Now-Again Records: Forge Your Own Chains – Heavy Psychedelic Ballads And Dirges 1968-1974 Vinyl 2LP Now-Again Records

Now Again strikes again with a 15 track compilation of heavy psyche compiled by label head Egon. There’s been numerous bootleg psyche comps that have trickled to collectors over the years, but this official compilation wipes the slate clean and allows even the newbie to get deep into this nerdus genre. Here’s what the label has to say: “Those of us birthed into record collecting by the Hip Hop midwife  revered Jimi Hendrix as well as James Brown. We searched for  albums by Mulatu Astatke and Power of Zeus with the same fervor,” Egon writes in his introduction to the comp. Forge Your Own Chains showcases music from all corners of the world: Colombia, Nigeria, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand and Iran.  The focus  is on melody,  driving rhythms and accessibility. Not one song is included on this  compilation because it is from a “rare” album. Certainly, many of these songs do spring from albums that exchange hands for many  thousands of dollars and many of these songs have never seen reissue. But these songs are all beautiful in their own right and work to form a coherent album. Psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors and seemingly quaint, are, in the hands of Egon and those of his generation, giving up new ghosts. 15 tracks in all, includes detailed liner notes. Recommended.

• black double vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• music label: Now-Again Records 2009

reviewed by the mgmnt 10/2016

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