FRUITS DE MER 2LP KEEP OF THE GRASS GREEN VINYL + INSCENCE STICKS

	£		41
	$		54

ONLY 400 COPIES OF THIS COLLECTABLE 2LP SET ON GREEN VINYL WERE RELEASED BY LEGENDARY LABEL FRUITS DE MER!! BEAUTIFUL GATEFOLD SLEEVE. STILL SHRINKWRAPPED IN PRISTINE CONDITION AND COMES COMPLETE WITH THE FRUITS DE MER PACK OF SPECIAL BLEND INSCENCE STICKES!!

...Fruits de Mer's follow-up to their sell-out album (in a good way) 'A Phase We're Going Through'. This time it's a double album (gatefold sleeve, colour vinyl, you know the kind of thing) with 85 minutes of psychedelic sounds. 19 great bands reinterpret the best the 60s had to offer - from phased sunshine pop, to acoustic psych, to far-out fuzz and all things in between and, occasionally, to the side.

RELEASED IN 2011

CAT NUMBER~: FRUITS DE MER 21

RECORD/SLEEVE/INSERSTS ALL IN MINT CONDITION 

T/L

King Penguin
Thoughts And Words
(The Byrds)

The Seventh Ring Of Saturn
Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box
(The Aquarian Age)

Stay
Back Of Your Mind - live
(The Nazz)

Permanent Clear Light
Cymbaline
(Pink Floyd)

Sendelica
Journey To The Center Of The Mind
(The Amboy Dukes)

Jay Tausig
Open My Eyes
(The Nazz)

Zombies of the Stratosphere
Sunshine River
(Gemini)

The Past Tense
Shattered
(The Good Feelin's)

The Bevis Frond
Creepin' Around
(The Sky Saxon Blues Band)

Hills Have Riffs
Down By The River
(The Godz)

Dead Sea Apes, featuring Gabriel Minnikin
Land Of The Sun
(Skip Spence)

Cranium Pie's Baking Research Station
Welcome To The Citadel
(Marc Brierley)

Sky Picnic
Revolution
(Tomorrow)

Octopus Syng
Midsummer Night's Scene
(John's Children)

The Daedalus Spirit Orchestra
White Rabbit
(Jefferson Airplane)

The Luck of Eden Hall
Something In The Air
(Thunderclap Newman)

Langor
Rain
(The Beatles)

Earthling Society
Dark Side Of The Mushroom
(The Chocolate Watch Band)

Extra
Utterly Simple
(Traffic)

REVIEW

Right, after those two releases, the main course is about to be served, a 19 track double LP featuring new versions of old classics, housed in a gatefold sleeve and limited to 500 copies, dontcha just love vinyl.
Opening with some chiming guitar and hand drums, King Penguin sound languid and reasonably stoned on 'Thoughts and Words', the sound of a sitar giving that authentic sixties ambience, a great start. Covering one of my favourite songs, 'Ten Thousand Words in a Cardboard Box' gives The Seventh Ring of Saturn extra brownie points, the fact that they get it spot on is just a complete delight, keeping the songs lysergic intensity and adding some energy of their own. Live and also filled with energy, Stay get their teeth into 'Back of Your Mind', sounding like it was a good night, before Permanent Clear Light do wonderful things to 'Cymbaline', giving it a nice smoky haze.
Featuring some fine guitar work, Sendelica may possibly improve on, or at least remove the cheesiness of, 'Journey to the Center of the Mind', certainly the playing is tighter and the phaser is turned way up. Tackling the second Nazz song of the disc, Jay Tausig is faithful to the original as he gives 'Open My Eyes' the once over, realising you cant mess with perfection. Firmly ensconced in 1967, Extra produce a wonderful cover of 'Utterly Simple' on of the Album's highlight for me, patchouli is almost compulsory.
Enchanting the senses 'Sunshine River' is covered blissfully by Zombies of the Stratosphere, whilst a spooky psychedelic atmosphere is conjured up by The Past Tense on their version of 'Shattered'. To end the first LP, Hills Have Riffs retain the strangeness of The Godz on their excellent version of 'Down By the River', proving power does not mean volume, as they up the tension beautifully.
Opening with a ten minute version of 'Welcome to the Citadel', Cranium Pie's Baking Research Station, take the compilation into Prog territory, a sprawling effort that manages to avoid too many time changes, more Porcupine Tree than Magma, the whole thing gliding by in no time at all. Next up one of my favourites on the LP, a rather fine cover of 'Revolution' from Sky Picnic, female vocals giving the song a new twist that works well. Opening with a wrench of feedback Dead Sea Apes version of 'Land of The Sun' is a sonic masterpiece to be savoured, a powerful and brooding beast that need loads of volume to scramble your senses properly. Back to the Psych-Pop, Octopus Syng offer a bright and sparkling 'Midsummer Night's Dream' before we go to the west coast as The Daedalus Spirit Orchestra take on possibly the most famous psych track of all time, their version of 'White Rabbit' slower and more brooding than the original, working well in its own right. Sticking to the original template, 'Something In the Air', sounds as stately as ever in the hands of The Luck of Eden Hall, whilst Langor do justice to that Beatles obscurity 'Rain'.
To round off the LP, Bevis Frond Makes 'Creepin' Around' his own, his guitar work as delicious as ever, before The Earthling Society end it all with 'Dark Side of the Mushroom', a suitably trippy arrangement that leaves you fulfilled and slightly deranged, what a long strange trip its been, but worth every moment.
To sum it all up, these three release would be perfect Christmas gifts at any time of year, give them a listen and fall in love all over again. Hats off to Fruits Der Mer for such sterling service in the face of economic adversity, long may they reign.

(Simon Lewis Ptolmaic Terrascope)