These are the top 50 psychedelic rock albums of all time as determined by Dave’s Music Database. The list was created by consolidating 16 best-of lists into one aggregate. The albums on this list are almost exclusively from the latter half of the 1960s, when the movement started. Some of the biggest bands of the day (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds) dipped their toe into the psychedelic rock pool while other bands (Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead) were birthed as a result of the movement. Check out the DMDB blog entry (Psychedelic Rock Goes Mainstream: June 24, 1967) for a more in-depth explanation of psychedelic rock.
Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.
1. Love Forever Changes (1967)
2. Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
3. Cream Disraeli Gears (1967)
4. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)
5. Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
6. The Pretty Things S.F. Sorrow (1968)
7. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
8. The Doors The Doors (1967)
9. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
10. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold As Love (1967)
11. The United States of America The United States of America (1968)
12. The Zombies Odessey & Oracle (1968)
13. The Doors Strange Days (1967)
14. The Thirteenth Floor Elevators The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators (1966)
15. The Grateful Dead Anthem of the Sun (1968)
16. The Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
17. The Small Faces Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1968)
18. Country Joe & the Fish Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967)
19. The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
20. Jefferson Airplane After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967)
21. Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs (1970)
22. The Moody Blues In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)
23. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
24. Spirit Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)
25. Big Brother & the Holding Company Cheap Thrills (1968)
26. The Byrds Fifth Dimension (1966)
27. Donovan Sunshine Superman (1966)
28. The Grateful Dead Live/Dead (live, 1969)
29. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
30. Moby Grape Moby Grape (1967)
31. Traffic Mr. Fantasy/Heaven in Your Mind (1967)
32. Os Mutantes Os Mutantes (1968)
33. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Safe As Milk (1968)
34. Iron Butterfly In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)
35. Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
36. Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention Freak Out! (1966)
37. Funkadelic Maggot Brain (1971)
38. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
39. The Beach Boys Smiley Smile (1967) / Brian Wilson Smile (2004) / The Beach Boys The Smile Sessions (2011)
40. The Soft Machine The Soft Machine (1968)
41. Alexander “Skip” Spence Oar (1969)
42. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969)
43. The Who Sell Out (1967)
44. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention We’re Only in It for the Money (1968)
45. The Yardbirds Roger the Engineer (aka "Over Under Sideways Down" and "The Yardbirds") (1966)
46. The Thirteenth Floor Elevators Easter Everywhere (1967)
47. The Grateful Dead Aoxomoxoa (1969)
48. The Byrds Younger Than Yesterday (1967)
49. Can Tago Mago (1972)
50. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Part One (1966)
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First posted 7/29/2011; last updated 8/30/2024. | 
Hey I think you've got a typo. "The Parable of Arable Land" was released in 1967 not 1957.
ReplyDeleteHey I think you've got a typo. "The Parable of Arable Land" was released in 1967 not 1957.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the catch, Nathaniel. It has been corrected.
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