The Best 60s San Francisco Psychedelic Scene Albums Ranked

Thank you so much for this review! I was there! I used to hang out at the grateful dead‘s house before they even made their first record. A bunch of us little teenage girls would hang out until Rock Scully kicked us out. Nothing ever happened, we were just kids. Quicksilver was my absolute favorite ! I went to Avalon or Fillmore every weekend. The charlatans played at Avalon all the time. I loved them!

Just watching him show those vinyl album covers brought back so many memories of those days when, by the end of the night, there would be piles of albums on the floor as we sat around toasted and happy.

Big Brother, Cheap Thrills ..... James Gurly had the ultimate psychedelic guitar sound of this era. I always wanted a full album of his playing. Agree with your assessment of the Band and the album.

Pleased To Say as a Brit i was well into American West Coast Music...And as a Spotty 14 Year old Working in A Record Shop at Weekends, It Enabled Me To Obtain All Of these 25 Masterpieces...Great Video

You have captured my love of San Francisco and the music of the late 60’s. From It’s A Beautiful Day to Surrealist Pillow and everything in between. So much love! Thank you for sharing!

I was around since 1963. Being 69 now. Grew up with such bands.

Surrealistic Pillow is fabulous, After Bathing at Baxter's is my all time favorite Airplane album. The first official date my wife and I had was seeing Country Joe and the Fish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We have most of those albums and some in your list we do not have...our loss. Thank you for posting, Bill and Linda 51+ years married and still groovin'!

August 1966, "The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators".

I agree with you 100% on the early vs late Steve Miller band Those first 5 albums are incredible.

Brings back a lot of nostalgia. Thanks. The LA psychedelic scene had great bands too. The Byrd’s, The Doors and Love with their unforgettable album “Forever Changes”.

Love all the Psych albums, my favorite era of the 60's. Jefferson Airplane my favorite. Glad your in Seattle!, I loved going to the 40th Anniversary of Summer of Love on 9/2/2007 was an incredible day at Golden gate Park and 40th of woodstock Oct/2009 also at Golden Gate Park. I flew down from Seattle for both events had a blast got so high at both events and hung out around Haight Ashbury too. I Lived just a few miles from Jimi's house here. Totally dig all your vids!! WESTCOAST baby!

Ha ha ha on me....I'm 71 and have been deep into the music of the '60s and beyond for decades. And because I was, for whatever reason, never a big Quicksilver fan, I'd never heard "The Fool". Well, better late than never. This is now on my permanent replay list. Thanks to Norman Maslov for leading me there!

Quicksilver Messenger Service was one of the very best. Pride of Man is one of the greatest songs of the last 60 years. Still sounds great on vinyl

I was floored by the debut Quicksilver and all these years later it remains in my top five of all time personal faves. Cipollina's guitar style was instantly recognizable, original, and so super-expressive. I bought the Country Joe "electric music" back in the day and, I'll be honest, it never really grabbed me, but that's okay. I enjoyed your walk through the 25 you chose. Thanks for the tidbits and trivia, too.

Really great job, Mazzy! The only issue I feel strongly about is It’s A Beautiful Day at #25. The musicianship, vocal work, featured violin work, and over all strength of this very unique album should place it in the top 10, if not top 5. As others have commented, I would take Anthem of the Sun over Aoxomoxoa, if you had to choose. Perhaps a little less Creedence to make room for Crown of Creation. If you included The Youngbloods, you could certainly have included HP Lovecraft, a band who actually relocated to the Bay Area. In my fragile eggshell mind, I consider their 2nd album, HP Lovecraft II, to be the best psychedelic album of all time, for a lot of reasons. That’s for another discussion. 😊 Thanks for presenting this!

Love that first Moby Grape record. Flawless. Great videos Mazzy.

Glad to have all the Airplane albums. I have seen the band live in 68 in Amsterdam. Together with the Doors. Greetings from the Netherlands. Love this video.

Oh, and I especially dig the nautical sound effect of rope on wood from the Airplane version of "Wooden Ships".

Steve Miller: Children of the Future was a whim purchase for me just because I liked the cover. Had no idea what audio treasures it contained. Far and away the best thing Steve Miller did.

I love the sound, tone, natural distortion, the early fuzz pedals of electric guitars the psychedelic era. Before rock guitar became so precious and self-conscious.

Country Joe and the fish, were the true psychedelic band. They understood.

Right on, you hit the target in a difficult culling process. This list could change on a hourly basis, too much great stuff to choose from. Your perspective is stellar according to this 70 year old hippie who was there to witness this first hand. This is the soundtrack to our youth.

Hey, Lets talk about the GD's "Anthem of the Sun"!!

You absolutely nailed the number 1 to the cross , it still sounds fresh vital and disturbing in a good way !

Totally agree with you on QSMS first two albums , fantastic ! Went down with Dino after that. Great show mazzy

Surrealistic Pillow absolutely number one. Such range of styles and nailed every one. And glad to the The Sons got remembered. I loved their first two albums..

I would have ranked “After Bathing At Baxter’s” near the top. It’s their most experimental LP and captures 1967 San Francisco in technicolor.

Electric Music is, perhaps, the most psychedelic record, ever. It’s very clear the Joe and band understood the psychedelic experience. I’ve always equated Barry Melton’s guitar work with the San Francisco sound.

Agree with you but would put Moby Grape higher. I remember having surgery as a kid and when I woke my older brother sat by my bedside holding up the Moby Grape LP and John Wesley Harding by Dylan. As you can imagine I recovered quickly.

I love the Grateful Dead's debut album. Some people see it as boring, but honestly I think they just don't 'get' it yet.

Norman, I just came across your review and have to give you a standing O. I have a lot of these records and at your mention, I went back to revist " It's A Beautiful Day." I must admit when it 1st came out, I pretty much always played side 1 for " White Bird." I just flipped the album over and revisited side 2. OMG , side 2 is a masterpiece. Only 3 songs, but they seamlessly flow from one to the other. The songs build in intensity and the last song ", Time Is," brings it home. The ending has similarities to the Chamber's Brothers classic, THCT. I belive they both were released in the same time period. Thank you for reminding me and keep up your outstanding work.

Here’s an observation of mine, something I repeatedly notice but rarely mention. The sentiment in a line like “when the truth is found to be lies” typifies many of the lyrics of the 1967-era pop and psychedelic music. The themes of disillusionment and betrayal are HUGE, whether in politics or romance, in that era. By my observation, more so than in other period in American popular music.

Wow. Stumbled upon your video by accident. As a teenager back then, I was lucky enough to have and cherish almost every album you mention. Yes, Embryonic Journey from Surrealistic Pillow is a masterpiece. Cippolina's guitar playing from Quicksilver is majestic, etc. What a powerful time and place for music. I would have to add the Dead's Anthem of the Sun as it struck a deep transcendent chord watching them play it live up here in the northwest in 1969. Thank you for the presentation and archiving these sublime records.

Gary Duncan was so underrated. Cip's famous vibrato playing became the trademark, but Duncan's solos sadly doesn't get many mentions. Beautiful playing, like crystal blue water. His oriental flavored solos on the live versions of Mona for example, just fantastic. Very sad when he passed away.

I´m 63 and wasn´t lucky enough to live in San Francisco in the 60´s. I came to know these records only in the 90s but from then on they became my favorite sounds. Couldn´t agree more on Norman´s selection. Congratulations for sharing this kind of information and also for a so fantastic original records collection.

What a walk down memory lane! Had most of these albums...and a lot of the concert posters and handbills. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent selection Mazzy - thank you for reminding me what a brilliant tune Loan Me a Dime is from the Box Scaggs solo album - sublime guitar work from Duane Allman - wonderful

I was waiting for you to let me down, honestly. These albums are my wheelhouse. Regardless of rankings they are all my seminal influences and worthy of honor! Surrealistic? I totally agree.

I discovered you Thursday and have been doing little else but binging! My god! Some stuff I haven't even thought of in many decades that I loved and now have to have again.

wow dude....how many re takes did you have to do?....LOT of info there...i lived in san fran from june 70 to dec 70....discovered a lot of what you listed here...i was very blown away by country joe and the fish along with it's a beautiful day....saw day along with van morrison and ten years after at winterland....one of the most beatific nights of my entire life.....day was so wild and relaxing at the same time...... while van was so melodic and hypnotic..... alvin lee caused my brain to re arrange.....you did a great job here...

"Happy Trails" is my favorite QMS album for sure. I would pick "Crown of Creation" over "After Bathing At Baxter's". "Your Saving Grace" is my pick for best Steve Miller Band albums.

You have no idea how much I loved this video. Subscribed. I'm old now, but those records, all of them, were my youth. I would have had LIve Dead as my number one, but all of those you have are classic. I still love this music. Amazing how such creativity was crammed into a short time and space. Bless it's Pointed Little Head should have made it on your list somewhere. I play guitar in old geezer band and play a lot of old Airplane, Dead and Quicksilver. Such great songs. Way more than just jam bands.

Thanks. Great collection of albums.

Saw most of these bands at Winterland. My first concert (1969) was Janis Joplin, Savoy Brown, and Aum. Possibly my favorite concert was Sons of Chaplin when they came out in pajamas. Thank you to Bill Graham for producing these concerts.

This is a wonderful list, well-considered and convincingly presented. I enjoyed the video enormously and hope it makes its way to the screens of anyone who is looking an authoritative and entertaining overview of a unique time and place.

Hi Norman, totally agree with you on the first five of Steve Miller. And I liked Journey to Eden.

This was SUCH an enjoyable treat to watch: thank you!❤

wonderful compilation thank you! keep up the amazing work

Nice video, I have 16 out of 25 from your list. Cheers from Serbia!!!

Wow I had almost all of the albums you showed. You sure took me back in the “wayback machine”. I was very pleased you had Children of the Future, Quicksilver first album and Steve Miller “Sailor”. All three of them have very special meaning for me because I had just been placed in a foster home out in the “Sunset”. In late 1968. I’m from San Jose, and being placed in the City was a major awakening for me. Was e posed to so much.... My parents thought they were punishing me by booting my butt out of the house and having the courts put me in the foster home. Ha ha, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Especially because I got exposed to so much music. My foster mom let me listen to her stereo with headphones for hours on end. This video brings back so many memories of living in the City. Thank you!

Impossible job super well implemented, Norm! Thanks much! Kudos! Much to dig into (or back into) even for those of us who were there at the time.

Wonderful site, wonderful program...thanks!

I am also a SF native, and as a young kid was deep into the whole hippie scene. our world revolved around the music, the bands were our gods. my mindset was forever changed by those years, and I still follow that mantra in my head to this day. I think of all the freedom that has been lost and all the fear that has replaced it in these current times, but for that brief period of time the light was bright.

IMHO: it'd be good to play a short snipet that best represents each record, so that people who don't know every album can get an idea of what it sounds like

This was a wonderful watch. Thank you.

Great selection. Thanks for the recommendations.

Great video! The Frisco 60's scene is simply amazing!!

If Skip Spence’s ‘ Oar ‘ qualifies then I would put that near the top of the list.

Thank you for sharing your passion.

An excellent dive sir. And an excellent display of some of your music behind you. Greatly admire that. Going to have to save the video and go over it taking notes for all this music I'll be listening to. Just slightly ahead of my awareness at the time but some of it there anyways. Thanks for the project.

Blue Cheer’s drummer was insane!! Loud and driving. I saw them once when the drummer did his solo that went on for so long he turned around and vomited - and then went right back to drumming! It was at Avalon. I’ll never forget that.

You named everyone of my favorite records of the Era. Thank you!

Fantastic list - thanks so much! Some old favorites and unexpected introductions.

Thank you - great review. Great music.

I also own all these on vinyl. It's hard to choose the best because there's so much good stuff that came out of the Bay Area. That first Santana still melts my brain, too.

Damn dude you saw alot of these bands at 14/15? How friggin' cool is that?!! Nice list!

I stumbled on this video by accident and I'm glad I did. I was in high school in Pgh PA during these years and all I wanted was to head out to San Francisco. I loved your album picks. Many of them I have and you reminded me of some that I don't own that I need to check out again. Great memories. Thanks!

Fantastic discoveries. Thank you for sharing!

Surrealistic Pillow is an incredible album ... had a feeling that it would be #1. My favorite from the disk is "Today". Great 👍 video, Norm !!!

I would have put JA's Crown of Creation in the top 5, maybe even number 1 - I'm surprised it doesn't get a mention. To me, Crown is the album where everybody shines, it's their most accomplished album less direct and obvious than Surrealistic Pillow, but more of a band album.

Great job Mazzy. You covered it all so well. Pure joy.

Thank you for this ranking and assessment!!

Blue Cheer, oh yes! I agree about including Vincebus Eruptum but OutsideInside should be in there too.

Another great video Mazzy. Agree with you on those early Steve Miller Band records. Love the first two but my personal favorite is Brave New World. Btw, how about a Who ranking?

Wow! Great stuff! I went back in time watching this. Thanks a bunch!

Great list. A man after my own heart. Thanks for the memories and the posting. New subscriber.

Psychedelic is my favourite sub-genre and one thing I always like to bring up in discussions (though this goes outside San Francisco) is how psychedelic and ahead of its time that 5th Dimension by the Byrds is. The note bending on What’s Happening and Captain Soul is a precursor to later classic psych music, and was released a month or two even before Revolver which really kicked things off with a bang. And Highway 61 introduced psych, not in music, but in lyrics a year before 5th Dimension even.

I always thought Barry Melton's lead playing on things like Section 43 where it sounds very raga like was a direct influence of Mike Bloomfield's playing on the Butterfield Blues Band album East-West

Great compilation. I owned and played the grooves off all those albums. I lived about 15 miles south of the Fillmore and Winterland. Blessed to have seen every one of those bands. Back then you could hear 3-4 bands at the Fillmore for about six bucks. Bill Graham performed a great service to San Francisco. I heard Santana at my local Recreation Department dance shortly before the first album broke and I think it cost 50¢. Those were great times, musically speaking.

Thanks for taking the time out to make this list. It is obvious you have a great passion for this era. I will be checking out a lot of these.

I was working at a record store when the Dan Hicks LP was released for the second time in the late 1970s. I think "Canned Music" was the single, but it was "I Scare Myself" that really made an impression on me.

My favourite Steve Miller album is Brave New World, so I would have squeezed this in somehow..

I just loved this and noted a few of these to check out later! Thanks, man!

thanks for choosing surrealistic pillow! great songs, great playing and singing!

Ellas McDaniel was Bo Diddley, which is why most of Happy Trails' songs have the Bo Diddley beat. :-) I agree with you about Dino Valenti. Ay, he sounded like Jerry Lewis singing in an echo chamber.

One interesting one that should be noted was the soundtrack to Revolution! It came out at approximately the same time as Quicksilver's 1st & Children of the Future and featured both bands along with Mother Earth. Your Old Lady might be Miller's most kick ass blues based jam w/several blues motifs (strut, swing, straight ahead,etc) and some of Stevie's very best riffing. And Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You by the Quckmight be one of the most perfect San Fran psychedelic folk rock grooves featuring uniquely different guitar breaks by both Duncan & Cip that highlight & showcase their differing approaches. Miller's cover of Mercury Blues was wah wah masterful and Superbyrd was a wonderful psychedelic sound collage and Quicksilver's Codeine was a powerful Cippolina showcase. And let us not forget Mother Earth who contributed the title song, a kinda jazzy swing along with the gospel of Without Love and the country blues stylings of R P St John's Stranger in my own hometown (Side note- everyone thinks of Tracy Nelson when you discuss Mother Earth- and tightly so, but RP St John's unique vision on Marvel Group and the Kingdom of Heaven us within you (as well as I, the Fly from 2nd lp) we're wonderfully San Fran unique.

Love your comments and reviews, a real education for me in many cases. And those work of art albums covers, well done for keeping them so pristine. Keep on with it.

Excellent! Splendid! I was lucky enough to move to San Francisco in 1989 and lived there till my oldest daughter was born. I had my real musical awakening there. So much good music and you have to live there at some point to get it. Jesse Colin Young's "Ridgetop" grounded me. Got to meet Country Joe. Friday and Saturday nights at Slims. Saw Boz, Van Morrison, Rickie Lee Jones and Chris Isaak there- all impromptu. Saw Marty Balin (can't remember the bar... Sorry) Got to attend a Todd Rundgren live album concert recording at the Palace of Fine Arts. San Francisco is, still in my heart, the real music city.

There are two lesser know albums I would have loved to see on this list: the debut albums of both Cold Blood (who used a horn section) and Elvin Bishop Group. Cold Blood was the beginning of East Bay Grease and Elvin was blues and country. Hr also gave Jo Baker her start and was a major help to the Pointer Sisters.

Love Quicksilver

Well done, man. Your take on the San Fran psych sound is excellent. Great records, ALL!

Some really great picks here, thanks for doing this.

The Jefferson Airplains are absolutly fantastic!

Jorma's guitar and Marty's vocal on live version Plastic Fantastic Lover on Bless Pointed Head is as good as it gets.

thanks. . . those were the best music years. . my high school years. . . how can you not love the music from that era and so much of it coming from the bay area.

Ah, yes l remember putting on the headphones & getting lost in "Electric Music" of Country Joe/Fish. Wonderful debut lp. Still a favourite headphone Album. Love "Love" and just mind blowing guitar and keyboards through out. Sad and Lonely times almost sounds like a country song. Also like the stereo separation they had on this album. Cheers.

Good call on Quicksilver...

A little bit of trivia about Sons of Champlain's Loosen Up Naturally. The artist wrote "F*** You" in small letters on the cover. Capital execs then hired people to cut/punch it out. If you look closely, you may see it only pushed inside so it is not visible. I was able to rescue my cover by popping it back out with a tooth pick.

On the Greatful Dead debut album, my favorite cut was always Morning Dew. BTW, Pigpen (Rod Kiernan) didn't just leave the band, he died. I saw most of these bands in San Francisco at the Filmore Auditorium. We used to go to see the bands and dance at the Longshoreman's Hall, but one night we couldn't get in, so we went to the Filmore. Never went back to the other place. Great times, then Uncle Sam called, party over.

Great video , thank you for the recommendations , especially Moby Grape