Ill Wind - Flashes (1968 west coast)

In 1988, after buying Vernon Joynson's FLASHBACK, I had the cheek to ask him if he'd do some tapes for me. At that time, there were next to no re-issues and the cost of 2nd hand albums was way beyond me.
ILL WIND's 'FLASHES' was among some of the first batch that he did me.
I grew up in Glasgow, as did my wife and between us we had virtually no West Coast music, mine was all STOOGES, VELVETS, KRAUTROCK & TAMLA MOTOWN.
There was something abourt FLASHES which just got to that peak in us, and it still does. Ignorant people who know little about music would compare them to JEFFERSON AIRPLANE etc. like comparing GAUGUIN to VAN GOGH because they were Post-Impressionists and used bright colours.
My cherished little TDK tape from Vernon has given my wife and I years of delight. They didn't slcken either when listening to them on mushrooms, just got more powerful. I LOVE this album, and I can really relate to Stardancer and how he feels about them. In my opinion, a TRULY Psychedelic album that cuts to the Central Nervous System like a laser, Ill go into the Glaswegian vernacular now - fucking brilliant, Alistair. By the way, in exchange for all the tapes Vernon did me, I did the first cover of FUZZ, ACID & FLOWERS, and the cover for his re-issue of FLASHBACK before he began using a more laid back Artist not possessing the Celtic edge.
(rateyourmusic)
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Relatively Clean Rivers - Relatively Clean Rivers(1975)

A tremendous mid-1970's rural psych album that sounds like it was recorded in late 1968, Relatively Clean Rivers has that hippie commune Springfield/Manson Family/Dead vibe down pat. Although most often compared to The Dead, only the record's first cut, "Easy Ride" really sounds much like them, with it's acoustic/electric guitar mix and American Beauty era vocal styles. It's a great song, but the rest of the album is much different and a little bit better, spewing out wasted Topanga Canyon folkpsych with wacked out commune lyrics. Production is great and the musicianship is stellar, so we don't really get much of that 'real people' vibe prevalent in many other records with that 'rural' feel, but this still more than holds up. There really is nothing else quite like this, and the smashed lysergic hippie trip present here is anything but a novelty. You can totally feel the Canyon here, and these folks never did wind up leaving. The original vinyl is long gone, with only two pressings of 500 each supposedly, but my Radioactive Label CD reissue is nice, with a clear reproduction of the lyrics and liner notes and a nice, warm pseudo-analog sound. Great stuff......

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