Frankly, this is as irritating as it gets. I will be concise and try not to lose my temper, but what the hell are the label managers over at Shivlink Records thinking? First of all, they pushed through a compilation with three indisputable top of the line old school classics, out of the total five oldies, and added four recent productions. Which unfortunately only proves the release's title to be justified - now and then, it says, which couldn't be more true than it is. The tracks from "then", are superb, as one would except, while those having the misfortune of belonging to the "now" pile are, well, uninspiring. If you're a dedicated old school follower, there is nothing that would could make you buy this except the Goasia track, which single handedly rescues the day.
The whole thing works as a great marketing trick. I mean, damn, tracks Vimana by Etnica, Gift Of The Gods by Cosmosis and Chakra & Edi Mis' Final Mission are ear candy of the highest order, so they more than successfully lure old school afficionados in. Other than repeating your "class kicks", there isn't much in store for a more demanding listener. Both Astrancer and Liquid Flow let down with pretty standard nitzo like tracks (bombastic kicks getting ran over with screaming and high pitched melodies), especially when one keeps in mind the quality tunes they've both released on compilations under the Metapsychic Records. Luckily for us all, Goasia is still on a wild rampage; it's been ages since they last released a bad track, and Paranormal Experience is no exception! Not quite on the same level of their last year's album, and in fact I cannot but feel that this is a left over from From Other Spaces, but my guess is that only proves how goos they are. The closing numbers by ManMadeMan and Holy Men are two separate galaxies. The first is a wild and erratic psychedelic tornado from back in the day when ManMadeMan were still an interesting output, while Holy Men's attempt at making music is laughable.
My 2/5 vote is given only due to the presence of the three already mentioned old school monsters, despite the fact I own them on countless old releases and I've listened to each of them dozens of times.
Once the old school territory is covered, my final conclusion is that this is plain dull, unnecessary and pointless, with the lame intent of making somebody a quick buck.
If you're interested to see where is contemporary psychedelic music heading and who are its potential heroes, check out V/A Freshly Cut Tomato on Cronomi Records.