Psychedelic Classics

[Catbirdman]

I've been on a psychedelia kick recently, owing to the recent discussion of The Zombies' Oddesey And Oracle on this board. First, I dug out some albums I already had in my library:

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Love - Da Capo and Forever Changes
The Byrds - Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday, Notorious Byrds Brothers
The Who - The Who Sell Out
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Past, In Search Of The Lost Chord, et al

Then I began purchasing some gems that I had previously overlooked:

The Zombies - Odessey And Oracle
The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Preservation Scoiety
The Pretty Things - S. F. Sorrow
Sagittarius - Present Tense
The Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow and After Bathing At BAxter's

Any recommendations of where you think I should go next?

[Dead Parrot]

Any recommendations of where you think I should go next?

The Hollies - Butterfly  (One of the most underrated albums of the 60's)
Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money (Original mix)
Moby Grape - Moby Grape
Country Joe & The Fish - Electric Music For The Mind & Body
The Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

[guitarfool2002]

Anything based on and including the Nuggets compilation of garage and proto-punk-pop artists from the mid-60's. Some of the fuzz guitar tones will melt your brain. "Incense And Peppermints" has one of the best Gibson FZ fuzz pedal guitar tones ever recorded, and the ending coda with the Farfisa Compact organ and "sha laa laa" vocals is heavy, man. Awesome record.

One reason why I love that music and those kind of compilations is that the bands were mostly younger musicians who were making music after being inspired by the Beatles and others to go ahead and do it, and they're not looking into any overreaching "concept albums" or long statements designed to replicate an acid trip - they were banging out good rock and roll on 45 singles for the most part, and some of the records sounded accidentally psychedelic, and that to me is awesome. Little touches like the fuzz guitars, the Farfisa and Vox organs, that trippy tape echo on Blues Magoos records, etc...the sounds made the records seem psychedelic even though the lyrics were far away from that scene.

[Loaf]

I'd go with some Buffalo Springfield, the song Broken Arrow.
The first 2 Doors albums
Grateful Dead - Live/Dead
Zabriskie Point OST
The Monkees - Head OST (and film)
anything by Os Mutantes
Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends

[guitarfool2002]

GREAT call on Head - especially the film, one of my favorites visually and otherwise. Totally missed that somehow. Run to the local store to get the Head DVD, anyone who does not have it already. One of the highlights of the 60's scene for me. Just beautiful.

[Mike's Beard]

The Hollies - Butterfly
The Association - Birthday
The Four Seasons - Genuine Imitation of Life Gazzette
Jan & Dean - Carnival of Sound

None of these are perfect but they are all worth owning IMO.

[All Golden 74]

The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators
The Red Crayola - The Parable of Arable Land

Both Texas bands!  The 13th Floor Elevators album is more song-based, while the Red Crayola album is much more CRAZY sounding with lots of instrumental music (called Free-Form Freak Outs in the track lists).

John Fahey - The Voice of The Turtle
NOT a psychedelic album proper - but pretty damn close in feel.  Of course John hated psychedelic music and swore that he had NEVER used LSD - but he did admit to smoking pot - so who knows?!

This stuff is all left-field I guess...maybe better suited to when and if you feel VERY adventurous.

[Dead Parrot]

The Hollies - Butterfly

Nice to see there's someone out there who actually agrees with me on this one. The only negative thing about it, is that it doesn't have "King Midas In Reverse" on it.

[Jason]

I've been on a psychedelia kick recently, owing to the recent discussion of The Zombies' Oddesey And Oracle on this board. First, I dug out some albums I already had in my library:

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Love - Da Capo and Forever Changes
The Byrds - Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday, Notorious Byrds Brothers
The Who - The Who Sell Out
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Past, In Search Of The Lost Chord, et al

Then I began purchasing some gems that I had previously overlooked:

The Zombies - Odessey And Oracle
The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Preservation Scoiety
The Pretty Things - S. F. Sorrow
Sagittarius - Present Tense
The Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow and After Bathing At BAxter's

Any recommendations of where you think I should go next?

Days of Future PASSED, for one.

A few more selections, perhaps...

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland
The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, We're Only In It For The Money
Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes, Mutantes, A Divina Comedia ou Ando Meio Desligado
Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso (1968), Caetano Veloso (1969)
Gilberto Gil - Gilberto Gil (1968), Gilberto Gil (1969)
Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1968), Gal Costa (1969)
Laghonia - Glue, Etcetera
Serge Gainsbourg - Initials BB, Jane Birkin-Serge Gainsbourg, Le Pacha, Cannabis
Bill Holt - Dreamies
The Temptations - Cloud Nine
Bruce Haack - The Way-Out Record For Children, Electronic Record For Children, The Electric Lucifer
Deep Purple - Shades of Deep Purple
The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy And His Friends
Cromagnon - Orgasm
Kim Jung Mi - Wind, Now
Tsvety - Tsvety
The Fugs - The Fugs, Tenderness Junction
Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge, Near The Beginning
Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground, Balaklava
Cream - Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire
The Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion
The Bee Gees - Bee Gees 1st
Tommy James and the Shondells - Crimson and Clover
The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina
The Neon Philharmonic - The Moth Confesses, The Neon Philharmonic
Aphrodite's Child - End of the World, It's Five O'Clock
Moby Grape - Moby Grape, Wow/Grape Jam
Silver Apples - Silver Apples, Contact

[Andrew G. Doe]

Cannot believe no-one's yet mentioned one of the truly lost gems of the pych-pop era, and the first true concept album, Nirvana's The Story Of Simon Simopath.

[Catbirdman]

Days of Future PASSED, for one.

I can't believe I made that spelling error. I'll blame Steve Hoffman; someone over on his board misspelled it and ever since I've had a mental block with it.

I'm loving all the suggestions, thanks everyone. When I get home from work I'll do some further research based on these recommendations, and I'll put together a short list.

[Andrew G. Doe]

And... dunno if it's strictly speaking psychedelic, but they sure as hell altered my mind - A Tramp Shining and And The Yard Went On Forever, by Richard Harris (and Jimmy Webb).

[All Golden 74]

Cromagnon - Orgasm
The Fugs - The Fugs, Tenderness Junction
Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground, Balaklava

WOW!  ESP stuff - that's even weirder than The Red Crayola!  Thanks for taking the heat off me - Ha Ha. 

I guess this stuff is more hard psych as opposed to psych-pop.

[Jason]

Honestly, the Fugs is pretty hard psych. Pearls Before Swine was more folkish. Cromagnon is damn near unclassifiable - like a mix of Bathory, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Merzbow long before those groups existed.

[Mike's Beard]

The Hollies - Butterfly

Nice to see there's someone out there who actually agrees with me on this one. The only negative thing about it, is that it doesn't have "King Midas In Reverse" on it.

You could also throw in their previous effort "Evolution". Just as good.

[hypehat]

Honestly, the Fugs is pretty hard psych. Pearls Before Swine was more folkish. Cromagnon is damn near unclassifiable - like a mix of Bathory, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Merzbow long before those groups existed.

The Fugs rule. And a second on those Nuggets compilations, the quality rarely dips throughout what, 12-16 cds worth of boxsets?

[Loaf]

For internet radio psychedelia, try:

http://www.techwebsound.com/

[vintagemusic]

ELECTRIC PRUNES

Steppenwolf-Magic Carpet Ride

Denny Laine Say You Don't Mind

Cream -Badge, Pressed rat and Warthog

The WHO Pictures of Lily, Who Sell Out

[Roger Ryan]

If neo-psychedelia counts...

I strongly recommend:

I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS and MOSS ELIXIR - Robyn Hitchcock (although almost anything by Hitchcock/Soft Boys is fine)
HEYDAY, PRIEST = AURA, AFTER EVERYTHING NOW THIS - The Church
SUPERNATURAL EQUINOX - Outrageous Cherry
EXTENDED REVELATION FOR THE PSYCHIC WEAKLINGS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION and ORIGINS VOL. 1 - The Soundtrack of Our Lives

[Catbirdman]

Thanks again for all your recommendations. I've taken two different directions based on all your feedback:

1. I've been intrigued by how a lot groups that staked their claim to fame via early-60s sugar pop smash hits made the sudden, jarring transition to psych. These are often the most interesting cases, because although the music has taken a decidedly left turn, you can still hear, skewed, the same elements that made that group's early music successful. Obviously Smiley Smile is a classic example of this; while the end result is undeniably "weird," you still get Brian Wilson's (albeit in a drier, swimming pool-sourced form) lush harmonies pitched against light-hearted, youthful vignettes, soaked in gentle locker-room humor. I had a conversation at a party last Saturday about this very situation, and some names that came up were the Association and the Hollies. So I decided to purchase Birthday and Butterfly respectively. After one and a half listens, I am DIGGING this. VERY tasty.

2. I also wanted to sample the truly leftfield stuff a bit, so I went with a little Pearls Before Swine. I've heard about ESP records for years and felt it was time to investigate. I haven't yet listened to this music but will reply once I do. Quick question: are there any seminal ESP compilations anyone can squarely recommend?

That's it for now, but in the coming days I will be furthering my investigation...

[Catbirdman]

Oh yeah, I also wanted to ask....

Nobody mentioned the Beau Brummels. I guess this is a bit more country-rock oriented than most, but it's still psych, right? Any love for the Beau Brummels?

[Jason]

The Beau Brummels are an amazing group. Unfortunately, the Byrds got the credit for the sound that the Beau Brummels were experimenting with at least a year earlier. A shame, but still some excellent music.

[All Golden 74]

Quick question: are there any seminal ESP compilations anyone can squarely recommend?

I can't help you there...ESP Records was mostly known as a free-jazz/avant-garde jazz label (Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, etc.), but they did put out a goodly amount of rock/psyche/folk.  The only compilation I remember was mostly jazz stuff.  You might try Youtube to sample a few songs by some of the rock-type stuff.  The Fugs, Cromagnon and The Godz (can't believe I didn't mention The Godz - Contact High With the Godz!) all did great stuff.  Ed Askew was good too, but more folk, at least to my ears.

...for an ESP unrelated aside...

Skip Spence - Oar
A pretty good/great psyche record.  I never have dug Moby Gape (Skip was in that band), but I dig this record.

[roll plymouth rock]

Here's a good ten:
The Millennium - Begin
Everly Brothers - Roots
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
Bruce Palmer - The Cycle Is Complete
Fun & Games - Elephant Candy
Traffic - Dear Mr Fantasy
Friar Tuck & His Psychedelic Guitar (HIGHLY recommended!)
Kaleidoscope - Side Trips
The Moon - Without Earth
Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe?

[Mike's Beard]

How about if you could create your own "Nuggets" style psych comp. What would you put on it? Mine -

1. S.F. Sorrow is Born - The Pretty Things
2. Rainbow Chaser - Nirvana
3. Mrs Statley's Garden - The Four Seasons
4. King Midas in Reverse - The Hollies
5. White Rabbit - Jefferson Aeroplane
6. Night of the Long Grass - The Troggs
7. Megan's Gypsy Eyes - Blood, Sweat and Tears
8. Blue Jay Way - The Beatles
9. Carnival of Sound - Jan & Dean
10. Palm Dessert - Van Dyke Parks
11. Wicked Annabella - The Kinks
12. Glass - Sagittarius
13. Tapicoa Tundra - The Monkees
14. Draft Morning - The Byrds
15. Remember a Day - Pink Floyd