The
debut album by Melbourne's Sand Pebbles includes a cover of Julian Cope's ‘Out
Of My Mind On Dope And Speed’, flagging their chosen genre more effectively
that any press release. In the mid-80's, the former pop star introduced a generation
to acid rock, lionising long lost heroes and covering 13th Floor Elevators songs.
But to these young Australians, Cope is as temporally and spatially distant
as the legendary 60's hippy-punks he himself once sought to emulate. Today's neo-psychedelicists have
nearly four decades of drones to draw on, and The Sand Pebbles move the basic
building blocks of Eastern-tinged guitar twangs, trance-like percussion and
spindrift vocals around with as much originality as is humanly possible. The
Big V is their most effective moment, distilling the essence of The West Coast
Pop Art Experimental Band, Rain Parade and Television into a glorious haze.
- Stewart Lee
