These are a few records I recommend. An obvious place to start would be my favorites Beatles albums "Revolver" and "Magical Mystery Tour", as they are templates for most interesting popular music that was to follow. But I will try and steer you into slightly less well-trod areas ~ Of all the wonderful records by The Bee Gees, for beginners I'd narrow it down to "First", "Trafalgar" and "Spirits Having Flown" as exemplars of their 3 main phases (psychpop, ballads, and disco, respectively) of their 3+ decades-spanning, peerless career ~ If you're in the mood for soft rock, you just can't beat David Gates' tunes on Bread's "Greatest Hits" ~ However, the most beguiling pop vocal harmonies I've ever heard are to be found on 3 records by The Free Design: "Kites Are Fun", "You Could Be Born Again" and "One by One", and also The Millennium's "Begin" ~ While we're on the subject of American 60s psych, I am partial to The Association's gem 4th lp "Birthday", and though everybody agrees that Love's masterpiece is "Forever Changes", I recommend the criminally underrated "Out Here" ~ Have you heard Emmitt Rhodes? He earned his rep as the American Paul McCartney, and his first 2 solo records are as good as anything he did with his wonderful band The Merry Go Round ~ A neglected American psych album worth nabbing is The Four Seasons' "Genuine Imitation Life Gazette" (yeah Frankie Valli and his paisans from Jersey did something way-out, but it flopped and they never tried it again) ~ Of course, the entire Beach Boys catalog is crucial, but I always push the undervalued "Friends" and profoundly apocalyptic "Surf's Up" albums. ~ In my opinion, the finest Bitish 60s psych-pop albums are "Something Else" by The Kinks (their "Village Green Preservation Society" is a close second), The Small Faces "There are But Four", and The Zombies "Oddessey and Oracle" ~ The record that I paid the most absurd amount for, and which I cherish above most other possessions in my little world is the UK band Kaleidoscope's first record "Tangerine Dream" (no relation to the soon-to-be-mentioned German band) ~ One of the tragic fates of 60s British psych was the mis-handling of mod-turned-psych band The Action whose unreleased (at the time) masterwork is now to be found under the title "Rolled Gold" (You can't beat it when singer Reg King intones "Button down your collar, straighten out your tie!"); after floundering in obscurity for a while, they put out 2 great albums as Mighty Baby ~ Although I love almost everything about The Move, I'd have to list "Shazam" as my favorite Move record, I practically weep when I hear the guitar solo on their psyched out cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing On My Mind" ~ For sheer brilliance and audacity, one must acquire the first 4 records by Brazilian acid-freaks Os Mutantes ~ I am almost inordinately fond of the first 4 Queen records, too ~ And if you haven't heard "Scott 4" by Scott Walker, you don't know what you're missing; his commanding baritone reaches its zenith on this hideously maligned masterpiece (And what DOES he mean by "Can't you see the towers of my naked shine like a dime"? I picture a big wet phallus...) ~ For delicate 60s chamber pop, locate a compilation of anglophile Bostonians The Left Banke, and anything Michael Brown did afterwards (mainly, MONTAGE) ~ If your fond of Zombies' vocalist Colin Blunstone (on, say "One Year" or "Ennismore"), you will find a similar boyish charm on his former roommate Duncan Browne's exquisite debut lp "Give Me Take You" ~ Of course, what hipster doesn't own and worship Nick Drake's "Bryter Later"? The only song more beautiful than "Northern Sky" is Audrey Hepburn's original version of "My Huckleberry Friend" (my title for Moon River) ~ To hear what Elton John should have been doing in the mid-70s, check out John Cale's "Paris 1919" ~ If you ask me, people who don't appreciate The Troggs have a screw loose or something, so you should attend to "Love Is All Around" ~ For British space rock, I recommend Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets", Hawkwind's "In Search of Space", Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising" and the 1/2-French band Gong's "You" and "Angel's Egg" ~ For German space rock, one must acquire Amon Duul II's "Wolf City", Faust "So Far", Cluster's "sowiesoso", Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and "Radioactivity", Popol Vuh's "Letzte Tage, Letzte Nachte", and "Future Days" by Can (note: Can's bass player Holger Czukay has a super-cool solo record called "Movies") If you enjoy the 3 NEU! records (and why wouldn't you?), you should seek out what those guys did after breaking up: the first 3 Michael Rother albums and also La Dusseldorf's early stuff, not to mention the 2 Harmonia records) ~ As space rock veers towards pre-smarmy New Age, one may assume a reverential stance before Teutonic masters Ash Ra's "New Age of Earth" and Tangerine Dream's somber double record set "Zeit" ~ I am a dribbling fan of all things Robert Wyatt, but for the uninitiated I recommend "Old Rottenhat" or his late 90s album "Shleep" ~ For British folk rock, one would do well to heed the mightie and merrie "Liege and Lief" by The Fairport Convention, or the Incredible String Band's "Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" ~ Aside from his greatest hits, I would also recommend Donovan's fancyass "Barabajagal", "For Little Ones" and "H.M.S. Donovan" ~ In giving an award for go-for-broke, insane rock hijinx, the trophy must go to The Monks' "Black Monk Time" (They were actually quite popular in Germany - What if their tonsure hairstyle had caught on?) ~ and for sheer unreal beauty, White Noise's "An Electric Storm" blows my mind as thoroughly today as it did when I first heard it at the tender age of 11 ~ Now, imagine if 3 naive pre-teen girls from the boondocks of New Hampshire picked up instruments and decided to make up their own music from scratch -- or better yet, go find a copy of The Shaggs' wonderful "Philosophy of the World" and hear for yourself ! Then, when you've accustomed yourself to their mangled purity, get the follow-up "Shagg's Own Thing" to hear what happened when they learned to tune their guitars! ~ The greatest funk records of all time surely include Sly and the Family Stone's "Fresh" and Parliament's "Osmium" ~ For lush chocolatey soul, I favor Marvin Gaye's never-overrated "What's Goin' On" and Curtis Mayfield's lovely "Back To The World" (not to mention his old band The Impressions' maginificent "Young Mod's Forgotten Story") ~ For an unusual blend or progressive and rootsy rock, check out "Fearless" or "Bandstand" by Family (trust me, it will grow on you), or Captain Beefheart &; His Magic Band's "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" ~ For out and out, unbelievably majestic progressive rock, one must withstand the disdain of the cowardly and ill-informed hipsters and purchase copies of "Nursery Cryme" by Genesis, "Close To The Edge" and "Relayer" by Yes, King Crimson's "In The Court of The Crimson King" and Caravan's "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You" (mark my words, pretty soon, prog will be back in style, and these records will be de rigueur in every hipster's collection!) ~ The best of the current spate of weird, Continental prog re-issues would be Italian band Pierrot Lunaire's "Gudrun", available on Akarma Records: kind of angular and intense like Faust, but more melodic, really great! ~ I love Slapp Happy and am searching for a vinyl copy of their beautiful "Acnalbasac Noom", though I'd recommend their latest release "Ca Va" as being one of the best records of the late '90s ~ Now, to understand all the following records, it is highly advisable to pick up Brian Eno's "Another Green World", for verily I ask: what was postpunk but Punk + Eno? (An argument could be made for + Kraftwerk, but whatever...) So yeah, while you're shelling out your life savings on all the above recommendations, pick up The Durutti Column's "Return of the Durutti Column", Blondie "Plastic Letters", Wire "154", Chrome "Alien Soundtracks", Dif Juz "Huremics", The Cure "Faith", Television "Marque Moon", Colin Newman "A-Z", PIL "Metal Box", The Virgin Prunes "If I Die, I Die", Ultravox! "ha! ha! ha!", John Foxx "Metamatic", Tuxedomoon's "Half-Mute" and "Desire", Yello's "Solid Pleasure", Joy Division "Closer", Section 25 "Always Now", Magazine "Secondhand Daylight", any early Felt, OMD "Organisation", and Echo &; The Bunnymen's "Heaven Up Here" ~ From slightly left field, I am a big fan of the late Tango master Astor Piazzola's record "Zero Time", and the most beautiful jazz record I've ever heard is Charles Mingus "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" ~ And lastly, sneak into your mom's purse and remove a few dollars to buy The Go-Betweens "16 Lover's Lane"(RIP Grant McLennan) ~ Lately, my 3 favorite 45s are: "Serenade" by The Shocking Blue, "She Belongs To Me" by Bob Dylan, and "Reach Out In The Darkness" by Friend and Lover. Any questions?