Various

Toronto’s Q107 radio station has always been the home of classic rock, and even today while the dreaded trends of “alternative” and “modern” rock hold sway, there’s still a little oasis of good old fashioned nostalgia every Sunday. Hosted by Andy Frost, Psychedelic Psunday churns out the radio classics of the psychedelic era, catering to the folks who lived through it the first time. However, the show can be a real eye-opener to those intrigued by the resurgence of young psych bands taking a new tangent on yesterday’s trip. Sony has raided their own vaults, while plundering a few other titles to put together this diverse collection of styles from the rich decade of music beginning in 1965. Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane penned one of the most definitive songs of the era with the fully drug-infused “White Rabbit” while the psych-funk of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and Isaac Hayes’s “Shaft” makes up for the absence of George Clinton’s Funkadelic. Psych rock’s bluesy beginnings are well represented by Janis Joplin in Big Brother and The Holding Company along with a track from Van Morrison, while the genre’s evolution into progressive rock comes to the surface with John Anderson’s Yes and the hilarious and unforgettable yodel-fest of “Hocus Pocus” by Focus. In between there’s everything from the giddy pop of Paul Revere & the Raiders to Donovan’s flaky flower power. The best of the bunch, however, come from Canada’s own Guess Who with the soulful groove of “New Mother Nature” and the album’s closing classic “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers.