Music Gourmets Presents 60 Years of Great Music - 1967

Zeeba Neighba

Zeeba Neighba

Staff member
Lordy! Lordy! Miss Claudie - it's another great musical year
Yep we're still in the MG's "60 Years of Great Music" series. Welcome to 1967!
Here's the rules:

Each Friday, I'll introduce a new year from 1957 through 2016. Each member selects an album released in that year with a few lines (or more) on why you picked it/enjoy it. Your selection does not have to be the most important release or the most admired release of that year (though it certainly can be), simply an album that grabs you and that you really love.

However, once an album is selected by a member, you must choose a different album.

Together we will compile quite the canon of "Great Music" and, who knows, maybe inspire each other to check out some new artists (or to revisit old forgotten classics).

This week - the albums of 1967

I have long contested (and I'm not the first) that 1967 is the greatest year of modern music (and I'm not alone) - let's see if we can get some great choices to prove that theory. Unlike many weeks, I may choose to kick my feet up and lurk as I have a ton of potential picks that need some sorting.
 
First year that didn't break my brain.

Easy choice.

jimi-hendrix-experience.jpg


"Piper..." coming in at #2.
 
Procol Harum ~ Procol Harum



I have known since we last traveled down this road and not only succeeded in resurrecting this music site and even reincarnating this great music thread, that 1967,which included the Summer of Love, would be my downfall.

I was a wee lad of 14 that summer, and was only remotely aware that The Beatles were certainly prodigious if not still mop-haired beasts. I did not have the foggiest notion about the onset of day-glo psychedelia or that the times were already a-changin'. As I said elsewhere, I doubt that I heard "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and the rest until one of my older brothers played it on the console in my P's crib ...that is, my parents' house.

It has left a most indelible impression on me, and the intervening years and my introduction to other music have done little to erase it from my memory. Do I play it as often as I think I should? Probably not. Is it still great? Indubitably.

Thank you, Rick, for that article. I never knew there were even three verses, much less four.

Just before we get to all four verses I want to show you why this song is worth a little extra time:

“A Whiter Shade of Pale” was released on May 12, 1967, and in two weeks it reached number 1, where it stayed for six weeks.
  • It reached No. 1 in several countries when released in 1967.
  • Considered an anthem of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
  • According to a music journalist, in the context of the Summer of Love, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was the "one song [that] stood above all others, its Everest-like status conferred by no less than John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who were enthralled by the Chaucerian wordplay and heavenly Baroque accompaniment"
  • Jim Irvin of Mojo said that its arrival at number 1 on the national singles chart on June 8, 1967, on the same day that the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band topped the national albums chart, marked the start of the “Summer of Love” in Britain.
  • Another writer said that “amid the search for higher consciousness during the flower power era, the song galvanised a congregation of disaffected youth dismissive of traditional religion but anxious to achieve spiritual salvation."
  • In 1977, the song was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of "The Best British Pop Single 1952–1977" at the Brit Awards.
  • In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
  • In 2004, it appeared at number 57 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
  • More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known.
  • The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades, and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films.
  • Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films.
  • British TV station Channel 4 placed the song at number 19 in its chart of "The 100 Greatest No. 1 Singles."
  • It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009), and a United Kingdom performing rights group recognized it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.
  • When Reid was asked what “Procol Harum” meant, he said, “It’s the name of a cat, a Siamese cat.”
  • Don’t forget that thing about killing at the karaoke bar. Also useful in bar bets.
*******

A Whiter Shade of Pale

We tripped the light fandango, and turned cartwheels across the floor
I was feeling kind of seasick, but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink the waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale

She said there is no reason and the truth is plain to see
But I wandered through my playing cards and would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open, they might just as well have be closed
And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale

And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale
And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale

She said I’m home on shore, though in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass and forced her to agree
Saying ‘you must be the mermaid who took Neptune for a ride’
She smiled at me so sadly that my anger straightaway died
And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale

If music be the food of love, then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front, then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly, and attacked the ocean bed
And so it was that later as the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale

Article: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/88_the-music-in-me/an-even-whiter-shade-of-pale-r666/
 
Nickyboy said:
True dat. That's why I threw out my "No Beatles" self-imposed rule and just went with SPLHCB. If I tried to hunt for alternatives, I would still be roaming the basement when the proper pick is up in the attic.
Click to expand...

That was my theory with choosing Revolver this year

While Axo is completely right that one could say "so many great albums" about any year, 1967 is just excessively good - just a pivotal year in the development of rock music. I'm glad people chose Sgt. Pepper's and Jimi, but there are honestly eight more albums I'd gladly hold up as my choice....I've got it narrowed down to two though
 
Zeeba Neighba said:
^
I'm just confused:(
But I do have two potential picks :shrug:
Click to expand...
As my friends used to yell at me, "Pick a winner!"

Edit: The last time I tried to guess what I thought you would pick, I was bamboozled. So, no more of that for me.

But, I do have some thoughts on the matter.
 
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