The Perfumed Garden (5CD Box Set)

Rating: 5/5

Review:

A track list for this very good set

This is an extraordinary set.  There are a lot of very good psych/underground compilations available from this period but I think this is probably the one I like best of those I have.  That's mainly because I have very little of it anywhere else.  (I have added a track list to the end of this review because there isn't one on this page.)

The Perfumed Garden really does find some obscurities.  I was aged 11 to 18 when this music was coming out and a pretty diligent listener to John Peel and other radio which played out-of-the-mainstream stuff, but I didn’t know an awful lot of what's on here.  In all honesty, in some cases that turns out not to have been much of a loss, but the vast majority is good stuff, with the occasional real stand out – which is exactly what I'd expect from a big compilation like this.  And, of course, you will have different loves and dislikes from me.

In short, this is a really good box.  The transfers are good; the slightly mushy sound on a few track is just how some records sounded then and reflects the original recordings (and to me is extremely evocative).  You get an awful lot of music for your money and almost all of it is good, so if you have an interest in 60s/early 70s psych, then I can warmly recommend this.

Disc 1
1. Factory - Try A Little Sunshine
2. Eyes - You're Too Much
3. Syn - Grounded
4. Nimrod - The Bird
5. Smoke  - Sydney Gill
6. Birds - No Good Without You Baby
7. Shy Limbs - Reputation
8. Game - It's Shocking What They Call Me
9. Frame - Doctor Doctor
10. Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Strange Walking Man
11. French Revolution - Nine Til Five
12. Vamp - Floatin'
13. Syndicates - Crawdaddy Simone
14. Sands - Listen To The Sky
15. Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner
16. The Craig - I Must Be Mad
17. Open Mind - Magic Potion

Disc 2
1. Kult - No Home Today
2. Eyes - When The Night Falls
3. Poets - Baby Don't You Do It
4. Ace Kefford Stand - For Your Love
5. Rupert's People - Reflections Of Charles Brown
6. Thane Russal & Three - Security
7. Deviants - I'm Coming Home
8. Fleur-De-Lys - Liar
9. Kult - Mister Number One
10. In-Be-Tweens - You Better Run
11. Uglies - I See The Light
12. Glen Athens & The Trojans - Let Me Show You How
13. Gary Leeds & Rain - Francis
14. Les Goths - Turn Over
15. Drag Set - Day & Night
16. Fleur-De-Lys - Mud In Your Eye
17. Accent - Red Sky At Night

Disc 3
1. Longboatmen - Take Her Anytime
2. Miller - Baby I Got News For You (Oak Version)
3. Les Goths - Out Of The Sun
4. Shyster - Tick Tock
5. Majority One - Get Back Home
6. Groundhogs - Sad Go Round
7. Herbal Mixture - Please Leave My Mind
8. Pete Sully & The Orchard - Evil Woman
9. Adams Recital - No Place For The Lonely People
10. Cedars - For Your Information
11. Wolves - Lust For Life
12. Actress - It's What You Give
13. Reign - Line Of Least Resistance
14. Barry Mason - Over The Hills
15. Boeing Duveen & The Beautiful Soup - Which Dreamed It
16. Andwella's Dream - Felix
17. Serendipity - Through With You
18. Rupert's People - Hold On

Disc 4
1. Flies - Magic Train (Demo Version)
2. Joint - Dinosaur
3. Blonde On Blonde - Spinning Wheel
4. Magic Mixture - When I Was Young
5. Tucky Buzzard - Time Will Be Your Doctor
6. Timebox - Barnabus Swain
7. Simon's Secret - I Know What Her Name Is
8. Please - The Road
9. Orang Utan - Magic Playground
10. Arcadium - Poor Lady
11. Flaming Youth - Pulsar
12. Monument - Give Me Life
13. Five Day Week - Straw People - Does It Rain
14. John Mclaughlin - Siren
15. Animals - Gratefully Dead
16. Arzachel - Leg
17. Deviants - Jamie's Song

Disc 5
1. July - The Way (Long Version)
2. Pacific Drift - Feelin' Free
3. Camel - Where Is My Mind

4. Bulldog Breed - I Flew
5. Wynder K Frog - Eddie's Tune
6. Aynsley Dunbar - Warning
7. Will Malone - Love In The Afternoon
8. Dear Mr Time - Your Country Needs You?
9. Complex - Self Declaration
10. Twink - Fluid
11. Eyes Of Blue - Crossroads Of Time
12. Dogfeet - Mr Sunshine
13. Bram Stoker - Extensive Corrosion