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2 track 7" that came free with issue 4 of Freakbeat, released in 1988. This time, it's the turn of The Bevis Frond Museum and The Steppes.
The discerning head music afficionado will already be familiar with, if not the music, then the name of The Bevis Frond AKA Nick Saloman, stalwart of the psych music scene, publisher of his own underground music magazine 'Ptolemaic Terrascope' and owner of his own record label 'Woronzow'. Quite the psychedelic entrepreneur! Anyway, what we have here is classic Frond - fuzzy 60s influenced psych pop, laden with memorable acid guitar hooks and led by Saloman's somewhat brave, distinctive and very English vocals.
The Steppes give us a song that starts out as a 60s pop classic but soon reveals itself as a meandering tripped-out mind excursion. Just the thing for an evening in with Mr P!
Track listing:
This Side
The Steppes - History Hates No Man
Other Side
The Bevis Frond Museum - African Violets
Get it here.
More free goodies from Freakbeat magazine. The Submarine Prophets give us a nice slice of off-kilter drone rock, like Spacemen 3 covering early Sonic Youth. Nick Riff wades in with a mesmerising mix of fuzzed-up electronica and searing acid guitar, and Nova Express finish off with an always welcome hit of blistering garage punk. Volume on max, or don't bother!
Track listing:
This Side
1. Submarine Prophets - Green Cathedral
2. Nick Riff - The Limitless Light
That Side
1. Nova Express - Let The Power Reach Your Ears
Get it here.
Rare 4 track EP given away by those kind folk at Freakbeat magazine. This one was always my favourite - Viv Akauldren at their most inscrutable, Tyrnaround with what could be every classic psychedelic 7" distilled into one twirling, swirling gem of a song, The Watch Children turning the fuzz dial up to maximum, and Treatment gracing us with the perfect mixture of smooth lounge pop and spaced-out, dreamy reverberations.
Track Listing:
This Side
1. Viv Akauldren - Threading The Needle
2. Tyrnaround - Paragon Smythe
That Side
1. Watch Children - Salvador Dali's Still Dying
2. Treatment - Restless
Get it here
...and the word was 'psychedelic'.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, Ivor Trueman and Richard Allen's empire consisted of three psychedelic pillars, each one dedicated to the promotion of 'head music': Freakbeat magazine, the Freak Emporium, and Delerium Records.
Freakbeat came first in the late 80s and was a lysergically-enhanced and unfortunately short-lived magazine that gave page space to a whole load of new psychedelic bands from around the world. Every page required utmost concentration, mostly due to the brain-melting explosion of colours, fractals, patterns and artwork that lay right behind the text. Sometimes it was mind-expanding, other times headache inducing. Always, it was well-written, exhaustively researched and crafted out of a deep love and respect for the music. A flexi-disc was often included showcasing some of the bands interviewed. It soon became clear that a 3 or 4 track flexi disc was not enough to fully explore and promote the new and exciting psychedelic bands that were emerging at that time.
In the early 90s, The Freak Emporium and Delerium Records were born to rectify that situation. Delerium records to get the bands recorded, and the Freak Emporium to distribute them. After initial success with the 'Freakbeat' bands, the Freak Emporium soon expanded into other areas, selling classic psychedelia, punk rock, krautrock, soul, tropicalia, ambient, electronica, avant garde, garage punk, exotica, acid folk, psytrance, black metal and more. As for Delerium Records, they ended up selling over 250,000 records! Not bad for what was a cottage industry built upon a deep passion for the music they were promoting rather than a love of the filthy lucre.
Sadly, all three are now defunct. Freakbeat magazine was discontinued in 1993 after 8 issues, Delerium records stopped business in 2001, and The Freak Emporium finally and reluctantly closed their doors for the last time in 2007. Reasons? From the website "...eventually, the pressures of corporate business and the stupidity of the British Governement has led to the untimely demise of the business." A sad day indeed, but the memory of Trueman and Allen's endeavours continue to echo within the minds of all those who were lucky enough to have come into contact with them and the great music that they promoted.
