Acid Daze (Various Artists, 2003)

1960's comps tend to lean either garage/punk or psychedelic in flavor. Obviously this one makes no secret that it favors the latter. Also, the selections are entirely British, where the best psych was being made. In terms of obscurity, it is fairly mass market, so while it won't blow any minds, it's a decent place to begin exploring the music.

The most important thing to keep in mind with Acid Daze is that unlike Nuggets, Pebbles, Garage Beat '66, Rubble, Back From the Grave, Teenage Shutdown, and the million other comp series out there is that this one was a freebie attached to a British music magazine, Uncut, so the tracklist is more driven by what they can sell rather than just a general passion for the genre. Therefore, while the compilation is quite good, it sometimes veers into areas that a "regular" series would probably shun. Instant Garage, a freebie attached to Mojo, has some of the same issues, however from the garage end of the spectrum. Probably three tracks are included here that are a bit of a stretch for the genre: "Octopus" (Syd Barrett), "Clarence in Wonderland" (Kevin Ayers), and "Never Never Land" (The Pink Fairies). The latter two are more post-psych 1970's recordings, and "Octopus" is a stripped-down psych-rock rejection by one of its founders. I think they placed more emphasis on the man than the music here. I should point out, though, that in all three cases these are great songs, just a little out of their element here.

On the other hand, there are a number of essential tracks for those listeners trying to get beyond Sgt. Pepper's without having to invest in all of Nuggets II. On the shortlist would be: Tomorrow, The Move, Nirvana (the British one, obviously), The Smoke, The Nice, Arthur Brown, and Dantalion's Chariot. On top of this they've included the psychedelic phases of bands that either already had British Invasion cred or would be bigger in the 1970's: T(yrannosaurus) Rex, Spencer Davis, The Hollies, the Small Faces, Status Quo, and Donovan. The tracks from these bands don't capture them at their height, but are great songs nonetheless.

Finally, special mention should go to two songs. First, "Granny Takes a Trip" by the Purple Gang. This is probably the one song here that really had no psych aspirations whatsoever but when you call your band "The Purple Gang" and your song "Granny Takes a Trip", you can probably expect the drug-reference interpreters to jump all over you. But it's far more innocuous: The Purple Gang was named after a reference in the psych classic "Jailhouse Rock" and the song is just about an old woman who likes to travel, all played in old-timely jug-band style. Apparently the compilers missed the point. The second is "Ginza Strip" by the Executives, the one truly "obscure" song on the entire disc. However, with a little strategic digging, interested listeners will discover that this little blop of pop whismy is an early recording by a band featuring Glenn Cornick, who would soon join a band of freaks named after an enterprising agriculturalist and play on their first three albums. It's quite a find, considering that pre-Tull recordings are notoriously rare.