Thursday, March 25, 2010

Psychedelic Psoul - The Freak Scene - `67 Columbia Records


i thought i heard someone say bring the freak back !? - ha , well - this one is pretty far out kids. this is a reissue not an original - sounds great ! some heavy bass on this one - headphones if ya got em ! - enjoy [ 134 downloads & NO COMMENTS ! whats wrong with u peeps ?! ]


This is quintessential extreme example of early experimental psy. Very obscure, so information is sparse but I’d guess it came out quite early in 67. The bass playing is original and unusual and dominates the mix in an album dominated by lyrics and bass. The vocals and vocal production (thin, nasal and processed) is the albums main weakness. Despite its faults and lack of good songs, its still somehow works and remains a fascinating and unusual micro-selling psy gem. [ mykepsych ]


Having enjoyed some success with their 1966 studio project The Deep, the following year the song writing/performing team of Mark Barkan and Rusty Evans decided to take another stab at making some money off of the public's growing interest in psychedelia and political activism. Signed by Columbia, the duo pulled together most of the studio pros who'd worked with them on the earlier project (reportedly including guitarist David Bromberg), resulting in the release "Psychedelic Psoul".
A lot of critics have labeled this as nothing more than a sophomore The Deep release. There are clearly similarities between the two albums, but I'll tell you that (contrary to popular opinion) I think The Freak Scene project is the stronger of the two. Material such as 'The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space', 'Butterfly Dream' and 'My Rainbow Life' offered up a great mixture of over-the-top psych lyrics, stoned vocals and wild studio production effects. The biggest difference with the earlier album was that tracks such as '... When In the Course of Human Events (Draft Beer, Not Students)' and 'Behind the Mind' added a bit of social and political commentary to the acid-drenched mix. It may be an exploito offering, but it's first rate exploito and is actually better than 75% of the non-exploito competition. [ RDTEN1 ]


at first listen i thought this one was a sham. it sounds slapped together in a drug-fueled weekend, using sound effects and flower power poetry/messages to make it stand up as psychedelic.
one day i was in such a mood that this was the only album i felt like listening to, and so i did over and over, and that is where it happened. i realized that i really enjoy this one, despite it's usually half-assed songwriting and slapdash feel/recording.
one thing about the sparse instrumentation is that the excellent bass playing practically carries the whole band. guitars usually stay in the background, and everything else, sans vocals & feedback/sound effects, take a back seat to the always prominent bass playing.
i can't give this more than 3 and a half because for every great tune ["a million grains of sand", "behind the mind", "butterfly dream"] there are one or two throwaway tunes ["subway ride thru inner space", "mind bender"] though the whole thing whizzes by quickly, 12 songs in a half an hour, so i'm more intrigued by the record as a whole, rather than being disappointed by a track i don't like. i love these kind of albums.
for those who like the pop in their sike, ideas, rather than some poorly recorded garage band content to just thrash away at "hey joe", this one may be of interest to you. [ a owens ]


Psychedelic Psoul - The Freak Scene - `67 - Columbia Records
all trax from wax - akashaman - 2010
MP3 @ 320 kbps - includes high rez cover scan


1 A Million Grains of Sand
2 "When In Course Of Human Events" (Draft Beer, Not Students) / Interpolation: We Shall Overcome
3 Rose of Smiling Faces
4 Behind the Mind
5 The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space
6 Butterfly Dream
7 My Rainbow Life
8 The Center of My Soul
9 Watered Down Soul
10 Red Roses Will Weep
11 Mind Bender
12 Grok!


DOWNLOAD -- HERE --

14 comments:

Alejandro said...

I've got nothing but Thanks for every album you post. My salutations from Argentina

Psyffer23 said...

This thing is pretty freaky. I dig it. But, it sounds like a bit of a ringer. You sure it was recorded in '67?
Anyway, thank for it.

Psyffer23 said...

OK, also, is Psychedelic Psoul the name of the group or the album? I have seen it both ways out there. The tags on this one say it is the artist but, other places list The Freak Scene as the artist.

Anonymous said...

As a teenage member of the Columbia Record Club I got this vinyl as one of their monthly offerings. It may have even been created for that purpose.

Anonymous said...

Definitely really from the 60s. I have an original copy of the vinyl that is, unfortunately, totally ruined.

Thanks for posting this!

Anonymous said...

Wow. This album is SICCCCCKK!!

Thanks. Anymore stuff like this?

Anonymous said...

thanks for your upload,...i like the Deep,..you know the first two albums ?
Psychedelic mood part I,and Hydro Pyro.the name of this Band was The Deep,but for every new Album they have another Bandname(Deep,Freak Szene,Hydro Pyro,..)
Thanks
Woody

Anonymous said...

Thank you :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for groove

lucas said...

Thanks a lot!! Amazing blog!
Greetings from Argentina!

psychedeligoat said...

You said " Having enjoyed some success with their 1966 studio project The Deep," - er - the album Psychedelic Moods on cameo did not have any sort of success. It is one of the rarest LPs on both Cameo and on Quality in Canada and to this day many hardcore collectors have never seen the album (in it's original form) There was no success and no celebration - Marcus (rusty) stated in an interview that he was not even planning on doing this Freak Scene album - it just happened on a whim and was never returned to - just like the Deep concept album. Not to say both albums should not be celebrated - they were simply not distributed or promoted , especially the deep which I would contest it wasn't even mentioned in trade papers, but Freak Scene was briefly - but no singles were pressed for either - which is very odd at a time when the single was more important than an album.

Anonymous said...

Bought this lp today, and tried to find some info from the web. Found your blog and read all about the album. Thanks!

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