Floating World レコード& CD

Review: If you're looking for the missing evolutionary link between the psychedelia of the 60s and the more anarchic acid rock of the 70s then Larry Wallis and co might well be your answer. The band were part - in fact founders is probably closer - of the same Ladbroke Grove squat scene that produced Hawkwind, Motorhead, Killing Joke among others, with Wallis even later appearing in the early 'Head line up in the days before Fast Eddie Clarke joined. This, their 1971 debut album still has a foot and half in the hippy era, but some of the tripper moments - see the marvellous spiralling feedback and echo effects at the end of the title track - point the way to where things are headed. 'Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out' on the other hand, sees them coming across like West London's answer to MC5 with classic garage rock rhythmic clatter, hypnotic grooveouts and police bashing lyrics. Very much of its time but simultaneously showing the way for the generation to follow, it's quite a trip - in every way conceivable.