Various Artists: A Slight Disturbance In My Mind - The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds of 1966, 3CD Boxset

• Featuring 84 tracks, examining the “experimental pop” element of the British music scene during that epochal 12-month period with a dizzying, dazzling mix of nascent psychedelia, introspective pop and what’s been retrospectively labelled freakbeat.
• Including vital contributions from some of the era’s biggest names (The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Animals etc), a bunch of highly collectable cult classics, a huge stash of unissued-at-the-time nuggets and early outings for such future legends as Bowie, Bolan, Slade and The Bee Gees.

• With a 52-page booklet crammed with biographical information and priceless period photos and memorabilia; a glorious snapshot of British pop storming the gates of a new, strange and wonderful dawn.
While the likes of ‘Rubber Soul’, ‘See My Friends’ and ‘Still I’m Sad’ had served notice in 1965 of British pop’s heightened level of ambition, 1966 would prove to be an even more tumultuous twelve- month period as experimentation and innovation grew to new levels.

The release that August of ‘Revolver’ – whose cataclysmic closing track ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ landed amongst the record-buying public like an impenetrable missile from outer space – brought the concept of psychedelic music out of the margins and into the mainstream.

However, psychedelia – condemned by national newspaper The Sun as “the new and dangerous sound in pop music” – had been percolating throughout the year. The word was already in subterranean use in America, adapted by the likes of The 13th Floor Elevators and Hollywood hustler Kim Fowley, who in late 1965 had become the first person to promote a record with the term “psychedelic”.

Arriving in London in March 1966, Fowley became a proselytising influence for the new sound, instructing bemused young British bands to “act psychedelically”. His sojourn coincided with the relocation of Californian band The Misunderstood, whose incendiary sound and stage act was a major influence on a new generation of British acts.

Meanwhile, serial pioneers The Yardbirds were making increasingly audacious music, their new manager Simon Napier-Bell instructed the young John’s Children to become “the first psychedelic group”, while mod band The Creation developed an intriguing pop-art approach.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

1  MAKING TIME – The Creation

2  SHAPES OF THINGS – The Yardbirds

3  I’LL KEEP HOLDING ON – The Action

4  MUD IN YOUR EYE – Fleur-De-Lys

5  SWEET MUSIC – The Koobas

6  ORIENTAL SADNESS – The Hollies

7  PLAY DOWN – The Bee Gees

8  AM I THE RED ONE (ALTERNATIVE MIX) – Mick Softley with The Summer Suns*

9  I UNSEEN – The Misunderstood

10  SECURITY (EXTENDED VERSION) – The ’N Betweens*

11  I DIG EVERYTHING – David Bowie

12  SHE’S A GIRL – The Attraction

13  A HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY – The Pretty Things

14  DADDY LONG LEGS (BRASS-FREE VERSION) – Lindsay Muir’s Untamed

15  MAN WITH MONEY – Outrage*

16  THE QUIET EXPLOSION – The Ugly’s

17  THIRTEEN WOMEN – The Renegades

18  I TAKE IT THAT WE’RE THROUGH – The Riot Squad

19  MAJOR CATASTROPHE – Katch 22

20  HIPPY GUMBO (DEMO VERSION) – Marc Bolan

21  I WILL HAVE YOU – Just Five

22  TOMORROW NIGHT – The Times

23  BLOW-UP – The In Crowd

24  SIMPLIFIED – The Majority

25  BACK SEAT DRIVER – The Ministry Of Sound

26  BABY, YOU’VE GOT IT – The Truth

27  I JUST GOT SOME – Rod Stewart

28  ANSWERS PLEASE – The Luvin’ Kind

DISC TWO

1  MY FRIEND JACK (DEMO VERSION) – The Smoke

2  PLEASE PLEASE ME – The Score

3  PAINTER MAN (2017 STEREO MIX) – The Creation

4  WHY DON’T YOU SMILE NOW – Downliners Sect

5  YOU’VE GOTTA HAVE LOVE BABE (DEMO VERSION) – Graham Bond Organisation

6  OUTCAST – The Animals

7  WE’RE BROKEN – The Moody Blues

8  I’VE LAID SOME DOWN IN MY TIME – Tony Colton

9  WELL…ALL RIGHT – The People

10  SHAPES IN MY MIND (US 45 VERSION) – Keith Relf

11  MY TIME (BRASS-FREE VERSION) – The Pretty Things

12  FANCY – The Kinks

13  YOU’RE MY GIRL – Manfred Mann

14  WHAT A STATE I’M IN – The Tremeloes

15  TURN INTO EARTH – Al Stewart

16  THE MORNING AFTER – The Mindbenders

17  WALKIN’ WALKIN’ WALKIN’ – The Favourite Sons

18  HAVE YOU EVER LOVED SOMEBODY – The Searchers

19  HUNGRY – The 5 A.M. Event

20  MOLLY ANDERSON’S COOKERY BOOK – The Artwoods

21  TAX MAN – Loose Ends

22  THE RUIN – Deep Feeling

23  KICKS – The Wheels

24  YOU’RE MY GIRL – The Kingpins

25  PAINT IT BLACK – The Tomcats

26  SAGITTARIUS – The Cortinas

27  WRONG WAY – The Brood

28  HOLIDAYMAKER – The Key

DISC THREE

1 THE LOVE I THOUGHT I’D FOUND – John’s Children

2  SAVE MY SOUL – The Wimple Winch

3  STROLL ON – The Yardbirds

4  GLENDORA – Downliners Sect

5  I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE (DEMO VERSION) – The Flies

6  IT’S A CRIME – The Kirkbys

7  LET THE LIVE LIVE – The Sorrows

8  I GO TO SLEEP – The Fingers

9  DON’T TELL ME – Arthur Brown

10  HAPPY NEW YEAR – Beverley

11  I AM THE WORLD – The Bee Gees

12  CLOWN – The Hollies

13  INDICATION – The Zombies

14  LITTLE ROSY – The Rocking Vickers

15  WHAT DOES SHE DO – Sounds Around

16  MY LITTLE RED BOOK – Episode Six

17  NO MORE YOU AND ME – The Tornados ’66

18  GIRL CHILD, I AM AN EVIL WITCHMAN – The ’N Betweens

19 HURDY GURDY MAN – The Spectres

20 SUMMER LEAVES ME WITH A SIGH – Tuesday’s Children

21 ADVERTISING MAN – The Reaction

22 MY WORLD FELL DOWN – The Ivy League

23 HEY, YOU LOLITA – The Silence

24 I SUPPOSE – The Secrets

25 DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE SONG – Outrage*

26  TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS – The Mirage

27  MY MIND – The Misunderstood

28  DISTURBANCE – The Move

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED