The BYG Deal
Various Artists
review by theengineear
Early psych, prog, space. Okay here’s the deal, the BYG label was created in the late 60’s, a French free-jazz/psych type dealio. They had a ton of progressive artists working with them and a web of collaborations. This album is a collection of rarities from these prog/psych rock artists including Alice, Gong, Vangelis (composer of Chariots of Fire OST), and more. Chalk full of prog pop, psych wanderings, and history, this album memorializes and saves some very important/influential music.
The biggest surprise for me was the track by Inter-Groupie Therapeutic Elastic Band, probably a fake recording name. I haven’t been able to find any other recordings under this name, but the track “floating” is a gem of gems in my book and of course Gong comes through with the usual (or unusual) Canterbury scene sound. Also Freedom, which is a spinoff of the fantastic psych group Procol Harum, has a great, more standard rock track.
RIYL Psych, Prog, 60’s?
My personal favorites: 10, 12*(Gong), 13(Freedom), 16, 17*(Inter-Groupie…), 21