The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion (sometimes known simply as Companion) is a compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB), and was released on Sunbeam Records on June 7, 2011. The album is a collection of demos, tracks that appear on early singles, and rare material that derive mostly from the group members' side-projects before, during, and after the WCPAEB's recording career. All of the tracks featured on "Companion" were previously released, although a number of them had never  appeared on a commercially accessible album. The first nine tracks, devoted to early projects instigated by Bob Markley as the lead vocalist and record producer, hold insight into the unusual self-appointed frontman's musical style. Perhaps more intriguing are the bands formed by Michael Lloyd and Shaun and Danny Harris—the young masterminds behind the group's enigmatic leader—whose recordings would sometimes manifest themselves on WCPAEB albums and later solo careers. The Laughing Wind, the folk rock predecessor "discovered" by Markley prior to the band's formation, reveals a more embryonic version of what the group would develop  into. The tracks "Sassafras" and "I Won't Hurt You", both from the band's first album "Volume One" ("Sassafras" only appears as a bonus track on the 1997 reissue of the album), are credited to the WCPAEB. "Companion" unexpectedly concludes with the avant-garde electronic tune "Leiyla and the Poet" by experimental composer Halim El-Dabh. The album also features an informative booklet with rare photographs of the band members.