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 time lists.
Rock and pop music became more complex in the mid-1960s, as groups pushed the boundaries of subject matter, chord structures, and studio technology. After the psychedelic era, popular music diversified into many strands, like heavy metal, progressive rock, roots music, that would be explored further in the 1970s.
1960s acts that I plan to review include Otis Redding and Janis Joplin, as well as prominent rock bands like The Who, The Kinks, The Doors, and Cream. A bunch of acts that started their careers in the late 1960s, and went on to further triumphs in the 1970s, can be found on the 1970s review page. These include Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, and Joni Mitchell.
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
1969 and 1970 were flagship years for rock music, with most major 1960s acts still releasing albums, and exciting new acts that would dominate the 1970s emerging. But perhaps the...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Given his blatant talents, it's amazing how long it took James Marshall Hendrix to make an album. Seattle-born Hendrix was caught twice as a youth riding in stolen cars, and...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
1960s New York band The Velvet Underground have been cited as an influence by a legion of followers. Even if the ground rules of the rock album as an art form...
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...
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...
Album reviews of 1960s artists who don't qualify for their own page. Johnny Cash | Arlo Guthrie | Dusty Springfield Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison 1968, 6/10Johnny Cash always had...
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
Introduction With his warm voice, pretty guitar-picking, and introspective songwriting, James Vernon Taylor was the figurehead of the singer-songwriter movement in the early 1970s. His 1968 debut album on The Beatles‘ Apple label flopped, despite featuring one of his best songs ‘Carolina In My Mind’, as well as ‘Something In The Way […]
The members of Black Midi met at the BRIT School in London, a performing art college whose other alumni include Amy Winehouse, Adele, FKA Twigs, and Imogen Heap. With access to the studio during school, they were able to get all the silly experimentation out of their system. The four […]
Here are my 100 favourites from the albums that I’ve reviewed on this site to date. A few longtime favourites are missing because I haven’t reviewed them yet. As you can probably tell from the list, my tastes run towards sophisticated pop. Even though I was born in 1979, a […]
As a New Zealander, this site’s naturally biased towards New Zealand artists, so I’ve collated them all onto one area of the site. New Zealand pop music didn’t really start in earnest until later than the rest of the world. Despite flickers of brilliance like The Fourmyula’s 1969 hit ‘Nature’, […]
Tyler Gregory Okonma, better known as Tyler, the Creator, has enjoyed a rapid career evolution over the last decade. He’s of Igbo ancestry on his father’s side. He started as a brash teenager, gaining attention with his provocative lyrics for hip hop crew Odd Future. Along the way, he’s toned […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Paul Simon’s songs are part of the American landscape, a thoughtful man documenting his inner dialogue in popular song. From Simon and Garfunkel songs like ‘America’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to solo songs like ‘American Tune’ and ‘Graceland’, his songs capture both the American zeitgeist and his own personal […]
I’ve already posted about my favourite five Van Morrison albums, but all five were released in the 1960s and 1970s. While he didn’t reach the level of his earlier peaks, Van Morrison continued to release fine albums in the 1980s. While other rock veterans like Neil Young, Eric Clapton, and […]
Gene Clark is best-known as an original member of The Byrds. He was the first to leave the group – with a fear of flying he disliked touring, while the other members resented his song-writing royalties. The most accomplished songwriter in the original line-up, it’s not surprising that he went […]
The progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic played the last concert of their Absolute Universe tour in July 2022. The group have hinted that it might be their final tour, so it’s possible that their studio catalogue might remain as the five albums they’ve recorded between 2000 and 2021. It was such […]
I recently participated in a song draft facilitated by Hans of SliceTheLife. Along with 12 other music bloggers, I selected 10 songs. I set myself some restrictions for my draft – after all, this site is already full of lists like 10 Best Hit Songs of the 1980s. My theme […]
Formed by London architecture students in 1964, Pink Floyd are one of the most beloved classic rock bands. While most attention is given to stadium-rock blockbusters like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, they enjoyed a lengthy career on either side of the 1970s. Pink Floyd started recording in the psychedelic 1960s, […]
