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This week's musicologist pick

A new pick from Slugbucket, this will be freeleech for a month:

Nick Nicely - Psychotropia
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A real hidden gem for British psych/freakbeat fans has been unearthed and polished up for some long overdue appreciation. Technically not a cohesive "album", per se, so much as an "anthology" of an artist who never really actively pursued a music career. It is important to understand the significance of this collection's breath-taking opening track "Hilly Fields (1892)". This was the "hit" from an EP released back circa '81-'82 (Nicely's only ever "official" release). While it didn't set the world on fire, "Hilly Fields" enjoyed some college radio exposure (that's where I remember hearing it and becoming absolutely entranced). Most importantly, it reached the impressionable ears of one Mr. Andy Partridge, who, as the story goes, based on this one epic song, was inspired to create XTC's alter ego pseudo-psychedelic band The Dukes Of Stratosphear.

What's the point of my rambling story? "Hilly Fields" could well be pin-pointed as "Patient Zero" of the whole psych-revival movement, although its creator has never been given due credit. Now you can hear all the cuts from that original EP plus a smattering of previously unreleased material that Nicely has produced over the ensuing 20-odd years or so. The most surprising thing is that there actually IS a certain coherence and consistence of quality to this collection, and it could pass as a thematic "album". While Revolver-Sgt. Pepper's era Beatles are the most obvious touchstone, Nicely demonstrates his own unique sensibility throughout. If you enjoy the aforementioned Dukes, or the likes of Martin Newell or Captain Sensible, you need to pick up a copy, fix a cup of your favorite...uh, tea, plug in the 'phones and achieve nirvana!