Acid Visions: Best of The 60s Texas Punk & Psychedelic_Vol. 2

Acid Visions: Best of The 60s Texas Punk & Psychedelic Vol. 2 was originally released as part of the Priceless Collection on the Collectables label. A series of low budget compilations, that true to their nature, could be found in cut out bins at music stores across the country. Such as Hastings in Rio Rancho where I found my copy in the early 1990s. “Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. It's the largest independently owned reissue label in the U.S., maintaining a catalog of over 3,400 active titles, mostly on compact disc, but also available on vinyl.” The CD versions usually combine at least two volumes on each disc.

Collectables releases have been criticized for their poor recording quality and Acid Visions Vol. 2 is no exceptions. The audio is heavily processed, which gets rid of the pops inherent with 60s vinyl, but it renders the music dull as dishwater in the process. Since the mid-1990s Little Walter DeVenne has remastered and restored many of the label's reissues to good results. (Acid Visions Vol. 2 was released in 1991, pre-Little Walter) A popular Boston radio personality, Little Walter DeVenne was also the host of the syndicated oldies program “Little Walter's Time Machine” on Clear Channels “Real Time Oldies Channel”

The Acid Visions series clocks in at a half dozen volumes with diminishing returns. It's a strange and spotty collection of tracks. A few gold nuggets salted into a slag heap of dubious material. Not for the casual listener for sure. However, it you have a thing for trashy 60s garage/psyche/punk from Texas, this will surely punch your ticket. Amazingly there's three bands on Vol. 2 that share names with El Paso bands from the same era, The Bobby Fuller 4 originally went by Bobby Fuller & The Fanatics, Neal Ford & The Fanatics from Houston, never reached those heights, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. Bill Taylor & The Sherwoods hailed from El Paso, The Sherwoods were based in Houston. The Things, from Houston should not be confused with the Things from El Paso... comprendes mendes?

I Can't Believe- The Fanatics
I Will Not Be Lonely- The Fanatics
Bless Me Woman- The Sherwoods
I Know You Cried- The Sherwoods
You'll Never Be My Girl- Thursday's Children
I Don't Want to Go- BLC
Loveless Lover- The Things
Nothing Will Stand In My Way- Space Cadets
Love-Itis- Space Cadets
Another Girl Like You- The Things
Life's A Misery- The Warlocks
Dandelion Wine- Homer
Sunrise- Homer
Outside Looking In- The Unknowns