ERPSONGS

Ozric Tentacles was one of many festival bands that got started making their own home made cassettes, and Erpsongs was one of them. Eventually they wanted to make the cassettes more official looking by giving them glossy colored inlays (Erpsongs being red, Tantric Obstacles orange, Live Ethereal Cereal yellow, There is Nothing green, Sliding Gliding Worlds blue, and The Bits Between the Bits grey), and the cassettes either yellow or clear, with the Erpman on the tapes and the titles.

I have been very familiar with Erpsongs ever since I bought the 2-for-1 CD set from Snapper that also included Tantric Obstacles. And then I bought the yellow cassette with red inlay, which is no different from the CD reissue (other than the inlay featuring more great Blim artwork the CD reissues don't have). I was in for a real shock when I was lucky to find a true original cassette, with the black and white inlay, and black cassette (with the title typewritten). It actually differs somewhat musically, that's why you need it. You get an extended version of "Tidal Otherness", an alternate version of "Erpriff" (where half is played in reverse), and two songs available nowhere else. The first mystery song is a short piece right after "Erpriff" that closes side one. "Oddhamshaw" isn't on this version, replaced by the other mystery song, a great full-on band jam that completely blows "Oddhamshaw" right out of the water, but because there was a couple audio glitches (that don't bother me much), it's little wonder all later pressings included "Oddhamshaw". The reason I call these two songs "mystery songs" is because the inlay never included a tracklisting (no cassette version of Erpsongs included a tracklisting, only the CD versions).

This original cassette version gave me a whole new appreciation towards Erpsongs, because of hearing stuff on it that's not available on any other edition (including the cassettes with the red inlay). Certainly you can tell they have room for improvement, but I have little to complain given that's what exactly they did (got even better). Erpsongs might not be the best place for a newbie the way Erpland or Jurassic Shift is, but if you're a fan, get it. I simply advise you also to keep your antennas open for the earliest cassette pressings.