Showing posts with label Jimi Hendrix Experience. Show all posts

Friday, August 30, 2024

Psychedelic Rock Albums – Top 50

Psychedelic Rock:

The Top 50 Albums

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)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: other best-of-genre lists

First posted 7/29/2011; last updated 8/30/2024.

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Jimi Hendrix: Top 25 Songs

Jimi Hendrix

Top 25 Songs

Legendary psychedelic-blues/rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on 11/27/1942 in Seattle, Washington. He was only 27 when he died of a drug overdose in London on 9/18/1970 but his is one of rock music’s greatest legacies.

He first worked as a sideman with Rosa Lee Brooks (1964), Isley Brothers (1964), Buddy & Stacey and the Upsetters (1965); Little Richard, Curtis Knight, and Ronnie Youngblood. He formed Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in 1965. The next year he was discovered by the Animals’ Chas Chandler at New York City’s Café Wha? He went to London and formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience (1966-1969) with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. He also helmed the Band of Gypsys with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Buddy Cox from 1969 to 1970.

His albums Are You Experienced (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968) are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time. His cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (1968) is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999.

Awards:

Top 25 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards.

1. All Along the Watchtower (1968)
2. Purple Haze (1967)
3. Hey Joe (1966)
4. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (1968)
5. Little Wing (1967)

6. Crosstown Traffic (1968)
7. Foxey Lady (1967)
8. Fire (1967)
9. The Wind Cries Mary (1967)
10. Red House (1967)

11. The Star Spanged Banner (live, 1969)
12. Are You Experienced? (1967)
13. Freedom (1970)
14. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (1967)
15. Dolly Dagger (1970)

16. Stone Free (1966)
17. Manic Depression (1967)
18. Angel (1970)
19. Up from the Skies (1967)
20. Castles Made of Sand (1967)

21. Like a Rolling Stone (live, 1967)
22. If 6 Was 9 (1967)
23. Gloria (live, 1968)
24. I Don’t Live Today (1967)
25. Wild Thing (live, 1967)

Resources and Related Links:

DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jimi Hendrix
Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists”

First posted 5/21/2019; last updated 11/25/2023.

Friday, September 29, 2023

Psychedelic Rock: Top 100 Songs

Psychedelic Rock:

Top 100 Songs

Psychedelic rock emerged in the mid-‘60s as music inspired, influenced, or representative of the experience of taking hallucinogenic drugs, most notably LSD. The Summer of Love in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 were major cultural events which have been tied to the psychedelic rock movement. This list was created by aggregating 24 lists focused on psychedelic rock songs.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Jefferson Airplane “White Rabbit” (1967)
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Purple Haze” (1967)
3. The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967)
4. The Doors “Light My Fire” (1967)
5. Strawberry Alarm Clock “Incense and Peppermints” (1967)
6. The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967)
7. The Byrds “Eight Miles High” (1966)
8. The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966)
9. Pink Floyd “Interstellar Overdrive” (1967)
10. Procol Harum “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (1967)

11. Jefferson Airplane “Somebody to Love” (1967)
12. Iron Butterfly “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” (1968)
13. Grateful Dead “Dark Star” (1968)
14. The Amboy Dukes “Journey to the Center of the Mind” (1968)
15. The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night” (1966)
16. The Beatles “I Am the Walrus” (1967)
17. Cream “Sunshine of Your Love” (1967)
18. Scott McKenzie “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” (1967)
19. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Are You Experienced?” (1967)
20. Steppenwolf “Magic Carpet Ride” (1968)

21. The Small Faces “Itchycoo Park” (1967)
22. The Chambers Brothers “Time Has Come Today” (1967)
23. The Doors “The End” (1967)
24. The Beatles “A Day in the Life” (1967)
25. Status Quo “Pictures of Matchstick Men” (1967)
26. The Animals “Sky Pilot” (1968)
27. Pink Floyd “Astronomy Domine” (1967)
28. Cream “White Room” (1968)
29. The Beatles “All You Need Is Love” (1967)
30. The Velvet Underground & Nico “Venus in Furs” (1967)

31. The United States of America “The American Metaphysical Circus” (1968)
32. Pink Floyd “See Emily Play” (1967)
33. The Rolling Stones “2000 Light Years from Home” (1967)
34. Tommy James & the Shondells “Crimson and Clover” (1968)
35. The Who “I Can See for Miles” (1967)
36. The Count Five “Psychotic Reaction” (1966)
37. The Doors “Strange Days” (1967)
38. Tomorrow “My White Bicycle” (1967)
39. The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” (1966)
40. The Turtles “Happy Together” (1967)

41. Kenny Rogers & the First Edition “Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was In” (1967)
42. Big Brother & the Holding Company “Piece of My Heart” (1968)
43. Pink Floyd “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (1968)
44. Donovan “Hurdy Gurdy Man” (1968)
45. The Rolling Stones “She’s a Rainbow” (1967)
46. The Balloon Farm “A Question of Temperature” (1968)
47. The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965)
48. The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset” (1967)
49. The Yardbirds “The Shapes of Things” (1966)
50. The Animals “San Franciscan Nights” (1967)

51. Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth” (1966)
52. The Grass Roots “Let’s Live for Today” (1967)
53. The Bubble Puppy “Hot Smoke & Sassafras” (1969)
54. The Young Rascals “Groovin’” (1967)
55. The Beatles “Within You Without You” (1967)
56. Pink Floyd “Echoes” (1971)
57. The Box Tops “The Letter” (1967)
58. Vanilla Fudge “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (1967)
59. Donovan “Sunshine Superman” (1966)
60. Country Joe & the Fish “Grace” (1967)

61. Traffic “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (1967)
62. The Doors “People Are Strange” (1967)
63. Love “The Red Telephone” (1967)
64. Kaleidoscope “Beacon from Mars” (1968)
65. The 13th Floor Elevators “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (1966)
66. The Lemon Pipers “Green Tambourine” (1967)
67. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Third Stone from the Sun” (1967)
68. Traffic “Paper Sun” (1967)
69. Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
70. The Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday” (1967)

71. The Monkees “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (1967)
72. Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” (1979)
73. The Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin” (1967)
74. Pink Floyd “Arnold Layne” (1967)
75. H.P. Lovecraft “At the Mountains of Madness” (1968)
76. The Blues Magoos “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet” (1966)
77. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown “Fire” (1968)
78. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along the Watchtower” (1968)
79. Donovan “Mellow Yellow” (1966)
80. The Yardbirds “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” (1966)

81. Blue Cheer “Summertime Blues” (1968)
82. Cream “Strange Brew” (1967)
83. The Youngbloods “Get Together” (1967)
84. The 13th Floor Elevators “Roller Coaster” (1966)
85. Country Joe & the Fish “Bass Strings” (1967)
86. The United States of America “Cloud Song” (1968)
87. Donovan “Season of the Witch” (1966)
88. The Beatles “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (1965)
89. Black Sabbath “Planet Caravan” (1970)
90. Country Joe & the Fish “Section 43” (1967)

91. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band “Shifting Sands” (1967)
92. The Byrds “Mind Gardens” (1967)
93. The Rolling Stones “We Love You” (1967)
94. Steve Miller Band “In My First Mind” (1968)
95. Tim Buckley “Hallucinations” (1967)
96. The Doors “Break on Through” (1967)
97. Funkadelic “Maggot Brain” (1971)
98. It’s a Beautiful Day “White Bird” (1969)
99. The Doors “When the Music’s Over” (1967)
100. Cream “I Feel Free” (1966)

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists”
Dave’s Music Database: “Psychedelic Rock Albums: Top 50”

First posted 4/17/2020; last updated 9/29/2023.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Today in Music (1968): Jimi Hendrix released Electric Ladyland

Electric Ladyland

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Released: September 16, 1968

Peak: 1² US, 6 UK, 1³ CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.23 worldwide (includes US + UK), 27.37 EAS

Genre: classic guitar rock

Tracks:

Click on a song title for more details.

…And the Gods Made Love [1:19]
Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland [2:08]
Crosstown Traffic [2:25]
Voodoo Chile [14:50]
Little Miss Strange [2:47]
Long Hot Summer Night [3:21]
Come On, Pt. 1 [4:04]
Gypsy Eyes [3:38]
Burning of the Midnight Lamp [3:33]
Rainy Day, Dream Away [3:39]
1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) [13:25]
Moon, Turn the Tides…Gently, Gently Away [0:58]
Still Raining, Still Dreaming [4:19]
House Burning Down [4:26]
All Along the Watchtower [3:54]
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) [5:06]

Songs written by Jimi Hendrix unless noted otherwise.

Total Running Time: 73:56

The Players:

Jimi Hendrix (vocals, guitar)
Noel Redding (bass, backing vocals)
Mitch Mitchell (drums, percussion)

Rating:

4.635 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album

This is “Hendrix’s original musical vision at its absolute apex,” ^AM “his ultimate statement for many.” ^AM It has been called his “best work” ^NO and “the best double album ever released.” ^NO “For pure experimental genius, melodic flair, conceptual vision, and instrumental brilliance, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Electric Ladyland is a prime contender for the status of rock’s greatest album.” ^CC

This was “a rock record where there seemed to be no boundaries.” ^B The album “mixes blues, rock, psychedelia, soul, jazz, and proto-funk.” ^TB It “demonstrated Hendrix’s desire to expand his music beyond the restrictive verse-chorus limits of the single” ^TB It also features “inspired jamming throughout, and aural landscapes that seemingly come from another world” ^NO – “a magical place where guitars cry and mysticism reigns supreme.” ^RV He “could never again capture the effortless magic of Electric Ladyland.” ^CC

The End of the Experience:

This was the third and final album for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the trio consisting of its namesake as well as bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. Relationships were rocky at best; Redding was absent for most of the recording, appearing on only five of the album’s songs. ^CC Sometimes Hendrix covered Redding’s parts himself; sometimes he augmented the three-man studio line-up to incorporate keyboards, brass or woodwinds.” ^CC

Hendrix’s relationship with Chas Chandler soured as well. Hendrix’s “restless ambition led to protracted sessions and many re-recordings” ^TB which Chandler perceived as “self-indulgence and lack of focus.” ^TB He resigned as producer early in the sessions and as manager the next year. ^CC

Recording the Album

“To create this psychedelic landmark…Hendrix camped out at New York’s Record Plant for months, filtering the blues through effects-drenched arrangements and turning studio science into science fiction.” ^BL “What Hendrix sonically achieved on this record expanded the concept of what could be gotten out of a modern recording studio in much the same manner as Phil Spector had done a decade before with his Wall of Sound.” ^AM

“Kudos to engineer Eddie Kramer…for taking Hendrix’s visions of a soundscape behind his music and giving it all context, experimenting with odd mic techniques, echo, backward tape, flanging, and chorusing, all new techniques at the time, at least the way they’re used here.” ^AM

The Songs

Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

…And the Gods Made Love

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix

Released: Electric Ladyland (1968)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.34 streaming

About the Song:

Long Hot Summer Night

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix

Released: Electric Ladyland (1968)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 8.91 streaming

About the Song:

Like so many of Hendrix’s songs from this period, there was an atmosphere of impending doom in the air, inspired by the outburst of black-on-black violence that had shaken some of America’s ghettos earlier in 1968.” ^CC Jimi advised to find salvation “via a friendly visitor from another galaxy.” ^CC

All Along the Watchtower

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Writer(s): Bob Dylan

Released: 9/2/68 (single), Electric Ladyland (1968)

Peak: 20 BB, 18 CB, 8 GR, 18 HR, 1 CL, 5 UK, 1 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 871.07 streaming

About the Song:

Hendrix’s “most recognizable work is his cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, a song so indicative of the Hendrix sound, most people don’t realize it’s a cover.” ^RV Hendrix’s arrangement became so definitive that Dylan himself “has been using it ever since.” ^CC

“In its original acoustic form, Dylan threw the emphasis of the song on its apocalyptic imagery. Hendrix used the sound of the studio to evoke the storms and the sense of dread, creating an echoed aural landscape.” ^CC Dave Mason shows up here again, this time on bass and acoustic guitar. ^CC

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix

Released: 10/23/70 (single), Electric Ladyland (1968)

Peak: 1 CL, 1 UK, 6 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 240.74 streaming

About the Song:

“Nothing compares to” ^RV Voodoo Child (Slight Return), “a landmark in Hendrix’s playing.” ^AM In the book 25 Albums That Rocked the World! Peter Doggett calls it “the single most impressive piece of guitar-playing this writer has ever heard.” ^CC

It is “an eight-minute jam that pays tribute to jazz legends Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Steve Winwood’s manic keyboard playing and Mitch Mitchell’s whirlwind drumming help push Hendrix’s scalding guitar work.” ^RV It “compresses every ounce of Hendrix’s ambition, musical technique, production skill, and uncanny sense of impending disaster” ^CC into “an extravaganza of noise and naked emotion.” ^CC “It’s nothing short of an awe-inspiring performance from rock’s greatest guitarist.” ^RV

Resources/References:

^AM AllMusic.com review by Cub Koda
^BL Blender (10/08). “100 Greatest American Albums”
^CC Chris Charlesworth, editor (2008). 25 Albums That Rocked the World!. Omnibus Press: London, England. Pages 42-50.
^NO TheNightOwl.com
^RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher
^TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Pages 108-9.

Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 9/16/2012; last updated 7/24/2026.