Breakthru
Adventures Highway (2cd)
Only known for the one single in 1968 "Ice Cream Tree" /"Julius Caesar" on Mercury, (and largely misunderstood from this to be a pop act), Birminghams Breakthru were in fact one of the loudest, hairiest and most exciting psychedelic rock bands of their time. However, they could create soulful, sensitive or just plain catchy sounds too. Young and very fashionable, many audiences had seen nothing like them. They took their wild stage show, complete with smoke and lights, all over Great Britain: Playing many of Londons most important clubs of the day in the process, such as "Happening 44", "The Electric Garden", "Blaises" and "The Marquee". They also were resident at a club in Switzerland for a time, and made a big impression at Plumptons 1969 "National Jazz and Blues Festival". This is their first complete album, and gathers together all their surviving recordings. Despite the sole single release, the band recorded much material from 1967 to 1970. Included here are their cancelled second Mercury 45 "Peer Gynt"/"Troubleshoot", alongside 14 other unreleased titles, and two which only made a brief appearance on a contemporary compilation. The album C.D. runs for over 50 minutes, and has been put together to show the band as the ex-members would like best to be remembered. The E.P. disc contains their single release, alongside three of their earliest/more pop-orientated numbers. Together, these show the bands musical range in full. In the overcrowded, constantly re-cycling 60s reissue market, this is new, fresh and largely unheard, restored as far as possible from original tapes and acetates.