| Kak’s debut album would clearly be one of my all time Top 10 West Coast psych albums. This album rocks and features tons of great guitar driven psych in many ways not unlike a mix of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Kak’s power comes from the dual guitar frenzies of lead guitarist Dehner Patten and combined rhythm guitar of Gary Yoder. This album needs to be played loud and on a good stereo for the full deep effects this album can emit. “Disbelievin’” may be one of the best real psych songs of the golden 60’s with one of the most memorable toe tapping blues rock tracks. Chalk this one up as an essential album to own! | |||
| "Time and Charges" was the debut album from this Chicago based 5 piece US psych-pop band who delivered a wonderful little psych debut album band mixing the styles of the Righteous Brothers, The 5th Dimension and the Chamber Brothers. The overall album is an orchestral power pop album with some great melodic 60's vibes all over it. The Buckinghams were an amazing vocal group as well and this album showcases the harmonic strengths and sense of original song writing. Included on this album is a xylophoned-orchestral version of the Beatles "I'll Be Back" which offers a wild variation and a great way to present an ode to one of the influencers of this band. A great album ! | |||
| It all Began with “Kind Of A Drag” and soon this 5 piece Chicago based Psych-pop band were on the track and gaining recognition Nationally. For their second full album the Buckingham’s took their music subtly into another direction creating a darker and deeper concept album and IMHO one of the great pieces from the late 60’s. On Portraits the songs flow and phase into each other and take on more of holistic feel. Musically this album could be a natural mix of Blood Sweat and Tears, The Beatles and The Beach Boys and combines some huge harmonic and symphonic passages with orchestra and guitar, bass and drum interplay. One of my favourite tracks is the hauntingly beautiful and euphoric “Inside Looking Out”. Wow they don’t make music like this anymore ! | |||
| Now who the hell were the Gestures you ask ? How about a 4 piece psych-pop band from Minnisota...... The music of Gestures is youthful, positive and energetic and although somewhat of a Bealtes replica (I suppose), their music is still very addictive and lovingly 60'sish. For those who turn up their noses because some act may have been a tad late (In relation to the Beatles) or too similar to the Bealtes may miss out on some other fantastic music....This is exactly one of those cases......This album is full of great songs and melodies with that unique little psych-pop twist and shout. The Gestures actually had a fair hit in the mid 60's with "Run, Run, Run" but before the single really took on the band quit and this pretty well put a notch in their coffin. If you are not afraid to dig deep into the psych-pop genre this little gem of an album will definitely make you "Run, Run, Run". | |||
| Wow ! here is a total bombastic freakout for your mind. Imagine two epic 20 mins long jams that contain more sonic mayhem then 25 King Crimson's and 3 Blue Cheer's all in one long play CD. Earthless features the crunchy Guitar work of Nebula's Isaiah Mitchell who does not stop warping out for the full 41 Mins of this CD. The funny thing is that after repeated listens this CD really grabs you (at least it did me) and the grooves are pretty cool. Definitely not light hearted music, but for those who really dont mind sitting thru 40 mins of contorted and distorted mayhem will love this album. Truely some of the best psychedelic freakout music I have ever heard! | |||
| For me this is one of the most memorable albums from the 60’s with its heart felt honesty and highly soulful music. On “Triangle”, this three piece US act blended an artful display of orchestration (Van Dyke Parks), country-rock , British Pop and psychedelia. The strength of this album is the strength of Ron Elliott’s song writing who scribed and recorded some pretty haunting yet beautiful music. Truly this is a melting pot of country, pop, folk to create a wonderfully and less noticeable psychedelic experience album. Truly a landmark album and absolutely essential album from the psychedelic era. | |||
| Galaxy were Florida's 1976 answer to Hawkwind and managed to release a fine cosmic album full of great guitar and a certain strange aura. Some of the keyboard sounds are quite retro-cheesie yet when combined with the whole sound, makes for a pretty unique album. This is actually a pretty heavy psychedelic album with a great mix of space rock and West Coast guitar solos with Gong-like female vocals. A very cool album ! | |||
| The music of Blue Cheer is simply nothing more that three guys who played loud (and I mean real loud!) psychedelic rock with stacks of Marshall amps piled a mile high delivering an uncompromising and continuous sonic assault of solid fuzz drenched, feedback distorted, psychedelic moods. “Vincebus Eruptum” up to that point in history might be the noisiest, heaviest, most ear splitting psych rock albums ever recorded! Hard to imagine that back then that the likes of Hendrix, Cream, The Doors and The Yardbirds would produce such a noisy and original monster psych band. The music on “Vincebus Eruptum” is heavy fuzzed out guitar and bass blues rock based which when all put together achieves some deadly aggressive psychedelic grooves. On a good stereo this album sounds amazing too even though recorded a while back ! Suspect this album will appeal to anyone who like the hard stuff and the distorted fuzzed out guitar psychedelic albums. | |||
| The Five Day Straw People was the brainchild of Attack's frontman John Du Cann who recorded a pretty cool double album way back in 1967 and represents one of my personal favourite albums from the 60’s. With a solid rhythm section of Mick Hawksworth (bass) and Jack Collins (drums) the Five Day Straw People was his attempt to record a full blown psychedelic opus. With the assistance of Roy Thomas Baker, “The Five Day Straw People” recorded this legendary psychedelic album. After the albums release band leader John Du Cann became infatuated with the whole psychedelic and progressive genres and continuing his illustrious career later with Andromeda and Atomic Rooster. The Akarma CD release also includes a number of cools tracks by the Attack as well making this CD release pretty much essential ! | |||
| The Bubble Puppy's "A Gathering Of Promises" is pretty well one of the essential guitar-psych albums to own if you are a 60's psychedelic music lover. Heavy fuzzed out guitar and some pretty heavy soul and blues like melodies and atmospheres. Man when these guys stretch it out they let it all hang out. The main hit off this album was "Hot Smoke and Sassafras", which ended up as the single that broke this band thru. The Bubble Puppy also has some pretty awesome vocals and vocal harmonies going in their music. | |||
| One year after their eponymous debut album, HP Lovecraft released the companion album. Again drawing on their psychedically infused dark lyrics and music, HP Lovecraft released this ear popping album. On "II", George Edwards combined his psych band with the experience of an orchestra creating a vivid paisley world of ink blots and colorful flowers. "It's About Time" is my personal favourite song from this album which reaches Syd Barrett-like status. Dave Michaels adds some standout organ, harpichord, piano, clarinet and recorder!. Strange, outerworldly and yet inexcusably psychedelic masterpiece. | |||
| HP Lovecraft’s debut album is a pure Classic US psych album. This is one of the best albums of the period featuring a lovely version of “Lets Get Together” and the horror-scribed "White Ship" based as an ode to one of Lovecraft's short stories. This is mystical, soul soaring psychedelic monster album with great vocal harmonies, rich production and orchestration and some pretty trippy brain frying guitar, bass, drum and keyboards work. 15 years ago I fell for this band when I first heard the Sundazed live album from HP Lovecraft and remember wondering how they did not make it big....oh well we won’t go there…….Absolutely an essential album and one of my personal favourites of the psychedelic era. | |||
| The band called “The Wind In The Willows” were a 7 piece psych-folk band who released a real charismatic debut album back in 1968. Although slightly discounted by Debbie Harry herself on several occasions, this album is a lovely psych-folk-pop album that takes inspiration from the “Mamas and the Papas”, Peter Paul and Mary and the Jefferson Airplane. According to the liner notes this release basically sank into obscurity and did not fair so well on its release. With all that negativity and bad press on this album I must say that I really dig this album and think all one needs to do is really is turn on, tune in and take in this album to its fullest. I absolutely love this album and think it was totally missed by those who quickly dismissed it. Of course this album is most known for the inclusion of Blonde’s Deborah Harry on vocals, but she is really not all that dominant on the album which is mostly sung by lead vocalist Paul Klein. Musically the album is soft and flowing with multi-vocals and harmonies and tons of trippy psych-folk-pop melodies. | |||
| Now you gotta love the Chamber Brothers! Their music may in fact be arguably the actual start of the whole Psychedelic experience thing and has been cited by many for a long time as the big original influncers. Without a question the Chamber Brothers were an original and eclectic mix of soul, Blues, jazz, fusion and psychedelic influences. Their music is both powerful and soulful and you can not listen to their music without getting right into it....music you actually live. Of all the psychedelic music in my collection, The Chamber Brothers would definitely rank right up there. Absolutely essential! | |||
| And from the Merseysippi Delta Comes this groovy little mostly unknown fab four band. Obviously they were influenced by the Beatles and the Animals, but what a great little psychedelic band. Instrumentally this band play a tight late 60's groove vibe with excellent vocal harmonies and catchy psych-pop song writing. I have always loved the lesser known psych-pop bands that emerged out of the work of the British Invasion and US 60's psych bands. The Gants were just one of those bands and this is pretty much an essential underground psych-pop album. | |||
| "Outside Inside" was the follow up to "Vincebus Eruptum" and although still containing their classic fuzzed out guitar driven psychedelic mayhem, took on a more progressive blues formula. Although heavy, the guitar amps have been turned down and the high adrenaline pace has been substituted for more of a blues vibe. Dickie Peterson's voice now get to see the light of day and on this album he really lets it all out. They pull of a pretty psychy version of the Stones "Satisfaction" as well on this album. This album is perfect for those Saturday nights when you need a bit of heaviness in your life. Psychedelic milestone album ! | |||
| The Blue Magoos were one of the finest NYC garage psych bands to have emerged from the 60’s. Tons of heavy organ and fuzzed guitar with a high dosage of psych beats and raves! Absolutely right down the mid section of a combo of Early Pink Floyd, The Doors and The Electric Prunes. “Tobacco Road” and “(We Aint Got) Nothin’ Yet” are 2 fine examples of the psych tinged songwriting power the Blue Magoos possessed. Musically these guys were able to mix some fantastic pop melodies with psychedelic atmospheres. | |||
| Here is a pretty collectible little psych album from a band from Nova Scotia Canada. The Great Scots were a five piece band who mixed a number of influences (Animals, Bealtes, Paul Revere etc..) into their music. With fuzzed guitars, Beatles-like harmonies & Burdon/Jagger-ish vocals, this band play melodic summer psych-pop infused music with lots of toe tapping beats. | |||
| The music of The Buckinghams has to be one of the most enduring bits of the whole US 60's thing. Their music has long lasting quality and has held up and remains to this day as fresh and imaginative as it was when first conceived. For those unfamiliar with the music of The Buckinghams have definitely missed out and I would strongly recommend their music to everyone. "In One Ear And Gone Tomorrow" was the final album unfortunately recorded by this band and as the final expression is a masterpiece. Musically these guys just were unuable to write anything other than great songs. Sprinkled lightly with the psych-pop vein, the Buckinghams truely created their own sound and wrote a nice range of music. In One Ear And Gone Tomorrow is a true classic album and one of my favs from 1968. | |||
| One album was just not enough for this XTC spinoff so they decided to do it all over again 2 years later and again hit mammoth results. Obviously Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding were influenced strongly by late Beatles and very early Pink Floyd. With total disguise and secret names Sir John Johns (vocals, guitars Andy Partridge), The Red Curtain – (Bass and vocals Colin Moulding), this pop infused duo wrote another short but great collection of psychedelic pop tunes. It is really hard to distinguish between the sound and vibes these guy achieved on their albums vs many of the bands of the 60’s. Highly recommended album | |||
| The second Blue Magoos album, "Electric Comic Book" is another organ, fuzzed guitar soaked bit of excellent 60's psychedlic pop. The 60's psych era never got any better than this with the trademarked Blue Magoo stangeness and their quirky melodic vocal harmonies. On "ECB" they Magoos play tribute to Van Morrison with a huge psyched out version of "GLORIA". The fine folks at Collectibles have now released both Blue Magoo treasures on 1 remastered CD for now everyone to enjoy. An essential album from the golden 60's to curb your psych lover desires ! | |||
| Having written tons of music as alternative pop vessel XTC, Andy Partridge and Colin Mouding finally decided to write an album totally with the Psychedelic era in mind. Under the Guise of “The Dukes Of Stratosphere” Partridge and Moulding released “25 O’Clock” twenty years behind the times, yet 20 years ahead. This album is simply amazing and I was absolutely blown away when I first heard this album. The end result is a great album which totally plays tribute to the golden 60’s psychedelic pop era (which had been a large influence on Partridge as a child). Musically this hits all the right chords, with tons of fuzzed out guitars, warped keyboard effects, sun bursting psychedelic dotting and magical 60’s psych melodies (of course considering it is essentially XTC!). A fun a highly conceptual album which I would recommend to all. | |||
| They don’t get any better than this ! The Move’s Shazam is a pure classic blending classic rock, R&B, Psych and even Prog into a wonderfully soulful album filled with 6 highly memorable tracks. Best way to perhaps classify this album might be to imagine a mix of Led Zep with early ELO and The Bealtes. The album opens with the psych charmed "Hello Susie" and ends on a pure classic "The Last Thing On My Mind". There is also a bit of humor both in some musical silliness and lyrics and talking on the album which adds to its uniqueness. Stunningly essential album ! | |||
| Hey...are you looking for a real psychedelic album to grace your stereo over the summer ? If so let me recommend Time's "Before There Was Time". They don't come any better than this album ! This highly original album plays just a like a wild dream (or trip) from start to finish and has been incredidbly mastered to CD. Time were a Canadian 4 piece psych band who way back in 1968 wrote and recorded this psych masterpiece. "Before There Was" ebbs and flows in and out of some pretty trippy parts with a ton of odd variety and creativity yet remains still quite collected. This album is both electric and acoustic and should appeal to both Prog and Psych fans. At times I hear Caravan and then others pure Syd Barrett. An awesome alum | |||
| This is a fantastically beach -psych album......So who were the Yellow Balloon? The Yellow Balloon was the genius of Gary Zekley who definitely was a devout lover of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys and let me say a bit of a musical genius. This was a great find and I would highly recommend this CD to everyone who loves the Beach Boys. The songs are highly well thought out and well recorded with beautiful vocal harmonies and progressive builds. Interesting fact that REM discovered the genius of Zekley and recorded his song "Superman" which back in the 80's was one of my favourite tracks (originally recorded under the name of Clique and not Yellow Balloon). AS per Sundazed CD's this one also contains a handful of bonus tracks from various recording sessions, but it is the main 11 tracks that make this album ! Amazing good feeling music ! | |||
| Fans of heavy guitar driven psychedelic rock will need to get plugged in this adequately titled album "HEAVY". This 3 piece band from Pittsburgh played a straight forward fuzzed guitar centric style not unlike Blue Cheer in many ways. Bass, Drums, vocals and guitars and that is essentially it.....excellent blues jazz psych with tons of great fret work. | |||
| The New Tweedy Bros were a San Francisco based psych band who released a very rare, but fantastic album back in 1968. Although not a household name but surprisingly this and played as 2nd billing to great bands of the day like The Grateful Dead, Them, Beach Boys and 13th Floor Elevators. Musically this is pure psychedelic rock with fuzzed guitars, distorted bass and drum lines and freaked out space-like opuses. This album was also very well recorded and offers some nice stereo dynamics and clear sound. Even a bit of kazoo in there!! | |||
| The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (TWCPAEB) were a product of the psychedelic generation and managed to record a number of fantastically wild albums with Vol 2 in light here (it was actually their 3rd album). TWCPAEB were a 3 piece band (Shaun Harris, Bob Markley and Dan Harris) who decided on Vol 2 to write a sort of war protest album for the flower generation. The end result is a masterpiece....an unusual album with hidden beauty ....timely sound effects and an authentic psychedelic vibe throughout. I must say that this album took me a few careful listens before I really got it! Now all I can say is that it is an amazing album. Really for me was only under after repeated listens that the genius emerged....Most addictive song on the album is "Smell Of Incense" which really should have been a larger hit that it ended. This album absolutely is a work of genius and must be carefully listened to really get the essence and depth of. Absolutely amazing ! | |||
| The Hollies "Evolution" album is a pure mix of psychedelic and sunshine pop...just the way you like em'. All I can say is tht they dont make music like this anymore! Evolution is a wondrful short little album (made a bit longer with the addition of 5 bonus tracks) with some real psych-pop appeal and offers excellent song writing. Likely everyone has heard the hit "Carrie-Anne" which is not my favourite off this album (normal for me) but is a fair representation of what the album sounds like. There is no question that the Hollies were born in a era that was starting to experiment with music (aka Beatles) and this album is the by-product. | |||
| Listening emerged in the mid 60’s Boston area playing a mix of psych and blues inspired music. A big thanks to Akarma records for reissuing their rare debut psychedelic rock (originally was released on the Vanguard records). “Listening” were led by guitarist Peter Malick as their front man who had the psych blues down pat at age 16 ! They manage to create a wonderful dream –like atmosphere on this album with some jazz piano runs (Michael Tschudin) , vibraphone tongs and even some conga drums. Wow this album is definitely an original ! | |||
| Even the Temptations got into the psychedelic experience! Cloud Nine is a fantastic album really split in 2 levels…a uncharacteristic journey into the psychedelia while maintaining most of the smooth crooner love song style they became famous for. Cloud Nine was of course the album that introduced the world to “I Heard It Thru The Grapevine” which if you have not heard this version you have not lived! This album actually works more on the level of the likes of Sly and the Family Stone, Chamber Bros and the Isley Brothers with their psychedelic rock and soul sounds. This is a pretty cool album with tons of funk and psych’ed out parts. Wow ! | |||
| The Motor City has germinated a few great bands over the years and in 2002 the door was re-opened with The Sights and their psychedically charmed kick ass album "Got What We Want". This band blend Mersey bits with traces of bands like Badfinger, XTC, Matt Sweet, Blue Cheer, Bad Company and the Rutles! Even some tracks with Mellotron for the prog heads out there! The Sights are a 3 piece band who obviously loved the late 60's vibe as their music nicely reflects this. This is one of those albums that I spin quite a lot and am glad to see they are keeping the torch lit. | |||
| Here is a mind blowing psychedelic album that was definitely a product of its time. I first heard this band through a compilation psych album I picked up which featured the track "Wind" and immediately caught my interest. This album is simply a split right down the middle with 50% being more summer of love pop-psych and 50% heading into a dark forboding psychedelic vein. Side two is the epic 18 Minute "Musical Journey" which is a true gem of the psychedelic era. Overall a very enjoyable album | |||
| Here is a four piece vocal harmonic psych band who play melancholic-pasley-powered pop music that will win you over. This album contains their original album material plus a number of excellent and very fitting non album tracks which make this a great find! The Blades Of Grass also pull off a great interpretation of the :Help" and "Walk Away Renee". | |||
| So is it possible for Beach Surf Psych to still reign in the late 90’s you ask ? Well one listen to “Bali” and you will be assured! After I snagged and became addicted to “The Wonderful World Of The Wondermints” I had to pick up this album. Darian Sahanaja and company deliver a wonderfully full album rich in sound and creative song writing. For those unfamiliar with the Wondermints they are a band almost uncategorizable with perhaps an overriding trace of that special Brian Wilson influence. Their music is cerebral, retro-60’s beach psych’ish with clever song writing and lovely vocals and instrumentation. Warning once you get the “Wondermints itch” this band will become highly addictive ! | |||
| With all that pent up song writing talent just waiting to be tapped into (as we would hear on all Wondermints albums) and in a complete surprise they released an album fullof their interpretation of the music of some of their influencers. Wow what a great album as well…..imagine a full album of Wondermint magic as they perform some great well known numbers including a stunning version of Pink Floyd’s “Arnold Layne”, gripping version of ABBA’s “Knowing Me and Knowing You” and even an ode to Jane Fonda’s psychedelically and perfume revealing movie “Barbarella”. This is just a fantastic album from start to finish and one that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to try something new. This band is a hidden treasure for sure !! | |||
| Some great Psych bands came from California and the much British-influenced band wildly named The Chocolate Watch Band emerged as one of the keepers. Equipped with imported VOX equipment and ink blob tendencies set out to record a real killer debut album aptly titled “No Way Out” in 1967. | |||
| Long Long before Saturday Night Fever and all that disco mess, The Bee Gees were an incredibly melodic and psychy 60’s act who wrote and sang some of the 60’s most memorable numbers. Like The Bealtes “Revolver” album, the first debut album by the Bee Gees had the artistry of Klaus Voorman and the musical innocence and spiritualism of the early Beatles music. Songs like “Turn Of The Century”, “Holiday” and “Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You” filled this debut album will earth breaking song craftsmanship and that certain psychy 60’s vibe that typlified the British invasion sound. Fans of the first 3 Bee Gee albums should pick up the Reprise Records 6 CD re-mastered box set before it goes out of print (10,000 limited edition copies) which offers the most amazing sound quality and each album sounds as fresh as the day they were recorded. A fantastic album and to this day remains one of my personal favourite albums of the 60’s !!! | |||
| With Anthem Of The Sun The Grateful Dead moved away from the power pop influences to total Psychedelia and this was the result.....a total amazing album with tons of acid drenched fuzz guitar playing and longer jam structures. The end result is an intoxicating album (no pun intended!) with some great songs and fantastically psychedelic aspects. IMHO this is the shining moment for The Grateful Dead. Essential for your psychedelic collection | |||
