Review: Various Artists ‘Brown Acid – The Fifteenth Trip’
It’s Halloween season, and along with all the costumes, candy, and spooky shit, this time of year inevitably brings us another volume of Ridindeasy Records, at this point, long-running compilation series, Brown Acid. We are now up to the fifteenth ‘trip’ (volume) and for most fans of underground heavy rock, stoner, doom rock, and proto-metal, the Brown Acid series needs no introduction.
For the newcomer though, the cliff notes version is Lance Barresi, co-owner of LA’s Permanent Records, and RidingEasy Records Daniel Hall, have joined together on an expedition of digging up as much out-of-print, long lost, acid rock, garage rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal singles form the ‘comedown era’ between 1968-1975 as they can unearth. Most of the artists featured in the Brown Acid series never released full-lengths, the only documentation of their existence being a 45, perhaps self-financed, sent to local radio stations, and/or labels in the hopes of landing a record deal, but often instead being lost to the annals of time.
The Fifteenth Trip, like all the previous fourteen trips, serves up another killer batch of good-to-great rock from the comedown era. There’s a lot of fire right off the bat, as opener Take The Time by The Looking Glass features a menacing, walking, garage rock riff, before unfolding into a frantic, ass-shaking ripper, while second track 444 by The Zoo is a blown-out, distorted boogie-rock good time.
Lead-off single, Black Hawk’s Little Suzy Looker is catchy, and bouncy, featuring some killer guitar tone, and nice lead work, that is among the catchier tracks on The Fifteenth Trip, and I can see why RidingEasy released this one first. Although The Brown Acid series strives for unearthed gems, any stoner rocker and/or proto-metaler worth their weight is already familiar with Truth And Janey‘s cover of The Rolling Stones Under My Thumb, as Truth And Janey’s 1976 classic No Rest For The Wicked is among the best records of the ‘comedown era’, and The Stones cover is the weakest track on that album in my opinion. I’d encourage any reader that’s interested in music from this era to seek out No Rest For The Wicked as I’d consider it essential ‘70s listening.
another excellent installment of the Brown Acid series…
Elsewhere, another favorite of mine is the grimy, unhinged Iron Butterfly-esque awesomeness, and march of Negative Space’s (sick name, amazed I’m just hearing a band with this name now, and they’re an obscure ‘70s band no less) Forbidden Fruit. Meanwhile, not to be confused with the Police’s version, Scrap Iron’s Roxanne is an organ-infused, garage/psych ode to the band’s favorite nymphomaniac.
Crazy Louie’s My Pants is a slightly aggressive, rocking ‘70s track. Not heavy, not garage, but featuring an unstoppable main riff, and its driving rhythm is absolutely infectious. I hit ‘repeat’ multiple times on My Pants as I was absorbing The Fifteenth Trip. One would think this track would’ve gotten the band some attention back then, but alas, thank RidingEasy for shining a spotlight on this gem.
Closer, Space Traveling (Part 2) by Robert Starks is another favorite. This song puts the ‘psych’ in heavy psych, complete with rolling drums, tripped-out vibes, spaced-out single-note guitar noodling and is that bongos I hear? Robert Starks then proceeds to unleash one of the grimiest guitar licks to be found on any of Brown Acid’s trips. The tone is distorted, in the distance, blown-out and echo-y, but irresistibly killer.
RidingEasy Records has done it again. This is yet another excellent installment of the Brown Acid series, my only gripe is the inclusion of Truth And Janey’s Under My Thumb, but if that cover piques people’s interest enough to track down their full length, then that’s great because that record deserves to be heard. Nonetheless, minor complaints, because The Fifteenth Trip is overall an excellent addition to the series. Now, I’ll look forward to 4/20 and the inevitable Sixteenth Trip.
Label: RidingEasy Records | Permanent Records
Scribed by: Martin Williams
