VARIOUS ARTISTS
WITH LOVE A POT OF FLOWERS

“With Love – A Pot Of Flowers” was originally issued in 1967 by Mainstream Records ostensibly to cash-in upon the growing fascination with San Francisco. In 1966, label boss Bob Shad had issued several unsuccessful singles by Bay Area groups, and by collecting them together on LP he unwittingly created one of the more satisfying surveys of the scene at the time. The groups included on “A Pot Of Flowers” were the Wildflower, pioneering folk-rockers who were an early fixture at the Fillmore and Avalon; San Jose’s popular garage band the Otherside; legendary East Bay punks the Harbinger Complex; and, from southern California, the idiosyncratic Euphoria, whose off-beat take on psychedelia has given the group a cult reputation. Doubling the album’s original tracklist, Big Beat adds a swathe of rare material, including folk-rock and proto-psych sides by associated West Coast acts such as the New Dawn, Word, Ariel and Unusuals, and several stellar unissued garage rockers from the Ban and Montells. Detailed liner notes provide context with both the group’s individual histories and an overview of Mainstream’s activities on the West Coast.