Budabeats Vinyl & CDs

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


Hungarian outfit Budabeats proudly present Psyched Out Grooves From Hungary (1969-72), their latest compilation tracking the emergence and sure formation of psychedelic rock in Hungary. In the label's own words, "there were barely any drugs in Hungary to begin with", and we take this to be precisely the point. Psychedelia isn't a state that should rely on drugs as a crutch: no, there was something already dormant, but primed for the teasing, in the Hungarian psyche, that lent to its acquired taste for psych in the 60s and 70s. With contributions from "an undercurrent of smaller, semi-professional bands" who persisted in the shadow of a select few huge names, who dominated by dint of their sponsorship by the one, state-owned major label, this comp betrays an insider's knowledge and then some, with highlights from Non-Stop, Sampolo, Neoton, Apostol and Kex standing out as peak-quality Hungarian psych, despite none of these bands ever receiving a breakthrough. Such songs and bands were "the exception, not the norm", the "illusion of a scene".

Review: Hungarian outfit Budabeats proudly present Psyched Out Grooves From Hungary (1969-72), their latest compilation tracking the emergence and sure formation of psychedelic rock in Hungary. In the label's own words, "there were barely any drugs in Hungary to begin with", and we take this to be precisely the point. Psychedelia isn't a state that should rely on drugs as a crutch: no, there was something already dormant, but primed for the teasing, in the Hungarian psyche, that lent to its acquired taste for psych in the 60s and 70s. With contributions from "an undercurrent of smaller, semi-professional bands" who persisted in the shadow of a select few huge names, who dominated by dint of their sponsorship by the one, state-owned major label, this comp betrays an insider's knowledge and then some, with highlights from Non-Stop, Sampolo, Neoton, Apostol and Kex standing out as peak-quality Hungarian psych, despite none of these bands ever receiving a breakthrough. Such songs and bands were "the exception, not the norm", the "illusion of a scene".