Psychedelicatessen

FREEPORT      A Cleveland, Ohio psych band who went through a couple of incarnations (namely, Paper Sun and Freeport Express) before finally arriving at Freeport for the recording of their one and only self-titled album in 1970, when they were gone like the wind by the end of the year - leaving Freeport virtually no time to enjoy the Easy Living, hard loving lifestyle of rock star success and excess. Freeport sound like a proto version of Uriah Heep. In other words, they're 'eavy, but not so very 'umble.  

FREEDOM'S CHILDREN    Howzit! We're diving Durban Deep now into the KwaZulu-Natal region for South African band Freedom's Children - the best thing to come out of South Africa since Tarzan and Clarence the cross-eyed lion in Daktari! 

THE FREEBORNE      A Boston-based band whose band name was inspired by the movie Born Free, although The Freeborne didn't have the lion's share of the East Coast airwaves, being up against such notable purveyors of the "Bosstown Sound" as Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union and Orpheus. The Freeborne had long-term plans to record three albums together, but ultimately, the band fired their manager before being promptly dropped by their record company, bringing to an end The Freeborne's dreams of stardom and general hedonistic rock star excess. 

FREE ACTION INC.     One of the great German psych bands, although about as well-known outside of Germany as Udo Dirkschneider (Who!??). So who is the mysterious Eddie Korsche of the album title? Well, he was the owner of the Austro-Italian budget label Help! and had nothing whatsoever to do with the making of this album. So there you go, another piece of useless information to enlighten your friends with. 

THE FREAK SCENE     Originally known as The Deep,  a New York based Garage Rock band who travelled to Philadelphia to make an album on a limited budget of just $1200 - which is roughly what the original vinyl album is worth to serious collectors these days - but the band never toured and the album failed to chart. Hoping a name-change would bring them a change of fortune, the band kept the same line-up but changed their name to The Freak Scene for the release of "Psychedelic Psoul", but their sophomore album also met with a similar lack of success and the band broke up shortly afterwards. The Deep have their place in musical history though as they were the very first band to use the term "Psychedelic" in their album title. 

  1966: The Deep - Psychedelic Moods - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k8GhabZHmQxwU64W5dw8YwvSPNy59WGv4

  1967: The Freak Scene - Psychedelic Psoul - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ldtmcOA5hqyygJIviGsgEM-vtg14WoDOY

THE FRANTICS     A Psychedelic Rock band from Billings, Montana, who were variously known as "The Frantics", and then simply "Frantics" (without the definite article), before finally settling on "Frantic", which wouldn't have mattered back in the early 1970's, but complicates matters in 2024 when you're frantically searching for them on the Internet (although not quite as Frantic as Harrison Ford searching for his missing wife). 

FRACTION     A bluesy psych band from L.A. with a gravelly-voiced singer who sounds even more stoned than Jim Morrison, but who sound pretty good whichever way you divide it. 

FORD THEATRE      One of the "Big 4" of the "Bosstown Sound" in Boston, Massachusetts, alongside Beacon Street Union, Orpheus and Ultimate Spinach. Fort Theatre were regulars at the Boston Tea Party concert venue, which only existed for three years at the tail end of the 1960's and where it's probably not a good idea to order a cup of tea at the bar if you happened to be from England. 

FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND     One of the "Big Three" of Japanese psych - alongside Far East Family Band and Flied Egg - Flower Travellin' Band famously went nuclear with Hiroshima, but they also had a reputation to live down as the Japanese Black Sabbath - although they're not known to have bitten the heads off any bats. 

FLOOD     Better not forget your wellies if ever you're ever in New York City, because here comes The Rise of Flood with some mean and moody blues and psychedelic guitar grooves.