THE SILLY
Gong, the loose British/French late 60's to 70's band of Hippies, had perfected their brand of psycho-jamming by their third album 'Camembert Electrique'. One of my favorite (in the "hippie discovers its better without drugs" creation) is Gong front-man, Daevid Allen's 1976 solo 'Now Is the Happiest Time of Your Life'. This early freak era also produced such classics as Pink Floyd's 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn', Traffic's 'Mr. Fantasy', The Who's 'The Who Sell Out', Jefferson Airplane's pop 'Volunteers', Captain Beefheart's avant-garde 'Trout Mask Replica', and Zappa's satiric 'We're Only in It for the Money'. And the 70's spawned Robert Wyatt's 'Rock Bottom', Parliament's 'Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980', Zappa's genuinely strange and playful (tho' non druggy) 'You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 2'.

Then there's the whole hilarious free-wheeling/off-kilter "acid folk" -bluegrass of The Holy Modal Rounders, (the early 60's) '1 & 2', (the far out) 'The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders', (the classic) 'Have Moicy!', (and a good overall collection) 'I Make a Wish for a Potato', (plus friends') Michael Hurley's 'Snockgrass', Jeffrey Frederick's 'Clamtones B.C.' (in 90's The HMR are still together, still deconstructing folk/country songs, still having 'Too Much Fun')..... In the 90's we also have the ever odd, tasteful and eclectic southern jazz-rocker, Col.Bruce Hampton still being active 'Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit' and the phenomena of Phish 'A Live One'.

THE SERIOUS
Some musicians take themselves seriously or play serious music, or have a serious impact on others....Combining all three is Hendrix's 'Electric Ladyland'. Steve Tibbetts reminds me of what Hendrix would sound like today, if he had wandered East to seek enlightenment without the drugs, 'The Fall of Us All', and 'Man About a Horse'. British groups that specialized in the psychedelic side of prog-rock include Pink Floyd's classic space trip 'The Dark Side of the Moon', Genesis' opus 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway', Brian Eno's mad-hatterish 'Before and After Science', Phil Manzanera's '801 Live' and Jade Warrior's sublime WAVES (now only found along with 3 other mid 70's albums on) 'Elements: The Island Anthology'.

Meanwhile in America The Allman Brother's created a signature jam-band sound 'Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970', Mahavishnu Orchestra's fenzied fusion 'The Inner Mounting Flame', Ned Lagin's (with Lesh and friend's)unworldly 'Seastones'. From the 90's there is the world/fusion/trance-droning sound of Bill Laswell's various projects including, Material's 'Hallucination Engine' and with Nicky Skopelitis' 'Ekstasis' and 'Wake up & Dream'. Oddly these are the only "world beat" artists making it into my guide, as the Americans and Europeans seem to dominate the drug induced approach (while the more indiginous sounds embody some other-worldly aspect more naturally)
Finally in a serious composer class of his own (a more classical take on the trance/drone effect), Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians'.

THE SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN
Now for all the rest, the playful, the adventurous, the free-wheeling, off kilter but not too serious or crazy sounds of.... The Grateful Dead 'Live / Dead' (catching the concert starting at full peak till the end), or a whole show from that era 'Dick's Picks, Vol. 16: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, 11/8/69', Little Feat's 'Waiting for Columbus', Quicksilver's 'Happy Trails', 'The Derek Trucks Band Live at Georgia Theatre', Patti Smith's 'Land (1975-2002)', The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', Caravan's 'In the Land of Grey and Pink', Soft Machine 'Third', Henry Cow 'Concerts', and finally the truely sublime spoken words (with gentle background tabla and piano accomaniment) of Robert Ashley 'Ashley: Private Parts (the album)'.

One last word on this kind of thing, sometimes you might wonder if you'll ever come down (as the out of print 70's German band Thirsty Moon's "You'll Never Come Back" album title warned). At these times it helps to have some one to stop playing the Dead, and put in something more grounding. Once for me it was the solid 4/4 compositions of George Harrison's 'Dark Horse' that gave me a straw to keep from drowning, and hinted of a better way to explore and adventure.