V/A. Beyond the Wildwood. A Tribute to Syd Barrett.

I picked up a vinyl copy of this many, many years ago in my favorite record store of all-time, East Lansing, Michigan's Flat, Black and Circular.

Tribute albums are nearly always a dicey prospect. You usually get one ringer and a lot of covers by bands no one has ever heard of, with names like Jerry Jimanski's Knockout Socks, or Frud. This one, though, actually works as a pretty great album, as well as a neat collection of pre-grunge, neo-psychedelic/C-86 styled alternative bands. Of course, it helps that Syd wrote some fantastic songs, and the distance from his bare bones (solo) psychedelica to late 80's indie rock isn't that far.

The Mock Turtles turn in the best of the set, with their ripping, trippy version of No Good Trying. Fit and Limo, who I know nothing about, give Long Cold Look a kind of Stone Roses-esque treatment. Opal even turn up with an otherwise unreleased song that never found its way onto their odds and sods collections.

1. The Mock Turtles - No Good Trying
2. Plasticland - Octopus
3. SS-20 - Arnold Layne
4. Paul Roland - Matilda Mother
5. Fit and Limo - Long Cold Look
6. The Shaman - Long Gone
7. Opal - If the Sun Don't Shine (Adaptation of Jugband Blues)
8. The Ashes in the Morning - Baby Lemonade
9. The Lobster Quadrille - Wolfpack
10. The Paint Set - Golden Hair
11. Tropicana Fishtank - No Man's Land
12. Television Personalities - Apples and Oranges
13. The Soup Dragons - Two of a Kind
14. The Green Telescope - Scream Thy Last Scream

Wildwood