Established artists like the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Who, and The Zombies all released at least one psychedelic album during the era, while newer acts like Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead helped define the genre.
But there were hundreds of artists who made psychedelic albums during that heady three-year span from 1966 to 1969. Some of those records are every bit as good as the classic albums by their more famous contemporaries, and those LPs deserve to be heard, too.
'Tomorrow' by Tomorrow
The album that launched guitar whiz Steve Howe
This slice of British Psychedelia is a worthy album full of English whimsy, sitar-tinged tunes, and delightful 60s harmonies. It features a classic psychedelic song, "My White Bicycle", which is one of the first to incorporate backward guitar phrasing. It also features a harder-edge cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever", which was released about a year after the Beatles' version.Led by Keith West, who scored a solo hit in the UK with "Excerpts from a Teenage Opera" and left the band to pursue solo stardom, the band included a young Steve Howe, a master of the guitar who would later go on to fame after joining the highly successful English prog-rock band Yes. Additionally, the drummer Twink, a psychedelic rock legend, would go on to play with the acclaimed English psych-rockers The Pretty Things and The Pink Faeries, and release his own psychedelic treasure, "Think Pink."
'Forever Changes' by Love
Critics adored it, the public ignored it
"Forever Changes" is one of the most highly regarded albums of the '60s, yet it's still largely unknown to fans of rock and roll. Although it bombed commercially upon release in 1967, it was praised by critics and has become more widely heralded over time.The interracial L.A. band, led by Arthur Lee, had released two high-quality garage-rock LPs and even scored a Top 40 hit with "7 & 7 Is"prior to releasing the now-classic "Forever Changes."The album is a trippy folk-rock masterpiece in which every song is quirky and fantastic. The lyrics are simultaneously beautiful, harrowing, and prophetic. If you haven't listened to this one, you're doing yourself a grave injustice.
'S.F. Sorrow' by The Pretty Things
A concept album that inspired The Who's 'Tommy'
The Pretty Things started their career as a raunchy blues-based band that rivaled the Stones. In fact, the band's founder, Dick Taylor, was a close friend of Mick and Keith's from their school days and co-founded The Rolling Stones with them. For whatever reason, commercial success eluded The Pretty Things.In 1968, the band released what is widely considered to be the first rock opera — a psychedelic classic that tells the life story of a man named S.F. Sorrow, who grows up in a grimy English town, joins the military, dreams of a better life in America, and falls in love with a woman who dies in a fiery balloon crash while on her way to reunite with him.
The album is unlike the band's earlier work, as it ditches the blues-rock for a timelier psychedelic sound. The band had high hopes for this album, but it too failed to make a splash. However, psychedelic rock enthusiasts now consider it a psychedelic masterpiece.
'Part One' by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
One of the weirdest stories in rock history
The story surrounding this album is as intriguing as the music contained therein. A little-known L.A. band was searching for a record deal. An eccentric millionaire in his late 30s named Bob Markley, whose primary motivation was to bed the young women at the shows, offered to buy the band expensive equipment and pay their touring expenses if he could be in the band.The members agreed, and the band changed its name to the long moniker it's now known as — at the suggestion of Markley, who had copyrighted the band's name to himself. That meant he controlled everything. Long story short, tensions ensued and the band imploded.
Despite that, the debut album somehow turned out to be a very good psychedelic record prized among psych collectors. Highlights are "Shifting Sands", the surprisingly gentle "I Won't Hurt You", and a cover of Frank Zappa's "Help, I'm a Rock", an avant-garde composition that the band released as a single.
'Electric Music for the Mind and Body' by Country Joe and the Fish
LSD-iInspired folk-rock
It took me a while to come around to Country Joe and the Fish. Their name threw me off. They sound like a country band, and that's not my thing. They're not country but folk-rock fused with psychedelia, and their 1967 album "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" is a masterpiece.The album opens with "Flying High," a little ditty that seems to be about tripping on acid — not exactly a wild guess with this bunch. "Section 43 is an instrumental piece that eschews formula, going from one segment to another and changing in tempo and intensity throughout.
"Bass Strings" is the album's most overtly psychedelic track — slow and hypnotic with straightforward drug references. In the closing moments, there's a voice casually whispering "L-S-D" over the mix. This album's a trip.
'The United States of America' by The United States of America
Good album from a badly-named band
The eponymous album from The United States of America was an experimental project that became one of the first rock albums to incorporate electronic instrumentation. Led by a former romantic couple, Joe Byrd and Dorothy Moskowitz, the band produced one album released in March 1968. The two bandmates, who had both been involved in the New York City avant-garde art scene, named the band after the country as a form of protest.Musically, the album merged old-time Americana with electronic sounds, psychedelic effects, flute and classical instrumentation, resulting in a unique sonic amalgamation.
This is a one-of-a-kind record that every fan of psychedelic music needs to hear.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
Hokey at times, but still magnificent
The second album from acid rock pioneers Iron Butterfly is defined by heavy keyboards and a distorted guitar sound that gives the music a hard edge. The album probably sounded heavier and trippier in 1968, the year of its release, than it does now because there was less competition on both fronts.This album influenced many other bands in the late '60s and early '70s, but seems to have lost much of the reverence it once held. This is most likely because the lyrics are trite.
While the album isn't well-known, the title track is because it contains a recognizable riff and is often used in movies and TV when the scene calls for a heavy '60s vibe. While many consider the 17-minute song epic, others feel that it's excessive and ridiculous, particularly due to its extended drum solo and the fact that the words are mumbled. Sonically speaking, however, the song and the album are important artifacts from a turbulent time.
'Volume Two' by The Soft Machine
The Canterbury group introduced jazz to psychedelia
The second album from the legendary Canterbury Scene quartet saw the departure of Kevin Ayers, who didn't care for the jazz influence that the other members were eager to incorporate into the band's sound. The three remaining members brought in their road manager, Hugh Hopper, to play bass as a replacement.While the first LP was excellent, the follow-up was an inspired record that combined jazz, pop, rock, psychedelia, and dada influences into one creatively explosive masterpiece. The vocals were often rife with humor, while Robert Wyatt showed off his drumming chops by applying insane 7/4 and 7/8 time signatures.
The second track, "A Concise British Alphabet", has Wyatt reciting the alphabet to a jazzy beat, while the fourth track is the same except that Wyatt recites the alphabet backwards. Dada indeed.
'Easter Everywhere' by the 13th Floor Elevators
Less heralded but better than the debut
The debut album from the 13th Floor Elevators grabs all the attention. The Austin, Texas band not only announced their arrival with the first one but also announced they were psychedelic, which eventually caused problems with local law enforcement.And while the first record is a good one, it has more of a garage rock feel than its successor. On Easter Everywhere, the band refines its sound and hones in on the psychedelia.
Frontman Roky Erickson was an undisputed psychedelic rock pioneer, and it comes through on Easter Everywhere, particularly on gems like "Slip Inside This House" and "I've Got Levitation."
'The Electric Prunes' by The Electric Prunes
A psychedelic debut that buzzed with innovation
The Electric Prunes' debut album, often referred to as I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night), was a garage rock/psychedelic rock crossover in which the band was forced to record songs written by other songwriters — apart from two tracks written by frontman James Lowe.But the album's sound is infectious and distinctive. With tremelo-laden fuzz guitars, the album, which clocks in at less than half an hour, pulsates with glorious energy.
The lead single and opening track, "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", released in November 1966, was an early psych track and a Top 40 hit, reaching #11 in the US. It gained iconic status when it served as the lead track on the epic 1972 compilation "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era."
