifferty, Rupert’s People, The Factory, Junior’s Eyes, The Smoke, Episode Six, Honeybus, Status Quo, Jethro Toe (Tull), The Writing On The Wall, The Spectrum and many more (November 2017 UK Grapefruit Records 3CD Clamshell Box Set – Oli Morgan and Nick Watson Masters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Music Soothes The Savage Beast..."

Collectors (not surprisingly) have a bit of Felicity Kendal about Grapefruit Records. Every time we clap eyes on one of their squished-to-the-gunnels reissues covering all things 60ts, unwashed and eclectic (like this 3CD Box Set that deals with British stargazing in 1968) - we think of our lysergic/pale ale youth, reach for the enormo-pack Maalox antacid bottle and get a bit weepy and upset in the tum-tums. Hell, I might even propose to Richard Briers (if Felicity won't have me of course).

We love Grapefruit Box Sets and this 2017 brute is no different. 78 wildly varied tracks across 3CDs, a booklet crammed with more facts than a manual to building a large Hadron Collider and pictures of disturbed men with even more disturbing tastes in clobber and Day-Glo make-up. What's not to love...here we go...

UK released 10 November 2017 - "Looking At The Pictures In The Sky: The British Psychedelic Sounds Of 1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Grapefruit CRSEGBOX040 (Barcode 5013929184008) is a 3CD Clamshell Box Set of 78-Tracks (two Previously Unreleased) that plays out as follows:

Disc One (78:04 minutes):

1. Path Through The Forest - THE FACTORY (October 1968 UK 7" single on MGM Records MGM 1444, A-side)

2. Father's Name Is Dad - THE FIRE (March 1968 UK 7" single on Decca F 12753, A-side, Withdrawn)

3. Gong With The Luminous Nose - FLEUR DE LYS (May 1968 UK 7" single on Polydor 56251, A-side)

4. Mind's Eye - RAMASES and SELKET (September 1968 UK 7" single on CBS Records 3717, B-side of "Crazy One")

5. Spontaneous - THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN (from their June 1968 debut album "The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown" on Track 613 005)

6. Lullaby (Alternative Version) - GRAPEFRUIT (recorded January 1968, unissued at the time)

7. I Will Not Be Moved - CIRCLE PLANTAGENET (recorded late 1968, PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED)

8. Sunday Best - TURQUOISE (recorded August 1968, not originally issued)

9. My Son Jon - THE ONXY (November 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17622, A-side)

10. The Fantastic Story Of The Steam Driven Banana - LEGAY (February 1968 UK 7" single on Fontana TF 904, B-side of "No-One")

11. Mr. Partridge Passed Away Today - FORTES MENTUM (March 1968 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5684, B-side of "Saga Of A Wrinkled Man")

12. Jabberwock - BOEING DUVEEN and THE BATIFUL SOUP (May 1968 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5696, A-side)

13. Haze Woman - ANAN (June 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17571, A-side)

14. Talkin' About The Good Times - PRETTY THINGS (February 1968 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8353, A-side)

15. Sunday Morning - GUY and DAVID - THE FIVE DAY WEEK STRAW PEOPLE (from the September 1968 UK LP "The Five Day Week Straw People" - Guy Mascolo and David Montague)

16. Animal Magic - THE GRADED GRAINS April 1968 recording, not originally issued)

17. She - TUESDAY'S CHILDREN (November 1968 UK 7" single on Mercury MF 1063, A-side)

18. Mr. Lion - THE MARMALADE (from the December 1968 UK LP "There's A Lot Of It About" on CBS Records 63414)

19. Upstairs Downstairs - GRAHAM GOULDMAN (February 1968 UK 7" single on RCA Victor RCA 1667, A-side)

20. Festival Of The Harvest Moon - JOKER (recorded mid-1968, not originally issued)

21. So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star - SUN DRAGON (from the November 1968 US LP "Green Tambourine" on MGM Records CS 8090 - a Byrds cover)

22. Never Care - EYES OF BLUE (from the December 1968 UK LP "Crossroads Of Time" on Mercury SMCL 20134)

23. Nightmare - THE GASS COMPANY (January 1968 UK 7" single on President PT 170, B-side to "Everybody Needs Love")

24. In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence - PROCOL HARUM (March 1968 UK 7" single on Regal Zonophone RZ 3007, B-side of "Quite Rightly So")

25. Did You Die Four Years Ago Tonight? - THE WEB (from the August 1968 UK LP "Fully Interlocking" on Deram SML 1025)

26. Frederick Jordan - THE GLASS MANAGERIE (September 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17615, B-side of "I Said Goodbye To Me")

Disc Two (79:05 minutes):

1. Children Of Tomorrow - MIKE STUART SPAN (February 1968 UK 7" single on Jewel JL 01, A-side)

2. Dawn Breaks Through - THE BARRIER (April 1968 UK 7" single on Eyemark EMS 1013, B-side of "Georgie Brown")

3. Mr. Pinnodmy's Dilemma - THE ATTACK (early 1968 recording, not originally issued)

4. Trying To Get A Glimpse Of You - THE FREEDOM (June 1968 UK 7"single on Mercury MF 1033, B-side of "Where Will You Be Tonight")

5. I Can Show You - RUPERT'S PEOPLE (March 1968 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8362, A-side)

6. Locked In A Room - THE POETS (December 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17680, B-side of "Alone Am I")

7. Bluebell Wood - WIMPLE WINCH (recorded May 1968, not originally issued)

8. Technicolor Dreams - THE STATUS QUO (from their LP "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo" on Pye NPL 18220)

9. Music Soothes The Savage Beast - THE SPECTRUM (November 1968 UK 7" single on RCA Victor RCA 1775,B-side to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da")

10. Head For The Sun - THE MOVEMENT (August 1968 UK 7" single on Big T Records BIG 112, A)

11. Midnight Love Cycle - THE LUBS (recorded mid 1968, not originally issued)

12. Lovers From The Sky -CONTACT (early 1968 recording, not originally issued)

13. Jamie's Song - THE DEVIANTS (from the October 1968 UK LP "Disposable" on Stable SLP 7001)

14. Sydney Gill - THE SMOKE (May 1968 German 7" single Metronome B 1697, A-side)

15. Birthday - PETER and THE WOLVES (April 1968 UK 7" single on MGM Records 1397, B-side of "Julie") 

16. Love Is A toy - JON LEDINGHAM (March 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17488, A-side)

17. Yesterday Was Such A Lovely Day - SADIE'S EXPRESSION (recorded April 1968, not originally issued)

18. Omnibus - THE MOVE (recorded March 1968, not originally issued STEREO version)

19. I Get So Excited - REAL McCOY (September 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17618, A-side)

20. Mr. Golden Trumpet Player - JUNIOR'S EYES (June 1968 UK 7" single on Regal Zonophone RZ 3009, A-side)

21. Yellow Rainbow - THE PICADILLY LINE (July 1968 UK 7" single on CBS Records 3595, A-side)

22. Time Seller - THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP (from the June 1968 UK LP "With Their New Face On" on United Artists SULP 1192)

23. Pantomime - TONY RIVERS and THE CASTAWAYS (April 1968 UK 7" single on Polydor 56245, B-side of " I Can Guarantee You Love")

24. Go And Say Goodbye - KATCH 22 (from the May 1968 UK LP "It's Soft Rock And All Sorts, It's Katch 22" on Saga EROS 8047)

25. Cornflake Zoo - ANDY ELLISON (May 1968 UK 7" single on SNB Records 55-3508, B-side of "You Can't Do That")

26. Penny For Your Thoughts - THE ALAN BOWN (from the November 1968 UK LP "Outward Bown" on Music factory CUBLM1)

Disc Three (78:56 minutes):

1. Hold On - JASON CREST (recorded November 1968, not originally issued)

2. Girl Of Independent Means - HONEYBUS (September 1968 UK 7" single on Deram DM 207, A-side)

3. Rainmaker - RHUBARB RHUBARB (December 1968 UK 7" single on President PT 229, A-side)

4. Hello Enid - THE MIRAGE (recorded March 1968, not originally issued)

5. Lucky Sunday - EPISODE SIX (October 1968 UK 7" single on Chapter One CH 103, A)

6. What's The Rush, Dillbury? - PARADOX (recorded early 1968, not originally issued)

7. Cave Of Clear Light - THE BYSTANDERS (February 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17476, B-side of "When Jezamin Goes")

8. Round And Round - SKIP BIFFERTY (recorded August 1968, not originally issued)

9. Come On Down - MOTIVATION (February 1968 UK 7" single on Direction 58-3248, A-side)

10. Country Life - BLONDE ON BLONDE (November 1968 UK 7" single n Pye 7N 17637, B-side of "All Day, All Night")

11. Virginia Water - CATS PYJAMAS (January 1968 UK 7" single on Direction 58-3235, B-side of "Baby I Love You")

12. Aeroplane - JETHRO TOE (TULL) (February 1968 UK 7" single on MGM Records MGM 1384, B-side of "Sunshine Day")

13. Rambling Boy - TIMON (January 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17451, B-side of "Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane")

14. Ice Man - ICE (March 1968 UK 7" single on Decca F 12749, A-side)

15. Now And Again Rebecca - THE U (DON'T) NO WHO (recorded early 1968, not originally issued)

16. Felicity Jones - THE WRITING ON THE WALL (recorded early 1968, not originally issued)

17. Sycamore Sid - FOCAL POINT (May 1968 UK 7" single on Deram DM 186, B-side of "Love You Forever")

18. Do You Dream - CIRCUS (March 1968 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5672, A-side)

19. Maxwell Ferguson - BRASS TACKS (November 1968 UK 7" single on Big T Records BIG 114, A-side)

20. Pawnbroker - BARBARA RUSKIN (recorded September 1968, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Demo Version)

21. Soft Winds - THE ORANGE BICYCLE (recorded 1968, not originally issued)

22. Without You - COCONUT MUSHROOM (recorded late 1968, not originally issued)

23. Haunted - PETER THOROGOOD (July 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17577, A-side)

24. Which Dreamed It - BOEING DUVEEN and THE BEAUTIFUL SOUP (May 1968 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5696, B-side of "Jabberwock" - A-side is Track 12 on Disc 1)

25. Trot - TURNSTYLE (November 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17653, B-side)

26. Pictures In The Sky - THE ORANGE SEAWEED (April 1968 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17515, B-side to "Stay Awhile")

I've raved about Grapefruit's booklets before but this is an out-and-out humdinger, 42 pages of wall-to-wall facts and photos so rare it boggles my already frazzled mind. DAVID WELLS has compiled and annotated the set with contributions from good name like JOHN REED while OLI MORGAN and NICK WATSON (at Fluid Mastering) have struggled with the tangled web of sources. Audio is the same with all these 3CD tomes - some tracks are shockingly good while the unissued recordings tend to show their hurried production values. Still, taking a look at those disc playing times (78:04, 79:05, 78:56 minutes) and the fact that they have somehow unearthed yet two more Previously Unreleased rarities and the words 'value for money' start rattling around my noggin. To the music of seaweed, beautiful soup, wimple winches glass menageries and orange bicycles... 

DISC ONE: Penned by none other than Clifford T. Ward before solo fame would make his Home Thoughts LP a fave in every bedsit in the land, The Factory smash open CD1 with "Path Through The Forest" - the kind of British Psych 45 that has had fans hiding the eBay receipt from the wife. Next up is The Fire, a trio featuring Dave Lambert later of The Strawbs, who saw their UK-45 withdrawn because Paul McCartney thought it needed punching up (they'd signed a publishing deal with Apple). So it was remixed with extra guitars and a different vocal and re-launched - but Macca's instincts were not matched with public interest and it tanked. It appears here in all its daft-as-a-House-of-Commons-loo-brush original form - a clever inclusion. Speaking of Edward Lear lunacy, future Island and A&M Records LP boy Bryn Haworth lends his fab way with a slide guitar to the rare and seriously desirable 45s of Fleur De Lys  - here their "Gong With A Luminous Nose" featuring a Gordon Haskell lead vocal also.

Other delights on Disc 1 include a central heating salesman and carnival queen masquerading as Ramases and his Goddess of Magic on their hokey CBS B-side, whilst Legay Rogers (trading as plain old Legay in the 60s but became part of Gypsy in the Seventies) also uses a flipside to inform us all of a steam-driven banana and its tale of mushy woe (yeah baby). And the cod-Cockney accent in Turquoise's unissued "Sunday Best" is surely the reason it was left in a can marked 'unfit jellied eels - do not eat no matter what'. Whilst collectors will lick their lips for rarities like Sam Hutt's wonderfully named Boeing Duveen and The Beautiful Soup - a 45 outing that featured Tony Visconti in an early Production role or the first incarnation of the Crimson-like Prog band Czar in the shape of the impossibly rare Tuesday's Children - a Mercury Records 45 that would hurt your bank balance a little too much.

DISC TWO opens with an uber-rare seven I'll admit I've never seen, "Children Of Tomorrow" by Mike Stuart Span - a mere 500 copies of this 60ts hymn to youthful disillusion. Rarities continue with a truly obscure B-side from Londoners The Barrier on the tiny Eyemark label - their "Dawn Breaks Through" roaring into your living room like the sunlight depicted in its title. Speaking of forgotten heroes, John Du Cann would leave The Attack eventually and be part of "The Five Day Week Straw People" LP and the band Andromeda. Ray Royer of Freedom provides the Traffic vs. Family B-side "Trying To Get A Glimpse Of You" (a superb rare picture sleeve of it is featured on Page 16 of the booklet), while Guitarist and Vocalist Rod Lynon and Drummer Steve Brendell of the wonderful Rupert's People would both show up in 1971 on John Lennon's "Imagine" album (Marriott's Small Faces would have been proud to call RP's 1968 slice of Itchycoo grooviness "I Can Show You" their own).

Just before they hunkered down to 12-bar nirvana in 1970 with "In My Chair" and "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon", our very own Matchstickable Status Quo stumped up "Technicolor Dreams" which died as a single and indeed may have been withdrawn or export only, explaining its huge price tag to collectors (clever song choice though here, reminding us of their earlier side). Lizzy obsessives will note that Brush Shiels of Dublin's Skid Row (Gary Moore featuring) penned the fuzzed-up guitar barrage that is "Head For The Sun" for the obscure Irish band The Movement, a group that also contained Bassist Pat Quigley who would play for Lynott's pre Thin Lizzy outfit Orphanage. I've never seen this seven let alone heard it - hell Wells and Grapefruit have even managed (on Page 21 of the booklet) to find a 'New Spotlight' Irish Magazine article of the day reviewing it! WOW! Other goodies include the chipper B-side "Birthday" from Peter and The Wolves, Eddie Hardin doubling on vocals with The Spencer Davis Group for their excellent "Time Seller", Rick Wakeman later of Yes providing keyboards to the Tony Visconti produced Junior's Eyes single "Mr. Golden Trumpet Player" and The Alan Bown going all kick-ass Rock 'n' Rolla with their LP-cut "Penny For Your Thoughts" - ending Disc 2 in style.

DISC THREE opens with a hard-hitting geetar cover by Jason Crest of Rupert People's "Hold On" while Honeybus continues the Jean Genie-type riffage on Ray Cane's off-imitated "Girl Of Independent Means". Deep Purple fans will recognise Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in Episode Six's "Lucky Sunday" (the Ian Gillan sung B-side "Mr. Universe" can be found on Disc 3 of RPM's May 2017 mini 3CD box set "Night Comes Down: 60s British Mod, R&B, Freakbeat and Swinging London Nuggets"). Lead Vocalist Bob Catley of Paradox would later be in the hard and heavy Magnum while songwriter Clive John of the much-regarded Welsh band The Bystanders penned their Strawberry Alarm Clock-influenced "Cave Of Clear Light". Clever cover version choices come in the shapely bum-wiggler of "Come On Down" as done by Motivation, a sizeable hit for Every Mother's Son in the States. They weren't the first to hear UK potential in its US groove - Motivation's stab at the catchy tune following on from another British underground darling band The Gods (featuring Mick Taylor and Ken Hensley) who had a go on Polydor Records in June 1967. As if to hammer home Motivation's song and personnel pedigree, the band also featured Bassist Steve York who would later pluck strings for Deram's East Of Eden, Vertigo's Manfred Mann's Chapter and Island's Vinegar Joe).

Tull fans will probably already have the debut 45 with Mick Abraham's "Sunshine Day" on the February 1968 MGM Records A-side, but here's a chance to cop the Len Barnard and Ian Anderson penned flipside "Aeroplane" by Jethro Toe (long-standing Tull member Glenn Cornick says it wasn't a misprint, but a deliberate spite by the Producer who didn't think the band's agricultural character name was 'cool enough'). Speaking of weird flips, Clash fans will recognise Tymon Dogg associations with the band, but here Stephen Murray is (his real name) as Timon for his own "Rambling Boy" - a single on Pye that reputedly sold less than 130 copies. Keeping with cool future associations, Ice and their wicked "Ice Man" song would see members of the band blend into Linda Hoyle's much-vaulted Affinity on the newly minted Prog Rock label Vertigo. Singer-songwriter Philip Goodhand-Tait penned both Circus songs (produced by Manfred Man's Mike d'Abo) - a rare venture into Psychedelia for him who would share labels with Elton John on DJM. And on it goes to the delightfully titled Orange Seaweed and their "Pictures In The Sky" that give the box set its name…

Without doubt there will be even the most liberal-minded dude or dudette who will cop ears on any of these discs and go yuck – the 60ts may have been innovative – but it can stay 50 years behind. But I suspect they will be few and far between, because in my book, this is yet another reason why collectors and fans love reissue companies like Grapefruit with their passion, knowledge and need for us to explore deeper into an astonishing time in musical history.

Even if the hip 60ts men and women featured here can't shoot anymore and their guns are maybe in the ground (as Bob would later say in "Knocking On Heaven's Door") – for me it's never too dark, too dark too see. A fab reminder of a fab time -check this out and big time awards-city to all involved…