The Toytown Sound Review by: Paul Ellis
Sir Psych’s Toytown Series
by Paul Ellis on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 3:13pm
Sir Psych is one of those curators of psychedelic music whose library of original vinyl is nothing short of jaw dropping has added several important US pieces into the originally UK Toytown series of obscure and whimsical psychedelic obscurities released in that wake after the Beatles Sgt. Peppers charmed the musical world into this sort of golden hued antique musical lithograph…
Impressive that he added not only five -volumes- into this already incredibly huge mix, but now has a new five volume second set (Vol. 6-10) filled with gems and obscurities that come highly recommended to anyone who wants to explore this short lived luminous, incandescent period of popular music. If the idea of whimsy in music causes a negative reaction in you… don’t bother with this.
On listening to this second volume which the good Sir Psych sent me to absorb a little while ago the thing that just is hard to believe is how this era is like an ever receding horizon, when you think there’s nothing more new to discover 5 volumes of gems comes along and knocks you in the head. His first 5 volumes had some great obscure 60’s psych US tracks, hard to believe he could russle up 5 more volumes of quality stuff.
Granted this era has been taking a critical beating lately, but I don’t care… Personally, I like the fact that people tried out new tone colors and new ways of doing things and the breezy mid 60’s feel that life was OK, before the dark clouds of Altamont rolled over the rock landscape and refused to leave.
It would be an olympian feat to list all the songs here (24 to 28 songs in every volume) much less comment on them, but if you like 60’s music and are in the mood for a glowing neon retro jukebox filled with the audio equivalent of a Maxfield Parrish paintings… then dig in!
These volumes are all downloadable and well worth a spin if it sounds like something you’d
enjoy.
I’ve attached a link to Sir Psych’s site. There are 43 downloadable volumes of the classic “Sir Psych Presents” if you look in the navigation areas… next to that there is a menu called “Other Compilations” where you can find some random and great series… “Gentle Paisley Pastries” and the original 5 volume of the US series of Sir Psych’s Toytown series. All of these are downloadable.
