Rainbow Ffolly Spectromorphic Iridescence: Complete Ffolly CD

Pretty much every record released during the psychedelic era by EMI's various satellite labels was honed and buffed to opaque perfection by the studio technocrats who were working for the company. That wasn't the case, though, with Sallies Fforth, which appeared on the Parlophone label at the beginning of May 1968. Recorded by a quartet of ex-art students from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Sallies Fforth was a collection of quirky demo recordings that, without the band's knowledge, found it's way to the self-styled "greatest recording organisation in the world". Fortunately the album transcended it's unfinished, unvarnished nature by dint of a winning sense of humour, some charming harmonies and, most of all, a bunch of excellent, highly diverse songs. More than half-a-century later, Sallies Fforth is now one of the most valuable artefacts of the British psychedelic era, original copies having sold on several occasions for in excess of a thousand pounds. Although there have been previous reissues of the album, Spectromorphic Iridescence represents the Ffolly motherlode. Mono and stereo versions of the original album (once described by Record Collector magazine as "a psychedelic miasma of English pop whimsy, Beatles-inspired diversity and cracking good tunes") are joined by a scarce non-LP B-side, a swathe of previously unheard late Sixties home and studio demos, local radio station jingles and recordings as well as a revamped, extended version of the band's hitherto vinyl-only 2016 reunion album Ffollow Up. Housed in a clamshell box with a twenty-page booklet that's crammed with rare photos and a new 5000 word essay on the band, this lavish 3-CD package is the final word on the activities of a quartet of English eccentrics who viewed psychedelia through a mocking, slightly surrealist art school prism rather than as unblinking zealots.

1. She's Alright 2. I'm So Happy 3. Montgolfier '67 4. Drive My Car 5. Goodbye 6. Hey You 7. Sun Sing 8. Sun and Sand 9. Labour Exchange 10. They'm 11. No 12. Sighing Game 13. Come on Go 14. Drive My Car (Single Mix) 15. Go Girl (B-Side) 16. Sun Sing (Early Force Four Demo) 17. Come on Go (Early Force Four Demo) 18. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill 19. She's Alright 20. I'm So Happy 21. Montgolfier '67 22. Drive My Car 23. Goodbye 24. Hey You 25. Sun Sing 26. Sun and Sand) 27. Labour Exchange 28. They'm 29. No 30. Sighing Game 31. Come on Go 32. Hospital Radio Jingle #1 33. Sunshine of Your Love 34. Hospital Radio Jingle #2 35. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds 36. Hospital Radio Jingle #3 37. Gimme Little Sign 38. Hospital Radio Jingle #4 39. I Can't Let Maggie Go 40. Hospital Radio Jingle #5 41. Sabrosa 42. Hospital Radio Jingle #6 43. The Bells of Rhymney 44. Hospital Radio Jingle #7 45. Bonita 46. Hospital Radio Jingle #8 47. I Can Hear the Grass Grow 48. Hospital Radio Jingle #9 49. Something Else 50. Hospital Radio Jingle #10 51. Hold Me Tight 52. Hospital Radio Jingle #11 53. I'm So Happy (Part) 54. Hospital Radio Jingle #12 55. She's Alright 56. Single Cell Amoeba 57. Postcard 58. My Love Has Gone 59. White Swan 60. Cars 61. Sky Angels 62. Noah 63. Slow Down Zone 64. Countdown 65. Shoes 66. Is It Over 67. Wot Do They Know? 68. Crazy Woman 69. All That We Have Left 70. Parcel of Pigs 71. Nonesuch Sweetness 72. Tour de Fforce 73. Bathers of the Lost Ark