VA - Faces From The Dark, Beat And Psychedelia At The Modern Music Centre 1965-1969 [2022]

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VA - Faces From The Dark, Beat And Psychedelia At The Modern Music Centre 1965-1969 [2022]

Released in 2022 by Top Sounds Records, Faces From The Dark is a limited-edition CD compilation that unearths 28 tracks recorded at the Modern Music Centre in Chiswick, London between 1965 and 1969. Only 500 copies were pressed, and it comes housed in a wallet-style digibook with a 64-page booklet packed with artist bios, studio history, and rare photos.

The Modern Music Centre was a modest studio tucked away at 86 Turnham Green Terrace, yet it welcomed a flood of hopefuls during the British beat and psychedelic boom. Over 70 acetates are known to exist from the studio’s own label, but most were never commercially released, making this set a serious dig into the archives.

Of the 28 tracks, 25 are previously unreleased, restored from original acetates by Peter Reynolds at Reynolds Mastering. The sound is mono, raw, and full of fuzzed-out charm. You’ll hear The Henchmen, Faces In The Dark, Tomorrow’s Children, and British Mad, among others, bands that never made it past the demo stage but captured the spirit of the era with garage grit and psychedelic ambition.

Highlights include “LSD” by Tomorrow’s Children (written by Dick Taylor and Phil May of The Pretty Things), “Fresh Garbage” by 1984, and “Somebody To Love” by The Arthur Hinge Speed Band. There’s even a version of “Hey Joe” by The Breeze and a haunting closer from Charlotte Black titled “Charge Of The Light Brigade.”

Compiled by Nigel Lees, the set is a love letter to the forgotten fringes of UK psych and beat. It’s not just rare—it’s revelatory, offering a glimpse into a studio that quietly documented a scene bubbling just beneath the surface. (B)

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Track list

01 Henchmen - My Baby's Gone 2:42

02 John Stoughton - Sticks and Stones 1:49

03 Trees - Please Go Steady 1:49

04 Faces in The Dark - All I Need 2:24

05 Fore Gonks - The Teaser 3:00

06 Generation 5 - Come on Back 2:39

07 Now Conchords - In This World 2:59

08 Diatones - Faces 2:07

09 Chevrons - Why Don't You Love Me Like Before 2:51

10 Grass - I'll Keep on Holding On 3:28

11 Four's Company - I Keep Forgetting 2:39

12 Fables - I Try Too Hard 3:33

13 Breeze - Three Day Eternity 2:30

14 Item - N.S.U. 2:41

15 Sole System - Glendora 2:39

16 Tomorrow's Children - LSD 2:09

17 Cloud - Doo Doo Song 2:23

18 20th Century Sounds - Flight of The Fortune Teller 3:19

19 Breeze - Hey Joe 4:30

20 1984 - Hush 3:27

21 British Mad - December 41st 3:41

22 Arthur Hinge Speed Band - Somebody to Love 3:34

23 Charlotte Black - So You Want to Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star 3:18

24 Cloud - Something You Got 4:04

25 1984 - Fresh Garbage 3:06

26 Sun - Mind's Garden 2:26

27 British Mad - Talking to The Rain 1:27

28 Charlotte Black - Charge of The Light Brigade 2:48

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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