At the very first strike of the sitar and the announcement of a thin, wiry, treated vocal I knew we were in for a bumpy ride. Billed as the ‘third wave in psychedelia’ (the first being the shit Harrison stuff on ‘Revolver’, the second being brought to a swift conclusion by Neil’s ‘Hole In My Shoe’) Northern Star Records have pooled some of the wackiest, tripped-out crack on their roster and come up with 70 odd minutes of swirling, spirally space-rock pitched in a delicate ether somewhere between The Young Fresh Fellows, the Posies, the Velvet Underground, Electric Prunes, Soft Machine, Echo and the Bunnymen, Wilco, Neil Innes, and the Stone Roses. Yes, it’s retro. Yes it’s fairly uncompromising but it also has its fair share of classics. Stunning cuts from Australia’s ‘Dolly Rocker Movement’, the ‘Stevenson Ranch Davidians’, ‘Brian Jonestown Massacre’, ‘Say Janesfield’ and the totally bonkers, ‘The Telescopes’ shuffle and shine with abrasive originality. If there’s a recurring motif, its that the stranger it is, the better it is, many of the bands like ‘Daydream Nation’, ‘Pioneer 4’ and ‘The Electric Mainline’ simply content to pass off less than satisfying imitations of The Stone Roses and the Charlatans.
Second Coming or Second Wave ‘Psychedelica Volume One’ is an entertaining enough record packed with droning rhythms and literally overflowing with acid.
Bring it on…