Best Albums of the 1960's Tournament!

[Elston]

Here's the contenders for the 1960's album tournament:

1. Meet the Beatles - Beatles (1963)
2. A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector – Various Artists (1963)
3. Freewheelin’ – Bob Dylan (1963)
4. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (1965)
5. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys (1965)
6. Black Monk Time - Monks (1965)
7. Here are the Sonics - Sonics (1965)
8. Otis Blue - Otis Redding (1965)
9. Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death - John Fahey (1965)
10. Rubber Soul - Beatles (1965)
11. Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)
12. Freak Out! - Frank Zappa (1966)
13. Revolver - Beatles (1966)
14. Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
15. AMMusic - AMM (1966)
16. Good, the Bad, & the Ugly - Ennio Morricone (1966)
17. Velvet Underground & Nico - Velvet Underground (1967)
18. Parable of Arable Land - Red Krayola (1967)
19. Da Capo – Love (1967)
20. The Doors - The Doors (1967)
21. Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd (1967)
22. Songs of Leonard Cohen - Leonard Cohen (1967)
23. Safe as Milk - Captain Beefheart (1967)
24. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles (1967)
25. Disraeli Gears - Cream (1967)
26. Are You Experienced – Jimi Hendrix (1967)
27. Strange Days – Doors (1967)
28. Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane (1967)
29. The Who Sell Out - The Who (1967)
30. Easter Everywhere – 13th Floor Elevators (1967)
31. Forever Changes - Love (1967)
32. Chelsea Girl - Nico (1967)
33. Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
34. Moby Grape - Moby Grape (1967)
35. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968)
36. Cheap Thrills – Big Brother & the Holding Company (1968)
37. White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground (1968)
38. Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix (1968)
39. We're Only in it for the Money - Frank Zappa (1968)
40. Zombies- Odessey and Oracle (1968)
41. Music from Big Pink - The Band (1968)
42. The United States of America - The United States of America (1968)
43. Head - Monkees (1968)
44. Marble Index – Nico (1968)
45. Beggar's Banquet - Rolling Stones (1968)
46. Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield (1968)
47. Gris Gris - Dr. John (1968)
48. Beatles (White Album) - Beatles (1968)
49. The Band – The Band (1969)
50. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (1969)
51. Uncle Meat - Frank Zappa (1969)
52. Happy Sad - Tim Buckley (1969)
53. Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane (1969)
54. In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson (1969)
55. Kick Out the Jams - MC5 (1969)
56. I - Led Zeppelin (1969)
57. Let it Bleed - Rolling Stones (1969)
58. Monster Movie – Can (1969)
59. Scott 4 - Scott Walker (1969)
60. The Band - The Band (1969)
61. Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground (1969)
62. Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake (1969)
63. The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)
64. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere – Neil Young (1969)

[joannajewsom]

I'm in. A few I'd like to see in addition to your list:

Frank Zappa- Freak Out ('66), We're Only in It... (1968)
The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's ('67), Revolver ('66)
Cream- Disraeli Gears ('67)
Jefferson Airplane- Surrealistic Pillow ('67)
Zombies- Odessey and Oracle (1968)
The Band- Music from Big Pink (1968), The Band ('69)
The United States of America- The United... (1968)
Eric Dolphy- Out to Lunch ('64)
The Who- The Who Sell Out ('67)
Love- Forever Changes ('67)
Led Zeppelin- I ('69)
Max Roach- We Insist! ('61)
13th Floor Elevators- Psychedelic Sounds... ('66)

[JohnnyRocketFingers]

I'll try not to submit any repeats:

Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Highway 61 Revisted - Bob Dylan
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles
Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman
Atlantis - Sun Ra
Eternal Rythm - Don Cherry
Karma - Pharoh Sanders
Neferiti - Cecil Taylor
Let it Bleed - Rolling Stones
_________________
"The future is unwritten."
~Joe Strummer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F10tP5HIpaA

[Mr.Music]

What about a best song tournament? Or a jazz album tournament, post-punk, punk album tournament, i mean something new and fresh.

[teodor_matz]

I'm in to
AMM - AMMMusic
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Monks - Black Monk Time
The Sonics - Here are The Sonics!!!
Bobby Timmons - This Here is Bobby Timmons
Scott Walker - Scott 4
The Monkees - Head
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Nico - Chelsea Girl
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
Moby Grape - Moby Grape
The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
Ennio Morricone - The Good the Band and the Ugly Soundtrack
Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

[Elston]

I'm certainly down with doing a jazz album contest. In fact, I started a thread for a jazz/electronic/ambient tournament, but only 1 person replied so I decided not to pursue it. If users would prefer to do a genre-based tournament instead, then please make a post; otherwise, keep posting your 60's choices.

[banana brother]

I'm in for sure

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
Anthony Braxton - For Alto/3 Comps New Jazz
Archie Shepp - Fire Music/Four for Trane
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Live in Paris
Babatunde Olatunji - Drums of Passion
The Band - The Band
Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds
Dr. John - Gris Gris
John Fahey - The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew* (1969 recording 1970 release)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Peter Brotzmann - Machine Gun
Rashaan Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear
Sam Rivers - Contours
The Stooges - The Stooges
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil

I think since we already have so much support for this tourney we should go ahead and do it then after its finished do one for jazz. Also are we doing release date or recording date?

[Elston]

I say we go by recording dates. If an album was performed and recorded in the 60's I think that's more significant than when it was released by a recording company. I didn't realize For Alto was a 60's album!

[Elston]

Make sure the albums were recorded (in their entirety) in the 1960's. Lorca & Starsailor were both finished in 1970.

[Byrdsnix]

Their at least five Beatle albums deserve to be mentioned. I don't know you can find any bands who mixed melody and unusaul chord progression as well as them.

Meet The Beatles(With The Beatles)

Started the British Invasion, and basically invented Power Pop. The Beatles sound is really a charging backbeat, Verse, Verse, Bridge and going away from the typical 1-4-5 chord progression. ) has very groundbreaking chords all over it and just today I was singing It Won't Be Long,Not A Second Time, and Don't Bother Me a capella outside where nobody could hear,and I started thinking of all the bitchin' chords going on behind these songs. That is what the guitar players were noticing in 1964 namely Dylan, Weir, McGuinn and others who went electric because of the Beatles.


Rubber Soul

George Harrison introduced the raga and sitar on "Norwegian Wood", while John Lennon offered up odd time signatures. The Beatles on what might be the first organ solo (technically harmonium) in a psychedelic rock context, on the “The Word”. Paul offers distorted fuzz bass leads with another a regular sounding one behind it. George Martin offers the the classic influenced sped organ solo. The Beatles offers the Greek influences on "Girl". Think for Yourself" has fuzz bass through a fuzz box played like a lead guitar doubled by a regular bass sound. Lastly the country influenced rockers like “What Goes On" and "Run for Your Life" who really says the Byrds invented country rock is out their minds.

Revolver

Revolver is an important step in Progressive Rock while none of the songs can be actually be called Prog, this was still 1966 it was very progressive. It is the first album in Rock where the studio as an instrument is used in preoccupation with psychedelic effects, including electronic/tape effects rather than the Brian Wilson/Phil Spector wall of sound strategy.

The Beatles use Indian instruments or sounds; particularly the Sitar, tamboura, and Tabla on Love You To. The song Tomorrow Never Knows introduces the concept of psychedelic. The lyrics influenced by Leary are The Psychedelic Experience and the studio manipulation of sounds resulted in abstract sonic environments. The Beatles created a wall of sound of tape loops backwards, sped up, on Tomorrow Never Knows with a raga-drum style pattern and it became one of the most influential songs not only to Art-Rock but in electronica.

Other tracks include Taxman with its funky bass line, distorted slashing chords and fuzz raga styled guitar solo. Classical influences are heard in Eleanor Rigby and the use of clavichord on For No One. “Psychedelic effects are heard in the backward guitar parts on “I'm Only Sleeping which became an important technique in Rock Music. A special shout for the harmonized guitar parts on And Your Bird Can Sing a really great power pop type of song.

Revolver might not be out and out Prog but it fuses pop, Psychedelia, World Music, and exerimental studio techniques with ease. It's basically a master class for future rockers to use for experimentation.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: One of the most important albums in rock music history. songs are united by their introduction of a wide variety of styles British dance hall, Classical arrangements,
Avant-garde techniques—particularly in the aleatoric (chance) orchestral section of the last song "A Day in the Life" utilizes an orchestral buildup of randomly executed pitches from low to high. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" includes randomly spliced sections of tapes of organ sounds. No singles were released from the album. This placed emphasis on the album as the sales unit rather than the single song format. After this, pop music would split into two categories Single-oriented teen pop would be the focus of AM radio Adult and college.

The Beach Boys
The album Pet Sounds upped the standard for record production and arranging
"Sloop John B" (p3 uk2, 1966) uses Spector' s "Wall of Sound" with Wilson's vocal arrangements
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" moves beyond surf music concepts
"God Only Knows," is the best example of how far Wilson's music developed