Psycheground – Traffic (1970)

The Psycheground Group was an obscure progressive rock group from Italy, so obscure in fact that their exact makeup is not entirely known. Supposedly members of Nuova Idea and keyboardist Vince Tempera were members, but I just pulled that information from a random website. Nevertheless, they released this album in 1970 containing five instrumental tracks that span prog and psych while maintaining a funky jazz type of vibe. The standout cut is “Easy,” an absolutely nasty exercise in funky drumming, hammond organ, guitar, and bass. The first time I heard this I seriously couldn’t believe my ears. Now it’s a top want of mine, and with only a supposed 50 copies produced, I know it’s gonna be a tough hunt.

A sweet psychedelic set, but one with very mysterious origins — originally recorded as a sound library session, by a group that was really the better-known Nuova Idea! The album’s definitely got a vibe that fits its sound library roots — all instrumental, with a bit less bravado than most psyche albums of this type — almost more of a focus on the rhythms, which stretch out strongly amidst the Hammond and guitar solos on the set. The whole thing’s still pretty rockish, but also has a deeper sensitivity to the overall sound too — a quality that’s partly due to production efforts of Giampiero Reverberi. The Psycheground LP is very rare and expensive. It’s been reissued for the first time on vinyl in 2008 by Cinedelic in a limited pressing of 500 vinyl copies.

Tracks

01. Psycheground (8:08)
02. Easy (7:21)
03. Traffic (6:00)
04. Ray (3:02)
05. Tube (7:35)

Members
Fabio Spruzzola (vocals, guitar)
Massimo Meazza (vocals, guitar)
Claudio Bazzari (vocals, guitar)