The Boo Radleys -- This quartet from Liverpool is becoming one of my favorite groups to trance out to. Their songwriter, Martin Carr, is a certified pop genius who incorporates classic pop influences into a miasmatic swirl of ornate production. Penny Lane trumpets interact with over-saturated guitars and Beach Boys like vocals laying over beautiful, soaring melodies. Although some of their more ambitious production can come across as slightly overblown at times, these guys are capable of turning my cerebral cortex into a slinky. If you enjoy good British pop, I would highly recommend them, they are my second favorite Liverpudlian pop group whose name begins with a "B". Which brings us to...

The Beatles Private Psvchedelic Reel -- I got my copy of this at Pipeline in Cambridge. This is a bootleg (shhh!) of private mixes that the mates made for their own personal enjoyment during their druggier years. I fear that some of this may come out on one of the upcoming anthologies, downgrading its coolness, but you have to hear the full-on freak-out version of "It's All Too Much" where George eventually segues into "Sorrow" by the Merseys. Another treat is the sound effects mix from "Tommorow Never Knows". Good Revolver-era madness.

The Zombies: Odyssey and Oracle -- Dave, the other songwriter in my band, the Pills (appearing soon at a dive near you) turned me on to this. It was the next project recorded at Abbey Road after Sgt. Pepper and if you are at all into trippy 60s pop, go right now and buy this. It is a virtual pastiche of late 60's production and faux Victorian songwriting. It's as if the Beatles, the Hollies, the Turtles and Syd's Pink Floyd teamed up to record "Village Green Preservation Society" by the Kinks. Very heady stuff; like a third Dukes of Statosphear album. It sounds especially wonderful on vinyl if you can find it.

The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds -- Quite simply, if you don't have this album you don't know pop music. This is not the Beach Boys of "Little Deuce Coup" -- this is Brian Wilson delving deeply into his own tormented psyche while his relatives are on tour singing "Fun, Fun, Fun". Brian sings about loss of innocence as symbolized by a girl cutting her hair and of the realization that, at 26, he was a grown-up in a less than ideal world. Never before has such perfect pop conveyed so much sadness and fear. One of the finest moments in music must surely be the hymn-like "God Only Knows". Amazingly, these lyrics that so accurately mirror Brian's mental fragility were written (like sympathetic strings), by his lyricist Tony Asher.