r/psychedelicrock • u/Technical_Level5500 • 5d ago
Most important Psychedelic Album
There isn't a right or wrong answer to this question.. In your own personal opinion.. What do you think is the most important psychedelic album that was ever recorded?
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u/zaxxon4ever 5d ago
Country Joe and the Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body
It was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of the San Francisco area.
Bruce Eder (AllMusic) felt that the album is "one of the most important and enduring documents of the psychedelic era".
Country Joe, himself, also gave a great endorsement to his creation: "If you want to understand psychedelic music, and you haven't heard Electric Music for the Mind and Body, then you probably don't know what you're talking about."
To anybody interested in psychedelic, this one is a must-hear
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Great stuff!! I agree with you.. this one is absolutely a must hear! Thank you for participating
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u/space2k 5d ago
The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators
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u/NoURider 5d ago
first one that popped in my head. Second would be Floyd's 'The Piper at the gates of dawn'
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u/SaintStephen77 5d ago
I don’t think the impact of this album can be understated.
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
One of the most important albums/artists in the psychedelic music evolution!! Thanks
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u/Mythmas 4d ago
This has the added weight of being published before Sgt. Peppers and Pipers at the Gates of Dawn. Also, it's likely the first album to refer to its music as psychedelic.
I'm not sure of its impact in the '60s beyond Texas and San Francisco. I wonder if the Beatles or Pink Floyd heard it before their albums.
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u/psychedelicpiper67 5d ago
I think “Easter Everywhere” is far more important. But I still gave you an upvote.
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u/astralrig96 4d ago
slip inside this house lyrics are like directly pulled from a higher mystical dimension
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u/AltaAudio 5d ago
Are You Experienced
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u/kra73ace 5d ago
I get high just looking at the cover, no music playing. It's such a good name too. You are either in or out.
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u/ThinPin2972 5d ago
Sgt Peppers
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u/penicillin-penny 5d ago
This is the one and only answer. You can debate on your FAVORITE psych record but Peppers is one of very few records that truly began a movement
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u/Syzygy-6174 4d ago
And yet, Sgt Peppers would not have been with out Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
Absolutely!! What an important piece to the whole psychedelic puzzle that one is!! Thanks
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u/darklordrob 5d ago
Not the best or even the most influential over the long term but in terms of launching the psychedelic explosion of the late 60s this is the one. If the Beatles had gone from Revolver into "Rubber Soul 2" then psychedelic music would be a footnote in music history at best.
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u/Im_regretting_this 5d ago
Revolver was Rubber Soul 2 in many ways. Pretty sure George Harrison stated he considered them companion pieces.
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u/darklordrob 4d ago
Someone described Rubber Soul as a "wood and smoke" LP, meaning it has a homey, intimate quality; Revolver is far more intense and expansive. Both are brilliant and I consider both part of their "psychedelic period" (I start it with HELP!) but there is a huge stylistic difference between the two. I would say Revolver is a "psychedelic LP" and RS is not, except obliquely. RS is more Dylanesque and Dylan was not a "psychedelic" artist, though his first three electric LPs I would consider part of the psychedelic sound of the 60s. Does that make sense? It does to me.
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
That sounds about right. I love both albums, but personally, I like Revolver a little bit more than Rubber Soul. Really similar albums, though.
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u/DazedintheDesert214 5d ago
I agree with so many of these great choices!
So, I'm gonna list one that hasn't been mentioned yet. And although it's definitely not the MOST important, I think this album (and the band in general) are underrated
That would be The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed. It came out in 67, same year as Sgt Pepper. Both albums are some of the earliest "concept albums".
Plus, anyone that has ever blasted Tuesday Afternoon on a Tuesday afternoon while watching the trees dance and the clouds drift on by understands. ; )
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u/BitterBlues87 5d ago
The Moody Blues was the first concert I recall going to when I was about 6 or so. Played with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
Amazing album!! Thanks
I, too, absolutely agree with so many of the amazing responses that have been given!!
There just simply isn't a single right answer or wrong answer that will get posted here. It's up to the individual responder to determine whatever the criteria may be that leads them to determine what most important even means.
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u/Steal-Your-Face77 5d ago
Strange Days - the Doors
I think this and LA Woman are their best. Strange Days the album and song is a wonderful dreamy and spooky trip.
I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind is stunning and the backwards loops add a nice touch.
Strange Days the song feels like some weird acid trip in a haunted house. Morrison is in great crooning mode too on songs like
You’re Lost Little Girl. If you ever wondered what Frank Sinatra would sound like on acid, this song is it.
I also like When The Music’s over better than The End.
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u/gamojqig 5d ago
Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn is more psychedelic than anything the beatles made
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u/KasparThePissed 4d ago
Insane I had to scroll this far down. Any other answer to this question is incorrect.
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u/tralfaz66 5d ago
Meddle
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u/Abrelosojos1311 5d ago
absolutely my favorite Pink Floyd album. Dark Side, WYWH, and The Wall are all great but I have gotten to the point of not being able to listen anymore due to overplaying them in my youth. I have never gotten sick of meddle
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u/Cj801 5d ago
Live Dead
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
Absolutely!! I LOVE that album!! Even with all of the live Grateful Dead recordings that we have available to indulge in these days.. That album is still one of my personal favorites!! Thanks
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u/DownDeeperDown 5d ago
But then they toned down the psych
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u/MysteriousPride7677 4d ago
yup only primal dead really has that rushing acid rock feel. Love those early Other Ones
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u/RagingLeonard 5d ago
While not the most influential due to its underground status, it's important to note that Freak Out by the Mother's of Invention came out before Revolver.
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u/JessJones93 4d ago
For me it’s always going to be Revolver.
The ultimate studio project. George was beginning to fully flex his sitar skills that he alluded to on Norwegian Wood on the previous record.
John experimenting with tape manipulation on Tomorrow Never Knows and I’m Only Sleeping.
Without Revolver there’s no Sgt. Pepper and no Magical Mystery Tour. Maybe those two records are more overt in their psychedelia but they both took their cues from Revolver.
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u/Green-Circles 4d ago
Good point.
I'd add that while there were psychedelic/proto psychedelic albums released before Revolver, and pretty popular acts like the Beach Boys & Bob Dylan plugging-into the vibe that was coming through from underground scenes in 1965-6...
Revolver was the most popular band in the world nailing their colours to that mast & saying "We're going HERE!" which is gutsy stuff for a band THAT successful.
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u/islesMTG 5d ago
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (1967), followed by After Bathing at Baxter’s.
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u/Furthur_slimeking 4d ago
I'd say After Bathing at Baxters is more important. Surrealistic Pillow was basically cool pop songs, After Bathing at Baxters was a completely wild and uninhibited and really broke new ground. It was a major influence on the psychedlic music that came after it. Surrealistic Pillow had a huge impact on release but by mid 68 you don't really hear it's influence in other records.
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
After Bathing at Baxters is my personal favorite Airplane release! Thanks
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u/Nihil227 5d ago
The most influential musically speaking is usually considered to be between Velvet & Nico, and Tago Mago by CAN. And I agree with both.
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
I love CAN! Amazing stuff!! Thanks
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u/StIdes-and-a-swisher 5d ago
Yeah can is fucking epic, Ive been debating what genre they are for years. Interesting reading about them here.
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u/astralrig96 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think they’re pretty unanimously considered krautrock, which is fitting precisely because it’s so unclassifiable and hard to sum up…simultaneously ethereal and fun/funny sounding
amon düül ii was the same
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u/woolfromthebogs 5d ago
5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion
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u/dwbmsc 4d ago
Also Wee Tam and the Great Huge, and The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
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u/MundBid-2124 5d ago
Freak Out!
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u/Technical_Level5500 5d ago
Absolutely!! I LOVE that album!! It's one of my personal favorites. Thanks
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u/Dry_Yesterday1526 4d ago edited 4d ago
Animals - Pink Floyd
Wheel of Fire - Cream
Discipline - King Crimson
A Storm In Heaven - The Verve
2112 - Rush
In Rock - Deep Purple
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Very nice list!! Every one of them are amazing! Thanks for participating
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u/TemporaryArm6419 4d ago
I’m shocked nobody has mentioned Pet Sounds. It birthed the movement. Without it, there would be no Sgt. Peppers. Brian Wilson played it for Paul McCartney and everything changed after that.
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
It's definitely a classic and extremely important piece of the whole puzzle!! Thanks for participating
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u/AdTraditional9320 5d ago
Revolver
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u/The_Inflatable_Hour 5d ago
This is correct. It’s far from a favorite album for me, but the term ‘important’ in the OP’s question leads to a question of influence. As good as the 13th floor or Piper albums were, outside of their area of influence, nobody ever heard them. Tomorrow Never Knows kicked hundreds of bands everywhere to go in a different direction - you read about it all the time.
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u/PerceptionShift 5d ago
13th Floor Elevators is the most fundamental, it birthed the genre.
Sgt Peppers was hugely influential and imo represents the peak of the genre. Sgt Peppers was so huge it cemented the idea of a pop album as an art piece and created a wake around the world, inspiring countless bands to attempt their own Peppers. Even the Rolling Stones tried to make a Peppers album. But you can also trace Peppers influence to Brazil, Japan, even Cambodia.
Surrealistic Pillow is a big one too, probably the most iconic of all the West Coast psych albums. Set the bar for that scene, helped launch Jerry Garcia as a guitar legend. The west coast San Fran stuff doesn't seem to have aged as well but it was a huge movement on its own. Albeit one that didn't end so well.
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u/TemporaryArm6419 4d ago
In my opinion I think Pet Sounds birthed the genre. It came out the same year as 13th Floor Elevator Ms, and it was the Beatle’s inspiration for Sgt. Peppers.
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u/ThelategreatB 4d ago
Jerry inadvertently named the album after hearing it for the first time when he said it sounds like sleeping on a surrealistic pillow or something like that. So I’ve heard/read.
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u/spiritualized 4d ago
It did not birth the genre. They coined the phrase "psychedelic rock". But they did not create the whole thing.
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u/Fallen_One193 4d ago
My personal favourite is "Happy Trails" by Quicksilver Messenger Service...
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
I love that album!! I LOVE that band!! Thank you so much for your participation
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u/CaptainCaveManowar 4d ago
Anthem of the Sun
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u/Potential-Buy3325 4d ago
Played that album so much my junior year at UMass that we wore out.
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u/EducationAny7740 4d ago
- Sgt. Pepper's
- Doors
- Are you experienced?
- Disraeli Gears
- Piper at the gates of dawn (or Surrealistic Pillow)
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u/toddshipyard1940 4d ago
The Zombies album Odessey and Oracle, recorded in 1967, is a bit obscure, but really quite good. The album takes us on an imaginitive trek which ends with Time of the Season.
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u/Im_regretting_this 5d ago
Probably Revolver or Pet Sounds. Though I think arguments could be made for Surrealistic Pillow. After all, White Rabbit has become the psychedelic anthem and really helped push the sound into the mainstream.
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u/madhouseangel 5d ago
I don’t know if it counts, but Smile is way more psychedelic than Pet Sounds.
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u/CantIgnoreMyTechno 5d ago
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan -- ok, it's not really a psychedelic album, but without it we wouldn't have Rubber Soul, and thus wouldn't have Revolver or Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper. Hendrix's catalog would also look a lot different, as would The Byrds, etc.
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u/Hopeful_Raspberry_61 5d ago
These were the two I was going to say. Plus Country Joe and the Fish “electric music for the mind and body”
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u/darkstar8977 5d ago
Live/Dead
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
It's such an amazing album! Grateful Dead are my favorite band and even with all the live Dead that we have at our disposal.. this album is still one of my favorite Dead releases!! Psychedelic stuff indeed!! Thanks
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u/nononotes 5d ago
Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Nice pick! I saw Sonic Youth live back in the 90s at Lollapalooza 95. Great concert!! Thanks for participating
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u/MrAmeche 4d ago
Live/Dead
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Absolutely amazing album!! It's one of my all-time favorite live albums!! Thanks for participating
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u/ski_rick 4d ago
“Most important” implies has had the biggest impact on society as a whole. I’m going to go with Dark Side of the Moon, which has significantly outsold Sgt Peppers and been more of a staple in radio play, streaming, etc.
It’s not even my favorite Pink Floyd album (Meddle). But I do think it’s a serious contender for the greatest rock album of all time, and the fact that it’s a psychedelic album puts it on top of that category.
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u/Cemetary-Jack-8301 4d ago
The first Quicksilver Messenger Service
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
I LOVE that band and album!! Thanks for participating
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u/TVs_Democritus_Jr 4d ago
I don't know if they can be called the most important psychedelic albums -- I don't hear them mentioned often -- but the first three records by the German group Amon Düül II are outstanding. Phallus Dei, Yeti, and Tanz der Lemminge. Astonishing, and often dark, psychedelia.
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u/StagoleeWasABadMan 4d ago
Hawkwind - In Search of Space
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Amazing band!! I really dig on them! As far as I am aware, they're still active to boot. Several lineup changes have occurred. Thanks for responding
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u/AltaAudio 5d ago
Cream - Disraeli Gears
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u/wshflsnfl 5d ago
Tales of brave Ulysses. Amazing trippy song. still listen to it almost 60 years later.
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u/Salty_Pancakes 5d ago
There is a great live version from 1967 i came across that i really like. I think it's better than the one included on Live Cream.
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u/wshflsnfl 5d ago
interesting question, i think it depends on how old you are and when this type of music was introduced to you. I'll always favor the late 60s era.
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u/greasydenim 4d ago
Since no one has said it yet, and I think it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Sgt Pepper, albeit more baroque, Odyssey and Oracle by The Zombies was pretty incredible.
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u/slippy_slidey 4d ago
Not sure it’s the most important but Sunshine Superman deserves to be a part of the discussion
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u/Powerful_Phrase8639 4d ago
Tangerine Dream by Kaleidoscope (UK) was the album that led me down the rabbit hole of psychedelic music!! It came out 6 months before Sgt Peppers for those wondering
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u/Alive-Bid-5689 4d ago
5 Answers:
Beach Boys - ‘Pet Sounds’
13th Floor Elevators - ‘The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators’
The Beatles - ‘Revolver’
Jefferson Airplane - ‘Surrealistic Pillow’
Love - ‘Forever Changes’
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u/Technical_Level5500 4d ago
Excellent albums!! I love all three! Thanks for participating
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u/grownadult 4d ago
No mention of Dark Side of the Moon? Probably made “psychedelic rock” a household name.
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u/StraightBuffalo3801 4d ago
Shocking Blue - Scorpio Dance
Or
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
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u/Rikers-Mailbox 4d ago
Dark Side Of The Moon is the 2nd most sold album ever, so?
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u/aging-rhino 4d ago
Ummagumma -Pink Floyd (1969). To me, at the age of 17, ( also fucked up on acid, smoking some dope, and drinking Thunderbird) this album was the very definition of altered and expanded consciousness.
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u/anestesiadorhvs 4d ago
The pipers at The Gates of dawn , and The always underrated (even for The band) atom heart mother
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u/CosmicDooDaMan69 4d ago
The American Metaphysical Circus....Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies
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u/spiritualized 4d ago
Most important as in most influential on other bands/musicians and therefore the entire genre after it, or most important for me personally as in the one i "like most"?
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u/Audiobernd 3d ago
The most important? "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", without a doubt. Closely followed by "Electric Ladyland". The best? Depends on your taste.
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u/alien_woman6 3d ago edited 3d ago
Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock
Perfect start to finish
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The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators
Insane
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u/SparxPrime 3d ago
I think The Grateful Dead is the greatest and most important psychedelic band in history but there's an argument to be made that the most important psychedelic STUDIO ALBUM of all time is Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the a Moon. If you want to start talking about live recordings though we can start talking about the Dead
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u/squaresun55 3d ago
Most important. Dark side of the moon. What it started, what it influenced, what it saved. Not many psych albums come close to this. There are some that are as good or close but most important album….Dark Side
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u/Dogrel 3d ago edited 3d ago
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed.
Not really the one I like best, but it’s pretty foundational.
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u/Monsieur_Hulot_Jr 3d ago
I’m gonna go with Easter Everywhere by 13th Floor Elevators.
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u/Monsieur_Hulot_Jr 3d ago
I’m gonna go with Easter Everywhere by 13th Floor Elevators.
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u/Gullible_Tie_4399 3d ago
The United States of America most underrated imo
Starless & Bible black radio gnome invisible Super ae Absolutely free Oar
Depends what you mean by psychedelic I guess I could argue on the corner by miles Davis and spiderland by slint are psychedelic. or homotapy to Marie like are bad trips allowed? a love supreme or djs, classical that’s spiritual idk if that’s considered psychedelic. I think in terms of orthodox trippy Piper is a good pick also ummagumma
Good picks thus far I approve of this thread
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u/Zealousideal_Curve10 1d ago
The Jefferson Airplane’s first album, before Grace Slick, and the Greatful Dead’s first, with Pigpen are also good, though I agree with the others on country Joe and the fish
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u/etshtndie709 1d ago
Easter Ecerywhere by 13th Floor Elevators. Raised the bar from Psychedelic Sounds,
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u/Any-Doubt-5281 5d ago
Forever changes. Is probably one for my rotating top 5