Five Good Psychedelic Pop Albums

Junior's buddy expressed an interest in psychedelic pop. Here's a selection of good albums, one for each decade. There is of course also heavier psych rock with prominent blues guitar in the tradition of Hendrix.

  • 60s. Beatles, Revolver
  • 70s. This decade produced a treasury of psych rock, prog rock and space rock, but I haven't got a recommendation for something both poppy and psychedelic.
  • 80s. Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
  • 90s. Olivia Tremor Control, Music from the Unrealised Film Script 'Dusk at Cubist Castle'
  • 00s. Of Montreal, Aldhil's Arboretum
  • 10s. Tame Impala, Lonerism

See also my blog entry about good Swedish psych rock.

More like this

"Somebody To Love" is great but it was released in '67.

Was not the early Pink Floyd with Syd Barret band in this category?

By Thomas Ivarsson (not verified) on 23 Sep 2013 #permalink

Early Pink Floyd isn't really poppy. If you want something from them that's both reasonably poppy and psychedelic, I'd go with Wish You Were Here, which would fill your hole from the 1970s. The Wall might also work. Although I've heard that lots of people listened to Dark Side of the Moon while tripping and/or stoned, I find it more poppy than psychedelic.

Jefferson Airplane isn't a bad choice for this genre, but most of their best-known material is from the 1960s. I don't know their albums, but as far as singles go "White Rabbit" is much more psychedelic than "Somebody To Love".

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 23 Sep 2013 #permalink

I would add the song "I am the walrus" from the "Magical Mystery Tour". The "Yellow Submarine" song was said to be inspired by ACID LSD. The song in itself is not psycadelic musically.

By Thomas Ivarsson (not verified) on 23 Sep 2013 #permalink

The 70's are tough, but I think Surf's Up (1971) by the Beach Boys fits the bill. It's admittedly heavy on pop and a little light on psychedelia but the blend is still there.

Wild tangents below
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Once you've got him hooked on The Beatles, don't forget to grace his life with the brilliant Rutles album.

For more loving parody, and in my mind one of the best 60's psych-pop albums ever made: An EP from 1985; 25 O'Clock by the Dukes of Stratosphear.

The 70s are hard.

Maybe Spirit - 12 dreams of Dr Sardonicus?

Hawkwind? though more space than psych/

By Beakers Bro (not verified) on 24 Sep 2013 #permalink