Rockhunter, Issue 33, 28 February 2007
Generic psych and the realism of sublime repetition
For the past two months, I’ve been listening to just one cassette tape every day. And I plan to listen to it until I get bored with a single song. As yet, due to the subject knowledge and aural astuteness of the compiler, there’s no sign of boredom setting in. But that’s fine.
The cassette in question was made by a friend a dozen or so years ago and is skilfully compiled from tracks avaiable on various comps in the mid-1990s. The whole of Side A is taken up with Incredible Film Show Stories, Vol. 1 (Dig the Fuzz, 1995), containing some of my all-time favourite all-time favourites. Side B comprises a swim through the backwaters of psych, from ‘A’ to beat. If you get me.
Here’s the track listing of an unlabelled masterpiece that I have come affectionately to call Christian’s Generic Psych.
Side A
1 The Ricketts, Action Painting
2 The Primitives, Oh Mary
3 Liverpool Five, Gotta Get a Move On
4 The Barrier, Dawn Breaks Through
5 Unknown, Strange World
6 Phase 4, Listen To The Blues
7 The Belfast Gypsies, The Gorilla
8 Arthur Brown & The Diamonds, You Don’t Know
9 The Glass Sun, Silence Of The Morning
10 The Maze, I’m So Glad
11 The Limit, Happy Life
12 The You-Know-Who Group!!, (Roses Are Red) My Love
13 Unknown, Red And Green Talking Machine
14 The Purple Barrier, Shapes And Sounds
15 Anthony Dare’s Progress. Devil
16 The Information, Face To The Sun
17 Blues & Roots, Blue Root
Side B
1 Pink Floyd, Candy and currant bun
2 ?[Chorus: “It’s been a long time coming, but you’ve got to hold on/It’s been a long time coming, but the past has gone”]
3 Fire, Flies Like a Bird
4 Sharon Tandy & Fleur De Lys, Hold On
5 The Buzz, You’re holding me down
6 The Fairytale, Listen To Mary Cry
7 The Poets, Wooden Spoon
8 The Fairytale, Guess I Was Dreaming
9 Les Sauterelles, Dream Machine
10 The Attack, Lady Orange Peel
11 The Poets, In Your Tower
12 Kaleidoscope, Dive into yesterday
13 Unknown, Can’t Stop The Want I Got For You Babe
14 The Exiles, Love In The Making
15 The Birds, How Can it Be?
16 Ipsissimus, Hold On
I’ll be writing about these tunes in the next few issues - what they mean to me, in and out of context, and how my response to them changes over time. Everything is fine. Thee Rockhunter would like to hear people’s thoughts on these tunes and on listening obsessively to particular songs and styles. All will be well. The Rockhunter is only a footnote in the marginalia in his own story.
I don’t feel trapped. Help me. I do not think I need help to solve The Mystery of Generic Psych and the Realism of Sublime Repetition. Can we really change our reality simply by working together? How can making a compilation of our thoughts and feelings possibly make a difference? It would be nice to go somewhere else. But can we really leave our lives of sublime repetition and escape?
In any event, I’d be grateful for help identifying the two unknown unknowns on Side B.
Two love
Ed.