About this item

While the likes of “Rubber Soul”, ‘See My Friends’ and ‘Still I’m Sad’ had served notice in 1965 of British pop’s heightened level of ambition, 1966 would prove to be an even more tumultuous twelvemonth period as experimentation and innovation grew to new levels.

The release that August of “Revolver” – whose cataclysmic closing track ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ landed amongst the record-buying public like an impenetrable missile from outer space – brought the concept of psychedelic music out of the margins and into the mainstream.

However, psychedelia – condemned by national newspaper The Sun as “the new and dangerous sound in pop music” – had been percolating throughout the year. The word was already in subterranean use in America, adapted by the likes of The 13th Floor Elevators and Hollywood hustler Kim Fowley, who in late 1965 had become the first person to promote a record with the term “psychedelic”.

Arriving in London in March 1966, Fowley became a proselytising influence for the new sound, instructing bemused young British bands to “act psychedelically”. His sojourn coincided with the relocation of Californian band The Misunderstood, whose incendiary sound and stage act was a major influence on a new generation of British acts.

Meanwhile, serial pioneers The Yardbirds were making increasingly audacious music, their new manager Simon Napier-Bell instructed the young John’s Children to become “the first psychedelic group”, while mod band The Creation developed an intriguing pop-art approach.

Featuring 84 tracks, A Slight Disturbance In My Mind: The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds Of 1966 examines the “experimental pop” element of the British music scene during that epochal twelvemonth period with a dizzying, dazzling mix of nascent psychedelia, introspective pop and what’s been retrospectively labelled freakbeat.

We feature vital contributions from some of the era’s biggest names (The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Animals etc), a bunch of highly collectable cult classics, a huge stash of unissued-at-thetime nuggets and early outings for such future legends as Bowie, Bolan, Slade and The Bee Gees.

Housed in a clamshell box containing a 52-page booklet crammed with biographical information and priceless period photos and memorabilia, A Slight Disturbance In My Mind is a glorious snapshot of British pop storming the gates of a new, strange and wonderful dawn.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

1. MAKING TIME – The Creation
2. SHAPES OF THINGS – The Yardbirds
3. I’LL KEEP HOLDING ON – The Action
4. MUD IN YOUR EYE – Fleur-De-Lys
5. SWEET MUSIC – The Koobas
6. ORIENTAL SADNESS – The Hollies
7. PLAY DOWN – The Bee Gees
8. AM I THE RED ONE (ALTERNATIVE MIX) – Mick Softley With The Summer Suns*
9. I UNSEEN – The Misunderstood
10. SECURITY (EXTENDED VERSION) – The ’N Betweens*
11. I DIG EVERYTHING – David Bowie
12. SHE’S A GIRL – The Attraction
13. A HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY – The Pretty Things
14. DADDY LONG LEGS (BRASS-FREE VERSION) – Lindsay Muir’s Untamed
15. MAN WITH MONEY – Outrage*
16. THE QUIET EXPLOSION – The Ugly’s
17. THIRTEEN WOMEN – The Renegades
18. I TAKE IT THAT WE’RE THROUGH – The Riot Squad
19. MAJOR CATASTROPHE – Katch 22
20. HIPPY GUMBO (DEMO VERSION) – Marc Bolan
21. I WILL HAVE YOU – Just Five
22. TOMORROW NIGHT – The Times
23. BLOW-UP – The In Crowd
24. SIMPLIFIED – The Majority
25. BACK SEAT DRIVER – The Ministry Of Sound
26. BABY, YOU’VE GOT IT – The Truth
27. I JUST GOT SOME – Rod Stewart
28. ANSWERS PLEASE – The Luvin’ Kind

DISC TWO
1. MY FRIEND JACK (DEMO VERSION) – The Smoke
2. PLEASE PLEASE ME – The Score
3. PAINTER MAN (2017 STEREO MIX) – The Creation
4. WHY DON’T YOU SMILE NOW – Downliners Sect
5. YOU’VE GOTTA HAVE LOVE BABE (DEMO VERSION) – Graham Bond Organisation
6. OUTCAST – The Animals
7. WE’RE BROKEN – The Moody Blues
8. I’VE LAID SOME DOWN IN MY TIME – Tony Colton
9. WELL…ALL RIGHT – The People
10. SHAPES IN MY MIND (US 45 VERSION) – Keith Relf
11. MY TIME (BRASS-FREE VERSION) – The Pretty Things
12. FANCY – The Kinks
13. YOU’RE MY GIRL – Manfred Mann
14. WHAT A STATE I’M IN – The Tremeloes
15. TURN INTO EARTH – Al Stewart
16. THE MORNING AFTER – The Mindbenders
17. WALKIN’ WALKIN’ WALKIN’ – The Favourite Sons
18. HAVE YOU EVER LOVED SOMEBODY – The Searchers
19. HUNGRY – The 5 A.M. Event
20. MOLLY ANDERSON’S COOKERY BOOK – The Artwoods
21. TAX MAN – Loose Ends
22. THE RUIN – Deep Feeling
23. KICKS – The Wheels
24. YOU’RE MY GIRL – The Kingpins
25. PAINT IT BLACK – The Tomcats
26. SAGITTARIUS – The Cortinas
27. WRONG WAY – The Brood
28. HOLIDAYMAKER – The Key

DISC THREE
1. THE LOVE I THOUGHT I’D FOUND – John’s Children
2. SAVE MY SOUL – The Wimple Winch
3. STROLL ON – The Yardbirds
4. GLENDORA – Downliners Sect
5. I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE (DEMO VERSION) – The Flies
6. IT’S A CRIME – The Kirkbys
7. LET THE LIVE LIVE – The Sorrows
8. I GO TO SLEEP – The Fingers
9. DON’T TELL ME – Arthur Brown
10. HAPPY NEW YEAR – Beverley
11. I AM THE WORLD – The Bee Gees
12. CLOWN – The Hollies
13. INDICATION – The Zombies
14. LITTLE ROSY – The Rocking Vickers
15. WHAT DOES SHE DO – Sounds Around
16. MY LITTLE RED BOOK – Episode Six
17. NO MORE YOU AND ME – The Tornados ’66
18. GIRL CHILD, I AM AN EVIL WITCHMAN – The ’N Betweens
19. HURDY GURDY MAN – The Spectres
20. SUMMER LEAVES ME WITH A SIGH – Tuesday’s Children
21. ADVERTISING MAN – The Reaction
22. MY WORLD FELL DOWN – The Ivy League
23. HEY, YOU LOLITA – The Silence
24. I SUPPOSE – The Secrets
25. DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE SONG – Outrage*
26. TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS – The Mirage
27. MY MIND – The Misunderstood
28. DISTURBANCE – The Move

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED