Magic Mushroom Band - Singles & Rarities

Hits from the bong

Part of Voiceprint’s ongoing campaign to reissue remastered versions of the complete Magic Mushroom back catalogue, Singles & Rarities collects those tracks which originally appeared on a series of highly collectable singles on Magick Eye Records, namely Pictures In My Mind (1991), Magick Eye (1992), Freshly Picked (1983) and The Fungus Amongus (1994).

While MMB acknowledge their roots and sources via the contemporary remodelling they dish out to Eight Miles High and the near 15-minute exploration of Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, (forming the centrepiece of the collection), readily detectable across this nine-track, 72-minute odyssey are the almost schizophrenic shifts in styles and approaches. Witness the stylistic light years separating Pictures In My Mind from Slap Tongue Squeaky Bonk, creating the sense that distinct branches of psychedelia are being fused into one humungous mega-trip.

All of this is, of course, a direct consequence of the fact that MMB once shared members with ambient trance outfit Astralasia, which actually began life as an Magic Mushroom Band side project, but which subsequently went on to supersede them when MMB retired from active service in 1994.

Voiceprint | VP 287 CD

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
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