Though all of these cuts are unquestionably rare and as a whole representative of the scope of psychedelia in its British or British-derived form, they're pretty erratic in artistic quality, no matter what your taste. Some of these are unquestioned rare psych monsters that sound like tracks that should have qualified for the Nuggets II box of non-U.S. '60s freakbeat/psychedelia but somehow missed the cut. Among those near-masterpieces are the Lords' "Don't Mince Matter" (from Germany); Episode Six's brilliant "I Can See Through You," which is both tough and dreamy; Keith Relf's florid solo single "Shapes in My Mind," which hasn't been too easy to find on CD; the Afex's bopping mod rocker "She's Got the Time"; the Bunch's overlooked fanciful but melancholic "Looking Glass Alice"; the Peep Show's hazy "Mazy"; the Mickey Finn's crunchy "Garden of My Mind"; and Peter Cook & Dudley Moore's great psychedelic spoof "The L.S. Bumble Bee," often mistakenly bootlegged as a Beatles outtake, and surprisingly rarely reissued. There are also off the beaten path items by well-known or fairly well-known acts like Shocking Blue, the Mindbenders, Jackie Lomax, Terry Reid, Eire Apparent, Kim Fowley, Murray Head, Mick Softley, the Smoke, and East of Eden that, though not their best work, haven't been too widely heard.
Much of this box, however, has some fairly generic or even mediocre psychedelia that sounds like it might be championed by the odd collector here and there, but certainly wouldn't be recognized as consensus picks among the cream of the genre. In that sense, it often sounds like an alternate Nuggets II box set, Nuggets II being the major-league stars and the We Can Fly players stuck at the higher levels of the minor leagues. Sometimes the connections the artists had to major-league players are more interesting than the recordings themselves. The Bystanders, for instance, evolved into Man; the Cedars (from Lebanon, of course) were produced by Tony Hicks of the Hollies; Italian singer Giorgio is Donna Summer producer Giorgio Moroder; the Glass Menagerie were produced by Chas Chandler; Kippington Lodge had a young Nick Lowe in the lineup; the Iveys became Badfinger; Tangerine Peel were led by Mike Chapman; Trash were on Apple Records without releasing an LP; Danny McCulloch had been in Eric Burdon & the Animals; etc. All those loose ends and more are tied up in the 84-page booklet, which has plenty of information about the bands and their releases.
CD 1
1. Penny Peeps - Model Village
2. Loot - Try To Keep It A Secret
3. Moving Finger - Pain Of My Misfortune
4. Anan - I Wonder Where My Sister's Gone
5. Peep Show - Mazy
6. Glass Menagerie - Frederick Jordan
7. Bunch - Looking Glass Alice
8. Neat Change - I Lied To Auntie May
9. Movement - Tell Her
10. Sands - Mrs Gillespie's Refrigerator
11. Kippington Lodge - I Can See Her Face
12. Infantes Jubilate - Exploding Galaxy
13. Smoke - That's What I Want
14. QPR Supporters - Supporters Support Us
15. Trash - Trash Can
16. Orange Machine - Real Life Permanent Dream
17. Serendipity - Castles
18. Mickey Finn - Garden Of My Mind
19. Kytes - Running In The Water
20. Portobello Explosion - We Can Fly
21. Fox - Mr Carpenter
22. Sound Barrier - Groovin' Slow
23. Mooche - Hot Smoke And Sassafras
24. Fruit Machine - The Wall
25. Image - Creation
26. Episode 6 - Love Hate Revenge
27. Peter Cook & Dudley Moore - LS Bumble Bee
CD 2
1. Shy Limbs - Rick Or Two
2. Brainbox - Amsterdam The First Days
3. Cedars - Hide If You Want To Hide
4. Pugh - Love Love Love
5. John Fitch & Associates - Stones Out Of It
6. Lords - Don't Mince Matter
7. Nite People - Love Love Love
8. Montanas - Difference Of Opinion
9. Julian Kirsch - Clever Little Man
10. Blonde On Blonde - All Day And All Night
11. Avalanche - Rabbits
12. West Coast Consortium - Colour Sergeant Lillywhite
13. Tages - Fuzzy Patterns
14. Mirage - Hold On
15. Petards - Tartarex
16. Bystanders - Cave Of Clear Light
17. AP Dangerfield - Conversations (In A Station Light Refreshment Bar)
18. AP Dangerfield - Further Conversations
19. Blinkers - Original Sin
20. Danny McCulloch - Colour Of The Sunset
21. Joy Unlimited - Mr Pseudonym
22. Moonshine - Garden Of Men
CD 3
1. Magicians - Painting On Wood
2. Pesky Gee - Where Is My Mind?
3. O'Hara's Playboys - The Ballad Of The Soon Departed
4. Cherry Smash - Sing Songs Of Love
5. St John & The Crew - I'm A Man
6. Mick Softley - Am I The Red One
7. Murray Head - She Was Perfection
8. Callan And John - House Of Delight
9. Tales Of Justine - Monday Morning
10. Brut - My Kind Of feeling
11. I Corvi - Sospesa Ad Un Filo
12. The Washington DC's - Seek and Find
13. Made In Sheffield - Amelia Jane
14. The Sugarbeats - Alice Designs
15. Mecki Mark Men - Free
16. The League - Hey Conductor
17. The Afex - She's Got The Time
18. Shocking Blue - Send Me A Postcard
19. Jackie Lomax - Genuine Imitation Life
20. The New Generation - Digger
21. Los Brincos - Passport
22. The Fox - Secondhand Love
23. The Excelsior Spring - It
24. Bulldog Breed - Paper Man
25. Daddy Lindberg - Wade In The Shade
CD 4
1. Brass Tacks - Maxwell Ferguson
2. Neo Maya - I Won't Hurt You
3. Russell Morris - The Real Thing
4. The Rokes - When The Wind Arises
5. The Eire Apparent - Here I Go Again
6. The Wimple Winch - I Really Love You
7. Keith Shields - So Hard Living Without You
8. 14 - Drizzle
9. Lucas Tyson - Daylight Child
10. Hopscotch - Look At The Lights Go Up
11. The Truth - Sueno
12. The Bunch - We're Not What We Appear To Be
13. Griffin - I Am The Noise In Your Head
14. Five Steps Beyond - Not So Young Today
15. The Tangerine Peel - Trapped
16. Los Canarios - What Can I Do For You?
17. Strange Fox - Time And Tide
18. Mint - Luv
19. The Orange Machine - Dr. Crippen's Waiting Room
20. The Ferris Wheel - I Can't Break The Habit
21. The Beatstalkers - Silver Chocolate Machine
22. The Mindbenders - My New Day And Age
23. Les Baroques - Love Is The Sun
24. Terry Reid - Fires Alive
25. Magnet - Mr. Guy Fawkes
CD 5
1. Circus - Do You Dream?
2. The Fruit Machine - Follow Me
3. Harsh Reality - How Do You Feel?
4. Georgio - How Much Longer Must I Wait, Wait?
5. The Iveys - And Her Daddy's A Millionaire
6. East Of Eden - Ballad Of Harvey Kaye
7. Old Gold - Teacher Of Electricity
8. I Corvi - Un Ragazzo Di Strada
9. Human Instinct - Rich Man
10. Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera - Salisbury Plain
11. Keith Relf - Shapes In My Mind
12. The Gibsons - City Life
13. Episode Six - I Can See Through You
14. Orange Peel - I Got No Time
15. Gnomes Of Zurich - Second Fiddle
16. Mirage - And Life Goes On
17. Saker - Foggy Tuesday
18. The Cedars - I Don't Know Why
19. Kim Fowley - Lights
20. Cuby & The Blizzards - Appleknockers Flophouse
21. The Loot - Radio City
22. Silver Eagle - Theodore
23. The Bunch - Spare a Shilling
24. Nite People - P.M.
25. The Montanas - Anyone There
26. The Nocturnes - Look At Me
27. Groep 1850 - Friday I'm Free
28. Danny McCulloch - Smokeless Zone
29. Chris McClure - Meditation
