Search - Nick Nicely :: Psychotropia

Superb British Psychedelia

D. Scharowsky | 01/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I got a recommendation for this ,checked the download on the NN website ,closed my eyes and jumped .

Got home and 35 seconds into the first track ,I was orbiting Mars .A monumental psych classic .The UK mag NME says it could be off the Beatle's Magical Mystery Tour but ,no bull ,its AS Good .There's no lame paisley cliches tho'in the gloriously acidic songwriting and tripped out arrangements.

Easily the best New Psych album I've ever heard hitting peaks throughout ,each play revealing new details and eerie sensations .There's a good balance here with the experimental abstract psychedelia never dominating the songs like say ,an OTC album might tend to, but at the same time you're never in doubt about the album's core of acidic inspiration.



Magnificent .

"

Sowing The Seeds Of Psych

D. Hartley | Seattle, WA USA | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A real hidden gem for British psych/freakbeat fans has been unearthed and polished up for some long overdue appreciation. Technically not a cohesive "album", per se, so much as an "anthology" of an artist who never really actively pursued a music career. It is important to understand the significance of this collection's breath-taking opening track "Hilly Fields (1892)". This was the "hit" from an EP released back circa '81-'82 (Nicely's only ever "official" release). While it didn't set the world on fire, "Hilly Fields" enjoyed some college radio exposure (that's where I remember hearing it and becoming absolutely entranced). Most importantly, it reached the impressionable ears of one Mr. Andy Partridge, who, as the story goes, based on this one epic song, was inspired to create XTC's alter ego pseudo-psychedelic band The Dukes Of Stratosphear. What's the point of my rambling story? "Hilly Fields" could well be pin-pointed as "Patient Zero" of the whole psych-revival movement, although its creator has never been given due credit. Now you can hear all the cuts from that original EP plus a smattering of previously unreleased material that Nicely has produced over the ensuing 20-odd years or so. The most surprising thing is that there actually IS a certain coherence and consistence of quality to this collection, and it could pass as a thematic "album". While Revolver-Sgt. Pepper's era Beatles are the most obvious touchstone, Nicely demonstrates his own unique sensibility throughout. If you enjoy the aforementioned Dukes, or the likes of Martin Newell or Captain Sensible, you need to pick up a copy, fix a cup of your favorite...uh, tea, plug in the 'phones and achieve nirvana!"

Nick Nicely Nicely (re)Done

Troubadour Versus The Sea Witch | Wyandotte, MI | 06/22/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A perfect obscure gem of an album; electronic, ethereal, psychedelic, organic and pastoral. Though a re-issue, it still sounds as fresh as when it was released almost 30 years ago. Hurry and get it, because I am sure it will soon be out of print again. But it should be no surprise music of this beauty and complexity always flies way under the radar."