A great little soundtrack from Herman's Hermits! The album's notable not only for the great pop vocal numbers – like "Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter", "Ooo She's Done It Again", and "There's A Kind Of Hush" – but even more so for 2 great instrumentals: "Daisy Chain I" and "Daisy Chain II". Track 1 features guitar and tabla, rolling together in a wild psychedelic instrumental groove – and track 2 is kind of a variation, also with a groovy mod instrumental groove! (Soundtracks, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Trippy late 60s pop from Peter Sarstedt – almost folk-rock, but with a fuller, more mind-bending style that kind of recalls Donovan, or the host of other less-remembered artists who picked up from Dylan and took things in a headier direction! The production is really wonderful – with some light arrangements from Ian Green – and titles include "I Am A Cathedral", "Stay Within Myself", "Blagged", "My Daddy Is A Millionaire", "Time Love Hope Life", and "Many Coloured Semi Precious Plastic Easter Eggs". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to deny the lasting power of this crucial album from The Beatles – a set that unleashed some of their trippiest sounds and most tender moments too! The mix of wit and honesty is wonderful – and the sonic range is dynamic as the archetypal cover image – a package that's had an undeniable impact on modern music for the past few decades! Titles include "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "She's Leaving Home", "Lovely Rita", "When I'm Sixty Four", "A Day In The Life", and "Fixing A Hole". LP, Vinyl record album

A crossover classic from the lovely Deborah Harry – a tune that broke Blondie big on the airwaves, yet which also had a great life of its own in the clubs – no doubt due to its driving Giorgio Moroder-influenced disco beat! Yet the track's also got a lot more to live up to, too – an important meeting of punk and disco – reconciled for just a minute, at a level that makes the track a cornerstone for both generations! 7-inch, Vinyl record

An album as lovely as its title, and John Fahey's 8th record – mostly solo guitar, but with guest drums and bass on 2 cuts – "March For Martin Luther King" and "Dance of The Inhabitants Of The Invisible City Of Bladensburg". The sound is extremely magical – introspective, yet far-seeing – with that fragile sense of being in the world that's made Fahey's work endure far longer than that of most of his contemporaries. Other titles include "Irish Setter", "Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion At Magruder Park", and "Lion". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Solo work from this lovely lady from ABBA – with production by Phil Collins – who also plays drums! LP, Vinyl record album

One hit wonders – but oh what a hit! Friend & Lover's "Reach Out Of The Darkness" is a really unique little tune that brings together folksy vocals and funky rhythms – a solid jammer that brushed off the cobwebs of the aging folk scene of the 60s, and sprung into the charts with a trippy groove that still sounds great today! The rest of the record has a really similar feel – much heavier bass and drums than the usual folk outing, creating a sound that's nicely funky on some of the best numbers, and always groovy on all the others. Vocals are by "Friend" Jim Post and "Lover" Cathy Conn – harmonizing together nicely – and titles include "Reach Out Of The Darkness", "Saturday's Hero", "Zig Zag", "Boston Is A Lovely Town", "I'm A Woman I'm A Man", "Ode To A Dandelion", and "If Love Is In Your Heart". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful early 70s psych folk set from the angelic vocal and songwriting duo of Pat Gefell and Jo D Andrews – their Refuge album for Ovation in 1973 – highlighted by their gorgeous vocals, but committed with lovely, lightly soaring arrangements! Save for a solid cover of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin penned "Sixty Years On", Gefell and Andrews wrote the songs here, and it's remarkably strong stuff! The duo vocals and harmonies are especially sweet. The Chicago-based production wisely leaves ample space in the arrangements for them to sort of loosely, emotively embellish with their voices – with string arrangements by co-producer George Andrews and an impressive roster of session players including bassist Phil Upchurch, drummer Don Simmons and percussionist Bobby Christian. Includes "Jenny", "Voice In The Wind", "To A Flame", "Tomorrow Is A Long Time", "Refuge", "Song For Craig", "A Light Is Shining", "Feel The Spirit" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Incredible String Band – and incredible it is, a UK psychedelic folk gem that finds the group challenging conventions across the board – both artful and inviting, it's wonderful stuff! At this point, Clive Palmer had left, and Mike Heron and Robin Williamson contribute lead vocals with the additional vocalist Licorice also taking lead on a few tunes, the sound is fleshed out with more accompaniment and a rich warmth on a bevy of instruments – guitar, sitar, bowed gimbri, finger cymbals, tamboura, oud, rattles, flute, bass and piano. Includes the lovely and oft-covered "The First Girl I Loved", plus "Chinese White", "No Sleep Blues", "Painting Box", "The Eyes Of Fate", "The Hedgehog's Song", "You Know What I Could Be", "Gently Tender", "Way Back In The 1960s" and more. (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Another extremely strong batch of 70s AOR grooving from Kalapana – a tight ensemble who were kind of Hawaii's answer to the slicker sounds of the LA scene during the mid 70s. Kalapana appeal to our ears in the same way as America, later Doobie Brothers, and other smooth and mellow mainstream favorites – and this third album's as great a representation of their work as you'll ever hear. Lots of tight jazzy jamming, plus well-produced vocals with a nice flanged-out quality. Titles include "Songbird", "Seasons", "Alisa Lovely", "Girl", "Inarajan", "Dilemma", "Another Time", and "Up To You". (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A really nice album from Dave Mason & Mama Cass – one that has Dave's vocals mostly in the lead, but which also brings him much closer in style to Mama's sweet and dreamy pop mode – a lovely little psychedelic folk pop record with soulful touches! The backing is mostly by a small combo, and the feel is alternately laidback and soaring – freed from the hits sound of early 70s LA, when some of the more creative work was coming out of the bigger stars. Titles include "Pleasing You", "On & On", "To Be Free", "Here We Go Again", "Walk To The Point", "Glittering Facade", and "Too Much Truth Too Much Love". LP, Vinyl record album

The incredible solo debut of Paul McCartney – and a record that already leaps ahead from The Beatles in so many amazing ways! There's an up-close, intimate vibe to some of these songs that's really amazing – a sense of happiness that Paul never seemed to have in the Beatles' later years – mixed with some other witty twists and turns that expose a side of his songwriting that would only blossom even more in years to come! McCartney handles all instruments and vocals – but Linda also joins in on harmonies – and it's that sense of harmony between the two of them that really guides the record's spirit. Titles include "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Man We Was Lonely", "The Lovely Linda", "Momma Miss America", "Every Night", "Valentines Day", "Hot As Sun/Glasses", "Junk", and "Singalong Junk". LP, Vinyl record album

A lovely vocal chorus album, with kind of a mix of Sunshine Pop and easy modes – all set to arrangements by Al Ham! Titles include "Quentin's Theme", "Jean", "Sweet Caroline", "Yesterday When I Was Young", "My Cherie Amour", "Everybody's Talkin", and "This Girl Is A Woman Now". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The second sublime album from Neon Philharmonic – and one that seems to go even deeper than the first in its blend of ambitious musical themes and mature lyrical ideas! The presentation here is even more symphonic than on the first record – but at a level that's never soppy or sleepy – as there's a gentle groove on most tracks, loping around in these really lovely modes that make the tunes sparkle and glisten with the best sort of late 60s Warner Brothers wit! There's this wonderful mix of longing, nostalgia, and a kind of new vision for post-60s adulthood to the record – very hard to describe, but completely wonderful – at once completely heartfelt, but also with a great sense of distance on itself. Titles include "Long John The Pirate", "Do You Remember Dresden", "You Lied", "Forever Hold Your Peace", "Harry", and the wonderful "F Scott Fitzgerald & William Shakespeare". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the wilder sets from Nillsson – careening from lovely piano pop with romantic vocals, to spaced out, good humored potty mouth excess – near honky tonk, to fuzzy pop rock – if you like Nilsson at his most unhinged, this is a great one! It's a stunner, actually – with somehow good-natured rageful tunes to sweeter odes to the ladies, it's Nilsson through and through. Titles include "Take 54", "Turn On Your Radio", "Spaceman", "The Lottery Song", "Ambush", "I'd Rather Be Dead", "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The first album from Shawn Phillips – featuring Phillips recording in London with members of Traffic backing him up – in a style that's a great extrapolation of folksy and bluesy roots with some of the hipper styles going down in England at the end of the 60s. Phillips does a great job of expanding his bag way past simple acoustic folk for the record – and manages to do so with a simple, personal quality that's quite different than most of his contemporaries – a sound that should have made him as big as labelmate Cat Stevens, but which has also held up a fair bit better over the years, thanks to Shawn's somewhat obscure status. Titles include "Not Quite Nonsense", "Screamer For Phlyses", "For JFK RFK & MLK", "Lovely Lady", "Withered Roses", "L Ballade", and "No Question". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest moments ever from Psychic TV – and a really stunning surprise after the breakup of Throbbing Gristle! Genesis P Orridge and Peter Cristopherson go in a completely different direction here – a mode that still holds onto some of the noise lessons learned in TG, but which also shows this incredible love of both more complicated pop modes from the 60s, and some of the farther reaches of minimalism as well! The album sports these tremendous ballads with eerie vocals by Genesis – including "The Orchids" and "White Nights" – which are both eerie recastings of an older mode of UK pop love songs – and there's other tracks that maybe echo a bit of Meredith Monk, or some of the underground experimentalists on the Lovely Records scene – including bits that have weird phone rings, dog barks, and other great touches. A spare and subtle use of noise and darker sounds wends its way throughout – but never with the heavier handed touches of later years – and titles include "Hymn 23", "The Orchids", "Botanica", "Iron", "Glove", "Always Is Always", "White Nights", "Finale", "Eleusis", "Medmenham", "Ancient Lights", "Proof On", "Eden 1 Eden 2 Eden 3", "Clouds Without Water", "Black Moon", "Silver And Gold", "In The Nursery", and "Circle". LP, Vinyl record album

There's a slight shift here from the first album by Steeleye Span – a bit of a shift to just a touch of electric guitar and organ next to the bass guitar lines of Ashley Hutchings – which makes for an even more sinister sound than before! In keeping with their approach, most songs are from older British sources – but they really get transformed by the presentation, which creates an acid folk vibe that really sets the stage for the Wicker Man scene – including some of the strange folk experiments of Current 93 many years later! Most of the rest of the instrumentation is acoustic, used in a way that creates this time-tripping approach that's really amazing – on titles that include "Boys Of Bedlam", "Cold Haily Windy Night", "The Blacksmith", "Female Drummer", "The King", "Lovely On The Water", and "The Lark In The Morning". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album