Category 1960s

Scott Walker Album Reviews

Scott Walker was born Noel Scott Engel, in Hamilton, Ohio. A former child actor, he left his career as a singer to become a session bassist. In 1965 Walker moved to London with his band The Walker Brothers. Scott became…

The Beach Boys Album Reviews

The Beach Boys Pet Sounds

As a casual music listener it’s easy to hear The Beach Boys’ sun-drenched hits, and conclude that the group were all beaches, girls and cars, and no substance. But the group was led by Brian Wilson, one of the most…

The Zombies Album Reviews

Zombies Odessey and Oracle Review

The Zombies get lost in the shuffle of British invasion bands, but they’re one of the most accomplished bands to emerge from the scene despite a small catalogue. Their 1960s catalogue’s relatively scanty, and they’re mostly remembered for the album…

Spirit Album Reviews

Los Angeles teenagers Randy Wolfe, bassist Mark Andes, and vocalist Jay Ferguson formed The Red Roosters in the mid-1960s. The band was put on hiatus when Wolfe’s step-father Ed Cassidy moved the family to New York in search of work.…

Simon and Garfunkel Album Reviews

Simon and Garfunkel Bookends

Simon and Garfunkel met as teenagers in a school play, where Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. The pair initially tried to break into the music industry as Tom and Jerry, playing Everly Brothers inspired teeny…

The Rolling Stones Album Reviews

The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers

It’s widely acknowledged that The Rolling Stones hit their peak between 1968 and 1972 – right now I’m covering those albums, and a few later highlights, as my Top Rated Albums list feels incomplete without them. I’ll come back and…

Laura Nyro Album Reviews

New York’s Laura Nyro wrote a batch of hit songs in in the late 1960s, and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her confessional songs foreshadowed the singer-songwriter movement of the early 1970s, and she…

Aretha Franklin Album Reviews

Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul and, according to Barack Obama, “helped define the American experience”. Success, however, didn’t happen overnight – when she delighted the mainstream in 1967 with her cover of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’, she’d already recorded…

Fairport Convention Album Reviews

Fairport Convention Liege and Lief

Fairport Convention are the focal point for British folk-rock of their generation. While they started their career as a sixties folk-rock band, like a London equivalent to Jefferson Airplane, they started wading through the archives of British folk songs and…

Bob Dylan Album Reviews

Robert Zimmerman was born in Minnesota in 1941, renaming himself Bob Dylan after Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Dylan started his musical career dabbling in rock and roll, and saw Buddy Holly perform three days before Holly’s death. He shifted his…

Neil Diamond Album Reviews

I was a teenager during the 1990s, but I never went through a rebellious phase. While my cooler peers were listening to Nirvana and Green Day, I was absorbed in retro mainstream artists like Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Neil…

Gene Clark Album Reviews

Gene Clark achieved fame and success as an early member of The Byrds. As a solo artist, however, he only achieved cult status. Hampered by anxiety, a fear of flying, and alcohol and drug abuse, he received critical acclaim but…

The Byrds Album Reviews

The Byrds The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The Byrds started as a folk band, but their single ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ crystallised their distinctive sound, with Roger McGuinn’s ringing twelve-string guitar and the group’s gorgeous harmonies. The combination of an ornate yet organic sound, coupled with Dylan’s intricate lyrics,…

The Beatles Album Reviews

The Beatles Beatles for Sale

From very early in their career and probably until the demise of Western civilization, Liverpool’s The Beatles will stand unchallenged as the world’s greatest rock and roll band. They emerged after a lull in rock music; Buddy Holly died in…

10 Best Hit Songs of the 1960s

Zombies Odessey and Oracle Review

The 1960s were an exciting time for popular music, with new genres emerging and recording technology evolving constantly. I recently listed 10 awful 1960s songs, so it’s time to pick out some highlights. This list largely eschews the most acclaimed…

The Band Album Reviews

The Band 1969 Album

The Band started as The Hawks, backing blues belter Ronnie Hawkins before supporting Bob Dylan on his controversial 1966 electric tour. After the tour, The Band went to earth with Dylan and recorded the Basement Tapes. There they developed their…

1960s Album Reviews

The Band Music From Big Pink

Rock and roll launched in the 1950s, but in the 1960s the rock LP as an art form came into its own. Artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Beach Boys are perennial favourites on greatest albums of all…

Buffalo Springfield Album Reviews

Buffalo Springfield were a short-lived, but fascinating band. It’s easy to draw parallels with The Byrds. Both were 1960s Californian folk rock bands, with volatile lineups, who spawned many notable spinoffs. Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay of Poco, and…

A Song for each Beach Boy

The Beach Boys Pet Sounds

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been covering The Beach Boys’ solo careers – albeit only two of them. Brian Wilson’s solo albums of new material, starting with 1988’s self-titled record, show flashes of brilliance, although they often suffer…

The Beach Boys Solo

Amazingly, for a band divided into factions since the mid-1960s, it took until 1977 for a solo album to emerge from any of the original Beach Boys. Dennis Wilson’s lush, romantic Pacific Ocean Blue sold comparatively to The Beach Boys’ Love…

The Moody Blues Album Reviews

The Moody Blues started their career as an R&B band, enjoying a hit with ‘Go Now’, fronted by future Wings member Denny Laine, in 1965. But after Laine left and Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined, the band found a…

Blog Dylan: Live in 1966

Bob Dylan’s a major musical figure who I haven’t covered on this blog yet. He has a huge discography, brimming with greatness – and I’ll tackle his 1960s albums and later highlights sometime. But I wanted to participate in blog dylan, a…

1960s Miscellany

Arlo Guthrie Alice's Restaurant

Album reviews of 1960s artists who don’t qualify for their own page. Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison 1968, 6/10Johnny Cash always had a bullet proof reputation, both a respected elder statesman of country music and an anti-authoritarian hero. His baritone…