VA - Deviation Street, High Times in Ladbroke Grove 1967-1975 [2023] (3 x CDs)

WEST LONDON FREAK SCENE

VA - Deviation Street, High Times in Ladbroke Grove 1967-1975 [2023] (3 x CDs)

In the late '60s and part of the '70s, the Ladbroke Grove area of West London was home to a thriving bohemian community that included hippies, activists, psychedelic experimenters, and a good number of bands funneling all of this energy into strange and exciting new rock & roll sounds. In that time, Ladbroke Grove and its adjoining sectors of Notting Hill and Holland Park were decades away from gentrification and offered the kind of low rent and under-maintained environment that artistic movements historically blossom in, and a cluster of freakish bands quickly congealed into a localized scene. Deviation Street: High Times in Ladbroke Grove 1967-1975 collects key artifacts from this scene, with three discs and more than 50 tracks from bands as well known as Roxy Music, Hawkwind, and Tyrannosaurus Rex (an early iteration of T. Rex) but mostly made up of more obscure artists. Tracks by more recognizable names are still off the beaten path, with pre-Hawkwind configuration Hawkwind Zoo contributing their mellow and beautiful folk-psych track "Hurry On Sundown" and Roxy Music's drony and experimental "2HB (Demo Version)" coming from the band's very first 1971 recording sessions. Other acts of note included on the comp are the Action, the Pretty Things, and the Pink Fairies, who burn the house down with their fiery ten-minute-plus proto-prog jam "Uncle Harry's Last Freak Out." The songs from the lesser-known acts are as interesting as those from the bands that made it out of Ladbroke Grove, and sometimes convey more daring creativity or more specific perspectives. Third Ear Band's "Very Fine…Far Away" is a formless cloud of floating voices and synthesizer textures that predicts ambient rock by at least 20 years. Blues-rocker Ram John Holder gets downright colloquial with some of his contributions, zeroing in on the joys and tribulations of his immediate surroundings on locals-only songs like "Ladbroke Grove Blues" and "Notting Hill Eviction Blues." The massive comp covers a lot of ground, most of it strange, surreal, and psychedelic, and the majority of material from the under-famous bands here is seeing widescale release for the first time. Taking in the Deviation Street's entire four-hour program is a transportational trip back to what must have been a wild and beautiful window of music history, with lots of weird wonders being unearthed. (AMG review by Fred Thomas)

This is a fabulous set.

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Track lists

CD1

01 Quintessence - Notting Hill Gate (Single Version) 4:40

02 Hawkwind Zoo - Hurry On Sundown 6:58

03 Carol Grimes And Delivery - Blind To Your Light 5:07

04 Tomorrow - Hallucinations 2:38

05 Bodast - Black Leather Gloves 3:25

06 Tickle - Subway (Smokey Pokey World) 2:42

07 Village - Long Time Coming 2:36

08 Cochise - Painted Lady 7:02

09 Sam Gopal - Cold Embrace 3:22

10 Action - Im A Stranger 2:47

11 Skin Alley - Living In Sin 4:40

12 Mataya - Changes 2:56

13 Pretty Things - Sickle Clowns 6:35

14 Family - Song For Lots 3:42

15 Kingdom Come - Galactic Zoo 2:35

16 Roger Bunn - Powis Square Child 2:31

17 Peter Bardens - The Answer 5:27

18 Bond And Brown - Looking For Time 1:56

19 Boeing Duveen And The Beautiful Soup - Which Dreamed It 2:31

20 Edgar Broughton Band - Out Demons Out 4:47

CD2

01 Stray - All In Your Mind 4:03

02 High Tide - Blankman Cries Again 8:29

03 Steamhammer - Turn Around 3:40

04 Davey Graham And Holly - Afta 3:20

05 Mighty Baby - Slipstreams 5:23

06 Skin Alley - Sun Music 4:59

07 Quiver - Glad I Came Around 5:04

08 Hapshash And The Coloured Coat - A Mind Blown Is A Mind Shown 2:29

09 Hawkwind - We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago 4:51

10 Deviants - Slum Lord 2:20

11 Ram John Holder - Notting Hill Eviction Blues 2:43

12 Ron Geesin - Concrete Line Up 2:22

13 Chimera - Sad Song For Winter 2:44

14 Trader Horne - Velvet To Atone 2:28

15 G F Fitz-Gerald - April Affair 5:28

16 Tyrannosaurus Rex - Rings Of Fortune 2:35

17 Misunderstood - My Mind 2:36

18 Rosemary - If 3:08

19 Pink Fairies - Uncle Harrys Last Freak-Out 10:53

CD3

01 Juniors Eyes - Circus Days 2:59

02 Trees - Nothing Special 4:32

03 Aquarian Age - 10 000 Words In A Cardboard Box 3:27

04 Quintessence - Cosmic Surfer 3:49

05 Noir - The System 7:19

06 Third Ear Band - Very Fine Far Away 2:36

07 Shagrat - Still Yawning Still-Born 3:02

08 Roxy Music - 2hb [Demo Version] 7:19

09 Rosemary - One Hand Clapping 3:46

10 Uncle Dog - Old Hat 3:43

11 Mick Farren - Summertime Blues 2:37

12 Robert Calvert - The Right Stuff 4:25

13 Michael Moorcock And The Deep Fix - Kings Of Speed 2:52

14 Motorhead - Lost Johnny 3:32

15 101ers - Silent Telephone 2:22

16 Mataya - Im A Free Man 3:27

17 Ram John Holder - Ladbroke Grove Blues 3:06

18 Ginger Johnson And His African Messengers - Witchdoctor 4:12

19 Deviants - Deviation Street 8:53

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