Various Artists

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Amazon

How many forgotten and “uncomped” European pop-psych gems from the late ‘60s can there still be? Judging by this excellent compilation from Nick Soloman’s (the one-man neo-psych band known as the Bevis Frond) imprint label Psychic Circle, the answer is: a lot. Following close on the heels of last year’s critically lauded Volume One in the “Fairytales” series, Fairy Cakes For Tea: Fairytales Can Come True delivers another 20 addictive morsels (mostly British) of melodic, and at times seriously danceable, “popsike” confectionary for your delectation without opening the door too wide to the wondrous world of whimsical “toytown” psychedelia.  (Which, let’s face it, is a acquired taste.) But if you do take up the Youth’s invitation on the mellow “Meadow of My Mind” to “Come wading with me / In the babbling brook of my mind”, taken from the unknown crackle-and-hiss acetate version of a Deram-released obscurity, you won’ regret it. Further listening will unwrap candy-coated nuggets ranging from the Starlites’ poptastic “Good Morning Mr. Milkman” to the Hammond organ swinger “Look Out Girl”, a P.F. Sloan cover done by one Lloyd Banks or the almost Elizabethan madrigal of Scott Henderson’s “Saturday Night People” and a scintillating, beefed-up version of the much-covered classic “Spooky” by unknowns Sasperella. The real icing on this particular fairy cake, however, is provided by folk-rock duo Peter and Gordon wigging out on the groovy “I Feel Like Going Out”. The rest of the album pleasantly floats, skips and meanders through a cotton-candy universe without a dud tune. A rare treat indeed.

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