Music Gourmets Presents 60 Years of Great Music - 1968

[Zeeba Neighba]

We're cooking with gas now because it's the next year in the MG's "60 Years of Great Music" series.
Welcome to 1968!

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 1968

 

[lpfreak1170]

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1968

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Silver Apples - s/t

 

[lpfreak1170]

I won't say this was an easy choice but can't imagine going with anything else (no matter how amazing lots of the other albums are).

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet


Stunning "back to basics" album after a great sidestep into psychedelia.

 

[lpfreak1170]

Silver Apples - s/t

Hell yes!!

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Beatles - The Beatles

Don't mind being the "Beatles guy" this week allowing other fans to choose a different album. All critics will admit the Beatles self-titled 1968 albums (aka "The White Album") is a classic, but I'm not sure many place it as their personal favorite of the Fab Four (I wouldn't either with my choice being Revolver then Abbey Road). It's such a large, sprawling work with its grandeur lying in its disjointed nature. Its an album where musical experimentation was high, but song writing quality remained high too. I'm not sure despite the dated (but at times experimental for a rock album) "Revolution No. 9" or the quirky fragmented "Wild Honey Pie" or the simple, silly "Why Don't We Do It In the Road", this album WOULD be better as a single album. While songs like "Piggies", "Savoy Truffle", "Cry Baby Cry", "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", and "Sexy Sadie" might not get radio play and might be easily passed over if one was asked to quickly name 20 Beatles songs without thinking too hard, I can't imagine my musical life without them - this album is filled with fun (and funny), quirky songs with great tunes. Plus, how beautiful are songs like "I Will", "Blackbird", and "Long Long Long"! Truly wonderful album with a wistful sadness behind the songs too as one clearly sees the difference between the boy's unity a year earlier on Sgt. Pepper's and how the band is clearly growing apart (in addition to growing up) on this one.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Silver Apples - s/t

Oh sure, now you're being THAT guy - the guy in high school who's not even impressed with lesser know quirky albums like The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter or White Light/White Heat. "Puh-leaze! THOSE pedestrian sell-out albums...Silver Apples is where it's at, baby"

 

[lpfreak1170]

Oh sure, now you're being THAT guy - the guy in high school who's not even impressed with lesser know quirky albums like The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter or White Light/White Heat. "Puh-leaze! THOSE pedestrian sell-out albums...Silver Apples is where it's at, baby"

Would now be a bad time to mention I have original vinyl copies of that and Contact?

 

[patrikc325]

Cream - Wheels of Fire

Played this one to death! My parents did not like it to say the least!

 

[Mattafett]

The Band - Music From Big Pink

This was easy. Beatles gone. No problem. This is a phenomenal album. I'm unsure if the is a better band (haha) technically speaking in existence.

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

Aretha Franklin: Lady Soul

Like most white boys who grew up in middle class suburbs, I was a fan of Aretha Franklin from the first time I heard her. (That sounded funnier in my head.) Anyway, of her incredible career, my favorite era is her Atlantic years. She’d been with Columbia for many years before that and while they produced some great albums, I wonder if they tried to push her into a mold. Her material leaned a little more toward Easy Listening. Anyway, getting to Atlantic with Tom Dowd producing, she released a lot of great albums. 1968 was the peak for me, bringing both of my favorite Aretha albums. It’s hard to choose between the two, but if pressed to it, I’ll take Lady Soul.

Chain Of Fools is such a great first track. It kicks the album off with a bang, all power and performance, letting the listener know what they’re in for. (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman, written for Aretha by Gerry Goffin and Carole Kingstarts off so peaceful and soothing, ramping up to a butt kicking crescendo towards the end -- and Aretha does it so effortlessly you don’t even notice it coming on. Since You Been Gone is such a great radio friendly piece of R & B. Ain’t No Way is a personal fave, it’s so smooth and the background singers are top-notch. I know it’s a cliché, but for me this is one of those “not a single bad track on the album” things.

But also, listen to everything else on this album besides Aretha. The backup singers are amazing. The rhythm section isn’t just thump-thumping along, they have personality, and add punch to the songs. The horns are really tight. The instrumental solos are really compact -- you almost don’t notice them, but they really augment the songs. The strings are delicate and never overdone. Not only is Aretha in top form in this era, but the band is as well, and Tom Dowd’s production is a masterpiece.

 

[earcartoons]

The Pretty Things ~ S.F. Sorrow

Discovered this gem after running into y'all bunch of lala/MG/Boomers. Thank you all for showing me I hadn't discovered all music by age of 20.

(In my defense, when it was released I was barely interested in listening to "I'm a Believer" when climbing trees was much more entertaining)

 

[Worm]

The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle

Another really good year.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle

Another really good year.

That would've been my second choice. Worm - we're on the same wavelength

 

[LeslieC]

Will put my pick tomorrow.. having a rough time deciding.

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

Will put my pick tomorrow.. having a rough time deciding.

Sorry. Not good enough. Your pick is

The Immortal Otis Redding.

Please submit your review by Friday end of day.

 

[LeslieC]

Steppenwolf - Self Titled

Finally! Some good rockin tunes!... Sorry Old Uncle Toe, I like OTIS, but I am more of a rocker!

 

[axolotl]

Procol Harum ~ Shine On Brightly



It looks like I'm that guy (again) this week, and I hate y'all for it. Heaven help me next week.

There are so many eargasms on the second side that I don't know what, and the first side is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. So, there's that.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

This record singlehandedly revived the career of The Man in Black and gave him credibility with a wider audience. Listen for the primitive lead guitar of Luther Perkins, who would die in a fire six months later.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Just posted the 1969 thread - any last 1968 picks still out there?