EXPERIENCE PSYCHEDELIC ROCK HISTORY!
Since the Top 13 Historic & Classic 1970s Psychedelic Songs consistently hang out in this site’s Top 5, 00individual felt it his duty and honor to post a “Part Two” with 13 MORE Psychedelic Goodies!
As the classic days of psychedelic songs of the ’60s began to give way to new forms and genres of Rock, the ’70s still hung in there with some classics of their own.
The emerging Progressive /Classical / Space Rock bands incorporated many elements of psychedelia and carried the torch through extended experiments of musical journeys that still satisfied us Psychedelic Hippies.
“Space Rock” had been around before but not the way groups like Tangerine Dream were presenting it. 00individual coined this genre of psychedelic Rock as Psychedelectraglide.
This new level of psychedelic music was a natural mutation and a welcomed one.
When all the dust settled at the end of the ’70s we we’re left with some of the richest, most creative and sublime music for the body and mind ever recorded.
Fun Psychedelic Fact:
The term psychedelic was first coined as a noun in 1957 by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond as an alternative representative name for hallucinogenic drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy.
Seeking a name for the experience induced by LSD, Osmond contacted Aldous “Brave New World” Huxley, a personal acquaintance and advocate for the therapeutic use of the substance. Huxley, known for his use of psychedelic drugs, was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time and coined the term “phanerothyme,” from the Greek terms for “manifest” and “spirit”.
In a letter to Osmond, he wrote: To make this mundane world sublime, Take half a gram of phanerothyme.
To which Osmond responded: To fathom Hell or soar angelic, Just take a pinch of psychedelic.
And the rest is Psychedelic History.
So, free your mind and imagine hearing these for the first time,
like we did in the ’70s:
Here are the
TOP 13 HISTORIC & CLASSIC 1970s PSYCHEDELIC SONGS
- PART TWO -
in random order:
POLYPHONY
40 SECOND THING IN 39 SECONDS - WITHOUT INTRODUCTION – 1971 – 1:17
Here we have a little gem that passed everyone by, one album on an obscure label by an obscure Virginia band – one of only two artists from the U.S. on this list.
Since their inclusion is for a short bit of psychedelic electronica, 00individual would like to extend the trip – here’s their 14 minute, “JUGGERNAUT“!
BO HANSSON
LEAVING SHIRE – THE OLD FOREST – FOG ON THE BARROWS
– LORD OF THE RINGS– 1970/72 – 9:41
Psychedelic music to most are sitar-laden dreamy drug sounds or Strawberry Alarm Clock-esque Rock riffs but since the word psychedelic comes from the Greek “to manifest with the mind” psychedelic music in its raw state is a trip in itself.
And nowhere can one be transported to a strange beautiful world of mystery and warm thrills than with this absolute Gem of an Album that delivers stoned or straight.
Bo Hansson was admired by Jimi Hemdrix, wrote “Tax Free”, and opened for him on Swedish tour dates.
A 00individual Absolute All Time Favorite Album.
FAUST
MAMIE IS BLUE – SO FAR – September 13, 1972 – 8:43
Faust were a German Krautrock band that apparently, like Hawkwind incarnations still tour!
This Faust track was a sonic earthquake with its massive visceral Rock ‘n’ Roll mega-machine of
Psychedelic Grunge Electronica!
HERBIE HANCOCK
QUASAR – CROSSINGS – 1972 – 7:27
One of only two artists from the U.S. on this list is Herbie Hancock; also one of the early jazz-fusion musicians to embrace electronica and delivered itwith a sophisticated taste for psychedelia. We used to put this on late at night or at those dreamy but wicked trail-ends of an LSD or Mescaline trip.
Fine, sublime, ancient rhythms and spacey future sounds to ricochet around in the canyons of your mind.
THE MOVE
OPEN UP SAID THE WORLD AT THE DOOR
LOOKING ON– December 1970 – 7:10
From the very beginning The Move were Pioneering Psychedelic Rockers with their unique Shazam! album. At first hovering around in harder, more dramatic Syd Barrett territory, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan reached a wonderful epic and etched-in-stone classic with the Looking On album.
During the recording of Looking On, Wood, Lynne and Bevan formulated the Electric Light Orchestra with Wood eventually leaving ELO to form his new band Wizzard .
00individual has included the full side two: Open Up Said The World At The Door, Brontosaurus and Feel Too Good.
Warning! Hold on; all three live up to their titles!
NEKTAR
DESOLATION VALLEY/WAVES/CRYING IN THE DARK/KING OF TWIGHT
A TAB IN THE OCEAN – 1972 – 19:30
What can 00individual say about this Nektar?
In another time and place Nektar are gonna be the House Band at my Mega-Club, open nightly, or whatever time is there.
00indiuvidual LOVES NEKTAR and on an etheric level connects to the whole vibe they laid down through their albums; Journey to the Centre of the Eye, … Sounds Like This, Remember The Future, Down To Earth, and Recycled – all Gems of Hard Rockin’ Melodic Psychedelic Rock.
And the album cover art is one Psychedelic’s All Time Best and is so good you can taste it!
00individual will have one tab, please.
HAWKWIND
THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE - SPACE RITUAL– May 11, 1973 – 7:37
Wow! Had this poster up on the walls of my pads forever! Don’t remember which album it came in OR, if it was a free promo received on an order run to the distributor back in the Record Store/Rack Jobber days. In any case, it said it all: Love & Peace . . and Hawkwind.
00individual can claim to have seen many strange mind-blower, er, uh, things, while traveling through space and time under psychedelic trippin’ – so – when we caught Hawkwind live back in ’72 at the Olympic Auditorium downtown L.A. while on some very strong LSD, right in the middle of a space-jam a six-foot insect comes on stage playing a saxophone.
Now, when you are really trippin’ on acid, like I was that concert night, everything already is Fucking Willie Fucking Wonka (Wilder original version) so when the drapes part and a six-foot insect comes on stage playing a saxophone, it is surprising to be sure, but maybe not all that surprising when you put it up next to all you’ve seen and heard all around you – and that was just from walking through the parking lot to the concert’s auditorium.
It was Nik Turner – seen here in a Frog suit instead ofto the Mantis suit. Creepy and weirdly cool.
AMON DUUL II
RACE FROM HERE TO YOUR EARS – DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS – June 1971 – 5:23
00individual drank the Kool-Aid and in the early-to-mid ’70s was forever enamored with Progressive Psychedelic Rock music that was coming out of Germany, France, Italy, England, Holland, Wales, Sweden, the U.K., Greece and although they were lagging, the U.S..
Here’s an excellent sample of Amon Duul II, and also somewhat representative of Gong, Cosmic Couriers, Ash Ra Tempel, Popul Vuh and all the way up to Pink Floyd’s Saucerful of Atom Heart Mother-era explorations.
00individual had a strange love/hate relationship with Amon Duul II, but like an addiction, collected and listened to all of their albums and their off-shoot band Utopia‘s albums religiously . They were an acquired taste, but on parts of this double LP and parts of Yeti, they were brilliant.
The Utopia albums were too!
SENSATIONS FIX
SPACE CLOSURE - FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT – 1974 – 6:30
Seriously, one of 00individual’s all time favorite albums, Franco Falsini’s appropriately titled band,”Sensations Fix” had and still has a deeply touching impression on 00individual.
Drenched in otherworldly psychedelic reverb and synth, this is one of a very few albums that genuinely feel like what you would hear as typical to another level of existence. A level where sound is environmental – mixed in with the normal cacophony. Hey, this whole album has a melancholy feel like home, . . . wherever that is.
TANGERINE DREAM
PHAEDRA – February 20, 1974 – 16:48
“Music that melts” – That was Virgin Records marketing slogan for their very first album release, “Phaedra” by Tangerine Dream with the Roger Dean designed vinyl record label.
Upon its release this album really created its own genre and touched on a steely futuristic primal and ancient remembrance of a strange but familiar sound within the soul.
Tangerine Dream were massively influential and supplied an environmental sound that became the moody, thrilling ambiance heard in nearly every movie (to varied degrees), TV commercial, sci fi, horror, crime, adventure and love stories. Their sound is now ubiquitous – and they own it.
TEN YEARS AFTER
AS THE SUN STILL BURNS AWAY – April 17, 1970 – 4:44
From about 2 minutes in and then for he next minute and a half, TYA create a mini-sub-urban liquid outer space embryonic ambient driving Psychedelic Rock Gem – that, if stoned in the right position, could seem to go on forever. This tight 90 second Psych-Rock exploration is within yet another smoldering, grinding, Rockin’ TYA track!
Alvin Lee knew his stuff!
APHRODITE’S CHILD
ALL THE SEATS WERE OCCUPIED – June 1972 – 19:27
This double LP release was an absolute no-brainer. Vertigo label? Check! Vangelis O. Papathanassiou’s Rock band, Check! 666 (Duh) Check! The most bad-ass eye-grabbing graphic album cover art since the Nazi art department? Check!
Among other German/Nazi appropriations (Nazi/CIA, Paperclip, etc.) Madison Avenue, as well as the U.S. Gov’t’s ad campaigns were subtly introducing the bold graphic allure of submission and dominance in their own propaganda efforts.
And here you thought 00individual was gonna rap religion and meaning of the Bible and the numerals 666 – no, that dogma was a mere vehicle for Vangelis and Company to build a sonic epic on classic themes of death, torture, religious fanaticism, miracles, the end of the world and all that other cool stuff.
Anyway, a massive effort by Vangelis who went on to become equal to the Classical Masters in his unique cosmic church command of emotion and keyboard manifestations, that like Tangerine Dream, created a sound and style that is now literally a part of the world’s musical lexicon.
PINK FLOYD
SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND PARTS I – IX
WISH YOU WERE HERE – October, 30 1975 – 23:31
Well, here ’tis, even tho’ this was a random countdown, Pink Floyd always comes in Number One, and deservedly so.
A sure bet that anyone who is into Pink Floyd AND psychedelic songs would unanimously choose this album as the send-off high-water mark of the Psychedelic Rock Era.
DSOTM had its psychedelic influenced segments for sure, but WYWH’s Shine On took us through one of the most sophisticated Rockin’ hallucinogenic musical journeys ever.
A true masterpiece of music, lyrics and psychedelic wizardry;
00individual experienced Pink Floyd
perform Shine On live THREE times at the L.A. Sports Arena; check it out:
PINK FLOYD – LOS ANGELES SPORTS ARENA 3 NIGHTS 1975!
and for more Floyd Fun – DSOTM U.S. debut in Quadraphonic sound!:
PINK FLOYD – HOLLYWOOD BOWL – 9/22/72
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… and if you haven’t already, please enjoy the:
TOP 13 HISTORIC & CLASSIC 1960s PSYCHEDELIC SONGS
and
TOP 13 HISTORIC & CLASSIC 1970s PSYCHEDELIC SONGS
(PART ONE)
.
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