Two-Piers brings you their latest killer compilation in the shape of Richard Norris Presents ‘Weird Scenes from the Hangout (Psychedelic & Freakbeat Dancefloor Anthems 1967-1982). An album curated by Richard Norris (The Grid, Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve, The Time and Space Machine, and more) and centred around Richard’s Liverpool Club Night ’The Hangout’ in the 1980’s.

Richard Norris on how The Hangout came about after being inspired to go to University in Liverpool…..

For a place with a distinctly psychedelic tinge, Liverpool was missing one thing in the mid-eighties. A full-on psychedelic club night. I’d been schooled in all things psychedelic, a result of working at Bam Caruso, a label steeped in psych who lovingly reissued many lysergic greats. It was a fantastic education. I was determined to bring some technicolour sonics to Liverpool.  

I found a suitable venue, called Krackers, at the bottom of Mount Pleasant. It was a big basement club, with a stage, video projector, lights, bar, and long tables. In front of the stage, there was ample space for a dance floor. There’s something about clubs in basements. They just work. I chatted to the owner, Bill, who suggested trying out Thursdays for the new night. Inspired by Bam Caruso, and by the Soho club Alice in Wonderland, I agreed to take Thursdays on. 50p to get in. The night was named The Hangout.

The Hangout was born in autumn 1984. The place was perfect. Clips of op art psychedelic films copied to VHS tape were projected on to the large screen that covered the stage. There was a smoke machine, a bubble machine, many moving lights. The place opened to a packed dancefloor and stayed that way into 1985 and beyond. There were guest bands, including Zodiac Mindwarp, Mr.Suit featuring Larry from Wimple Winch, Freight Train and the Cardiacs, among others. There were giveaways of sweets, flowers, balloons, and jelly. Tons of jelly.  

Musically, the Hangout’s take on psychedelia and freakbeat had one aim - to make you dance. We weren’t trainspotters – it didn’t matter if a record was rare, so long as it grooved and worked on the dancefloor. We’d give equal time to the more bandwagon end of sixties exploitation as to hipper acts. I’d pick up tracks on shopping trips in London with Phil Smee from Bam Caruso, or at Probe in Liverpool, where there was a class selection of psychedelia. Bob and Mick from Probe, and their mate Bernie Connor, became Hangout DJ’s, and brought even further mind-bending madness to the Hangout dancefloor. Standout tunes got played again and again, every week, until tracks like The Left Banke’s ‘I’ve Got Something on My Mind’, the Turtles ‘Buzzsaw’, Can’s ‘Outside Your Door’ and all the other tunes you now hold in your hands, became bona fide Hangout club anthems.

The Hangout came and went in a flash, but its legacy of bringing psychedelic foot stompers to the dancefloor carries on. The Hangout left me with a personal love of all things beat and freak.  I’ve been pursuing various musical shapes that all have their roots on the Hangout’s psychedelic dancefloor ever since.  

I hope you enjoy this compilation. Every track is a tried and tested Hangout anthem - Richard Norris, Lewes, August 2024.

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VINYL TRACKLIST 

A1) The Nazz - Open My Eyes

A2) The Easybeats - Good Times

A3) Sir Douglas Quintet - She’s About a Mover

A4) Can - Outside Your Door

A5) The Music Machine - People in Me

A6) Wynder K.Frog - I’m A Man 

A7) Sharon Tandy - Hold On

B1) The Hombres - Let it All Hang Out

B2) The Left Banke - I’ve Got Something on My Mind

B3) The Seeds - The Wind Blows Your Hair

B4) The Apple - Buffalo Billycan

B5) Dantalion’s Chariot - ‘Madman Rising Through the Fields’

B6) The End - Shades of Orange

B7) Warm Sounds - Night Is a Comin’

C1) The Velvet Underground - Foggy Notion 

C2) The Modern Lovers - She Cracked

C3) Kim Fowley - Bubblegum

C4) The Balloon Farm - A Question of Temperature

C5) Fleur De Lys - Circles **

C6) The Starlets - You Don’t Love Me

D1) The Turtles - Buzz Saw

D2) Lothar and The Hand - People Machines

D3) The Open Mind - Magic Potion 

D4) The Swinging Medallions - Double Shot of My Baby’s Love

D5) Simon Dupree and The Big Sound - I See the Light

D6) The Action - I’ll Keep on Holding On ** 

D7) The Creation - How Does It Feel to Feel

D8) The Third Eye - Pass Myself 

** Exclusive tracks to Vinyl Format