As a continuation of Gear Fab's trawl through the backwaters of the '60s American teen movement, new series Psychedelic States, rather like AIP's mammoth High in the Mid Sixties, focuses on regional band scenes. This, the first volume, investigates mid- to late-'60s music from Florida, collecting together the area's movers and shakers -- many of which have never been compiled. And with 28 songs that take in a huge array of styles, the venture is for the main part very successful. The Canadian Rogues' Northwest punk sound ...
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As a continuation of Gear Fab's trawl through the backwaters of the '60s American teen movement, new series Psychedelic States, rather like AIP's mammoth High in the Mid Sixties, focuses on regional band scenes. This, the first volume, investigates mid- to late-'60s music from Florida, collecting together the area's movers and shakers -- many of which have never been compiled. And with 28 songs that take in a huge array of styles, the venture is for the main part very successful. The Canadian Rogues' Northwest punk sound and the Shades' far more polished pop style show that in Florida it wasn't only one style that the local youths took to. "Xcedrin Headache # 69" (Mouse & the Boys), one of the most wigged-out numbers here, is an urgently snarled, drugged-out plea with searing fuzz guitar and a stomping beat. As psychedelic '60s punk goes, it doesn't get any better than this! The obscure Miami outfit the Fewdle Lords take a baroque influence, while the Maundy Quintet excel as purveyors of soft folk-rock with a Byrds feel. The Squiremen's dramatic pièce de résistance ("Who in the World") airs just how the influences of the likes of the Beatles, the Left Banke, and Nazz gave bands who had previously been playing garage rock something to really test their skills with in the latter half of the decade. Their effort fuses melody with melancholy to create the kind of spine-tingling intensity that the Choir were achieving at the same time up in Cleveland. And in a completely different field, the manic semi-instrumental "Miss Blue Three Quarter (3/4)" by Neighbourhood of Love is among the toughest punk riffery to be heard -- ever! For the majority of this collection, the mixture of folk-rock, garage punk, psychedelia, and pop show that although Florida has never really been praised as one of America's most regarded regions for '60s rock, it was, in fact, quite happening. ~ Jon "Mojo" Mills, Rovi
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