Wednesday 28 May 2014

The Moonflowers - Hash Smits


I think I've said elsewhere on this blog that the Moonflowers were, back in the day, one of my very faves.  A 100% commited, totally inspirational group of visionary cosmic warriors who stood for freedom and the right to live, to love, to laugh, to lose your clothes and, last but not least, to launch yourself into psychedelic space and get so high that you would eventually forget how to get back down again.

Hash Smits was their debut album, released in 1992, pulling together all their early releases and a John Peel session.  I saw them play most of it at Glastonbury Festival (not sure which year, it's all a bit of a haze...).  One thing I do remember is that during their set, they let everyone down the front get up on stage with them to join in the love.  It was chaos, beautiful chaos.  One hundred mushroom heads freaking out on stage together for the aural and visual pleasure of the thousand mushroom heads watching them.  Needless to say, the whole experience blew my mind.  One of the best daze ever.

I listened to this album just yesterday for the first time in many years.  It still sounds great, taking in Hendrix inspired work-outs, smooth psychedelic love grooves, anti-war stomps, and, especially on 'I Want To Dill You', disturbing, simmering, bad acid freak-outs.

Track Listing:
  1. Rock 'n' Roll
  2. We Dig Your Earth (Dig It)
  3. Warshag
  4. Fire
  5. I Want to Dill You
  6. Dub Time
  7. My Baby
  8. Groove Power
  9. Back Where I Belong
  10. Get Higher
Feel the vibrations here.

12 comments:

Zelmar said...

great record! didn't know them. All these bands are from England? I just discover this and Watch Children, awesome bands.

Herod said...

Glad you enjoyed it Zelmar, The Moonflowers were just one of the best things ever. They were indeed an English band, from Bristol. Watch Children were based in New Jersey, US. Most of the bands featured here are/were either British or American. The only one that wasn't that comes straight to mind were Tyrnaround, who were from Australia. Oh, Jeff Tarlton was based in Berlin, but was an American.

Zelmar said...

thanx for the info! could you upload the fun with mushrooms comp?

im from uruguay. here i drop a link with an album from Chicos Eléctricos, it was a band from the early 90s, with some psychedelic stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/6z3hmr94v5qchwu/ChicosElectricos-ChicosElectricos%281991%29.rar

Herod said...

Zelmar - Thanks for the Chicos Eléctricos album, I'm grabbing it now and look forward to listening to it.

The Fun With Mushrooms link is now active again, hope you enjoy it. My personal faves from it are Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band's 'Thought Dial', and Watch Children and 14th Wray's contributions, both of which sound like they came from the original Nuggets comp. But everything on there is great, one of the best psych comps around.

rolster said...

Glad to see you posting again. Great blog, great music!
Do you know anything about The Moonflower album "we are one, one, one, one"? Like when it was released? Thanks again for the great music!

Herod said...

@ rolster...

Thanks for kind words about the blog.

Re 'We Are One, One, One, One', I don't know anything about that Moonflowers album, never heard of it...and after a quick google search, I still don't know anything about it! Is it a super rare bootleg? Did you imagine it? Any info you have would be appreciated.

rolster said...

I have no information on this release. This is how I found it on Soulseek. I googled it but could find no further information. Check it out yourself.

http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/17734728/file.html

rolster said...

A few years ago I downloaded your Get Higher EP and decided you were right about Moonflowers, since then I have collected "Live & Unreleased vol 1," "From Whales To Jupiter," "Colours & Sounds, "All Watched Over By Machines," & the "Fire [12"]. Let me know if you need a copy of any of them. I'd be happy to upload them for you.

Herod said...

Hmm...maybe a foreign release or something. Looking at the tracks, it's a comp drawn mostly from 'Colours And Sounds' and 'From Whales To Jupiter', with one or too others thrown in. Strange that google knows nothing. Just goes to show that it don't know everything!

Thanks for the offer of Moonflowers music, I have all those. Have you grabbed the Praise Space Electric stuff? 'Mushroom Jazz' is a particularly wonderful album.

Unknown said...

I miss those days. Saw them many a time before they headed to France. Back again now though! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanx a lot!

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for sharing!!!