1967 – Top Psychedelic Albums!!!!

The Psychedelic Era – Brief, Glorious and Colourful

The Psychelic Era in 1967 was brief, glorious and colourful.  The previous eleven Rockblogster Posts have highlighted albums by bands self-described as “psychedelic”, or by their fans, or critics as having some sense of psychedelic otherwordliness.  Most of the groups are fondly remembered but were not successful at the time and sit in the lower echelons of popularity in comparison with other rock, pop, blues and soul albums of the time.  In the Top 40 of the Best Ever Albums charts for 1967 ten albums are listed which meet the criteria of psychedelic rock weirdness and wonder.  This does not include the Jimi Hendrix Experience albums, both of which qualify on their covers alone, but bring to us a rock world of unparalleled beauty and declaration of the future.

The list of the top Psychedelic Albums in the Top 40 is as follows:

Rank	Artist	Album Title
6	The Beatles	Magical Mystery Tour
7	Pink Floyd	Piper at the Gates of Dawn
10	Cream	Disraeli Gears
12	Jefferson Airplane	Surrealistic Pillow
22	The Red Crayola	The Parable of the Arable land
23	Rolling Stones	Their Satanic Majesties Request
29	Moby Grape	Moby Grape
30	Jefferson Airplane	After Bathing at Baxter’s
31	Traffic	Mr Fantasy
37	13th Floor Elevators	Easter Everywhere

Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records

Record Collector Magazine issued a small booklet titled Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records in 2005.  The listing compiled by Record Collector includes only UK acts and Jimi Hendrix on the basis that he has a UK band.  Aside from this slimmest of reasons the list is fairly complete and includes singles and albums from 1966 through to 1970.  The booklet includes many great pictures and narrative in respect of the records, many consigned to the dustbin of history shortly after release.

Beatles – Revolver [LP]

Donovan – Sunshine Superman [LP]

Yardbirds – Happenings Ten Years Time Ago/Psycho Daisies

Cream – I Feel Free/N.S.U.

Softley, Mick with the Summer Suns – Am I the Red One/That’s Not My Kind of Love

Misunderstood – I Can Take You to the Sun/Who Do You Love

Smoke – My Friend Jack/We Can Take It

Beatles – Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever

Soft Machine – Love Makes Sweet Music/Feelin’ Reelin’ Squeelin’

Pink Floyd – Arnold Layne/Candy & a Currant Bun

Hendrix, Jimi – Purple Haze/51st Anniversary

Move – I Can Hear the Grass Grow/Wave the Flag & Stop the Train

Tomorrow – My White Bicycle/Claramont Lake

Hendrix, Jimi – Are You Experienced? [LP]

Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade of Pale/Lime Street Blues

Traffic – Paper Sun/Giving to You

Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [LP]

Pink Floyd – See Emily Play/Scarecrow

Caleb – Baby Your Phrasing is Bad/Woman of Distinction

Incredible String Band – 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion [LP]

John’s Children – Midsummer Night’s Scene/Sara Crazy Child

Bee Gees – 1st [LP]

Small Faces – Itchycoo Park/I’m Only Dreaming

Pink Floyd – Piper at the Gates of Dawn [LP]

Rolling Stones – We Love You/Dandelion

Traffic – Hole in My Shoe/Giving to You

Syn – 14 Hour Technicolor Dream/Flowerman

Dantalian’s Chariot – Madman Running Through the Fields/Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud

Peep Show – Your Servant Stephen/Mazy

Tomorrow – Revolution/Three Jolly Little Dwarfs

Hollies – King Midas in Reverse/Everything is Sunshine

Idle Race – Imposters of Life’s Magazine/Sitting in My Tree

Family – Scene Through the Eye of a Lens/Gypsy Woman

Who, the – I Can See for Miles/Someone’s Coming

Accent – Red Sky at Night/Wind of Change

Creation – Life is Just Beginning/Through My Eyes

Burdon, Eric & the Animals – Winds of Change [LP]

Hollies – Butterfly [LP]

Dupree, Simon & the Big Sound – Kites/Like the Sun, Like the Fire

Blossom Toes – We Are Ever So Clean [LP]

Cream – Disraeli Gears [LP]

Kaleidoscope (UK) – Tangerine Dream [LP]

Pink Floyd – Apples & Oranges/Paintbox

Pretty Things – Defecting Grey/Mr Evasion

Tintern Abbey – Beeside/Vacuum Cleaner

Tickle – Subway (Smokey Pokey World)/Good Evening

Hendrix, Jimi – Axis: Bold as Love [LP]

Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request [LP]

Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour [LP]

Traffic – Mr Fantasy [LP]

Paper Blitz Tissue – Boy Meets Girl/Grey Man

Nirvana (UK) – Story of Simon Simopath [LP]

One in a Million – Fredereek Hernando/Double Sight

Who, the – Sell Out [LP]

Art – Supernatural Fairy Tales [LP]

Status Quo – Pictures of Matchstick Men/Gentleman Joe’s Sidewalk Café

Jason Crest – Turquoise Tandem Cycle/Good Life

Burdon, Eric & the Animals – Sky Pilot Pt 1/Sky Pilot Pt 2

Manfred Mann – Up the Junction [LP]

Tomorrow – Tomorrow [LP]

Mike Stuart Span – Children of Tomorrow/Concerto of Thoughts

Pretty Things – Talkin’ About the Good Times/Walking Through My Dreams

Nice – Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack [LP]

Move – Move [LP]

Fire – Father’s Name is Dad/Treacle Toffee World

Zombies – Odessey & Oracle [LP]

Nichols, Billy – Would You Believe [LP]

Rainbow Folly – Sallies Forth [LP]

Boeing Duveen & the Beautiful Soup – Jabberwocky/Which Dreamed It

Fleur de Lys – Gong with the Luminous Nose/Hammerhead

Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man/Teen Angel

Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake [LP]

Aquarian Age – 10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box/Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard

Crazy World of Arthur Brown – Crazy World of Arthur Brown [LP]

Pink Floyd – A Saucer Full of Secrets [LP]

Fairport Convention – Fairport Convention [LP]

July – July [LP]

Family – Music in a Doll’s House [LP]

Skip Bifferty – Skip Bifferty [LP]

Moody Blues – In Search of the Lost Chord [LP]

Five Day Week Straw People – Five Day Week Straw People [LP]

Status Quo – Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the… [LP]

Factory – Path Through the Forest/Gone

Caravan – Caravan [LP]

Idle Race – Birthday Party [LP]

Gods – Genesis [LP]

Hendrix, Jimi – Electric Ladyland [LP]

Soft Machine – Soft Machine [LP]

Apple – Doctor Rock/Otherside

Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow [LP]

Second Hand – Reality [LP]

Sam Gopal – Escalator [LP]

Procol Harum – Shine On Brightly [LP]

Forever Amber – Love Cycle [LP]

Bobak, Jons, Malone – Motherlight [LP]

Pussy – Plays [LP]

Andwella’s Dream – Love & Poetry [LP]

Arzachel – Arzachel [LP]

End – Introspection [LP]

Hawkwind – Hawkwind [LP]

American Psychedelic Bands outside the BestEverAlbums Top 40

In 1967 many US bands were locked into the experimentation of psychedelic rock designed to storm the emotions and spirits but never designed to storm the charts.  They nestled safely in the lower echelons of the Billboard and Cashbox enscribed in invisible ink, churning in the ether, musical waves of violent light and soft insanity.  But not surprisingly many are still heard today as reissues of 1967 gems make their way to market, including 13th Floor Elevators, Blues Magoos, the Electric Prunes, Strawberry Alarm Clock and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

    

 

Rank	Artist	Album Title
56	The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band	Part One
71	Pearls Before Swine	One Nation Underground
72	The Chocolate Watch Band	No Way Out
79	Strawberry Alarm Clock	Incense & Peppermints
82	The Electric Prunes	Underground
83	The Deviants	Ptooff!!
92	The Index	The Index
111	Fifty Foot Hose	Cauldron
116	Malachi	Holy Music
118	The Electric Prunes	The Electric Prunes
126	Beacon Street Union	The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union
130	Holy Modal Rounders	Indian War Whoop
204	The Fallen Angels	The Fallen Angels
223	The Beau Brummels	Trio
236	The Litter	Distortions
253	The Aggregation	Mind Odyssey
259	The Beethoven Soul	The Beethoven Soul
290	The Freeborne	Peak Impressions
303	Blues Magoos	Electric Comic Book
318	Leathercoated Minds	A Trip down Sunset Strip
489	The Leaves	All the good that’s happening
493	Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band	The Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band

But in closing one should mention one of the best psychedelic singles of the era was released in 1967 in Melbourne by the Masters Apprentices – Living in a Child’s Dream.  The song did not appear on their debut self-titled album but does now feature on a 2009 double CD version of the album.

As a small bonus for getting to the end of this ever so brief review of the psychedelic era we have included a psychedelic jukebox from UNCUT’s superb 2003 CD Acid Daze – 18 Psychedelic Classics from the UK Underground. Tune in, turn on, drop out.