Trip Thru Hell

There's not much to compare this album to, even in the weird musical climate of 1968 -- there are echoes of and , perhaps, in the mysterioso organ and morbid imagery. Not that was in the same league as , or even , as a songwriter. But (with the exception of the brassy good-time cut ), psychedelia was very rarely this dementedly gloomy. Occasional pealing bells and curdling screams (to say nothing of the cover art) add to the foggy underworld menace. Reissued without authorization in Europe in the 1980s, the 1995 domestic CD is a first-class job: the 12 bonus cuts gather some rare non-LP singles, alternate takes, and previously unreleased songs, and the liner notes feature extensive interviews with and engineer . ~ Richie Unterberger