Pure Pleasure

The term guilty pleasure is one I don't like. It implies that you consider yourself to have more refined tastes than the common herd, and yet are capable of wallowing in their kitsch pleasures on occasion, which makes you adorably human. A commenter suggested that Rod Stewart is a guilty pleasure of mine - he's not. Simple pleasure needs no qualification. But when I first picked up The Pleasure Fair in the early seventies, I kept it hidden from the cool crowd I slouched around with, and my pleasure in it did have a guilty aspect to it - like I was burning my freak flag, or at least singeing it at the edges. It was undeniably plastic, man, but the songs made me feel good - what was wrong with me?

These days, of course, who gives a flying fuck what anybody likes? And I still like this. How could anybody not? Especially in this expanded version uniquely crafted by none other than sitarswami [FX: ELECTRIC SITAR, WINDCHIMES] internet mystic and psychedelic panjandrum. He's trawled his unicorn-mane dreamcatcher across the ætheric void to gather a handful of associated recordings by the core (pre-Bread) line-up under different names. They're super-swell. You may never hear them unless you download this. And nobody's watching.