Beeside: The Complete Recordings

by Tintern Abbey

Overview

In their day, British psychedelic band Tintern Abbey stayed together only long enough to release a single 45, 1967's one-two punch of the Deram-released "Beeside" b/w "Vacuum Cleaner." As the years went on, those two songs eventually took their place in the pantheon of psych greatness, with the single becoming an expensive and sought-after collector's item and the songs showing up on various compilations celebrating obscure but brilliant bands of early psychedelia. While only two Tintern Abbey songs surfaced publicly, the band committed plenty of material to tape during their short existence between late 1966 and the middle of 1968. Beeside: The Complete Recordings compiles over two hours of mostly never-before released music from the band, with demo-quality recordings, alternate mixes, scratchy rehearsal tapes, and a wide variety of other recorded ephemera from their brief lifespan. The collection kicks off with their best-known work, the Baroque grooves and daydreamy imagery of "Beeside," and the Who-indebted mod/garage psych blasting of "Vacuum Cleaner." The unreleased material that makes up the rest of the collection usually falls somewhere between these modes, sometimes leaning closer to the Love side of garage psych as on the arid arrangement of "My Prayer," getting into post-Beatles melodies on "Life Goes On," or exploring woozy vocal harmonies, energetic Keith Moon-esque drum fills, and conceptual lyrics of a rogue army of revolting snow soldiers on the chillingly trippy "Snowman." The production quality gets shabbier as the collection goes on, with multiple alternate mixes sourced from rough-sounding reference acetates and other sub-studio recordings. The instrumental guitar freakout "Bodmin Blow" and the stomping Sonics-meets-Pretty Things mod psych of "Witchcraft" both have the immediacy of a freshly written demo, with energy shining above production detail. The variance in sound quality can make listening front to back a wild ride, but the collection goes to great lengths to present a complete picture of this especially inspired, if short-lived group. While their sole single is a must-hear artifact of psychedelic history, there's more to Tintern Abbey than those two songs, and Beeside: The Complete Recordings illuminates all of it. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	08/05/2022
Label:	Real Gone Music
UPC:	0848064014157
Rank:	113724

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Beeside
2. Vacuum Cleaner
3. Tanya
4. Bodmin Blow
5. My Prayer [Early Version]
6. Let the Wind Blow
7. Stickleback
8. Busy Bee
9. Do What You Must
10. Hookah
11. Nightfall
12. Mrs, Daisy [Polydor Version]
13. Blue Pants
14. Do What You Must [Acetate Version 1]
15. How Do I Feel Today? [Acetate Version 1]
16. Hookah
17. People Can't See [Acetate Version 1]
18. Naked Song [AKA Seeds of Discord]

Disc 2

19. People Can't See [Acetate Version]
20. How Do I Feel Today? [Decca Acetate Version]
21. Magic Horsemen
22. My Zoo
23. My House
24. Life Goes By
25. Reaching for Nothing
26. Witchcraft
27. Something
28. Strange Dame
29. Snowman (Master 2)
30. Raspberry Ripple
31. Mrs Daisy [Version 2]
32. Reaching for Nothing
33. Witchcraft
34. Something
35. Strange Dame
36. Snowman [Master 2]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tintern Abbey   Primary Artist
David Wells   Compiled
Stuart Mackay   Compiled

Technical Credits

Oli Hemingway   Remastering
Colin Forster   Composer,Engineer,Group Member
Don Smith   Composer,Engineer,Composer
David Wells   Annotation,Liner Notes,Project Manager
Willie Wilson   Composer,Engineer,Group Member
John Dalton   Composer,Composer,Engineer
David MacTavish   Composer,Engineer,Group Member
John Reed   Project Manager
Stuart Mackay   Composer,Engineer,Group Member
Andy Morten   Design,Artwork
John Wilson   Composer
Paul Brett   Composer,Engineer