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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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Zimbabwe. (Remove this filter)
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#2 of 1969
This is one of those things which almost seems to good to be true. I mean, this album is stunning, mesmerizing, completely overwhelming for me personally. Yet, this is also an album which has almost no associated info, the artist is a near-total mystery, the album is almost completely lost to the world. How can something this pristine be so overlooked?
I know there are thousands of stories like this, albums which are incredible, artists which are so talented and yet are oppressed or ignored for various reasons through history. But experiencving this album finally drove home how vulnerable and precious art and artistic expression is.
Okay, and now, the very little I could find on this artist can be boiled down to one post from a person on discogs. This is what the user on discogs named capttrips says about this album (I have no idea if this remotely accurate, and bear in mind I am not a great investigator of things on the internet, and maybe some of you are more smart about doing research on this): " I am lucky enough to own a copy of this amazing LP. One of only three copies that have surfaced so far in the entire world. Thirteen original songs featuring sparce but clearly psychedelic instrumentation including occasional flute tabla and finger cymbals. Vocals and lyrics are reminiscent of Syd Barett, Arthur Lee, Donovan et.al. Very little is known about John. He was a pale skinned Zimbabwean who also happened to be a transexual living in South Africa's repressive apartheid regime. Apparently maybe less than 200 copies were pressed and of those many were seized and destroyed by security police. Plans are a foot to do a reissue sometime in the near future, so keep your eyes and ears open for further news"
Interesting, right. So there is a download of this available and there is a stream on youtube of it. here...
Musically, this album is a delicate 35 minute experience with in the main John Phillips, his guitar and some tamboruine and some other instrumentation to fill it up. The lyrics are densitive, stunning, at times funny and at times incredibly incisive. The guitar work is first rate. Phillips sounds like he was classically trained at times, the picking is sharp and beautiful. His singing is sweet, and intimate, kind of like a "breathy" whispery style most of the times, in the same vein as Jackson C Frank, Nick Drake, Stuart Murdoch and other music nerd faves. And the compositions and songs are all, and I mean all, fabulous and just absolutely beautiful.
Now I liked this a lot on first listen. But I kept coming back to it, over and over. Again, it seemed too good. Surely, this was good in comparison to its status, surely I was blowing up the quality of this album in my head due to how relatively unknown it was, it can't be really THAT good. That was what I was thinking I'd conclude on subsequent listens. Well, it never happened. I am listening again now, and it shimmers and fills my heart with life and my mind with big ideas even now - and perhaps more than ever - on my 20th or so listen.
The stand out tracks are the utterly beautiful opener "Ballad of a Tall Man" (Jackson C Frank-level gorgeous), the oh so seductive and subtly dark, Proto-Elliott Smith song "Peppermint Wind", the incisive and surprisingly virtuosic guitar instrumental "The Rock", the absolutely absurdly catchy, cutting and twee genius of "Paint Box Jester" (this one really reminds me of some lost Belle and Sebastian classic), the excellent closing track "Look At The Time Fly", the heartbreaking tale of a little girl who lost her hands in a bombing in the song "Permutation Child", the absolutely stunning floating reassuring pick-me-up "Whisper To The Wind" etc.
And I really mean it when i say "etc" cuz there is not a bad song here. The album starts with 6 tracks which absolutely slay and drop my jaw with how great it is. The middle portion goes more in the direction of magical, donovan-esque fantasy lyrics and is more of an enchanting experience. Its great during the middle portion, (forum review too long, cuts [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
This is one of those things which almost seems to good to be true. I mean, this album is stunning, mesmerizing, completely overwhelming for me personally. Yet, this is also an album which has almost no associated info, the artist is a near-total mystery, the album is almost completely lost to the world. How can something this pristine be so overlooked?
I know there are thousands of stories like this, albums which are incredible, artists which are so talented and yet are oppressed or ignored for various reasons through history. But experiencving this album finally drove home how vulnerable and precious art and artistic expression is.
Okay, and now, the very little I could find on this artist can be boiled down to one post from a person on discogs. This is what the user on discogs named capttrips says about this album (I have no idea if this remotely accurate, and bear in mind I am not a great investigator of things on the internet, and maybe some of you are more smart about doing research on this): " I am lucky enough to own a copy of this amazing LP. One of only three copies that have surfaced so far in the entire world. Thirteen original songs featuring sparce but clearly psychedelic instrumentation including occasional flute tabla and finger cymbals. Vocals and lyrics are reminiscent of Syd Barett, Arthur Lee, Donovan et.al. Very little is known about John. He was a pale skinned Zimbabwean who also happened to be a transexual living in South Africa's repressive apartheid regime. Apparently maybe less than 200 copies were pressed and of those many were seized and destroyed by security police. Plans are a foot to do a reissue sometime in the near future, so keep your eyes and ears open for further news"
Interesting, right. So there is a download of this available and there is a stream on youtube of it. here...
Musically, this album is a delicate 35 minute experience with in the main John Phillips, his guitar and some tamboruine and some other instrumentation to fill it up. The lyrics are densitive, stunning, at times funny and at times incredibly incisive. The guitar work is first rate. Phillips sounds like he was classically trained at times, the picking is sharp and beautiful. His singing is sweet, and intimate, kind of like a "breathy" whispery style most of the times, in the same vein as Jackson C Frank, Nick Drake, Stuart Murdoch and other music nerd faves. And the compositions and songs are all, and I mean all, fabulous and just absolutely beautiful.
Now I liked this a lot on first listen. But I kept coming back to it, over and over. Again, it seemed too good. Surely, this was good in comparison to its status, surely I was blowing up the quality of this album in my head due to how relatively unknown it was, it can't be really THAT good. That was what I was thinking I'd conclude on subsequent listens. Well, it never happened. I am listening again now, and it shimmers and fills my heart with life and my mind with big ideas even now - and perhaps more than ever - on my 20th or so listen.
The stand out tracks are the utterly beautiful opener "Ballad of a Tall Man" (Jackson C Frank-level gorgeous), the oh so seductive and subtly dark, Proto-Elliott Smith song "Peppermint Wind", the incisive and surprisingly virtuosic guitar instrumental "The Rock", the absolutely absurdly catchy, cutting and twee genius of "Paint Box Jester" (this one really reminds me of some lost Belle and Sebastian classic), the excellent closing track "Look At The Time Fly", the heartbreaking tale of a little girl who lost her hands in a bombing in the song "Permutation Child", the absolutely stunning floating reassuring pick-me-up "Whisper To The Wind" etc.
And I really mean it when i say "etc" cuz there is not a bad song here. The album starts with 6 tracks which absolutely slay and drop my jaw with how great it is. The middle portion goes more in the direction of magical, donovan-esque fantasy lyrics and is more of an enchanting experience. Its great during the middle portion, (forum review too long, cuts [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
3Total albums: 1. 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 | Mercury | 1960s decade chart | 2021 | |
| Normlore |  Norman Bates | Custom chart | 2017 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | Moondance | 1960s decade chart | 2025 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | WilliamFrayer | 1960s decade chart | 2021 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  jnfbn | 1960s decade chart | 2020 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | Norman Bates | 1960s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  samistake2ice | 1960s decade chart | 2016 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  bertrandu | 1960s decade chart | 2017 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  MrFrogger | 1960s decade chart | 2015 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | BorderFreeAndrew | 1960s decade chart | 2025 | |
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1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums ratings
90/100 (from 5 votes)
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
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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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1960s Singer/Songwriter Albums comments
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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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