If ever there was one group that was way ahead of its time, that honour could well belong to Silver Apples. Drums and hippyish vocals were nothing new back in 1968 of course but a huge home-made electronic machine certainly was. The 'Simeon' (named after its owner and singer) was a device made up of 80 manual controls and various oscillators. Simeon the human had to use his hands, elbows and knees to activate the controls resulting in some futuristic sounds. The other half of the duo (or three if you include the machine) was sticksman Dan Taylor who regularly incorporated as many as 13 drums and 5 cymbals into his set, as well as other percussion. The music sounds contemporary even today with the tunes being either sweetly melodic ('You're Not Foolin' Me', 'A Pox On You'), hypnotically intense (the mantra-like lyrics of 'Dancing Gods'), frighteningly experimental ('Dust', 'Gypsy Love') and sometimes, as on 'You And I' all three. Both of their albums are included here; their self-titled effort from 1968 is all about rhythm, 'Contact' from the following year was more experimental but also more tuneful. Both, however, are worthy additions to any psychedelia lover's collection.