Two foundational documents of American private-press psychedelic rock emerge from decades-long shadows, deeply illuminated chapters authored by prototypical "terminally unique" Southern California artist/seeker Phil Pearlman and two of his early, briefly extant bands.

From 1967, Phil Pearlman (The Electronic Hole (RAD 002LP) and the majestic Relatively Clean Rivers (ASH 3007CD)) leads a free assemblage of local Southern California acid-heads through loping Velvetica tribal incantations. The Beat of the Earth earns its name in two side-length jams brimming with eastern-tinged luminosity. It is the sun-dappled mirror of The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray." Instead of the urban decay and black and white pop art of the Warhol scene, The Beat of the Earth represents the same idea, looking west across the Pacific. This comes from the same yet intrinsically polar opposite frame of mind from the VU noise marathons of their epic live shows. Mind-expanding psychedelia done by sun-gobbed hippies that were totally out of step with everything else happening in Southern California of the pop-psych '60s. This record stands as much an outsider statement as ESP-Disk's Cromagnon record (ESPDISK 2001CD/LP), or any of the Swedish bands of the Silence stable. It is a truly zonked masterpiece of tribal hippy culture dosed to the gills! Limited edition of 300.