Blue vinyl! Former Prisoners / Prime Movers cohorts The Solarflares had further distilled the myriad pleasures of hard-edged, soulful 60s beat-psych, powerhouse guitar/organ instrumentals, and world class (but never wanky) riffage into a classy package, replete with memorable, groove-heavy tunes with knockout harmonies and that big, bad beat. It's fair to say that messrs Graham Day (guitar, vocals), Allan Crockford (bass, vocals), Wolf Howard (drums, vocals) and, latterly, Parsley (organ, vocals) deserve more acclaim, even from diehard fans of The Prisoners and their many other combos, which is where this reissue come in. "Psychedelic Tantrum", originally issued by Anglo-German label Twist in 1999, is an invigorating, intoxicating mix of suss and strut, hitting yer lugholes running with the searing "Mary" and running through the dancefloor-friendly instro "Apollo Go-Go" to the tripped-out "Shadow of the Past" and a mighty take on The Misunderstood's "Find a Hidden Door". To say it's quite a debut is a bit of an understatement, and as with the rest of their output, it sounds gloriously rich and timeless, like it could have been recorded at any point since late-1966.
