| Here is a pure and pure classic acid dazed psychedelic album. Lots of fuzz and phased guitar with a heavy blues rhythm base and a heavy West Coast jam feel throughout. According to urban psych legends this album was written and recorded while the band were on LSD and I must say that it does show. This is the ultimate lava lamp album and one that you must keep away from the children. I would say one of my personal top 10 Psychedelic albums of all time. | |||
| This was the first Grateful Dead album I ever bought and has really given me a much deeper appreciation for this band as this album simply rocks! I snagged the Rhino HDCD re-mastered version which brings a great new sound forward for total listening pleasure. Recorded over 2 gigs (Fillmore West 2/27/69) and Avalon Ballroom (1/26/69), this is the dead in pure form playing some pretty trippy and progressive rock music. There is an incredible 23 minute killer version of Dark Star which may be highlight of the album for this music lover. Lots of improvised jams on this album which some standout guitar playing and interesting bass/drum interplay. No question that this album is a genuine classic from the psychedelic era and a wonderful album to go get lost in. | |||
| Magic were certainly a lesser known act than many of the more successful 60’s US West Coasters, but “Enclosed” is a fantastic album. There is no mistaking that this gem is a product of the psychedelic era with it’s “Quicksilver-like” guitar soloing and Southern soul music form. Magic were Duane King (Lead Vocals, guitar), brother Nick King (Bass and vocals), Joey Murcia (Lead Guitar) and Gary Harger (Drums). It amazes me how some of these bands never really “made it” big and Magic are one of those mysteries. As this album clearly demonstrates Duane King was a bit of a genius as he was able to not only write catchy little melodies but fuse it with some tasty grooved out psychedelic rock. Magic blend blues, Psych and prog and end up with what I will call “acid country rock & soul”. At times this band really get cooking with acid laced guitar soloing which may be best demonstrated on the epic 12 min “I’ll just play” on which the guitar continues to rage on and on with an almost David Gilmour-like Meddle vibe with the rhythm section locking into a warm transcendental groove. | |||
| Widely regarded as one of the most psychedelic albums to have ever come out of the UK, Hapsash have recorded one cool but heavy tripped out album full of solar explorations and one deep mystical musical journey. This album is full of long extended freak out jams and heavily psychedelia. | |||
| “Far Far Away” opens the adventuress and psychedelically charmed masterpiece from early Barrett influenced Floyd. “A Saucerful Of Secrets” was I suppose a bit of a transition album bridging Syd’s psychedelia influenced music with new member David Gilmour’s and his slightly more progressive leanings. I love the early Floyd psychedelic experience and IMHO “A Saucerful Of Secrets” represents one of the key albums that helped shape both the progressive rock era as well as the generation readiness for the prog explosion. This album also manages to cover a good chunk of ground from the dreamy membrane of Wright’s “Remember A Day” to the socially poignant and surface humor of “Corporal Clegg” to the pure progressive magic of “Set The Control For The Heart Of The Sun”. The end result is a tremendous little album full of dark and psychedelic influenced exploratory progressive rock. | |||
| ..And now for perhaps the greatest psychedelic-rock album of all time…enter Mr. Syd Barrett and company. Piper was the first full album by London’s “The Pink Floyd” and showcases their creative yet drugged out free form musical compositions. Without a question this is Barrett at his best and most evocative music from his creative mind. Included on this album are 2 of the most respected and copied tracks from the psychedelic era namely “Astronomy Domine” and “Interstellar Overdrive”. I have always loved the early Floyd albums and consider this album to be one of my personal favs from this era. | |||
| Third and final album released by The Mandrake Memorial representing a wonderful and absolute popular psychedelic experience. Puzzle contains some simply scrumptious "psychy" parts and actually contains grandiose classical ideas at the same time….best of all it works. This is a concept album based on imaginary creatures called Curl-Up's who are represented on the fine cover art work. Included on the re-mastered CD package was their last known recordings…a version of Thunderclap Newman's Something In The Air and the B-Side on the last 45 single released from The Mandrake Memorial. Songs carry a certain "Beatle'ish influence to them (aka Strawberry Fields…..) and contain many different background sound effects and sonic distortion making this album strangely wonderful. Highly addictive album with some truly memorable musical moments. | |||
| Yet another simply 'bong-tastic' spacey-psych release from these mind warping your men from Sweden. Like all Spacious Mind releases, "Organic Mind Solution" explores the depths of space with heavy droned and yet wailing guitar solos layered on top of some glorious keyboard/synth atmospheres. OMS get into some of TSM's most enduring and yet provocatively mind expanding grooves yet. In many ways this is my personal favourite album of theirs revealing my deep love for this spaciously dogmatic and yet poignant music. Far too clever for society. | |||
| Originally stencilled the “Tripsichord Music Box” later to simplify their name to just Tripsichord, heralded out of San Franciso Bay area as one of the most enigmatic acid rock bands. This album has been carefully re-mastered on CD by the fine folks at AKARMA records (ITALY) complete with mini vinyl album /CD packaging. Without a question this album is one of the best San Fran acid / psychedelic guitar sounding albums I have heard. Tripsichord really remind me in many ways of Quicksilver Messenger Service with free flowing guitar jams and that community musicianship feeling. I love the killer dual guitar interplay on this album as well and the songs are very well written and performed. This CD also has five excellent bonus tracks; two from the San Francisco Fifth Pipe Dream compilation and two from their single on the San Francisco Sound label. Overall if you are into the late 60’s West Coast scene then this album is essential. | |||
| Without a question, you must grab a copy of this one kids! Mind bending, mood enhancing, life changing music with loads of wicked space grooves from these Swedish cosmo'nauts. Try to imagine an evening of the Ozrics mixed with Hawkwind and the psychy late 60's west coast music scene and your not far from the truth. This album delivers tons of freaked out guitar solos layered on top of heavy keyboard laden swirling synth textured atmospheres with friendly support of the rhythm sections (drums and hand percussion…) Songs are nice and long with two tracks well over 20 mins and effortlessly explore the unique and diverse regions of your mind. Tempo changes are quite frequent and seem to nicely break up the music, preventing it from becoming too static or repetitive. Cosmic Minds At Play is clearly one of the most progressively psychedelic sound sculptures I have heard in a long long time and is simply killer brain food. | |||
| For those who like their prog with a nice twist of the psychedlia then look no further my friends as you have found sanctuary for the mind. The Smell Of Incense blew me away with their All Mimsy Were The Borowgroves release and this one falls not far out of line from it in many ways. Throught The Gates is centered around the sweet psychedelic sounds of the 60's put to as very dark and forboding modern sound offering a very unique and different feel. Instruments like the Mellotron, Wurlitzer pianos, harmonium, synths, harpsichords, Flutes, sax and floral dust sonic synthesizer help create a sonic landscape which will leave you drooling. I love the very spacey atmospheres the create and this album is perfect for the ol' headphones. Be warned my friends that listening to this with the lights low may cause anxiety and even be fatal. Highly inventive and heartly endorsed to those who are brave enough.... | |||
| Fantastic UK psychedelic pop progressive act who really took the Sgt. Pepper's aura to another dimension. Restless Night was originally issued on the Penny Farthing label in 1970 and is a wonderful album full of 70's era - Beatle'esque themes and musical feelings. Octopus blend superb fuzz guitar and organ work all wrapped up with some great lead vocals. Someone once described this album as being "So dangerously post-Sgt. Pepper's that it approaches solo McCartneyism". This magical little album has been re-issued by "See for Miles" on CD with extra tracks off of their singles (also has been re-mastered). This album also does carry some very unique musical moments and is not in anyway a 100% carbon copy of the Beatles, but realistically does come from the same genre…….the parallels are there. The best tune IMHO on the album is the last one "Tide" which is also the longest (5:40) as it allows the instruments to really expand out a bit and gives a bit of symphonia to this psychedelic folk/prog masterpiece. IMHO this is an essential album and the extra tracks are worth the price alone…….October's Restless Night is a materpiece….. | |||
| Go out and get this album immediately…."do not pass go….do not collect $200.00"……Formula 3 were one of Italy's first and most popular psychedelic prog rock band of its time. Dies Irae their first album is greatly overshadowed by their later releases (which were also very good), but let me say that you must start with this album. This band was stacked with talent with Alberto Radius (guitars, vocals) who would later form "Il Volo", Lucio Battisti (keyboards)….Battisti was then (and still is) one of the biggest pop stars in Italy, a singer/composer whose success was founded on his long-time collaboration with lyricist simply named Mogol with drums by Toni Cicco. Musically these guys are somewhere in the Deep Purple school with heavy emphasis on guitar and keyboard interplay. In the end they combined to write and record perhaps my favourite Italian Psych rock album of all time. This album also includes one rockin version of "The Four Tops" classic "Walk Away Renee" which bleed with deep tones keyboards and Hendrix-like guitar psychy freakouts. Can't say enough about this album….unbelievable stuff…… | |||
| Now I must admit that I am still recovering from how amazing this recording is??..I was amazed when a kind friend of mine introduced me to The Smell Of Incense, but after owning and having had repeated listens I am hooked. All Mimsy Were The Borogoves is very hard to peg down but I would chalk it up somewhere between Art Rock and Psychedelic. SOI blend acid laced guitars with very psychedelic sounding voices and landscapes "in the most delightful way" This highly polished and professional band create some of the most psychedelic landscapes I have heard and their wide use of instruments inject different flavors throughout. Sound reproduction is superb ,but I do understand that this album is in supply shortage which is a crime. Highlight for me is their very trippy rendition of Pink Floyd?s Interstellar Overdrive which in contrast to tribute bands offers a much more expansive view of this tune than perhaps even Floyd observed (of course the Floyd version is a classic!). Highly recommended. | |||
| Less than a year after the release of the slightly psych album”Now-and Them” , they pulled out all the stops with “Time out! Time In for them” . This album IMHO is the best album recorded under the “Them” monikor. This is the second album that Them had released while based in the US. This album is a tour de force of acid psychedelia with heavy acid dripping guitar solos of Jim Armstrong, psychy backdrops and even tons of sitar with heavy yet soulful vocals of Ken McDowell. | |||
| Now here is some real crazy spaced out live prog rock from the '60's. This is pure psychedelia offering wild vocals and lyrics with solid musicanship. This music is not for the weak at heart but for those deeply into the pschy scene this is a must. HP Lovecraft deliver loads of psychey keyboards and drums and at times sort of remind me of the Doors (in the same vein). HP Lovecraft deliver here a lot of their most popular psych melodies and tunes. This album is a lot of fun and is nice and psychy. | |||
| For many people Van Morrison's departure marked the end of the band “Them” or at least their knowledge of THEM. But the truth is after Van left the band they released 2 of my most beloved psychedelic albums with “Now-and them” being the album in review. Ken McDowell took over the role as lead vocalist and the band were reincarnated in a psychedelic/R&B genre showing elements of Beatles, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and even the Electric Prunes. By the time "Them" recorded their 1968 albums they were living in the US and were obviously heavily influenced by the emerging psychedlic movement. One of my fav tracks by Them is from this album with "Dirty Old Man (at the age of sixteen). The band line up on was Jim Armstrong (guitar), Alan Henderson (bass), Ray Elliott (Piano , sax), Ken McDowell (Vocals) and John Wilson (Drums). An absolutely stunning album and a real treasure from an overlooked short era of THEM. | |||
| Il Mucchio's debut album is a remarkable and unique album bridging classic Ital Prog and Psychedelia. With essences of melodic prowess, this album generally places heavy emphasis on light organ runs to create that certain aura of space psychedelia. Because of its originality it is very hard to draw a ton of similarities and this is what I love about this album. They even take a stab at a progressively psychedelic version of Schubert's "Ave Maria". CD includes 4 bonus tracks which actually fit the album well and makes this Mellow Records release a real gem. | |||
| " I had a dream to try to combine Western and Indian music into a new form, a music which has no particular name but is melodious and touching and which combines the most modern electronic devices with the old traditional instrument..the Sitar!." writes Ananda Shankar (son of Ravi) back in 1970. Like his father, Ananda was classically trained in India and is a master of the sitar. Drawing on his combined knowledge and Ragas of passion, Ananda's debut album is an outstanding juxtaposition of musical genres...Psychedelia, Progressive Rock, Chamber Music, India Accents and even Pop influences. On this album Ananda re-interprets "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire" which may sound a bit cheesey at first glace, but one listen and you will be hooked! Ananda's sitar is combined with electric bass, Drums, tabla, guitar, moog synths and a host of analog keyboards providing the listener with a great range of musical forms. Overall this album is just too cool and you won't believe some of Ananda's sitar incredible fingering speed. Standout track is the 7 minute "Sagar (The Ocean)" which highlites a mezmorizing Tabla, Sitar and drum solo of the highest order. An essential album of eclectic world progressive rock. | |||
| Sometimes pop, psychedelia and prog just mesh together with perfection as it did on "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt Peppers" and in this case The Zombies. "Odessey & Oracle" musically personifies a certain warm "Englishness" in character and contains some of the most wonderfully memorable tracks of all time. The Zombies employ a liberal amount of mellotron which adds a great warmth throughout the album. Rod Argent also adds some tasty little "Procol'ish" hammond organ accents as well. The Zombies are somewhere musically between The Beach Boys, Procol Harum and The Beatles, while sustaining and developing a very unique sound and identity. IMHO one of the stellar aspects of this album rests in the beautiful and captivating vocals of Colin Blunstone who later sings with The Alan Parsons Project. A simply stunning album right through. | |||
| Blistering heavy prog-psychedelic classic with fuzzed-up searing guitars, weird effects and trippy songs. The Jarvis Street Revue was formed in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in the late 60's around the talents of, Tom Cruickshank, Wayne Faulconer, Tom Horricks and George Stevenson . This concept album is focused on the pro-environment/anti-corporate-businessman and is an environmental statement on the use and abuse of the oil reserves, the depletion of Earth’s natural resources and hazards of smoking. Sound familiar? These issues are a concern in the 21st century and this album was 30 years ahead of its time for the bands green concerns and anti-business reflection in the song lyrics of the album. Superior digipack replica of the band's ultra-rare and prohibitively expensive only LP, first released by Columbia Records (Canada-only) in 1970. Remastered from the original tapes & supplemented by eight bonus tracks -- two singles tracks plus all six tracks recorded for their incomplete unreleased 2nd album. | |||
| For those who really want to be freaked out should sample a few minutes of Le Orme's first and un-characteristically psychy album which sounds just perfect to this music lover. Ad Gloriam is a colorful album blending that whimsically paisley West Coast psych element including great vocal harmonies, backwards guitar loops , freakbeat allusions and some exquisite orchestral arrangements. For those like me who adore much of Le Orme's output may be quite surprised as to just how different they do sound here. Aldo Tagliapietra still handles the lead vocals and flute while Michi Del Rossi as always adds his strong tympanic talents and Toni Pagliuca performs on his organ and electric piano. Although quite a diversion from their classic prog sounds, Ad Gloriam is a simply masterful piece of psychedelia and must be owned by all lovers of music. Definitely wear some flowers in your hair when travelling to Italy… | |||
| The Music Emporium were one the less known Psych bands from the late 60's who released a psych masterpiece in this debut release. This album offers everything you could ask for with great flowing acid laced guitars, swirling keyboards (aka the Doors) and heavy cosmic lyrics. Songs are quite psychy and the vocals are truely trippy with a combo of male and female combinations with both soft and harder edges all around. The Sundazed CD version contains 5 bonus psych tracks with a few being instrumental. | |||
| For those who really want to be freaked out should sample a few minutes of Le Orme's first and un-characteristically psychy album which sounds just perfect to this music lover. Ad Gloriam is a colorful album blending that whimsically paisley West Coast psych element including great vocal harmonies, backwards guitar loops , freakbeat allusions and some exquisite orchestral arrangements. For those like me who adore much of Le Orme's output may be quite surprised as to just how different they do sound here. Aldo Tagliapietra still handles the lead vocals and flute while Michi Del Rossi as always adds his strong tympanic talents and Toni Pagliuca performs on his organ and electric piano. Although quite a diversion from their classic prog sounds, Ad Gloriam is a simply masterful piece of psychedelia and must be owned by all lovers of music. Definitely wear some flowers in your hair when travelling to Italy… | |||
| I suppose everyone has this in their music collection already but my god what a great album and without question deserves to be included in my most beloved albums of all time. Some may squak at it being included in with "Prog-Rock" but I have always loved the way they were able to blend blues with psychedelic genres. Songs are all blues based with some pretty psych strips carefully added throughout. Typical of Cream, the instrumentation is tasty with Clapton's wicked guitar work, Ginger Baker's Drumming and Jack Bruce's Bass & Keyboard work. | |||
| As far a classic albums go I have to put Love's "Forever Changes" on my personal favourite list for so many reasons. Call it psychedelic, mod, pop, folk or prog….your choice….I call it brilliant. This album has been under the magnafine glass for some time and is really only now being discovered by a new generation for its genius. IMHO few albums were able to catch the deep spirit Love managed to on "Forever Changes" delivering tonal strangeness with melodic beauty. Most songs have symphonic orchestration (strings, brass….) juxtaposed over Arthur Lee's acoustic melodies and instrumentation. Songs really play on 2 different levels…soft wave-like melodies and on the other dark concept reaching album. In both cases this album delivers a highly well thought out album with complex song writing which flows through your ears with extreme ease. In discussions and essays I have read over the years, this album was written and recorded to represent Lee's requiem and final statement to society. After all the smoke cleared "Forever Changes" represented one of the most influential albums of this era and in many ways represented a mantra for the mood of the day. | |||
| The Electric Prunes are pretty well known for their 60’s hit “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night” which is a truly wonderful song but wait to you hear the rest of the album. This album is full of dreamy light psychedelic landscapes and clever pop-like melodies. On this album the ‘Prunes’ were able to simultaneously fuse experimental and commercial aspects of music which works on two levels. This 5 piece LA group were Jim Lowe (Vocals, autoharp), Mark Tulin (Bass), Ken Williams (Guitars), Weasel (rhythm guitar) and Preston Ritter (drums). The E prunes were larger in life than many of the garage psychedelic acts of their time but still delivered that classic experimental free formed approach with fuzz-toned, acid-laced guitar expressions. Another long lost but great album. | |||
| Here is an excellent bit of Psychedelia which blends both US and UK characteristics throughout. Paper Garden offers a little bit of everything with fuzz guitar, orchestration, psychedelic structures, sitar and that 60’s vibe. Without a question this album is dripping in Beatlemania with Beatles-like harmonies and atmospheres (not unlike Sgt Pepper in approach in many ways). Paper garden were Joe Arduino (vocals, bass and guitars), Sandy Napoli (guitars, vocals, sitar) Paul LoGrande (guitars, banjo, vocals), Jimmy Tirella (Drums) and John Reich (Keys). With full orchestration this band also draws allusions to the music of the early Moody Blues. I love the songs on this album and think it is one of the key gems of the psychedelic era. | |||
| E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One) represents Bull's third album and IMHO his best recording of all time. Of course his previous two albums also have reached mythical status amongst the inducted. Like all of Bull's music each song is very unique and draws on a wide range of styles making his music very hard to pigeon hole. His style is varied but what is amazing is his emphasis on detail and craftmanship. On "E Pluribus Unum", Sandy delivers 2 honest epic tracks; Side A is a tune called "No Deposit-No Return Blues" which really mixes blues and psychedelic to perfection....Loads of great guitar and sitar sounding landscapes...all wrapped in some wicked smoke filled blues bar. Side B is his most famous tune "Electric Blend", which may be his most memorable track for fans with his 21 Minute dedication to the deeper world music possibilities. Considering the year this was released and what all of his contemporaries were performing he was 30+ years ahead of his time. Sandy is credited with playing the Telecaster, Oud, Bass, Tamboura, and Percussion. This album would rank as one of my alltime favourite instrumental albums from any era and is truely a masterpiece. | |||
| Back in 1968 if were to send in $1.50 plus 6 candy bar wrappers from a bar called Waleeco you could get a free copy of this LP. Unfortunatly I did not live in Boston nor was I of age to dig the psych scene enough to know of these guys so I had to find them later in life. The Flat Earth Society were a 4 piece outfit who died out far too quickly and all we have behind is 1 great album full of psychedlic prowess and creative songs. This album is a wonderful US 60's styled West Coast psychedelic album with vocal harmonies, fuzz guitars and even some sitar to boot ! Their version of "Mighnight Hour" is simply killer with some fantastic vocal harmonies. The Arf Arf CD also contains a 30 min exerpt from the Space Kids by the Lost which is a fun listen (originally broadcast in 1967) and features the psychedelic 60's sounds of The Lost. | |||
| When I was a kiddie boo boo we had a vinyl copy of The Kinks “Village Green “ which really introduced me to the music of Ray Davies and the Kinks. The Kinks created quite a concept album here which was intended at the time to be a gentle homage to English hamlet life, and by extension, to the innocence and idealization of past times and people. This album was a clear and obvious step away from their previous commercial hits and singles that the Kinks were notorious for. “Village Green “ was a giant step for Davies into a more personal nostalgic style of songwriting…not to mention the Kinks most Psychedelic album! This song based album explores some pretty trippy moments and offers some wonderful tunes. | |||
| The Incredible String Band was the genius of psych folk masters Mr. Robin Williamson and Mr. Mike Heron . These 2 talented multi-instrumentalists recorded one of the greatest cosmic folk albums of all time. While retaining a certain English folk vibe this album stretches into new ground with its full array of exotic instruments, psychedelic textures and harmonic vocals. One of my favourite tracks from the 60’s is “Chinese White” which features the bowed gimbri as played by Robin which simply drools in oil stains and lava lamps. | |||
| Now comes the monster…….IMHO one of the most complete Garage Psych album of all time. Only released 3 months after Sgt Pepper, Of Cabbages definitely borrowed on the themes and moods of the Beatles without sounding like it. Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde's Of Cabbages and Kings is an honest-to-goodness psychedelic nugget kids ! Listeners who dismissed the British vocal duo as a somewhat more middle-of-the-road Peter and Gordon will be surprised by the inventiveness, wit and melodicism displayed here. The music is pure heaven with fantastic melodies, vocal harmonies and invention. I hold this album in the highest regard and recommend it to all lovers of music. | |||
| The Human Beinz were another fantastic US Garage Psych band who managed to release 2 album of Rolling Stones-Dylan-The Troggs-Zombies-kinks inspired music. These 4 young lads from Youngstown, Ohio create a great big psychedelic soundscape with heavy fuzz guitar, great vocals, drumming and bass lines. Clearly another classic IMHO from my garage psych collection. | |||
| Chicago psychedelic rock quartet “Troll” released in 1968 a strange and slightly disjointed album full of wonderful music. Animated Music offers quite a range of moods from soft and dreamy to folk-rock to hard pop/psych in an almost vaudevill’ian manner. Complete with great vocals and harmonies and thought provoking lyrics this band lived far too short a life. Instrumentally Troll were on the true great garage psych bands who just did not have enough money for a major label deal and have been mostly resting in the valults. Having said that this album is dripping in Beatles and Bee Gee allusions. | |||
