The Trippy Ones........Trash On Acid !

Hmmm, you can't really ignore the fact that during the 80's at the height of the whole TRASH thing, there was a lot of acid floating about. Blotters, dots and little jellylike squares....Supermans, Pink Panthers, Dartboards, Windowpanes, Ying Yangs the ever present White Lightnings or at least the leftovers thereof after Operation Julie had closed the lab producing it down in the late 70's or perhaps they were just using the 'brand' name ?....Regardless, a lot of the bands were partaking and this is evident by some of the glorious tracks that were released during this time, hardly the stuff to get hippies into the groove and more likely than not to induce a bad trip rather than assist a mellow comedown they were none the less good fun !  In no particular order of preference, here a few of the best.

Shut the door Suzy and don't let them in !

- The Vibes.    The Inner Wardrobes Of Your Mind.   1985.    Chainsaw Records.     UK.

The absolutely fantastic Vibes really caught the moment with this 12" release,  with the 'extended trip mix' of 'I hear Noises' epitomising the whole sense of an acid experience starting to go wrong.
The bassist incidently (If you didn't know anyway) was none other than 'Capt' Lloyd Tripp ! The other tracks all equally noteworthy were a cover of 60's garage punk band The Outcasts 'I'm In Pittsburgh And It's Raining', a self penned ode to the chicken meister 'Hasil Adkins In My Head' and an unrecognisable jazz cover from 1958 called 'Scratch My Back.
Never released on CD, in fact none of The Vibes releases are available on CD with the exception of a couple of tracks on comps...if you want to experience it first hand you're just going to have to track the vinyl down. 

Shriek Inducing !

- The Nomads.   Nitroglycerine Shrieks.           1985.      Various labels.       Sweden.

Another fine track that was released in 1985, guess the psychosis had really started kicking in about then, this sounds quite menacing with the distorted vocals over a repetative drumbeat. It came out as the b-side to the 'She Pays The Rent EP' on different labels in the UK, France, Sweden and the USA at the same time, so is easily picked up for a reasonable price. It's also on the ESTRUS 10" & CD ' Raw & Rare' which also contains their cover of 'I Wanna Come Back From The World Of LSD' as well as a great version of 'Weekend On Mars'....If all you know of The Nomads is their later material ? This is a great eye opener to their more Rockin', Trashier side.....truly worth the investment. 

24 Tracks of Glorious Trash.

- The Raymen.  Just Dropped In.    1999.    Demo.    Germany.  

Brilliant cover of Kenny Rogers and The First Edition's 'I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition is In'  a highlight of the movie 'The Big Lebowski' for me. But, Yeah...The Raymen, vastly underrated and nowhere near as recognised as they should be !
This track can be found on a compilation of unreleased material (Just check out 'White Witchdoctor' for pure genius) put out by Raucous Records in the UK a good few years back. Point worth noting to the more Crampsically inclined among you, is that this CD contains a very early cover of  'Goo Goo Muck' recorded in 1984 which was on The Raymen's first release, unfortunately put out on a very limited casstte only basis at the time and never released on any other format since.
Big retrospective post on The Raymen coming in the next weeks.

The second version released in 1989.

- The Cannibals.   Paralytic Confusion.    1984.    Hit Records.        UK.
- Five Young Cannibals. Paralytic Confusion. 1989.  Hit Records.      UK.

This track was so good they released it twice !  First time it came out as a freebie with 'Bucketful of Brains' magazine in 84' as the b-side to 'The Submarine Song'. It was given a commercial release 5 years later as the b-side (again) to 'You Drive Me Mental'. I think there may have been a mild humouristic attempt at the expense of the pop band the fine young cannibals.....but I'm only guessing here !
A very trippy ditty about alcohol induced altered states far more geared to acid rather than getting pissed to my mind though.

Turn off the lights !

- The Purple Things.   Out Of The Deep  (5 track EP)   1986.  Media Burn.   UK.

Basically I've cheated by including this and it's sister release (below) as both records (vinyl only releases to date) are prime examples of what happens when you drop a few tabs and let loose. Five tracks of pure psychedelic Trash...The epic cover of Teddy & His Patches 1967 classic 'Suzy Creamcheese' really stands out as does the tikiesque exotica of 'Theme From The Gunship Reptile.
Following on from the demise of The Vibes and the formation of The Purple Things, they hit good form with their 2 Media Burn releases but kind of had a dodgy patch with the LP and 12" for Mother records....not essential and heading in the direction that would eventually see the formation of Terminal Cheesecake.........But don't take my word for it, listen and make your own judgements.

Sub Pop club release from 1989.

- The Mad Daddys.   Alligator Wine.    1989.      Sub Pop.      USA.  

Cramps prodigees (their first mini LP 'Music for Men' was produced by Lux & Ivy) take on rather admirably, the Lieber/Stollar classic made famous by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. A very swampy, screeching rendition with lots of reverb, it comes across as a tad over produced to be totally trashy but still managing to hit the sweet spot and do justice to the original. Funnily enough, The Vibes had recorded this too back in 1984 and their version can be found on the psychobilly compilation 'Blood On The Cats 2' equally worth digging up. 

Not good for a bad trip !

- The Purple Things.   Deep In The Mind Of.    1985.    Media Burn.      UK.

This was the first release of the post Vibes formation and a cracker it is too. Two cover versions, The Red Crayola's 'Hurricane Fighter Plane' and The Tamrons 'Wild Man' and three originals with 'Subterranean Cave Mind' being the stand out self penned composition, the use of a slide guitar gives it an almost Doorsy feel in places. It's a real shame that the output of The Purple things hasn't been combined and released either (heaven forbid) on CD or as a double album which would be ideal and if anyone does, then don't forget to include 'Valley Of The Purple' which can be found on the 'Meltdown On Media Burn' compilation from 1986.

And just to say, that in no way could I possibly advocate the use of hallucinogenics such as LSD, Peyote, Mescaline, Psilocybin or any other mind altering substances come to think of it !