Listening to the History of Popular Music - Music

sp4cetiger

meccalecca wrote:

t's the sound of Brian Wilson gaining creative control. I love that he had to be subtle to sneak it past Capitol

Yeah, I listened to Today! first, so I was surprised to switch on Summer Days and find them singing about cars and surfing again. Initially it put me off, but it struck me that the arrangements were far more sophisticated than any of their earlier work, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and saw the text you just quoted. Just another case where historical context helps a lot in understanding the music.

However, I also noticed that the text on Wikipedia had no citation. Hopefully it's accurate...

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

sp4cetiger wrote:

Yeah, I listened to Today! first, so I was surprised to switch on Summer Days and find them singing about cars and surfing again. Initially it put me off, but it struck me that the arrangements were far more sophisticated than any of their earlier work, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and saw the text you just quoted. Just another case where historical context helps a lot in understanding the music.

However, I also noticed that the text on Wikipedia had no citation. Hopefully it's accurate...

I assume it's probably accurate. It makes too much sense not to be. And I agree about the historical context of listening in order. That's what I really enjoyed about the process when I was listening earlier in the year.

sp4cetiger

Turns out my father-in-law was a DJ in the '60s and '70s and has a huge record collection. Now I just gotta get me a turntable and this will be sweet. Very Happy

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

sp4cetiger wrote:

Turns out my father-in-law was a DJ in the '60s and '70s and has a huge record collection. Now I just gotta get me a turntable and this will be sweet. Very Happy

that's awesome. everyone needs a turntable. it makes listening so much better.

alelsupreme

Awful.

Gender: Male

Age: 28

sp4cetiger wrote:

Turns out my father-in-law was a DJ in the '60s and '70s and has a huge record collection. Now I just gotta get me a turntable and this will be sweet. Very Happy

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

ooh i have that Plastic Ono Band vinyl.
_________________

Romanelli wrote:

We're all fucked, lads.

sp4cetiger

I have been horribly undersampling country in these latest lists, so I made a conscious effort to include more from that genre here. I didn't find any great resources on historical country albums, so I had to guess.

Anyway, 1967. The year of the summer of love, the mainstream birth of the concept album, the beginnings of prog rock, and the last year before the one that would follow:

Rock
-----
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles) - notable for containing the future theme to The Wonder Years
Surrealistic Pillow (Jefferson Airplane) - representative recordings rhof band, Grammy Hall of Fame
Velvet Underground and Nico (Velvet Underground) - major precursor to Metal Machine Music
The Doors - debut, Rolling Stone top 500 albums
Are You Experienced (Jimi Hendrix) - debut, Rolling Stone top 500 albums , National Recording Registry, mainly a rhetorical question
Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd) - debut, Rolling Stone top 500 albums,
Axis: Bold as Love (Jimi Hendrix) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums , Grammy Hall of Fame
Disraeli Gears (Cream) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
Strange Days (The Doors) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums, death of poetry in the mainstream
Something Else (The Kinks) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
The Who Sell Out - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
Days of Future Passed (Moody Blues) - precursor to prog rock
Between the Buttons (Rolling Stones) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums , american version
Parable of Arable Land (Red Crayola) - free form freak-out, there were no survivors
Smiley Smile (Beach Boys) - Beach Boys do art music
The Smile Sessions(Beach Boys - should-have-been response to Sgt. Pepper
Moby Grape - debut of notable psychedelic rock act
Mr. Fantasy (Traffic) - debut from rhof act, representative recordings, Grammy Hall of Fame
Buffalo Springfield Again - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
The Grateful Dead - debut
Bee Gees 1st - First relevant Bee Gees album, psychedelic rock
Gorilla (The Bonzo Dog Do-Bah Band) - representative recordings, comedy rock
Electric Music for the Mind and Body (Country Joe and the Fish) - among first psychedelia to come out of SF
Da Capo (Love) - more aggressive than Forever Changes, early punk influence
Easter Everywhere (13th Floor Elevators) (I'd argue that it's better than their debut)
Chelsea Girl (Nico) - Nico's solo debut following VU&Nico
Safe As Milk (Captain Beefheart)- Beefheart's groundbreaking debut
Side Trips (Kaleidoscope) - Early American psychedelia, with world music influences
Godz 2 - influence on how later proto-punk (Stooges) was to be received
Ptoof! (Deviants) - British proto-punk/post-garage

Jazz
-----
Miles Smiles (Miles Davis) - highly regarded quintet album
Far East Suite (Duke Ellington) - called essental by Penguin Guide
The Real McCoy (McCoy Tyner) - Penguin core collection , post-Coltrane
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy (Sun Ra) - recorded 1963, anticipates psychedelia

Blues
------
Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King) - Grammy Hall of Fame
West Side Soul (Magic Sam) - representative recordings electric blues

Folk/Folk Rock
-----------------
Younger Than Yesterday (Byrds) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
John Wesley Harding (Dylan) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums , return to acoustic folk
One Nation Underground (Pearls Before Swine) - representative recordings, psychedelic folk
Goodbye and Hello (Tim Buckley) - representative recordings
Songs of Leonard Cohen - debut of rhof artist
Forever Changes (Love) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums , Grammy Hall of Fame , National Recording Registry
Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers - former Byrds frontman gone solo/ alt-country influence
A Gift From A Flower To A Garden (Donovan) - transition from psychedelia to transcendental meditation
The Falconer's Arm I (Robbie Basho) - early freak folk influence
Pleasures of the Harbor (Phil Ochs) - landmark album by very influential protest folk songwriter
Tim Hardin 2 - landmark of intimate folk songwriting, one of the most covered folk artists
The 5000 Spirits, or the Layers of the Onion (The Incredible String Band) - one of the first folk records with influences from all over the world, some argue they invented "world music"

Soul/R&B
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I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Aretha Franklin) - breakthrough album
Live in Europe (Otis Redding) - Rolling Stone top 500 albums
Reach Out (Four Tops) - representative recordings
Soul Men (Sam & Dave) - acclaimed soul album
Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland - last HDH collaboration

Country
---------
By the Time I Get to Phoenix (Glen Campbell) - Grammy album of the year 1969
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (Merle Haggard) - representative recordings
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad (Tammy Wynette) - representative recordings first lady of country music
Don't Come Home a Drinkin With Lovin' On Your Mind (Loretta Lynn) - representative recordings of Country hall of fame artist and title of my future autobiography
Hello, I'm Dolly (Dolly Parton) - debut

Other
------
Wave (Jobim) - all-time great bossa nova album
Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (The Left Banke) - representative recordings baroque pop
Pandemonium Shadow Show (Harry Nilsson) - early work of important 60s songwriter

Last edited by sp4cetiger on 11/30/2013 22:42; edited 3 times in total

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

67 is such a phenomenal/overwhelming year.

I'd suggest adding:

Love - Da Capo (just as good as Forever Changes but more aggressive, early punk influence)
Donovan - A Gift From A Flower To A Garden (my personal favorite by Donovan. His transition from drugged out psych to transcendental meditation)
Gene Clark - Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers (former Byrds frontman gone solo/ alt-country influence)
13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere (I'd argue that it's better than their debut)
Nico - Chelsea Girl - Nico's solo debut following VU&Nico
Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk - Beefheart's debut! extremely groundbreaking
Kaleidoscope - Side Trips - Early American psychedelia, with world music influences
Harry Nilsson - Pandemonium Shadow Show - early work of important 60s songwriter
Robbie Basho - The Falconer's Arm I - early freak folk influence
Phil Ochs - Pleasures of the Harbor - landmark album by very influential protest folk songwriter

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

sp4cetiger wrote:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles) - notable for containing the future theme to The Wonder Years

this just made me laugh

sp4cetiger

meccalecca wrote:

Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk - Beefheart's debut! extremely groundbreaking

Weird, I thought I had included that one. Anyway, thanks for the recs, those look great, will add once my internet connection starts being friendlier. Razz

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

sp4cetiger wrote:

Weird, I thought I had included that one. Anyway, thanks for the recs, those look great, will add once my internet connection starts being friendlier. Razz

No problem. Warning, the first half of that Donovan double album is one of the best albums I've ever heard. The second disc is very blah. If it wasn't for the second half (his shift to transcendental meditation), it'd be in my top 100 of all time