The cult psychedelic band has quite a history. Founded by Dave Mclean and Paul Lake in 1987, the band are veterans of the alternative Manchester label “Imaginary” and cassette only label “Acid Tapes”; they helped pioneer the late 1980’s UK neo-psychedelic boom.
The Chemistry Set counted the legendary John Peel’s as a fan (Peel even went so far as to sending the band a hand-written fan letter!) They also appeared on Factory Records boss Tony Wilson’s TV show and were in the Indie Top 20. The band have gone from strength to strength and The Psychedelic Scientists celebrate their 35th anniversary in 2022, with a new album ‘Pink Felt Trip’ released in July, on the “Fruits de Mer” label. The new album will represent their 45th release.
Known for their sophisticated original songcraft as well as their uncanny ability to interpret often obscure (but always classic) psychedelic songs with unparalleled cover versions, The Chemistry Set have taken some the most lysergic works of The Pink Floyd (‘See Emily Play’ mixed with a section of Brian Wilson’s ‘Smile’), Love (acoustic version of ‘A House Is Not a Motel’), The Jimi Hendrix Experience (unplugged version of ‘Love Or Confusion’ with sitars and tablas), The Rolling Stones (‘We Love You’), Del Shannon (‘Silver Birch’ mixed with ‘Sanctus’ by David Axelrod), The Moody Blues (‘Legend Of A Mind’) Tomorrow (‘Hallucinations’) to more to exciting and unexpected places.
The band have been lucky to get feedback from some of the artists that they have covered. A few years ago, the late great Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues had a listen to The Chemistry Set’s cover of his classic ‘Legend Of A Mind’ and had this to say, “Well done Chemistry Set. It’s not an easy song to cover and you’ve made a cracking job of it. Very impressed with the flute work”.When covering Del Shannon’s acid drenched ‘Silver Birch’ the band inserted a section of ‘Sanctus’ from David Axelrod’s ‘Mass in F Minor’. The band are huge fans of Axelrod’s orchestral arrangements and sent the song to him and he said, “Real music, music to make you sit and think”.
The new album includes a cover of Mark Fry’s ‘The Witch’, whose album ‘Dreaming with Alice’ released in 1972 is a cult classic. The Chemistry Set have given the song a twist, with a Gregorian Chant intro, that is taken from The Bee Gees acid drenched 1967 song ‘Every Christian Lion-Hearted Soldier’. Mellotron flutes, Iranian setar and acoustic guitars abide, faithful to the original vibe but then heads into ‘Colonel Kurtz’ territory a la ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ meets The Red Krayola. The title track kicks off like a deranged amalgamation of ‘Safe as Milk’ era Captain Beefheart versus ‘Freak Out’ period Frank Zappa with Arthur Lee muscling his way into the party with ‘7&7 is’.
‘Pink Felt Trip’ also includes a 10-minute trilogy, entitled ‘Self-Expression Trinity’. The first part is a bold Moody Blues-esque orchestral piece entitled ‘Cesar Manrique’, a tribute to the great Spanish surrealist artist. It features a cupboard full of mellotrons, piano’s, gongs, choirs and orchestral percussion. The second and third parts ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Liberation’ deal with the subjects of freedom and self-expression, with classic psychedelic melodies and stunning guitars.
The front cover of the album is in the style of the 1960’s psychedelic concert poster designer Victor Moscoso and is designed by the Swedish designer; Robin Gnista, who has created designs for John Cale, The Pretty Things, Levitation Festival, Television and The Black Angels.
A delicious piece of psychedelic rock is about to be unleashed on June 6th on a special limited edition 12” vinyl. It will be available with a real pink fuzzy felt cover with pink felt bubble-gum, posters, artwork and a bonus CD. From: https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2022/06/pink-felt-trip-by-the-chemistry-set-album-premiere.html
