My discoveries per year

[Repo]

[dihansse]

Don't think I don't love the Animals: It's My Life is about one of my favorite tracks of the sixties and there's many others: it's just that these album of British bands of that period are so difficult (see Yardbirds on 1965): the UK versions nearly never contains any "hits" and the US versions were very volatile. So that's also what I think of this Animals album: I couldn't really see it as a real album.
And the 12x5 is on my wishlist for a next round but I already know most tracks and I would be surprised if it wouldn't make it to my top chart.

[dihansse]

1965 is again a year where I already listened back and commented on most of the album already in my chart so here is again one from my wishlist:

Having A Rave Up by The Yardbirds
I suppose it's difficult to get it harder than this knowing that both Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton played on this album. It starts incredibly well with Mr. You're A Better Man, Evil Hearted You, Still I'm Sad and Heart Full Of Soul. But then the album turns into a hotchpotch of B-sides, live extracts and at fairly bad sound quality, so that part of the album kills it a bit for me but the first half is so good that it is certainly a good addition for my 1965 top chart.

[dihansse]

And I suppose the obvious choice for harder albums of 1966 would be the many US garage bands with albums this year with bands like Monks (their 1966 album is already in my chart), The Remains, The Sonics and the Seeds and finally I chose for the last one.


The Seeds
(sorry for one reason or another I can't select the album The Seeds by The Seeds)
This is a real album which also feels like one so that's already a bonus. The hard edge is really there and it has some really good tracks like Can't Seem T Make You Mine, Evil Hoodoo and Pushin' Too Hard. A real good addition for my 1966 chart.

[Repo]

[Repo]

[dihansse]

As we progress in the sixties, the music got louder...these are the albums I chose for 1967:

First an album I own:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Disraeli Gears by Cream
Strange Brew and especially Sunshine Of Your Love are real killers and show the way to harder music. Strange however that this album is also littered by a few clunkers like Blue Condition and Mother's Lament. But still an album that is standing proud in my 1967 year chart.

And then an album on my wishlist which is also supposed to be garage rock:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Electric Prunes by The Electric Prunes
And indeed going on the track that everybody knows, I had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) you would think this to be a hard edged album and also Get Me To The World On Time is good on that front. But the rest of the album is so bad and so irritatingly childish that those two good tracks can't save the album. What a letdown.

[dihansse]

1968 is one of those years where hardrock really started to find a base.
You can call Cream hard, you can call the albums of Deep Purple of Status Quo hard and you call SF Sorrow hard; but to me the two hard albums to select for this year are:

An album I already own:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Here Jimi Hendrix turned his guitar pyrotechnics into perfection. Combined with very good song writing this is one of those albums that cannot be called otherwise than real classics. Of course there is Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and All Along The Watchtower, but I now come to realise what a great track 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn Out To Be) is. This album rises deservedly to the 3rd place and only to the 3rd place because there are some less than great songs on it and because it's preceded by the White Album AAAAAAnd:

An album on my wishlist:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
Like a lot of people I only knew Summertime Blues from this band and album which is indeed one of the greatest songs ever and by many people called the first real hardrock song. But to my surprise all tracks on this album are very good. Of course they are long, trippy and hard (like every good stoner rock track) but they all have their own quality and the album (unlike a lot of its critics) never becomes boring. And this is one of those albums (with Summertime Blues as the best example) where the "bad" sound quality turns into a good quality. They don't make raw albums like this anymore. But of course Summertime Blues rules and remains one of the best covers ever. And this album immediately goes to the 2nd rank of 1968.

[Repo]

[dihansse]

For 1969 there is a lot of choice again but finally I chose these:

An album I already own:
I don't know a better hard album than this for the year although I suppose it's more punk than hardrock. But hard and a classic it is:

The Stooges by The Stooges
This album doesn't contain one but two absolute classics with two of the most classic riffs ever: No Fun and especially I Wanna Be Your Dog. But the whole album is a classic with an Iggy Pop and band at their most nihilistic but at their best as well. I Love this album and it rises from the 6th to the 5th rank of this important year in rock music.

An album on my wishlist:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Sea Shanties by High Tide
This is indeed a strange album: sometimes with the organ and the voice sounding like Jim Morrison, you hear the Doors, but certainly not in the first two and best tracks: there it's the fuzzed out guitar and violin which work together to create a full on jam atmosphere which make the album. Some of the songs near the end drag a bit but nevertheless a must hear album if you want to know about the origins of harder rock music. It ends up at the 22nd rank of the year.