Donovan
Sunshine Superman
Heavy mellow from the original wizard of English hippie whimsy.
The Doobie Brothers
The Captain and Me
The name of the band says it all.
The Doors
The Doors
Strange Days
Waiting for the Sun
All the Doors' records could stand as artifacts of the rock-and-drugs epoch, but their first three, with "Light My Fire," "People Are Strange," and "Not to Touch the Earth," are quintessential psychedelia as well as the living legacy of the late great Mr. Mojo Risin'.
Bob Dylan
Bring It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
The former Robert Zimmerman wired on speed, chilling on weed, and making history. Everybody must get stoned.
The Eagles
The Eagles
Hotel California
Blue-jeaned longhairs hit the big time, trading mushrooms and a lid of homegrown for premium flake - the rise and fall of the West Coast counterculture is told herein.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Brain Salad Surgery
Impenetrable progressive rock for university dorms well past curfew. The cover by H.R. Giger complements the classical-surreal dimensions.
Fleetwood Mac
Rumours
The Big One. A landmark, multiplatinum document of relationships, self-awareness, and coke-boosted sophistication. Smooth as a mirror and gleaming like a silver spoon.
Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Deadly stoner R&B, like Jimi Hendrix in slow motion. What is soul? Soul is a joint rolled in toilet paper. Mommy, what's a Funkadelic? Eddie Hazel's guitar.
The Grateful Dead
Workingman's Dead
American Beauty
Live Dead
The ex-Warlocks were synonymous with drugged-out rock music and musicians throughout their history, and their long strange trip is perhaps best depicted by these discs, although many will contend the band's real impact was made not in the studio but on stage. Marin County bluegrass that's vibrant like a new batch of Owsley, and sweeter than Cherry Garcia. Live Dead was mixed with the players taking hits of nitrous oxide at the studio console.
Reviews by George Case
From his book Out of Our Heads
published by Backbeat Books, 2010