My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

Thx Seth

[dihansse]

And here is today's harvest:

(6) Night Beat from Sam Cooke: I listened through the whole album and this guy has a great voice, the songs are mostly traditional and kinda bluesy but I miss a bit of adventure on this album, so I'll skip it for my top of 1963

(10) Samba Esquema Novo by Jorge Ben: however much I like Mas Que Nada, I have skipped through the album without listening to it completely because it is a bit too much easy listening for me

(11) Surfer Girl by The Beach Boys: I very much like the Beach Boys, both albums like Pet Sounds but also their earlier surf albums like this one which have some great harmonics and of which I know already most of the tracks from compilations.
But they can get a bit mellow and they sure are on a number of the tracks of this album (Hawaii, the title says it all and some others). However there are some real standouts here as the title track and Little Deuce Coupe and In My Room. So this album deserves a place in my top63.

Next is John Fahey

[dihansse]

And finally:

(15) Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes by John Fahey: It is very expressive guitar playing but sorry Patman I couldn't really connect with it.

And with this I'm gonna wrap it up for 1963 which after all apart from being my year of birth is not really an interesting year with only two albums added to the top 2 I already had for this year:
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Surfer Girl.

Next year will be 1968 (each time skipping 5 years as promised).

[dihansse]

1968

First a few conclusions on my experiences with 1963:
- I'll limit myself to top 20's although in some years this might be very limiting because already in 1968 I see a lot of albums I'd like to listen to outside of the top 20
- Each time I'll cross check with my own top year list and I'll also mention my own ranking of the album (at the end).
- At the start I will point to the albums I will listen to and which ones not (or not available at Apple Music)
- I'll also mention the albums in my own top 20 which do not appear in the overall top 20 of that year. I'll also highlight the most underrated album in my opinion (ie the one with the highest difference between the overall rank and the overall rank but with focus on my own top 5).

So this is the overall top 20 of 1968 with at the end my rank or whether I will give it a listen:


1 The Beatles (The White Album) The Beatles (1)
2 Astral Weeks Van Morrison (to listen)
3 Electric Ladyland The Jimi Hendrix Experience (to listen)
4 Odessey And Oracle The Zombies (5)
5 Beggars Banquet The Rolling Stones (4)
6 White Light/White Heat The Velvet Underground (6)
7 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks (2)
8 At Folsom Prison Johnny Cash (to listen)
9 Music From Big Pink The Band (to listen)
10 Bookends Simon And Garfunkel (to listen)
11 We're Only In It For The Money The Mothers of Invention (to listen)
12 A Saucerful Of Secrets Pink Floyd (to listen)
13 Waiting For The Sun The Doors (3)
14 The Notorious Byrd Brothers The Byrds (to listen)
15 Lady Soul Aretha Franklin (to listen)
16 Sweetheart Of The Rodeo The Byrds (to listen)
17 Cheap Thrills Big Brother And The Holding Company (to listen)
18 The United States Of America The United States Of America (to listen)
19 Wheels Of Fire Cream (to listen)
20 The Marble Index Nico (to listen)

Some first conclusions:
- I only have 6 albums in my own 1968 top which is rather pitiful so I'm looking forward to listen to rest (and I think they're all available on Apple Music). I must say I know most of the other albums from best ofs etc but there are a few I don't know and I'm looking forward to experience them.
- As I have all these albums in my top 6 there isn't an underrated album in this list but the one with the biggest difference between my own rank and the top rank is Waiting for the Sun by The Doors (difference of 10).
- I realise there are many albums outside the top 20 that I would like like Creedence, Neil Young, Small Faces, Pretty Things, Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac, Beach Boys, Jeff Beck aso, but that will be for later...

[dihansse]

And here are my views on the first two albums I listened to. They're both albums for which I'm a bit ashamed that I don't have them in my collection but I am familiar with most of the tracks on the albums via greatest hits I so own or via other ways:

Astral Weeks by Van Morrison: I'm not his biggest fan because from his greatest Hits and Moondance (of which I love the title track but don't really connect with the other tracks on the album), I didn't have the impression that the music from his solo career offered a lot of variety and was a bit date but on listening to Astral Weeks, I realise that I was wrong: the orchestration on this album together with the great voice on this album really make this a must. A good example was Madame George which I knew in a short version from a greatest hits, but the long version on this album is really very good as are many other tracks on the album. So I will certainly add to my top chart of 1968.

Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix: Here there are the obvious tracks like Electric Ladyland, Crosstown Traffic, All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) which I already considered as part of the canon but there are many other fantastic tracks on this album like the long 1983...(A Merman I should not Turn to Be) and the original Voodo Chile. In any case certainly to be added to my top list for 1963.

The number 4 in the overall top 1968 (Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies) was an album I already discovered thx to the help of BEA members and also the few next ones I already known so the next listen will be no 8 (At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash)

[RockyRaccoon]

[RoundTheBend]

[RoundTheBend]

Also the late 60s are just exploding with music. Probably a fun area to be exploring?

[dihansse]

And here are the two albums I listened to today from 1968:
- At Folsom Prison from Johnny Cash (8th in 1968 year list)
- Music From the Big Pink from the Band (9th in 1968 year list)

I can't say those two albums have some kind of appeal, the first one because of the great voice of Johnny Cash and the live atmosphere and the second because of the general flow of the album but both are a bit to country-ish for me.
From JC I like his American Recordings more and from the second the music the Band played together with Bob Dylan (The Weight is a great song but I prefer the live version on Before the Flood).
So sorry they both don't make it to my personal year chart of 1968.

Next is Bookends from Simon & Garfunkel of which I'm fairly certain it will be part of my year chart after I listen to the album

[dihansse]

I listened to three 1968 albums today:
- Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel (number 10 of the 1968 year chart): I doubted a bit on this one, especially if I would like other tracks but the three that are already famous (America, Mrs Robinson and A Hazy Shade of Winter) also because most of the tracks are a bit mellow. But I love the voices and the songs are not that bad either, so this is the only of the three albums I listened to today that I will add to my personal year chart.
- We're Only In It For the Money by The Mothers of Invention (11th from 1968): while I dig Frank Zappa as an artist I don't really like his music and this album is a typical example
- A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd (12th of 1968): This is about the only album of Pink Floyd I didn't own already also because a number of the tracks are on Ummagamma. While I like most of the psychedelic stuff the band has produced this doesn't count for this album which I find a bit too etheric. The only exception is Let There Be More Light.

Next is The Notorious Byrds Brothers.