OK… so you want to have some head-tripping stuff in your CD collection, but don't have a lot of bread. What a bummer, man! Maybe you should get a job. Alternatively, you could go month or so without mind-altering substances (like beer) and spend your savings on the albums listed here. Also included are a few notes on how the rap session might pan out when you pull them off the shelf.

1) The 13th Floor Elevators, Easter Everywhere, 1967 (International Artists)
These guys are trivia heaven. Arguably the first band to use the word 'psychedelic' in an album title, a frontman that ended up in a mental institution after pleading insanity to get off on a drug charge, an electric jug player providing the psyched-out sounds, a lead guitar player who was accidentally shot to death by his wife (apparently this happens a lot in Texas)… well, you get the picture. Yeah… with the possible exception of the drummer these guys were pretty messed up. As early as 1966 they were openly advocating the use of mind-altering drugs. Their first album usually gets most of the attention, but Houstonians will tell you that Easter Everywhere is where it is at. Despite fairly primitive recording technology, Stacy Sutherland's guitar is absolutely trailblazing and Roky Erickson's vocals are downright spooky.

2) The Beatles, Revolver, 1966 (Capitol)
How quickly did these guys go from being lovable moptops to ozoners of the highest order? Drawing their ideas from others around them, the Beatles pioneered the use of the studio as an instrument. Revolver has emerged as their defining moment - a band at the peak of their musical powers maintaining a fairly flaccid façade of drug-free purity. The psychedelic B&W cover art shows all sorts of things coming out of their heads. By the time we get to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' the doors of perception are open. Best rap session line: Sgt Pepper is total crap compared to this.

3) Love, Forever Changes, 1967 (Elektra)
The contrasting personalities of chief songwriters Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean got together in early 1965 to form what would eventually become the LA-based Love. The songs here commonly feature acoustic rock arrangements augmented with exquisitely orchestrated backing and Lee's quivering vocal style - sometimes delicate, at others chaotically psychedelic. MacLean contributes the album's best track 'Alone Again Or', but it was all over by late-1968 when the eccentric Lee sent the band packing "cause they couldn't cut it". Obscuro folk-psychedelia now recognised as a masterpiece.

4) The Byrds, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 1968 (Columbia)
Fifth Dimension and Younger Than Yesterday both broke new psychedelic ground, but this one has the most coherent sound of the three - a sort of sonic 'whooosh' that is easy on the ear. McGuinn, Hillman and Clarke were the surviving members left standing after David Crosby's departure, making Notorious the last Byrds album featuring something akin to their original lineup and sound. Appreciated more in Britain than at home.

5) Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland, 1968 (Track/Reprise)
As psych's premier guitarist having at least one of the first three Hendrix albums is a must. Electric Ladyland is easily the most listenable and also the longest - meaning you can program out a few tracks and still have a decent LP-length set to listen to. For those obsessed with getting the full laidback Jimi Hendrix small-e experience, CLICK HERE for a suggested track listing. (Note: All tracks listed from the first two albums are available individually as Amazon MP3 downloads.)

6) It's a Beautiful Day, It's a Beautiful Day, 1969 (Columbia)
At some stage someone will probably ask if you have any Jefferson Airplane. That's when you give them the "Oh you poor uninformed individual" look and pull this out. Violinist David LaFlamme and vocalist Pattie Santos had a huge cult following in the Bay Area. At times darkly ethereal and elsewhere wildly frenetic, LaFlamme's violin work is majestic. More than a few trip-hoppers have probably given this a listen.

7) The Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead, 1970 (Warner)
Hardcore fans of this band - 'Deadheads' - will tell you that none of the Dead's albums truly capture the mind-blowing experience of their better live shows, which were pretty much a hit and miss proposition at best. Here they went from being a psychedelic San Francisco band specialising in extended jams to the premier roots rock outfit on the West Coast. This may be nothing what they were like when playing to a bunch of devotees in a parking lot, but it is hard to beat as a mildly-trippy classic of its genre.

8) Spirit, Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus, 1970 (Epic)
With the arrival of the 70s psychedelia virtually disappeared. There were, however, a small number of albums made under the prog-rock or art rock banners that were incredibly trippy. Spirit's synthesis of jazz, hard rock and psychedelia peaked with this classic head-spinning record… and was just progressive enough to get away with it. Bald-headed 40-something drummer Ed Cassidy was way ahead of his time.

9) Can, Tago Mago, 1971 (Spoon/United Artists)
In Germany early proponents of Krautrock very much looked to the psychedelic 60s for inspiration. Can found the perfect psych-groove on the epic 'Halleluhwah', while elsewhere dabbling in the electronica that would become the hallmark of outfits like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. One listen shows that everyone from the Happy Mondays to Radiohead owe these guys. Unlike many other "groundbreaking" albums however, this one still sounds fresh and eminently vibrant.

10) Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, 1973 (Harvest)
The all-time classic prog-rock head-tripper. After frontman Syd Barrett flipped-out the Floyd went on a learning curve before finally putting it all together here. Sampled sounds and voices intertwine with some beautifully restrained mid-tempo rock music. This was the sound of the space age in all its fascinatingly computer-like glory. Given their now-legendary status, it is hard to believe the band was struggling commercially before this. Perhaps even harder to fathom that this was all pre-digital. Get out the headphones.

11) Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express, 1977 (Kling Klang/Capitol)
This obsessively reclusive German outfit revolutionised modern music with their distinctive brand of pop electronica. A surprise US hit with 1974's Autobahn set the stage for a string of superb LPs, this one being the recognised masterpiece. The formula was simple… repetitive rhythms occasionally spiced with minimalist vocals, often mixed to sound mechanistic. Today DJs respectfully sample these guys to death.

12) Brian Eno & David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 1981 (Sire)
The ex-Roxy Music king of electronic ambience teams up with Talking Heads 'new wave' icon David Byrne to make something the likes of which had never been heard before. Eno had by this time grown tired of lyrics, with the only voices here sampled sound loops. While sampling is now commonplace, when Bush of Ghosts was made some serious questions were asked about copyright issues.

13) The Cocteau Twins, Treasure, 1984 (4AD)
With so much happening in the music world at the time the Cocteau Twins almost got lost in the crowd. Although Elizabeth Fraser's vocals are virtually incomprehensible, they are gorgeous trimming to the cascade of dreamy ambience emanating from Robin Guthrie's effects-laden guitars. Who needs My Bloody Valentine when we've got this?

14) Happy Mondays, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, 1990 (Factory)
The pills were ecstacy, the thrills were what the Madchester scene was all about… and the bellyaches are what happens when your label actually expects you to make music instead of just being a 24-hour party person. This album took hallucinogenic tripping to a whole new level. Frontman Shaun Ryder delivers a mindbender with more conviction than almost any vocalist before or since. Lead guitarist Mark Day ('Moose' or 'Cowhead') is the other star with more sleazy funk than humanly fair. Check out Michael Winterbottom's fabulous film 24 Hour Party People for a slice of cultural awareness.

15) Portishead, Dummy, 1994 (Go! Discs/London)
While many of the 'Bristol sound' trip-hopping albums are decidedly dated, Dummy is wearing its age well. Beth Gibbons is an exceptional vocalist, turning everything she touches into a soulful confession. The real strengths here though are the psychedelic sounds within. With so many laidback grooves dancing is an optional activity.

16) The Verve, Urban Hymns, 1997 (Virgin)
On 1993's A Storm in Heaven guitarist Nick McCabe showed the shoegazers how to look skyward instead of staring at their effects pedals. Finding himself at odds with vocalist Richard Ashcroft, the two fortunately managed to patch things up enough to make this fabulous Britpop record. Opening with the hit 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' the album rolls through an extended set of dream pop soundscapes that are pure magic.

17) Sigur Rós, Ágætis Byrjun, 1999 (Bad Taste)
Icelandic outfit that features all the sonic trademarks of their native country's rich musical heritage, including the ethereal falsetto wail of vocalist Jónsi Birgisson. Having this in your collection will demonstrate your fringe-dwelling worldliness.

18) Radiohead, Kid A, 2000 (Parlophone/Capitol)
U2 reinvented themselves with Achtung Baby (1991)… and that's exactly what Radiohead has done here. Once over the shock that Kid A has little in common with 1997's OK Computer, many discovered what is probably the best mind-bender of the 2000s so far. With hardly a guitar in sight the band does sonic-electronic with style.

19) Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002 (Nonesuch)
While their record company baulked at a perceived radical departure from their familiar alt-country sound, Wilco decided to persist in reinventing themselves. The result is a sonic pop delight that, ironically, after being streamed to the world got picked up by another Warner subsidiary. How fickle can the music business get?

20) The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002 (Warner)
With their immediate future secure following the success of 1999's The Soft Bulletin, the Flaming Lips made their most psychedelic set yet. Yoshimi is tastefully laden with a vast array of effects that complement its science fictional storyline nicely. A long road to success even saw these guys deemed cool enough for a spot on TV-series Charmed.