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 1
1    SUICIDE - Stray
2    FOR MAD MEN ONLY - May Blitz
3    THE MOON UPSTAIRS - Mott The Hoople
4    YOU MUST COME WITH ME - Head Machine
5    FIDO CASTROL - Killing Floor
6    PRINCE KAJUKU - U.F.O.
7    HARD TIMES - Red Dirt
8    MANDRAKE ROOT - Deep Purple
9    FAT MAN - Nazareth
10    I'M GLAD - Tear Gas
11    THIS IS MY BODY - Creepy John Thomas
12    FLAVOUR OF DECAY - Sweet Slag *
13    STONED - N.S.U.
14    SLUM LORD - The Deviants
15    TEENAGE REBEL - The Pink Fairies
16    SAVE THE LIFE OF MY CHILD - Mighty Hard
17    COSMARAMA - Distant Jim

Disc 2
1    WALKING IN YOUR SHADOW - Uriah Heep
2    STRANGE KIND OF MAGIC - Zior
3    NO WITCH AT ALL - Hard Stuff
4    MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE - Hawkwind
5    MAMMA'S REWARD (KEEP THEM FREAKS A-ROLLIN') - Edgar Broughton Band
6    AFTERNOON OUT - Fuzzy Duck
7    JUNIOR'S WAILING - Steamhammer
8    DAZED AND CONFUSED (live) - The Yardbirds
9    WHY DON'T YOU LET ME TRY - Wicked Lady
10    MINESHAFT - Grit
11    YOU KNOW COULD BE RIGHT - Chicken Shack
12    MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM - Sam Gopal
13    HUNT THE STAG - Stackwaddy
14    HAMMERSMITH GUERRILLA (full version) - Third World War
15    DAY BY DAY - Stoned Rose *
16    ONE BLIND MICE - Quatermass
17    MOZART VERSUS THE REST - Episode Six
18    MEDUSA - Trapeze

Disc 3
1    I'M A MOVER - Free
2    BORN TO BE FREE - Bram Stoker
3    HOMICIDAL SUICIDAL - Budgie
4    RETURN OF THE FARMER'S SON - Thin Lizzy
5    IT CAME ON A SUNDAY - Writing On The Wall
6    WHISKY TRAIN - Procol Harum
7    WHO WILL BUY? - Samuel Prody
8    STAGNANT POOL - Leaf Hound
9    FIRST TASTE OF LOVE - Monument
10    PRACTICALLY NEVER HAPPENS - Ashkan
11    CRUSH - Bone*
12    KEEP ON ROCKIN' - Geordie
13    RITUAL - Warhorse
14    MYSTERIOUS LADY - Curtis Knight Zeus
15    THE JOKER (live) - Bullfrog *
16    LOOKING BACK - T2
17    SUMMERTIME BLUES - Mick Farren
18    EVIL WOMAN - Spooky Tooth