rock: 1967 albums ranked

Submitted by Feif Umgotnn on Tue, 12/09/2008 - 02:23
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  1. Favorite/Greatest

  2. The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat
  3. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Safe As Milk
  4. Leonard Cohen: Songs Of Leonard Cohen
  5. Pink Floyd: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
  6. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Mirror Man Sessions
  7. Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Gorilla - favorite

  8. Exceptional

  9. Red Krayola: Parable Of Arable Land (1967) - this is the Collectables or Snapper version of the album, unlike the Sunspots version (the one i bought which has one less free form freak-out after the song “War Sucks”, and the opening crash is much less abrupt). this is the better version, if for nothing other than the added freak-out – the basis of the album’s greatness.
  10. Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? [US]
  11. Frank Zappa/The Mothers Of Invention: We're Only In It For The Money
  12. The United States Of America: The United States Of America
  13. John Fahey: Requia And Other Compostions For Guitar Solo

  15. The Doors: Strange Days
  16. Fifty Foot Hose: Cauldron
  17. Deviants: Ptooff!
  18. John Fahey: Days Have Gone By
  19. Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding

  20. Very Good

  21. Traffic: Mr. Fantasy [US]
  22. Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter's
  23. The Index: The Index
  24. Tim Buckley: Goodbye And Hello
  25. Love: Da Capo
  26. The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour
  27. Bob Dylan: Basement Tapes - just Dylan’s material
  28. Love: Forever Changes
  29. The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

  30. Good

  31. The Kinks: Something Else By The Kinks
  32. Jimi Hendrix: Axis: Bold As Love
  33. Art: Supernatural Fairy Tales
  34. Magic Sam: West Side Soul
  35. Frank Zappa/The Mothers Of Invention: Lumpy Gravy
  36. 13th Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere
  37. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Part 1
  38. Hapshash & The Coloured Coat: Featuring The Human Host And The Heavy Metal Kids
  39. Kaleidoscope: Beacon From Mars

  41. decent - no particular order

  43. Pearls Before Swine: One Nation Underground
  44. The Electric Prunes: Underground
  45. Mort Garson: Zodiac Cosmic Sounds
  46. Kaleidoscope: Side Trips
  47. Neon Pearl: Neon Pearl
  48. The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request
  49. The Flowerpot Men: Peace Album
  50. Robbie Basho: Falconer's Arm
  51. Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum
  52. The David: Another Day, Another Lifetime
  53. Clear Light: Clear Light

  55. The Godz: The Godz 2
  56. Le Stelle di Mario Schifano: Dedicato À…
  57. Eric Burdon: Winds Of Change
  58. Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow - “Someone To Love” and “White Rabbitt” barely save this from extinction.
  59. The Collectors: The Collectors - “what love”
  60. Nico: Chelsea Girl - Larry Fallon or whoever was responsible for adding those stupid strings to the album is an idiot. the use of “originals” was ok but they were poorly recorded, not necessarily poorly composed.
  61. Country Joe: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
  62. Mort Garson: Zodiac Cosmic Sounds
  63. Music Emporium: Music Emporium
  64. The Primitives: Blow-Up
  65. Arlo Guthrie: Alice's Restaurant
  66. Ill Wind: Flashes
  67. Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday
  68. Kaleidoscope: Tangerine Dream
  69. The Beach Boys: Smilely Smile
  70. Who: The Who Sell Out
  71. The Red Krayola: Coconut Hotel
  72. Litter: Distortions

  74. everything else - no order

  76. Perry & Kingsley: Spotlight On The Moog (Kaleidoscopic Variations)
  77. Strawberry Alarm Clock: Incense And Peppermints
  78. Nucleus: Nucleus
  79. Ron Geesin: A Raise Of Eyebrows
  80. The Koala: The Koala
  81. Buffalo Springfield: Buffalo Springfield Again
  82. Country Joe: I Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die
  83. Id: The Inner Sounds Of Id
  84. Incredible String Band: 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion
  85. The Freeborne: Peek Impressions
  86. Cream: Disraeli Gears
  87. The Free Spirits: Out Of Sight And Sound
  88. Scott Walker: Scott Walker
  89. Afterglow: Afterglow
  90. Fapardokly: Fapardokly

  92. Procol Harum: Procol Harum [US]
  93. Freak Scene: Psychedelic Psoul
  94. Blossom Toes: We Are Ever So Clean

  96. Lollipop Shoppe: Just Colour
  97. James Carr: You Got My Mind Messed Up
  98. The Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead
  99. Unfolding: How To Blow Your Mind And Have A Freak-Out Party
  100. Vanilla Fudge: Vanilla Fudge
  101. Question Mark & the Mysterians: Action
  102. Skip Bifferty: Skip Bifferty
  103. The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
  104. Creation: We Are The Paintermen
  105. Electric Flag: The Trip
  106. Blues Magoos: Electric Comic Book
  107. Devil's Anvil: Hard Rock From the Middle East
  108. Chocolate Watchband: No Way Out
  109. Blues Project: Projections
  110. Moby Grape: Moby Grape
  111. Jelly Bean Bandits: Jelly Bean Bandits
  112. One In A Million: Double Sight
  113. HP Lovecraft: HP Lovecraft
  114. Donovan: Mellow Yellow

  116. Phil Ochs: Pleasures Of The Harbour
  117. Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
  118. The Outsiders: The Outsiders
  119. Beau Brummels: Triangle
  120. John Mayall: Crusade
  121. John Mayall: Hard Road
  122. Albert King: Born Under A Bad Sign
  123. The Boston Tea Party: The Boston Tea Party
  124. Steppeulvene: Hip
  125. The Bonniwell Music Machine: The Bonniwell Music Machine
  126. Harry Nilsson: Pandemonium Shadow Show
  127. Canned Heat: Canned Heat
  128. Sopwith Camel: Hello Hello
  129. The Yellow Balloon: The Yellow Ballon
  130. The Mindbenders: With Woman In Mind
  131. Picadilly Line: The Huge World Of Emily Small
  132. Slam Creepers: Bubbles
  133. Paul Revere And The Raiders: Spirit Of 67
  134. The Action: Rolled Gold
  135. The Moody Blues: Days Of Future Passed
  136. The Monkees: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
  137. Electric Banana: Electric Banana - went on to become The Pretty Things
  138. Nirvana: The Story Of Simon Simopath
  139. Pat Kilroy: Light Of Day
  140. The Association: Insight Out
  141. Free Design: Kites Are Fun
Author Comments: 

recommendations are highly encouraged!!! - no matter how obvious or obscure.

albums listed here or anywhere else are by recording dates, not release dates. if you know the recording date of an album that i have listed incorrectly, please let me know.

this is only a fraction of the albums recorded in 1967. and i hope these were all actually recorded and not simply released in 1967.

Favorite/Greatest: Fav - RYM: 5.0
exceptional: XX - RYM: 4.5; X - RYM: 4.0
good: VG - RYM: 3.5; G - RYM: 3.0
decent: D - RYM: 2.5; d - RYM: 2.0
everything else: ee - RYM: 0.5-1.5

any and all discussion is welcome. :^)

platoso02/16/2009

for some reason everyone puts Sgt. Pepper over Their Satanic Majesties Request. i obviously agree with your choice, and actually almost about everything else.
nice to see traffic at the higher end of the list. what would you give it as a rating?

Feif Umgotnn02/16/2009

good? i do not know how to quantify subjective choices, but to help you out you can think of the 1st tier as the 9's, 2nd - 8's, 3rd - 7's...but i do not know about .5's or even .7726's which is what i would like to do. i would love to have a machine built that i can simply input audio/video/word(books)/... files and have it compute an answer to what is great and what is not, if not for the entire world at least tuned to my tastes.

and to contridict myself -- 7 i guess. and i used to hate Mr. Fantasy, and now prefer the UK version with "Paper Sun" and "Hole In My Shoe".

platoso02/16/2009

hahaha yes a machine built like that would definitely be awesome. we would also never need critics writing 1000 word essays on every album which comes out.
so a 7. hmm cool

Feif Umgotnn02/17/2009

sometimes i feel like writing one of those essays but then stop because of how much i hate that everyone else does it, which is not to say that others do not do it well, but that one more is not necessarily warranted. i have been wanting to write one on "Video Killed The Radio Star" and why Pure Electric Honey is so far off everyone's radar (amoung others).

oh, and i listened to Mr. Fantasy and that is more like a 6-6.5 the 7 would probably be Goodbye And Hello and The Index being a 7.5. and i meant the US version of Mr. Fantasy with the substitution of the singles.

platoso02/18/2009

well i think your lists are good enough to show your ideas about these albums. personally, i rather read lists than essays, unless i really want to dig into that particular album.

Feif Umgotnn02/19/2009

i like lists too. for someone who has spent a lot of time on scaruffi's website i have never read any of his books on music, just particular pages when i get into that particular band, and then i go to AMG, Trouser Press, or wherever i can to find out more about any particular band/album. i will read anything written about Twin Infinitives, if not for education, then humor!