What is Galactic Ramble? Galactic Ramble is the most comprehensive guide ever published to British pop, rock, folk and jazz albums issued between 1963 and 1973. A4 in size, it features around 3000 albums (arranged alphabetically), and is 550 pages long. Also included are numerous top ten lists, a section of recommended LPs and a catalogue of tracks by lesser-known or collectable album artists that only appeared on 45 or EP. A complete list of the albums reviewed in the book can be found here.
What’s the aim of Galactic Ramble? The period covered by the book saw a massive increase in the number of LPs released, on both major and minor labels. Many sold poorly, and change hands for huge sums today. The aim of Galactic Ramble is to describe the music contained on those, and to contextualise them with better-known albums.
Пример публикации:
KALEIDOSCOPE Faintly Blowing (Fontana STL 5491) 4/69 ‘A soft-rock world of rainbows, lyres, cloaks, magic and rhubarb’ – Melody Maker, 3/5/69
The second Kaleidoscope LP is more self-consciously psychedelic. The opening title track and closing ‘Music’ are full of mind-altering sound effects and are thrilling examples of how production techniques can turn an already excellent song into something unforgettable. Much of the album covers similar ground to the debut (i.e. the low-key ballad ‘Poem’ is reminiscent of ‘Please Excuse My Face’, they again tell stories about specific people, this time named Tom Bitz and Annie, ‘The Feathered Tiger’ sounds like a children’s song, certain chord progressions are rather familiar) and there’s a small decline in the quality of the songwriting. The more brazen production, though, gives this one a kick that almost compensates for the fact that they don’t exactly say anything new. This isn’t quite as good as Tangerine Dream, but it’s still a lot better than the majority of albums in the genre. (AM)
As played on Mark Lamarr's Radio 2 'Alternative Sixties' show, Stuart Maconie's 'Freak Zone' and Radio Leeds' 'Down In The Grooves'!
Following on from ‘Alphabeat’, Top Sounds is proud to announce the release of a second compilation, on this occasion a delightful selection of choice 60’s rarities from the otherwise largely inaccessible BBC archives. Spanning a period of almost two years, ‘Shapes And Sounds’ offers seventeen performances taped in BBC studios for broadcast not only on the more familiar radio shows such as ‘Top Gear’ and Saturday Club’, but also some of the daytime weekly programmes such as ‘The Dave Cash Programme’. This release, on both LP and CD, features six bands, all of whom will be familiar to collectors of psychedelia and pop of the period, some of which are lauded as being amongst the most rated groups of their time.
For many pride of place will go to Kaleidoscope, as ‘Shapes And Sounds’ features two tracks that are missing from the BBC’s Transcription Service archive and consequently were not included on the ‘Please Listen To The Pictures’ BBC set. Thanks to the recent discovery of a transcription disc, Top Sounds are privileged to complete the jigsaw and offer a choice version of the band’s most contagious single ‘Jenny Artichoke’, as well as a stupendous rendition of the ‘Faintly Blowing’ cut ‘Music’ which is guaranteed to have Kaleidoscope’s legion of followers in ecstacy! Also thought lost and making their debut on record and CD are three splendid tracks by Tomorrow featuring Keith West, sourced from two editions of ‘Top Gear’ in October 1967 and February 1968. MORE »
