Essential Psych lp’s

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  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    groups with one (or two) 'Psych' records

    Bee Gees(Horizontal)

    I consider the entire 1967-69 phase of the Bee Gees' career psychedelic. The one thing that set them apart from the usual navel gazers is that their songs had hooks. You can't tell me that "New York Mining Disaster 1941" or the entire Odessa album was bubblegum.

    Zombies(oddysey and oracle)

    Not fair to put them in the occasional psych category since they broke up right after recording this album in '67. There would have been more, had they lasted.

    Johnny Rivers(at least one or 2 'psych'-y sleeve designs)

    It wasn't just the cover designs, it showed in the music. Rivers was sorta doing a Bob Lind-ish singer-songwriter thing on his Rewind album (even though Jim Webb wrote most of the songs). By 1968, he recorded the incredibly dated Realization, which was definitely meant to be his entry into psych.

    please add to the list....

    - Tommy Roe, Phantasy (HORRIBLE)
    - Del Shannon, The Further Adventures Of Charles Westover
    - First Edition, "Just Dropped In Just To See What Condition My Condition Was In" (just this song, no more)
    - Paul Revere & the Raiders, Something Happening, Alias Pink Puzz, Collage (Raiders' singer Mark Lindsay wanted to go full-tilt psych, but Revere still wanted the band to milk the Top 40 audience, so all three of these albums have their teenybopper moments, but you can tell from the production that Lindsay wanted the band to do something heavier)



    Pick, you might have taken what I wrote to be somehow as a negative, but I certainly did not intend that to be the case. While I think that most of the groups I listed were indeed following the trends at the time, I would never accuse ANY of them of SIMPLY doing so. I agree with the fact that the Bee Gees you cited are indeed pretty psychedelic, but I also think that they were always one of the great vocal groups of the Beat era and not just bubblegum pop. Same goes for the Zombies and the Hollies. I think what made all of their forays into psychedelia work at all was the fact that they were musicians taking advantage of a sudden liscense and freedom that before they maybe felt was not open to them, but they still were operating within a primarily commercial medium. As a result, they utilized the expanded pallette maybe more wisely than some groups who were strictly 'psych'. It may not have been as over the top as some of the more obscure psych at the time, but I think in many instances the Bee Gees Horizontal has fared better over time than some more 'pure' psych records. At least IMO.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN "SPIRIT" TO ME?

    i cant 'splain it anymore than you can, but the cover shown above, with the mismatched faces, always cracked me up!!!

  • progbeatzprogbeatz 451 Posts
    A little bit of New Zealand Psychish stuff from my racks, some of it real psyched out, some of it only a bit of psych, good luck finding them but some cool covers to look at.



























    That is sick...those Human Instinct albums are raw as F***

    Wheres Mantis and the Sam Hunt and Mammal Lp?

    Anyone ever sample Split Enz?

    Did Cleves have 2 lps? Is the redish one a 45? Again I say huh???

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    here's one for the Minneapolis headz





    and the much better, but more garage-y first LP w/ the classic 'Action Woman'




  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts


    If anything, they probably got considered (to play the Fillmore East) based on the biker cover and not the music...

    No, it WAS based on the music. According to co-producer Jeff Katz, they played the record for the Fillmore talent booker, sight unseen. So...what's the name of the band? The 1910 Fruitgum Company. NEXT!

    They could have at least renamed them the Hard Ride or something.


    I believed you, I was pretty much joking - I can't bring myself to use those winky icons too often...great story, though, but kind of sad, that once these bands decided to break free of the pop restraints put on them by their labels/producers, they found themselves shut out of the underground because of their fame. I'm curious to know what the Hard Ride band did after 1910 disbanded, there is some hot playing on that lp


    (If you're curious to hear what the deejays heard, the album was released as Alias Pink Puzz, which sounds to these ears like a cross between the Stooges and Moby Grape - not a bad combination.)

    No, not bad at all..and reminds me of an album I have pushed on here few times, one of my fav pick-ups of the past year, but more garage soul than psych for this thread:



    almost all hard garage covers of soul songs, including The Parliaments/Funkadelic classic, "(I Wanna) Testify," and the highlight send-off is an extended version of the Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey" with Stooges-esque grunts and screams...I copped this off eBay for under $10 a couple of months ago, it can be found with patience...I cannot recommend this LP to the strut crowd enough! (and it's a west coast LP, so you guys may be able to bin-dig it, unlike me on the EC needing the Bay to cop it)

  • coolchriscoolchris 301 Posts
    Both We all together Lp's out of Peru are outstanding.If Beatles White Album Era is your sound,it was definitely theirs as well.Most if not all songs are originals and are in english.

  • TheMackTheMack 3,414 Posts
    i love the hell outta this album right hurrr


    not sayin it's essential, but it's ILL, and HEAVY AS FUCK!!! really dark psych

  • No two Fruitgum albums have the same personnel listing (although some of the same faces pop up on the covers).

    Something told me this album was gonna make an appearance before the thread was over! (How's it going, Coma Toast?)

    i dont think ive ever seen a copy without ringwear.

  • hans_lucashans_lucas 159 Posts
    Modern psych


  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    I don't have Sam Hunt or Mantis & only got to the L's before I got tired of posting pics, Mammal is dope tho. The Music From Michael is a Cleves EP from the year before the LP. I can't believe the Cleves thought a name change to Bitch was a good idea after they moved to the UK, talk about commercial suicide.
    New Zealand stuff from the 60s/70s is getting so hard to find in usable condition. I found doubles of that Headband 'Happen Out' & The Fourmyula's 'Green B Holiday' on the weekend but left them because they were fucked & even then the shop wanted $15, retarded.

  • wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
    silver apples has never done much for me other than some alright drums, maybe i've got the wrong record...

    i don't think it's been mentioned.. but i love

    Federal Duck S/T


  • ShingalingShingaling 877 Posts
    Bee Gees aren't on the top of my psych list but they were indeed psych. All the albums up to Odessa are great records IMO. The 2 volumes of "Rare,Preciuos,and Beautiful" are amazing too. Talk about a band that grew on me.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    Pick, you might have taken what I wrote to be somehow as a negative, but I certainly did not intend that to be the case.

    I may have disagreed with one or two things, but in general I liked what you wrote, and I especially think you hit the nail on the head with this statement:

    I think what made all of their forays into psychedelia work at all was the fact that they were musicians taking advantage of a sudden liscense and freedom that before they maybe felt was not open to them, but they still were operating within a primarily commercial medium. As a result, they utilized the expanded pallette maybe more wisely than some groups who were strictly 'psych'. It may not have been as over the top as some of the more obscure psych at the time, but I think in many instances the Bee Gees Horizontal has fared better over time than some more 'pure' psych records. At least IMO.

    'Cause that's my favorite kind of psych right there - progressive, but there was still a MELODY underneath all that experimentation. That's why I like the latter-day Turtles albums so much. Even now, they're typecast as a teen-pop group, but on albums like Turtle Soup(produced by Ray Davies), The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands, and the eighties odds-and-ends comp Shell Shock, they were stretching out without becoming a jam band. In other words, they were disciplined with their shit, they didn't just go all Vanilla Fudge, which I like (and I think is the point you are making).

  • PlantweedPlantweed 394 Posts
    I pretty much spent most of my free time looking for and listening to psychedelic and stoned music, of all sorts. There are very few whole albums that hold up, most have a few good tracks or even just one. Here's a recent mix I did, all good stuff:

    1. THE ABSTRACT TRUTH: In a Space [Silver Trees (1970) 3:54]
    2. ABUNAI!: Dreaming of Light [Universal Mind Decoder (1997) 8:58]
    3. AGITATION FREE: Laila [At the Cliffs of River Rhine (1974/1998) 10:03]
    4. AGUATURBIA: Evol [Volumen 2 (1970) 8:45]
    5. ALEXANDER "SKIP" SPENCE: War in Peace [Oar (1969) 4:09]
    6. ARZACHEL: Queen St. Gang [Arzachel (1969) 4:20]
    7. BISCUIT DAVIS: Gasoline Alley [Playing on the Moon (1973) 7:03]
    8. BLACK SABBATH: Solitude [Master of Reality (1971) 5:02]
    9. THE BYRDS: Change Is Now [The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) 3:21]
    10. CHURCHILLS: When You???re Gone [Churchills (1968) 3:18]
    11. DIE KREUZEN: No. 3 [Century Days (1988) 6:23]
    12. LINDA PERHACS: Parallelograms [Parallelograms (1970) 4:32]
    13. LUXURIOUS BAGS: Lost Wallet [Frayed Knots (1994) 4:17]

    Oh, and "psych" has gotta be the most misused term on eBay. Seems if a rock or folk record came out between '65 and '77 it gets that descrip no matter what it sounds like.

  • ok, THESE are the type of Psych essentials im looking for. lp's of the same caliber, that are well known, common, etc.

    [

    A yes, I forgot:

    Doors s/t= agreeable lounge cabaret with psych pretensions
    Weird Scenes inside the Goldmine= horrible horrible horrible music w/psych pretensions

    Uh oh...Doors hater???


  • CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN "SPIRIT" TO ME?
    -Why do they reissue this stuff?
    -Why do they have more than one album?
    -Why did someone put this out in the first place?
    -Why are they considered psych?
    -Why?

    They are a waste of wax if you ask me. I've listened to all of their albums several times trying to figure out what the the big deal is. I haven't seen any Country Joe and the Fish in this thread yet but this goes the same for them. I don't get it.

    Say what you want about their later stuff, but their first album is a West Coast psych classic.

    1 Fresh Garbage (genius)
    2 Uncle Jack
    3 Mechanical World
    4 Taurus (the tune that Jimmy Page stole the opening of Stairway to Heaven from)
    5 Girl in Your Eye (trippy)
    6 Straight Arrow (also very cool)
    7 Topanga Windows (fucking brilliant)
    8 Gramophone Man
    9 Water Woman 2:11
    10 Great Canyon Fire in General


  • emyndemynd 830 Posts
    If we are to take this thread seriously, there's more "Essential Psych LP's" than "Non-Essential Psych LP's."

    Interesting.

    -e

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    ok, THESE are the type of Psych essentials im looking for. lp's of the same caliber, that are well known, common, etc.

    [

    A yes, I forgot:

    Doors s/t= agreeable lounge cabaret with psych pretensions
    Weird Scenes inside the Goldmine= horrible horrible horrible music w/psych pretensions

    Uh oh...Doors hater???


    The Doors HONK. I didn't know any self-respecting music critic/collector actually takes them seriously these days.

    OK, OK, musically they were interesting on some cuts. Their attempts at blues were embarassing. And Jim Morrison... I liked that shit when I was twelve and his imagery sounded far out. By the time I learned bigger words and started really listening I came to my senses.

    Maybe "you had to be there maaaaaaaan...."

  • ok, THESE are the type of Psych essentials im looking for. lp's of the same caliber, that are well known, common, etc.

    [

    A yes, I forgot:

    Doors s/t= agreeable lounge cabaret with psych pretensions
    Weird Scenes inside the Goldmine= horrible horrible horrible music w/psych pretensions

    Uh oh...Doors hater???


    The Doors HONK. I didn't know any self-respecting music critic/collector actually takes them seriously these days.

    OK, OK, musically they were interesting on some cuts. Their attempts at blues were embarassing. And Jim Morrison... I liked that shit when I was twelve and his imagery sounded far out. By the time I learned bigger words and started really listening I came to my senses.

    Maybe "you had to be there maaaaaaaan...."

    Well....I wasn't "there" maaaan (I was 4 when the first album came out), and I certainly don't hold the Doors in the same esteem I did when I was 17 (I kind of see Jim Morrison as an alcoholic clown, where I once saw him as a visionary, but I was 17...), but I wouldn't say they "HONK" either.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I do think they are clownish... although I blame that more on Morrison... definitely wankers though

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts


    Uh oh...Doors hater???

    yes, Lar...fraid so. Actually, I am far less so in my middle age than during my formative(and blindly opinionated) years. But old habits die hard. Backed up against a wall you may get me to admit that I like "LA Woman" or "Roadhouse Blues", and the use of "The End" was good in Apocalypse Now" but THAT'S IT!

    Morrison's voice bugs me and his cult of personality offends my delicate sensibilities. It's petty, but I am just being honest.



  • Uh oh...Doors hater???

    yes, Lar...fraid so. Actually, I am far less so in my middle age than during my formative(and blindly opinionated) years. But old habits die hard. Backed up against a wall you may get me to admit that I like "LA Woman" or "Roadhouse Blues", and the use of "The End" was good in Apocalypse Now" but THAT'S IT!

    Morrison's voice bugs me and his cult of personality offends my delicate sensibilities. It's petty, but I am just being honest.


    I understand completely. How is it possible to forgive what Morrison hath wrought when this ass-clown still walks the earth??



    Not to mention this guy....



    And this shit is just unforgivable...


  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    I'm going to have to write off most of this Doors-trashing as overkill backlash...MAD dope tunes on those albums, songs like "Crystal Ship" & "The End" are mainstream psych at it's best, rootsy "Morrison Hotel" LP shows they can rock, I mean, come on, "Peace Frog?" That jam is funky and tough. Morrison was a decent songwriter and classic incendiary frontman who got blown up into some bullshit fake poet laureate role, he wasn't the first or the last to suffer that fate, and a lot of really talented people died drunk and burned out besides him, too. My favorite Doors record is the complete "Absolutely Live," which gives the MC5 LP a run for it's money as far as conveying an audience ready to leave the arena and burn the fucking town to the ground.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    yo Mack...dollar bin Psych classic:

  • Danno3000Danno3000 2,851 Posts
    That Jarvis Street Review LP is not so hot. I had a copy some years ago and happily sold it; I'd hardly consider it essential, but then I'm not much of a psych guy. Here's some Latin American psych that Mr. Pakora considers essential and gets my seal of approval:





  • Mr_Lee_PHDMr_Lee_PHD 2,042 Posts


    Not all of it is good, but Magician In The Mountain is essential.

  • ehuffmanehuffman 302 Posts
    my 2 cents:

     


  • TheMackTheMack 3,414 Posts

    This is one that blows my mind:



    The former might run you a couple bills, for the latter expect to pay at least five. Luckily, they've both been reissued.
    twoply, do you have this lp? i just saw this and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=306&item=4746273327&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting

  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,915 Posts
    I have the reissue. No way was I trying to hold out for an OG.

  • TheMackTheMack 3,414 Posts
    man that was a quick reply! yeah i was about to say, if you had an og i'd be flyin to portland or whatever and robbin dat ass fo' it
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