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US Psychedelia 68–69

Welcome to the fourth and final episode in the short series My Personal History of Psychedelia. The episode homes in on music from the in the period 1968 – 1970.

Psychedelia was not just wailing guitar solos and beads and bangle. It was a period where the possibilities of long-playing albums were used to convey musical ideas and forms.

I hope you enjoy the two-hour programme and I would always be very happy to hear your ideas for future programmes.

Spirit – “Fresh Garbage” – Spirit – January 1968

Spirit is the debut studio album by American rock band Spirit, released on January 22, 1968 

The guitar part of “Taurus” is said to have influenced Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page in writing “Stairway to Heaven“. Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit on an American tour in 1968, andborrowed from “Fresh Garbage” in live performances of the song ‘As Long as I Have You’

I’m going with the title track as I think it sets us up nicely for the next two hours or so.

Dr John – “Mama Roux” – Gris Gris – January 1968

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr.  better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. 

His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk but also included a unique blend of voodoo grooves.

Gris Gris was Dr John’s debut album and introduced his soupy, psychedelic styling.

Blood Sweat & Tears – “Morning Glory” – The Child Is Father to The Man – February 1968

Blood, Sweat & Tears were an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967.

They were noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. Their sound merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz and they were famous as much for their inventive cover versions.

Here, on their debut album, I have chosen their version of the Tim Buckley song.

Sly & The Family Stone – “Colour Me True” – Dance toThe Music – April 1968

I had already programmed the music for this episode when the news came through that Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone had passed away aged 82.

Sly was hugely popular and successful but by the mid-1970s, Stone’s drug use and erratic behaviour effectively ended the group, leaving Sly to record several unsuccessful solo albums.

“Dance to the Music” was one of the most influential songs of the late-1960s. The Sly and the Family Stone sound became the dominating sound in African-American pop music for the next few years, and many established artists, such as The Temptations, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Impressions, The Four Tops, The 5th Dimension, and War began turning out Family Stone influenced material.

I will be putting together a more specific tribute to Sly in the next few weeks. 

The Monkees – “Auntie’s Magic Coat” – The Birds the Bees and The Monkees – April 1968

The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees is the fifth studio album and was released in 1968.

It was the first also the album released after the cancellation of their TV show and subsequently was their first not to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, peaking at No. 3, and their first not to chart in the UK, with their four previous efforts all having reached the top ten. The album has sold over a million copies.

Davy Jones‘ Broadway style, Michael Nesmith‘s country and western leanings and psychedelic experiments, and the rock and soul of Micky Dolenz made for a interesting album. 

Aside from playing piano on “Daydream Believer”, Peter Tork did not participate in the making of the record at all. 

The Steve Miller Band – “Steppin’ Stone” – Children of The Future – May 1968

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966.

The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock radio, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. 

Here we catch the band in their psychedelic pomp and Children of the Future is the first of two Steve Miller Band albums to feature guitarist/vocalist Boz Scaggs before he embarked on a successful solo career.

The Beach Boys – “Friends” – Friends– June 1968

As with Sly Stone, just as the programme was being readied for recording, news of the passing of Brian Wilson was made public.

The album is by and large, characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time.

The album was very much led by Brian Wilson and was written, performed, or produced mainly by the Wilson brothers though it was the first Beach Boys album not to have Brian consistently as primary composer.

The Doors – “Summer’s Almost Gone” – Waiting for The Sun – July 1968

This the band’s third album provoked mixed reactions upon release, with many fans being unsure of its diversity and finding its songwriting inconsistent. 

However, it has lately attracted far more sympathetic appraisal for its mellower sound and experimentation.

“Summer’s Almost Gone” is for me, one of the bands finer moments and was actually written by Jim Morrison some years earlier.

Kooper, Bloomfield & Stills – “Man’s Temptation” – Supersession – July 1968

Super Session is an album by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Al Kooper, with the guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half.

Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield had worked together on the sessions for Bob Dylan‘s ground-breaking Highway 61 Revisited album, and played in the backing band for his controversial performance with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1965.

The unexpected success of the album opened the door for the “supergroup” concept of the late 1960s and 1970s. Band’s like Blind Faith and Crosby, Stills & Nash. 

Even though Bloomfield left the recording session after the first day, he and Kooper made several concert appearances after the album was released. The results of one of those became the album The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper which also featured an unknown Johnny Winter.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Suzie Q” – Creedence Clearwater Revival – July 1968

Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in California. 

The band’s most prolific and successful period between 1969 and 1971 produced 14 consecutive top 10 singles.

By 1968, radio programmers around the U.S. took note when CCR’s cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s 1956 rockabilly song “Susie Q” which received substantial airplay in the San Francisco Bay area. 

The Grateful Dead – Born Cross-Eyed – Anthem of The Sun – July 1968

Anthem of the Sun is the second album by American rock band the Grateful Dead, and was released inJuly 1968.

The album was assembled through a collage-like editing approach helmed by members Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh in which studio and live performance tapes were blended to create new hybrid recordings. 

The result was an experimental confection that is neither a pure studio album nor a live album. The band was joined by keyboard player Tom Constanten, who contributed avant-garde instrumental and studio techniques influenced by composers John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. 

Born Cross-Eyed” is an original composition by the San Francisco psychedelic rock group Grateful Dead. It was written by rhythm guitarist Bob Weir during the bands for the album Anthem of the Sun, in 1968. 

It was released as a B-side with the single “Dark Star“, one of the band’s best-known musical excursions

The Fifth Dimension – “Stoned Soul Picnic” –Stoned Soul Picnic – August 1968

The 5th Dimension were an American vocal group, and their music featured a mix of so-called sunshine pop and psychedelic soul.

The band mainly recorded cover versions and to a high standard – here they cover Laura Nyro’s “Stoned Soul Picnic”.

Rotary Connection – “Magical World” – Rotary Connection – October 1968

Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966.

In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album Rotary Connection, the band backed Muddy Waters on his 1968 psychedelic blues album Electric Mud. 

The band’s members included Minnie Riperton, who would later become a successful solo artist.

The Steve Miller Band – “Song for Our Ancestors” – Sailor – October 1968

Sailor was released in October 1968, less than five months after the debut, (see above). It performed much better than its predecessor, reaching number24 on the US album chart.

“Song for Our Ancestors” is a very atmospheric track and reminds me a little of Pink Floyd from around that time.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Rainy Day, Dream Away” – Electric Ladyland – October 1968

Regarded now as one of the 60s greatest rock albums, “Electric Ladyland” at the time was considered a bit ramshackle; Hendrix had drawn out the albums recording and it all felt a bit loose.

However, it contained many of Hendrix’s now famous moments in the cosmic cover of Dylan’s “All Long theWatchtower” plus the space-blues of Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).

I have included the laid-back funk of “Rainy Day, Dream Away” to fully imbed the psychedelic vibes.

Dino Valente – “Time” – Dino Valente – December 1968

Chester William Powers, Jr. was an American singer-songwriter, and under the stage names Dino Valenti or Dino Valente, one of the lead singers of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service.

After completing his sentence, Valenti/Powers signed with CBS‘s Epic Records, releasing an eponymous solo album under a variation of his pseudonym (Dino Valente) in 1968. Shortly thereafter, he served as the opening act for Jimi Hendrix at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, exposing his work to a broader audience.

If you like the earlier music of Tim Buckley, I imagine that you would appreciate Valente’s sole solo album.

Spirit – “I Got a Line on You – The Family That Plays Together – December 1968

Another track from Spirit, this time from their second album.

The title alludes to the slogan “The family that prays together stays together“, created by ad-writer Al Scalpone for the Family Rosary Crusade a Catholic movement popular in American and British parlance beginning in the 1940s

Blood Sweat & Tears – Smiling Phases – Blood Sweat & Tears – December 1968

Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released on December 11, 1968. It was the most commercially successful album for the group, rising to the top of the U.S. charts for a collective seven weeks and yielding three successive Top 5 singles. It received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970.

The track that I have chosen was written by Jim Capaldi, Stevie Winwood and Chris Wood of Traffic.

Moby Grape – Ooh Mama Ooh – Moby Grape ‘69 – January 1969

Moby Grape ’69 is the third album by the psychedelic rock band Moby Grape, released on January 30, 1969.

It is the first album after the departure of co-founder Skip Spence – see below.

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy as an early example of country rock.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – **** – Bayou Country – January 1969

Bayou Country is the second studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)

Despite their new-found success, however, seeds of discontent among the four members had already been planted due to John Fogerty assuming control of the band at just about every level. “There was a point at which we had done the first album. Everybody had listened to my advice. I don’t think anybody thought too much about it,” Fogerty recalled to Michael Goldberg of Rolling Stone in 1993. “But in making the second album, Bayou Country, we had a real confrontation. Everybody wanted to sing, write, make up their own arrangements, whatever, right? This was after ten years of struggling. Now we had the spotlight. Andy Warhol‘s fifteen minutes of fame. ‘Susie Q’ was as big as we’d ever seen. Of course, it really wasn’t that big…I didn’t want to go back to the carwash.”

Dr John – Black Widow Spider – Babylon – January 1969

Babylon is the second album by New Orleans R&B artist Dr. John. In his autobiography, Under A Hoodoo Moon, Dr. John describes the origins of the album in detail:

“Our second album was cut in late 1968—the year of the Tet offensive, and of the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. It was a heavy time for me: Not only was the Vietnam War raging in all its insanity, but, as a semi outlaw, I was being pursued by various kinds of heat across L.A. In its lyrics and music, this album reflects these chaotic days. At times hard-driving, at other times following a deliberately spacy, disorienting groove, Babylon was the band’s attempt to say something about the times—and to do it with a few unusual musical time signatures. The lead song, “Babylon”, sets the tone. To a 3/4 and 10/4 groove, it lays out my own sick-ass view of the world then—namely, that I felt our number was up. We were trying to get into something…with visions of the end of the world—as if Hieronymus Bosch had cut an album.”

The Temptations – Psychedelic Shack – Psychedelic Shack – February 1969

Psychedelic Shack is the twelfth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1970. Completely written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield, Psychedelic Shack almost completely abandoned the “Motown Sound” formula, instead delving fully into psychedelia.

“Psychedelic Shack”‘s LP mix begins with the sounds of a person entering a psychedelic shack and dropping the needle on a record, “I Can’t Get Next to You” which was the Temptations single that immediately preceded this one. The use of the recording of “I Can’t Get Next to You” from its 45 RPM single makes “Psychedelic Shack” one of the first songs to use sampling, a technique that would become a staple of hip hop music in the coming decade.

The Flying Burrito Brothers – Christine’s Tune – The Gilded Palace of Sin – February 1969

The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin.^[3] Although the group is known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman (both formerly of the Byrds), the group underwent many personnel changes and has existed in various incarnations.

The Gilded Palace of Sin is the debut studio album by American country rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers, released on February 6, 1969, by A&M Records.

It continued Gram Parsons‘ and Chris Hillman‘s work in modern country music, fusing traditional styles such as folk and country with other forms of popular music including gospel, soul, and psychedelic rock.

Quicksilver Messenger Service – Fresh Air – Happy Trails – March 1969

Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco.^[3] The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings,^[4] with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. They were part of the new wave of album-oriented bands, achieving renown and popularity despite a lack of success with their singles (only one, “Fresh Air” charted, reaching number 49 in 1970)

Happy Trails is the second album of the American band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Most of the album was recorded from two performances at the Fillmore East and Fillmore West,

The Nazz – Letters Don’t Count – Nazz Nazz – April 1969

The Nazz was an American rock band formed in Philadelphia in 1967. The group was founded by guitarist and main songwriter Todd Rundgren

The group is best known for their debut single “Open My Eyes”, and “Hello It’s Me“.

During 1968 and 1969, the Nazz released two albums (Nazz and Nazz Nazz). 

The group disbanded in 1969 just after this their second album was released.

Tim Buckley – Buzzin’ Fly – Happy Sad – April 1969

Happy Sad is the third album by American singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, released in April 1969.

“Buzzin‘ Fly” was written much earlier than the rest of the work and was originally performed with a group Buckley had during high school, the Harlequin 3, with bassist Jim Fielder and later lyricist, Larry Beckett.