From The House Of Fun

"I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like" sang Syd Barrett [lead guitarist with The Pink Floyds pop group - Ed.] just before he fell off. Albert Hoffman is the patron saint of psyclists everywhere, and his game-changing bike ride is celebrated here at False Memory Foam© with this toothsome compilation.

I'm not usually a fan of Various Artists. I find his work too diverse to make for a satisfying album side. But I make the occasional exception, and Acid Dreams is one of them. Older readers may remember Fun House Records, a grimy bootleg label and collectors' store on England's depressing South Coast. They specialized in reissuing rare albums at the lowest possible quality and selling them at the highest possible prices to idiots like me, but at that time, pre-CD, it could be the only way you'd get to hear them. Their masterpiece was this, issued in an op-art plastic sleeve that was almost worth buying for the smell alone. It was supposed to come in psychedelic swirly vinyl, but mine was just muddy gray. And they said it was a German release, which was a fib, too. D'oh! You guys!

Hi! I'm Cody!

The music was chosen with a razorblade sensibility for the acid end of the lysergic market, and went deeper down the rabbit hole than Nuggets. It was reissued on CD with a bunch of tracks that weren't up to the standard of the original release (hey ho) and has seen numerous bootlegged versions (ironique, non?) over the years. I've added my own sleeve, because the original is outta Dullsville, Ohio, and also pasted in a couple of crucial tracks (including the blindingly great 99th Floor, which improves everything it appears on) that those Fun House rascals didn't have room for. Or forgot. Or something.

Positioned nicely between the "smoother" sounds of Lenny Kaye's Nuggets and the gritty barrel-scrapings of most similar efforts, it's the only psych comp that made the leap to my iPod, and benefits greatly from being played loud.