ul of the West Coast bands. Another important Los Angeles act was the United States of America, a band led by electronic music composer Joe Byrd, whose eponymous 1968 debut album blends orchestral pastoral with harsh, atonal experimentation. Meanwhile the 13th Floor Elevators from Austin, Texas, epitomized the darker, more psychotic frenzy of acid rock. Featuring the wayward talent of Roky Erickson, a gifted musician and songwriter who was later hospitalized for mental illness, the band played visionary jug-blowing blues. The track "Slip Inside This House," for instance, on Easter Everywhere (1967), conveys a sense of mysticism and transcendence, enhanced by acid. Erickson's occult explorations took him so far that by the time the band split in 1969 he believed Satan was following him everywhere. On the East Coast the Velvet Underground echoed the sonic techniques of psychedelia with their use of repetition and electronic improvisation. Their attitude, though, was more about nihilistic art-school cool than the more playful "flower power." This was accentuated in the drugs they celebrated in song--speed and heroin, for instance, rather than LSD. Established rock bands began to introduce psychedelic elements into their music, notably the Beatles, with such records as Revolver (1966), featuring the pounding mantra of "Tomorrow Never Knows"; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), with the trippy lyrics of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"; Magical Mystery Tour (1967), showcasing the swirling surrealism of songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus"; and The Beatles (1968; the "White Album"), containing the standout track "Revolution 9," an experimental collage of found sounds. The Beach Boys, too, branched out with the expansive, haunting Pet Sounds (1966), an album masterminded by an introspective Brian Wilson. The Yardbirds, with Jeff Beck on guitar, scored a hit with the echo-laden "Shapes of Things" (1966). Encoura...
