Best Psychedelic Albums of All Time
#14 Surrealistic Pillow
This groundbreaking album by Jefferson Airplane had such a heavy influence on psychedelic music that it stills rates as one of the best psych albums ever made.
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15:
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
One of the most ambitious albums by Wilco also offers some of the most mind-bending sounds. Watch the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart to learn more about the making of this album and how Wilco got a great deal when their label dropped them.
14:
Surrealistic Pillow
This groundbreaking album by Jefferson Airplane had such a heavy influence on psychedelic music that it stills rates as one of the best psych albums ever made.
13:
Daydream Nation
Purist might argue that this isn't really a psychedelic album. True, it doesn't sound like your typical psych album, but that's what makes it one of the best.
12:
OK Computer
Few bands can pull off a song as ambitious as Paranoid Android. The rest of this album also offers plenty of psychedelic gems with all kinds of ear candy.
11:
Asleep on the Floodplain
Six Organs of Admittance has its own brand of psychedelia that relies on oddly tuned guitars and long (some very long) drones. Asleep on the Floodplain is one the band's latest. It might also be one of its best.
10:
Forever Changes
Forever Changes, the seminal album by Love, combines beautiful music with a paranoid perspective of society that falls somewhere between totally surreal and totally accurate.
9:
Bravery, Repitition, and Noise
Brian Jonestown Massacre hit its stride with this album. Every song is excellent. They're catchy, weird, and expertly delivered. Check out the documentary Dig! to learn more about why the band can't always release albums this good.
8:
Anthem
It took the Grateful Dead forever to get into a studio and actually produce a record. As you might expect, the sessions during which Anthem was recorded was full of behaviors that tend to make music a little more psychedelic.
7:
Black Sabbath Vol. 4
For years, Black Sabbath had been melding psychedelic music with blues and the beginnings of metal. Vol. 4, however, might have been the best, most cohesive psychedelic album that they ever made.
6:
Zaireeka
The Flaming Lips have made plenty of brilliant psychedelic albums. Zaireeka, however, gets to represent the band here because it is by far the weirdest album. If you want to listen to it properly, you'll need four CD players. That's because it comes with four discs that you're suppose to play at once.
5:
Save Yourself
Make-up's Save Yourself combines gospel and psychedelia into a truly weird, really catchy group of songs that will have you moving your booty. Most psychedelic albums make you want to chill. This has a different motivation.
4:
Hawkwind
Hawkwind's self-titled album is a brilliant work of psychedelia, but you could really put any of the band's records on this list. Hawkwind is one of the greatest bands of all time. Believe.
3:
Damaged
Call Black Flag's first recording with Henry Rollins a punk record if you want. If you pay attention to the guitar and rhythms, though, you have to recognize that it drips with psychedelia.
2:
Velvet Underground & Nico
Velvet Underground brought together some of the most talented, inventive young musicians in New York. Once they got started, they changed pretty much everything about the way bands thought about themselves and set about making music. Plus, Andy Warhol managed them. How cool is that?
1:
Are You Experienced
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced is perhaps the greatest psychedelic album of all time. The guitar's grittiness; the off-kelter timing; the soulful singing... it doesn't get much better than that.
