THE LIQUID SCENE – REVOLUTIONS (Ziglain Records CD, D/L).

Strange things are happening again………………Postie dropped a very cool package in our post box the other week containing Revolutions, the very groovy new album from San Francisco Neo-Psychedelicists The Liquid Scene. All seasoned SF musicians brought together by their love of 1960s English psychedelia, a quick game of ‘Six Degrees Of Separation’ will link the band in some way to the Paisley Underground, The Dukes Of Stratosphear, Todd Rundgren and acclaimed, epic Beatles tribute band The White Album Ensemble (what the Bootleg Beatles would sound like if they were not so horribly cheesy), The Liquid Scene take inspiration for their music from Pink Floyd, Traffic, Donovan, The Beatles and the less well known sounds of The Orange Bicycle, the very far out "Wonderwall" soundtrack album, July, McGough and McGear’s obscure 1968 album and cult none-hit wonders Tintern Abbey amongst others. It says on the tin “Yesterday’s sounds……….today”, and that’s a pretty accurate description of Revolutions as it is a 60s referencing record with a 80s Neo-Psychedelic feel but with very modern studio techniques transforming the album into a beautifully recorded and mixed carnival of backward guitars, swirling psychedelic effects and mind bending studio stereo trickery that sounds fantastic on headphones after a few smokes……..Recorded in mind-swirling technicolour, it’s studio time well spent as it is the best sounding psychedelic record we have heard for quite a while.

Listening to Revolutions can be described as driving through the Mojave Desert on a psychedelic adventure sometime around 1969, high on peyote, flipping through the FM dial as familiar sounds drift out of the ether………bits of Beatlesque mellotron sound, snatches of the intro to ‘Dear Prudence’ the pastoral vibe of early Traffic, Eastern drones from Donovan albums and other slivers of classic psych sounds that all seep in into your subconscious……The Liquid Scene have made a really cool record that is part love letter to 60s Summer Of Love/Swinging London and part a continuation of the fantastic Sixties inspired psychedelic music that was being released by the early 80s LA “Paisley Underground” bands. A big influence on this record must be the excellent 60s fan boy/homage albums released by The Dukes Of Stratosphear (with a sly wink towards the Neil Innes/Ollie Halsall brilliant deconstruction of the essence of the Beatles for The Rutles soundtrack) and the kaleidoscopic sounds of bands such as the Rain Parade.  There are some really great tracks on this album with a few of the standout tracks being a sparkling Psychedelic Pop magical mystery detour of ‘Letterbox’ (watch the video here), the very groovy ‘The Mystery Machine’and ‘Leave Me Here’ which has a beautiful Big Star/Chris Bell vibe with a mindblowing, seriously headphone friendly, extended wig out section. The Liquid Scene have big love for the Beatles………………….riffing off the intro to ‘Dear Prudence’, ‘Hey Moondog’ is an epic hallucinogenic journey to the centre of the mind while ‘In My Water Room’ explores George Harrison’s fascination with Indian classical music and twists into some very strange psychedelic shapes. Revolutions is a beautifully constructed, flawlessly played and expertly recorded record that all lovers of classic psychedelia should give a listen to. It’s a total trip and so much more than the sum of its influences.

Released on Ziglain Records, Revolutions is available now as both a CD or digital download from CD Baby and The Liquid Scene bandcamp page at http://theliquidscene.bandcamp.com/ and download only from iTunes. Check it out folks………it will blow your mind.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN