1967 was a banner year for the psychedelic movement. The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s AND Magical Mystery Tour, the Stones released Their Satanic Majesty’s Request, the Who Sold Out, the Jimi Hendrix Experience debuted, and the hippies all moved into Haight-Ashbury.

And out of Haight-Ashbury came Jefferson Airplane, the soundtrack to the Summer of Love, and one of the hardest rocking bands in the world at that point–let alone the hardest rocking rock band with a female vocalist (in a world without Jefferson Airplane, there is no Heart, no Joan Jett, no Raveonnettes).

But from what the radio singles have told me about this record, I wasn’t expecting there to be so much hippie folk (sung by a dude!) on here. She Drives Funny Cars spends most of its time as a folk song with jazz drums behind it–until it explodes into a mess of feeding-back guitars and Grace Slick’s dark countermelodies, all of which are taken to the apex by Somebody to Love, which follows. But explosive moments like that are rare; overall, this album is a hushed, contemplative affair. which has much more in common with Simon and Garfunkel than Jimi Hendrix. Even side two, which is a little more rock heavy, never reaches the same guitar squealing, drum pounding heights of the first two tracks. Which just goes to show you–don’t judge a band by its singles. You never know what kinds of introspective, haunting psych folk you might miss out on.