1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums by 
Mercury 
NOTE: I actually did rank this. Some of these ranks go against where they were initially ranked in my Music Diary. But Here ya go. I did not rank the honorable mentions YET. They are in order of when they appeared on the Music Diary.
I had a Diary, maybe even still do, where I listened to a bunch of Singer/Songwriter albums. First from pre 66, then 67, then 68, and then I went absolutely nuts deep dive into 69. This chart basically lists out every album mentioned with its corresponding review or note in that September-October 2017 Music Diary project. That is why some things won't make sense, references to videos posted in that thread won't make sense. References to rank won't make much sense. My system even changed, the number of albums ranked per year changed. The first thing though was I essentially pointed out that Dylan 63-66 dominated. After the dylan you have my top 10 pre 67 singer songwriter albums, then some albums which were honorable mentions for that period, then top 8 1967 albums, then some honorable mentions, then top 5 1968, followed by honorable mentions, then you have hella honorable mentions for 69 followed by the top 25(!) 69 singer songwriter albums ranked.
The total number of albums mentioned came out to 95. I added 5 albums i hadn't mentioned to get it to an even number.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and okay bye.
- Chart updated: 10/17/2017 20:15
- (Created: 10/14/2017 06:40).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 3 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and 1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 5 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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#13 of 1969, Part II
It is indeed amazing. Its got similar jazz folk DNA as Happy Sad, but its more palatable and more grounded and more attainable. The vocals here are the best of all the Buckley albums I've heard and thus are some of the best of all time. The poetry is so sweet and romantic. This album is in my ears now and all the colness and hate ful dregs are being cleaned away.
The guitars are just off doing there own thing, the bass is bouncing along, Tim is singing his heart - formless and free and pure - , the drums are skipping about and lightly keeping the songs afloat, and that's all on track one! The magic just keeps coming. This album just gets you in the mood for love, and for wonder and wonder and it just takes you along.
"Chase The Blues Away" is as good and soulful a folk jazz blues song as has existed, its so sad, and its ethereal and somehow earthy and cosmic all at once. I have similar feelings for "I Must Have Been Blind", "The River", "Blue Melody" and several other songs.
Okay, and about Astral Weeks. I don't mean to say these 69 Buckley albums are exactly like Astral Weeks. Cuz nothing is. But there is a feeling here of some spiritualism or some non-earthbound something going on. The instruments are doing their own things and contributing to the free-est and most airy, vibrant, unpredictable brand of folk or soul I've ever heard outside of Astral Weeks. I'm just saying although I wouldn't put these albums on the same level as Astral Weeks, these are the closest I have heard to albums attaining that similar astral power.
Okay, and there ya go. I have to say that I don't like the final song here "The Train". I think the wheels kinda come off at the end, and I don't really like it. But outside of that track this Blue Afternoon album really is a masterpiece and may be my new fave Buckley album.
Gosh darn am I excited to listen to "Lorca" and "Starsailor" for the 1970 albums list! Now that I have a love for several of his earlier albums, I am sure those records will finally make some sense to me.
Rating: 9.1/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
It is indeed amazing. Its got similar jazz folk DNA as Happy Sad, but its more palatable and more grounded and more attainable. The vocals here are the best of all the Buckley albums I've heard and thus are some of the best of all time. The poetry is so sweet and romantic. This album is in my ears now and all the colness and hate ful dregs are being cleaned away.
The guitars are just off doing there own thing, the bass is bouncing along, Tim is singing his heart - formless and free and pure - , the drums are skipping about and lightly keeping the songs afloat, and that's all on track one! The magic just keeps coming. This album just gets you in the mood for love, and for wonder and wonder and it just takes you along.
"Chase The Blues Away" is as good and soulful a folk jazz blues song as has existed, its so sad, and its ethereal and somehow earthy and cosmic all at once. I have similar feelings for "I Must Have Been Blind", "The River", "Blue Melody" and several other songs.
Okay, and about Astral Weeks. I don't mean to say these 69 Buckley albums are exactly like Astral Weeks. Cuz nothing is. But there is a feeling here of some spiritualism or some non-earthbound something going on. The instruments are doing their own things and contributing to the free-est and most airy, vibrant, unpredictable brand of folk or soul I've ever heard outside of Astral Weeks. I'm just saying although I wouldn't put these albums on the same level as Astral Weeks, these are the closest I have heard to albums attaining that similar astral power.
Okay, and there ya go. I have to say that I don't like the final song here "The Train". I think the wheels kinda come off at the end, and I don't really like it. But outside of that track this Blue Afternoon album really is a masterpiece and may be my new fave Buckley album.
Gosh darn am I excited to listen to "Lorca" and "Starsailor" for the 1970 albums list! Now that I have a love for several of his earlier albums, I am sure those records will finally make some sense to me.
Rating: 9.1/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
452
Rank in 1969:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
4
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#5 of 1967
I had a busy day of listening today. I had a half dozen albums to relisten to. This one included. And to be honest I just wasn't overwhelmingly excited about listening to Tim Buckley. He had never yet clicked with me. Meaning he had never really connected with me or illuminated for me some sort of realization of the greatness of his music or the coolness or the style or virtuosity, etc. It just had never straightened into a clear concept in my mind which I liked. I had listened to this album and a few of his later (stranger and more experimental) albums.
But I just made myself push play to at least recollect what i thought of this album. And the coolest thing happened. I finally "Got It". I mean I finally heard the sheer creative audacity of what Buckley had done with this album. I found myself overcome by the emotions he was expressing, I heard and understood what he was doing with his somewhat over the top musical waves. The palate with which he paints this album is immense. There are strange effects on many things, and guitars, and keyboards and symphonies and big crescendos and there is, of course, his vocals. His vocals were what finally worked for me. They just are all over the place and all in service of the songs. His voice has always been mentioned as a game changer in many ways, but I never liked them much. But here they really work, he sounds like he is almost bursting with an unimaginable amount of emotion and fire and sadness. And as he sings he is releasing these sounds and these feelings and its oft-times glorious.
And yes later albums are definitely pushed way way up my "To Listen" list. I believe its generally understood that he got more and more out there and experimental as he went along in his short life. And I do recall "Lorca" and "Starsailor" being quite strange and beautiful. I am very very excited to listen to them for later songwriter lists (1969-1971 will probably HAVE to be top 15s at this rate cuz man there is a lot of great stuff coming up to listen to for those years). Its amazing to think he became somehow MORE innovative. Cuz listening to this today just blew my mind in how incredibly unique and forward-thinking the whole sound and flow of the album was. I mean you can hear traces of it in Fred Neil, but this is just next level wild and ahead of its time. Its a goodie.
Grade: 9.2/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
I had a busy day of listening today. I had a half dozen albums to relisten to. This one included. And to be honest I just wasn't overwhelmingly excited about listening to Tim Buckley. He had never yet clicked with me. Meaning he had never really connected with me or illuminated for me some sort of realization of the greatness of his music or the coolness or the style or virtuosity, etc. It just had never straightened into a clear concept in my mind which I liked. I had listened to this album and a few of his later (stranger and more experimental) albums.
But I just made myself push play to at least recollect what i thought of this album. And the coolest thing happened. I finally "Got It". I mean I finally heard the sheer creative audacity of what Buckley had done with this album. I found myself overcome by the emotions he was expressing, I heard and understood what he was doing with his somewhat over the top musical waves. The palate with which he paints this album is immense. There are strange effects on many things, and guitars, and keyboards and symphonies and big crescendos and there is, of course, his vocals. His vocals were what finally worked for me. They just are all over the place and all in service of the songs. His voice has always been mentioned as a game changer in many ways, but I never liked them much. But here they really work, he sounds like he is almost bursting with an unimaginable amount of emotion and fire and sadness. And as he sings he is releasing these sounds and these feelings and its oft-times glorious.
And yes later albums are definitely pushed way way up my "To Listen" list. I believe its generally understood that he got more and more out there and experimental as he went along in his short life. And I do recall "Lorca" and "Starsailor" being quite strange and beautiful. I am very very excited to listen to them for later songwriter lists (1969-1971 will probably HAVE to be top 15s at this rate cuz man there is a lot of great stuff coming up to listen to for those years). Its amazing to think he became somehow MORE innovative. Cuz listening to this today just blew my mind in how incredibly unique and forward-thinking the whole sound and flow of the album was. I mean you can hear traces of it in Fred Neil, but this is just next level wild and ahead of its time. Its a goodie.
Grade: 9.2/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,922
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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#13 of 1969, Part I
Tim Buckley...wowzers. He was really a super mercurial musician. He constantly was just switching shit up. His relatively straight forward folk debut gave way within a year to his break out master piece of intense and epic (god I have a love/hate relationship with that four letter word) almost indescribable Goodbye and Hello. Then a couple years later he releases 2 classic albums which zig all over the map, starting with this brooding, jazz folk album "Happy Sad".
This album is really like a strange free-form folk. With loping bass lines, and its guitars coming in for a little prettiness and receding into the darkness. The xylophone (? i think thats what they are called) doing similar ornamental work, adding gorgeous splashes of texture to these long jams. But of course, the star of the show is Buckley's voice. His voice is velvety, otherworldly, sexual, intimate, shamanistic, abstract, vulnerable, and strong. Often times in one song he'll swing between dichotomous extremes, pulled from one place to the next. Tilly mentioned he was without peer as a vocalist in this folk/singer songwriter genre of his time and all time. I would agree mostly, but really I would say Van Morrison is his closest rival in that regard. And that is high praise for both men.
Speaking of Van, this album and Buckley's other 1969 classic, consistently reminded me of the classic of classic's Astral Weeks in a lot of ways. But a little more on that later.
Strange Feelin' is a great opner. But really this song's sound and this album kicks into high gear, and comes into sharp focus with the gorgeous "Buzzin' Fly". In this track, Tim Buckley makes my knees weak when I hear him sing that chorus, and really the entire song features the greatest conceivable vocal performance like, ever, man. And the guitars are similarly awe-inspiring. This song is bonkers great!
The rest of the songs and tracks are consistently moody. I listened to this and Blue Afternoon one late night back to back and that is when I had the epiphany that they are great. And i think that was no coincidence. The albums both give off a midnight or 1am vibe of contemplative soulfulness which just fits with a cigarette and a brandy and all the romantic thoughts which reside heretofore dormant in your mind. When that moment comes and you're listening to Buckley, it really is like the cliche concept of having Tim there just talking directly to you, easing your troubled mind.
"Gypsy Woman" is a bit too long in getting to the point. That's its main flaw, the song's and the album's. Still a solid track, but it is something like 25 percent of the run time, so it does drag this album down a slight bit. Also track 3 "Love From Room 109" I have similar tiny gripes about.
and now for my conservative rating, with ample room to grow in my mind...
Rating: 8.7/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Tim Buckley...wowzers. He was really a super mercurial musician. He constantly was just switching shit up. His relatively straight forward folk debut gave way within a year to his break out master piece of intense and epic (god I have a love/hate relationship with that four letter word) almost indescribable Goodbye and Hello. Then a couple years later he releases 2 classic albums which zig all over the map, starting with this brooding, jazz folk album "Happy Sad".
This album is really like a strange free-form folk. With loping bass lines, and its guitars coming in for a little prettiness and receding into the darkness. The xylophone (? i think thats what they are called) doing similar ornamental work, adding gorgeous splashes of texture to these long jams. But of course, the star of the show is Buckley's voice. His voice is velvety, otherworldly, sexual, intimate, shamanistic, abstract, vulnerable, and strong. Often times in one song he'll swing between dichotomous extremes, pulled from one place to the next. Tilly mentioned he was without peer as a vocalist in this folk/singer songwriter genre of his time and all time. I would agree mostly, but really I would say Van Morrison is his closest rival in that regard. And that is high praise for both men.
Speaking of Van, this album and Buckley's other 1969 classic, consistently reminded me of the classic of classic's Astral Weeks in a lot of ways. But a little more on that later.
Strange Feelin' is a great opner. But really this song's sound and this album kicks into high gear, and comes into sharp focus with the gorgeous "Buzzin' Fly". In this track, Tim Buckley makes my knees weak when I hear him sing that chorus, and really the entire song features the greatest conceivable vocal performance like, ever, man. And the guitars are similarly awe-inspiring. This song is bonkers great!
The rest of the songs and tracks are consistently moody. I listened to this and Blue Afternoon one late night back to back and that is when I had the epiphany that they are great. And i think that was no coincidence. The albums both give off a midnight or 1am vibe of contemplative soulfulness which just fits with a cigarette and a brandy and all the romantic thoughts which reside heretofore dormant in your mind. When that moment comes and you're listening to Buckley, it really is like the cliche concept of having Tim there just talking directly to you, easing your troubled mind.
"Gypsy Woman" is a bit too long in getting to the point. That's its main flaw, the song's and the album's. Still a solid track, but it is something like 25 percent of the run time, so it does drag this album down a slight bit. Also track 3 "Love From Room 109" I have similar tiny gripes about.
and now for my conservative rating, with ample room to grow in my mind...
Rating: 8.7/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,272
Rank in 1969:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 3. Page 1 of 1
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1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1960 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1961 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1962 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1963 | 3 | 3% | |
| 1964 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1965 | 12 | 12% | |
| 1966 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1967 | 12 | 12% | |
| 1968 | 22 | 22% | |
| 1969 | 38 | 38% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Bob Dylan | 8 | 8% | |
| Phil Ochs | 5 | 5% | |
| Tim Hardin | 3 | 3% | |
| Bert Jansch | 3 | 3% | |
| Laura Nyro | 3 | 3% | |
| Tim Buckley | 3 | 3% | |
| Fred Neil | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 99 from 100th to 1st Looks Like Rain by Mickey Newbury |
| Up 93 from 99th to 6th John by John Phillips (ZW) |
| Up 91 from 98th to 7th Songs From A Room by Leonard Cohen |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 45 from 8th to 53rd The Paul Simon Songbook by Paul Simon |
| Down 41 from 17th to 58th Songs Of Our Times by P.F. Sloan |
| Down 41 from 18th to 59th Songs Of Protest And Anti-Protest by Chris Lucey |
1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums similar charts
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| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  MrFrogger | 1960s decade chart | 2015 | |
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1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums ratings
90/100 (from 5 votes)
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N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 5 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
95/100  | 08/11/2024 19:15 |  DommeDamian | | 89/100 |
100/100 | 12/03/2023 01:52 | Moondance | | 85/100 |
 100/100 | 10/14/2017 17:52 |  baystateoftheart | | 96/100 |
| 100/100 | 10/14/2017 11:33 |  Repo | | 100/100 |
| 90/100 | 10/14/2017 07:09 |  bobbyb5 | | 90/100 |
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100/100
From Moondance 12/03/2023 01:53
Absolutely love this chart - I can feel the passion you had in creating it. I came to this chart via exploring Vince Martin's anthology - and I will certainly return here as I notice a few artists that have escaped me to date on my own journey through singer/songwriters.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Repo 10/14/2017 11:33
Repo 10/14/2017 11:33
I think the biggest surprise for me is how low you rank Nick Drake's debut which I consider a masterpiece. I know that you are just getting into Tim Buckley and his charms take a little time, but I know that you've adored Drake for a long time.
But, there is so much stuff here I do not know that's it's impossible to really argue with these ratings. You've become the master in a genre and time period that I thought I knew rather well. Proving yet again that I know nothing. Damn you for that, Mercury. lol
But, yeah this is really, really great stuff. You should definitely continue this project for as long as it still inspires you. Just don't feel compelled to move at such a breakneck speed. lol. When you do, well hop on over to my Mellow Zone. lol.
Peace, brother. Truly phenomenal work, here! Keep it up!!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From bobbyb5 10/14/2017 07:12
bobbyb5 10/14/2017 07:12
Awesome. I'm going to make one right now myself. It's going to look very different from yours. I'm more of a pop/rock singer songwriter type of guy. But your chart is awesome anyway, just different than mine will be.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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