Sun City Girls raid the vaults and ready a new compilation of singles and rarities

With a back catalog as deep and varied as Sun City Girls, it’s no surprise that even after calling it quits the Bishop brothers (Alan and Richard) would do their best to keep the legacy of the Sun City Girls alive. On March 19 they will be doing just that with the release of Eye Mohini: Sun City Girls Singles Vol. 3.

The third entry in a singles and rarities series, Eye Mohini is primarily made up of material recorded in the late 1980s and 1990s. It specifically picks up with the recording of their second full-length LP Grotto of Miracles in 1986 and goes through their move from Phoenix to Seattle in 1993 to establish their own record label, Abduction. This period saw the band adding Arabic-influenced guitar instrumentation as well as Asian folk vocalizations to their already eclectic psychedelic sound.

The CD will contain 14 tracks, including “Gum Arabic” from the Grotto sessions, all four tracks from 1992’s Mohini Eye, all 6 tracks from the Borungku Si Derita double single (including a version of “Esoterica of Abyssynia” featuring a rare appearance from both Bishop brothers on guitar), two tracks from the Three Fake Female Orgasms 7-inch (the other tracks are on the second volume of the SCG rarity compilations), a rare version of “Kickin’ the Dragon,” and a 10-minute live version of “The Flower” from their Torch of the Mystics LP recorded in 1992.

Eye Mohini isn’t a bad place to start if you’re unfamiliar with the group or intimidated by their expansive discography. It touches perhaps their most creatively fertile periods and, as with the first two compilations in the series, the collection itself is sequenced to play with the continuity of a full-length record.

Prolific and hard to categorize, the Sun City Girls formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1979 and over the course of almost 30 years released nearly 50 full-length albums, dozens of cassettes, and countless singles before officially dissolving following the untimely death of drummer Charles Gocher in 2007. Alan Bishop is the co-founder of the Sublime Frequencies record label while Richard continues to tour and release albums under his own name.

• Sun City Girls: http://www.suncitygirls.com
• Abduction: http://www.suncitygirls.com/abduction/index.php

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