Artist
THE PSYCHEGROUND GROUP
THE UNDERGROUND SET
Unknown
Two groups to be mentioned together, as behind their names hid, for contractual reasons, the musicians from Nuova Idea. But surely the mastermind behind them was composer Gian Piero Reverberi, who was also the producer of Le Orme and wrote most of the tracks on these albums under the nickname Ninety.
Like Planetarium, Blue
Phantom or Fourth Sensation these were
Italian groups whose members were never listed on the covers.
The Underground Set were often thought to be an English group, their first album having been
issued in many European countries. It's interesting to notice that the group has been mentioned as
English in
Vernon Joynson's Tapestry of Delight book.
But in an interview with Paolo Siani on the Italian Musikbox magazine, the
drummer was one of the first to reveal that the musicians playing on this band's two
albums were in fact Nuova
Idea, as Radio Records (the label on which the first album
and the singles appeared) was distributed by their label Ariston
at the time.
Mainly instrumental, with just some choral vocal parts,
the albums are typical of a late 60's organ-led psychy pop sound and some tracks
were used as TV film themes.
The Psycheground LP from 1971 is similar, featuring five instrumental
tracks that show the inspiration of the british 60's rhythm & blues.
| LP | |||
| The Underground Set | Radio (RRS 134) | 1970 | single cover - black/white label |
| War in the night before | Tickle (TLPS 5002) | 1971 | front laminated single cover |
| Cinedelic (CNPL 804) | 2016 | thick single cover - black or orange vinyl | |
CD |
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| War in the night before | Cinedelic (CNPLCD 804) | 2016 | |
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VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATIONS |
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| Canta e balla le tue
corse d'estate (with Emisfero and Underground in blue) |
Radio (RRS/PR 164) | 1976 | Pirelli Motovelo promo-only LP - also featuring Buddy Merrill, Franco Chiari, Lou Grind Ensemble |
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SINGLES (all with picture covers) |
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| Arcipelago La filibusta |
Radio (RR 1030) | 1970 | A-side taken from The Underground Set - green/white label - B-side credited on the label to the Gian Piero Reverberi Orchestra - also issued as promo with blank cover |
| Motor road underground Slaughter on the motor road |
Radio (RR 1043) | 1970 | both unreleased tracks black/silver label |
| Tanto per cambiare Emisfero |
Radio (RR 1048) | 1970 | unreleased track B-side taken from The Underground Set |
| Una lettera Libitum |
Tickle (TSP 1301) | 1971 | both tracks from War in the night before |
| CH 4 | Studio G (C.T. 7011/7012) | 1971 | credited to Hot Underground Group - B-side of the single Messaggio per te by Gian Piero Reverberi e la Sua Orchestra |
| La casa aperta agli ospiti | Tickle (TSP 1304) | 1972 | unreleased track - taken from the soundtrack of the film La casa aperta agli ospiti - backed with Messaggio per te by Gian Piero Reverberi |
| THE
PSYCHEGROUND GROUP LP |
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| Psycheground (Psychedelic and underground music) | Lupus (LUS 207) | 1971 | single cover |
| Cinedelic (CNPL 802) | 2008 | reissue of the above - 500 copies limited pressing | |
| Cinedelic (CNPL 802C) | 2016 | as above - 300 copies numbered issue with blue/red splattered vinyl | |
| BTF/Vinyl Magic (VMLP 239) | 2021 | 300 copies red vinyl issue for Record Store Day 2021 - later reissued in the same year with yellow vinyl | |
CD |
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| Psycheground (Psychedelic and underground music) | AMS/BTF (AMS 156CD) | 2009 | ristampa dell'album del 1971 con coperina mini-LP - edizione limitata 500 copie |
Both albums by the Underground Set are very rare in their original issue. No counterfeits exist.
The first album was also issued at the time with a
slightly different cover in the UK (on Pantonic PAN 6302), Germany and France (both
on Vogue LDVS
17189).
A CD reissue of it by the Japanese Shagadelic label (no.SDCD4) was released in
2002 with a nice
mini-gatefold cover. The same album has been first reissued on vinyl by the
Spanish label Wah Wah (no. LPS 057) in 2008, with two bonus tracks.
Two tracks from the first Underground Set album, Arcipelago and Emisfero, also appeared on a single
credited to Giorgio David with the Gianfranco Reverberi orchestra (Las Vegas LV-1054), and on another one under the name Unito e gli Optiamo (Radio RR 1060);
Arcipelago was also released on single by
Giancarlo Branca (Radio RR-1049). All these singles came out in 1970.
The band also appeared under the name Hot Underground Group with CH4 in 1971 on the B-side of the single Messaggio per te by Gian Piero Reverberi e la Sua Orchestra.
Second album, War in the night before, was reissued for the first time on vinyl and CD by Cinedelic in 2016. The LP version exists on both black or orange vinyl and has the same front laminated cover as the original, but made of thick cardboard. The album contains a download card for the entire album plus six bonus tracks from the band singles, including the rare CH4 released under the name Hot Underground Group.
The soundtrack to the Italian version of the movie L'uomo dal
pennello d'oro was credited to The Underground Set, with tracks from their albums.
The soundtrack also contained a song by J.Plep,
another group connected with Nuova Idea.
The film came out in Italy in 1972, but it had originally been released in Germany in 1969 with the title Der Mann mit dem
goldenen Pinsel with a different soundtrack.
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, and later on CD by AMS. A new CD issue came out in Japan on Italian Golden Mondo (cat.IGM 001) in 2024.
Two tracks from this album, Ray and Psycheground were included in
a compilation of instrumental tracks called Double Dacron (Leo LRS21),
issued in the early 70's and also featuring compositions by Giuliano Sorgini,
Rino De Filippi and Juan Falenito.
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The Underground Set - LP and label |
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The Underground Set - LP, English and German issues |
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War in the night before - LP, cover and label |
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Arcipelago - 7" single |
Motor road underground - 7" single |
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Una lettera - 7" single |
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Unito e gli Optiamo / Arcipelago - 7" single |
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| The Psycheground Group/Psycheground - LP, cover and label | |
Thanks to Giorgio Meloni of Metrodora, Danilo Ragonesi, Mauro Costa, Giuliano Semprucci, Boris Jerschensky, Amos, Domenico Vinci, Fabrizio Giacobbi for some pictures and information.
