Best Psychedelic record of all time?

[Dr Fate]

Poll question: Best Psychedelic record of all time?

Okay- I KNOW that many records can be "Psychedelic". I've heard Rockabilly , Jazz, Blues & even Country that sounds, well "Psychedelic..."

I'm talking about the real thing here- 1966-1968. You know, incense & peppermints, the whole she-bang.

I'm going with Sgt. Pepper or Piper at the Gates. (On MONO viynl, specifically)

[livetohike]

1. Another Hendrix song

"1983 A Merman I Would Be" from Electric Ladyland.

[Dr Fate]

3. A great track & LP. I also forgot "Disraeli Gears" by Cream

I think I like "Axis" better, but those 1st 3 records by Hendrix are my favorite.

[livetohike]

10. I haven't met a Hendrix song I didn't like

well okay, "Hey Joe" is not one of my favorites. And I agree, Disraeli Gears" is great!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

57. "May This Be Love" (aka "Waterfall")

I love that tune on the "Are You Experienced" album. I don't know how he did it but his guitar sounds at times like droplets of water falling into a pool. In the tune, Hendrix sings and expresses his love to a waterfall. And Hendrix' version of "Hey Joe" is the most soulful ever recorded, in my opinion.

Waterfall
Nothing can harm me at all
My worries seem so very small
With my waterfall

I can see
My rainbow calling me
Through the misty breeze
Of my waterfall

Some people say
Daydreaming's for all the
Lazy minded fools
With nothin' else to do
So let them laugh, laugh at me
So just as long as I have you
To see me through
As long as I have you

Waterfall
Don't ever change your ways
Fall with me for a million days
Oh, my waterfall

[SoDesuKa]

2. Donovan's Mellow Yellow

They call me Mellow Yellow. A really stoned record album.

[Dr Fate]

4. I know it well- Donovan is looking suave on that cover...

With the yellow suit.

"Hey with the blue jeans on, want to be the star of the song..?"

Did you know that he adopted Brian Jone's kid?

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

83. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan is a groovy song, too.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Best Psych album of all-time. Recorded just down the hall from the Beatles, who were working on Sgt. Pepper. If you listen to the two, there are a ton of similarities, which makes me believe they were cribbing off of each other.
Footnote: Floyd were actually quite disappointed with the American psychedelic rock scene when they toured the states. They expected it to be much more experimental.

[SCantiGOP]

6. Other

Moody Blues "On the Threshold of a Dream." The album is about an acid trip. It was quite popular in my dorm in 1970.

[jdsmith]

7. Love--"Forever Changes"

[Dr Fate]

22. Who doesnt "Love" Arthur Lee?

??

[tylerdurden74]

8. A sham

You didnt include Love's "Forever Changes" and therefore this list is a sham.

[Dr Fate]

23. I've only heard their "Best of" CD...

...I kept the list to records that I have actually heard multiple times...

...that is what the "other" was for...

[GOPisEvil]

9. Something by the 13th Floor Elevators!

11. other

one of the following easily beat out all your choices except for Hendrix, in my opinion.

& I'd choose Electric Ladyland by him instead.

Quicksilver -- Shady Grove and/or Happy Trails

Jefferson Airplane -- After Bathing at Baxters is way ahead of Surrealistic Pillow

Grateful Dead - Anthem of the Sun -- even if you don't like the Dead, come on, they've got to be on the list

Spirit -- The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

13th Floor Elevators is the original acid rock anyways!

[Dr Fate]

24. Love the Dead- assumed they were a category unto themselves...

...And I also picked "icon" records- thus "Pillow" as opposed to their less famous offerings...

30. I see, funny thing about Baxters

In 1969, the public library in the town I lived in in Kansas had After Bathing at Baxters in their record section.
That's where I first heard it.

[Dr Fate]

31. I was born in '72. My late cousin played me all those records...

...when I was a kid when he would baby-sit me. NOW I know what that funny smell was!!!

[sangh0]

12. Anthem of the Sun - The Grateful Dead

very psychedelic

[Xandor]

14. my favorite, too

[Old and In the Way]

18. Indeed

The album that took me on a sharp lefthand turn....IIRC, it was Bear Owsley and the Dead who got the whole psychedelia thing seriously underway. Owsley acid....the good old daze.

20. Owsley singlehandedly changed the 20th Century

something that doesn't get talked about much.
Seeing as how he produced and gave away tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of doses.
He was definitely on a "mission from god," not the god of a lot of people, but his god for sure.

and of course his grandfather was --

STANLEY, Augustus Owsley, 1867-1958

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Years of Service: 1919-1925
Party: Democrat


STANLEY, Augustus Owsley, a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Shelbyville, Ky., May 21, 1867; attended the State college at Lexington, Ky., and graduated from Centre College, Danville, Ky., in 1889; professor of belles-lettres at Christian College and principal of Mackville Academy 1891-1893; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1894 and commenced practice in Flemingsburg, Ky.; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1900; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1915); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixty-fourth Congress; Governor of Kentucky 1915-1919, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1918 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Ollie James for the term commencing March 4, 1919, but, preferring to continue as Governor, did not qualify until May 19, 1919, and served until March 3, 1925; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1924; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C.; member of the International Joint Commission 1930-1933, chairman 1933-1954; died in Washington, D.C., August 12, 1958; interment in Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky.

[sangh0]

33. HEY!!! That's my line, you squatter

For years I've been saying that Stanley is one the most influential people of the 20th century, and people just goive me strange looks. It even freaks the hippies out, but they don't mind as much

35. if you keep agreeing with me

I'm going to get very confused.

and he is. People should pay attention!:9

[Old and In the Way]

59. Don't short his contribution to the essence of pychedelic music

the "sound" itself. He crafted some might fine musical production work for the dead.....here's the Bear's site and his musical story:

http://www.thebear.org/musicintro.html

Read his essay on the politics of drugs, too.........

[psychopomp]

71. Long Strolls in Dreamland

Brings back memories! Great Album. But, I have to go with Piper at the Gates of Dawn for all-time best!

[chelsea0011]

13. Dark Side of the Moon.......Pink Floyd

There are other PF that would qualify, but might as well list their "best".

Also, "Court Of the Crimson King" King Crimson

[Dr Fate]

25. Great record, but closer to FM cock-rock or disco than psychedelia...

...I'm talking pure, Day-glo trippy stuff here- like "Piper" or "Saucer Full of Secrets"

[indigobusiness]

80. Disco?.....DISCO????

Go dose yourself.

[treefrogjohn]

15. Anything by Syd Barrett

Of course the psychedelics are why he sort of withdrew from music, the world, and reality in general.

[Dr Fate]

26. Have you read "A Saucerful of Secrets?"

A must for fans of the Barret era (or any era) Floyd...

[Gildor Inglorion]

16. One of the sorrows of growing older is this:

I will never get to listen to "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club" for the first time ever again. Oh, wow...what a revelation!

[MrSlayer]

17. Captain Beefheart "Trout Mask Replica"

[rawtribe]

19. Frank Zappa

We're only in it for the money.

[Dr Fate]

28. I almost included "Freak Out"...

...but it's really closer to 50's music than acid influenced.

Zappa never tripped anyhow.

[Ellen Forradalom]

21. Gong's "Magick Brother, Mystick Sister"

puts these all to shame!!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

27. Their Majesty's Satanic Request (Rolling Stones)

C'mon man.... Gomper? .. 2000 Light Years From Home ????
The Stones were awesome on this obvious rebuttal to SPLHCB.

[Dr Fate]

29. It's on the poll! You must have missed it...

As with Sgt. Pepper- the MONO version is superior.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

40. DUH. Obviously I did.

Make that 2 votes.

People don't know what they're missing if they don't hear this. SPLHCB is not really psychedelic. It's more pop, and brilliant pop at that. I defer to nobody, the Beatles were the best ever. Genius through and through.
But The Stones were another crop altogether. That album is awesome.
They were brilliant musicians of a different sensibility- more blues and rock than pop. They were not afraid to go to the darker side. That album is a different sort of genius- it delves into the psychodelic regions the Beatles couldn't reach.

But hey- maybe my memories are clouded by a lot of Mary Jane smoke!

[testing123]

32. Iron Butterfly

In a god di da vida or something like that.

[gpandas]

36. me too

[shanti]

53. oh yeah, inna gadda da vida

truly psychedelic, man, one of my first albums :-)

[indigobusiness]

34. Cream- Disraeli Gears

etc

Iron Butterfly for best one side song.

[Karenina]

44. I voted JA

But you jarred my memory! ;-)

[Bridget Burke]

37. After Bathing with Baxter's

On headphones to get the far-out stereo effects!

Or Forever Changes by Love.

Or most of the Dead....

The Elevators WERE psychedelic in essence. But their best music was hard-driving rock & roll, not the hippy-dippy stuff. Listen to "You're Gonna Miss Me" really loud.

Then there are The Holy Modal Rounders. In 1963, their version of "Hesitation Blues" included the first recorded use of the word "psychedelic". Acoustic, but mind-bending in its way.

38. Roky's voice

is demon driven, so it's psychedelic & rock n roll & blues and for the ages all at once.
yep.


edit -- and did you know Janis was almost in the Elevators also?

[Dr Fate]

48. Did anyone actually LISTEN to Rocky Ericson records before the early 80s?

He seems to be one of those *infuential after the fact* kind of artists...

[Bridget Burke]

68. Yes. Here in Texas, at least.

And I believe I did hear that Janis was almost an Elevator...

[Mr. McD]

39. Time Has Come Today - The Chambers Brothers

:) :) :) :) :)

[tigerbeat]

41. three-way tie

Sgt. Pepper
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
and Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies.

[carpetbagger]

42. "Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" by The Incredible String Band

n/t

[Fenris]

43. BLASPHEMY! The better Jefferson Airplane record is

"After Bathing at Baxter's". Far superior psychedelic record than "Surrealistic Pillow."

[Dr Fate]

45. But not the most famous or influential...

...DU is WAY to savvy for "lists"- so we wave polls, with "other" as a choice...

[DancingBear]

51. Asking the age old musical question

"Doesn't the sky look green today?"

:)

[Bundbuster]

46. Not 1966-1968, but

Led Zeppelin 1 (1969)

I went in and didn't come out for 2 years.

[Dr Fate]

47. Well-

I would count that as proto-type FM rock or even "Heavy Metal"-

It's not quite like Cream or Blue Cheer- but in all fairness, it's pretty damn psychedelic!!

Now the Yardbirds were certainly psychedelic...

[Fight_n_back]

49. Roger the Engineer by the Yardbirds

Just is...

[Dr Fate]

54. Great choice...

"Over Under Sideways Down" is a great early psychedelia record as well...

[DancingBear]

50. We're getting a little far afield here

Some good LP's, but hardly psychedelic in nature.

Try these:

Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
Country Joe and the Fish - Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Pink Floyd - Ummagumma



Ahh, that's better - I can see the Joshua Light Show in the background now...

[Dr Fate]

55. Janis Joplin never seemed too trippy to me...

But Bluesy & R & B sounding...

As I said- my poll is not about records that "sound good on acid, or whatever you got"- hell, then we would have to include everything from Elvis to Miles Davis.

I'm not sure which LPs I listed are not "psychedelic"- everything on my list is so, either by iconic or actual "artists were on acid when they made it" measures...

I mean Day-glo, flowers painted on faces, gnomes & faries, cellophane flowers of yellow & green, sitting on a unicorn, summer of '67 kind of psychedelic.

[Bridget Burke]

69. Janis was Blues & Booze

Grace Slick was the Acid-tongued Queen of Psychedelia.

[DancingBear]

79. Discard Joplin, if possible

Listen to the rest of the band - that IS psychedelia. If we are defining that as the next "step" from flower power, which I'll argue that it was.

So is anything that John Cippolina did, BTW.

Of course, Slick's picture is in the dictionary next to the word. :)

[DancingBear]

81. I got 'cha

Apologies if I was out of line - I lived through it, so my frame of reference for what constitutes psych music is rather well defined.

However, I must say that acid + psych music are like peanut butter and jelly - LSD was the prime mover in the advent of same.

While I wasn't in H/A during those times, I recall the musical changing of the guard from flower power to the harder edge of the hippie movement. Several bands straddled the line (Airplane, Quciksilver, etc.). while others (Blue Cheer comes to mind) took off headfirst into the next phase.

Ah, what the hell - I love all that stuff, anyway... :)

[Zorro]

52. Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service

You can get off listening it it even when you're straight; it's as if you can feel the acid vibe from the electric kool-aid the crowd must have been indulging in the night it was recorded.

It stands as the epitome of psychedelic rock to me; it is named Happy Trails for a reason, after all.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

56. Os Mutantes - by Os Mutantes n/t

[RetroLounge]

58. I had too Much To Dream Last Night - The Electric Prunes

Trippy...

RL

[mitchum]

60. Television "Marquee Moon" and John Coltrane "My Favorite Things"

[Dr Fate]

61. Yes, they both "sound good when you are on acid"

But they are not proper "psychedelic" records.

[mitchum]

62. Not "on acid" Those are actually the only two records which...

take me there without drugs. Not that there is anything wrong with taking drugs and listening to music...:)

[Dr Fate]

63. I love Television...

all those new bands today, like the Strokes should have to pay them royalties...

And I have not tripped in many years, but I still love the old music of that era...

[ArnoldLayne]

64. Syd's Pink Floyd

I like The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Also singles by Syds Pink Floyd before Piper was released like Arnold Layne and See Emily Play. Songs that didn't make the cut on Piper that were bootlegs and also very Psychedelic were Vegetable Man and Scream thy Last Scream Old Woman with a Casket. :hippie: :crazy:

[Leprechan29]

65. Strange Days

by the Doors (If that needs to be said).Released October of '67 - One of my favorite albums regardless of psychedelic value

[jus_the_facts]

66. ANGER he smiles.....towerin' in shiny metallic purple armour.......

Queen jealousy, envy waits behind him
Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground....

Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted....

They quietly understand....
Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready,
But wonder why the fight is on...

But they’re all bold as love, yes, they’re all bold as love...

Yeah, they’re all bold as love
Just ask the axis...

My red is so confident that he flashes trophies of war and...
...Ribbons of euphoria...
Orange is young, full of daring...
But very unsteady for the first go round....

My yellow in this case is not so mellow....
In fact I’m trying to say it’s frigthened like me...
And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from giving my life...
....to a rainbow like you....
But, I’m...I’m bold as love....
Well I’m bold, bold as love....
I’m bold as love....

Just ask the axis (he knows everything)

:loveya: :smoke: :loveya:

[nightperson]

67. Sorry,

I just have to remind people that John Denver claimed his (banned by radio at one time!) song "Rocky Mountain High" was written under the influence of LSD and marijuana.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

70. Anthem of the Sun

Or maybe this one...

[timtom]

72. Van Dyke Parks

"Song Cycle". This was, to me, the most....oh, how can I say it? The music was magnificently crafted....no, that's not it. The actual music itself portrayed the psychedelic experience. Yeah. THAT's it. I keep trying to start statements that describe this music, but I can't. And that is pretty much as it is with psychedelic experiences.

HOWEVER....my buddies and I did actually transcend our bodies when listening to the Moody Blues' "In Search of the Lost Chord." We had one non-tripping friend drive us up into the Berkeley hills. We felt like this was what human evolution was all about.

[Dr Fate]

74. I'm sure you know he co-wrote "Smiley-Smile" with the Beach Boys

Which is another great Psychedelic (albeit bare-bones) album...

[indigobusiness]

78. what you said...

yes

[blindpig]

73. Aoxomoxoa, Grateful Dead

Original mix only! The 70's remix was a huge mistake! Strictly Personal by Beefheart is also superb. Some critics would de-psychedelisize(?) Beefheart but they are fools.

[Dr Fate]

75. Speaking of Dead mixes...

I would love to get my hands on MONO vinyl copies of their debut as well as Anthem of the Sun.

I doubt there was ever a MONO mix of Aoxomoxoa- was there?

[Dr Fate]

76. Kick

kick

[Cheneys_former_heart]

77. My Favs: Tommy James: "Hello Banana, I am your tangerine..."

Also: The Rising Storm, Love, many more!

[webjamn]

82. David Bowie's "Low"

I listened to "Low" while on shrooms and then watched "Baron von Munchausen". What a great experience.

[Cocoa]

84. Dr. John, "Gris gris"

all these posts, I can't believe no one mentioned this. I know there are Dr. John fans here at DU.

[taxidriver]

85. I cant believe you didn't include anything by Sublime.

their "Robbin the Hood" CD is about as Psychidelic as it comes.

[bobthedrummer]

86. Nope, I did a lot of acid then and was a musician-it's gotta be Country

Joe and The Fish or Spirit. So I voted other.

[fudge stripe cookays]

87. "Seance" The Church

I'll put "Travel By Thought" up against heavy duty 60s psychedelia any day.