The Ten Best Albums of 1966

Number 3

Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys

Released on May 16, 1966

Side One:

1. Wouldn’t It Be Nice

2. You Still Believe in Me

3. That’s Not Me

4. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

5. I’m Waiting for the Day

6. Let’s Go Away for Awhile

7. Sloop John B

Side Two:

1. God Only Knows

2. I Know There’s an Answer

3. Here Today

4. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times

5. Pet Sounds

6. Caroline, No

Electro-Theremins, harpsichords, bicycle bells, dog whistles, barking dogs, and several sounds I don’t even recognize help make Pet Sounds one of the most original albums ever recorded. Brian Wilson created a true masterpiece that inspired countless other great artists to experiment with new sounds and new recording techniques. God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, and Sloop John B are the most well known tracks, but the album has no filler. Every song, even the instrumentals, is an achievement in studio artistry thanks to Wilson’s incredible arrangements and production skills. Be sure to check out I’m Waiting for the Day, I Know There’s an Answer, Caroline No, and Here Today.

Comments and opinions are encouraged and appreciated.

Thank you for your interest.

The Ten Best Albums of 1966

Number 4

Psychedelic Lollipop – The Blues Magoos

Released in November 1966

Side One:

1. (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet
2. Love Seems Doomed
3. Tobacco Road
4. Queen of My Nights
5. I’ll Go Crazy

Side Two:

1. Gotta Get Away
2. Sometimes I Think About
3. One by One
4. Worried Life Blues
5. She’s Coming Home


I must thank my dear friend Daphne who introduced me to this album sometime around 1991. She had the most amazing collection of old vinyl records and this was one of her prizes, the Blues Magoos having not yet made it into a CD format. I was fresh out of high school and beginning to dig a little deeper into the music of the 60’s. I had long been a fan of the more well-known psych groups (Doors, Airplane, Dead, etc.), but how had I never heard these guys before? As I mentioned earlier, you could argue whether the beginnings of psychedelia came from Austin’s Elevators or the Magoos of the Bronx, but either way I feel that this album is a bit better and should have earned them greater acclaim and stardom. (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet, the hit single, was an incredible piece of garage rock glory. They played magnificent blues with covers of Tobacco Road, Worried Life Blues, and their own beauty Sometimes I Think About. Much was made of the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” having LSD in the title, but the Magoos did it first with their Love Seems Doomed. They do a ripping cover of James Brown’s I’ll Go Crazy. Gotta Get Away and One By One were also potential classics. The Blues Magoos should have been major stars. This album is one hell of a legacy of that.



































Comments and opinions are encouraged and appreciated.

Thank you for your interest.

The 40 Best Songs of 1966

Numbers 15 to 11

15. (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet – The Blues Magoos

First you notice that amazing guitar riff, then comes the Farfisa organ, and you are immersed in 2 minutes and 18 seconds of psychedelic glory. The Magoos had their biggest hit with this song going all the way to number 5 on the US charts. It’s a shame more people don’t remember these guys. They were one of the great bands of the period and should be remembered alongside groups like the Airplane and the Dead.

14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 – Bob Dylan

Dylan decided to kick off his classic Blonde on Blonde album with something a little different. It was controversial when he went electric, but were any of the folk purists who shouted at him at Newport prepared for him to go Brass Band? He turned out a great stomping classic that has become an anthem for many. As he says, “Everybody Must Get Stoned.”

13. Bus Stop – The Hollies

The beautiful harmonies of the Hollies alongside a fantastic guitar opening introduce us to one of the finest love songs of the year. It was the first top ten hit for the Hollies in the US, going up to number five. The lovely story of a boy and girl finding love under a shared umbrella at a rainy British bus stop still moves today and, again, that was a great guitar riff.

12. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

The finest song on the Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds album. Everything about this song is brilliant from the varied and original instrumentation to the complex harmonies. Brian Wilson’s lyrics are also amazing. Very few love songs can express true depth of feeling as well as this one does. Despite the acclaim it has received and the influence it has had, the song only made it to number 39 on the US charts when it was released.

11. Wild Thing – The Troggs

The ultimate garage band single, the Troggs scored a number one hit with their cover of this classic song. What is it that sets this song so far above other garage rock anthems? If you ask me, it has to be that ocarina solo. Why don’t more bands pick up that ocarina? Hm?

Comments and opinions are welcome and encouraged.

Thank you for your interest.

The Ten Best Albums of 1966

Number 5

Fresh Cream – Cream

Released on December 9, 1966

Side One:

1. I Feel Free

2. N.S.U.

3. Sleepy Time Time

4. Dreaming

5. Sweet Wine

6. Spoonful

Side Two:

1. Cat’s Squirrel

2. Four Until Late

3. Rollin’ and Tumblin’

4. I’m So Glad

5. Toad

Cream was the first great supergroup. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker were each well known from their earlier work with bands like the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the Graham Bond Organisation, and Blues Incorporated. When the three of them got together and created their amazing blend of blues, proto-metal and psychedelia, they proved to be greater than the sum of their parts. Fresh Cream, the band’s first album was a great mix of new songs and classic blues including covers of songs by such luminaries as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Skip James, and the legendary Robert Johnson. The album presents some of the greatest guitar work of Clapton’s career. Look for the solos in Sleepy Time Time, Sweet Wine, Spoonful, and especially Muddy’s Rollin’ and Tumblin’. I Feel Free and Spoonful were both represented on the song list, but also check out the screaming roller coaster ride of N.S.U. and Eric Clapton’s beautiful rendition of Robert Johnson’s Four Until Late. Just a great, great album.

Comments and opinions are encouraged and appreciated.

Thank you for your interest.

The 40 Best Songs of 1966

I’m a couple days late posting because I spent the day in San Francisco yesterday. I went down to see the new Christina Ricci movie After.Life and it was terrific. Ricci has been one of my favorite actresses for years and she was perfect. Liam Neeson was superbly creepy. I don’t know why I don’t like Justin Long. Something about him annoys me. I felt the same way last year when he played essentially the same role in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell. Yes, Ricci was naked for a good portion of the movie and she is beautiful, but beyond that it was a good creepy psychological horror film and Hollywood does not give us enough of those.

Here we go with the songs…

Numbers 20 to 16

20. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago – The Yardbirds

For a short time in 1966, two of the greatest guitarists in the history of recorded music shared membership in a single band. Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck shared lead guitar duties on this blazing single and the guitar work is impressive. The great Page/Beck riffs and Keith Relf’s vocals drive the song into a psychedelic frenzy.

19. I’m a Boy – The Who

Pete Townshend’s unusual tale of a boy being raised as a girl featured incredible musicianship from drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle. Originally intended as a part of a pre-Tommy rock opera, it stands on its own and gives us another interesting character in the Pete Townshend universe.

18. Mother’s Little Helper – The Rolling Stones

This may have been the first anti-drug song dealing with prescription drugs. They started selling valium in 1963 and it was the top-selling legal drug in America by 1969. The theme is pretty relevant today. Adding Brian Jones’s trippy sitar riffs sends it over the top. It made it to number eight on the US charts.

17. Mr. Spaceman – The Byrds

And The Byrds give us space-rock, also, one of their first experiments with country-rock. Roger McGuinn tells an extraordinary tale of extraterrestrial visitation. Strange aliens that communicate by smeared toothpaste.  

16. Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles

One could say that psychedelia wasn’t part of the mainstream until The Beatles did it. They stuck their toes deeper into those hallucinogenic waters with this track then they ever had before. Once this last song on Revolver played that would be the new direction, for the next couple of years anyway.

Comments and opinions are welcome and encouraged.

Thank you for your interest.

The Ten Best Albums of 1966

Number 6

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13^th Floor Elevators – The 13^th Floor Elevators

 
Released on October 17, 1966

Side One:

1. You’re Gonna Miss Me

2. Roller Coaster

3. Splash 1

4. Reverberation (Doubt)

5. Don’t Fall Down

Side Two:

1. Fire Engine

2. Thru the Rhythm

3. You Don’t Know (How Young You Are)

4. Kingdom of Heaven

5. Monkey Island

6. Tried to Hide

Was this the creation of psychedelia? There are three albums that came out in late 1966 with the word “psychedelic” in the title; The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13^th Floor Elevators, Psychedelic Lollipop by The Blues Magoos, and the very obscure Psychedelic Moods by The Deep. Since hardly anyone has ever heard of The Deep, the contest for progenitor of the psychedelic genre is between the Magoos and the Elevators, even though they are very different sounding bands. While the Magoos played what sounded like a natural evolution from the British neo-blues bands with their epic guitar runs and three-part harmonizing, nobody sounded like the Elevators. I certainly can’t think of any other band that featured electric jug playing. Tommy Hall played that electric jug, was the primary lyricist, and part architect of the band’s sound and philosophy. Stacy Sutherland played intense guitar in a style that would become ubiquitous for the remainder of the decade. The final pieces of that Elevators’ sound were the wailing vocals and beautiful melodies of the amazing Roky Erickson.

“You’re Gonna Miss Me” and “Fire Engine” have already made my best song list, but there are several other great tracks on the album. Every psych album of the era must have at least one ode to lysergic acid and “Roller Coaster” is a fine example. “Splash 1” is a moving ballad about encountering one’s soulmate. “Reverberation (Doubt)” is a great chugging blues number that inspired varied cover versions from ZZ Top and The Jesus & Mary Chain. I just plain love “Monkey Island”, a fantastic riff on the pressure to conform. While the album wasn’t a huge hit, it did well regionally and inspired many of those who heard it to form bands of their own. People can say what they will about San Francisco being the home of psychedelia, but it was born in Austin, Texas.

Comments and opinions are encouraged and appreciated.

Thank you for your interest.