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.

The Moonflowers - Get Higher EP

Bristol's psychedelic space explorers The Moonflowers once again doing their funking best to raise levels of consciousness. 'Get Higher' was later released in truncated form on their 1992 'greatest hits' compilation, 'Hash Smits', but here we have the original 1990 EP containing three extended funky grooves designed to assist you in getting higher and higher and higher...

Track listing:

Side A

Get Higher

Side AA

1. Get Higher - The "Rather Large In The Bristol Area" Mix
2. Get Higher - The "Get Dubber" Mix

Get higher here.

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