Psychic TV - Black Joy

Tripping back through time

Enter the realm of Psychic TV and you find yourself immersed in a completely self-contained reality, making this release different from your standard inconcert DVD. Previously available as two separate VHS tapes, Black Joy combines both into one extended trip in sound and image, documenting Psychic TV’s live show during their acid house phase.

A product of the collaboration between Psychic TV and filmmaker Karen Bentham, Black Joy includes the promos for RU Xperienced, IC Water and live footage shot at Manchester Poly in October 1988 and London’s Subterania in March 1991, intercut with all manner of abstract visual collages and special effects. In his multiple guises of cult leader, shaman and court jester, Genesis P-Orridge cajoles his band of merry pranksters and the audience alike deeper into the grooves of this flashback to the heyday of acid house, the rave scene and Psychic TV’s alignment with what was then a bona fide undergound culture. All told, Black Joy is both a vivid document of its time and a colourful throwback for anyone nostalgic for the chemically-altered states of the late 80s and early 90s.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Jettisoundz | JE 190 D

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
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