VARIOUS ARTISTS
Sprawling three-CD/two-LP Decca/Deram retrospective.
Psych! British Prog, Rock, Folk &Blues 1966-1973 DECCA/UNIVERSAL
By 1966, something was happening in the British music scene, but the record industry didn’t know exactly what it was. The Beatles had evolved from cheeky moptops to pop pioneers, proving with every release that the format was infinitely malleable, and groups all over the country took note and followed. It was the beginning of what would become known as ‘underground’, and latterly ‘progressive’, music. Scrabbling to market these new sounds, record companies began creating ‘hip’ subsidiary labels, with Decca first off the blocks when Deram was launched in September 1966.