A COLLECTION OF STRANGE PSYCHEDELIC SONGS

One of the things I love so much about the ProgArchives database is the joy of all-out adventuring randomly through the terrain, discovering the little gems and obscurities that exist here because dedicated music fans, many years ago, took their free time and populated this online landscape. Many have moved on, but their work remains. I enjoy finding these little-known gems really more so than the releases from the prog giants who command all the attention. There's just something about a treasure hunt, isn't there?

That said, not every little gem and obscurity is a fantastic, essential rock title. But they all have a place somewhere, in the lives of someone---even the most obscure or underground or experimental work is magic to the right person, yet another form of the musical treasure hunt. This was an album that is not the kind of stuff I usually listen to, but I stuck with it and came to appreciate it. Delirio Sonoro is listed as a Crossover band and perhaps they are. I did not listen to their entire catalog. But this particular album strikes me as a psych/space affair from a band inspired by Floyd and Hawkwind. This is a compilation album featuring selected tracks from each of their official releases as well as a handful of extra previously unreleased tracks, creating a nice bonus for people who have the others already. With the wide gulf of time passed and changing personnel, obviously these sibling songs are going to sound fragmented somewhat. As with all compilation releases, this is a problem for you or it isn't.

The music of Strange Psych Songs is indeed pretty strange and a pretty good soundtrack for an afternoon of altered moods if that is one's thing. It's also somewhat inconsistent in quality. Some stuff is pretty great. A couple tracks make me wonder why they were chosen as highlights. Describing the songs as one extended journey---that's how I listen to stuff like this---the sound is full of creative forks in the road: atmospheric space rock, bubbly electronica, grooving rhythms, ambient sound, industrial noise/drone, voice collage, and modern psych. Guitars are used unconventionally as texture, the tone often clean or with a light flange effect. Sometimes you'll hear distortion and old school psych leads, but not often. The drumming, when used, is pretty basic and understated, but one of the long tracks has an extended section of Nick-Mason-at-Pompeii wildman bone-smashing. And yes, "It's Braining Again," the track everyone mentions with the lightly accompanied extended clarinet solo is really cool. Despite my usual disdain for samplers/compilations, this one is pretty effective and reasonably enjoyable.

As I said at the very top, "Everyone hears something different." What I meant is that if you read all of the reviews about this band on our artist page, it's pretty humorous how our various long-time reviewers are hearing wildly different things in this band. And perhaps that is the real feather in the cap for Delirio Sonoro, that everyone hears something different. What will you hear?

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