It is difficult, especially now that they’re not a band anymore and won’t likely be again (though one never knows), to speak about Orange Sunshine in terms other than the superlative. Oh they’re the most fraaked out buncha freaks who ever freaked their way onto an 8-track recording machine! They’re the biggest garage psych cosmic blown-mind mushroom rock secret ever kept by Den Haag! Although I guess at least the latter is demonstrably true.

Nonetheless, 2007’s Bullseye of Being — which is not to be confused with 2006’s Ruler of the Universe — absolutely is the same thing. Five songs, four of them covers and one an older demo. Kind of a hodge-podge where a third full-length proper might have been. But it’s Orange Sunshine, whose acid-drenched take on early-heavy rock was groundbreaking in itself, and so even if it is four covers, it’s a ripper. And I’m willing to bet you weren’t just listening to Terry Brooks & Strange‘s “Ruler of the Universe” anyhow, and even if you were, Orange Sunshine push the 11-minute original into a 15-minute jamadelic opening track that even as a cover demonstrates clearly how ahead of their time Orange Sunshine were in how they took it on.

Again, four of the five tracks are covers on the 37-minute Bullseye of Being — which I guess is what Leaf Hound Records decided to call it for the 2007 release; the band streams it as the later title, so that’s how I’m writing about it — and the first of them is a 15-minute take on an 11-minute obscurity from 1973? With sitar and tabla? Well of course it is. “Demonise” is a play on Deep Purple‘s “Demon’s Eye” from 1971’s Fireball that ups the swing to a delightfully over the top degree that’s all raw fuzzy blues strut in the guitar of Arthur Van Berkel with the vocals of drummer Guy Tavares cutting through set to his own march, bassist Thomas Van Slooten underscoring the bopping groove on which the song is based and within which the entirety of Orange Sunshine feels ready to reside at least on a time-share basis, if not permanently.

There is one copy of Orange Sunshine‘s 2001 self-titled four-song CD-R demo for sale on Discogs, and it’s about $70 after shipping. “Demonise” and the Cream cover “Sunshine of Your Love” appear on there as well as on Bullseye of Being, but I’m not sure if it’s the same versions or not, as the band has said that these tracks were put together at the same time as their 2001 debut, Homo Erectus (review here), so it’s possible they were sitting around, ready to be included with “Ruler of the Universe” and the subsequent “Speed,” first by Ron Wray Light Show. The original version of that track, from 1970, is a two-minute lysergic wahfuzz blaster that only doesn’t realize how stoned it is because it’s also on acid, and, well, Orange Sunshine add about another 40 seconds to that ethic to make the song three minutes, like Monster Magnet screwing around with Hawkwind tracks — making it their own and retaining loyalty to the original as part of that.

“Sunshine of Your Love” is one of those generation-defining hooks — you just know it whether you own a Cream record or not — and so the challenge there is for Orange Sunshine to basically do the same thing they did with “Speed” and pull it off with a song that’s going to be almost universally previously known to their audience. As the centerpiece, it has familiar ‘brump’ in its chugging chorus riff, but doesn’t sound exactly like Cream or like it wants to. Orange Sunshine often walked the line between psychedelia and garage rock, and they could freely draw from either in a way that gives them flexibility with the source material that others might not have. That is to say, Orange Sunshine was a pretty casual kind of band. You never know somebody until you’re in the rehearsal space with them — and I never was — but they always seemed like fairly laid back cats, even if they clearly knew what they were about as a band.

Inevitably, “Ruler of the Universe” is a lot of the draw on Bullseye of Being, and well it should be. It is expansive and encompassing, a triumphant head-jam that’s not only the opener and longest track (immediate points) but that effectively puts the listener in the hypnotic state the band wants just so they can turn around and deliver the slap of “Speed” that follows. Especially for being ostensibly a covers collection, the entire affair drips with personality, and that’s not at all limited to the scorch of lead guitar and feedback burning around the riff of “Balls Knocking.” The curious lone original — if it is — is a classic heavy blues rocker that mashes two channels of dirty-toned soloing together only to emerge clean in the second verse after like what might’ve inspired Radio Moscow ever to get the blues in the first place. It was reportedly also an older recording than its 2006/2007 release would indicate, and it closes here, but I honestly don’t know where it comes from. All I know is that its tones are covered in hair and by the time it’s halfway done it feels like it’s melted the sky.

But if you can vibe with stretches of LSD-drenched noise and heavy vibes pulled right out of 1968, but like, an alternate 1968 where 1968 already happened, Orange Sunshine are already on that astral plane and they already have the volume all the way up, which you probably know because you can feel it in your capillaries. This wasn’t the last Orange Sunshine studio output, but it was pretty close to it. Motorwolf, and the accompanying recording concern that puts Tavares at the helm, still ostensibly operates, and Tavares is currently in Mercury Boys and a few others, as Van Berkel passed away in 2018. Orange Sunshine‘s last release to-date was the 2014 live album, Live at Freak Valley 2013 (review here). The story I will tell about them forever is that when I saw them at Roadburn 2010, they covered Blue Cheer three times. It was one of the most honest and ballsiest things I’ve ever seen happen on any stage anywhere.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

I’m changing meds. It has not been a clean process. It’s been a pain in the ass. I have a new hole in the wall. I was alone when I put it there.

School is hard. We had a meeting with The Pecan’s kindergarten crew. Behavioral plans, etc. It’s just hard. I think that’s how it’s gonna be. Like, forever.

The dog is good.

We’re having brunch on Sunday, you should come.

Next week is Quarterly Review. I’m telling you, but really I’m telling The Patient Mrs., whom I’ve not been brave enough to inform in-person yet. She’s right next to me on the couch as I write this. 50 records. Solid week.

That’s about the long and short of what I’ve got. It’s raining today. I’m looking forward to picking The Pecan up at school and hopefully not needing to leave the house again after that.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, have fun, be safe. Make sure you implement your behavior action plan in ways that are clear, measurable and malleable, and don’t forget to hydrate. See you back here on Monday for the Quarterly Review and more.

FRM.

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Tags: Bullseye of Being, Leaf Hound Records, Motorwolf Records, Orange Sunshine, Orange Sunshine Bullseye of Being, The Hague, The Netherlands

This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2023 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.