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 1966. (Remove this filter)
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[First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
25,531
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
175
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#3 Pre-1967
Damn! These first 2 Hardin albums just hit the sweet spot, don't they? Painfully short (this is 27 min, Tim Hardin 2 is 23 min), perfectly balanced between introspective and downright poetic tracks and blues rockers, and they feature obviously truly excellent and soulful vocals by the man himself. If Jansch's album was all about stripping away all but simple vocal and guitar, this album is about taking simple, elegant songs and imagining them in all sorts of new and pristine ways with the occasional orchestra, the occasional full on blues rock band (with HARMONICA!) , with the occasional straight forward folkie rock tune, etc. This album despite its length is beautifully scattered stylistically. I should say, not scattered, but varied. It could have come across as Scattered if not for the absolutely human and likable and brilliant anchor holding this thing down - Timmy H hisself.
Every song is a short nugget, a gem, they all have their own personality and soul and they are all so beautifully self contained and presented so excellently. Every track is unique in this way. That is not to say there are not obvious stand outs. The mournful, subtly orchestral, soul song "It'll Never Happen Again" is just absolutely gorgeous and tearful and earnest. The opener "Don't Make Promises" is just an earworm classic. "Reasons To Believe" is a classic soulful pop gem, all about the struggle of loving someone, with just virtuosicly spare use of words. "Smugglin Man" is balls to the wall blues rock, while not as intense as stuff from Highway 61 Revisited, its a nice companion to that immensely influential sound, and holds its own even against such a peer's work as that. Okay, that last comment made not much sense, but finally the closer here :How Can We Hang On To A Dream" is another absolutely breathtaking breakup song.
And etc etc, this is fabulous. And what's more, Tim Hardin 2 is a bit better. Also a 1967 album. 67 is a stacked year.
Grade: 9.1/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Damn! These first 2 Hardin albums just hit the sweet spot, don't they? Painfully short (this is 27 min, Tim Hardin 2 is 23 min), perfectly balanced between introspective and downright poetic tracks and blues rockers, and they feature obviously truly excellent and soulful vocals by the man himself. If Jansch's album was all about stripping away all but simple vocal and guitar, this album is about taking simple, elegant songs and imagining them in all sorts of new and pristine ways with the occasional orchestra, the occasional full on blues rock band (with HARMONICA!) , with the occasional straight forward folkie rock tune, etc. This album despite its length is beautifully scattered stylistically. I should say, not scattered, but varied. It could have come across as Scattered if not for the absolutely human and likable and brilliant anchor holding this thing down - Timmy H hisself.
Every song is a short nugget, a gem, they all have their own personality and soul and they are all so beautifully self contained and presented so excellently. Every track is unique in this way. That is not to say there are not obvious stand outs. The mournful, subtly orchestral, soul song "It'll Never Happen Again" is just absolutely gorgeous and tearful and earnest. The opener "Don't Make Promises" is just an earworm classic. "Reasons To Believe" is a classic soulful pop gem, all about the struggle of loving someone, with just virtuosicly spare use of words. "Smugglin Man" is balls to the wall blues rock, while not as intense as stuff from Highway 61 Revisited, its a nice companion to that immensely influential sound, and holds its own even against such a peer's work as that. Okay, that last comment made not much sense, but finally the closer here :How Can We Hang On To A Dream" is another absolutely breathtaking breakup song.
And etc etc, this is fabulous. And what's more, Tim Hardin 2 is a bit better. Also a 1967 album. 67 is a stacked year.
Grade: 9.1/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
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#8 Pre-1967
Here's a strange album, such a quick turn around from his previous work! He went from just very straight-forward folkie songs on his first couple records to this...this psychedelic, strange, sort of kaleidoscopic album. It's considered a classic now, but I imagine it blew people's mind back in '66.
I really enjoy this, the opener is a classic and very nicely dated to those early attempts at psychedelic music. and the strange experimentation doesn't stop there. The second track "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" is another trippy, off kilter track about strange fantasy-laced images of the main protagonist, the strings come in beautifully, Donovan's vocal delivery is excellent slow and stretched and mesmerizing. The whole song is a 7 minute experimental epic, which totally re-imagines the folk sound mixing in elements of chamber-folk and pop and psychedelic aspects, etc. It's really quite awesome and unique.
Other standouts are the very cool indeed blues jam "Season of The Witch" (interesting that Donovan actually does sound cool as hell here. His persona has always been one of anti-coolness for me...probably because of Dont Look Back film...), and the cool reference to Mr. Bert Jansch "Bert's Blues". "Bert's Blues" is just a groovy low key track with its loping feel and all that cool stuff. And apparently per Donovan its about a romantic triangle he was in the middle of with his good friend Bert Jansch and Beverly Marten).
Grade: 7.9/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Here's a strange album, such a quick turn around from his previous work! He went from just very straight-forward folkie songs on his first couple records to this...this psychedelic, strange, sort of kaleidoscopic album. It's considered a classic now, but I imagine it blew people's mind back in '66.
I really enjoy this, the opener is a classic and very nicely dated to those early attempts at psychedelic music. and the strange experimentation doesn't stop there. The second track "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" is another trippy, off kilter track about strange fantasy-laced images of the main protagonist, the strings come in beautifully, Donovan's vocal delivery is excellent slow and stretched and mesmerizing. The whole song is a 7 minute experimental epic, which totally re-imagines the folk sound mixing in elements of chamber-folk and pop and psychedelic aspects, etc. It's really quite awesome and unique.
Other standouts are the very cool indeed blues jam "Season of The Witch" (interesting that Donovan actually does sound cool as hell here. His persona has always been one of anti-coolness for me...probably because of Dont Look Back film...), and the cool reference to Mr. Bert Jansch "Bert's Blues". "Bert's Blues" is just a groovy low key track with its loping feel and all that cool stuff. And apparently per Donovan its about a romantic triangle he was in the middle of with his good friend Bert Jansch and Beverly Marten).
Grade: 7.9/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,180
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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#6 of 1967
Listening to this was an interesting experience. The whole dreamy vibe, with the strange echoey production especially on the classic opener "The Dolphins" sounded so unique. Also it does sound like it had a slight influence on Buckley. Fred Neil's vocals here are the usual unaffected cool, velvety excellence. And the themes are consistently fascinating.
It is interesting to see how far he went in the more dreamy experimentalism with this album compared to his previous album "Bleecker and MacDougal". While I personally feel like the songwriting and the actual songs on his previous album are more engaging and fun, the production and general flow of this album makes it ascend slightly over his excellent debut.
Also that last song, the 8 minute weird psychedelic instrumental, is cool as hell.
Grade: 8.7/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Listening to this was an interesting experience. The whole dreamy vibe, with the strange echoey production especially on the classic opener "The Dolphins" sounded so unique. Also it does sound like it had a slight influence on Buckley. Fred Neil's vocals here are the usual unaffected cool, velvety excellence. And the themes are consistently fascinating.
It is interesting to see how far he went in the more dreamy experimentalism with this album compared to his previous album "Bleecker and MacDougal". While I personally feel like the songwriting and the actual songs on his previous album are more engaging and fun, the production and general flow of this album makes it ascend slightly over his excellent debut.
Also that last song, the 8 minute weird psychedelic instrumental, is cool as hell.
Grade: 8.7/10 [First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
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Honorable Mention for Pre-1967
[First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
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Honorable Mention for Pre-1967
[First added to this chart: 10/14/2017]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,480
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 6. 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% | |
| Roger Miller | 3 | 3% | |
| Tim Hardin | 3 | 3% | |
| Bert Jansch | 3 | 3% | |
| Laura Nyro | 3 | 3% | |
| Tim Buckley | 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 |  bertrandu | 1960s decade chart | 2017 | |
| 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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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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