Customer Reviews
Underground???? - By: Alick Jeffery was king, 30 Aug 2008 
Hot on the heels of "Strange Pleasures" (the second 3 CD Decca/Deram box set of late 60's/early 70's underground sounds) Universal Music has again let Esoteric Records boss Mark Powell loose in its vaults. After issuing similar box sets of Vertigo material & the aforementioned Decca/Derams, Mark (teamed again with maestro Paschal Byrne at the mixing desk & the highly creative Phil Smee in the design room) has produced another excellent offering. As with the aforementioned releases,the packaging is first rate. The 3 cds come in their own mini fake aged LP sleeves accompanied by an informative 48 page booklet with a section per artiste & plenty of rare photos/original album covers. In his introduction, Powell also gives a history of the label & how it came to acquire the MGM Verve catalogue, Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label & its links with Track & Reaction which alllow this box set a far wider selection of material than would have applied to the main Polydor imprint alone.
Polydor was not however a label I associated with the "underground". After alll it was, at heart, a major German classical label & its pop/rock roster included mega selling bands such as Cream (on Robert Stigwood's Reaction imprint)and the Who (on the Who management's Track label) both of which feature strongly here. This set also boasts top 10 singles by Thunderclap Newman, Julie Driscoll & Arthur Brown - so hardly qualification as an underground label. However the inclusion of material by Ladbroke Grove's Pink Fairies, unknowns like the Web & Second Hand plus obscure singles by Van Der Graaf Generator (slightly manic) & Jethro Tull go a long way to establishing real underground credentials. As a German Label Polydor also had a fair sprinkling of European bands: Golden Earring, Focus, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Supersister & Aphrodite's Child. Although euro bands tended to enjoy limited credibility here in the UK back in the day, the selections here are alll worthy inclusions showing highly skilled musicianship & being very light on dodgy english vocals.
All in alll, fewer unearthed obscure gems than its predecessors & whilst the selections will inevitably not please everybody (eg I could ask why no Blossom Toes or other Marmalade label bands which would have boosted the underground feel) this is another highly enjoyable, well conceived & executed package. Keep them coming Mark Powell!
A Real Joy - By: endlessharmony, 30 Aug 2008 In recent years Universal has been releasing a series of progressive and/or psychedlic collections & this one is up there with the best. It has a great balance of hit songs such as Thunderclap Newman's 'Something In The Air', Focus 'Hocus Pocus', Julie Driscoll's 'This Wheel's On Fire' & Arthur Brown's 'Fire' & rarities which are either difficult to track down or you've ever heard of.
It features a roster of great Polydor artists from 1967-1974 such as Cream, The Who, Taste, Jack Bruce & Fairport Convention & there is high quality of material throughout the 50 tracks, which starts of with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's 'Fire' suite & closes Focus 'Hocus Pocus'.
If you have the likes of Decca's 'Strange Pleasures - Further Sounds Of The Decca Underground', Harvest's 'Breath of Fresh Air' or 'Time Machine - A Vertigo Retrospective' then you will have an idea of what to expect from this collection of well known songs & obscurities from the late 60's/early 1970's. It reallly is a worthwhile investment if you are into the Prog/Psych music from the era.
