Various Artist - Love, Poetry And Revolution (A Journey Through The British Psychedelic And Underground Scenes 1966-72) (2013)

Housed in a clambox with a lavishly annotated and illustrated 36 page booklet, this important release features much rare material, including previously unissued demo recordings by Tintern Abbey and Blossom Toes. Various heavyweight underground bands (The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Hawkwind, The Deviants, etc) rub shoulders with acts who recorded some of the rarest, most valuable albums of the era (Forever Amber, Complex, Peter Howell & John Ferdinando), while the box also includes a number of subterranean bands - Middle Earth regulars Jade Hexagram, Neon Pearl, Respect and others " who failed to release anything during their lifetime.

If you are wondering if you really need another compilation of obscure psychedelia and underground music - if it's this one then I'm afraid the answer is yes! David Wells (the Grapefruit label's main-man), ably assisted by John Reed, has produced a delightful compilation of tracks - some of which you may know, some you will not know and some which were unreleased at the time of recording.

Where this set scores over some of the similar compilations is that every track is licenced and full credit given to the sources used; the audio quality is very high - even though the sources are not 100% master-tapes, and the material itself is mainly very strong indeed. Many of these tracks could easily have been big hits at the time, and why they weren't is one of life's little mysteries. The 3 CDs run to nearly 4 hours between them with 65 tracks in total. Each CD takes a loose heading from the set's title - CD 1 being Love, CD 2 covering Poetry with CD 3 bringing on the Revolution - it almost works!

Even if you don't recognise some of the bands featured here, the helpful booklet details each track and you will find that many bands contained members "before they were famous" in their own right or with other bands. The booklet also features many, many illustrations of artists, record labels, posters and assorted memorabilia and full credits to all involved.

Love, Poetry and Revolution will take you back to another time - when John Peel was on Radio London and you could see a great gig for a few shillings! For me the set was worth it if just for Busy Bee - the working title and demo of the Tintern Abbey single; it could have come straight from an album by Love. But there are many, many gems to be found here and top marks to David and John for producing a superior compilation in a very well-trodden field. An unreserved five stars for every aspect of this set.