The Fairfield Parlour
Beginning (like about a dozen other bands internationally) as Kaleidescope, putting out the psychedelic Tomorrow-like Tangerine Dream (not to be confused with the horrid German new age group), the band changed their name to the Fairfield Parlour and issued a superlative pair of proto-prog albums, From Home to Home and White Faced Lady -- conveniently re-released together as a 2-CD set. Imagine Odyssey and Oracle as an actual concept album and you'll have something like these.

The Open Mind
While "Magic Potion" is undeniably The Open Mind's best song, all the songs on their lone album are strong, propulsive examples of mid-'60s English proto-hard-rock that blended the best of the Who, the Beatles and the Yardbirds, while introducing the heavier distortion and psychedelic freakouts that would come later, producing a melange that sounds a bit like Keith Relf fronting Deep Purple. It's hard rock without histrionics or self-indulgent soloing -- something hard to find after the advent of Cream.

The Attack
Not as heavy as The Open Mind, but exploring the same musical territory, the Attack produced a handful of brilliant songs (including "Magic in the Air", "Colour of My Mind" and "Anymore than I Do") before transforming into prog-rock outfit Andromeda. The Attack suffer from having no comprehensive collection of their material out there, but hopefully some ambitious reissue specialty label will rectify this.

The New Colony Six
Sure, they dressed up in matching campy colonial costumes and looked like a bad knockoff of Paul Revere and the Raiders, but like the Raiders, they sound a lot tougher than they look, and their originals are all first-rate. Sundazed's reissue At the River's Edge compiles the best songs from their first two albums, including the spooky "Don't You Think It's Time You Stopped Your Crying", a rewrite of their hit "I Confess".

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
This Los Angeles-based group isn't as avant garde as their name might suggest, though their existence was continent upon allowing eccentric millionaire Bob Markley in the band. On first listen, their gentle Byrdsy folk rock may seem lightweight and their psychedelic experiments strained, but their sinister lyrical bent and their time-released hooks make them more compelling than the likes of the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The Sorrows
One of the few English bands from the '60s that wouldn't sound out of place in the garage with the Standells or the Shadows of Knight. They combined guttural, R&B influenced vocals with quirky, staccato takes on standard blues structures to create teenage depression classics such as "Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red" and "Don't Want to be Free".

Shocking Blue
Anyone who has delved into this Dutch band's creative takes on the British Invasion and the English language can attest that there is much more to them than "Venus" and "Love Buzz". The fact that lead singer Mariska Veres has no idea what she's singing about doesn't mean she's holding back any emotion, and you have no heart if "Never Marry a Railroad Man" doesn't move you. Their sitar-saturated psychedelic encomiums to the mystical forces of nature, "Waterboy" and "Voodoo Music", must be heard to be believed. Guitarist and chief songwriter Robbie Van Leeuwen is something of a pop music genius, and his pre-Shocking Blue band, The Motions, also come highly recommended.

The Music Machine
Also known as Bonniwell Music Machine, as in leader Sean Bonniwell, whose moody, growling baritone dominates this jittery, organ-driven garage rock. The covers their label forced them to perform are awful enough, but when you consider how strong a songwriter Bonniwell was, they become criminal. Any compilation of Bonniwell's music is worth your attention, but look for one that includes "Dark White", a majestic, slow-building epic about defiled innocence.

The Other Half
This cool SF psych-band's "Mr. Pharmacist" is now a staple cover at Fall shows, but received very little attention when it appeared in 1968. The band imploded soon after, but guitarist Randy Holden went on to join metal-psych pioneers Blue Cheer.

The Tornados
A studio group, put together by British tech wizard and producer Joe Meek, the Tornados' all-instrumental "Telstar" defined the connection between space and surf rock, used a whole variety of innovative amping and recording technologies and sold five million copies in the early 1960s. A French copyright suit tied up royalties from the hit single for six years, and Meek himself never saw a penny. He killed his landlady and himself with a hunting rifle about a year before the suit was settled in his favor.

The Leaves
One of many California folk rock bands of the 1960s, The Leaves are best-known for "Hey Joe" -- in their version, a hard-rocking, garage-y, almost punk tune. Here's a case where the original is maybe not definitive. "Hey Joe" has been covered, with varying degrees of genius, by at least 21 different bands, including The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Love, Patti Smith, Soft Cell and (sorry about this) The Dave Matthews Band.