Cold Sun - Dark Shadows (1970) {World in Sound, 2008}
Description COLD SUN
DARK SHADOWS
1970
This Edition: World in Sound WIS-1038, 2008
1. South Texas
2. Twisted Flower
3. Here In The Year
4. For Ever
5. See What You Cause
6. Fall
7. Ra-Ma
8. Live Again °
9. Mind Aura °
° Live, 1972
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"This is not garage punk". This is Psychedelia. The legendary Texas masterpiece finally comes out on cd...
Cold Sun from Austin, Texas was recorded in 1970 in the legendary Sonobeat studios, where the Mariani and Johnny Winter first LPs were produced. The Cold Sun band are considered contemporaries of Velvet Underground and The Fugs, often listed as being in a similar vein but inspirations for this unique piece actually go back to the desperated, haunted Joe Meek. All songs lyrically express dark, mystic poetry with the true 60s psychedelic floating/distorted fuzz spirit presented in short compact mini-epics along with several mind blowing long tunes, such as "Ra-Ma" (11 min), "Here In The Year" (9 min) and "Fall" (7 min). Discovered by Rockadelic Records of Dallas, Texas in 1991, the Dark Shadows album saw the light of day the next year as a limited LP version, to become today one of the most important and revered US psychedelic underground albums from the early 70s. ---(Rockadelic heard it in the form of an old scratchy acetate that one of the Cold Sun band members had made in order to be able to play the recording at friendsparties on their turntables. The acetate only contained 2/3 of the songs but so greatly impressed them that Rockadelic managed together with bandleader Bill Miller to release the complete sessions from mastertape.)--- Autoharp wizard Miller eventually spearheaded Roky Erickson's international debut as the Cold Sun band joined forces with Roky in 1974 and became BliebAlien, later evolved into The Aliens and backed Roky on his famous albums and historical concerts.--- Carefully remastered from the mastertapes, this album will bring new rewarding listening experiences in expanded fidelity, plus 2 unreleased non-album songs, authentic Live/Concert recordings of "Live Again"(10 min) and "Mind Aura"(7 min). The fidelity of these reel to reel Live recordings is also remarkable. The CD and Vinyl issues will both have an extended booklet/insert with liner notes by Jello Biafra plus rare photos and other surprises. The Vinyl issue is packaged in a luxury foldout cardboard cover as Dragonwyck, Phantasia or Mystic Siva and contains an extra 10" bonus record & insert. According to Patrick (Lama) Lundborg from Lysergia.com: "Best Rockadelic LP ever, and in my opinion the best Texas LP of the time. Enjoy this ONE- HOUR psychedelic Happening, a "must-have" 60s/70s heavy uber-psych masterpiece! "
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Fuzz, Acid & Flowers
Personnel:
TOM McGARIGLE gtr A
BILL MILLER electric autoharp A
HUGH PATTON drms, chimes A
MIKE WAUGH bs A
ALBUM:
1(A) DARK SHADOWS (Rockadelic RRLP 2.5) 1990
2 (A) DARK SHADOWS (WIS-1038) 2008
A Texas group. Contrary to popular belief, the Rockadelic release above is not a straight reissue of an acetate. An acetate was found with several tracks by this group (only one known copy exists, now in a private collection) and through this acetate, information leading to the group was dug up. The leader of the band was found to have several tapes of sixties material and from these tapes the Dark Shadows album was mastered. Most of the material on the Rockadelic album does not appear on the acetate.
This release is well worth picking up - a genuinely psychedelic item with lots of superb and, often discordant, electric autoharp and sustained fuzz guitar and lots of fresh ideas. The vocals don't always reach the same standard but this album is recommended.
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Lysergia.com
Incredible 1960s-vibe teen guitar-psych featuring autoharp wizard Bill Miller, later of Roky's Aliens. Best Rockadelic LP ever, and in my opinion the best Texas LP after "Easter Everywhere" and "Power Plant". The recordings were made in Austin 1970-71, the acetate was pressed by a band member years later just to be able to listen to the music. The Rockadelic release was mastered from the original Sonobeat tapes, not from the acetate which only features about 2/3rds of the band's material. Two completely different inserts exist for the Rockadelic release, 150 copies had one credited to Mike Ritchey, 150 copies had one credited to Arthur Bloch. [PL]
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Austin band with an obvious 'Elevators influence recorded this amazing psychedelic demo LP in '70. There's no hints of prog or hard rock on this beast though, just 100% psychedelia. Truly inspired original and uncompromising stuff, it actually sounds like the logical next step after Easter Everywhere and Bull Of The Woods - great Texas desert psych! Most songs are long and winding, full of echoey fuzz, Roky-inspired vocals, autoharp and some harmonica. It never gets into boring hippie jams though. It's more like entering a state of mind than listening to a regular album. The lyrics are also some of the best I've ever heard, managing to be totally strange/psychedelic without getting the least pretentious. Not only the best Rockadelic release, but possibly one of the best and most important psych reissues ever. Roky's first backing band, Bleibalien, were essentially made up of members from Cold Sun. Fantastic LP! [MM]
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