Filling The Gap, Vol. 1-5 - Complete Collection for Personal Growth & Self-Improvement | Perfect for Book Clubs, Therapy Sessions & Mindfulness Practice

While this is an interesting collection of music, it is important for the psych fan to know that the concept behind this compilation is rather different from that of your typical psych comp. One could say that the focus is more on rarity, on filling the gaps, as opposed to purely musical quality. The idea is to fill in the gaps of the psych fan who already has most of the classic obscure albums, but is missing the single A and B sides which were not included on them. Thus, this is most interesting to people who already have the classics from bands like Bead Game, Lincoln St Exit, Headstone, Lollipop Shoppe, 49th Parallel, Blues Magoos, etc, but want more. Just from that short list, it should be obvious that a lot of ground is covered as far as style goes - Lincoln St Exit is closer to early hard rock than psych, while the Blues Magoos and others represent the more garagey aspects of psych. All in all, I'd recommend the classic psych comps (Perfumed Garden, Real Live Permanent Dream, Electric Sound Show, Rubble, etc) first, while this one may be worth picking up at a later stage, as it's not full of psychedelic classics, but as stated, rare singles. Sound quality is acceptable, although a bit rough on the older, rarer singles.