Psych vinyl in United States

Psychedelic music first bubbled forth in popular culture in about 1965, and by 1966 it was clearly the exciting new direction for rock. The explorations began in earnest in 1967's misunderstood but indeed glorious Summer of Love.

The psychedelic musical explorations have continued to this day, as musicians intrigued by the psychedelic experience have sought to create music that either paralleled it, interpreted it, or could accompany it.

Aside from the genre's famous heavyweights (Syd Barrett, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, 13th Floor Elevators, etc), there were thousands of albums released by countless unknown bands from every corner of the globe. Many of these hidden gems are soaked through with shimmering harmonies, echo-drenched guitars, head-swirling organs, addled lyrics... and twisted packaging to boot.

If that sounds like your idea of a good time, keep reading.

Many of these releases, for various reasons, have not been judged worthy of CD issue, and you won't ever find them on any peer-to-peer network or modern CD shop. Most you won't even find in your local record shop, and it's a safe bet that some will never be released again. The only way to hear the music is to listen to the original vinyl LP — and the only way to obtain the LP is by searching eBay listings. Hundreds of sellers offer some incredibly rare and fantastic psych vinyl LPs, and nobody, no matter how much they love psychedelic music, has heard (or even heard of) all the worthy ones.

Here at Psych Vinyl, we scan these auctions and sales on eBay and lists them here. We do include psych vinyl from the stars of the field, but we also stock the myriad hidden rarities that make up a one-of-a-kind psych vinyl LP record collection. Most of our albums are from the 60s and 70s (when psychedelia's offshoot prog rock continued to develop) although releases by more recent like-minded musicians are sprinkled throughout.