Absolute Essentials - Pop Albums - 1960s
Submitted by lbangs on Fri, 08/19/2005 - 05:40
Tags:
- Muddy Waters - At Newport (1960)
- Bobby “Blue” Bland - Two Steps From the Blues (1961)
- Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
- James Brown - Live at the Apollo (1963)
- Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
- The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
- Chuck Berry - St. Louis to Liverpool (1964)
- Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles (1964)
- The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
- The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
- Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
- Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
- Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (1965)
- B.B. King - Live at the Regal (1965)
- The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones, Now! (1965)
- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
- The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
- Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966)
- Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1966)
- The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966)
- The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
- Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)
- Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? (1967)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
- Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
- The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks (1967)
- Love - Forever Changes (1967)
- The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons (1967)
- The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
- The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1967)
- The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967)
- The Band - Music from Big Pink (1968)
- The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
- The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
- Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (1968)
- Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968)
- Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul (1968)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1968)
- The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
- Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
- The Mothers of Invention - We’re Only in It for the Money (1968)
- Elvis Presley - Elvis TV Special (1968)
- The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968)
- The Band - The Band (1969)
- The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
- Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River (1969)
- Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)
- Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)
- The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)
- Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul (1969)
- Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (1969)
- Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (1969)
- Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis (1969)
- The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969)
- Sly & the Family Stone - Stand! (1969)
- Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (1969)
- The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Know This Is Nowhere (1969)
- Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat (1969)
Author Comments:
For pop, read rock, pop, rap, R&B, hip-hop, and soul, including any music from other genres that played a huge influence on the development of the other styles listed. The rules are pretty simple. An album must be in print (as defined by being available new from Amazon at the time this list was created), and it must be an actual album, not a compilation (there is another list for those).
Elvis did a great performance of Tryin' To Get To You that didn't make it on the TV special or album. Somebody goofed on that one.
Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere doesn't get as much respect as After The Gold Rush but, in my opinion anyway, it's the much better of the two.
I'll have to search that performance out; I am not sure I've ever heard it.
I am not entirely sure which Young album I favor; both are terrific and very different. Why choose, eh?
After the Gold Rush is a grower, I find...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
The Elvis performance was part of the jam session with his early backing musicians. I saw the outtake on the Elvis By the Presleys special that aired a few months ago. It's also on the Elvis - '68 Comeback Special Deluxe Edition DVD which supposedly has everything that was left out of the original broadcast.
I missed the special, but I will have to find that performance. It sounds like a keeper.
Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm not sure if I have mentioned it, but I love these Absolute Essentials lists of yours. You've attempted this sorta thing a few times, but I think here you've really hit the nail on the head in terms of the standard of "Essential." You're not too lenient with the selections, but not too harsh either. Though I do wonder about the exclusions of a few albums (Dare! and Out of Time come to mind), I think this is a fantastic series.
I would like to request another list though - your top 25 favorite albums that just aren't influential enough to make the Absolute Essentials series. That will give you the chance to tie Adam Again and Mark Heard into this series, if indirectly.
By the way, I'm posting on the 60s list because just tonight I changed my cell phone ringtone to "Alone Again Or." I was really shocked to see that they actually had that available to download.
They have a ringtone for that? Wow. I never would have imagined...
Thank you for the kind words! I put more work into these lists than nearly any others I created here. I did miss a few, but perhaps an update a few years from now will correct a little of that, although, no doubt, as I grow older, the more contemporary selections will grow more suspect. : )
I like the idea of another list, although I think I would have to suspend my "must be available new on Amazon" rule to include all the worthy folks I would like to include.
I've been working off and on a feature film version of these lists. Who knows when it will see the light of day, though.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs