The old timers give the young'ns tips on the 60s.
Some of my suggestions are from the very early 70s which should be included in this collection of the best music of all time, Classic Rock America first lp a must have album The Association Black Sabbath first few Bobby Blue Bland Blind Faith Blood Sweet and Tears David Bowie Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust Clarance Gatemouth Brown any lp you can get Roy Buchanan can strum the guitar Buckinghams greatest hits Creedence Clearwater Revival any Cactus Canned Heat boogie man Captain Beyond holoman lp to the raging river of fear Ray Charles a must have Eric Clapton take your pick Cream take your pick Crosby Stills Nash and Young any collaborations of the 4 Deep Purple O yea Derek and the Dominos Layla and other assorted Love Songs and maybe even better Live in concert Neil Diamond belongs here for sure Doobie Brothers are smoking Doobies Dr John is in the right place Eagles pick any you cant loose Electric Light Orchestra turning to stone man Emerson Lake and Palmer some of the best music of all time Rory Gallagher can lay it down get some Buddy Guy plays all music including the Blues Elton John yes little Elton most certainly belongs here JoJo Gunn Albert King will play rock and roll King Crimson in the court I second Led Zeppelin anything Little Feet serious rock and roll Little River Band Loggin and Messina sittin in and more Mamas and Papas play fine music Marshall Tucker Band with a little county very nice Dave Mason can play the guitar John Mayhall belongs here for sure Wheres the Moody Blues any lp all day or night Mott the Hopple wheres the young dudes man Van the man Morrison any early lp will do Pink Floyd tripping man You guys may not know this but Pot Liquor Levee Blues is down right awesome Poco more slight country rock Procol Harum remember them classic yea Rare Earth i know im loosing you My man Otis Redding is the 60s Leon Russel can play classic rock Savoy Brown English dudes who can lay it down I will mention Spirit again love them guys Rod Stewart his own lps belong here I have to admit Cat Stevens to this group Yes Three Dog Night is here to Robin Trower can play here also Johnny Winter is here Yes you bet they are included Beatles Beatles and more Beatles Mike |
My top 3: Beatles, Beach Boys and Doors...in that order - for me. Some groups off the top of my head: Airplane, Cream, Frigid Pink, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Yardbirds, DC5, Kinks, Beau Brummels, Neil Young, Hermans Hermits, Animals, Hendrix, Butterfly, Blind Faith, Who, Canned Heat, Donovan, Zeppelin, Blues Magoos, Chambers Brothers, Standells, Grassroots, Association, Great Society (pre Airplane), Status Quo (I think they were in the 60's), Sabbath (pre first album)..... |
Here's the next batch worth (some even essential!) to check out. Kim Fowley (Animal God of the Streets!) Electric Prunes Family (the one with Roger Chapman, that is, do not confuse this with the 80's Band that went by the same name!) Groundhogs Wisbone Ash Graham Bond Organization (figure this: Graham Bond, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstal-Smith, John Hiseman!) Electric Flag Giles, Giles & Fripp (the ones to become King Crimson, a group that hopefully remained on everyone's radar, otherwise they should be mentioned here as well in BIG, DayGlo characters) |
Just a bunch I think I haven't seen mentioned yet. Most of these and the ones already mentioned actually sit astride 1970 but I would guess that is not a hard cut-off date for your purpose. The Nice Soft Machine Gong (the Kevin Ayers era) Colosseum Ten Years After The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Edgar Broughton Band Pink Fairies Tyrannosaurus Rex |
I also enthusiastically recommend the Blues Project, thanks to Al for the link to the anthology, as my Projections album is in awful condition. Danny Kalb remains one of my favorite guitarists of all time. Also, any Byrds or Yardbirds (look at the guitarists they had in their group--Beck, Clapton and Page, as I recall) albums. Tim Buckley's Hello Goodbye album and Tom Rush's albums in the folk-rock genre. All of the Pentangle's albums are worth getting (especially for John Renbourne's guitar work). And Vanilla Fudge's album is worth it just for their rendition of the Supremes' hit You Keep Me Hangin' On. |
Get yourself some CD's of various artists from the 60's and 70's. Like Mistic presents Groovin' or Billboard disks, most will have 20 plus groups per disk. The cd's are only okay for the most part (my wife likes groovin') but it gives you a list to start with. You can also see whom you may or may not like for little money. Most of us from the 60's and 70's sometimes need help remembering group names also but not the music. We had fun though. You can find these at most BJ's and Costco stores. You can also find them at the Salvation Army or Goodwill for a buck! |
"Love"-Forever Changes. One of the best Psychedelic Albums of all time and on everyones top 10 rock albums of all time list.Love's 1st 4 albums were great!Arthur Lee's Psyhedelic Band. The Allmans Live at the Fillmore East is certainly not off the radar being one of the best Live rock albums of them all....JD |
Allman Brothers-The Filmore Concerts Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run Crosby,Stills and Nash-Crosby,Stills and Nash Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young-Deja Vu Grateful Dead-"Beyond Description 73-89" Fleetwood Mac-Fleetwood Mac James Taylor-Sweet Baby James Jerry Garcia-"All Good Things-Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions" Roger McGuinn-Live from Spain Santana-Abraxas Stevie Nicks-Bella Donna Van Morrison-Moondance U2-The Joshua Tree Neil Young-After the Goldrush, Harvest |
The exciting thing about this period of music (1965-1975) was how the bands and the blues/rock/soul sound were all inter-related. Musicians would start a band, record solo, or go on to another band. Here are some great bands/albums all related in a Kevin Bacon 'Six Degrees of Separation" kind of way. Blood Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father to the Man Electric Flag - A Long Time Comin' Blues Project - Live at Cafe Au Go Go Super Session - Kooper, Stills, Bloomfield Byrds - Fifth Dimension or Younger Than Yesterday Gene Clark - White Light Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around or Retrospective Stephen Stills - 1st solo album Manassas Best regards, Rich |
Re The Blues Project's "Projections," here is a comment someone posted about it at Amazon.com: The original Blues Project's only studio album "Projections" is easily one of the best rock albums to come out of the 60's. Though it is very hard to find in it's original form, it can easily be obtained by purchasing the "Anthology" CD that is offered by Amazon.com. Disk 2 of the "Anthology" contains the entire "Projections" album in its original song sequence. The rest of "Anthology" is also well worth your money, since it is loaded with their best material live, plus numerous rarities previously not available. Go there NOW to get a copy of one of the top 10 albums to come out of the 60's. I agree. One of the best "under the radar" rock albums ever, and quintessential 1960's. -- Al |
Listening to the radio and my brother spinning records during the late 60's and early 70's I grew to dislike a lot of these groups since I heard them over and over and over. One performer who I probably heard a few times but rediscovered a few years back was Tim Buckley. His music is more in the folk rock vein, but there's a sincerity to it without being too sappy. |
After reading many of these posts, a simpler answer might be: Look at the line-up on the 2 Woodstock album sets. BTW, some different ways to go: Late period doo-wop shows vocal music morphing into rock. You might consider The Showmen who worked with Allen Toussaint - a pioneer in this process. Motown compilation. Berry Gordy's attempt to package black bands for the lucrative white audience. Stax/Volt compilation - as above, but Southern fried and less "dressed up". |
I second Audiofeil's mention of The Blues Project, especially the album "Projections." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Project Also, if you are interested in the folk genre, The New Christy Minstrels. Take a look at a list of some of their former members, in this writeup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Christy_Minstrels Also in the folk genre, Tim Hardin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hardin Regards, -- Al |
If we're talking late 60's, I suggest a few: Jethro Tull - my all time favorite prog. rock band. Their style ranges anywhere from hard rock to blues to folk to... Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - suggest "Safe As Milk" to start out with as they can be an acquired taste. They're a unique mix of blues/jazz/rock/experimental all mixed into one. Taj Mahal - Blues all the way. |
Most of the music mentioned hasn't "fallen off the radar" as you wrote, but here are a few bands to also consider: Amboy Dukes Fever Tree Steppenwolf (first 3 albums) Guess Who (Canned Wheat) MC5 Mothers of Invention Blues Project Paul Butterfield John Mayall Spirit Velvet Underground Beau Brummels Fairport Convention |
There are many great and seminal albums. I can second the Allman Brothers "Fillmore East/Eat a Peach" and Kinks "Village Green" listed above. For sheer live power, The Who's "Live at Leeds" captures the band in top form. This album is often over shadowed by "Tommy" and "Who's Next" in "best of" shout outs by the press, but remains one of the best live artifacts of the 1960s. This "pre-metal" sound was in direct contrast to the Summer of Love vibe that informed most song structures of 1968 to 1970 (i.e. Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin). The deluxe edition of the CD includes the entire "Tommy" set, the first rock opera, plus a nice mixture of rare early songs ("Fortune Teller," "Tattoo")used to warm up to. Keith Moon's drumming is superb on this and gives the songs true meaty weight. Led Zep duly listened to this and crafted a similar sound in the 1970s that becam heavy metal. The Small Faces, and the later Faces, pioneered a sound not too dissimilar to today's alt rock. This was sloppy bar band rock at its finest. The Faces had four consecutive albums (1969 to 1973) of brilliant journeyman playing and Rod Stewart never sounded better as a lead singer. Rhino has a definitive 4 CD set called "Five Men Walk Into a Bar." They were often call a pub man's Rolling Stones. Speaking of Jagger and Co., The Rolling Stones had an incredible "later" decade from 1966 to 1970. "Let It Bleed", from 1968, captures the band at their height--these songs still remain the core of their live set. American music anchored in country and blues never sounded so good done by English musicians, Faces or Stones. The Band produced two brilliant albums, "Music from Big Pink", and "The Band". No one did Americana better, and these still sound incredibly fresh today. The Beatles work are well documented. I think the first solo albums are under-rated, from 1970. George Harrison's first album, "All Things Must Pass", and Sir Paul's first two albums, "McCartney" and "Ram", are interesting albums that are simple in their execution but feel miles of away from the weight of being legends in their first band. They sound like they found the joy of making music again. Iggy and the Stooges pioneered what became "punk rock", a full six years ahead of the curve. Match this with the Velvet Underground, and you can experience music that was brutally honest and inspired so many countless later bands, from The Clash to REM. Jimi Hendrix set the standard for guitar playing and all of his albums are interesting to reexamine. I personally like the experimentation of the third one. |
OK, lets work on the term 60's music are we pre or post Beatles. For Early work the Beach Boys, start with Pet Sounds. They say this album inspired Sgt. Peppers. Jan an Dean, probably best for Dead Man's curve or perhaps Sidewalk Surfing. You might try the Surfaris also. Ok dating myself and when music really started getting in the blood. |
As I started reading your post I was thinking Moby Grape but you already found them. Try these: Spirit - Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, it holds up very well. It's A Beautiful Day - It's A Beautiful Day. Chicago Transit Authority, it's the first Chicago album and is still a fantastic album. Great songs, one of the best guitar players of the 60s, just a perfect snapshot of the times. |
