Delerium Records Presents...

Pick & Mix

Cat No: DELEC CDD 023

Release Date: 30th October 1995

[Track Listing] [Credits] [Reviews]

Track Listing

  • PICK CD:
    1. Moom - The Higher Sun- From "Toot" 5:19 (Delec CD/LP 035)
    2. The Aardvarks - Time To Fly- From "Bargain" 5:08 (Delec CD/LP 029)
    3. Suicidal Flowers - Ease II- From "Burn Mother Burn" 4:49 (Delec CD/LP 043)
    4. Kava Kava - Gil- From "You Can Live Here" 8:02 (Delec CD/LP 024)
    5. The Steppes - Cornucopia- From "Gods, Men and Ghosts" 3:05 (Delec CD/LP 039)
    6. Sons of Selina - Of The First Water- From "Nour D'Oui" 6:11 (Delec CD/LP 025)
    7. Nick Riff - Tribal Elders- From "Cloak Of Immortality" 4:55 (Delec CD/LP 017)
    8. Nova Express - Let The Powers- From "Space Khmer" 5:06 (Delec CD 016)
    9. Treatment - Dissolving- From "Cipher Caput" 6:35 (Delec CD/LP 026)
    10. Kryptästhesie - Watching The Sky- From "Inner Whirl" 4:29 (Delec CD/LP 038)
    11. Omnia Opera - Annihilation (Edit)- From "Red Shift" 4:02 (Delec CD/LP 044)
    12. Nukli - Inner Days- From "The Time Factory" 5:37 (Delec CD 030)
    13. Mandragora - Solstice Song- From "Over The Moon" 7:10 (Delec CD 027)
  • MIX CD:
    1. Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34 (Remodelled) 12:43 - Exclusive!
    2. Dead Flowers - Warmth Within (Chemical Binoculars)- From "Altered State Circus" 10:34 (Delec CD/LP 022)
    3. Psychomuzak - The Exstasie- From "The Exstasie" 9:45 (Delec CD 018)
    4. Liberation Thru' Hearing - The Root Verses of The Six Bardos- From "Liberation Thru' Hearing" 8:42 (Delec CD 048)
    5. Zuvuya - The Goat Faced Girl 4:22 - Exclusive!
    6. Electric Orange - Nindia 6:49 - Exclusive!
    7. Saddar Bazaar - Arc of Ascent (Part One)- From "The Conference Of The Birds" 5:20 (Delec CD/LP 034)
    8. Praise Space Electric - Ornithology / Can You Play... / Ornithology- From "Do You Know How To Play (Mushroom Jazz)?" 4:10 (Delec CD/LP 046)
    9. Boris & His Bolshie Balalaika - Purple Haze- From "Psychic Revolution" 3:42 (Delec CD/LP/MC 014)
    10. The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck - The Gospel According To The I.E.M.- From "Incredible Expanding Mindfuck" 5:02 (Delec CD 047)

Go to TopCredits

Delerium Records was founded in 1991 and since then has strived to expose the best new underground psychedelic music.

This compilation represents the story so far. We hope you enjoy it and don't forget to brush your teeth.

Jar & Sweetie photography by Clive Pittam, Group photo by Tristan Collett.
Concept, design and construction by Ivor Trueman & Richard Allen.

Dedicated to the happy memory of Jerry "Captain Trips" Garcia.

Go to TopPress Reviews

Deliverance

Containing 2 hours, 21 minutes and 32 seconds of music spread over two CD's, this latest Delerium release has got to be the bargain of the decade as you are able to buy it for a fiver - the price of some CD singles.
Musically there is something for everybody with bands as diverse as The Aardvarks and The Dead Flowers, The Steppes and Porcupine Tree and a whole host of others. In fact, some of the tracks are exclusive to the album. Personally I found some of the bands surprisingly good and is one of he first samplers I've really enjoyed since "The Rock Machine Turns You On" and "You Can All Join In". Excellent stuff!

Crohinga Well

Remember those great rock compilations of the late sixties/early seventies like "The Rock Machine Turns You On", "Fill Your Head With Rock", "Picnic, A Breath of Fresh Air", and "V" (the Virgin sampler)? Delerium Records is now doing the same thing and displaying all the musical colourfulness and diversity of England's (and Europe's) most important psychedelic label on a double CD (142 minutes of music) for a retail price of... ú5!! There are twenty-three tracks by as many different bands and acts spread over the two CD's, meaning that you get a track from everybody on the label, including a few that have yet to come out.
Disc one ("Pick") brings Moom, The Aardvarks, Suicidal Flowers (previewing their "Burn Mother Burn" LP), Kava Kava, The Steppes (announcing their new "Gods, Men & Ghosts" LP), Sons of Selina (who will have their new "Terminus" EP out soon), Nick Riff, Nova Express, a brilliant German space rock band who's "Space Khmer" LP of '87 is gonna be re- issue by Delerium (fantastic album, believe me), Treatment, Krypt_sthesie (a glimpse of their long awaited new "Inner Whirl" LP), Omnia Opera (a telescopic glance towards their posthumous "Red Shift" LP), and Mandragora (whose legendary debut LP "Over The Moon" will be re-issued by Delerium as well - recommended!).
Disc two ("Mix") starts with a 13 minutes long remix (exclusive to this compilation) of Porcupine Tree's "Voyage 34" single. Next come Dead Flowers, Psychomuzak, Liberation Thru' Hearing, a very spiritual ensemble whose cassette "The Root Verses of The Six Bardos" is gonna be re-issued on CD by Delerium, Zuvuya with a track exclusive to this compilation, Electric Orange (listening forward to their new CD "Orange Commutation"), Saddar Bazaar, Praise Space Electric, Boris & His Bolshie Balalaika and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck (forecasting an album's worth of material by this pre-Porcupine Tree ensemble).
Conclusion: This is the best compilation of 1995 (music and money-wise!) Psychedelic music is available at a very low price here. If you miss this one you don't know what contemporary alternative music is all about. Essential.

Hairless Heart Herald

Although the label only started in 1991, Delerium has already established itself as the main label for lovers of "head music". Obviously the sudden boost for the genre by means of exploring ambient, trance, dub, acid jazz, spacerock, festival music, garage, trip hop and the likes has paved the success for bands such as Ozric Tentacles, Mandragora, Sundial and Bevis Frond. Grown out of the ideas of the pulsating Freakbeat magazine, man of multicolured ideas, Richard Allen, has carefully selected the best of today's new crop of psychedelia. Without any doubt his biggest find to date is Porcupine Tree who remodelled their "Voyage 34" hit exclusively for this album. Other exclusives come from Zuvuya, Electric Orange and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, a new project incorporating the many talents of Steven Wilson. With over two hours of "mind-blowing" music this sampler is the ideal guide for the uninitiated who will thrill to the likes of the funky Kava Kava, the spacey Dead Flowers, the mod-filled Aardvarks and the comical Boris & His Boris Balalaika. With a decent amount of albums under their belt and forthcoming albums by Suicidal Flowers, The Steppes, Treatment, Omnia Opera, Porcupine Tree ("Signify"), Electric Orange, Praise Space Electric and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, Delerium has certainly established itself as a very vital label indeed. I'm sure Delerium will soon get the outstanding award for export as more and more people world-wide are finally witnessing the true art by means of this great music. Again housed in a stylish, polished sleeve and containing the best music currently on offer, this one's a must have for all music fans of all ages. To be included in every survival kit!

Aberdeen F.I.N.

Wow! The best of 90's underground psychedelic music on a specially priced double CD. Delerium, the brainchild of Richard Allen and Ivor Trueman, always maintained that many kinds of psychedelic music are not tied to the past. Pick & Mix proves this with twenty-three of the best tracks from the past and future Delerium releases together with exclusive tracks. My personal faves are Moom, the swirling acid guitar frenzy of Kava Kava; Sons of Selina's menacing space-rock; Nova Express' garage freak-out; Kryptasthesie (who sound like the US Kaleidoscope); the wild, heavy bass driven space rock of Omnia Opera whom I had tipped as the best underground psychedelic band back in the late 80's. "Voyage 34" by Porcupine Tree with it's "Run Like Hell" riff and ethereal atmospherics - this track is all about this guys 34th acid trip. The strangest track has to be "The Root Verses of The Six Bardos" by Liberation Thru Hearing - tribal shamanic music with drums, horns and monotone spoken vocals; the spooky pulsating ambience by Zuvuya with far eastern chants; Electric Orange's ambient dub; the indo-blues fusion of Saddar Bazaar; the Charlie Parker inspired mellow acid jazz of Praise Space Electric; Boris' wild rendition of "Purple Haze" which has to be the best yet and the spaced-out cosmic trance sounds of The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck. Other artists include The Aardvarks, Suicidal Flowers, Nick Riff, Treatment, Mandragora, Nukli, The Steppes, Dead Flowers and Psychomusak. Two and a half hours of the best in contemporary psychedelic music. Essential listening! Available from all good record shops and retailing at a mere £5.

Rock 'n' Reel

Developing from the ground breaking and very well informed underground psychedelia mag Freakbeat, Delerium Records certainly has its finger on the pulse of the most adventurous underground sounds.
Pick & Mix is certainly an ambitious project, a double CD set, beautifully packaged, overflowing with unknown pleasures and previous delights from the Delerium catalogue, and retailing at an amazing £5!!!
Ranging through the more established purveyors of psychedelia, Porcupine Tree, Omnia Opera, Mandragora, Dead Flowers etc, the album also takes in the sixties pop flavourings of the Aardvarks, folk-rock in the shape of Suicidal Flowers, punk-psych from Sons of Selina, and eastern-influenced acoustic folk 'n' jazz fusion from Kryptasthesie.
Also in store are the incredible guitar work of Psychomuzak, the ambient sounds of Zuvuya, the psych / tabla / eastern fusion of Electric Orange, and literally a whole more surprises. Always interesting and regularly invigorating, Pick and Mix is a certified treat.

Gibraltar

The best is still to come... Pick & Mix is a 2 CD sampler, sld for the price of a single disc - released in the later half of 1995. Both CDs contain songs from established Delerium artists, such as Porcupine Tree, Dead Flowers, Mandragora, Kava Kava and Psychomuzak, as well as new artists pending their first release. These bands include Suicidal Flowers, Electric Orange and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck. The first disc is the "Pick" disc with 13 tracks. These are generally more uptempo pieces but still representing a good diversity of psychedelic styles, such as the funk-tinged grooves of Kava Kava, the space-tinged Nukli, the heavy Omnia Opera and the folk / psych of The Aardvarks and Suicidal Flowers. (Suicidal Flower's song Ease II is gorgeous and very comparable to the rare British band Ithaca. I'm very much looking forward to this release). The "Mix" side is spacier material, including a 13 minute excerpt from Porcupine Tree's Voyage 34. Other bands include Dead Flowers and the newly signed Electric Orange (whose self-titled first release is excellent). Liberation Thru' Hearing give a reading of The Root Verses Of The Six Bardos, taken from the "Bardo Thodol", aka "The Tibetan Book Of The Dead". Praise Space Electric play a jazzy space jam in between a reading of Charlie Parker's Ornithology. Steven Wilson, of Porcupine Tree, contines to expand and enlighten with a synth-based project, The Incredible Expaning Mindfuck. Pick & Mix has a wonderful flow and balance between the songs, surprising for a sampler compilation. This set is a steal of a deal and is well worth the single disc cost to introduce you to the joy of Delerium.

Holding Together

There are two compelling reasons for going out and buying this double-CD sampler from our good friends at Delerium; firstly as it offers over 140 minutes of contemporary rock for a fiver (!), it represents quite extraordinary value; secondly, it might just restore your faith in British musicians.

The first disc "Pick", is presumably meant to be the most accessible stuff, with more identifiable songs and relatively more conventional arrangements. Of course, there's nothing poppy or chart-bound here - and you will likely enjoy Suicidal Flowers' gently folk-rocking Ease II, Treatment's surrepticiously spacey grower Dissolving and Nukli's searing Inner Days, not to mention tasters for the albums by Moom, Nick Riff and The Aardvarks.

But it's the second CD, Mix, which is the real killer here, and the best reason to invest. This is the "head" side, the serious modern psych sent with a mission to rearrange your cerebral certainties. Porcupine Tree's remodelled Voyage 34 runs for twelve highly addictive minutes before The Dead Flowers appear with ten minutes of the churning Warmth Within. Then up step Psychomuzak with something called The Extasie - an though the title may bring fear of a numbing rave monstrositie, the track turns out to be a stone groove.

And it goes on like this for ten tracks, which includes a sublime Arc Of Ascent from Saddar Bazaar's LP, an aural glimpse of the forthcoming Praise Space Electric album (Ornithology/Can You Play), a lovely raga-rama from Electric Orange (Nindia) and a truly strange Root Verses Of The Six Bardos by the thoroughly disconcerting Liberation Thru' Hearing. What a blast! What value!! So go buy the bastard and fry that cerebellum.

Peppermint Iguana

A sampler of bands on the incredible Delerium label, probably the best psychedelic label in the UK. Tracks on this vary from '60s psych-folk to '90s space-rock, from sitar to samplers. Highlights include Porcupine Tree, The Incredible Expanding Mind Fuck, Omnia Opera, Kava Kava, Dead Flowers & Sons Of Selina. The idea is to let you taste some of the bands on the label, to encourage you to go back for more, although it's quite a good album in its own right. Not all of the bands featured are to the taste of the Iguana, but at £5 for a double CD - 23 tracks & 2 hours 20 min of music - how could you possibly go wrong?

Weed World

This CD has got to be the bargain of the decade as it contains two hours twenty one minutes and thirty two second of music which is spread over two CD's, you are able to buy it for no less than a fiver! - the price of some CD singles.
Musically there is something for everybody with bands as diverse as The Aardvarks and The Dead Flowers, The Steppes and The Porcupine Tree and many more. Some of the tracks are exclusive to the album which is worth getting for the stuff we do know. Another perfect christmas present, especially for that price.

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