Best rock albums of that decade, one album per artist.

Watching Sea of Tranquility’s short morning videos at 8:00 has been my morning ritual for two years now. Since I work from home and no longer have to commute, I get to have my coffee and supershake, put my own pick of whatever countdown is happening in the comments, and participate in the chat. Not a bad ritual, a little bit of interaction based on music. After doing the 1973, 83 and 93 countdowns, we’ve been deep diving into the 70s with various genres. September is meant to include all genres for the 1960s. Since I’m more in a mood to discuss rock, I left out jazz and soul kept to one album an artist just so there’s a more interesting variety of bands. I go through cycles of jazz listening every few years, but this isn’t one of them.

So even when I cover 30 different artists, there’s still plenty of big names left out, like King Crimson, Santana, Janis Joplin, The Byrds, Yardbirds, and Cream, along with more underground stuff. See the bubbling under list below.

1. The Beatles – Revolver (1966)
   I grew up with nearly the complete Beatles collection up through the White Album, except for Revolver. My mom had the singles “Rain/Paperback Writer,” “We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper,” “Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine,” and “Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane.” It’s crazy that I didn’t hear Revolver until I was a teen when the rest were in my DNA. Rubber Soul (1965) always frustrated me with the killer/filler ratio messed up by the simpering “Michelle” and “Girl.” They have some lesser tracks on earlier albums, but only those bug the s***t out of me because they mess up a potential masterpiece. Same with Sgt. Pepper, really. It always seemed a strange mistake to me when it topped Rolling Stone’s famous 20th anniversary poll in 1987. Indeed, since then Revolver has rightfully taken it’s place near the top of most polls. | #6 RYM, #2 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
2. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks (1968)
   As quickly as rock was evolving in the 60s, no one made such a huge artistic leap as Van Morrison. Leading Belfast garage band Them until 1966, he cut some tracks for a solo album, but the only thing that really clicked was the sunny pop soul of “Brown Eyed Girl.” Nothing could prepare audiences for what came next. Staying in Boston in 1968, Van didn’t have a band, so some top notch jazz musicians were hired for the sessions held in the autumn in Century Sound Studios, NYC. He gave them the vaguest directions while he hunkered in a booth with his acoustic guitar and just played, while the band followed along, mostly improvising in just three sessions. The result was such a radical hybrid of chamber folk, soul, blues and jazz, that no one knew what to make of it. It didn’t sell that well until he built up an audience with a series of successful, mostly accessible albums in the 70s, though eighth album Veedon Fleece (1974) somewhat circled back to this. But there’s something special about Astral Weeks that can never be replicated. Some of the musicians felt the studio was haunted during the recording, and Van captured that ghost in the recording, it’s mystical allure never fading. | #41 RYM, #9 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced? (1967)
   Move over Rover, let Jimi take over. Kicking off the summer of love, Sgt. Pepper was released May 26. The Beatles were the biggest band in the world, yet a few days later, Jimi Hendrix, who’s own album came out two weeks earlier on May 12, stole some of their thunder by playing a killer version of the title track. Some assumed it was a loving tribute, but it was also a throwing down of the gauntlet. His sizzling style and technique showed the world that he could learn those cute Beatles songs on the fly, turn them inside out and play them behind his head or in his sleep. After absolutely f***king that song sideways with liberal use of his whammy bar, he was out of tune. So he makes an even more ballsy move and asks “friendly” rival Eric Clapton, who was in the audience with Pete Townsend and Paul McCartney, to tune his guitar. He might as well have asked him to shine his shoes and polish his little Jimi while he’s at it. Oof! But he backed up the bravado with the goods, and was the new undisputed guitar god of the 60s. | #16 RYM, #8 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
4. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
   While I still enjoy blues based bands a half century later, it was true that by 1967 blues based rock was starting to be overdone. That’s what made The Velvet Underground so refreshing. Anything bluesy they came up with was immediately thrown out. They were certainly not in line with the hippies and summer of love. There was an occasional love song, but mainly Lou Reed was reporting from both the streets, scoring drugs (“I’m Waiting for my Man”) and even describing in detail how it feels to get high on opioids (“Heroin”) and the parties of New York’s social elite at Andy Warhol’s Factory and the celebrities hanging at Max’s Kansas City. Like the Stooges, their strikingly original music made a huge impact on musicians who heard it at the time, then twenty years later they became more widely popular in the wake of punk and indie. | #4 RYM, #3 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
5. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
   Now we’re in well tread territory where it’s impossible to say anything that hasn’t already been written, though much of it is ponderous and pretentious. The criticism, not the music. Dylan’s lyrics accomplish what other bands needed fancy studio tricks for — mind-expanding psychedelia through surrealist imagery. 1965 Dylan was at his peak. Bringing It All Back Home featured all-time greats “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” “Gates of Eden” and the brain-melting final two tracks of the album. Highway 61 Revisited rides that peak just a little higher, every song opens a unique world with so much to unpack. In most cases, close analysis leads to dead ends. You just have to let the words flow through you and let them lead your brain where it wants to go. I’ve got to say that the images evoked by lines like “Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned / Have died in battle or in vain” are way more colorful than anything an explanation could provide. I’ve always felt that the vocal melodies Dylan came up with were underrated in the scheme of things. On “Queen Jane Approximately” and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” his voice carries those tunes. Maybe it’s not pretty, but I never felt any covers (besides Hendrix) improved on the originals. No one could beat his performance on “Like A Rolling Stone.” Just a week after the August 30 release of the album, he released the savagely serrated non-album single “Positively 4th Street.” Okay now he’s just showing off. Along with that single, my mom had a lesser known one called “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?” My mom was more into Sunshine Pop and Barbra Streisand than psychedelia, so I’m not sure what drew her to Dylan. “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is.” | #11 RYM, #6 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
6. Love – Forever Changes (1967)
   Arthur Lee was repeatedly in the right places with the right people, but apparently the wrong times. In 1963 he formed a high school band with Johnny Echols and Billy Preston called the LAG’s, which Jimi Hendrix would briefly join. After Preston and Hendrix left, he and Echols formed Love, and were signed to Elektra by 1965. After releasing their debut in March 1966 they got their friends The Doors signed to the label. With two solid to great albums released that year, they should have been stars by 1967, but Lee refused to tour outside California. So when they released their magnum opus of brilliant psychedelic baroque pop, no one outside their L.A. scene knew about it. So it took a few decades for it to catch on, but it’s now a staple of best of 60s rankings. | #31 RYM, #18 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
7. The Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow (1968)
   I wrote about the Pretty Things’ followup album Parachute (1970) last month. The first time I heard them was when I bought Get A Buzz: The Best of the Fontana Years in 1992. I was blown away by how they were just as great as the Stones during that period, but no one I knew seem to know them. Some were aware of David Bowie’s not one but two covers on Pin Ups (1973), “Rosalyn” and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” but when I tracked down S.F. Sorrow via an Edsel CD reissue, at the time the album had never been mentioned in any all-time best of piece, other than Pete Townsend crediting it for inspiring Tommy. But no one mentioned that it kicks the living daylights out of that album! WTF! As a rock opera it barely makes more sense, but the songs are better. It has some narrative dialog and psychedelic trappings that tie it to the time, but was recorded at Abbey Road shortly after Sgt. Pepper and Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and sounds better than most other albums from that era. Of the bonus tracks added in later editions, the “Defecting Grey” single smokes, and “Walking Through My Dreams” was featured on Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond. | #148 RYM, #149 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
8. Pink Floyd – The Piper At the Gates Of Dawn (1967)
   One of the best psychedelic albums of the 1960s, Completed May 21 at Abbey Road studios, just a month after the Beatles completed Sgt. Pepper, it presents both more whimsey and darker space madness. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson didn’t feel obliged to literally destroy their brains with drugs, and continued to be productive creative forces with their bands. Would they too have abandoned psychedelic rock as a brief fad and moved on? Hard to say, but it makes this album and the preceding singles all the more precious. | #58 RYM, #28 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
9. The Who – My Generation (1965)
   The only album in the Who’s repertoire that isn’t overrated, and the only one I can enjoy all the way through. The version I listen to includes “Circles,” and “I Can’t Explain” which balance out a couple of the less than perfect covers like “I’m a Man” that are still perfectly enjoyable. A balance of killer singles and Maximum R&B, I will fight to first blood to maintain this is their best album. Townsend said there was never a perfect Who song, but who wants to admit that they peaked at the beginning with “My Generation”? I don’t fault them for striving for more, but to me the rest of their catalog are admirable failures, with the many tracks to be endured rather than relished. With the extras on the second disc like “Leaving Here,” “Shout and Shimmy,” “Heat Wave,” “Motoring,” “Anytime You Want Me,” “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” and it’s nearly all the Who I need aside from the singles on Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. My two faves are “I Can See for Miles” and “Substitute.” Once Albumsthatneverwere came out with Who’s Lily — The Who Sell Out (1967) with “Pictures of Lily” and without the bullshit, that does get more play time too, but it doesn’t count as an actual album. | #51 Acclaimedmusic
   
   
10. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II (1969)
    Despite the fact that Led Zeppelin were eventually called out for a lot of plagiarism, they were still pioneers in style, arrangements and dynamics. It’s hard to compete with the seismic impact of their debut, but just ten months later, they broke even more ground with proto-metal in “Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is and What Should Never Be,” and my favorite soft-loud excursions into Tolkien’s landscapes with “Ramble On.” It’s easy to get sick of tracks that have been overplayed for decades, but I always eventualy come back wanting more. | #33 RYM, #24 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
11. Free – Free (1969)
    I think all six of Free’s albums are excellent, and their consistent quality is up there on my all-time list between Funkadelic and Iron Maiden. Their second album gets the edge for me as it flows extremely well. The overall sound and feel is just lush and dreamy, epitomized by the zen simplicity of “Broad Daylight.” They already sound like mature veterans with years of experience, yet they were still only 17-20. Legends among musicians, more people need to get into their albums beyond their one hit single. | Not ranked
    
    
12. The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (1969)
    For six years the Stones were essentially an excellent singles band surpassed only by the Beatles. Their albums were good but inconsistent. Aftermath (1966) and Between the Buttons (1967) were enjoyable but didn’t quite hold up to the best of the best. While plenty rate Beggars Banquet (1968) as the beginning of their great run, it’s marred for me by their awkward attempts at country/folk/blues. They were never convincing as a blues band. Rock ‘n’ roll is their strength. They would later fully integrate their patended swagger into those styles on Exile, and do it well enough here not to detract from the flow of some of their all-time greats in “Gimme Shelter,” “Live With Me,” “Midnight Rambler,” “Monkey Man” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Tig Notaro used that last song in a great joke once involving picking that song as the “coolest” cut for the cool kid in school to play in class, but the bell rang before the rocking started. | #46 RYM, #15 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
13. Small Faces – There Are But Four Small Faces (1967)
    The Small Faces catalog is confusing, as there are two consecutive self-titled albums, and songs from this era showing up in different UK and US releases. This US release can be seen as a bridge between their mod R&B (“Talk to You”) and the psychedelic Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1968) (“Here Come the Nice”), or the perfect balance between the two, with some of their best songs like “Itchycoo Park,” “Up the Wooden Hills,” “I’m Only Dreaming” and “Tin Soldier.” With such a strong vocalist in Steve Marriott, it’s surprising that Ronnie Lane (“Green Circles”) and Ian McLagan (“(Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me”) also get showcases, but it works. When deep cuts are as strong as “Get Yourself Together” (a big influence on The Jam), it’s a no brainer to pick this over Ogden’s Nut. | Not ranked
    
    
14. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (1966)
    The legend of how Brian Wilson was inspired to outdo the Beatles’ Rubber Soul (1965), in turn inspiring them to up their game on Revolver (1966) built up expectations, and my first experience hearing this album was disappointing. I’ve gradually come to appreciate it more, however, and “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” and “God Only Knows” are two of the most perfect songs they’ve ever done. It’s hard to expect the rest to measure up, but I’d say it did surpass Rubber Soul. This competition is apples and oranges really, but I think it’s good for artists to inspire each other to dig deep, short of having a breakdown. Listening to the various versions of Smile years later, I don’t think it was the music, or failure to outdo the Beatles that was the cause. That was all in Wilson’s brain chemistry, and were there proper treatment back then I think he would have been more productive. | #7 RYM, #1 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
15. The Zombies – Odessey & Oracle (1968)
    Formed way back in 1961 as The Mustangs, and with a string of hit singles starting in 1964, it’s weird to think this British invasion group’s masterpiece was somehow overlooked and even forgotten for a period. Due to the omnipresence of “Time of the Season” on the radio growing up, and to some extent “Care of Cell 44,” I’d have assumed they were always as important, known and respected as they seemed to me when I bought the CD reissue with 16 bonus tracks in 1992. I suppose like albums from Small Faces, The Pretty Things and Love, there was a time when these albums weren’t consistently represented in canonical lists. That’s long since been corrected, and this is really the epitome of psychedelic baroque pop. After “Time” became a big hit after the band had broken up in 1968, Rod Argent and Chris White recorded some more Zombie songs, even though they had already formed Argent. It never came out, hence the 16 bonus tracks, the highlight arguably being “Smokey Day.” | #25 RYM, #54 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
16. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica (1969)
    There are some fans of Don Van Vliet who don’t know a single note of his music. That’s because after retiring from music in 1982, he had a second career as a fine artist, and a quite successful and lucrative one. He was recognized as a child prodigy based on sculptures of animals he did as a young kid, but was denied a formal art education. So rock ‘n’ roll would have to do, adopting the name Captain Beefheart given him by his high school bud Frank Zappa. His first album with his Magic Band, Safe as Milk (1967) was pretty conventional blues rock, soul and psychedelic rock, while Strictly Personal (1968) stretched things out and gave hints at his sharp left turn to come. Forcing his band to adopt an unfamiliar and unnatural way of playing, possibly imprisoning them at times like a mad dadaist terrorist, the resulting third album is unlike anything anyone’s heard before. Those familiar with his paintings though, can see it’s clearly the same artist, and while the music confounded many people, he was later celebrated for simply translating his music to visual art. It goes to show that aside from free jazz and avant-garde classical, music was still regarded mainly as product rather than art. It may be abrasive and hard to digest, but freeing your mind of expectations, it’s own logic starts to make sense. He made a few more accessible and listenable albums later on, but this one still gets the most attention a half century later for good reason. | #259 RYM, #21 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
17. Art – Supernatural Fairy Tales (1967)
    A band called the V.I.P.s formed in 1963 playing the freakbeat and R&B of the times. Briefly including Keith Emerson before he formed The Nice, they changed their name to Art in time for their first full-length album, they went all in with psychedelic rock, featuring a fabulous cover art by Hapshash And The Coloured Coat. I don’t know if they ever gigged at the UFO club that year with Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and Tomorrow, but the band went all in, and created some pretty innovative psych on the title track and “Think I’m Going Weird,” while still rocking as hard as anyone in ’67 with “Room With A View,” “Rome Take Away Three” and “Brothers, Dads And Mothers.” The album, however, was to be forgotten, at least until recently, and the band changed their name and style yet again, to Spooky Tooth. | Not ranked
    
    
18. The Kinks – Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) (1969)
    In the midst of a remarkable run of six classic albums, the Kinks were making more consistent albums than the Stones, the Who and nearly challenging the Beatles. I’ve have different favorites over the years, even including Face to Face (1966). Currently Arthur carries a bit more emotional heft for me than Village Green (1968), the slices of British life and satire (“Victoria,” “Australia”) punctuated by serious critiques of colonialism and war (“Yes Sir, No Sir,” “Some Mother’s Son”). The amazing tracks just keep coming with “Shangri-La” and “Mr. Churchill Says.” I just don’t understand how the extremely patchy Tommy could be so popular when this album kicks the living sh*t out of it. | #37 RYM, #135 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
19. The 13th Floor Elevators – Easter Everywhere (1967)
    Since “You’re Gonna Miss Me” was canonized in Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets compilation, the cult of the 13th Floor Elevators and Roky Erickson has grown ever since. After Radio Birdman covered it in 1977, it became a staple of the Australian garage psych scene, with another half dozen bands doing versions. The Austin band formed in 1965, released the aforementioned single in January 1966, and The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators album in October of that year. Needless to say they were a step ahead of the pack in pioneering garage psych. Pink Floyd and others must have been listening to them. But their greatest artistic achievement was the epic nearly 8:00 long “Slip Inside This House” that kicks off their second album. “Earthquake” and “Levitation” boosted the energy levels, while the rest of the album took a more leisurely approach. Hardcore fans are notorious for bitching about the quality of the many reissues of this music. Apparently the original masters were lost, so rips of the original 8-track tapes, of all things, have been making their rounds. I have those, and I’d say all the versions sound pretty rough. They just didn’t have the advantages of recording at, say, Abbey Road, so it is what it is, low fidelity garage psych. | #243 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
20. Tim Buckley – Happy Sad (1969)
    Tim Buckley’s second album, Goodbye and Hello (1967) for some reason got more critical attention, but it was his third where he truly launched as an artist, becoming the mesmerizing starsailor we know and love. The use of congas, vibraphone and bass marimba provided a unique musical base, but it was Buckley’s voice that was the truly virtuosic instrument, navigating between pastoral progressive folk and cosmic avant-garde jazz. It kicks off with his reinterpretation of Miles Davis’ “All Blues” on “Strange Feelin'” then unfolds his wings on the soaring “Buzzin’ Fly.” The former contemplates the past, while “Love From Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)” is completely in the moment. “Gypsy Woman” ruffled some feathers with Buckley’s improvisatitional, and decidedly carnal howls which in hindsight is pretty punk as f**k. He’d get even more experimental on Lorca and Starsailor (1970), and “Song to the Siren” was treated to multiple covers, but this is his most balanced work. A lot of people discovered him ironically via his son Jeff, whom he barely knew before he died at just 28 years old. How tragic that the world was robbed of both of these talents way too soon. | #100 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
21. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left (1969)
    Joe Boyd, co-founder of the legendary UFO club, producer on Pink Floyd’s “Arnold Layne” single, as well as The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention, knew he found someone special when he got the 19 year-old Nick Drake signed to Island records. Despite the success of those projects, Drake’s talent was too ethereal for the times. Drake rejected Boyd’s original choice of arranger as too mainstream, and brought in his friend Robert Kirby to realize his vision. He did allow Boyd to bring in Harry Robinson for “River Man,” as the ambition for that song outstripped Drake and Kirby’s toolset at the time. The result was a masterpiece of baroque chamber folk that wasn’t quite trendy at the time. That would have been the Americana coming out of North America with The Band, Dylan, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. It didn’t help that Drake would barely speak due to his severe depression, and wouldn’t tour. Imagine a tour with, say Tim Buckley and Joni Mitchell. That would have been amazing. His three albums didn’t reach their audience until three decades later, when “Pink Moon” featured in a Volkswagon commercial in 1999. I was turned on to him by a college friend Joey Waronker, who’s father Lenny produced people like Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Beau Brummels, Gordon Lightfoot and Ry Cooder. His band Walt Mink did a fabulous cover of “Pink Moon” on their debut album in ’92, and I had already gotten the second reissue of the Fruit Tree box set on Hannibal. Joey ended up as Beck’s drummer by ’96 and I’m pretty sure his tastes in psych folk was an influence on Mutations (1998) and Sea Change (2002). | #26 RYM, #36 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
22. Amon Düül II – Phallus Dei (1969)
    Grown like fungus from a harry, hippie commune, the first incarnation managed one decent album in Paradieswärts Düül (1970). However, it’s the offshoot that produced the most awe-inspiring music, starting with Phallus Dei (1969), translating to “God’s C**k.” While a lot of people got turned onto this band after Julian Cope’s book Krautrocksampler: One Head’s Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik and The Crack In The Cosmic Egg: Encyclopedia of Krautrock, Kosmiche Musik and other Progressive, Experimental & Electronic Musics from Germany by Steve & Alan Freeman, I got a copy of this in 1993 when I had my girlfriend hit a couple record stores while on a research trip in Berlin. Can, Kraftwerk and Neu! are the most popular gateways, but this is some highly recommended psych prog with plenty of great guitar freakouts. | #234 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
23. MC5 – Kick Out The Jams (1969)
    “Kick out the jams, muthaf***ahhhs”! When MC5 insisted their “little brother” band The Stooges be signed also, they probably never imagined they’d be eclipsed by that band. But for a while, MC5 were kings of the Detroit rock scene, or at least Ann Arbor. It’s such a rare case where it actually makes sense for a band’s debut to be a live album. I just wish they’d do that deluxe box set that includes a good recording of “Black to Comm.” | #46 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
24. High Tide – Sea Shanties (1969)
    Like Flower Travellin’ Band, High Tide jumped up my lists because of the thrill of new discovery over a decade ago. I can’t justify it’s placement over more known and acclaimed albums based on influence like I did for The Stooges. It’s just the jolt of adventurous originality of their particular mix of Tony Hill’s heavy fuzz, nearly proto-metal riffing and Simon House’s violin on these psych prog jams. It’s not the most accessible music, but the 2010s were a perfect time for them to be rediscovered in the context of the explosion of psych prog and cosmic jams among younger bands. Ten+ years later, they still stand out. | Not ranked
    
    
25. The Stooges – The Stooges (1969)
    Considering how formative and chaotic all accounts of the Stooges were in the 60s, it’s amazing they were able to set aside the various kitchen appliances they were messing around with and record some pretty distinctive songs. Who knew the Velvet Underground’s John Cale could help whip them into shape? I suppose he is classically trained and all, but with enough of a perverse demeanor that he seemed to get the band’s respect. The opening guitar distortion on “I Wanna Be Your Dog” has to be one of the nastiest fuzz sounds outside of “Sister Ray” recorded before the 70s. “1969,” “No Fun” and “Real Cool Time” are the other bangers, all treated to many cover versions by their progeny in the punk era. The only dud is “We Will Fall,” where they try to take a Doorsy dirge to the extreme, but is kind of boring. They would increase their precision, power and songwriting tenfold the next year with one of the greatest rock albums ever, but this is a fine introduction to an iconic band. | #130 RYM, #42 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
26. Blue Cheer – Vincebus Eruptum (1968)
    When people talk about the San Francisco music scene in 1966 when Blue Cheer formed, Blue Cheer are never mentioned. I imagine the hippies might have been freaked out by the extreme volume and distortion and neanderthal simplicity of Blue Cheer’s music. Rather being associated with a particular place, Blue Cheer loom in the shadows as a key proto-metal influence. 55 years later, they’re clearly even more than that, as key influencers on proto-punk (MC5 and Stooges), grunge (Mudhoney) and all variations of stoner and doom psych. Pentagram were heavily influenced by them in the early days. I was fortunate to get to see them at Intonation in 2006, a few years before Dickie Peterson died. Outsideinside, released seven months later in August, arguably has better songs. Despite their debut being half cover, it’s just so visceral and heavy in a way that no other album in the 60s managed. | #169 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
27. Procol Harum – A Salty Dog (1969)
    An amazing prog/art rock band disguised as a one-hit wonder thanks to THAT song, they are underrated everywhere except for communities like this. Shine On Brightly (1968) is also a strong contender, with memorable melodies on “Quite Rightly So” and the long B-side suite, but their third has them at peak powers, starting with the title track, perhaps one of the most ambitious failed singles ever. A high school English teacher talked up this album, and while my classmates groaned in derision, I took note, being ever the sponge. I was not disappointed. Robin Trower, man! | #237 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
28. The Doors – The Doors (1967)
    The Doors’ excesses and pretentions are easy to criticize an parody. SNL did a couple of skits, one a VH1 Behind the Music satire, the other just of Doors fans in a record store that wasn’t good enough to pop back up on YouTube. But there’s good reasons they were such a juggernaut, and only the Beatles outsold them in ’67. My mom had those first albums, and they’re embedded into my consiousness possibly pre-natal. After Morrison died, Iggy Pop was seriously pursued as a replacement. Pop was a fan but knew it would be, uh, weird. Decades later they toured with The Cult’s Ian Astbury and it seemed to kind of work, though it’s probably good they didn’t attempt a new album. | #14 RYM, #13 Acclaimedmusic
    
    
29. Traffic – Traffic (1968)
    Possibly Traffic’s most underrated album. Their psychedelic debut is great, but this shows all the elements that made them unique — a fusion of psych, blues rock, jazz rock, folk rock and a tiny hint of what would be considered prog. Opener “You Can All Join In” epitomizes this, which evokes a highly nimble Southern Rock band. “Pearly Queen” has some sweet Hendrixian guitar licks and a trippy ending. “Don’t Be Sad” nails the emotional heaviosity with Steve Winwood’s fiery chorus that recalls Steve Marriott’s best work in the Small Faces. “Feelin’ Alright?” is as deceptively simple with it’s chorus as anything Free did. That’s just the first half. I’d have loved them even more probably if they didn’t keep firing Dave Mason, and they went more all-in with psych prog, which they did dabble with in Low Spark and Shoot Out, but whenever a band is compared to Traffic, like U.S. band Spirit, my ears are perked and fluffed. This albums deserves acknowledgement as an undersung classic. | #177 Acclaimedmusic

30. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Willy And The Poor Boys (1969)
    Their third album that year, CCR were on a tear, and their fourth album overall is their most diverse mix of Americana — chooglin’ swamp rock, country rock, folk, and blues rock. “Fortunate Son” is simply one of the best anti-war songs of the 60s, while “Effigy,” with it’s sprawling, emotive guitar solo lays out the template that Neil Young and Crazy Horse would follow. | #74 RYM, #75 Acclaimedmusic

Bubblin’ Under:

Spooky Tooth – Spooky Two (Island, 1969)
Gun – Gun (Epic/Repertoire, 1968)
King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (EG, 1969)
The Millennium – Begin (Columbia, 1968)
July – July (Epic, 1968)
Tomorrow – Tomorrow (See For Miles, 1968)
The Move – Move (Polydor, 1968)
Fairport Convention – Liege and Lief (A&M, 1969)
Janis Joplin – I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! (Columbia, 1969)
The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics! (Etiquette/Big Beat, 1965)
The Byrds – Younger Than Yesterday (Columbia, 1967)
Dr. John The Night Tripper – Gris-Gris (Atco/Rhino, 1968)
Santana – Santana (Columbia, 1969)
Mighty Baby – Mighty Baby (Head, 1969)
The Open Mind – The Open Mind (Philips, 1969)
Kak – Kak (Epic, 1969)
Kaleidoscope – Tangerine Dream (Fontana/Repertoire, 1967)
Can – Monster Movie (Spoon/Mute, 1969) | Bandcamp
Euphoria – A Gift From Euphoria (Capitol, 1969)
The Outsiders – CQ (RPM, 1968)
Roy Orbison – In Dreams (Monument, 1963)
Yardbirds – Roger The Engineer (Columbia/Edsel, 1966)
Cream – Disraeli Gears (Atco, 1967)

The Youngbloods, Pentangle, Donovan, Jaques Brel, Scott Walker, Nico, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, The Easybeats.

1960-64

1. Charles Mingus – The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (1963)
2. Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch! (1964)
3. Bobby Bland – Two Steps From the Blues (1961)
4. Sam Cooke – Night Beat (1963)
5. Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity (1964)
6. Cecil Taylor – Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come (1962)
7. John Coltrane – Crescent (1964)
8. Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961)
9. John Coltrane – Giant Steps (1960)
10. John Coltrane – Ole Coltrane (1961)
11. The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
12. Bob Dylan – Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)
13. John Coltrane – Coltrane Plays The Blues (1960)
14. Donald Byrd – A New Perspective (1963)
15. Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz (1960)
16. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
17. Joáo Gilberto – O Amor, O Sorriso e a Flor (1960)
18. Joáo Gilberto – Joáo Gilberto (1961)
19. Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963)
20. Charles Mingus – Oh Yeah (1961)

Soul, Blues, Global

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You (Atlantic, 1967)
Otis Redding – Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (Stax, 1965)
Bobby Bland – Two Steps From the Blues (MCA, 1961)
Sam Cooke – Night Beat (Abko, 1963)
Joáo Gilberto – O Amor, O Sorriso e a Flor (Capitol, 1960)
Nina Simone – Wild Is The Wind (Four Women) (Philips, 1966)
James Carr – You Got My Mind Messed Up (Kent/Ace, 1967)
Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman (Atlantic, 1966)
The Meters – The Meters (Josie , 1969)
Clarence Carter – This Is Clarence Carter (Atlantic, 1968)
Toots & the Maytals – Monkey Man (Trojan, 1969)
Jimmy Hughes – Something Special (Volt, 1969)
Caetano Veloso – Caetano Veloso (Philips, 1968)

Jazz

Charles Mingus – The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse!, 1963)
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965)
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way (Columbia, 1969)
Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch! (Prestige, 1964)
Cecil Taylor – Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966)
Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity (ESP, 1964)
Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Impulse, 1961)
George Russell – Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (Soul Note, 1967)
Donald Byrd – A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1963)
Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz (Atlantic, 1960)
John McLaughlin – Extrapolation (Polydor, 1969)
Jackie McLean – Destination Out! (Blue Note, 1963)
Sonny Sharrock – Black Woman (Vortex, 1969)
Peter Brötzmann – Machine Gun (FMP/Unheard Music, 1968)

Other

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