Full disclosure part 1: I listened to this on a streaming service so a few tracks were missing, the videos were included in the track list, and I really have no idea how it would compare to the actual boxed set. (No booklets, etc.) Full disclosure part 2: the time for me to have listened …
Tag: Psychedelic Rock
Mama Said (1991) by Lenny Kravitz
I get why people like Lenny Kravitz. I think there was probably a time in my life when I could have quite liked Lenny Kravitz. (And maybe, for a while, I sort of did.) And maybe, had I not become the music history obsessive that I am, I would like him to this day. But …
Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971) by Serge Gainsbourg
I first encountered Serge Gainsbourg through the Great Jewish Music series. (I was probably more aware of his daughter, who I was barely aware of, than I was him.) I liked the Gainsbourg album the least of those records – and I still wish they had made way more – but it did give me …
…And the Circus Leaves Town (1995) by Kyuss
I really like this band and I really like this sound. In fact, you might say I’m a sucker for bands who play music like this, no matter when. (I remember getting excited about Black Mountain even though they were not doing anything new.) But this is probably the weakest Kyuss album I’ve heard for …
Osmium (1970) by Parliament
Recorded by the same people who made Free Your Mind…, this particular version of Parliament is basically just Funkadelic moonlighting. The record actually feels like the outtakes – the stuff that was just too weird – for Free Your Mind… if you listen to both of them at the same time. Parliament would be relaunched …
Free Your Mind…and Your Ass Will Follow (1970) by Funkadelic
Over the last 20 years my tolerance of directionless jamming and freakouts has gone from very high to relatively low. (I say relatively because I still have a much higher tolerance than, say, your average pop listener.) And this is my biggest problem with some Funkadelic as, in the early days in particular, they could …
Let’s Take It to the Stage (1975) by Funkadelic
This is one of those Funkadelic albums where the line between them and Parliament is blurred and that’s not something I can I say I love. Because of its title, I thought it was a live record and almost skipped over it.
Yeti (1970) by Amon Düül II
The older I get, the lower my tolerance for directionless jamming. If I listened to Yeti when I first listened to Tanz der Lemminge I imagine I would have loved it as much as I love that album. But I’m not a lot older and these endless jams and snippets wear on me in a …
Shazam (1970) by The Move
This is a bonkers record which, had I discovered it when I was in my late teens or early 20s, I might be telling you is one of the great unknown masterpieces of the early ’70s. However, time has dulled my tolerance for the “anything goes” approach of this band, especially given how scattershot the …
Funkadelic (1970)
If I had heard this 15 years ago I probably would have absolutely loved it. But my tolerance for directionless music has decreased over the years.
Monster Movie (1969) by The Can
Like most people, I am coming to CAN’s first album (as The Can) having listened to their peak motorik albums many, many times. I’ve treated this one like the first child given up for adoption or something, only getting around to looking for it well after I became a fan of the band.
Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) by Kyuss
I have listened to Blues for the Red Sun so many times that it is basically ingrained in me, yet I never manged to get to another Kyuss record. I also heard about this record. A lot. And I heard it was their best. So I approached this record with too high expectations and and …
Stand! (1969) by Sly and the Family Stone
I think my biggest problem with all the early Family Stone albums I’ve heard is a lack of consistent material. Because, otherwise, they’re a truly great band with a unique sound fusion and sound, full of truly capable musicians. But on the previous records, nearly all the songs outside of the singles felt lazy (or …
Snuffbox Immanence (1999) by Ghost
I got made fun of so much for liking prog rock when I was in my late teens and early 20s, in part because, for the people I knew, prog rock was horribly old and uncool and, moreover, my friends didn’t actually know what they were talking about usually, mistaking “prog rock” for Styx and …
Meat Puppets II (1984)
I have not heard the Meat Puppets’ debut album, but I am led to understand that it is much more conventional hardcore punk, which is probably why it’s been deemed essential, where this record is considered a much bigger deal.
Secret Treaties (1974) by Blue Öyster Cult
This is my third Blue Öyster Cult record and I feel like I feel about it as I did about the other two: meh.
Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
Imagine you were out on the street and you went to check your phone, and the battery ran out. And you said to the person nearest you “Do you know what time it is?” And he responded “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? If so I can’t imagine why. …
S. F. Sorrow (1968) by The Pretty Things
If being first counts for anything, this record deserves more attention than it has received (in North America, anyway). Tommy is viewed by so many people as the first ever rock opera but it wasn’t first (this came out five months earlier in the UK), however a delayed release of this record in the US …
The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp (1968)
This bonkers album is probably only known because Michael Giles and Robert Fripp went on to form King Crimson. Without Crimson, I cannot imagine too many people would be aware of this record.
Outsideinside (1968) by Blue Cheer
I don’t know what it is exactly, whether it’s the lack of novelty or something more concrete like weaker songs, but this record does not feel like it is the equal to Vincebus Eruptum. Making the comparison is not fair to begin with, simply because the debut is arguably one of the most important records …
It’s All About (1968) by Spooky Tooth
This is one of those records I thought about listening to a decade and a half ago and I’m just getting to it now. That’s often a recipe for disappointment as my tastes in my mid 30s are definitely not what they were in my early 20s.
Os Mutantes (1968)
Like so much popular music from countries other than the US and the UK, there is a tendency to overrate Os Mutantes’ debut simply because it is not American or British. I’m not sure this record would be considered so seminal had it been made by an American or British band singing in English. I’ll …
Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993) by Lenny Kravitz
I do not love nostalgia. Even when that nostalgia is for music I like, I have a hard time liking or sometimes even appreciating music that was made in awe of and devotion to another time. Sure, it might sound better than the original because it was recorded better or mixed better or mastered better …
A Wizard A True Star (1973) by Todd Rundgren
If you’re like me, you wished that Something/Anything?could have been, well, weirder. Or, if not weirder, at least more varied. I personally find that the record doesn’t quite live up to its reputation for weirdness and variety. Well, be careful what you wish for.
Mr. Fantasy (1967) by Traffic
Traffic is one of those bands I’ve come at bass-ackwards, being way too familiar with their jazz rock reunion iteration and not very familiar with the original psychedelic rock band. It’s a stupid way of approaching any band, but particularly one that changed its identity as much as as Traffic did.
Easter Everywhere (1967) by The 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators’ debut album is viewed as a trailblazing psychedelic masterpiece by people who have apparently never heard Revolver but I can’t say I’ve ever been that impressed by it; vaguely psychedelic folk rock to my ears, significantly abetted in its psychedelic vibes by that electric jug, an utterly unique instrument, but only …
The Amboy Dukes (1967)
In some circles this record has a reputation as a bit of a lost classic as there is a certain type of person who just loves this kind of vaguely psychedelic rock music from the late ’60s.
Vanilla Fudge (1967)
This is an excellent covers album featuring mostly (but not entirely) fairly radical interpretations of two Beatles songs, a Zombies song, an Impressions song, a Supremes song, a Cher song (made famous by Nancy Sinatra) and a song by artists I’ve never heard of. You must admire these guys for the breadth of these covers, …
I Stand Alone (1968) by Al Kooper
When I was younger, I was utterly fascinated by Kooper’s career: how he went from a successful songwriter to a less successful session guitarist to one of the best rock keyboardists of his era (or, perhaps, ever) and the major creative force behind some interesting ventures in the late ’60s. But, for whatever reason, it …
Fly Like an Eagle (1976) by Steve Miller Band
This is my first Steve Miller record, and I don’t get it.