Tuesday 8 July 2008

Praise Space Electric - Cosmic Funky Explosion



I first came into contact with this lot in a psychedelic teepee at the Glastonbury music festival in the early 90s. One long hot summer evening, whilst drifting amongst the vegan food tents and the makeshift mini-rave festivals, and as high as a kite after lunching upon a particularly potent bag of welsh mushrooms, all nine of my senses zoned in on this wonderfully spacious groove floating out of this huge rainbow-coloured wigwam, a groove that seemed crafted out of nothing other than pure love. I floated over and poked my head inside, and there they were - The Moonflowers, looking like they'd just landed from 1969 outer space and playing just about the finest mushroom rock I'd ever heard. The song was 'Tighten Up' and I was hooked from that point on.

Praise Space Electric started life as 3 members of The Moonflowers having some improvisational and very psychedelic jazz/funk fun when not doing their stuff with the main attraction. They soon realised that there was room for both The Moonflowers and PSE, and they recorded their first album during ten days of improvisation at a Welsh cottage (Welsh? Hmmm....I wonder why...). Released in 1991, the eponymously titled album was a critical success with both the underground music press and festival heads across the nation. If it wasn't clear before, the fact that this chaotic group of painted freaks were technically and creatively extremely talented most certainly was now.

So, released on The Moonflowers' own Pop God Records, here we have the 1992 follow-up to their debut. 'Cosmic Funky Explosion' is a four track EP of funky psychedelic freak-outs and smooth jazzy jams. Absolutely essential.

Track listing:

Side 1

1. Freak Out
2. Sweetness Sweetness Sweetness

Side 2

1. All My Love
2. Whoop Your Ass

Listen here

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

excellent blog. look forward to hearinng this LP and the specials you have posted (and, hopefullly, will later post). thanks for the groovy fun.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I prefer my psych vintage 1960's but what are music blogs about if not widening one's horizons? So I will listen, learn and maybe buy some new CDs because of your efforts. Many thanks.

Herod said...

revrev

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words. Indeed, I will be sharing as much of my rare vinyl as time will allow. I'm really enjoying writing this stuff, it's a great trip down memory lane for me.

a spoon

Yeah, I too am a big fan of the vintage variety you mention - personal faves are The Electric Prunes, The Seeds, Country Joe and the Fish ('Electric Music for the Mind and Body' being one of my fave albums ever), 13th Floor Elevators, The Standells, many, many more. But one thing I have noticed during my relatively short time in the blogging world is a lack of blogs dedicated to 80s and 90s psych, of which there is a huge amount, and a lot of it really quite amazing.

Anyway, I hope you do find something here to your tastes. And many thanks for stopping by and leaving some words.

Anonymous said...

any chance for a reup? and also, do you have anything by the steppes?

Herod said...

Reupped. And yes, I've got some Steppes somewhere, I'll up it soon, hopefully later today...