Days Nights & Late Morning Lights

Any unsuspecting listener could easily mistake the See See's Days Nights & Late Morning Lights as the kind of excavated '60s psychedelic gem that's Sundazed's specialty, and that's precisely the reason why this 2014 compilation is such a rousing success. Excerpting highlights from the London-based psychedelic troupe's two U.K. albums, Days Nights & Late Morning Lights hangs together like an actual record, which is a testament to the group's vision. Rejecting the harder side of psych, the See See instead harbor a fondness for loping country-rock and swirling, Farfisa-fueled pop/rockers; this isn't fuzz-drenched acid rock but rather a dense, honeyed, multicolored pulse. At first, the feel impresses but the songs are sturdy, so they wind up worming their way into the subconscious in no time flat. Often, the songs that make the greatest initial impression are the tighter, punchier pop tunes -- "Automobile," "Keep Your Head," and "The Rain & the Snow" feel like transmissions from 1966 -- but these also stand out because they're surrounded by those pulsating sunbeams of guitars, sounding a bit like the softer Stone Roses or C-86 bands but with fuller, richer production, so it doesn't sound brittle; instead, it resonates, sounding part of a tradition that stretches through the '80s into the '60s yet thrives in the new millennium. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine