Chemical Playschool Volumes 1 & 2

The overlapping tangle of cassette releases and compilations covering the first year of the Legendary Pink Dots almost requires flowcharts to make sense of, but one of the most thorough, especially following a 2013 rerelease, is the Chemical Playschool Vol. 1 & 2 collection, a title which has served for a running series of similar collations since. At this stage the group’s approach was lo-fi but still quite compelling, Ka-Spel’s winsomely strange vocals over a blend of textures already in its own world, as on fascinating songs like “Temper Temper,” “Defeated” and the wry “Frosty.”