By 1966, something was happening in the British music scene, atlhough the record industry didn’t know exactly what it was. The Beatles had evolved from cheeky moptops to pop pioneers, proving with every release that the format was infinitely malleable, and groups all over the country took note and followed.
It was the beginning of what would become known as ‘underground’ and latterly ‘progressive’ music. Scrabbling to market these new sounds, record companies began creating ‘hip’ subsidiary labels, with Decca first off the blocks when Deram was launched in September 1966.
Despite its catch-all title, and the fact that many of the songs here were actually released on Deram’s parent label, Psych! is a fine overview of the label’s underground credentials right from the very start.
Deram may not be as revered as Harvest or Vertigo, but it put out many excellent records, united only by the urge to do something different with rock and pop’s base elements.
With its serrated fuzz guitar and thumping bass and drums, The Flies’ sinister take on (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone is the very embodiment of a band ‘going heavy’ post-Kinks / Who etc. Another direction of travel was the cinematic, orchestral pop sound exemplified here by Al Stewart’s Turn Into Earth and Paul & Barry Ryan’s Keep It Out Of Sight, with some Beatles-esque raga in the latter.
Also navigating this new landscape were The Moody Blues, whose Love & Beauty – with its heavily reverbed piano and Mellotron low in the mix – hints at prog approaching on the horizon. Other signs of prog’s gestation appear in King Croesus by World Of Oz and Twenty Ten by Tinkerbells Fairydust, both featuring dramatic organ and seriously delivered lyrics.
More recognisable names start to crop up: Genesis with In The Beginning (Peter Gabriel soaring over a surprisingly gritty bass riff); Egg with Seven Is A Jolly Good Time (prog as a crazed action painting, poking fun at its peculiar time signature); Caravan with Hello Hello (a lightness of touch and very English vocal heralding the Canterbury sound).
Unclassifiable obscurities abound, the best being Glastonbury by People – a fantastic anthem to Avalon that sounds like ABBA gone pagan. Also notable in the early prog stakes are Aardvark’s Very Nice Of You To Call, Room’s Cemetery Junction Parts 1 & 2 and Khan’s Stargazers.
But the two real knock-out tracks are T2’s mind-manglingly heavy yet magnificently moody No More White Horses and the joyful, peerless folk rock of Mellow Candle’s Vile Excesses – why both groups weren’t huge remains a mystery.
Psych! British Prog, Rock, Folk & Blues 1966-1973 is on sale now via Decca.
