Try A Little Sunshine: The British Psychedelic Sounds Of 1969

1967 was undoubtedly the high-water mark of the era, but the psychedelic genre's influence lingered for some while afterwards. Nevertheless, there were significant changes during that period, and by the end of the decade the British music scene had largely polarised into two distinct camps: the influence of the counterculture saw the burgeoning college/university circuit grow as "serious" pop evolved into rock, while the more exploitative, commercial element of the industry reacted to the success of manufactured bands like The Monkees to instigate a sub-genre dismissively dubbed bubblegum. That dichotomy saw the British pop and rock scene exhibit a strong element of musical schizophrenia, as can be heard on Try A Little Sunshine: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1969, the latest instalment in Grapefruit's acclaimed late Sixties series. A significant number of great, heavily lysergic records were still appearing (if psychedelia was dead, clearly nobody had told the likes of The Factory, Fleur de Lys or Jason Crest), but the musical template did mutate. The Attack's chunky mod-pop vignettes gave way to Andromeda's power trio riffing, Status Quo moved from day-glo popsike to a looser, bluesier approach, The Pretty Things reluctantly left behind their neglected masterpiece S. F. Sorrow to explore more introverted territory, Grapefruit traded their gossamer-light harmony pop template for a relatively stripped-down sound, and Colin Giffin eschewed The End's psychedelic dreamscapes to dabble in post-'Eleanor Rigby' baroque pop. In addition to such cornerstone creations, our overview ranges from ultra-commercial (but still unsuccessful) bubblegum-flecked singles by the likes of Pure Gold, Balloon Busters and Strawberry Jam to the arrival of prog-rock underground groups such as Woody Kern, Pussy and the righteously-obscure Irish band Taxi. We also feature some of the more pop-oriented folkies/singer-songwriters, including Ralph McTell's attempt at a summer pop hit single.

Disc: 1
1 Try A Little Sunshine - The Factory
2 Reputation - Shy Limbs
3 Little Boy - Beatstalkers
4 Letters From Edith - The Spencer Davis Group
5 Roundabout - The Montanas
6 Sister - Cliff Wade
7 Brother Thrush - Barclay James Harvest
8 (Vision In A) Plaster Sky - Wild Silk
9 The Day The Train Never Came - Consortium
10 Lifetime - The Bliss
11 This Is To A Girl - Strawberry Jam
12 River Boat Queen - Audience
13 Captain Reale - Gentle Influence
14 A Salty Dog - Procol Harum
15 Green Mello Hill - Angel Pavement
16 The Walrus And The Carpenter - Peter Howell & John Ferdinando
17 This Time Tomorrow - The Move
18 Shine A Little Light Into My Room - Jason Paul
19 Stay Indoors - The New Formula
20 Running Wild - Fresh Air
21 Dogs And Cats - The Sorrows
22 We Built The Sun - Pussy
23 Baby And Me - The Hammers
24 Being Human Being (Alternative Version) - Paper Bubble
Disc: 2
1 Child On A Crossing - Writing On The Wall
2 Dr Crippenâ™s Waiting Room - The Orange Machine
3 Liar - Fleur De Lys
4 Seen Through A Light - The Mooche
5 Itâ™s Only Love - Sam Gopal
6 Deep Water - Grapefruit
7 Stop - Pan Pipers
8 Marrakesh - Fortes Mentum
9 Flaxen Hair - Marc Brierley
10 Changes In Our Time - Colin Giffin
11 Creeping Jean - Dave Davies
12 Who Wants Happiness - Tapestry
13 She Said, She Said - Grand Union
14 Only George - Scrugg
15 Summer Come Along - Ralph McTell
16 It Happened Two Sundays Ago - Nirvana
17 Doubtful Nellie - Tuesdayâ™s Children
18 Mindless Child Of Motherhood - Ewan Stephens
19 Biography - Woody Kern
20 Alcock And Brown - Balloon Busters
21 Magic Car - Edwards Hand
22 How Does It Feel - The Good Ship Lollipop
23 No Reason - Shere Khan
24 Morning Way - Trader Horne
Disc: 3
1 Black Mass - Jason Crest
2 Last Cloud Home - The Orange Bicycle
3 (Who Planted Thorns In) Miss Aliceâ™s Garden - The Explosive
4 Just What I Was Looking For Today - The Spectrum
5 The Price Of Love - Status Quo
6 This Little Boy - 1984
7 Death Of A Dream Machine - The Deviants
8 Day Of The Change - Andromeda
9 Mr Rainbow - Homerâ™s Knods
10 You Might Even Say - Pretty Things
11 Cry Baby Cry - Freedom
12 Saturday Roundabout Sunday - The Humblebums
13 We Want You To Stay (Demo Version) - Bill Fay
14 What A Groovy Day - Harmony Grass
15 Mr Beverlyâ™s Heavy Days - The Freshmen
16 Little Bird - Eyes Of Blue
17 Tamaris Khan - The Onyx
18 The School Boy - Fiveâ™s Company
19 Looking Towards The Sky - Davey Payne & The Medium Wave Band
20 Fairground - Pure Gold
21 Petrol Pump Assistant - Fat Mattress
22 Good Old â™59 (We Are Slowly Gettin♠Older) - Second Hand
23 Counting Time My Way - Taxi
24 Burning The Weed - Bobak, Jons, Malone
25 Armageddon - Cape Kennedy Construction Company