Fixed.

As for albums, there's the obvious like Music From Big Pink, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland (I've always preferred the latter for a variety of reasons), and the big elephants in the room, The Beatles, and Beggar's Banquet to go along with what's already been mentioned and a couple more:



Del Shannon: The Further Adventures of Charles Westover I think it was Dump Jack who put this on me a couple of years ago. Somewhere along the way, I actually started liking it. From AMG:





Growing up with my mom being a pretty big Elvis fan, this one of the first things that pops into my mind when I think of 1968 -- The Comeback Special! There's been better remasters and rerealeses than this; more of a sentimental favorite.

'68 sounds right for Super Session to me.

One more oddball that struck me just now:



Biff Rose~ The Thorn In Mrs. Rose's Side- About as quirky as you're going to get, even for 1968. Some of the songs stayed anchored in that year, and have trouble throwing off the intervening years. The best here are still fresh Tin Pan Alley tunefulness, although Biff's Kermit The Frog vocal stylings can get tedious if you aren't in the mood. Rose's story down through the years went nowhere good, and I'm convinced he was (and still is) paranoid schizophrenic, but in 1968, he wrote jaunty pop songs, whimsical stoner stories, and a couple heart-felt love songs. And if you ever wanted to know where Bowie got Fill Your Heart for Hunky Dory, look no further- the songwriter sings it here.

Some more from 1968 that I didn't notice mentioned yet. Some obvious, some less so:


The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow


Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison


Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul

I actually genuinely like that Elvis album, but the next one he released From Elvis in Memphis was really good.

From the wtf category

Leonard Nimoy - The Way I Feel
He had already recorded a couple of novelty records by 1968, but this is Spock's opportunity to record country and light psychedelic music. It comes off like a male version of the music all those French models so terribly but cutely recorded during the 60s. It deserves to be heard because it's Nimoy and it deserves to be kept for the fact that it exists, but as you can imagine, it's not actually good.

Love Sculpture - Blues Helping
It might not be the most praised or original british (welsh) blues album from the 60s and 70s, but it's far and away my favorite. And it all comes down to one thing: Dave Edmunds fierce guitar playing. It sounds primal, but his technique is borrowing from the electric blues masters as well as the more modern virtuoso's. It's probably in my top 3 favorite guitar records period and a great disc. If you like the 60s blues revival at all and don't have this record, you're doing your self a disservice.

Played the shit out of this "stereo" release as a kid.
I mention stereo, cos the original mix had Beck's guitar coming out of one side and the placement of sound was less than desired. I still get a chuckle when I hear a track out and about. For its time it was referenced as a proto-metal record cos of its "hard-rock" blues approach. Also, introducing Rod Stewart on Vox and Ron Wood on bass. To this day (cos of this record) I actually prefer Woody on bass and NOT guitar when performing his sideman duties.

Oh, FUCK!
Dillard & Clark - The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark

If you think that the country rock/insurgent country/whatever you want to call it begins with The Byrds or Gram Parsons, you're only partially right. This here record is as good as Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Maybe better. Some folks say that Gene Clark was kicked out of the band that he helped put together by Roger McGuinn, who was jealous of his songwriting prowess. Hell, no less than Bob Dylan was quoted as telling that band that they didn't need to cover all of his songs as long as Gene was in the band. That's how good he was. This album is the proof that he could do it without McGuinn's famous 12-string jangle. A seriously amazing album that should be known and revered by many, many more people than it is.

+1, and damned good call. Some serious personal drug ingestion associated with this one.

pretty sure Todd is a big fan of this one, or at least someone here is - but more people should check it out.


Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe?
Recorded at just 19, Billy Nicholls gets the Beach Boys treatment from producer Andrew Oldham. Dreamy psychedelics, layered vocals, guitars that would later bring to mind "jangle pop" and strings out the wazoo. It's not comparable to Pet Sounds or anything, but it does work as a nice compliment in the style without the outward California love. Totally enjoyable record

I probably have or am very familiar with the dozen or so albums from this year that routinely show up on Top 100 albums of all time but I honestly don't have much to offer in the way of more obscure choices. Still, those albums are essential in any self-respecting rock enthusiasts education.

That said, I did grab this a while back as a direct result of a thread (can't remember the genesis of it at the moment) where a pretty good argument went on about it's role in the birth of heavy metal:




Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

At the height of psychedelic blues, these dudes probably out pummeled everyone. This stands up surprisingly well even out of the context of it's time. For a modern rock reference, I think you can draw a straight line directly from this to everything that Comets On Fire do all the way down to their sound.

I can't imagine how many LSD freakouts this band induced at the time.

I do like that record. But I'm not as familiar with it as I would like to be. I had it on vinyl; picked it up just before my turntable went KA-BLOOIE! And then, I lost the vinyl in the flood that I had a few months ago. I'll have to pick it up again. Thanks for the reminder.

Here’s one for the 8 that Radcliffe says always go apeshit over the same albums.



Mickey Newbury – Harlequin Memories

I’m sure tentoze knows Newbury well and I’d be surprised if he wasn’t a fan but it’s possible that many of those younger even who like country don’t know that much about him. He’s much better known as a songwriter (Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame and a songwriter who has over 100 songs covered by over 1000 artists) than as a performer. He’s recorded plenty of records but I think a lot of them are out of print or only available as part of a box set.

I stumbled on this album at Amoeba, recognized Newbury’s name but wasn’t really familiar with him. I was on a 60’s/70’s country kick and bought it on a whim partly just based on it being on the Raven Reissue label (that has been behind a lot of the Hoyt Axton/Al Kooper reissues among other things).

Turns out that this was Mickey Newbury’s debut album. Many of the songs on here all written by Newbury except for one song which he co-wrote with Townes Van Zandt, but many of them had already been hits for others. Even if you’ve never heard Newbury, you’ll recognize many of the songs. “Sweet Memories” has been recorded by many artists including Leon Russell, Willie Nelson & Etta James. “She Just Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” was a number 2 hit for JLL and has also been recorded by Keith Richards and Del Shannon. “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” launched Kenny Rogers’ career and has also been recorded by many others including Nick Cave and Bettye LaVette. “Sunshine” had been recorded by Ray Charles. The album was produced by Ferlin Husky (Elvis Presley’s producer) and it’s comes with complete with orchestras, gospel piano, backup choirs, sitars, and a bunch of other instrumentation not traditionally associated with country music. Newbury himself was pissed at Husky claiming it was overproduced. He disavowed the album (doesn’t even list it in his discography on his website) , broke with RCA as a result and later re-recorded most of the songs in a much more stripped down manner. I love it though. There’s a soulfulness and depth to it that isn’t present in most country music. This is country that even Radcliffe could probably embrace.

If I haven’t convinced you to check him out yet, read some of this praise:

love micky newbury but dont have that one

a few more:



Buddy Miles - Expressway To Your Skull

I probably like this a little more than the Electric Flag album Shmoo posted but both are really good.



Archie Bell & the Drells - Tighten Up

The title track to this is about as good as soul gets. It was also a number one single that sold 3 million copies. Must have been nice to live in a day when the popular stuff was the good stuff. There's plenty more to like on this too.



Syl Johnson - Dresses Too Short

One of the best voices in southern soul.



Spirit - The Family that Plays Together, Stays Together

I'm always really impressed by Spirit whenever I pull them out for a listen which I should do far more often then I do. A really great and underrated band.



Max Roach - Members Don't Get Weary

Excellent Post Bop/Spiritual Jazz outing with all star band (Gary Bartz, Stanley Cowell, Charles Tolliver and vocalist Andy Bey) backing Max Roach.

not my link:

I need to remember to check out Dillard and Clark, Spirit, and Syl Johnson. And Blue Cheer.

(This page also reminded me to catalog SF Sorrow and Expressway to Your Skull on RYM.)

I'm as much a Gene Clark fan as the next guy and the albums that he sings on are my favorite Byrds albums and I'm sure Roger McGuinn was a prickly and controlling personality. That said, I've never heard any other story than Gene Clark hated flying and either quit the band because of it or was sacked because of it. It would seem to me that it's fair to say that flying would be a prerequisite for being in a band as big as the Byrds were.

Anyway I agree its a really good album as is this one from Doug Dillard's main gig:



The Dillards - Wheatstraw Suite

yeah i gotta check out that Gene Clark stuff.

also, +1 on the Billy Nichols, who i got into from someone here...

Such a great song.

I'd be interested in checking out that Jeff Beck and the Del Shannon. I get Jeff Beck records recommended to me all the time by Amazon based on my purchases but have always ignored them and Joe Pernice saying a ton of great things about Del Shannon last time I saw him play has got me a little curious about him as well

A few more



Bert Sommer - The Road to Travel

I first discovered Bert Sommer a few years ago through his loose association with the Left Banke. Apparently, he was really good friends with Michael Brown so he wrote some songs for Left Banke, the best known of which is Pretty Ballerina. He also sang lead on one of their lesser known singles and practically wrote half of the songs that appeared on the Montage album which is as close as their is to a follow-up to the Left Banke. I picked this up when it got reissued expecting it to sound the Left Banke's baroque pop sound. When it didn't, I kind of filed it away and forgot about it. I randomly pulled it out a few years later and grew to like it. There are elements of baroque pop to it, but it is also pretty folky at times and there is a hard edger theatricalness to it at other times which I guess shouldn't be too surprising given that Bert Sommer was second chair on a broadway production of Hair at one point.

Pretty interesting guy in any case and one that could have broke it much bigger if he had a few breaks go his way. Apparently, he is probably the least known guy to have played Woodstock. His set was reportedly well-received but he never made it into any the films or recorded material, probably because his name wasn't big enough to demand it and Warner Brothers who bought the rights to all the archival materials didn't really have any reason to promote him since he was on Capitol.



The Family Tree - Miss Butters

Really good baroque pop album recorded during the same sessions as Harry Nilsson's Aerial Ballet with the same session players, studio, producers, and arrangers, etc. I'd be surprised if this weren't right up the alley of Poptodd, bort, mcaputo and probably a few others.



The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Together

Featuring Charles Wright on vocals, they're probably the tightest soul/funk band this side of the JB's. This features the big hit "Do Your Thing" but there's plenty of other good songs on here. I really like all of their albums. They are still active and every now and again I'll see that they are playing a gig and get tempted to go. It's usually in Watts or Compton or some other place that doesn't seem like a really good idea for a honkey like me to be heading though.

houston's own

always reminds me of homer's ill-fated attempt at being a one-man band: "i'm archie bell and I'M ALSO THE DRELLS"

my overall response to this year is a meh

Very underrated. That album is in the first 10 or so that I ever paid my own money for. I LOVE Spirit.