This is the most elusive and mysterious release from T I P Records. For some reason it’s amazingly rare. But let’s see what’s hidden inside this disc. For me, the best thing about this compilation is the artwork! It’s by far one of the best I have seen. The front cover folds out into five panels showing a cross-section of what would be a full poster. It’s a shame though how it was released in a black CD tray rather than a clear one! Now let’s turn to the most important thing, the music. Part one was released in 1996 subtitled “Softer Psychedelic Sounds”, but in reality it’s part 2 which would deserve this title (by today’s standards though) While on volume 1 six out of eight tracks were 4/4, on volume 2 we have only 1 or 2 tracks which have a 4/4 beat, all others float between dub, breaks and ambient. The first 3 tracks are my favourite. They are much reminiscent of the first album by the Infinity Project in 1995 “Mystical Experiences”, and is no surprise seeing the members of T. I. P. involved in them. Following is a track by G. M. S. It starts off very quietly until the enchanting flute by Yashi (Yashu) starts playing in and out. Doof is responsible for track 5. This is a dubby, breaky track which he released again on his second and last album “It’s About Time” in 2000 with some new tweaks. Following are no one less than the old acidheads Green Nuns. Soft music was never the order of the day in their books, so this is the only chance to listen something chillier from them. Not that I have lot of dub/ambient etc in my collection, but this is by far the only track I heard of this kind: a fusion between psychedelia and reggae! Track 7 is different from all. It has a deep 4/4 beat and a very eerie atmosphere created by some scary sounds reminding me of Sandman in some parts. It’s very dark and repetitive and lacks melody at all. Track 8 is the only track which I don’t seem to like. It’s from an artist and a label which have nothing to do with psychedelia. It’s a breakbeat track with a male vocal chanting. It’s not bad; it just doesn’t fit with the rest, and certainly not after the track before. And it’s short. I think compilation would have been better without it and if track 7 jumped directly into track 9, “Behind Closed Eyelids”. Now; we’re talking history. We all know that this was the second official Shpongle track to be released and which also appeared on their historic “Are You Shpongled?” album in 1998. The album version is around 22 seconds shorter though. To be fair, most tracks here are nothing to scream about. Except of course for the well known ender, and for the fact that the rest of the songs here are exclusive (except for 8) there’s nothing absolutely remarkable about the music. For the sake of completing the TIP Records collection it’s a must have, other than that there’s nothing essential in here. Still I have to know why this is so scarce!

Looks like after all these years there's a lot for sale at 'normal' prices :)

Ha ha, nice hypothesis. I also remarked how nice artwork is :)

I think for a lot of us who got into the psy-trance scene in the mid-late nineties this was the classic chill-out CD. A reason why it may be rare could be that a lot of Goa/cd artwork got "de-capitated" to decorate DAT tapes and make decorations. I still remember this one on my wall.