Various - I’m a Freak, Baby album review: a thorough overview of a much-maligned movement

Subtitled A Journey Through the British Heavy Psych & Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-72, this three-CD compilation contextualizes the (then) predominantly working-class genre that many music critics dismissed as degenerative.

Inspired by the no-frills approaches of Black Sabbath, and alienated by the proficiency of prog rock bands such as ELP and Yes, a wealth of regional UK bands (the compilers also include the era's "big-in-Britain" Irish bands Skid Row and Taste) took up the gauntlet. Inevitably, the results are mixed. For every hard rock cracker (Deep Purple's Fireball), there is the virtually unlistenable (Iron Claw's Skullcrusher).

Overall, this is a thorough overview of a much-maligned movement – and the accompanying wryly written What Happened Next booklet is brilliant.

[ cherryred.co.uk ]