Matthew Fisher's memorable organ playing on the hit single 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' seemed to have charted the road to success, but the band was setback when the song did not appear on their debut UK long-player. There's plenty more great organ riffs and guitarist Robin Trower proves a wizard without overpowering. A prog-rock precursor.
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A Saucerful of Secrets Pink Floyd 1968 [Columbia/Tower]
With leader Syd Barrett virtually brain-fried Pink Floyd took some tentative steps towards what their sound would become. The compositions are longer overall, with the title-track clocking in at just under 12 minutes. Barrett's only contribution is typically whimsical, with elements of a kind of space rock emerging elsewhere.
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Gandalf Gandalf 1968 [Capitol]
One of the better baroque-psych albums to emerge in the late-60s, the spacier soundscapes here have gained the band a cult following with prog-rockers. The band faded fairly quickly however, probably because of a lack of original material in a time when covers just didn't cut it. That said, the cover of Tim Hardin's 'Hang on to a Dream' is superb.
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Music in a Doll's House Family 1968 [Reprise]
Debut album from hard-to-categorise English outfit formed in Leicester. There are shades of early prog-rock, some good old-fashioned phase-shifting psychedelia and even some jazz fusion. Produced by Traffic's Dave Mason and sporting a lineup choc-full of talented multi-instrumentalists, the album charted at #35 in the UK.
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In the Court of the Crimson King King Crimson 1969 [Island]
The album that was the commercial bridge between psychedelia and prog-rock is now widely recognised as a masterpiece. Led by guitarist Robert Fripp, on '21st Century Schizoid Man' the band combines jazz and symphonic baroque with a searing hard rock delivery. The delicate 'I Talk to the Wind' shows the band also had a gentler side.
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Caravan Caravan 1969 [Verve]
One of two noted bands to emerge from the Canterbury scene (the other being Soft Machine), Caravan earned enough of a cult-following in its early days to become a rock survivor. Their debut consists of arty progressive psychedelia, with organist David Sinclair providing most of the ethereality. CD releases are of varying sound quality.
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Love and Poetry Andwellas Dream 1969 [CBS]
British psychedelia that pretty well tackles everything the subgenre has to offer. Andwellas Dream played a fairly generic style of music on the cusp of prog-rock. 'Cocaine' indicates that the group may have been steering away from the hallucinogenics, but there is still more than enough phasing, swirling and freakbeating to please most.
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Aorta Aorta 1969 [Columbia]
This album finds yet another band caught in the 1969 transition from psychedelia to prog-rock. Aorta rode the wave of 'Chicago Sound' promotions that Columbia was pushing at the time for a brief spell on the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. There's stock sound effects, some fuzzy guitar and the obligatory swirling organ.
