Psychedelic Rock Essentials

The Soft Machine: nice, i've been listening to them all day . I don't know this album, is it a compilation?
The Small Faces: i'm glad you finally got this classic. You won't regret it. It's one of my favourite albums of the sixties.
Michael Yonkers Band: never heard of them...

And what about Nuggets ?

 

Yeah, it's some sort of newly released, 2-CD compliation. It's all I could find of The Soft Machine around here.

I'm going to put it on in a little bit after I eat some Chinese food. I'm excited to hear it.

Neither had I until I saw the CD sitting there. It says that it was originally recorded in 1968, but was just released about a year ago for the first time. I listened to the first couple tracks, and something about his voice and the aura reminded me of Arthur Brown. Just replace the insane keyboards of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown with a guitar, and tone down Brown's voice a bit, add a touch of melody, and I think you would get Michael Yonkers... or so that's what I think so far.

Meh, they didn't have it. They had the British set, but I want to get the first box set first. Besides, I have been looking for The Soft Machine and The Small Faces for a while but hadn't been able to find any. So when I saw those albums, I had to get them.

 

Ok, I'm listening to Microminiature Love right now, and I have to say, it's worth checking out. Michael Yonkers is quite interesting. His voice... it's quite hard to describe, but I see it as a mix between Arthur Brown, Roky Erickson, and Lou Reed. Most of the lyrics are quite haunting too... you won't hear any soft, happy songs here. There are also some *really* cool psychedelic "sound effects" used on some of the songs that really trippy and very cool. It's defintely worth a download or even a purchase (If you can find it).

 

hmm, sounds good. I've got the album queued on soulseek.


This is what i found about Michael Yonkers on allmusic.com:

"A cult artist the likes of Captain Beefheart, the Fugs and the Godz, Minneapolis' Michael Yonkers has been toiling in obscurity since the late 60s. With a solid foundation of surf rock and garage, Yonkers pushes the limits of distortion with guitar and effects modifications and a raw and blunt approach to underground rock and roll.Born in 1947, Yonkers began playing guitar in the early 60s. Raised on Link Wray and the Trashmen, he officially started his music career as the leader of Michael & the Mumbles who played proms and dances in the Twin Cities area. Constantly redefining and stretching the limits of their sound, the group eventually evolved into Michael Yonkers Band with Michael's brother Jim on drums and Tom Wallfred on bass.In 1967, Yonkers cut his Telecaster down to a plank and began the other modifications on his equipment that would solidify the band's unique approach. Soon, Minneapolis music impresario Peter Steinberg landed the band a contract with Sire Records - not unusually for a time when major labels were combing the underground for bands like the Mothers of Invention.Microminiature Love was the group's first full-length and was intended to be released in 1968, but for reasons still unknown, the deal with Sire fell apart and the band broke up, their brilliant debut left languishing on a shelf.In 1971, Yonkers' back was broken in an on the job accident at an electronics warehouse - a twist of fate that led to years of exploratory surgery that only made matters worse and an allergic reaction to X-ray dye that left the guitarist with a degenerative spinal cord condition. But Yonkers kept recording, and released three solo albums on his own label in 1974 - Grimwood (recorded 1969), Michael Lee Yonkers (recorded 1972) and Goodby Sunball (recorded 1973) - as well as Borders of My Mind with Jim Woehrle. Thy Will Be Done followed in 1976 and then Yonkers was relatively unheard of for two decades.In 1997, Get Hip Records released a compilation of songs recorded at Richfield, Minnesota's Dove Studios called Free Flight: Unreleased Dove Recording Studio Cuts 1964-69 which contained two songs from Microminiature Love, Puppeting" (which was mislabeled as Microminiature Love") and the anti-Vietnam War song “Kill the Enemy". These stripped-down, seminal art rock tracks caught the attention of De Stijl's Clint Simonson, who spent over a year searching for Yonkers. Simonson released the virtually forgotten Mineapolis psychedelic garage album Microminiature Love in 2002. The vinyl-only edition quickly became a record collector favorite, and in 2003 Sub Pop put out the CD of this strange, lost album complete with six bonus tracks recorded circa 1968."

 

ok, i'm downloading it now...

 

For anyone who's interested, here's an article on the 13th floor elevators from the Austin Chronicle:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-08-13/music_feature.html

And also an interview with Elevators member Tommy Hall:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-08-13/music_feature3.html

 

i gots me a list:

-cream- disraeli gears
-blue cheer- vincebus eruptum
-blue cheer- outsideinside
-the chocolate watchband- 44
-the best of the yardbirds vol. 1 (not technically psych rock, but it has its moments, and they're good ones)
-the doors- self titled
-jimi hendrix experience- are you experienced?
-alice cooper- pretties for you
-alice cooper- easy action
-zappa and the mothers of invention- freak out!
-love- de capo
-the grateful dead- live dead
-and all the tyrannosaurus rex records

 

Yes, I totally agree. I have that CD, and I love it. It's not all psych, but it's all good music.

Cool, cool. I've listened to the album twice now, and I'm starting to like it. He's quite unique compared to other artists I listen to, so that's good.

 

i don't know this album. Are you sure it's the right title?

 

yeah, its not really an "album", its actually a compilation released in the 80s. since CW were notorious for ever changing studio lineups, some label released 44, which collects all the tracks that the actual chocolate watchband lineup played on together.

 

- - - bump - - -

 

the clash london calling is good aswell as the who tommy

 

Huh? I thought the Clash was punk... and I agree that Tommy is amazing, but it's only slightly psychedelic. I would still recommend Tommy to anyone on this thread though.

 

lucifer sam, you should have asked for sixties (and early seventies) psychedelia instead of just psychedelia. London Calling is a good album, but it's definitely not psychedelic.

 

Well, I don't have anything against modern psychedelia, and I wouldn't mind finding some modern psych artists, such as Octopus Syng and whatnot, so all modern psych artists/albums are welcome.

 

well, now you get replies like 'the clash - london calling' or 'pink floyd - the wall', albums that aren't psychedelic at all.

 

You want psychodelic, heres one. Incesticide by Kurt Cobain led Nirvana!

 

it may be psychodelic, but it's definitely not psychedelic. I think some people don't know what true psychedelic music is.

 

This is an early review of the album Touch.





The proto-progressive rock movement is always credited as being a distinctively British one whereas the psychedelic movement is deemed as having its roots in the USA. However there are always exceptions to every statement of this kind and Touch are a definite example of this. Here is an album that is a must for all those who are interested in seeking out the foundations of progressive rock. The early albums from bands like The Moody Blues and Procol Harum are often mentioned and are rather well known to progressive rock lovers, mainly on the basis of their possession of a hit single. However these albums, as a whole, have very little in common with the progressive rock culture that would dominate the musical scene in years to come. However with Touch we have a band whose music hits straight at the heart of the essence of progressive rock. Unfortunately this album is practically impossible to find with the LP version a definite collector's item and the CD version seemingly unavailable. Hopefully this will not be for long! The closing statement to this Forgotten Sons edition should be left to Don Gallucci and his own personal description of the Touch album.

"The Touch album was first and foremost a spiritual quest put to music; a search for the holy grail of its generation by way of sound. It was designed to go where no one had musically gone before in order to break down barriers and walls in the mind; to cause the listener to achieve an altered state of consciousness, not through meditation or drugs, but through music." ​

 

i see touch released their two albums in the eighties...