A modest but intermittently enjoyable late-'60s group, Gandalf sounded something like a more psychedelic/progressive Left Banke. Their sole album has nice baroque-speckled melodies, an accomplished keyboard base with influences from classical music, and attractive harmonies. Their material wasn't on the level of the Left Banke, though; in fact... [+] Read More

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Boston's Orpheus made four albums in the late '60s and early '70s that were something of an antecedent to soft rock. Although some of the members had roots in the folk scene, and although they were lumped in with the heavier and more psychedelic bands that comprised the short-lived "Bosstown Sound," Orpheus was in fact much closer to the... [+] Read More

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Although it only reached number 70 in the national charts, Sagittarius' 1967 single "My World Fell Down" is one of the great experimental pop-psych gems of the era. Sounding very much like a lost Beach Boys classic from the "Good Vibrations"/Smile era, the record had beautiful California pop harmonies, exquisite symphonic orchestration, and a... [+] Read More

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One of several second-to-third-division West Coast (or nearly West Coast) '60s bands on the Mainstream label, the Superfine Dandelion made one middling album in 1967 that mixed San Francisco psychedelic, folk-rock, pop, and jug band influences. They were formed in Phoenix in early 1967 by singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Mike... [+] Read More

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The Association was one of the more underrated groups to come out of the mid- to late '60s. Creators of an enviable string of hits from 1966 through 1969, they got caught in a shift in popular culture and the unwritten criteria for significance in that field and never recovered. The group's smooth harmonies and pop-oriented sound (which... [+] Read More

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Influenced by psychedelia and California rock, pop/rock producer Curt Boettcher (the Association) decided to assemble a studio supergroup who would explore progressive sounds in 1968. Millennium's resultant album would find no commercial success and only half-baked artistic success, but nonetheless retains some period charm. Influenced in... [+] Read More

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Although they're best known today for their lush, lyrically and musically profound (some would say bombastic) psychedelic-era albums, the Moody Blues started out as one of the better R&B-based combos of the British Invasion. The Moody Blues' history began in Birmingham, England, where one of the more successful bands during that time was El Riot... [+] Read More

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