My discoveries per year

[Grzywa]

[dihansse]

Today I listened to another three 1968 albums of the top 20:
13 The Notorious Byrd Brothers by The Byrds
14 Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin
15 Sweetheart of the Rodeo by The Byrds

I'm a fan of the early Byrds (pun intended ) but I don't really like these two because they are too much tending to country & Western especially the Rodeo one (The Cristian Life: Aaargh). So they will not be part of my personal year chart for 1968.

I love the voice and the energy of Aretha Franklin (especially on tracks like (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman) but I must admit I'm not really into soul/gospel music (although I like to think I'm open for everything) so also won't make it to my 1968 year chart.

I must admit I don't know the next album by United States of America and from what I read on it I'm not certain whether I will like it or not so it will be a discovery.

[dihansse]

USA was not the next but this one:

16 Cheap Thrills by Big Brother and the Holding Company: This is a big debut album with Janis Joplin as the lead singer, one of my favourite female voices. I didn't know this album but know a few songs from a best of like Summertime, Piece of My Heart and Ball and Chain and these are the real standouts. But the other tracks are not bad either although the band is not the best ever. In any case definitely one for my top chart of 1968.

17 The United States of America by the United States of America: I can't say I don't like this album but in many cases the weird trippy atmosphere of the album gets in the way of the songs. So after a bit of deliberation I decided that the lack of memorable tracks makes this a negative for inclusion in my top chart of 1965. Maybe I should give it a second listen but that will be for later.

Next is Wheels On Fire by Cream which as a guitar music lover should be a no-brainer for me.

[dihansse]

And here is the last batch of 1968

(19) Wheels of Fire by Cream: This one has White Room, the best Cream song, so it can't be bad and it isn't. The best tracks are the live ones at the end and especially the long version of Spoonful is exceptional. So yes: will be part of my personal top chart of 1968

(20) The Marble Index by Nico: this is something else. I have listened to one of the more recent albums of Nico and this one is nearly as bad as the other one. Although her influence on VU's music can't be underestimated, solo she sucks and her voice does more bad than good to the already very dull song writing. So this is a no for this album.

And here is the final conclusion for my listening session of the year 1968 and how it influenced my personal top chart of that year:

Rank Title Band Old rank New rank
1 The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles - from 1 to 1
2 Astral Weeks by Van Morrison - from to listen to 11
3 Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience - from to listen to 2
4 Odessey And Oracle by The Zombies - from 5 to 8
5 Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones - from 4 to 7
6 White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground - from 6 to 10
7 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks - from 2 to 4
8 At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash - from to listen to a No
9 Music From Big Pink by The Band - from to listen to a No
10 Bookends by Simon And Garfunkel - from to listen to 9
11 We're Only In It For The Money by The Mothers of Invention - from to listen to a No
12 A Saucerful Of Secrets by Pink Floyd - from to listen to a No
13 Waiting For The Sun by The Doors - from 3 to 5
14 The Notorious Byrd Brothers by The Byrds - from to listen to a No
15 Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin - from to listen to a No
16 Sweetheart Of The Rodeo by The Byrds - from to listen to a No
17 Cheap Thrills by Big Brother And The Holding Company - from to listen to 6
18 The United States Of America by The United States Of America - from to listen to a No
19 Wheels Of Fire by Cream - from to listen to 3
20 The Marble Index by Nico - from to listen to a No

So now as promised I'll skip again 5 years and move on to 1973.

[RoundTheBend]

Very cool to see your progress. Lots of first listens to a lot of good music. Good luck on this project!

Also I know you don't dig country, but have you heard much Johnny Cash. I'm not a country fan, but damn does that man have good songs. I'd recommend listening to a best of collection and American IV... if that doesn't get your goat... well okay, you tried . He's the man in black representing the downtrodden. No better place to do that than in a prison (At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin).

But tastes are tastes. Not saying anything about changing that... just suggesting it might be worth it to you to in the long run. I know I haven't been disappointed.

I do totally agree with your assessment of Frank Zappa and Simon and Garfunkel. Frank... love the dude's message/art, but I just can't dig his music. Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme is amazing for me, and their other albums are pretty good, although Wednesday at 3 a.m. is my least favorite.

[dihansse]

thx for the nice words Seth. It's true I'm not really into country but I d like (and love) some music derived from country like Wilco.
I think I do know the Johnny Cash music fairly well (also saw the movies aso) and especially American IV which has the 10th place in my top 2002 chart and this because of two tracks which are part of my absolute favourites: Personal Jesus and especially Hurt which is one of the few songs that can bring me to tears. The clip on Youtube [/youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc[/youtube] is absolutely heart-breaking.
But still it's difficult to find the gems in the genre. A good example are the Byrds: their earlier music had hints of Country but were still very good while their two albums of 1968 I listened to were totally uninspired as their music was evolving to pure country.
This while a band like the Eagles (I know it's more countryrock) were producing fantastic music even if they were heading into countryland in a big way.
I've got the same with a genre like disco which I don't like either in general but I do like Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder and Prince, maybe not so much Michael Jackson as you do (the only exception is Wanna Be Startin Something).
This to say that the true good music is the one that is able to break through genre boundaries.

[dihansse]

And here is the first part of my discovery of 1973 starting with the overall top 20 of 1973 and my status on it (comparison with my chart of 1973).
There are not so many albums I haven't listened to as in 1968 but still a few to go.
I also added the albums in my top 18 (for the moment this is the number of albums in my chart) which are not part of the overall top 20: I especially find it a bit disappointing that Marjorie Razorblade of Kevin Coyne which is a bit of a personal favorite is only at place 119 in my overall chart.
I can also recommend Space Ritual by Hawkwind which is only at 53: maybe it's not the best music in the world but is certainly mind-blowing.
And the most fantastic one for me is the Lynyrd Skynyrd one which I only discovered recently and was surprised to see it had most of my favorite songs of them including of course one of my absolute favorite guitar tracks: Free Bird. With Closing Time of Tom Waits as a good second mainly because it contains Martha, also one of my absolute favorites
There are two albums in the overall top 20 chart of 1973 which I own or have heard but are not in my personal top chart: Raw Power by The Stooges is the first: Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of both Iggy Pop and the Stooges, but the sound quality of this album and the in which the songs are performed really put me off. I'm not a big fan of Genesis and I already gave Selling England by The Pound earlier and it's not my cup of tea.

So here I go:
BEA Rank - Title by Band - my current rank
1 The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd- 5
2 Houses Of The Holy by Led Zeppelin - 6
3 Quadrophenia by The Who - 13
4 Innervisions by Stevie Wonder - 18
5 Selling England By The Pound by Genesis - A no
6 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John - to listen
7 Raw Power The Stooges - A No
8 Band On The Run by Paul McCartney & Wings - 11
9 Aladdin Sane by David Bowie -10
10 (pronounced 'l€¥h-'nÌ©rd 'skin-'nÌ©rd) by Lynyrd Skynyrd - 1
11 Berlin by Lou Reed - 4
12 The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen - to listen
13 For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music -3
14 Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield - 17
15 Future Days by Can - to listen
16 Closing Time by Tom Waits - 2
17 Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock- to listen
18 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath - 15
19 Catch A Fire by The Wailers - to listen
20 Artaud by Pescado Rabioso - to listen
22 Paris 1919 by John Cale - 7
28 Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen -16
32 Desperado by Eagles - 14
35 Stranded by Roxy Music- 9
53 Space Ritual Hawkwind -8
119 Marjory Razorblade by Kevin Coyne -12

So the first album to discover is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John

[dihansse]

Here is the start of my 1973 discovery starting with
Yellow Brick Road by Elton John (6th in the overall 1973 chart): my first feeling on this album is: it is too long and it is dated (two categorisations I normally don't use) especially the rock 'n roll songs.
Of course the title song is still a gem and Candle in the Wind partly as well but has been overplayed in another version after Princess Di's death. To my surprise I did like the first long track "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" which goes on for 11 minutes. But this isn't enough to include this album in my top list for 1973 although I doubted.
The second album I listened to is The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen (12): this was also a bit of a mixed bag: it has very few tracks (only 7) with some long and winding songs but without a lot of purpose. Sandy and Rosalita have better version on live albums and in the end I decided to not include it in my personal top chart for 1973.
Next is Future Days by Can which only features 4 tracks but the last track (Belair) doesn't seem to be available on Apple Music, so I'll see what I do about that.

[Grzywa]

[dihansse]

Thx Grzywa, I indeed found it on Youtube but I'm first listening to the first three tracks which are a bit shorter