I've been a regular reader of this forum, but a rare contributor. My love of this music began with the British Psychedelic trip albums on see for miles (recently managed to track down vol 4 which eluded me at the time) I must not forget the Circus days Lp's too, which led me to seek out many artists in this genre.
I would like to thank Stuart for his posts over the years which have also allowed me to discover so much great music which I would never have discovered without his recommendations. Stuart, your love and enthusiasm for this music really shines out and infects us all, so thanks so much for sharing.

Oh shucks........thank you people for the lovely words and sentiments,that really means a lot to me,ive known many of you for a long time,and all through our love of music,that to me says a lot about the power of music,how it can bring people together,and talk about it with a passion,it's one thing i've always been passionate about since i was a kid,first with ska/2 Tone/trojan reggae,which to this day i still listen to and buy!!Its a music i'll never drop,as it was the first thing i can remember choosing for myself as a child,i loved Madness,and everything followed on from there,up to that point,everything in my life as a child was chosen for me,and i eventually adopted the skinhead look at secondary school,which my mum seemed happy with,as i was being in her eyes,interested in something!!

My love of 60s music,started at home,with my mum playing Beatles albums on her radiogram,the funny thing is though,my mum liked the Beatles up to their weird music(as my mum put it)and didnt enjoy that weird stuff,where for me i loved it,i got really interested in hearing more of this weird stuff,which i did later on in my 20s.One of my best friends was a mod,and he introduced me to things like The Creation,The Artwoods,Spencer Davis Group.....but i found i enjoyed their more experimental later sounding songs,and my mate mentioned psychedelia,so i now had a name for this weird stuff,and my real interest in psychedelia really took off in big style,first with The Beatles Sgt Pepper,then Revolver,then their double comp album the blue aLbum,with their later recordings,i was blown away by the albums Abbey Road and the more psych inspired songs on White Album,and The Beatles still to thjs day are amongst my favourite groups.Remembering that before this my main interest was ska and early reggae,so it makes me wonder how the hell i got from the more working class sounds of ska and reggae,to a more london centric middle class sound of psychedelia?Of course at this time i didnt know that,i heard it via mod groups who went odd.Once i researched stuff ,bought books like Vernon Joynson Acid Trip,which evolved into fuzz,acid and flowers and Tapestry Of Delights,which were invaluable to me at this beginners time,and still is today along with other books since published.Then the discovery of the internet,which i used at my girlfriend at the time computer as i did not have one at my house.I was a very late user of computers and using the internet,i did not trust it,but in truth i was more afraid of it,as it was totally new to me,but i soon picked it up,and i enjoyed talking with others,and finding out more about psychedelia,in all its forms from all over the globe!!This opened a whole new world to me.

Introduced me to others interested in the same music,and then i got my first computer for my flat,and i was off,it gave me enormous freedom havng my own one,and like any new toy with a kid,i was never off it,i was typing away at all times of the day and night,making my own compilations which i sent all over the world free gratis,postage paid etc,hooked up with fellow psych enthusiasts and started trading cdrs,and takin part in discussion groups,many gone now!!My main interest was UK psych,this more poppy effects laden hybrid,but i got hooked on US psych too,which in many cases sounded more serious and adult orientated compared to some of the more UK fanciful,twee,childlike,pop and psych mix,which became heavier in time nearing the late 60s as the wonder of LSD ,took a darker turn with even darker drugs,even though i suspect many who adopted the UK psych sound in the early days,had only had something as strong as a pint of beer!!While in the States it was a completely different kettle of fish,where the majority of groups lived that type of drug taking life,of course when psych became the in thing,many psych records were made by pop groups/stars ,who adopted a more commercial brand of psych or acid rock ,which in the States was looked down as bandwagon jumpers by other underground groups,in the UK it happened to a lesser degree,though the true underground groups did find some commercial success,like Pink Floyd,and of course The Beatles who you would never call underground had an impact on many groups,including The Rolling Stones,the other biggie who were popular in the UK and the US,whos psych musings were quite slim really,but Their Satanic Majesties Request was their attempt at a full blown psych album,though quite criticised in its day as a Beatle copy,now i regard it as a seminal UK psych album,along with Pepper,Piper,SF Sorrow,Butterfly,Tomorrow,Introspection(though delayed release by near 2 years)what followed this initial spurt of pop psychedelia,more heavier directed groups followed more in keeping with the underground scene,rather than the pop scene,which produced some good heavy psych and early prog sounds,of course psychedelia influenced newer more folk orientated groups and singers,the best known probably The Incredible String Band,who released in my opinion,amongst the best 3 albums now known as acid folk,or psych folk,which in itself influenced others!!
While in the States,much psych turned dark,loud,fuzzy,and in many cases bluesy,but at the same time you had cracking commercial psych like Strawberry Alarm Clock and Tommy James and the Shondells hitting number one billboard singles chart with Incense and Peppermints and Crimson and Clover!!The psych and hippie type albums had a far longer shelf life than the UK variant,which basically virtually disappeared by 18 months later,though on occasion an album or single would appear with the psych sound still prevalent,it was blues,singer/songwriter,crooners,mainstream pop and what became known as progressive rock that filled the psych fad void,though in truth there were many albums that still had that psych sound and influence mixed with the prevailing progressive sound,which today many call the psych/prog crossover sound,which i absolutely adore!!!

In the States wooden music started to take prevalence and popularity,groups like The Band C,S,N & Y,a resurfaced Dylan,The Byrds took a more country down home back to basics type of vibe,instead of acid inspired long jams and freakouts,and effects laden madness,though much psych or acid albums were still being recorded!!Though in truth,in the UK not many true psych albums were released at the time,of course with history and many years,many things have been categorised,and given labels like sike,pop/psych,freakbeat,psych/prog crossover,acid folk etc which were never labels or descriptions at their time of recording,so it gives the impression,there was much more psych albums recorded than there actually was in the uk.


So this was the mesh that got me hooked on this music,i later found out South America produced some marvellous psychedelic and acid rock albums ,and Australia and New Zealand recordings sound more like UK inspired sounding psych,with phasing or flanging being a favourite effect added to many recordings from there at this time............but psychedelia had spread round the globe,in some cases many years after its peak in the states and the UK!!!So it seems like a never ending obsession to have,and thats probably quite true,so its never going to get tired to listen to this great music,and like many who take part on here,its more than a hobby,it can be quite an expensive hobby if you have the finance,im a cd buyer only,i dont buy or deal with vinyl,that collecting market is a minefield,of putting your trust in strangers,when youre talking hundreds of quid a single or album,im glad i stuck with my cd reissues for a tenner or under,with many cd reissues having good booklets and bonus tracks,i cant complain!!

Apologies for this long post,i started this post with replying to all the kind comments,but i got the bug to talk about the music instead,maybe i shouldve started a new topic,but i got in the swing!!Thank you to you all again!!

I had a surprisingly similar journey. My mum had a reel to reel 4 track player and had later period Beatles on there - I was totally fascinated by Strawberry Fields at the age of 8 or 9 in the late 70s and around the same time I remember hearing Itchicoo Park on Ed Stewpot's radio show or something and being transported by those phased drums. I had two older brothers who had various 'best ofs' of UK 60s bands (Cream, Who, Stones, Nice, Kinks etc) and I always liked the stuff from around '67/8 the most as it just seemed to go a bit mad and I couldn't work out why. From that point I was hooked and Piper was a massive revelation, bought at WH Smiths for £2.99 on the Fame label. I then found out this weird period of music was called psychedelic, the Choc Soup comps arrived as did the Acid Trip book and then Rubbles started coming and I was hooked and still am.

I like a lot of other styles and eras of music too, but this brief period of UK psych will always be my favourite

Glad to see there's nothing off-colour since I last visited.

With reference to the psychedelic era, I just noticed an excellent posting on Mixcloud of what I assume was a radio programme from 2014 which is three hours of 'pop, psychedelia and MOR'. It's definitely worth a listen https://www.mixcloud.com/AJRadio/20140111-steve-james-the-velvet-vortex-solid-gold-gem-am-saturday-11-january-2014/