LSD Documentary Records

Original release: no label 5083, 1970

Written by John J Burt Jr

Narrated by Ivan Harvey

Music written and performed by David Corbin

Comments: This rare album is one of my favorites in the field, delivering solid entertainment on several levels. Produced by a crack team of professors at the University Of Toledo, Tripping Out aims to acquaint you with the drug experience without any of the presumed dangers of actually taking drugs. Several types of drug effects are simulated via narrated monologues, sound effects and incidental rock music. Possibly inspired by Tim Leary's classic Mercury LP, Tripping Out shows little restraint as terrifying trips on acid, marijuana, heroin, and so forth are reproduced. It's all rather bizarre and amusing, and the artistic commitment make for an ambiguous listener experience. The protagonist "tripper" hallucinates multi-colored Corn Flakes and later finds himself being buried alive. When stoned on pot he giggles, when freaking out he screams in terror. Between the trips, basic data on various drugs is presented in an old-fashioned classroom type narration. The sleeve refers to slides that accompany this audio recording, but these remain unseen.

Even those with no particular interest in spoken word drug albums are likely to get a fun buzz from this LP, whose only fault is that it seems to be exceedingly rare -- my copy is the only one I've ever seen in 10 years.