This is the eighth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller. So this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.

As any good music fan is probably aware by this time, the summer of 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the infamous “Summer of Love.” The historic period that would forever change the world, and especially music.

There were so many seminal albums from that period — a sort of musical explosion of creativity. But if I had to pick one band that best fit with the psychedelic feel of the late 60's it wouldn't be Jimi Hendrix, or Cream, (although they would be good choices too) — it'd be Jefferson Airplane.

And of course the album of that time I would have to pick would be be Surrealistic Pillow.

Although it was released months before the Summer of Love, some people claim that this was the album that really kicked off everything with psychedelia. I don't know if I'd agree with that statement or not.

I wasn't around when it debuted, and I didn't really start listening to the Airplane until after I'd already been listening to much of classic rock, I have not really researched everything about the psychedelic movement to make a good call.

In fact, listening to the album now — though having also heard everything that followed -- including Jefferson Airplane's own After Bathing at Baxter's that would be released at the end of that same year, it actually sounds a little tame in terms of psychedelic and sonic experimentation.

Still, I do hear a lot of the influences from this album in just about everything from that era. I also think it remains a great album in its own right.

Starting off pretty simply, “She has Funny Cars,” is a great subdued rocker that hints at something deeper in it's lyrical content and has a bit of a primal feel at time in its drum and guitar work. Then erupts one of the best rock and roll songs of all time, “Somebody to Love” — a song I've always felt just hits everything right, from it's subtle cryptic lyrics to it's straight ahead pounding rock feel and slightly mystic flavored lead guitar work. It's just a heavy song with great haunting, but soulful vocals and an energy that a lot of heavier bands have seemed to grasp for, but have never quite reached.

A few even covered this song directly. Still, they didn't quite hit it quite as right as this original version. “My Best Friend” is an upbeat, slightly bluesy and folksy song that builds into a bit of a folk blues stomp in the middle, which in the end gives a great feel and some depth.