Another stanchion of the London underground scene, Arthur Brown had huge success with the single "Fire" b/w "Rest Cure." Released in June, it rose to the top of the UK charts, while reaching No. 2 in the US that September. The single was a tough act to follow, perhaps even overshadowing the rest of his career. But let's not sell the man short. Brown's real contribution to rock music was theatre: his on-stage antics-from fire helmet to crucifixion-set the standard for most every act to follow.

With Syd Barrett's unpredictability on stage reaching the point of embarrassment for the band, Pink Floyd-bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright-forged ahead into 1968 with fellow Cambridge guitarist and friend David Gilmour in tow. Driven by pressure from EMI for another hit, they first released a single, "It Would Be So Nice" b/w "Julia Dream" in April, but it was mostly throwaway. However, the album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, fared much better.

As the In Crowd, a London-based mid-60s soul band, bassist John "Junior" Wood and singer Keith West (born Keith Alan Hopkins) found middling success, but after teaming with ex-Syndicats guitarist Steve Howe and drummer John "Twink" Alder, the quartet rebranded themselves as Tomorrow and launched straight into the popular psychedelia of 1967.

Taking their name from Steve Marriott's (of the Small Faces) euphemism for being high, The Nice originally formed as a back-up band for Immediate label soul singer P.P. Arnold. But the group's infatuation with Jimi Hendrix-like stage antics, manifested in Keith Emerson's keyboard histrionics, led them quickly away from the singer and into London's limelight. Guitar heroes had been around for years already, but Emerson lashed out as England's first keyboard showman.

Upon review, The Nice's self-titled third record is certainly not their strongest effort, as it fails to offer any progress on the band's prior two releases. The album opens with "Azrael Revisited," though Keith Emerson's piano is an inferior substitute to David O'List's guitar on the original single.

With David O'List gone, Keith Emerson firmly took charge of The Nice. It should be no surprise then that their second effort finds the trio diving deeper into the classical music realm to further flaunt Emerson's keyboard histrionics. Their six-minute rendition of Leonard Bernstein's "America," from the musical West Side Story (recorded while O'List was still with the band), was released as a single and nearly reached the UK Top 20 in July.

The Beatles changed the course of popular music in three major ways: 1) they wrote their own songs; 2) they took control of the recording process; and 3) they gave us Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Released worldwide on June 1st, 1967, The Beatles had been off the road for almost a year and immersed at EMI Studios. That it is a conceptual album and not just a collection of songs makes Sgt. Pepper's the landmark that it is.

Steve Winwood was known for his blue-eyed soul with the Spencer Davis Group, and songs such as "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man" were the last in a string of hits from the group. By 1967, Winwood was out on his own, engaging some friends from his native Birmingham to form Traffic. They retired to the proverbial "cottage in the country" and created the first of two records that, along with Pink Floyd and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, would best characterize Britain's answer to America's acid rock: psychedelic rock. Their debut album, Mr.