The 25 best psychedelic Classic Rock albums

20 June 2024, 19:33

From The Beatles and The Stones to Hendrix and the Floyd and beyond... Radio X tunes in, turns on and presses "play" on some of the finest examples of psychedelic music in history.

The 1960s saw the rise of psychedelic rock, with bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Jefferson Airplane pushing the boundaries of sound, lyrics and style. Horizons - as well as track lengths - expanded as new ways of thinking began to breed a new culture... a counter-culture. Drugs, poetry, literature, philosophy and techology all came togther to make this one of the most exciting periods of music on both sides of the Altantic.

1. The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out! Release dare 27th June 1966

   Frank Zappa and his free-wheeling set of musicians were the face of the American underground and their debut album was influential in many ways - it was one of the key works that inspired Paul McCartney to make Sgt Pepper.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Who Are The Brain Police

   

2. The Byrds - Fifth Dimension: 18th July 1966

   The third album from the Californian band was made after the departure of Gene Clark and saw David Crosby and Jim McGuinn begin to write more original material, which saw them move away from Bob Dylan coves and into more mystical areas.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Eight Miles High

   

3. The Beatles - Revolver: release date 5th August 1966

   John and George first encountered LSD when they were slipped a dose at a party by a dentist friend of theirs, and by the following year, Lennon had embraced the psychedelic experience with the help of the works of Dr Timothy Leary. This life-changing moment found its way into the monumental Revolver track Tomorrow Never knows, but the whole album bears the imprint of acid, from the vari-speeded textures, the Eastern instrumentation and the Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover by Klaus Voormann.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Tomorrow Never Knows, of course

   

4. Donovan - Sunshine Superman: release date 26th August 1966

   Originally issued in the summer of '66, this collection from the folk singer was repackaged in the UK the following year with some tracks from his Mellow Yellow LP. Either way, Donovan's light take on psychedelic pop shines through.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Season Of The Witch

   

5. The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators: release date 17th October 1966

   Roky Erickson's Texan-based collective really were pioneers, offering the first use of "psychedelic" in the context of pop music. A wild combinaion of acid-soaked R&B and garage rock, it remains unique.

   • Most psychedelic moment: You're Gonna Miss Me

   

6. The Electric Prunes - The Electric Prunes: released February 1967

   With titles like I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) and Get Me To The World On Time, even the most naive onlooker must have known something was afoot with this, the debut album from the Los Angeles quintet. Released quickly to cash in on their singles chart success, it's the ideal snapshot of the time.

   • Most psychedelic moment: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)

   

7. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow: release date 1st February 1967

   Exit Alexander "Skip" Spence and enter Grace Slick. The Airplane were now in the right place and the right time for their bluesy-rock to embrace the counter-culture, and they'd become a key part of the San Francisco hippy scene.

   • Most psychedelic moment: White Rabbit

   

8. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? Release date 12th May 1967

   What did Jimi mean by "experienced"? "Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful," he sings, but who's he tryng to kid - this is the moment the guitar hero in waiting became a superstar in Britain and the music began to expand into unexplored areas.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Are You Experienced?

   

9. The Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits Or the Layers Of The Onion: released July 1967

   A folk outfit formed around Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, the ISB were key faces on the British psych scene this album was a favourite of DJ John Peel, whose Perfumed Garden was essential listening for all freaks during this period.

   • Most psychedelic moment: Painting Box

   

10. Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn: release date 4th August 1967

    Recorded at Abbey Road studios at the same time The Beatles were putting the finishing touches to Sgt Pepper and produced by their former engineer Norman Smith, this is the height of the Syd Barrett-era Floyd, with its idiosyncratic take on "toytown" psychedelica and space rock manoeuvres... and always with a dark undercurrent.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Interstellar Overdrive

    

11. The Doors - Strange Days: released 25th September 1967

    The band's self-titled moment was a brilliant statement of intent, but the follow-up opens those "doors of perception" even wider, with Morrison's vocal bent out of recognition on the title track and People Are Strange being a call to arms for freaks and drop outs everywhere.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Strange Days

    

12. Love - Forever Changes: 1st November 1967

    Arthur Lee's incredible view of counter-culture America remains a beautiful document of of its time; the opener Alone Again Or is the perfect example of "baroque" pop.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Alone Again Or

    

13. Cream - Disraeli Gears: release date 2nd November 1967

    Cream's personnel - Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker - all had impeccable credentials when it came to blues rock, but they went with the times on this remarkable album that packs a powerful psychedelic punch.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Strange Brew

    

14. Procol Harum - Procol Harum: released December 1967

    This Southend-based band had a massive hit in the Summer Of Love with A Whiter Shade Of Pale, but it was nowhere to be found on their debut album. No matter: the first seeds of prog rock are laid in Procol Harum's ambitious, classically-influenced music.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Conquistador

    

15. The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request: release date 8th December 1967

    '67 wasn't a good year for the Stones, what with Mick and Keef beng arrested for possession of drugs and managing to get their convictions quahed on appeal. But while Their Satanic Majesties... may not be a very good Stones album, it is a fantastic example of British psychedelic whimsy in its purest form. They'd soon return to safer ground with blues-based rock, but this little detour is worth your indulgence, even if some moments will test the patience somewhat.

    • Most psychedelic moment: 2,000 Light Years From Home

    

16. Tomorrow - Tomorrow: released February 1968

    The lost superstars of British psychedelia, Tomorrow featured counterculture icon Twink and singer Keith West, later to become famous for his hit Excerpt From A Teenage Opera. The band released two singles in 1967 - My White Bicycle and the not-to-be-confused-with-The-Beatles tune Revolution - before issuing their solitary studio album. It's full of every trick in the 1967 recording studio book and include a cover of Strawberry Fields Forever, what more do you want?

    • Most psychedelic moment: Revolution

    

17. Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe: released April 1968

    A protege of Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Nicholls' debut album was intended to be an orchestral psychedelic masterpiece, with guest appearances from The Small Faces' Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane and ace sessioneers John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins. It was all for naught, however, as the album's released was cancelled and only a few copies did the rounds until a reissue in the 90s, when it was declared a masterpiece.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Would You Believe

    

18. The Zombies: Odessey & Oracle: release date 19th April 1968

    The Hertfordshire band's debut album was straightforward R&B including their hit She's Not There. By their second LP, things had got seriously weird, with Rod Argent's witchy song Time Of The Season being a key moment.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Time Of The Season

    

19. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake: release date 24th May 1968

    After a brilliant pop career, the Steve Marriott-led band embraced the counterculture with the single Itchycoo Park, but it was with this concept album that they created one of the most unique examples of British psychedelia. Half music hall comedy, half soulful psych masterpiece, it's a brilliant collection.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Lazy Sunday

    

20. Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: release date 14th June 1968

    One of the bands that unwittingly created heavy metal in the late 60s, the San Diego band's second album contains the side-long epic title track and the LP went four times Platinum in the States.

    • Most psychedelic moment: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

    

21. The Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun: release date 18th July 1968

    Take your pick from any of the Dead's late 60s albums, but the "sound collage" approach of their second LP probably sums up the sun-kissed Californian psychedlic summers the best.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Alligator

    

22. The Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord: released 26th July 1968

    Starting life as an R&B band, Birmingham's Moody Blues had a psychedelic hit with their epic Nights In White Satin. This was the follow-up to their conceptual piece Days Of Future Passed, and catalogues a search for mystical knowledge, acknowledging Timothy Leary, meditation and medieval whimsy along the way. SPOLIER: the lost chord is revealed at the end to be, of course OM.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Om

    

23. Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills: release date 12th August 1968

    Blue and psychedelica were often bedfellows, particularly in the States, and none more so than with this San Franciscan band, who boasted a once in a lifetime singer in Janis Joplin.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Ball & Chain

    

24. The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow: release date 20th December 1968

    An early stab at a rock opera from the industrious London band, concerning a character on a journey of learning and self awareness. It received lukewarm reviews at the time, but its influence over the progressive rock bands of the following decade can't be over-stated.

    • Most psychedelic moment: S. F. Sorrow Is Born

    

25. Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs: 2nd January 1970

    It's claimed that the former Pink Floyd frontman was an "acid casualty", whose indulgence in LSD exacerbated mental health issues that made him erratic and unreliable. After being ousted from the band he founded, he made two solo albums with some difficulty before becoming rock's most famous recluse. This debut outing showcases Barrett's love of the blues, but retains his playful psychedelic flights of fancy.

    • Most psychedelic moment: Octopus