I'm talking Psych here...not Psychedelic Folk, or Psychedelic Heavy Rock, or some other hybrid that has feet in 2 camps. Psych. Without the freakin' "e." You're only allowed to keep one purely Psychedelic Rock album...Regardless of country of the artist...What do you pick? Which one is your favorite?

I'll hold off a bit on naming mine, although I have a clear choice. I don't recall a thread like this on any of the RZ forums, and it should make for some interesting fodder. Please resist the urge to shit on other people's favorites. (I'm looking at you, Wallace.)

Let the games begin.

are you talking as ''my fav psyche album' or what i consider 'the best psyche album'
either way its SATANIC MAJESTYS for me

This is a great idea for a thread... I'm hoping some of the favourites won't already be in my collection - then I can go on the hunt!
Yeah Phil, Satanic Majesties is a perfect choice. I can never understand why Stones fans seem to dismiss it fairly unanimously... I'm not a big Stones fan, but I do love this album and consider it their best by far.

As for myself, I'll have to consider this for a while. One question, does era play a role? Actually, I suppose it does as Neo-Psych is a hybrid after all...

first Floyd, an obvious choice but impossible to not include it.

SF Sorrow!!!

D.R. Hooker - The Truth

You know what?
I hate to say it but I think Phil is right.

"Satanic Majesties" is one hell of a lp.(Not to mention the coverart certainly helps on the overall psych effect.)

Would it not be strange if on this forum we got predominant votes for this - a ROLLING STONES lp?


...
"SF Sorrow" is one of my top three lps ever.
But somehow I dont see it as being overtly psychedelic.
(For one thing ,"concepts" surely are not identified with psych. In my opinion, a genuinely psychy thingy would have no lyrics period. And if there were lyrics they would have to be stoned -or absurdly onomatopoetic - as in the Leutonian band, Ouba.)

Then you have the question:
can a true psych masterwork be structured (as is prog - or Satanic Majesties)? or must it be sloppy,chaotic/mind-fecked as, say, Chico Magnetic Band?

For me, the first one that comes to mind is Saucerful of Secrets. More psych than Piper in my opinion.

Interesting thread. I think if it's psych as in my favorite unformed sort of psychedelic experience I'd go with Algarnas Tradgard's "Garden of Elks" and if it's pop-psych I'd go with The Idle Race's "Birthday Party."

Sorry Phil, but after a little consideration I find Im gonna have to annul my own words.

The trouble with "Satanic M" is that its not psychedelically consistent.

You have a pop number ("She's a Rainbow"), something approaching prog (20,000 Light Years...") and just allround goodtyme music (Why dont we sing...).
If it was all like "In Another Land" and "Gomper", well that would be a different story altogether.

So...mea culpa.
Probably the main mistake I made is that I love this lp so much I let it shade my better judgement. Its everything I like - busy,complex etc. Its the lp I WOULD HAVE PREFFERED to be called a psych masterwork.

Fact is, it isnt.

The REAL psych thing is probably some meandering jam that was laid down in one take.

...
Oh ,and Joe:
dont go down that pop-psych road.
Anything remotely pop and with whimsey is not gonna be psych with a capitol "P".
Afraid I'm gonna have to tow The Lama line here.

...........
Moe: I dont care for your word ,"best".
Did you not rather mean to write: "IMO the MOSTESTLY Psychedelic album ever"??

Now someone like Crystal ,having just come to this forum and right away been hit with this obvious subject, is no doubt thinking: "What a grouping of sad Annals! They must regurgitate this subject every month or so."
Truth is, as Moe said, I dont think this has been brought up here before.

This is a tough one, not least because there aren't that many consistently (ie. start to finish) great LP's in psychdom,IMO. But the first two Floyd's (if only Joe Boyd had produced Piper,then it would be clear cut)certainly deserve consideration as well as The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Electric Ladyland". I also think the Outsiders' "CQ" deserves some consideration. Can't really choose...

i like mr. fantasy, traffic.
music in a dolls house,family.
in search of the lost chord, moody blues.

Since i'm a Second Hand fanboy & even though some may not agree with my choice, i'm going with 'Reality' LP

I can see this thread also devolving into a "what is psych" thing pretty quickly, since we have all different types of psych: heavy, light, pop, free form, progressive (whatever that means...) etc. etc.
On one hand the choice has already been made, and it's "Sgt. Pepper". I mean that's the album that gets the thing really going for all the others and it's the one that brings the psych experience into a huge cultural event. For a lot of people it was probably the introduction to the idea of the LSD trip before they had any idea of what LSD was.
There are other albums I could think of besides The Idle Race, including "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" and maybe even the Elmer Gantry Velvet Opera album, or Tomorrow, that might be my most played albums, but it's hard to argue with Pink Floyd as the album that has both the pop influence, and the underground "free form" aspect of Interstellar Overdrive. Certainly there's nothing like that on Sgt. Pepper. The truth is Sgt. Pepper gets it all going, from everything I've heard or read from the time. After that there may be some argument about which album works best for one listener or another. Or you can argue about the idea of authenticity.
But Sgt. Pepper is still the touchstone, and the obvious antecedent to Her Satanic Majesties Request, even if it's not as dark.
I also have heard enough prog or "truly psych" albums to disregard Paxton's dismissal of pop-psych. The fact that it's poppier and less "authentic" or whatever doesn't diminish it at all in my opinion. The very fact that pop-psych merges pop with the true psych experience is in its favor, as far as I'm concerned. It may not accurately represent the psychedelic experience, but the collision of that experience with radio friendliness is the thing that makes it interesting.
The only reason why I might choose The Idle Race, still, as THE album is that it captures the psych experience in a pop context with so much bouncy ebullience, much as the Avengers episode where heads of state are all dosed by bouncing balls with hallucinogens on them. The spiked rubber balls diffuse the substance into the skin when the balls are picked up, sending them back into a toytown nostalgic childhood world. This mix of nostalgia and psych experience seems to me to be captured perfectly on that first Idle Race album. It's also an album that marries studio gimmickry with songs perfectly, so that it may be as much about the former as the latter. Sgt. Pepper started out as a nostalgic album but that gets lost at some point, but the Idle Race's "I LIke My Toys" or "The Lady Who Said She Could Fly" are the perfect declaration of arrested development.
Furthermore, the studio can be seen as a narcotic in a way, in that it has altered the state of the music itself on that album. While there is studio gimmickry on Sgt. Pepper, I think it reaches its apotheosis on "The BIrthday Party" and that album marks the point where the production is as much the album as the songs themselves. I've even heard people tell me they don't like the album so much, but they think the production is pretty cool (I think both are fantastic).

My choice for the Psych LP that I like best is Motherlight -'Bobak, Jons, Malone.' Or Motherlight could be the title, I've never seen a definitive answer on that.

Okay. "Best" in a VERY loosely "psych" way.
So for me it would be something like Satanic Majesties followed by first Procol Harum followed by Motherlight.

Actually, that's really odd because when I was thinking of "psych" albums that wouldn't be called "pop-psych" I thought of Roger Bunn's "Piece of Mind" and definitely Motherlight! (an album I've been listening to all week)... A reissue of course...
That Motherlight/Bobak, Jons, Malone album is very cool and I can't believe it took me so long to listen to it...

Again maybe an obvious choice but i just love "S.F.Sorrow" by The Pretty Things,i also thoroughly enjoy "Joy of a Toy" by Kevin Ayers.Good post Joe i feel "Sgt Pepper" must get attention too,theres nothing i can really add that Joes hasn't mentioned!!Good subject though!!!

im also thinking MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR with extra tracks

Mister McFarland really hit the nail on the head with his essay (well done Sir!), and I'm in total agreement with The Idle Race... it's been a true and lasting favourite of mine for 37 years (I know after all this time I'll never tire of it).
But I think my choice of 'The Best Psychedelic Album Ever' would go to July. From start to finish they pull out all the tricks from the Psych Bag and then some. Even though Tom Newman's caveat at the start of the liners in Revola's 2008 remaster clearly states "I sang like a complete prick - a quivery, frightened little jerk. It's totally obvious to me why our LP didn't impress anyone. It's fucking terrible compared to what we were capable of.."

Well, I for one, am impressed.

Bloody hell I can't believe this post started 9 years ago, that is truly frightening,it's fun to read those old posts though, I think joes description of the birthday party by the idle race is excellent and I don't care if folk thought it was more pop than psych,to me its psych,but not just for the underground audience,I get the feeling sometimes that because certain psych went in a more pop direction it's not really the true thing according to psych scholars,I think that's bullshit, there's albums out there categorised as true psych that are just not listenable to me,red krayola,hapshash and the coloured coat are just 2 straight off my head,give me the birthday party any day,I don't care if musicians were stoned out of their tree on acid recording music,some of the results are just not good and incoherent, if that's the type of true psych you enjoy,good luck to you,but the more accessible sounds by the likes of that first idle race album to me are just as relevant in psych music as say a classic like the US group CA quintet,we all have a rough idea what psych music sounds like,there's something in that sound whether it's compression,the vibe of those 4 or 8 track studio desks, the effects utilised to give an otherworldly feel, the stoned or nonsensical lyrics, the fuzz or wah wah of the guitar,oozy orchestration or whatever gets your attention, it's all relevant.i cannae be bothered with psych purists who constantly question people's choices of what is a psych album to them, great example in this thread of posts,if I love the idle race album the birthday party,what's it got to do with someone who feels their definition of a true psych album is not what your choice is,I couldn't give a shit, that's my psych album of choice,whether you choose some mega obscure album from 1967 that sold 20 copies that's your choice,in your mind that's your true psych album choice.good enjoy it,just as much as I enjoy the idle race. I bloody hate this I'm psychier than you claptrap that you get in some corners,I mean I think the hollies butterfly album Is a UK psych classic,they were one of the biggest bands in the 60s,it's like someone questioned the moody blues in search of the lost chord album,are you serious,that is a classic album of the psych era clearly influenced by the times and ingestion of drugs,if it ain't psych what Is it? Putting this music into small boxes of labeling is against the whole let your mind expand and see beyond the normal but it's constantly compartmentised by so called psych experts,you either enjoy an album of music or don't,that's the bottom line, it's 50 years since many of out fave psych albums were first issued, who are we to revise what a band like the hollies or the moody blues meant to create, we weren't in the studio, many of us were not even born when this was all happening, I love a lot of this music, I like what I like,there's albums I play more than others, I really don't care whether this group or that group where part of the London underground music scene, I wasn't there to be in that scene,so to me 50 years later it's irrelevant to me musically,many so called mainstream groups or singers jumped on what was the latest trend or buzzword called psychedelia,to me all those years later they're as relevant to me now as say pink Floyd, it doesn't matter a fuck to me they never played middle earth or stayed in Ladbroke Grove,their version of psych 50 years later is more enjoyable than many of the so called true psych bands from that time.i just enjoy that whole era of music,bands producers and record companies trying something different,much which was commercially successful and loads that were not, it really does not matter now in 2019 going into 2020,it's a time and sound that will not happen again, and that in itself is a massive attraction,technology has advanced so much since then that the sounds of many of those albums will never be repeated,they're like time capsules,I was born in 1968,a year in which many of the psych albums I enjoy where released,so it's not nostalgia as I wasn't there, it's like it's from another planet to me, as soon as I heard Sgt pepper I knew it was different, it was the first psych album I bought, and all those years later I've discovered many more and still enjoying listening and discovering fab psych albums now. Finally I just want to say the album introspection by the end is a UK psych masterpiece of an album, it's a shame for the band at that time it got delayed for 18 months till it got released at the end of 1969.it showed how quick music trends changed in the 60s as by that time it was viewed as old hat,but it's great music that still sounds great over 50 years later

I will stick with Satanic I lurve that album but I will say The Pretty Things-Psychedelic Years is most enjoyable[its a double cd on sale now for a fiver on amazon]

Well put Stuart, and thanks for bringing this thread back up from the forum basement... it was an enjoyable read.
I bought the Japanese release of Motherlight (AIRAC-1196) after it's mention and I think it's been languishing on the shelf after just one or two spins since. I now have part of my Sunday afternoon listening sorted out!

I often look at the older posts,I find it enjoyable,as for the motherlight album,I do like that one,from the Morgan bluetown roster,some unsettling psych vibes on there,in fact that whole set up is very interesting,with recordings by pussy,red dirt,smoke, will malone, orange bicycle, the academy, Cliff wade,fickle pickle,an interesting array of people involved in that studio, including unreleased stuff and also the group America recorded material there before they hit paydirt.a very interesting wee label and recording studio. Luckily much of their releases and recordings have been reissued on cd and vinyl. Phil as for the rolling Stones their satanic majesties request, I'm surprised they even released an album in that tumultuous year,I do find it a bit mixed, there's certainly some filler on it, but yes it's by far their most psych album, and bill wyman even gets a chance to get his songs recorded as Keith and mick fought the British judicial system and crooked cops. I actually prefer the album between the buttons, but that's certainly not trippy like satanic majesties which has a sorta bad trip vibe to it,more menacing than the Beatles Sgt pepper that's for sure. It's a shame like many groups they quickly moved on from psych,

Thanks for the feedback Stuart are there any bands who never recorded a psyche album who you feel could have recorded a classic?
For me The Who comes to mind

Such a shame I think when we feel compelled to analyse, catagorise and rationalise music so it fits into our preconceptions and don't see what a pointless exercise it was. Yes, that includes me! Anyone with experience knows that taking high doses of hallucinogens and 'playing' music can have unpredictably terrible to wonderful results. It's far more useful to use to inspire musical creation and activity.

I recently found a nice album by Brave New World - Impressions On Reading Aldous Huxley. Maybe some of you will enjoy it:



I previously tried to explain how concepts like 'favourite' and 'best' are meaningless to me, as my perceptions are fluid not rigid, but I realise that can be hard for others to understand. Well, that's just part of the pieces that make me 'Steve'.
Anyway, other musical diamonds that spring to mind certainly include Jimi's Electric Ladyland' and the Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's'!

Man Steve you are so deep you are outta sight ! and I mean that in the nicest possible way and as you wrote everyones conception of the 'best psyche ' album is coloured by their musical experiences and age

Cool to read this again, Stu. I’d forgotten what I had written and it felt like reading someone else’s post, although I found myself still agreeing with most of what I wrote, and the Idle Race’s first album still works for me. I also agree with the post that mentions July’s album. That’s a great one as well. I’d love to hear the stereo on vinyl someday, as the reissue I have is mono. The Bam Caruso says “stereo” on the label but it sounds mono to me. I’ve never heard a Major Minor stereo version, so maybe the record has no separation or panning? But any version of July’s album I’ve ever heard, regardless of the label, sounds mono to me.

CHUBBY CHECKER "CHECKERED" is the mosterest psych wobblay ever. (One can hardly expect youse all to understand.)

And can someone confirm for Wallace that the first track is a cover of early Lee Micheals - cos it sure sounds loike summart Lee would have written.


Besterest psych track is Sammy, "Candyman" (its a bad trip - disturbed).







....

Speaking of tripping: just saw news story that LSD/magic mush , after 50yrs of being verboten (first by a Nixon statute) is coming back as serious medicine for treatment of depression/even dementia. Two researchers are claiming this as if its something new!

Fucksake: three Canadian researchers way back in 60's claimed this and had proof which was subsequently brushed-under the woodshed by government cocksuckers. The research was done in a urine-soaked Saskatchewan asylum on UNWILLING patients.

(This latest research was done on hundreds of , of course, volunteers.)

By the way, none other than Doors Of Perception chappie, Aldous Huxely paid that Saskatchewan sanitorium a visit to study (and later applaud) the LSD work there.

Here is a sneak preview of the Mantis album

Mantis-1973-Turn Onto Music

Mantis were a Fijian rock group that came to Wellington and took up a residency at one of the clubs. While they were in Wellington they recorded an album in 1973 called "Turn Onto Music". It was released on the Vertigo label.12 Aug 2014

https://www.mediafire.com/file/6000p7eeltwthek/Mantis-1973_-_Turn_Onto_Music.zip/file

Phil, you old dodder,you meant that to go into the "new finds of 2019" thread, yes?

No Wallace I found it in 2020 after you commented on it..happy new year olde chum nice to see you posting

Are you saying that this is one of the best the best psych albums ever Phil? If so I better give it a listen.

Nooo whoppo I wrote that Satanics was MY fav psyche album hope you are ok in Oz

Yes thanks Phil. Most of the devastation is on the eastern coast, the opposite side to us. It's very distressing though. Cheers mate.

Dom "Edge of Time" is (probably) my fave psych LP. It's a genuine trip.

Fave is always a highly moveable feast but today I am mostly listening to Nippon psych so it will be 'Psychedelic Sounds In Japan'
'Agemo's Trip To Mother Earth' & classic UK & US Kaleidescope albums are always up there no matter what