Top 29 Music Albums of 1968
by Romanelli

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Produced by George Martin. This was my first real exposure to The Beatles...what a ride!This album is like nothing else before it. You can feel the tension in it, and you can hear, more than on any of their other works, how different they were as individuals. This always seems a bit sad to me, but it's also a band stretching out in directions that no one had dared to ever record before. A great set of songs, and a highly emotional album. This made me love The Beatles. I don't regret it for a minute. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
36,865
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (89/100 - 3838 votes)  89 (3,838 votes)
Comments:
Buy album United States
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[First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,714
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (85/100 - 1355 votes)  85 (1,355 votes)
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Produced by John Simon. Armed with a career full of playing backup band for the likes of Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan, The Band recorded their debut armed with great originals and Dylan covers. The result is an album that was like no other. "I Shall Be Released" is one of the greatest recordings of the 20th century, and tracks like "Chest Fever", "The Weight" and "Tears Of Rage" make it one of the best debut albums of all time. A phenomenal album by one of the greatest bands ever assembled. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,675
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1968 – COLUMBIA
Produced By BOB JOHNSTON

1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Busted
3. Dark As A Dungeon
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 MinutesTo Go
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. The Long Black Veil
9. Send A Picture Of Mother
10. The Wall
11. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog
12. Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
13. Joe Bean
14. Jackson
15. Give My Love To Rose
16. I Got Stripes
17. The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer
18. Green, Green Grass Of Home
19. Greystone Chapel

After having recorded 26 albums, Johnny Cash had to beg Columbia Records to record At Folsom Prison. His career had become stagnant over the previous four years, due to substance abuse and not quite stellar material. Cash finally got the okay to do the Folsom album after he was paired with Bob Dylan’s longtime producer, Bob Johnston. So Cash took his band (the Tennessee Three), June Carter and Carl Perkins to the California prison and recorded two shows for the inmates. The best of the shows became At Folsom Prison, the album that completely rejuvenated Cash’s career. It stands today as one of the best live albums ever made, and remains one of the strongest images of Cash. The show is lively, and Cash is in great spirits and great voice. Cash released 96 albums, and this may be the most memorable of them all.

Cash romps through many of his hits, including excellent renditions of “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Orange Blossom Special”. The Folsom version of his duet with Carter, “Jackson”, is legendary. He fills the set with prison related songs like “Cocaine Blues”, “25 Minutes To Go”, and “I Got Stripes”. He pokes just enough fun at the guards to make everyone happy, and he ends up with one hell of a perfect album. This is the 1999 reissue, so there are 4 extra tracks (“Busted”, “I Got Stripes”, and “The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer”). He even threw in “Greystone Chapel”, a song written by Folsom inmate Glen Sherley (who would have a turbulent career in music after his release from Folsom). At Folsom Prison has some of everything, and it’s maybe the best album in the long and amazing career of Cash. An absolute must have.
[First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,305
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1968-MCA
Produced By JIMI HENDRIX

1. ...And The Gods Made Love
2. Have You Ever Been To (Electric Ladyland)
3. Crosstown Traffic
4. Voodoo Chile
5. Little Miss Strange
6. Long Hot Summer Night
7. Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)
8. Gypsy Eyes
9. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
10. Rainy Day, Dream Away
11. 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
12. Moon, Turn The Tides...Gently Gently Away
13. Still Raining, Still Dreaming
14. House Burning Down
15. All Along The Watchtower
16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Electric Ladyland was, and was intended to be, the final Jimi Hendrix Experience album. At the time of his death, he was already working with new musicians and moving in a different direction. This may be his finest of the 3 studio albums he left behind, and certainly changed the way rock albums were put together. A 2 record set, this sprawling set shows just how quickly and amazingly Hendrix had outgrown the pop artist he had become just over a year earlier. His songs are no longer singles, but turning into masterful works of art. There is only one piece of filler here, "Little Miss Strange", which was written and sung by bassist Noel Redding. Redding and Hendrix were miles apart by the end of the recording, which was the first step toward the end of the Experience. Redding wanted to do his own inferior songs, and he didn't like the party atmosphere that Hendrix encouraged.

The great pieces here are astounding. "Voodoo Chile" features a powerful back and forth between Hendrix and Steve Winwood. "All Along The Watchtower" (featuring Dave Mason on 12 string guitar) is Hendrix doing Dylan at it's best. "Crosstown Traffic" is maybe his greatest single. And everything else in between is just stunning to listen to. Jimi Hendrix was a man with a truly scary gift...and where that gift might have taken him is anyone's guess. Electric Ladyland is a must have. One of the best albums of all time.
[First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,352
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (86/100 - 1993 votes)  86 (1,993 votes)
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 09/30/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,362
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1968 – ATCO
Produced By FELIX PAPPALARDI


1. White Room
2. Sitting On Top Of The World
3. Passing The Time
4. As You Said
5. Pressed Rat And Warthog
6. Politician
7. Those Were The Days
8. Born Under A Bad Sign
9. Deserted Cities Of The Heart

1. Crossroads
2. Spoonful
3. Traintime
4. Toad


Following the success of their 1967 album Disraeli Gears, Cream unleashed this mammoth 2 record set in the summer of 1968. Containing one live disc and one recorded in the studio, Wheels Of Fire was intended to show off the strengths of the trio both as a band and as individual musicians, and it succeeds very well in doing just that. The only thing that Wheels Of Fire doesn’t have is a song written by Eric Clapton, who instead chose a pair of cover songs. The studio side opens with the impeccable “White Room”, featuring great guitar work from Clapton and sung by bassist Jack Bruce. Clapton’s covers, “Sitting On Top Of The World” and “Born Under A Bad Sign”, are powerful blues tracks. Drummer Ginger Baker contributed three songs, including “Pressed Rat And Warthog”, which is simply unexplainably weird. The studio half is pure excellence, and shows why Cream was, for the short time they could stand to be in the same room with each other, one of the great bands of the late 60’s.

The live half (the two records were, at one point, sold as separate albums) is more about showing off what each member could do individually, and it suffers from a bit of overindulgence. Clapton’s guitar work on “Crossroads” is legendary, and he tears up “Spoonful” just as exceptionally. But “Traintime” is too much Bruce on harmonica, and the plodding “Toad” is way, way, way too much of a Baker drum solo. But, even with these excesses, Wheels Of Fire is a great accomplishment, and one of the must have albums of the sixties. The band broke up soon after this was released…they recorded a handful of songs for the Goodbye album, and that was it. Baker and Bruce hated each other, and Clapton wanted to move into a different direction. But the band’s first three albums (Cream, Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire) provided enough material to cement the band as legends forever. And important and short lived important band, always well worth hearing.
[First added to this chart: 12/25/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,090
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1968-COLUMBIA
Produced By SIMON & GARFUNKEL & ROY HALEE

1. Bookends Theme
2. Save The Life Of My Child
3. America
4. Overs
5. Voices Of Old People
6. Old Friends
7. Bookends Theme
8. Fakin’ It
9. Punky’s Dilemna
10. Mrs. Robinson
11. A Hazy Shade Of Winter
12. At The Zoo

13. You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies
14. Old Friends

Simon And Garfunkel were already stars by the time The Graduate was released in early 1968. They had recorded the soundtrack album, but there were significant songs that were rejected, including the full version of “Mrs. Robinson”. So, when they went into the studio to record Bookends, they already had material to start with. Side one of the album is a conceptual flow of songs about the journey from birth to death. The strongest of these songs, “America” and “Old Friends”, along with the short but sweet title theme, make the suite a great listen. There are some strange, jarring moments of psychedelic noise, but otherwise the music is solid…and of course, their voices are impeccable. “Voices Of Old People” is unnecessary, not a song but a collage of old people talking.

Side two consists of the songs rejected by the producers of The Graduate, and is excellent. “Mrs. Robinson” is unbelievable as a reject. “At The Zoo” is a sweet song. “A Hazy Shade Of Winter” (later a hit for The Bangles) shows that Simon really could rock. It is rumored that “Punky’s Dilemna” took over 50 hours to record. In all, the album is strong…but it’s also very short, coming in at under 30 minutes. The sound effects can be off putting, making parts of the album sound very dated. But there is plenty of redemption in the second half with the rejected Graduate songs. And, of course, “America”. The best folk duo of all time recorded together for what was a far too short a time. “Time it was, and what a time it was, it was…”
[First added to this chart: 07/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,861
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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[First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,983
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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1968-COLUMBIA/LEGACY
Produced By GARY USHER

1. You Ain't Going Nowhere
2. I Am The Pilgrim
3. The Christian Life
4. You Don't Miss Your Water
5. You're Still On My Mind
6. Pretty Boy Floyd
7. Hickory Wind
8. One Hundred Years From Now
9. Blue Canadian Rockies
10. Life In Prison
11. Nothing Was Delivered

Bonus Tracks
12. You Got A Reputation
13. Lazy Days
14. Pretty Polly
15. The Christian Life (Rehearsal Take #11)
16. Life In Prison (Rehearsal Take #11)
17. You're Still On My Mind (Rehearsal Take #43)
18. One Hundred Years From Now (Rehearsal Take #2)
19. All I Have Are Memories

In 1968, David Crosby was replaced in The Byrds by Gram Parsons. And although Parsons would be in the band for only 4 months, the effect was staggering. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is the last great Byrds album, a move head first into country music. Parsons changed everything about the band, and while he was there, it was a great change. In typical Byrds fashion, the album opens and closes with Dylan covers...but what happens in between is music that changed the interraction between country and rock. A masterpiece on its own, Sweetheart is a must have.

If you have an 11 song version, however, toss it out and go get the 1997 reissue. This version contains not only the original album, but 8 must have bonus tracks. The first 3 are outtakes...the next 4 are versions of sons on the album with Parsons on lead vocals, versions not released anywhere else. This package also includes perfect song by song liner notes, and the history of Parson's short but important stay in the band (most of his vocal work was redone by Roger McGuinn after Parson's old record company threatened to sue Columbia because they claimed he was still under contract). Parsons left soon after, and not long after that, Chris Hillman was gone as well, effectively ending The Byrds as a great band.

Anyway...this is an album you must have.
[First added to this chart: 04/12/2012]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,010
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 29. Page 1 of 3
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Top 29 Music Albums of 1968 composition

Country Albums %


United States 17 59%
United Kingdom 9 31%
Canada 2 7%
Mixed Nationality 1 3%
Compilation? Albums %
No 28 97%
Yes 1 3%
Live? Albums %
No 27 93%
Yes 2 7%

Top 29 Music Albums of 1968 chart changes

Biggest climbers
Climber Up 3 from 11th to 8thBookends
by Simon & Garfunkel
Biggest fallers
Faller Down 1 from 8th to 9thBeggars Banquet
by The Rolling Stones
Faller Down 1 from 9th to 10thSweetheart Of The Rodeo
by The Byrds
Faller Down 1 from 10th to 11thQuicksilver Messenger Service
by Quicksilver Messenger Service

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Top 29 Music Albums of 1968 ratings

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84/100 (from 5 votes)
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11/26/2021 08:01 desh79   1,27493/100
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01/15/2015 10:04 gon2bed   13677/100
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08/22/2014 14:36 thedistantship   16284/100
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11/14/2013 14:52 bonafini   15584/100
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10/06/2012 12:32 ffudnebbuh   65391/100
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From 01/15/2015 10:04 | #131580
Not really a year or decade I love that much, personally have Electric Ladyland top and cream higher.
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