Author: Pete Whelan

Janis Joplin’s major label debut is an acid soaked polaroid of the psychedelic hedonism of San Fransisco in 1968. The band is smoking hot – intertwining, fuzzed out guitars and swaggering blues jams aplenty – but it is Joplin’s performance that truly sets this record apart from the myriad of psychedelic blues bands that followed in the wake of Jimi Hendrix’s arrival. Highlights include the barnstorming “Piece of My Heart” and a jaw-dropping rendition of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Also worthy of note is cartoonist Robert Crumb’s characteristically kooky cover art. Turn on, tune in, drop out, let your freak flag fly, don’t take the brown acid and dig it!

The soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ 1998 ode-to-slackerdom The Big Lebowski is as endearing and absurd as the film that shares its title. There’s an eclectic mix of genres here – rock n’ roll, folk, jazz, blues and opera – but don’t be alarmed by the disparity of these genres if you haven’t seen the film. The Coens have curated a mixtape that, whilst broad in spectrum, is strung together by the same thread of good-natured malaise that runs through the film. Highlights include the Gypsy Kings’ spicy cover of the Eagles’ Hotel California and a rare Kenny Rogers’ expedition into psychedelia on Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). What are you waiting for? Throw this bad boy on your turntable and mix up a couple of White Russians! The dude abides.

After the demise of the Velvet Underground and an underwhelming initial solo outing, Lou Reed’s career was resurrected in 1972 by David Bowie. Bowie and Spiders from Mars band-leader Mick Ronson collaborate on production here, infusing the streetwise New York strut of Reed’s songs with the larger than life grandeur of the British Invasion. These two elements entwine seamlessly on Transformer’s smash hit “Walk on the Wild Side” where Reed utilised cutting edge slang and clever word play to evade censors and make a song explicitly about sex and drugs a UK top ten hit. Transformer is Reed at his most playful, insightful and acerbic – an absolute classic.