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Did you know that Primark have the licensing right for “Authentic Hendrix” clothing? Yep you can get a rather nice printed t-shirt with the main father of psychedelia from their stores this very day (for more thing Hendrix, see links below) but a far more satisfactory purchase would be the latest compilation on Far Out Recordings.

Compiled by Alex Knezevic and Ben Rimmer, they have taken Far Out Recordings to it’s “Far Out” roots with this one. Now you can’t get a 24 track compilation as good as this with you’re feet up on the office desk as they’ve trawled the archives to produce a “wild trip deep into mutated South American psychedelia, esoteric curios and trippy electronics”.

As you’d imagine, the label’s pysch experts Rabotnikand Binario are here but did you know there was a Jethro Tull-ish medieval sambista? José Mauro kicks off CD1 in fine style and then there’s those freak-out girls Piri and Aleuda!

A couple of off-the-wall tracks (even for this album) finds Mark ‘Troubleman’ Pritchard’s influential ‘Switch’ and Kirk ‘Off-World’ Degiorgio’s ‘Black Magic’ both are firmly on the electronic dancefloor whilst still managing to fit it with Joyce on ‘Tudo Bonito’ (as an aside, worth checking out all things Degiorgio).

On the remix front, the APE (Adrian Corker & Paul Conboy) of Aleuda’s ‘Galope’ is one of best tracks of the set whilst Rabotnik synth out Azymuth’s ‘Os Cara La’ (the original being on the Butterfly album) as they fly off to Dr. Moog-land. And on the other hand, Azymuth’s ‘Caça A Raposa’ (from Azimuth (Remastered & Remixed)) is original outer edge Brazilian jazz funk.

On CD2, there’s strong remix competition as psych head expert Paul White “awakens the goddess in her” that takes back Democustico’s ‘Paz’ from 2006 to 1966. And regular Far Out fans might be taken aback with Daz-I-Que’s downtempo jazz dub out and guitar solo heavy remix (odd combination but really works well); you’ll want to hear this in a field at Big Chill with soapy bubbles floating above you in the breeze. Crazy stuff and then Kwes takes Binario into a whirlpool of a black ‘Jazzhole’ darkness.

Tracks on the second CD including the remixes are mostly previously unreleased and/or rare to find including the opener by Mauricio Maestro and Nana Vasconcelos that’s on the (get excited now) “soon to be released” follow up to Visions Of Dawn - will it be worth the 30 year wait? On the evidence to this Sgt. Pepper goes down south with banjo for a paddle style track, I’d say do. But there’s more rarites by Piri, Mauro and three killers; Victor Assis jazz chill, Rubens Bassini’s flutey-percussion (ideal mixtape intros these two) and Orquestra de Tambores who were on the South American region of Sun Ra’s Intergalactic Arkestra.

If ‘Black Magic’ sounds a little bit like an early The Simonsound, the previous unreleased and closing track by Troubleman, ‘Intergalactic You Intergalactic Me’ nails it!

There’s so much crammed into this set, tracks you’ve forgot, tracks that you might have missed, tracks that sound better now than when they came out and tracks that were always hot. And you’ve got to love the artwork by Andy Votel, it’s what 13 year old prog/Hawkwind fans can only dream of. But lets not dwell on that as this week, this release has seen us joins the psychedelic dots between The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria and Michael Leonhart & The Avramina 7’s Seahorse And The Storyteller. Whilst they may be separated by 40 years on 4 different continents (from where I’m sitting), that’s how Far Out we’ve gone - groovy man.

Reviewed: Various Artists - Far Out Spaced Oddyssey Volumes 1 & 2) (Far Out Recordings) Cat. No: FARO152LP/FARO152DCD Dble CD & 180 Gram Heavyweight Vinyl LP Limited Edition. Release date: 16th July 2010
Tracklisting:
1. Jose Mauro - ‘Apocalipse’ (3:11)
2. Piri - ‘Reza Brava’ (3:10)
3. Aleuda - ‘Passarinho’ (3:32
4. Aleuda - ‘Galope’ (APE remix) (4:14)
5. Joyce, Nana Vasconcelos & Mauricio Maestro - ‘Tudo Bonito’ (2:42)
6. Binario - ‘Diretriz’ (6:03)
7. Rabotnik - ‘Jonas’ (3:13)
8. Binario - ‘E Ai Galera Voltei’ (1:04)
9. Kirk Degiorgio’s Offworld - ‘Black Magic’ (6:19)
10. Azymuth - ‘Caça A Raposa’ (5:11)
11. Troubleman - ‘Switch’ (7:31)
12. Azymuth - ‘Os Cara La’ (Rabotnik Remix) (5:00)
CD2
1. Mauricio Maestro & Nana Vasconcelos - ‘Verdade Anterior’ (Instrumental) (5:58)
2. Piri - ‘Voces Querem Mate’ (2:27)
3. Rubens Bassini Y Los Latinos - ‘Son Cubano Amparo’ (1:34)
4. Orquestra De Tambores De Alagoas - ‘Acao Dinamica Ao Cacador’ (3:58)
5. Jose Mauro - ‘Ponto De Chamada’ (3:15)
6. Custom Blue - ‘You’re On Your Own’ (3:16)
7. Victor Assis Brazil - ‘Ao Amigo Quartin’ (5:07)
8. Binario - ‘Jazzhole’ (Kwes Rework)’ (4:45)
9. Rabotnik - ‘Las Vegas’ (3:51)
10. Binario - ‘Quantao’ (feat Daz-I-Que Re-edit) ’ (7:40)
11. Democustico - ‘Paz’ (Paul White Remix)’ (2:37)
12. Troubleman - ‘Intergalactic You Intergalactic Me’ (4:13)

Links:
faroutrecordings.com
myspace.com/faroutrecordings
Hendrix In Britain - Exhibiton 25th August - 7th November 2010 at Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HB £5.00 www.handelhouse.org tel: 020 7399 1953 and there’s a series of events inspired by the exhibition including Hendrix & Me 7th Oct 6.30-7.30 and repeated 8.00-9.00 with Adrian Osuwu (of The Soul Destroyers, Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band and The Heliocentrics fame) and Candythief £9.00
www.primark.co.uk