The inbetweeners
I’m A Freak Baby: A Journey Through The British Heavy Psych & Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72
EVERYONE KNEW what Johnny Rotten meant when he said he hated hippies, even if besides Gong and their most dedicated fans, there was barely a genuine hippy left by 1976. Listening to this four-hour exploration of a forgotten but hugely important aspect of the post-psych era, you’ll likely be left thinking that hippy music and culture had far more in common with punk than Mod ever did. Expertly compiled by David Wells, IÕm A Freak Baby traces the mutation of psychedelia into hard rock. There is no folk rock, art rock or classically inspired progressive music. Instead, it’s a rummage through the trash bins of the era – for much here was dismissed as too rudimentary for its time – focusing on the visceral rather than the conceptual. What emerges sounds as loud and chaotic as one of those turn-of-the-decade free festivals, where bikers policed the grounds, and tents vanished while you got stoned round the campfire. It was, said Deviants frontman Mick Farren, an era when “ear-bleeding noise took over for a while”. And mostly in the Midlands or in South Coast resort towns, as Wells’s research indicates. “I’m tired of hippy psychedelic shit,” complained John Fenton, the maverick behind early-’70s nasties Third World War. “Let’s do something with balls.” But TWW were latecomers. British rock’s freak scene was always greasier and more muscular than history suggests. Here’s The Deviants in 1968 sounding like the MC5 channelling The Electric Prunes. Crushed Butler in 1970 spit blood and iron. Pink Fairies, a totemic presence here, yelling out their anarchic DIY call-to-arms, Do It. And fellow Ladbroke Grovers Hawkwind too, the 1969 demo Sweet Mistress Of Pain a loose premonition of their 1973 street rock 45, Urban Guerrilla. Unsurprisingly, the teenage Rotten cherished both bands. There are connections with prepsych Mod too. Hell-for-leather virtuosos Andromeda rose from the ashes of The Attack. Stray, whose long and thundering All In Your Mind opens the set, were Small Faces devotees. Garden Of My Mind by cult Mod combo The Mickey Finn, which opts for a sound closer to Hendrix’s Purple Haze, is the earliest song here and it clearly sets the tone, given that the set’s guiding spirits are psychedelia’s two power trios, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. The Move’s Brontosaurus, Fleetwood Mac’s The Green Manalishi and Deep Purple’s speed metal primer Fireball illustrate the successful side of dirty rock riffage. There’s ‘guerrilla jazz rock’ courtesy of Sweet Slag. Best of all are Egor from east London. Recorded on one mike for an obscure local compilation album in 1971, Street kicks off like Spiders-era Bowie, hits a Stooges/ Sabbath hybrid for the verses, before spiralling off into lengthy passages of intense, acid rock soloing. It’s freak-out of the highest order. Just keep an eye on your tent.