Search - Various Artists :: Electric Sugarcube

For fans of Nuggets II

Robert Schell | Townsville, Texas | 02/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, this ain't a compilation of songs by the group that Bjork used to sing for, it's actually an excellent compilation of prime late 60's psychedelic rock and pop from the U.K., with some tracks verging on prog. Fans of Nuggets II will eat this yummy sugarcube up, and will recognize a few songs from that box set. The sound quality isn't as good as Nuggets, though, and there are a few weaker numbers, so I'm only giving it four stars. This set kicks off with an alternate version of The Smoke's mega-classic "My friend Jack" with WAY more explicit druggy lyrics. The highlights after that are many. Moonkyte's "Jelly Man" sounds SO Syd Barrett...Fleur de Lys rock it up on the very metallic "Gong with the luminous nose"...Paul & Berry Ryan's "I can't make a friend" is wonderful, exuberant pop. Also, you get a pre-Hawkwind/Motorhead Lemmy in an outfit called Opal Butterfly doing "My Gration, or?" (only the second 60's song title I can think of that ends with the word "or," the other being "Alone again, or" by Love, of course) which has a very "Journey to the center of the mind" feel. Also present are psych-era tracks by Dave Clark 5 and future teeny-bopper glam gods The Sweet. If that weren't enough for you, you get the two best tracks off the great lost Gary Walker and the Rain album -- maybe the greatest unknown psychedelic album ever, and only available in an "unauthorized" edition. "The view" is a brooding Ray Davies-esque character study, and "If you don't come back" is a Lieber-Stoller number transformed into a raging, mind-blowing mod power-pop psych feedback storm to end all freakouts. It's that good. Get this, but only if you're very cool."

It's a nugget cuz you dug it!

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 06/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a really amazing album. It's chock full of obscure pop/psych nuggets from the mid to late sixties. And there's 22 tracks! There are truly some mindbending cuts on here, from Dream Magazine by Svensk, Floatin by Vamp, and Jelly Man by Moonkyte. I've got most all of the Nuggets, Pebbles, Trash Box, Beyond The Grave, Rubble, Mindrocker, and various other series, and I was truly pleased to find that these were all tracks I hadn't heard before. This is a real treasure, and a must for any collector of this type of music. The sound quality is quite good given the obsure nature of most of these songs. Included are fairly complete yet concise liner notes. A great purchase!"

'Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks' - Various Artists (Bomp/AIP

Mike Reed | USA | 01/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Worthy compilation of 21 different psych,garage and pop bands.A few are better known acts,but most are lesser known artists.All if not most of these tracks have been mastered off of a 45 vinyl,but rest assure the quality is still very decent.Cuts I thought more than carried their own were the Smoke demo for "My Friend Jack",Skip Bifferly's "On Love",The Sweet's "Time",the foot-stomping Big Boy Pete,with "Cold Turkey",Marmalade's "I See The Rain",Dave Clark Five-"Maze Of Love",The Kingsmen with "I Guess I Was Dreamin'" and Opal Butterfly's(Hawkwind's Simon King's first band)with a very clean mix of "My Gration Or?".One of the better various artists releases I've encountered in sometime now.A true keeper.Great cover,dont you agree?"