v/a- FORGE YOUR OWN CHAINS PSYCHEDELIC BALLADS AND DIRGES 1968-1974 2LP

With the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach used for Deep Funk (The Funky 16 Corners, Cold Heat), Now Again tackles beat-heavy global psychedelia with Forge Your Own Chains.

''Those of us birthed into record collecting by the Hip Hop midwife revered Jimi Hendrix as well as James Brown. We searched for albums by Mulatu Astatke and Power of Zeus with the same fervor,'' Egon writes in his introduction to the comp.

Forge Your Own Chains showcases music from all corners of the world: Colombia, Nigeria, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand and Iran. The focus - in keeping with Now-Again's tradition - is on melody, driving rhythms and accessibility. Not one song is included on this compilation because it is from a ''rare'' album. Certainly, many of these songs do spring from albums that exchange hands for many thousands of dollars and many of these songs have never seen reissue. But these songs are all beautiful in their own right and work to form a coherent album.

Psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors and seemingly quaint, are, in the hands of Egon and those of his generation, giving up new ghosts. And, with comps like Forge Your Own Chains, inspiring new investigations into our not so distant (and still very much alive) musical past.

TRACKLISTING:

A1. Top Drawer - Song Of A Sinner

A2. Sensational Saints - How Great Thou Art

A3. 12. Ofege - It's Not Easy

B1. East Of Underground - Smiling Faces Sometimes

B2. D. R. Hooker - Forge Your Own Chains

B3. Shin Jung Hyun and The Men feat. Jang Hyun - Twilight

B4. Kourosh Yaghmaei - Hajm-E Khaali

C1. T. Zchiew and The Johnny - Let Your ife Be Free

C2. The Strangers - Two To Make A Pair

C3. Damon - Don't You Feel Me

C4. Ellison - Strawberry Rain

C5. Morly Grey - Who Can I Say You Are?

D1. Shadrack Chameleon - Don't Let It Get You Down

D2. Ana Y Jaime - Nina Nana

D3. Baby Grandmothers - Somebody's Calling My Name