Top 10 Life-Changing Acid Rock Albums
I was struck foolish roughly 50 years ago during an all-night voyage with close friends, listening to loud guitar music through standard Advent bookshelf speakers placed on a long fireplace hearth in our basement. There were roughly eight of us. The person who brought the music is the only one who had really listened to that stuff before. It was music that would change my life and even eventually lead to my novel Sound Effect Infinity.
You’d think I might explain here why each of these albums was so influential—both that night and even now whenever I listen to them. I’m not gonna do that right now. If you’re interested, you can hear pretty much any of these revolutionary acid rock collections at the online resource of your choice (mine these days isQobuz.com).
Here are the 10 albums we listened to from about 8:00 on a Friday night to sunrise or so on Saturday morning.
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After Bathing at Baxter’s (Jefferson Airplane)
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Live Cream Vol. 1 (Cream, featuring Eric Clapton)
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Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix)
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Bless Its Pointed Little Head (Jefferson Airplane)
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Derek & the Dominoes Live (Eric Clapton and Friends)
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Band of Gypsys (Jimi Hendrix, et al)
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First Pull Up, Then Pull Down (Hot Tuna)
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Happy Trails (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
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It’s a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall (It’s a Beautiful Day)
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Axis Bold as Love (Jimi Hendrix)
None of us were the same after listening to all of that loud guitar music. It happens.