DAVE – Whatever Happened To… ? (2026 Mix – Expanded) (2026, 2LP, Guerssen Records) 

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Guerssen Records

Format: 2LP, Album, Limited Edition, Black Vinyl

Format: 2LP, Album, Limited Edition, Colored Vinyl, 100 copies

Release Date: 19 June 2026

Some records are rare because they were forgotten. Others become legendary precisely because almost nobody ever had the chance to hear them. “Whatever Happened To…?” by Dave belongs firmly to the second category. Originally released in 2005 as an almost mythical private pressing of just 50 copies, this obscure gem quickly became a holy grail among collectors of DIY and late-’60s-inspired psychedelia. Created anonymously by Peter Harknett and Russell Elliott, two vinyl-obsessed musicians with a deep knowledge of the psychedelic underground, the album sounds less like a nostalgic revival and more like a lost private-press artifact somehow transported from another era into the early 21st century.

Recorded in a converted North London garage studio, “Whatever Happened To…?” captures that wonderfully fragile space where homemade experimentation meets genuine psychedelic intuition. Dreamy vocals, fuzzed-out guitars, effects, extended compositions and a beautifully stoned atmosphere reveal clear echoes of Barrett-era Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, Gene Clark, Popol Vuh, Hawkwind and the forgotten corners of ’60s acid folk and psych. Yet there is also something unmistakably contemporary in its lo-fi intimacy and hazy textures, making it equally appealing to devotees of ’90s shoegaze and the spaced-out worlds of Spacemen 3 and Flying Saucer Attack.

Now, more than two decades after its original appearance, “Whatever Happened To…?” finally emerges from collector folklore in an expanded and beautifully restored 2LP edition through Guerssen Records. Newly mixed from the original multi-track tapes by Peter Harknett, the album includes two previously unreleased tracks from the sessions, and the original artwork is expanded into a deluxe gatefold package. This is more than a reissue of an impossibly rare record; it is the resurrection of a genuine underground psychedelic document that deserves to be heard far beyond the tiny circle of collectors who knew its name.

“Whatever Happened To…?” contains 9 tracks spread across the 4 sides of the double LP vinyl. The album opens with “Oh Mr. Leary”, a wonderfully magical and absolutely mind-blowing track that somehow gives new life to the ultimate “Leary” song, “Legend of A Mind” by The Moody Blues — yet has absolutely nothing to do with it musically. This is not a cover or a reinterpretation, but a completely new composition built around the spirit of that classic, with the psychedelic “Leary” voice samples adding an irresistibly trippy dimension while the electric guitar lurking in the background becomes progressively more mind-melting. WHAT A TRACK! “What Will You Do…?” begins with the familiar electric guitar riff from Davie Allan & The Arrows’ “Blue’s Theme”, which returns again midway through the song, before suddenly changing direction and drifting into a soft, slow and bittersweet psychedelic landscape. Here the influence of Neon Pearl — and particularly their legendary 1967 recordings (released in 2001) — becomes almost impossible to miss, as Dave captures that fragile, melancholic British underground feeling with remarkable authenticity. “In My Mind” continues along the same psychedelic path, introducing backward sound effects, remarkable lo-fi guitar work and a fascinating mixture of late-’60s British influences, from Neon Pearl and their reincarnation Please to The Koobas. The result is a wonderfully intimate, bedroom-made psychedelic atmosphere that feels completely genuine. “It’s Not Me” remains within the same melancholic scenery, drawing once again from the darker and more fragile side of the late-’60s British underground, with the spirit of Neon Pearl/Please hovering around another beautifully lo-fi psychedelic home recording. “Some Reasons To Get High” slows things down with soft, mellow vocals and a slightly Alt-Country flavour, before the middle section unexpectedly dives into a mind-melting atmosphere reminiscent of The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty — a beautiful and rather unexpected detour. “Electric Baroque” is an emotional psychedelic instrumental that sounds as if it has been rescued from the catalogue of some obscure British underground band featured on Tapestry of Delights — the kind of forgotten gem that immediately makes you want to discover more. “Be My Friend” is another absolutely brilliant moment, sounding like a recently unearthed 1968 psychedelic acetate, perhaps an unknown or unreleased Neon Pearl recording. It has that rare quality of sounding genuinely lost rather than deliberately retro, and it is simply that good. The first bonus track, “Drifting”, is a hazy psychedelic ballad drenched in melancholy, moving slowly through a dreamy and slightly trippy atmosphere, while “Carry On” closes the journey with its gentle male/female vocal interplay and a soft, slow early-’70s British Folk-inspired soundscape. Together, these tracks reveal an album that constantly plays with the illusion of time — music recorded in the early 2000s that somehow feels like a collection of forgotten tapes, acetates and private pressings rescued from the deepest corners of the late-’60s underground.

“Whatever Happened To…?” is one of those rare records that completely blurs the boundaries between past and present. Dave did not simply imitate the psychedelic underground of the late ’60s — they somehow captured its spirit, its fragility and its sense of discovery, creating music that sounds genuinely lost in time. Now, with this expanded 2LP edition, this once-impossible-to-find private press treasure finally escapes collector mythology and gets the wider audience it has always deserved. A beautiful, strange and wonderfully authentic psychedelic time capsule. Re-invest! TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist

Links

Listen / Buy through DAVE Bandcamp

Alternatively, grab it via GUERSSEN Records Web Store