Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint has recently released the latest volume in its year-by-year chronicle of British psychedelia.  Try a Little Sunshine: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1969 follows Let's Go Down and Blow Our Minds (1967) and Looking at Pictures in the Sky (1968) with 3 CDs and 73 tracks from another fascinating year in music history.

The box explores the various musical strains impacted by psychedelia, such as pop (including bubblegum, baroque, and sunshine/harmony pop), progressive rock, folk, and singer-songwriter.  Tracks have been freed from the vaults of the labels like CBS, Pye, Harvest, Regal Zonophone, RCA, NEMS, Parlophone, Philips, and Ember.  While American artists and American influences do pop up, the sound of these cuts is, more often than not, uniquely British.  As such, they make for a valuable time capsule into a fascinating year of great musical change.

Naturally, there are some still-famous names dotting the track listings of these three discs, including The Spencer Davis Group ("Letters to Edith," the original title track of the album that was released in the U.S. as Funky), Barclay James Harvest ("Barclay Thrush"), Procol Harum ("A Salty Dog"), The Move ("This Time Tomorrow"), Dave Davies of The Kinks ("Creeping Jean"), Ralph McTell (the decidedly pop-oriented "Summer Come Along"), Status Quo ("The Price of Love"), The Pretty Things ("You Might Even Say"),

Typically of these sets, Try a Little Sunshine features some major names in unfamiliar settings.  The aforementioned Dave Davies produced and sang backgrounds on Ewan Stephens' "Mindless Children of Motherhood."  Greg Lake was a member of The Shy Limbs, represented here with the grandiose, organ-driven "Reputation."  The edgy axe of Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister can be heard on Sam Gopal's "It's Only Love," and the pre-fame Gerry Rafferty contributed harmonies to "Saturday Roundabout Sunday" while a member of The Humblebums.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding's band Fat Mattress is heard with the psych-pop-with-harmonies nugget "Petrol Pump Assistant" - a far cry from his blues-rock work in the Experience.

The lesser-known Goffin and King song "Just What I Was Looking for Today" is heard in a fine version by The Spectrum, remembered chiefly as RCA U.K.'s answer to The Monkees.  Another gem from the RCA vaults is The Harmony Grass' catchy slice of sunshine pop, "What a Groovy Day."  The band began their career with Beach Boys-inspired sounds as Tony Rivers and The Castaways before changing their name upon signing to RCA.  The Beach Boys were also major influences on Ireland's The Freshmen, too; the group's Pye recording of "Mr. Beverly's Heavy Days" is in more of a Beatle bag, but the Freshmen harmonies still shine through.  The Montanas were best known for irresistible pop treats like "You've Got to Be Loved," but their producer (and songwriter extraordinaire) Tony Hatch also helmed some off-the-beaten-path tracks like the heavier "Roundabout."

Try a Little Sunshine includes a thick, full-color 44-page booklet with copious images and comprehensive track-by-track liner notes by compiler David Wells.  Simon Murphy has remastered all tracks at Another Planet Music.  Like its predecessors, the three discs are housed in paper sleeves within a compact clamshell case.  The box is available now from Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records at the links below!

Various Artists, Try a Little Sunshine: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1969 (Cherry Red/Grapefruit, 2018) (Amazon U.S.  / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Try a Little Sunshine - the Factory
2. Reputation - Shy Limbs
3. Little Boy - Beatstalkers
4. Letters from Edith - the Spencer Davis Group
5. Roundabout - the Montanas
6. Sister - Cliff Wade
7. Brother Thrush -Barclay James Harvest
8. (Vision in a) Plaster Sky -Wild Silk
9. The Day the Train Never Came - Consortium
10. Lifetime - the Bliss
11. This Is to a Girl - Strawberry Jam
12. River Boat Queen - Audience
13. Captain Reale - Gentle Influence
14. A Salty Dog - Procol Harum
15. Green Mello Hill - Angel Pavement
16. The Walrus and the Carpenter - Peter Howell & John Ferdinando
17. This Time Tomorrow - the Move
18. Shine a Little Light Into My Room - Jason Paul
19. Stay Indoors - the New Formula
20. Running Wild - Fresh Air
21. Dogs and Cats - the Sorrows
22. We Built the Sun - Pussy
23. Baby and Me - the Hammers
24. Being Human Being (Alternative Version) - Paper Bubble

CD 2

1. Child on a Crossing - Writing on the Wall
2. Dr Crippen's Waiting Room - the Orange Machine
3. Liar - Fleur de Lys
4. Seen Through a Light - the Mooche
5. It's Only Love - Sam Gopal
6. Deep Water - Grapefruit
7. Stop - Pan Pipers
8. Marrakesh - Fortes Mentum
9. Flaxen Hair - Marc Brierley
10. Changes in Our Time - Colin Giffin
11. Creeping Jean - Dave Davies
12. Who Wants Happiness - Tapestry
13. She Said, She Said - Grand Union
14. Only George - Scrugg
15. Summer Come Along - Ralph McTell
16. It Happened Two Sundays Ago - Nirvana
17. Doubtful Nellie - Tuesday's Children
18. Mindless Child of Motherhood - Ewan Stephens
19. Biography - Woody Kern
20. Alcock and Brown - Balloon Busters
21. Magic Car - Edwards Hand
22. How Does It Feel - the Good Ship Lollipop
23. No Reason - Shere Khan
24. Morning Way - Trader Horne

CD 3

1. Black Mass - Jason Crest
2. Last Cloud Home - the Orange Bicycle
3. (Who Planted Thorns in) Miss Alice's Garden - the Explosive
4. Just What I Was Looking for Today - the Spectrum
5. The Price of Love - Status Quo
6. This Little Boy - 1984
7. Death of a Dream Machine - the Deviants
8. Day of the Change - Andromeda
9. Mr Rainbow - Homer's Knods
10. You Might Even Say - Pretty Things
11. Cry Baby Cry - Freedom
12. Saturday Roundabout Sunday - the Humblebums
13. We Want You to Stay (Demo Version) - Bill Fay
14. What a Groovy Day - Harmony Grass
15. Mr Beverly's Heavy Days - the Freshmen
16. Little Bird - Eyes of Blue
17. Tamaris Khan - the Onyx
18. The School Boy - Five's Company
19. Looking Towards the Sky - Davey Payne & the Medium Wave Band
20. Fairground - Pure Gold
21. Petrol Pump Assistant - Fat Mattress
22. Good Old '59 (We Are Slowly Gettin' Older) - Second Hand
23. Counting Time My Way - Taxi
24. Burning the Weed - Bobak, Jons, Malone
25. Armageddon - Cape Kennedy Construction Company