VARIOUS - I’m A Freak, Baby: A Journey Through The British Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72 [Repress] - 3CD Clamshell Box Set [JUN 6]

Limited Edition 3CD housed in a Clamshell Box and featuring a lavishly illustrated and annotated 36-page booklet.

Although vintage British psychedelia is viewed by many these days as an Alice In
Wonderland-style enchanted garden full of beatific flower children innocently gathering flowers or chasing butterflies, there was always a more visceral element to the scene.

Pointedly free of such fripperies as scarlet tunic-wearing gnomes, phenomenal cats and talismanic bicycles, the power trio format that was popularised by the likes of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience spawned a host of imitators. As the 60s drew to a close and pop evolved slowly but inexorably into rock, psychedelia gave way to a sound that was harder, leaner, heavier, louder.

Across three discs and four hours of music, ‘I’m A Freak, Baby: A Journey Through The British Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72’ investigates that largely under-documented period, incorporating everything from some of the biggest names in the burgeoning hard rock/proto-metal firmament (Deep Purple, Uriah Heep) all the way down to a significant number of provincial semi-pro bands who gigged extensively but were unable to land a recording contract during their lifetime.

We feature some of British rock’s pioneering acts (The Yardbirds, The Move), a handful of bands who travelled far beyond their blues boom roots (Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, The Groundhogs), the infamous Ladbroke Grove scene (The Deviants, The Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, The Edgar Broughton Band), a smattering of inspired, where-the-hell-did-that-come-from one-shots like The Velvet Frogs and the mighty Egor, and a clutch of previously-unreleased recordings (The Kult, Hellmet, The Phoenix) that have even eluded the specialist reissue companies and bootleggers...

Housed in a clamshell box featuring a lavishly illustrated and annotated 36-page booklet, I’m A Freak, Baby is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging anthology to appear thus far of an underground scene that, in addition to being responsible for some magnificent music, also acted as a signpost to the subsequent emergence of British punk and heavy metal.

Tracklist: (*See also Gallery Pics)

DISC ONE

1.  STRAY - All In Your Mind

2.  THE OPEN MIND - Cast A Spell

3.  THE MOOCHE - Hot Smoke And Sassafras

4.  CRUSHED BUTLER - My Son’s Alive

5.  CHICKEN SHACK - Going Down

6.  CYCLE - Father Of Time

7.  THE DEVIANTS - I’m Coming Home

8.  THE PINK FAIRIES - Do It

9.  FACTORY - Time Machine

10.  THE GROUNDHOGS - Cherry Red

11.  WICKED LADY - I’m A Freak

12.  CHARGE - Rock My Soul

13.  HAWKWIND ZOO - Sweet Mistress Of Pain

14.  STONEHOUSE - Nightmare

15.  THE IRON MAIDEN - Falling

16.  BARNABUS - Apocalypse

DISC TWO

1.  WRITING ON THE WALL - Bogeyman

2.  DEEP PURPLE - Fireball

3.  JERUSALEM - Primitive Man

4.  EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND - Love In The Rain

5.  HELLMET - Trust

6.  SECOND HAND - Rhubarb!

7.  LITTLE FREE ROCK - Dream

8.  IRON CLAW - Skullcrusher

9.  DARK - Zero Time

10.  THE VELVET FROGS - Jehovah

11.  THE MOVE - Brontosaurus

12.  STACK WADDY - Bring It To Jerome

13.  SAMUEL PRODY - Mr Make Believe

14.  BARE SOLE - Flash

15.  THE PHOENIX - Street Walking Woman

16.  SKID ROW - Go, I’m Never Gonna Let You

DISC THREE

1.  THE GUN - Race With The Devil

2.  BLONDE ON BLONDE - Heart Without A Home

3.  THIRD WORLD WAR - Ascension Day

4.  EGOR - Street

5.  SAM GOPAL - Escalator

6.  URIAH HEEP - Gypsy

7.  THE MICKEY FINN - Garden Of My Mind

8.  THE YARDBIRDS - Think About It

9.  MORNING AFTER - Trying To Find My Way Back Home

10.  VELVETT FOGG - Yellow Cave Woman

11.  ANDROMEDA - Too Old

12.  FLEETWOOD MAC - The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)

13.  SWEET SLAG - Twisted Trip Woman

14.  THE KULT - Occult

15.  THE TASTE - Born On The Wrong Side Of Time

16.  FUSION FARM - Hollis Brown