VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych (Arf! Arf!)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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I believe this is the third in Arf Arf's psych comp series, adding Hard to the previous Heavy and Light discs. As with those collections, there are plenty of songs here that will make you cringe and thank your maker that the performers are now safely away from the public ear somewhere in the working sector. Then there are bands like Bondsmen ("Our Time To Try"), Mind Garage ("Asphalt Mother"), Legend ("Enjoy Yourself") and Enoch Smoky ("It's Cruel") that had exactly what it took to open for Iron Butterfly back in the day, and these songs are what makes being a garage psych fan a pleasure. Taken as a whole, Lethal Dose is, at the very least, interesting, a hodgepodge of everything from spirited fuzzfests from groups with dubious vocal skills to absolute mind-expansion from groups from which a contact high can somehow still be obtained just by listening. For those of you who collect garage gems from obscure bands of the 60s, this is all moot. You'll snag it regardless. For the casual fans, I recommend this as an entertaining artifact and a 70 minute mind trip.

Track List:

Blue Music Box (Changing Tymes) * Deathwise (Catfish Knight and the Blue Express) * Our Time To Try (Bondsmen) * I Can Feel It (Flower Power) * Eve (Adam) * Subconscious Train Of Thought (Aardvarks) * Kaleidoscope (Factree) * Back Up (Light) * The Expectation (Dutch Masters) * Watch Out Mother (Sidells) * Dark Of The Morning (Zoser) * I Shall Walk (Tom Dae Turned On) * Come On Baby (Cardboard Box) * Enjoy Yourself (Legend) * Hey Ma Ma (Crystal Rain) * Take A Look At Yourself (Sound System) * Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly (Lovechain) * Temptation (Inner Light) * Mammoth (Mammoth) * 35 Design (Lazy Nickels) * It's Cruel (Enoch Smoky) * Leaving (Haymarket Riot) * Asphalt Mother (Mind Garage)

© 1999 - DJ Johnson