essential psych? knowledge wanted!!!

Dear soulstrut,

I really didn't know that "Psych" was confused with tropicalia and progrock until this thread. Now, I know why most prices suck. Thanks.

- spidey
 
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awesome psych(rock) record on deram
 
Please enlighten us...please teach us how kraut rock and tropicalia isnt to be "confused" with psych...I am wanting to know what psych is...
 
that post had me scratching my head too...

but in a world where pookah is "essential" anything is possible
 
If I had to recommend five titles to a novice of what I consider psych. I would say, and I ain't no Rockadelic but....

Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Kaleidoscope - Tangerine Dream
Tomorrow - Tomorrow
CA Quintet - Trip Thru Hell
Ford Theatre - Trilogy For The Masses (more so cos I just got this recently)

Trippy lyrics, phasing, self indulgence. These are how I categorise psych...or is that acid psych??? No Prunes, 13th Floor Elevators
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Sod it, ebay sellers don't have this worry, I'll stick with them choices!
 
Smoke S/T is one of my faves...Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd from the West Coast Experimental Pop Art Band. really great west coast psych...not sure why it hasn't been reissued on cd.

the Zombies "odyssey and oracle" is a must have.
 
some recent ones,

affinity-s/t
the loading zone
procol harum s/t
a group called smith
the first two lydia pense w/ cold blood lps.
 
this thread is confusing
Then you are clearly out of touch with psych records that contain jiggy hip-hop nuggetz.
I know you're joking, but I'm actually not out of touch
with jiggy hip hop nugget psych, or calling it such, as
long as it's psych. I'm just not understanding how any record
released from 1965-infinity that features long hair on the cover
or a chick in gogo boots is now considered psych.

On eBay is one thing - keywords are a reality of drawing business,
and "psych" is a word that can move a lot of units. But on here,
I get confused and a little bummed out by people naming country rock
and soul/beat albums as "psych" even though they have nothing psychedelic
about them beyond a trippy cover font or maybe one 23 second fuzz break on
one track.

I fully agree that "psych" is a bit of a grey term that can be applied to
various sounds, but I think it breaks down simply into two elements, one
or both of which need be present for the label to apply. First is lyrical,
as in lyrics speaking on psychedelic subjects, be it describing a dream or
the effects of LSD or at least a surreal approach to the subject at hand.
The second element is aural, and mainly involves effects and studio trickery,
sounds designed to be "psychedelic" in nature, phasing, delay, fuzz/distortion,
backwards vocals or instruments - also, use of "exotic" or non-conventional
(to rock) instruments such as sitar, tabla, harpsichord, farfisa, theremin, etc, etc
contributes to this sound.

Therefore, I can accept a folk album played in a fairly conventional
manner but with lyrics exploring the land of mushrooms the singer tripped
through in a waking dream as psych, or a pop album that sings about Jeanie
leaving him at the drive-in last night but with a backwards guitar solo
and reverberated vocals as psych, but calling some straight-ahead folk rock
album psych just because it was released in 1967 does nothing but confuse me.

Now, if someone would just create a "You Mad, Hippie?" graemlin,
my cipher would be complete.
 
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First is lyrical,
as in lyrics speaking on psychedelic subjects, be it describing a dream or
the effects of LSD or at least a surreal approach to the subject at hand.
.

Aligator Lizzards in The Air??????????!! ESSENTIAL PSYCH!!!!!!!

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Silver Apples s/t
i really really think that silver apples sucks. what a horrible band. bad bad bad! overrated!
hey now, they are great!
no! bad music. i can't listen to that record. some psych was caused by bad musicianship.

what do you think is great about silver apples, besides the concept?
The drumming.
 
If ebay would allow more characters in their titles, would we still have a "psych" genere?