The HFoS Psychedelic Rock Christmas Selection Pack
If you read the Prog Rock Xmas Selection Pack, then you already know the drill. If not, then to recap, it’s just five psych albums that you could do worse than spend your beer tokens on this Christmas.
It’s not a top 5, or the best of the best, so if you’re looking for a war of words, kindly try elsewhere. It’s just a few Head Full of Snow psychedelic rock faves to keep the cockles warm as the real snow falls.
Kaleidoscope – Tangerine Dream
The 1967 debut album from the UK (and vastly superior) Kaleidoscope, who would later go on to become Fairfield Parlour. With songs such as ‘The Murder of Lewis Tollani’, the sinister ‘(Further Reflections) In the Room of Percussion‘, the toytown psych of ‘Mr. Small, The Watch Repairer Man’, and the Narnia-like joy of ‘Sky Children’, Tangerine Dream is psychedelic gold. A folky feel prevails throughout, and this largely neglected example of late 60′s psychedelia is an eerie masterpiece.
Tangerine Dream is available from Amazon.co.uk
Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Debate rages as to how much of Syd Barrett’s songwriting was actually influenced by his infamous acid intake. Whatever the leverage exerted by dubious substances, there’s no denying he brought a magical wonder to the songs that make up Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios at the same time as Sgt. Pepper, this easily outstrips The Beatles’ more homely and overrated opus for psychedelic wonder.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is available from Amazon.co.uk
The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle
Psychedelic rock meets the baroque on The Zombies’ 1968 offering. Hammond organ, harpsichord and mellotron combine to create a harmonic whole, which goes so far as to feature a Victorian pump organ on the distressing anti-war dirge of ‘Butcher’s Tale’. Almost a year in the making, and The Zombies had split by the time of its release; Odessey and Oracle eschews psychedelic feedback in favour of the more melodic approach.
Odessey and Oracle is available from Amazon.co.uk
Dantalian’s Chariot – Chariot Rising
Chariot Rising is the album that was never released. In 1967, Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band turned all psychedelic, and after changing their name to Dantalian’s Chariot they became fixtures of the London underground scene. ‘Madman Running Through the Fields’, their exceptional and only single was released in 1967, but material recorded for a proposed album was largely discarded by a fickle record label. Chariot Rising collected all this material together and a complete Chariot Rising finally saw the light of day in 1996. Lysergic acid diethylamide seeps through the kaleidoscopic cover and laces the album with gems such as the aforementioned ‘Madman…’, ‘Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud’, and what sounds like the soundtrack to a psychedelic spaghetti western, ‘This Island’.
Chariot Rising is available from Amazon.co.uk
The Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake
A mixture of heavy rock, jauntiness and psychedelic space-age nonsense make up The Small Faces’ classic 1968 album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. Side A’s a belter, Side B’s a belter; the only mark against it is the inclusion of “Professor” Stanley Unwin and his brand of bollockry, narrating the second side’s story of Happiness Stan and his search for the missing half of the moon. Apart from that, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake = “deep joy”.
Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake is available from Amazon.co.uk
As it’s nearly Christmas, we offer a bonus treat for you to get your teeth into:
The Nice – The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
Another debut, this time from The Nice, and 1967′s The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack fuses together both psychedelic and progressive rock to form what is not only an agreeable whole, but also one of the finest albums of the psychedelic era. Whoever cannot be moved by the atmospheric outings of the title track, ‘Flower King of Flies’, and ‘The Cry of Eugene’, or the dynamism of ‘Rondo’, is evidently dead from the neck up and in need of more than a selection pack this Christmas. The fact that it’s also the album that introduced us to the keyboard noodling wizardry of Keith Emerson, ably demonstrated on the CD reissue bonus track ‘America/Second Amendment‘, only adds to The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack’s greatness.
The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack is available from Amazon.co.uk
And there it is. Head Full of Snow’s Psychedelic Rock Christmas Selection Pack – a handy companion piece to the Prog Rock Selection Pack.
All that remains is for us to wish you a merry Christmas, with enough booze to floor a stampeding herd of elephants. As Head Full of Snow approaches it’s first birthday, maybe our paths will cross again in the new year.
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