All but there...
6. Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones
Everything good or bad eventually comes to an end. (Yes, even the current administration will eventually become part of our dark history) This album was essentially the last album of the sixties. Released in late November it arrived like and early Christmas present for a dying child. In this case the doomed child was the sixties. In that ten year stretch of time that poor kid had been turned inside out , kicked in the teeth, blown apart, shot down and set on fire countless times. However, it would prove to be an extremely resilient decade and as it rose from the ashes you could almost hear the opening licks of “Gimme Shelter” seeping through the smoke.
Rock had arrived in the fifties like some bastard stepchild. By the end of the sixties bands like this served notice that it was here to stay, no matter who were the parents. They would never look back, they would solider on and carry the torch for the next few decades. Sometimes higher than others. Their break with the past started with “Beggars Banquet” and it’s blues infused, hard acoustic sound. Mick and Keith had dropped all pretense of thinly veiled tales of drugs, women and booze at this point. With this album all vices were front and center. If radio found something that didn‘t address it too directly it was fine with them. They just weren‘t going to make any more concessions.
Not that either band cared, but this was also the turning point where they and the Beatles decided to sever the cord once and for all see what they were capable of by looking straight ahead instead of over their shoulders. Clearly, they were their own band at this point. And with that realization, they became everyone’s band.
There is no real traditional ebb and flow to this album other than the closer of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” There is nowhere else on the album you could have placed this one. Each song is almost a jolt from the one before it. They were writing great stuff in several styles at this point. It’s more an audio diary of how they spent 1969 than anything. At this point Brian Jones had one foot out the door, and would have both in the grave by the time of the albums release. Mick Taylor was just coming through the door. It (the album) all but served as the exit music for the sixties. Fading in the opener of “Gimme Shelter” was a good idea. That song really has no beginning or end, we simply get a slice of the vibe and ride it out with them for a few minutes.
There’s nothing resembling a hit single here, these are truly album tracks that vary in length and style. Album oriented rock had already been established, but this is a pretty good example of what its true definition is.
7. The Beatles (White Album) - Beatles
I guess it’s my turn to take on this gargantuan album that just seems to get whiter and longer with each passing year. Although they would suck it up and actually return to being a group for “Abbey Road” on this one they all got a chance to try out their solo careers with the others as their backing band. Like anything intended for the masses, results may vary depending on how adventurous you were then and now. Me, I’ve always been drawn to it like a puzzle that you just can’t resist trying to assemble every now and then. At just under ninety four minutes it’s a lot to digest in one sitting. The first side is easily my favorite. The others don’t have the flow, but they yield some real gems just the same. No need to bore you with them here, you know them by heart.
I’ve always thought that they missed a great opportunity to establish a new format for vinyl with this one: that of the three sided album. This one has just a bit too much indulgence here and there and could have been trimmed. (Since there’s no doubt that Paul and Ringo read this blog I’ll not mention how I would have edited it down.) The three sided album would eventually surface, but was relegated to novelty status since Johny Winter wasn’t in their league when he released “Second Winter.” Had the Beatles done it first it would have no doubt become the new standard. A standard that many double albums over the ensuing decades should have heeded.
Bottom line is that this is the Beatles trying to come to terms with everything going on in their lives in late sixties London. The hoards of screaming women and been whittled down to wives and kids now. They had to get up and go to work just like everyone else. Beatlemania was a couple of years and a couple of lifetimes away at this point. To these ears they carried the weight pretty well all things considered.
8. Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
You all know the story of Parsons and his too short life. You may even have all of his recordings. The only thing left to figure out is how someone so young could make such a fully realized album with no clunkers in a genre that belied his lifestyle to such a large extent. I have no answer or clever twists to follow the question. His body of work is worthy of all the accolades still being presented though. It simply holds up better than many others who took similar paths when trying to merge country and rock.
I know a lot of people hate them, but this is probably where the Eagles got their early sound as much as anywhere. I have to think they were hip to Parsons and his earlier material. There’s nothing raw or sloppy about Parsons’ approach to music. He was just as in love with the country music that was coming out of Nashville as anyone. His problem was he could write and find better material. He also had an angelic voice that could show emotion and not fall into parody like so many others. To bring this full circle, he simply loved country music, he just felt there was another way to sing and play it. No arguments here.
The title track alone is reason enough to include the album on this list. He didn’t stop there though, using Elvis Presley’s band and Emmylou Harris they took us down those twenty thousand roads on a thrill ride I‘ve never gotten over. Since this one came out years before bloated CD’s and shuffle options this one was carefully sequenced. It opens with the title track, kicks off the second side with a irresistible fake live recording, throws in some covers and closes with a hopeful country prayer. In its own way it serves as an audio epitaph. He would be dead before this one even reached the pressing plant. Thankfully music is something that never dies.
9. Who’s Next - Who
I’ll keep this one short and sweet. There’s not much I can add to this albums history. This was simply the right album at the right time for this band. They would never top this one for a complete work as far as I’m concerned. Townshend was one of the more prolific of the rock writers of his era. He had large ambitions, but at this heart he was a rocker just like the rest of them. This is also perhaps their most varied album. The sequencing is perfect from start to finish.
By the time of this release the group had already hit all of the checkpoints for a classic sixties British band. They had an initial hit right out of the box, had a non instrument playing lead singer, gave props to U.S. R & B acts, lived hard, looked scruffy, delivered an incendiary live recording and recorded a double album. The only thing missing that everyone else had done was they needed the obligatory seven minute or longer FM staple to reach the summit. With “Won’t Get Fooled Again” they scaled the mountain and planted the flag.
Unlike a lot of music in my collection this one sounds better and better with the passing years. I don’t play it every week or day like I once did, but I play it start to finish whenever I do.
10. Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel
Over the course of a lean five album career this duo left us with as many signature songs as anyone with twice as many offerings. Speaking of lean, running just over twenty nine minutes they manage to offer a mini opera about life in our fair land and four top forty singles including the iconic “Mrs. Robinson.” Not a bad half hour at the studio if you ask me. Much like the Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” the first side was new and unheard material, while the second side gathered up their recent singles. In their capable hands it all comes off seamless and as long as we’re using words that end in “less” let’s throw in timeless.
When this came out in 1968 they were among the elite groups that had their material equally embraced by AM and FM radio. If you had a transistor taped to you handlebars you got “A Hazy Shade Of Winter.” If your dad had some nice hi-fi gear in the family room you got “America.” “America,” now there’s a song that could nearly define the sixties that we knew. We’ve aged quite a bit, but it’s never lost its edge or its meaning no matter how many years you pile on top of it. Wish I could say the same.
Although he’s won every award there is other than world’s tallest man I still think Simon’s contributions to music are underrated. If you look over just the hits you’ll find one of American music’s most creative and inventive composers. I say inventive because of his never mentioned prowess on the guitar. His intros alone are some of the most memorable the airwaves have ever broadcast. When was the last time one of their songs came on the radio and you couldn’t place it until you heard the lyrics? The complex fingering intro of “Mrs. Robinson” tips you off that the title character is a complicated person. The poignant resignation in the strumming on “Homeward Bound,” the calming notes of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or the melancholy of “Still Crazy After All These Years.” You get the idea. These are complete songs, not poetry set to music like other writers sometimes rely on.
All of their albums have their shining moments and “Bridge…” is one that could have had this slot. The thing that holds that one back for me is the production is a bit over the top and the inclusion of “Bye, Bye Love” recorded live just doesn’t feel right. It should have been a B-Side instead. That said I never program around the track either. For such a classic album it just lacks a flow that should be there. “Bookends” has no such problem. My only gripe is the short running time, I just don’t want it to end.
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