This might be a tough one. I only have a little jazz from this year.

Can't say as I own this one, but I'm thinking that I should hear this. And, therefore, so should most of us:

Very little outside of jazz (which I'm not into very much) I know of. This, though:



And this is decent, but not her best work, IMO:

Looks like quite a good year to me, actually...


Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western


Etta James: At Last


Roy Orbison: Sings Lonely and Blue


Olliver Nelson: Blues and the Abstract Truth


Patsy Cline: Showcase


Johnny Cash: Now Here's Johnny Cash

Some giants walking the earth then making some damn good music.

Yeah, these are definitely on my want list for this year.

Great album, but 1962, no?

AMG lists it as '61.

'62 on RYM which is generally more reliable than AMG. AMG seems to use recording dates for older stuff instead of release dates pretty often.

Yeah Modern Sounds is 62. But Ray put out a handful of albums in '61 including "Genius+Soul=Jazz" which is one of my favorites.

Also, Bill Evans released "Explorations" "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" and "Waltz for Debby" which are all basically perfect.

Apparently I have 55 albums from 1961, I'll look through.

Oh wow, looking at the RYM list - it has to be one of the best years for jazz and makes me realize I have a lot of jazz albums in my collection labeled for the wrong year (maybe even re-release dates)

I don't have Explorations, but the other two are definitely essential.



Waltz for Debby is my favorite Bill Evans, both the album and the song.

Here's a generally underrated/overlooked jazz guy, to the point at which this album has been re-branded as an Eric Dolphy record because Dolphy is a bigger name:





This is my 3rd favorite album of 1961 right behind Waltz for Debby and The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra.

Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard

This is pretty much perfect classic country. I believe it's only like his 2nd or 3rd album (amg check: yep!), but it's all songs that Harlan wrote and all of Buck's best songs were pretty much Harlan songs anyway (not necessarily on this album).

more great jazz classics: Jimmy Giuffre 3 - "Fusion" and "Thesis"

Great Dion album.

Hang on... if you include jazz it was a great year... beyond those already mentioned (and Waltz for Debbie is one of all time great recordings):

1. Miles Davis – Someday My Prince Will Come
2. Cecil Taylor - New York City R&B
3. Hank Mobley - Workout
4. Benny Carter - Further Definitions
5. Mosaic - Art Blakey
6. Time Further Out - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
7. Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation - Ornette Coleman
8. Coltrane Jazz - John Coltrane
9. My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
10. Out of the Cool - Gil Evans Orchestra
11. Focus - Stan Getz
12. The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra - Sun Ra and his Arkestra
13. Percussion Bitter Sweet - Max Roach
14. Oliver Nelson - Afro-American Sketches
15. Eddie Harris – Exodus to Jazz
16. Wes Montgomery - So Much Guitar
17. Ornette Coleman- Free Jazz
18. John Coltrane - Impressions
19. Charles Mingus - Oh Yeah
20. Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
21. Bill Evans - Explorations
22. Freddy Hubbard - Ready for Freddy

I picked this up on vinyl recently. Love it.

I was checking out my collection and I don't have a lot in the way of albums, but lots of singles. My dad had a bunch of cassette collection of singles from the late 50s and early 60s called 'Golden Treasures' or something like that. Anyway, it got played a lot so I've got a spot for a lot of those songs. From a Top 100 of '61 I found. Favourites in bold.


3 WILL YOU LOVE ME TOMORROW – The Shirelles (Scepter)
4 TOSSIN’ AND TURNIN’ – Bobby Lewis (Beltone)
6 ARE YOU LONESOME TO-NIGHT? – Elvis Presley (RCA Victor)
7 TRAVELIN’ MAN – Rick Nelson (Imperial)
9 RUNAWAY – Del Shannon (Big Top)
11 BLUE MOON – The Marcels (Colpix)
19 QUARTER TO THREE – Gary (U.S.) Bonds (Legrand)
21 RUNNING SCARED – Roy Orbison (Monument)
25 SHOP AROUND – The Miracles (Tamla)
28 CRYING – Roy Orbison (Monument)
32 SURRENDER – Elvis Presley (RCA Victor)
40 DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE – The Shirelles (Scepter)
43 STAND BY ME – Ben E. King (Atco)
44 NEW ORLEANS – Gary (U.S.) Bonds (Legrand)
45 YOU’RE SIXTEEN – Johnny Burnette (Liberty)
46 ANGEL BABY – Rosie & The Originals (Highland)
51 THERE’S A MOON OUT TONIGHT – The Capris (Old Town)
52 LITTLE SISTER – Elvis Presley (RCA Victor)
61 GEORGIA ON MY MIND – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount)
68 HELLO WALLS – Faron Young (Capitol)
72 SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME – The Drifters (Atlantic)
87 HIT THE ROAD JACK – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount)
89 ALONE AT LAST – Jackie Wilson (Brunswick)
90 SPANISH HARLEM – Ben E. King (Atco)
92 THOSE OLDIES BUT GOODIES (Remind Me Of You) – Little Caesar & The Romans (Del-Fi)
96 I FALL TO PIECES – Patsy Cline (Decca)
98 ONE MINT JULEP – Ray Charles (Impulse)
99 RUNAROUND SUE – Dion (Laurie)

Yeah, if we wanna talk singles, there is so much great shit in this era that the list is almost too long to mention.