The Moles - Flashbacks and Dream Sequences: The Story of the Moles

The Moles aren’t exactly household names – but like their roster-mates Archers of Loaf, Spacemen 3 and The Garbage and The Flowers, they never were. What with Fire’s penchant for taking an inordinate amount of care with the records they release, the listener – whether they have or haven’t heard of the bands featured – is assured of a certain measure of quality.

The Moles are the band commanded by chamber-pop/baroque pop luminary - and Aussie - Richard Davies, and the influences on their sound are the kind of band you’re likely to see at the summit of Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Albums list: The Beach Boys and The Beatles being foremost amongst them.

Over the course of the record, you will encounter contributions by The Clean’s iconic leader Hamish Kilgour – himself a pioneer of Antipodean pop. You’ve surely heard of Flying Nun and the Dunedin Sound? That guy. You’ll also encounter original Moles Glenn Fredericks, Carl Zadro and Warren Armstrong. But the focus never leaves Davies and his recurring knack for a killer tune.

The music contained within this 2CD/2LP+2CD collection is staggering in both volume and diversity. Over the 35 songs contained within, there are numerous highlights: The collection begins with the dazzling “Wires”, where a plaintive bagpipe drone combines with an elastic groove you’d expect from J.Spaceman. “Accidental Saint” opens with a “Frère Jacques” guitar jangle before it spirals outwards into a rattling guitar-pop number with a McCartney-esque bass line. Both of those cuts were from the first Moles album, the hour-long epic Untune The Sky.

The astonishing “What’s The New Mary Jane” was the highlight from that record, and it again approximates the sound J Spaceman pioneered with his band of merry Spacemen – fuzz-bomb guitars crash against zoned-out vocals and a thudding, insistent kick-drum pattern during the choruses. It’s a magical combination harvested from some of the best star-gazing music ever committed to tape.

Of the cuts from the second album, Instinct, there are even weirder, yet still effervescent, mind-blowers. However, tracks like the eerie “Eros Lunch (1963)” and the candied ethereality of “Raymond, Did You See The Red Queen?” are essential listening. The latter plays like Phil Spector soundtracking Alice in Wonderland with a little help from his friends and admirers (dig the jingling bells and a creepy-crawl Pet Sounds piano, all caked in gloopy reverb.)

Also from Instinct is the manic, twitching “Already In Black”, which by all accounts borders on the avant-garde with its mind-blowing rhythmic density. The final track from Instinct, “The Crasher”, is an absolute treat – imagine if The Fall weren’t ‘totally wired’ but were ‘totally tripping’, and that’s an approximate description of the sound that faces you. There’s even some guitar harmonics and screeching brass in there for good measure.

There are legitimately bizarre moments scattered throughout too: the crazed post-punk of “Surf’s Up” (not that one) – a different version appears here than the one found on Untune the Sky - and the kaleidoscopic death rattle of “Tendrils and Paracetamol” (which has a Peter Hook-y bass line, jet engine shoegaze guitars and a relentless martial drum beat) and a version of Kraftwerk’s “Europe by Car” that sounds more like Television than Hutter and Schneider’s robot-men.

If you’re in anyway interested in the development of psychedelia in the 1990s, this record is a must-have. If you’re a fan of Spiritualized and/or Spacemen 3, it’s practically essential. This all-encompassing release cannot – and should not – be digested in one sitting, unless you’re sufficiently ‘relaxed,’ in which case it most certainly should be.

Spending time with the Moles makes you realise how staggering bands you’ve never heard of can be. Of course, this isn’t the first career-collecting release from The Moles – 2003’s On The Street was the original assemblage of Davies’ tunes, but it’s unlikely that you own that either. But Flashbacks and Dream Sequences leaves the listener with two questions and two answers: is this one of the best reissues to come from Fire? Definitely. Is this one of the best reissues this decade? You betcha.