The year 1969 was a confusing time for bands and music fans alike in the U.K. The psychedelic wave of the previous few years had crested but was still strong, bubblegum had snuck in through the cracks, prog was in its early phase, and groups were cranking up the amps and getting harder. The whole year felt like the
White Album had exploded, changed the game for existing bands, and spawned many new bands in its wake. Not that everything can always be credited to or blamed on
the Beatles, but they cast a long shadow. With an excellent series of compilations covering the U.K. music scene year by year, the Grapefruit label had their work cut out for them, and they come through like champs on
Try a Little Sunshine: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1969. The three discs are packed with examples of all the various strains of psychedelic rock that were streaming wildly out of clubs and radios -- by well-known artists like
the Pretty Things,
Dave Davies,
Procol Harum, and
Status Quo, but mostly the collection is peopled by almost-weres and total nobodies who were lost to time. It's an eye-opening assortment of songs and sounds that rewards intense listening with a raft of gems like Tapestry's fuzzy lollipop of a bubblegum jam "Who Wants Happiness" and
Tuesday's Children's warped baroque pop nugget "Doubtful Nellie." Or
Jason Crest's bonkers dark psych freakout "Black Mass." Or
Consortium's sunshine pop stunner "The Day the Train Never Came." One could pick a track at random and come up with a winner, or at least something quite interesting. Even the duff tracks are worth hearing just to get the proper context for the era. Sure, it misses a lot of the big names of the time, but
Try a Little Sunshine doesn't need them to be a definitive musical lesson that's also tons of fun, and just the thing to throw on when one needs to be transported to another era. ~ Tim Sendra