VA - Painting The Time - New Rubble Volume 6 - Remastered (2014)

First released in 2005, then reissued in remastered form in 2009, Painting the Time was compiled by the Bevis Frond's Nick Saloman. Music-wise, it is a rather fine collection of psychedelic rarities from the U.K. (mostly) and elsewhere (Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand). Sound-wise, it leaves a little to hope for, but that's what you get with songs lifted from old 45s and acetates. Still, the CD offers a nice cross-section of early apparitions by household names and totally forgotten faces. From the first category, Painting the Time delivers the Shame's only single, "Don't Go Away Little Girl," future Emerson, Lake & Palmer icon Greg Lake's first recording (forgettable, but of importance to fans and collectors); Andy Ellison's "Fool from Upper Eden," recorded right after John's Children's breakup; Melody Fair's sole single "Sittin' Watchin' Waitin'" featuring ex-Syn Steve Nardelli; proto-Man the Bystanders' "Painting the Time"; and "Magic Mirror" by Aphrodite's Child, the proto-progressive Greek group with whom stars Vangelis and Demis Roussos kicked off their careers. All these songs are enjoyable, but the surprises and the genre-pushing tracks come from lesser-known acts, such as the Twilights and their bipolar "Cathy Come Home," Chris Kerry's bleak "Seven Deadly Sins," and Alan Trajan's desperate "Speak to Me Clarissa" ("Speak to me Clarissa/No one knows you're alive but me") built on a piano riff worthy of Atomic Rooster's finest period.