Connect the Dukes of Stratosphear Track To the Song It's Parodying

Braniac's Daughter and Mole are Paul and John Beatles respectively...

The Mole from the Ministry - Lennon. Specifically "I Am the Walrus"
Have You Seen Jackie? - Super-obvious: Pink Floyd "Arnold Layne"
Collideascope - clearly a Lennon-heavy number. "Glass Onion" maybe?
The Affiliated - definitely Kinks/Davies a la "Well Respected Man", "Sunny Afternoon". Bit of "All My Friends Were There" with the time change maybe...

"Vanishing Gir;" <==== LOVE

Album version, 4'24.
Performed by The Dukes of Stratosphear.
Released on Psonic Psunspot.

Andy: ``Little Lighthouse was a track that we started to record for Skylarking. Todd (Rungren, producer) got bored with it, so I thought The Dukes could do it. The Dukes made it sound like a lot of bands that imitated the Stones.''

Demo version.
Released in November 1987 in November 1987 on the Jules Verne's Sketchbook cassette.

Andy: ``This West Coast style blatz was written for SKYLARKING in 1985. It reminds me of bands like `Moby Grape' etc. `. . .Cross the black and fossil oceans vast, I see love and she doth brightly burn. . .''

Also available on Fuzzy Warbles Volume Three.

Andy: ``This was destined for the `Dukes' from the outset really. It was sent to Todd along with all the other Skylarking demos and even though we tried recording it in San Francisco (its spiritual home!), it was never going to fit with all of its pastoral playmates. A rotten quality demo, truly fuzzy, but having a punkadelic flair all its own.''

Matt and I just identified this song: "A Hole in my Shoe." The little girl says, "I climbed on the back of a giant albatross which flew through a [something] cloud to a place where happiness reigned all year around, and music played ever so loudly." Brilliant.

Awful? "Hole In My Shoe" is fuckin' great!!!!!!!!!!! Is "Albert Brown" not more of a Small Faces thang? On a different tack, I remember reading an interview with Partridge about the DOS albums where he mentioned "The Universal" by Small Faces - I don't know what song it was in connection with.

So!

XTC: Song Stories by Neville Farmer

More info on chalkhills.

http://chalkhills.org//images/press/SongStories.jpg

the bassline is straight outta "rain"...so it's like "rain" with "tomorrow never knows" tape fun on top.

Look, on its own terms, it's fantastic IMO, and surely that's the be-all and end-all?

what in the world?? - it's all too much (beatles) + tomorrow never knows + see emily play.

Shindig magazine recently ran a cover story about the Dukes of the Starosphear - cool to see they are still loved.

Don't think it ever was not so.

"Albert Brown"=Ringo Starr, innit?

And which one of those songs is it that starts with this young girl telling some weird children's tale again? It seems to me a lot like "Hole In My Shoe", at least in the beginning.

I'm still disgusted at how closely Col rips off I'm Only Sleeping for Shiny Cage.

Also she does that talky thing on like every third song.

talky things are betwen tracks, apart from "Have you seen jackie?"

Brainiac's Daughter is 67-68 McCartney (Hello Goodbye, banana fingers piano etc).
The long-lost, much-missed Strange Things Are Happening mag ran a piece on the Dukes back in 88-89, in which Andy & Colin went through both LPs commenting on their influences (maybe it's linked to somewhere here). We got most of 'em right.

Yes, both these LPs are better than most XTC LPs, and, as someone said upthread, better than many of the "originals". I still remember the first time I heard Moby Grape, thinking "This is nowhere near as good as Little Lighthouse"...

I've always assumed "Bike Ride to the Moon" = Syd-era Floyd's "Scream Thy Last Scream," give the chipmunk vocals.

giveN

Are we still doing this?

Aren't you record people sorry yet?

Go back to your cool New York dad and all of your money.

??

It was interesting to see in that Shindig article that Virgin swapped the LP sides on "Psonic Psunspot", so it should have started with "You're my drug". Somehow this doesn't sound right to me, 'cos "Pale and precious" is a perfect closer.

yeah, I saw/thought that.

Woah. Just last night I listened to the Dukes CD on repeat. Great fun.

"Pale and Precious" sounds to my two ears like Macca collab'ing with the Beach Boys, really.

cecelia is a treat

well, yeah! All I did was get up to wash my face!

Go back to your cool New York dad and all of your money.

What the fuck?

I think I read that the "Then came her..." middle section of "The Affiliated" is Unit 4 + 2's "Concrete and Clay."

The piano playing behind the chorus from "Your Gold Dress" is from the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow."

"Shindig magazine recently ran a cover story about the Dukes of the Starosphear - cool to see they are still loved."

That article was actually a labour of love by my esteemed chum, the extremely talented and generally rather lovely Mr. Marco Rossi - who, in addition to his journalistic abilities, is also not only some, most or possibly all of Cheese, but also at least 25% of the mighty Gothic Chicken; either or both of whom, incidentally, may well appeal to anyone who is still waiting in vain for another Dukes Of Stratosphear album.

I'm rather hoping to be able to persuade him that the natural follow-up to his Dukes interview / article would be a similar piece about Naz Nomad & The Nightmares....

Stew: What you make of the "It comes to you in a brown paper bag" (re)release?

Curiously enough I hadn't heard about it before, which - if it was legitimate / had any real interest / value for the average total Beefheart obsessive - I'd rather have expected to have done by now.

Looking at it on Amazon now 'though...

Hmmmm. What part of Beefheart's catalgue have "Sundazed" raided before, and why is that name making me suspicious before I've got any further?

Next, where in hell's name are "Tarotplane", "25th Century Quaker", "Mirror Man" and "Kandy Korn" - the tracks that ended up on Mirror Man and which are generally believed to represent 2 sides / 50% of the double album as it was originally conceived (so really quite a substantial omission, as omissions go!)?!?

This looks to me more like a re-sequenced version of I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Weird but with 2 extra tracks ("Korn Ring Finger" - the only significant omission form the original - and a 2nd version of "Moody Liz") than a serious attempt at re-creating "It Comes To You....".

Furthermore, everthing here (apart from that second version of "Moody Liz") is already available - and with the best sound quality we're likely to get too - on the recent-ish Buddha (re-)issues of Safe As Milk and The Mirror Man Sessions.

Also, it's 30 bleedin' quid and, given that:
(a) I very much doubt that Sundazed have actually got access to the masters;
(b) I have serious doubts about their bona-fides in any case;
(c) at the end of the day all of these tracks are outtakes anyway;
I'd have to ask - can it really be worth it?!?

Digging a little deeper, it seems that I may have been slightly unfair to Sundazed, as they were responsible for a number of re-issues / re-releases / compilations by the ever-so-slightly-Beefheart connected Merrell & The Exiles, Mu and Rising Sons....

Otoh it is apparently being suggested (and again, in fairness, I'm not entirely clear where or by whom) that the sleeve of this latest release was designed by Cal Schenkel; who has been at pains to correct this somewhat misleading desription, explaining "...actually, I didn't design the cover. I did some doodles that are on the plain brown like slip cover thing that wraps the package. Someone else at Sundazed designed the album package.".

I must admit, I was all ooh, now I'm more 'oh'.

And as you say, at £30 and no CD version, seemed suspiciously like some sort of designer/bespoke project.

"I was all ooh, now I'm more 'oh'."

My missus says I have often that effect on her too.

My advice: if you haven't got 'em already, get Safe As Milk, The Mirror Man Sessions & Strictly Personal instead - and you should still have enough left over to buy both of the Cheese albums (Let It Brie and Enlarge Your Johnson) as well.

Otoh , if you want more Beefheart and less Brian-Wilson-meets-the-Dukes-Of-Stratosphear, then plot a course instead for Benjamin Horrendous and his mighty Fourfathers.

So, it seems (according to CDUniverse), the reissues of "25 o clock" and "psonic psunspot" will be available 3rd March.

this is the most obsceeeeeeeeeeene.... abomination of a thread, it is trash, it is filth, it is dirt. what made you start such a disgusting degeneratized thread as that? And I'm complimenting you guys by calling it a thread

(I tried, but cecelia pwned this thread the best so far)

Also, just one mention of "My Love Explodes", which is probably my favorite Dukes song ever. Granted, it's their most raucous song... it's like giving the Stones and Floyd some Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde potion, given the resulting ogres instruments and letting them at it.

Are the reissues gonna be 'hotly mastered'? cuz the early '00s Chips from the Chocolate Fireball remaster sounds like ass.

The 2001 Caroline reissue sounds great, but the original run of XTC CDs sounded better than most other 80s CD issues. None of this stuff was mastered badly. Also, expecting 2000 quality mastering from a band homaging (lol, I had to use the word) early and occasionally spuriously recorded psych nuggets seems slightly silly, IMHO.

sorry, bad phrasing. "expecting 2000s style mastering (i.e. brick wall normazilation, heavily remixed, etc.)"

Hmm, maybe I'm just remembering the Caroline CD in an unfavorable light, because I get the impression that it's way loud and compressed and not at all what you'd expect from a late '80s release. But I haven't listened to in ages, and I've never actually heard the original release, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

YMMV, but I've listened to both CDS, and while both CDs never sounded like shit, the 2001 reissue punched it up a little without making it this brick wall abomination that is the standard.

However, I don't know if I want 60s psych homages to be "newly remastered" in a rhetorical way, which was my original point, but just worded badly.

On a parallel note, I'm really sad XTC's 90s proposal for new alter egos making 60s bubblegum music never made it. That would have been amazing.

Andy chats with producer John Leckie on making the albums

http://apehouse.prevuz.com/2009/03/31/andy-partridge-chats-with-john-leckie-part-one/
http://apehouse.prevuz.com/2009/04/15/andy-partridge-chats-with-john-leckie-part-two/
http://apehouse.prevuz.com/2009/05/26/andy-partridge-chats-wit/

thanks.

Is there anything at all that wasn't already included on "Chips From The Chocolate Fireball"?

In which case I don't see the point in remastering and re-releasing those separately.

Yes, there's lots of unreleased stuff

25 Oclock (APECD023)
1. 25 Oclock
2. Bike Ride To The Moon
3. My Love Explodes
4. What In The World ??..
5. Your Gold Dress
6. The Mole From The Ministry
DEMOS
7. 25 Oclock
8. Bike Ride To The Moon
9. My Love Explodes
10. What In The World??..
11. Nicely Nicely Jane
12. Susan Revolving
EXTRA RECORDINGS
13. Black Jewelled Serpent Of Sound (Radio Caroline Edit)
14. Open A Can Of Human Beans
15. Tin Toy Clockwork Train

Psonic Psunspot (APECD024)
1. Vanishing Girl
2. Have You Seen Jackie?
3. Little Lighthouse
4. Your A Good Man Albert Brown (Curse You Red Barrel)
5. Collideascope
6. You're My Drug
7. Shiny Cage
8. Brainiacs Daughter
9. The Affiliated
10. Pale & Precious
DEMOS
11. No One At Home (Vanishing Girl)
12. Little Lighthouse
13. Colliedeascape
14. Shiny Cage
15. Brainiac's Daughter
16. The Affiliated

OK. Alternative versions of the same song has no interest for me though. Only new songs that had never been released before (preferrably in more or less finished and polished version) are interesting.

Well, APartridge's demos are like other people's finished stuff.

I was gonna say! The other Partridge demos I've heard are fascinating enough in their own right.

yeah but a bunch of them are on Fuzzy Warbles

The Affiliated - Kinks, Bacharach and Love?

this has come up on Captured Tracks facebook page. Your Gold Dress has a lot of Yardbirds. Still I'm Sad i.e.

"Tin Toy Clokwork Train" off the reissue is frickin' brilliant.

Andy's such a great interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0R450zJVw

I just listened to this whole thing... brilliant stuff! Has John Leckie ever written a book about his career or the albums that he's worked on over the years? The guy has had a phenomenal career.

not that I know of, but yeah would definitely be worth reading

Just now listening to "My Love Explodes" was the first time in ~10 years of owning the album that I've really paid attention to the gnarly gtr solo in that "disgusting, degeneratized song" -- in the past, I was always 'taken out of the moment' by the bridge immediately preceding it, which sounds too much like straight XTC for my liking.

Isn't "What in the World" a Zager & Evans uh hommage?

I finally got round to getting those expanded reissues.

Boy, "Tin toy clockwork train" is massively irritating!

had no idea "You're a Good Man Albert Brown" is basically just an autobiographical sketch of Andy's granddad

25 O'CLOCK: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) by THE ELECTRIC PRUNES and hints by early Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd (See Emily Play), Incence And Peppermint by Strawberry Alarm Clock, Paint It Black by The Stones and lyrics of The Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers.
BIKE RIDE TO THE MOON: My White Bicycle by TOMORROW, a lot of ealy MOVE songs like Yellow Rainbow, I Can Hear The Grass Grow, Cherry Blossom Clinic (i'd like to ride my bycicle on the moon...), Bike by Pink Floyd and the gnome effect voice is more Scream Thy Last Scream of a Barrett next to departure then Bowie's Laughing Ghnome...
MY LOVE EXPLODES is cross Over Under Sidways Down by The Yardbirds and early Pretty Things and a lot similar bands with Bo Diddley sound like Blues Magoos (Rush Hour), Chocolate Watch Band (In The Past), The Electric Prunes (Get Me To The World On Time), The Monkees (Last Train To Clarksville) and The Misunderstood.
WHAT IN THE WORLD has fragments and offal of Only A Northern Song and It's All Too Much by The Beatles and specially 20000 Light Years From Home. The lyrics come from In The Year 2525 by Zager & Evans psychedelic folk duo with a hint of Semi Detached Suburban Mr James by Manfred Mann.
YOUR GOLD DRESS start with gregorian chorus a la Yardbirds (Turn To Earth) and a bass line a la Troggs (Night Of The Long Grass). The refrain is in the same style of She's A Rainbow or Auntie Mary's Dress Shop by Tomorrow (and some Kinks songs with Nicky Hopkins piano session).
THE MOLE FROM THE MINISTRY IS OBVIOUS the WALRUS of Lennon cross We Are The Moles (Part 1) with final a la Strawberry Fields Forever. And maybe a hint of Hole In my Shoe by Traffic.
VANISHING GIRL is of course a lot of HOLLIES songs (Look Throw Any Window, You Need Love, On A Carousel, etc...).
HAVE YOU SEEN JACKIE is a Barrett tribute, ARNOLD LAYNE in particolar way. And Humanoid Boogie by The Bonzo Dog Band is also a strong reference.
THE LITTLE LIGHTHOUSE is the most west coast Duke song (with You're My Drug). It starts in the same way of Song Of Our Ancestors by The Steve Miller Band (the sirens of ships on the bay...) and it sounds like The Golden Road by The Grateful Dead, Mr Soul by Buffalo Springfield, the trumpet of Alone Again Or by Love and a final a la 19th Nervous Breakdown by The Stones!!
GOOD MAN ALBERT BROWN is a psychopub masterpiece. It's like some Kinks songs (Mr Pleasent, Tin Soldier Man), The Small Faces (Happy Days Toytown, The Universal, Rene, Lazy Sunday), The Bonzos (The Equestrian Statute), Pink Floyd (Corporal Clegg), Over The Wall We Go by Bowie/Oscar, Procol Harum (Captain Clack), Cream (Mother's Lament) and mny many others songs by the same style.
COLLIDEASCOPE is The Move who steal by The Beatles. It has the chords of Blackberry Way and the style of Being Of Benefit Of Mr Kite and Hey Bulldog!
YOU'RE MY DRUG is a cross of So You Want To Be A Rock'N'Roll by THE BYRDS and Monterey by ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS.
SHINY CAGE is all Revolver album in one song. I'm Only Sleeping is the most reference here.
BRAINIAC'S DAUGHTER is a way to play like Mc Cartney in 1967/68. It's like Lovely Rita, Lady Madonna, etc...
THE AFFILIATED has Ray Davies style with Concrete And Clay by The Unite 4+2 in the mid part.
At last PALE AND PRECIOUS is a Beach Boys fantastic tribute. The styles are different, Surf's Up, Help Me Rhonds, Good Vibrations...

25 O'CLOCK: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) by THE ELECTRIC PRUNES and hints by early Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd (See Emily Play), Incence And Peppermint by Strawberry Alarm Clock, Paint It Black by The Stones and lyrics of The Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers.
BIKE RIDE TO THE MOON: My White Bicycle by TOMORROW, a lot of ealy MOVE songs like Yellow Rainbow, I Can Hear The Grass Grow, Cherry Blossom Clinic (i'd like to ride my bycicle on the moon...), Bike by Pink Floyd and the gnome effect voice is more Scream Thy Last Scream of a Barrett next to departure then Bowie's Laughing Ghnome...
MY LOVE EXPLODES is cross Over Under Sidways Down by The Yardbirds and early Pretty Things and a lot similar bands with Bo Diddley sound like Blues Magoos (Rush Hour), Chocolate Watch Band (In The Past), The Electric Prunes (Get Me To The World On Time), The Monkees (Last Train To Clarksville) and The Misunderstood.
WHAT IN THE WORLD has fragments and offal of Only A Northern Song and It's All Too Much by The Beatles and specially 20000 Light Years From Home. The lyrics come from In The Year 2525 by Zager & Evans psychedelic folk duo with a hint of Semi Detached Suburban Mr James by Manfred Mann.
YOUR GOLD DRESS start with gregorian chorus a la Yardbirds (Turn To Earth) and a bass line a la Troggs (Night Of The Long Grass). The refrain is in the same style of She's A Rainbow or Auntie Mary's Dress Shop by Tomorrow (and some Kinks songs with Nicky Hopkins piano session).
THE MOLE FROM THE MINISTRY IS OBVIOUS the WALRUS of Lennon cross We Are The Moles (Part 1) with final a la Strawberry Fields Forever. And maybe a hint of Hole In my Shoe by Traffic.
VANISHING GIRL is of course a lot of HOLLIES songs (Look Throw Any Window, You Need Love, On A Carousel, etc...).
HAVE YOU SEEN JACKIE is a Barrett tribute, ARNOLD LAYNE in particolar way. And Humanoid Boogie by The Bonzo Dog Band is also a strong reference.
THE LITTLE LIGHTHOUSE is the most west coast Duke song (with You're My Drug). It starts in the same way of Song Of Our Ancestors by The Steve Miller Band (the sirens of ships on the bay...) and it sounds like The Golden Road by The Grateful Dead, Mr Soul by Buffalo Springfield, the trumpet of Alone Again Or by Love and a final a la 19th Nervous Breakdown by The Stones!!
GOOD MAN ALBERT BROWN is a psychopub masterpiece. It's like some Kinks songs (Mr Pleasent, Tin Soldier Man), The Small Faces (Happy Days Toytown, The Universal, Rene, Lazy Sunday), The Bonzos (The Equestrian Statute), Pink Floyd (Corporal Clegg), Over The Wall We Go by Bowie/Oscar, Procol Harum (Captain Clack), Cream (Mother's Lament) and mny many others songs by the same style.
COLLIDEASCOPE is The Move who steal by The Beatles. It has the chords of Blackberry Way and the style of Being Of Benefit Of Mr Kite and Hey Bulldog!
YOU'RE MY DRUG is a cross of So You Want To Be A Rock'N'Roll by THE BYRDS and Monterey by ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS.
SHINY CAGE is all Revolver album in one song. I'm Only Sleeping is the most reference here.
BRAINIAC'S DAUGHTER is a way to play like Mc Cartney in 1967/68. It's like Lovely Rita, Lady Madonna, etc...
THE AFFILIATED has Ray Davies style with Concrete And Clay by The Unite 4+2 in the mid part.
At last PALE AND PRECIOUS is a Beach Boys fantastic tribute. The styles are different, Surf's Up, Help Me Rhonda, Good Vibrations...

This seems like a great opportunity for a spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/olken2000/playlist/3PHx8IzBEx8AuyXeFDUel5

I'd love to know what else I can add

Nice!

Sweet playlist.

Oh looky here:

Psurroundabout Ride – C­omplete Dukes’ recordings remixed in stereo & 5.1 Surround Sound by Steven Wilson & approved by Andy Partridge on CD & Blu Ray. PLUS 200g vinyl of 25 o-Clock & Psonic Psunspot also out same day https://t.co/LDPVy2vbfp #dukesofstratosphear #xtc #5.1remixes pic.twitter.com/YN63iAq78j

— APE HOUSE (@apehouseXTC) August 29, 2019

Groovy! Admittedly, I usually pull out 5.1 albums for the occasional stoned listening rather than my go-to, but I'll check that out. I hope the surround mix stays true to the albums' inspirations with crazy effects and room swirling guitar solos etc. rather than just adding "tasteful" room ambiance.

The complete set of demos is the big draw for me!

It’s Steven Wilson, so the mix is almost guaranteed to be great.

And agree, those demos should be amazing.

This does not disappoint.

I got mine a couple of days ago with a nice Sir John Johns autograph, haven't dug in yet because half my life is still in boxes after a house move.

I just got a new sound system and, man, does this 5.1 mix sound incredible. I almost forgot how good this sounds with all the Rick Wright-y Farfisa parts and Nick Mason-esque tom tom parts pattering around your head.

This may be my favorite XTC album.

If you've not heard it, the Steve Wilson re-mix disc(s) of the entire Dukes discography really provides a genuinely new listening experience. Seek it out.

Ah, I see someone already evangelized same. IGNORE ME (more than usual).

I dunno who Lewis Tollani upthread is/was but I thank them for their service.

Named after a song by Kaleidoscope (UK) is all I know.

is the 2019 reissue the Steven Wilson version? cuz it sounds amazing...much heavier low end. I've got 25 O'Clock on now, it's crazy how good this is. I don't think any of the actual psych-era records it's imitating sound as cool as this. this pastiche stuff really brought out the best of these guys somehow.

yeah the 2019 reissue is the steven wilson mix

i'm listening to it now and yeah it's fantastic. the dukes records have always been some of my favourite xtc material - i think the real benefit of doing psych pastiche was that it got partridge working in a more consistently pop mode than before

No slight on the vocals, but the instrumental versions included are absolutely delightful.

can i just say how much i fucking _love_ "Have You Seen Jackie?" it's what all of those genderbaiting songs of the '60s _should_ have been but weren't. (Shout-out to "Baby Can I Wear Your Clothes" by the Ted Lucas' group The Spike Drivers, though. I don't know if it's _actually_ trans but I'm gonna interpret it that way.) It's kind of a special interest of mine, and a rewrite of "Arnold Layne" that isn't all "Arnold Layne, don't do it again!"? And it's also a great fucking song? YES, PLEASE.

they really do make that "she's a queer, queer, queer, little bird" line work

Arnold Layne is literally about someone stealing women's underwear from washing lines, which isn't to be encouraged I would have thought.

that's the problem, isn't it? you do a song about a transvestite and they're a "nasty sort of person", a creep who steals women's underwear from washing lines. that's the only way gender non-conformity was ever portrayed. one could very well get the impression that crossdressing is deviant, fetishistic behavior, the sort of thing that only a "nasty sort of person" would do.

i recently found a 2cd compilation set by Simon Dupree And The Big Sound.
there hidden in amongst their 60s pop excess were the two tracks by their side hustle - The Moles.

https://www.discogs.com/master/1391336-Simon-Dupree-And-The-Big-Sound-Part-Of-My-Past-The-Simon-Dupree-And-The-Big-Sound-Anthology

oh the moles single was one of my faves back in the day, one of the many groups rumored to secretly be the beatles though really i think of them as more being a forerunner to the residents (though maybe that's just because of _mark of the mole_). really underrated group, possibly best known these days because the shulman brothers went on to form gentle giant. associates project 39 lyon street did a great cover of their hit "kites". there are so many great buried gems on that comp, particularly if you're a big mellotron nerd like me. the original "kites" is great too, one of the great underrated '60s weirdo pop songs! "kites" is fun.

Yes indeed. The only problem is the Shulman brothers hated "Kites"!

and this is why i stan barthes

found Psonic Psunspot and grabbed it too, forgot how much I absolutely adore certain tunes on here. "You're My Drug" especially. something kinda funny I noticed is when talking about these guys I actually start out a bit defensive, like "oh no it's actually really good, they do it all justice", mainly because these sort of throwback/nostalgia projects are so extremely common right now. but back in the mid 80s they weren't! dare I say the idea of a band imitating 20 year old music was actually quite novel back then? like what would the equivilent of that be right now, "oh wow it sounds just like Franz Ferdinand"?

ha maybe. yeah, as much as i appreciate franz ferdinand, i hardly think that there was anything so particular or distinguishing in them as there was in some of the flourishes of haute psych stuff.

maybe it’s the dimming of my eyes with age i guess— nothing of ff seems so “other” to me now. and in 1985, 1965 psych felt totally silly and weird and funny and remarkable to me.

i know ff was just exemplar not actual

I don't think any of the actual psych-era records it's imitating sound as cool as this.

July, SF Sorrow, Piper.... all sounding pretty cool to me. No shade on Andy and Co who absolutely love and worship this music, but there is a demarcation line of cringe that while the Dukes avoid, many 80s-present 60s obsessives stop their beatle boots waayyyyy over. And it's a fine line before it's just cosplay.

*stomp

found Psonic Psunspot and grabbed it too, forgot how much I absolutely adore certain tunes on here. "You're My Drug" especially. something kinda funny I noticed is when talking about these guys I actually start out a bit defensive, like "oh no it's actually really good, they do it all justice", mainly because these sort of throwback/nostalgia projects are so extremely common right now. but back in the mid 80s they weren't! dare I say the idea of a band imitating 20 year old music was actually quite novel back then? like what would the equivilent of that be right now, "oh wow it sounds just like Franz Ferdinand"?

There was the Damned doing Naz Nomad & the Nightmares, which (just) predates Dukes of Stratosphear and I've always wondered if it didn't influence in some way. I've never heard the album though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naz_Nomad_and_the_Nightmares

Plus, around the same time, Julian Cope (inevitably) did the Rabbi Joseph Gordan single, so some kind of 60s psych/garage rock revival was definitely in the air.

There was a short psychedelic phase after punk which never really took off. Brian James had formed "Tanz Der Youth" and labelled it as such, but.

Cope kinda cites Nick Nicely's 'Hilly Fields 1892' single as some sort of spark, and that was 1982.

The Paisley Underground filtered over from the states in '84, Bucketful of Brains had already been going for a couple of years and people still had a lot of affection and curiosity for Syd Barret's work as well as the Nuggets era.

Psychedelia was also something that writers back then would attribute to bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure, it was still in the air I guess.

Let's not forget the Damned trying to get Syd to produce their second album... and ending up with Nick Mason instead!

Talking of the Damned, "The Black Album" is very psychedelic in places and that was 1980.

We should have a poll, who would have been the worst member of PF to produce The Damned.

By 1986 half the US underground bands had put out a record called psychedelic - Project MershZen Arcade ( and the “Eight Miles High” lead up), Meat Puppets, but even stuff like JFA and Die Kreutzen. Always wondered if XTC was even aware, or that was mostly a fanzine-level narrative.

Around that time I picked up that Naz Nomad from a remainder bin and listened to it twice. It was pretty weak. I should try again.

had no idea any of this stuff existed, gonna be busy today

Definitely check out Nick Nicely.

^^^

Will have to get one while they're not mega-expensive

My 83-4 had a lot of soft boys hitchcock and paisley underground vibes, it was def in the air— tho I didnt know naz nomad. going just on college stations and rekkid stores it was so so much harder then

Cope kinda cites Nick Nicely's 'Hilly Fields 1892' single as some sort of spark, and that was 1982.

"Partridge was feeling inspired by Nick Nicely's 1982 psychedelic single "Hilly Fields 1892", and devised a recording project to fill the newfound gap in his schedule. The rules were as follows: songs must follow the conventions of 1967 and 1968 psychedelia; no more than two takes allowed; use vintage equipment wherever possible."

Psychedelia def in the air in 82-83. Acid being dropped among the former punks and the post-punks, things like "A Kiss In The Dreamhouse", "Hyaena", The Glove and The Cure's post-Pornography music coming as a wonderful result.

Just want to point out that Hilly Fields is strong contender for greatest song of all time.

Something I rarely see mentioned in relation to the 'birth' of neo-psych (Soft Boys, Teardrop Explodes, Echo, Nick Nicely, Banshees, Glove, Cure) is the Jam's relevant stuff (half of Sound Affects, Dreams of Children). Somewhere in the very thin pit between would be obscurities like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFWvRQ41Vq8