It was still in the air.
Blue Note had the highest batting average out of the majority of my top fifties from this decade. What was left for the biggest powerhouse in music itself, to accomplish?
Well world-domination, of course!
Other things were happening too. Everybody from Brazil and their mother seemed to be making good music. For some reason, Modern Classical of all streams and venues had a surprisingly vibrant go-around-the sun. The first incarnation of Psychedelic Rock was already making waves but the lumbering beast was still waiting patiently, for its’ time.
I’m not a virgin who feels a power trip whenever disposing a hot music take that nobody cares about. I’m somebody who hosts a music blog with five readers on it on a good day, and I’m also a bunch of other things but anyway. My job making lists about the sixties is gonna only get more controversial now, because this is pretty much the first year of the decade people give a snoot about, music-wise. Well, my taste is still gonna stay the way it is. And don’t worry, Bob Dylan and The Beatles and Beach Boys and Rolling Stones will be on here.
#50. Nat Adderley – Sayin’ Somethin’
Soul Jazz, Hard Bop, Jazz, Modal Jazz
Twelfth album by Nat Adderley
Released April 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Cantaloupe Island
2. Call Me
3. Manchild
4. The Other Side
5. Walls of Jericho
6. Satin Doll
7. Gospelette
8. Hippodelphia
#49. Them – Them Again
British Rhythm & Blues, Garage Rock
Third album by Them
Released January 21, 1966
trivia:
o The cover of It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue by Bob Dylan was considered by author Clinton Heylin to be “that genuine rarity, a Dylan cover to match the original.”
o The U.S. edition of Them Again was shorter by four songs.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
2. I Can Only Give You Everything
3. My Lonely Sad Eyes
4. I Put a Spell on You
5. Hey Girl
6. Call My Name
7. How Long Baby
8. Out of Sight
9. Bad or Good
10. Don’t You Know
11. Turn on Your Love Light
12. I Got a Woman
13. Could You Would You
14. Hello Josephine
15. Something You Got
16. Bring ‘Em on In
#48. Burt Bacharach – Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits
Baroque Pop, Brill Building, Lounge, Jazz Pop
Third album by Burt Bacharach
Released in 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Trains and Boats and Planes
2. Walk on By
3. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
4. Wives and Lovers
5. Don’t Make Me Over
6. Anyone Who Had a Heart
7. (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me
8. Blue on Blue
9. 24 Hours From Tulsa
10. My Little Red Book
11. What’s New Pussycat?
#47. Berliner Philharmoniker & Herbert von Karajan – Bolero / Pictures at an Exhibition
Orchestral, Romanticism, Impressionism
167th album by Berliner Philharmoniker
Ninety-fourth album by Herbert von Karajan
Released in 1966
#46. Ennio Morricone – Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
![Il Buono il Brutto il Cattivo (Colonna Sonora Originale) [Remastered Edition] - Album by Ennio Morricone | Spotify](https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b13e733be1aa36ca3006b6c1)
Film Score, Spaghetti Western, Cinematic Classical, Mexican Music, Modern Classical
Fourteenth album by Ennio Morricone
Released December 23, 1966 (exactly thirty years before I was born.)
Dischi Parade / United Artists Records / Liberty Records
trivia:
o Stayed on the charts for more than a year, thanks in particular to the main theme of the film and Ecstasy of Gold.
o Ecstasy of Gold was also featured on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, as SpongeBob gives a speech.
o The track il buono, il brutto, il cattivo has an average score of 4.6/5 on RYM.
o The track L’estasi dell’oro has an average score of 4.6/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Il tramonto
2. L’estasi dell’oro
3. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
4. Il forte
5. Il triello
6. Marcetta
7. Il deserto
8. Morte di un soldato
9. La carrozza dei fantasmi
10. Marcetta senza speranza
11. La storie di un soldato
#45. Percy Sledge – When a Man Loves a Woman
Southern Soul, Country Soul, Deep Soul
Debut album by Percy Sledge
Released May 1966
trivia:
o The track When a Man Loves a Woman has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. When a Man Loves a Woman
2. Put a Little Lovin’ on Me
3. My Adorable One
4. You’re Pouring Water on a Drowning Man
5. You Send Me
6. Love Me Like You Mean It
7. Thief in the Night
8. Love Me All the Way
9. Love Makes the World Go Round
10. Success
11. When She Touches Me
#44. Sonny Rollins – Alfie
Hard Bop, Film Score, Cool Jazz
Thirtieth album by Sonny Rollins
Released October 1966
trivia:
o All tracks composed by Sonny Rollins.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Alfie’s Theme
2. He’s Younger Than You Are
3. Alfie’s Theme Differently
4. On Impulse
5. Street Runner with Child
6. Transition Theme for Minor Blues or Little Malcolm Loves His Dad
#43. Blues Magoos – Psychedelic Lollipop
Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Blues Rock
Debut album by Blues Magoos
Released November 1966
trivia:
o One of the first records to have the word “Psychedelic” on the sleeve.
o Sometimes I Think About is credited to members of Blues Magoos, but is actually a traditional song.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet
2. Tobacco Road
3. Gotta Get Away
4. She’s Coming Home
5. Sometimes I Think About
6. Love Seems Doomed
7. One by One
8. Queen of My Nights
9. I’ll Go Crazy
10. Worried Life Blues
#42. Lee Morgan – The Rumproller
Hard Bop, Modal Jazz
Fourteenth album by Lee Morgan
Released January 1966
trivia:
o The CD reissue saw one bonus track: Venus di Mildrew.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. The Rumproller
2. The Lady
3. Eclipso
4. Desert Moonlight
5. Edda
#41. Duke Pearson – “Wahoo!”
Hard Bop, Modal Jazz
Fifth album by Duke Pearson
Released February 1966
trivia:
o All tracks composed by Duke Pearson, except the closing piece Fly Little Bird Fly by Donald Byrd.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Bedouin
2. Amanda
3. Wahoo
4. Farewell Machelle
5. Fly Little Bird Fly
6. E.S.P. (Extra Sensory Perception)
#40. Hank Mobley – Dippin’
Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
Seventeenth album by Hank Mobley
Released August 1966
trivia:
o All tracks written by Hank Mobley except Recado Bossa Nova by Luiz Antonio and Djalma Ferreira, and I See Your Face Before Me by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Recado Bossa Nova
2. The Dip
3. I See Your Face Before My Eyes
4. The Break Through
5. The Vamp
6. Ballin’
#39. Nina Simone – Let It All Out
Vocal Jazz, Soul Jazz, Soul
Ninth album by Nina Simone
Released January 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Love Me or Leave Me
2. Mood Indigo
3. Don’t Explain
4. The Other Woman
5. Little Girl Blue
6. This Year’s Kisses
7. The Ballad of Hollis Brown
8. Images
9. For Myself
10. Chauffeur
11. Nearer Blessed Lord
#38. Nancy Sinatra – How Does That Grab You
Pop, Sunshine Pop, Vocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Country Pop
Third album by Nancy Sinatra
Released May 1966
trivia:
o The partnership of Nancy and Lee Hazlewood proved to be very valuable in the future, with the two releasing a collaboration-album just two years after this album, full of notable singles notably written (or featuring) Hazlewood. Hazlewood also produced the album.
o The Shadow of Your Smile was originally known as Love Theme from The Sandpiper, and it was first introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper.
o Astrud Gilberto was the first to cover The Shadow of Your Smile, on her 1965 album of the same name.
o Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) was written by Sonny Bono, first performed by Cher.
o The track Bang, Bang has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. The Shadow of Your Smile
2. Sand
3. Call Me
4. Sorry ’bout That
5. Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
6. Not the Lovin’ Kind
7. Time
8. Let It Be Me
9. Crying Time
10. How Does That Grab You, Darling?
11. Baby Cried All Night Long
#37. Bill Evans – Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra
Third Stream, Cool Jazz, Symphony
Eighteenth album by Bill Evans
Released February 1966
trivia:
o RCA Victor‘s in-house record-producer Claus Ogerman was in charge of arranging and conducting the orchestra for this album.
o The two Bill Evans-compositions on here are Time Remembered and My Bells.
#36. Marcos Valle – Brazil-Iance!
Bossa nova
Third album by Marcos Valle
Released in 1966
#35. Joe Henderson – Mode for Joe
Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Modal Jazz
Fifth album by Joe Henderson
Released September 1966
trivia:
o The CD reissue saw the surfacin’ of a bonus track: an alternate take of Black.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Mode for Joe
2. A Shade of Jade
3. Black
4. Caribbean Fire Dance
5. Granted
6. Free Wheelin’
#34. Walter Wanderley – Rain Forest
Lounge, Bossa nova, Samba-Jazz, Space Age Pop
Eighteenth album by Walter Wanderley
Released August 1966
#33. John Coltrane – Ascension
Free Jazz, Spiritual Jazz, Experimental Big Band
Thirty-ninth album by John Coltrane
Released February 1966
trivia:
o Coltrane gave his soloists no instructions, other than they should always end with a crescendo.
o Soloists of Ascension in order of appearance: John Coltrane, Dewey Johnson, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, John Tchicai, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, McCoy Tyner, Art Davis & Jimmy Garrison (duet). That was edition II. Edition I also includes an Elvin Jones solo, and features the Shepp & Thicai-solos in different order.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Part 1
2. Part 2
#32. Frank Sinatra – Strangers in the Night
![Strangers In The Night [The Frank Sinatra Collection] - song by Frank Sinatra | Spotify](https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273531ea0a6a92c686032744435)
Standards, Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz
Forty-fifth album by Frank Sinatra
Released June 18, 1966
trivia:
o Summer Wind was used to great effect as the closing song on the first episode of Season 6 of The Simpsons. Martin Prince sung it at the ruins of his shattered backyard swimming-pool.
o This is the final album Sinatra performed with long-time arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle and his orchestra.
o The title track won Sinatra Grammys for “Record of the Year” as well as “Best Male Vocal Performance.”
o This album was certified platinum by the RIAA, making it unique as other Sinatra albums, besides Christmas-albums, never achieved that feat.
o Petula Clark covered the title track on her album from this year, I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love. Sinatra also covered a famous track of Clark’s on this record here, Downtown.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Strangers in the Night
2. Summer Wind
3. All or Nothing at All
4. Call Me
5. Downtown
6. On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
7. My Baby Just Cares for Me
8. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
9. Yes Sir, That’s My Baby
10. You’re Driving Me Crazy
#31. John Renbourn – John Renbourn
Contemporary Folk, Folk Baroque, Acoustic Blues, British Blues
Third album by John Renbourn
Released in 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Down on the Barge
2. Judy
3. The Wildest Pig in Captivity
4. Plainsong
5. Song
6. Beth’s Blues
7. Train Tune
8. Winter Is Gone
9. John Henry
10. National Seven
11. Blue Bones
12. Candy Man
13. Louisiana Blues
14. Noah and Rabbit
15. Motherless Children
#30. Stanley Turrentine – Rough ‘n Tumble
Soul Jazz
Twelfth album by Stanley Turrentine
Released October 1966
trivia:
o Reached top 20 on the Billboard Soul charts.
o And Satisfy is written by Ronnell Bright, What Could I Do Without You by Ray Charles, Feeling Good by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, Shake by Sam Cooke, Walk on By by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and Baptismal by John Hines.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Walk on By
2. And Satisfy
3. Feeling Good
4. Shake
5. What Would I Do Without You
6. Baptismal
#29. Dionne Warwick – Here Where There Is Love
Pop, Traditional Pop
Sixth album by Dionne Warwick
Released December 1966
trivia:
o The LP was catalog number 555 on Scepter Records.
o It reached #1 on the R&B albums-chart, and was certified gold by RIAA.
o Neither of the lovers at the bottom of the cover-art photograph, are Warwick herself.
o The whole first side of the album is written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David — longtime writers for Warwick. As Long as He Needs Me is written by Lionel Bart, I Wish You Love by Albert Beach (lyrics in the original language by Charles Trenet & Léo Chauliac), (I Never Knew) What You Were Up To by Ronne Leeman, Richie Druz and Bobby Leeman, and the final track, Blowing in the Wind, by Bob Dylan.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Alfie
2. Trains and Boats and Planes
3. I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself
4. What the World Needs Now Is Love
5. Here Where There Is Love
6. As Long as He Needs Me
7. (I Never Knew) What You Were Up To
8. Blowin’ in the Wind
9. I Wish You Love
10. Go With Love
#28. The Standells – Dirty Water
Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Proto-Punk
Debut album by The Standells
Released May 1966
trivia:
o The best-selling album of The Standells’ career.
o The title track was written by the album’s producer, Ed Cobb. Its Boston and Charles River-references are based on an experience that Cobb and his girlfriend had with a mugger in Boston in the mid-60s. None of the members of the band had ever been to Boston before making that song.
o Some accounts count this as The Standells’ second album; they had released a live album, In Person at PJ’s in 1964.
o A CD version of Dirty Water removes Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White as it was also included on the follow-up studio album, and adds six more songs: Batman, It’s All in Your Mind Love Me, Medication [Instrumental], Poor Man’s Prison and Take a Ride. The CD version also features an uncut version of Rari, running 5:32 instead of 3:18 like in the original LP where it was cut to fit the format.
o The CD correctly credits Hey Joe to songwriter Billy Roberts. It was attributed to “Chester Powers” (Dino Valente?) on the original LP.
#27. Muddy Waters – Muddy, Brass & the Blues
Blues, Electric Blues, Piano Blues, Chicago Blues
Fourth album by Muddy Waters
Released December 1966
trivia:
o A step into a more electric direction, exploring a fuller band’s sound than that of the barebones acoustic Folk Singer – album of the year from two years prior (Top 50 Albums of 1964).
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Black Night
2. Sweet Little Angel
3. Corine, Corina
4. Trouble in Mind
5. Hard Loser
6. Going Back to Memphis
7. Betty and Dupree
8. Piney Brown Blues
9. Trouble
10. Take My Advice
#26. Cleveland Orchestra / George Szell / Judith Raskin – Symphony No. 4 in G
Symphony, Romanticism
Thirty-ninth album by Cleveland Orchestra
Forty-third album by George Szell
Fourth album by Judith Raskin
Released
trivia:
o Gustav Mahler‘s fourth Symphony was written in the two years at the turn of the century, although it also incorporates a song (Das himmlische Leben) from a few years prior (1892). The song – sung by a Soprano in the work’s fourt and final movement – represents a child’s vision of Heaven.
o Mahler premiered the symphony in 1901 at Munich, conducting the Kaim Orchestra.
#25. Francoise Hardy – La maison où j’ai grandi
Baroque Pop, French Pop, Folk Pop, Chamber Folk
Eighth album by Francoise Hardy
Released October 1966
trivia:
o This album was published without a title, with just Hardy’s first name on the cover art. It’s become known as La maison où j’ai grandi after its’ most successful song.
o La maison où j’ai grandi is a French reworking of a Italian pop song Il Ragazzo Della via Gluck by Adriano Celentano. It has been covered in plenty other languages, other than this, and means quite different things in the original version and Eddy Marnay‘s French adaptation: the French title stands for “The House Where I Grew Up”, while the Italian one stood for “The Boy from Gluck Street”. It’s the melody that has captivated people ever since its’ inception. Some melodies have this power.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Comme
2. La maison où j’ai grandi
3. Rendez-vous d’automne
4. Il Est Des Choses
5. Je serai là pour toi
6. Qu’ils sont heureux
7. Si c’est ca
8. Tu es un peu à moi
9. Je Changerais D’Avis – Se Telefonando
10. Peur être que je t’aime
11. Mes Jours S’en Vont
12. Surtout ne vous retournez pas
#24. John Patton – Got a Good Thing Goin’
Soul Jazz
Fourth album by John Patton
Released August 1966
#23. Luiz Bonfá – The Brazilian Scene
Bossa nova
Twenty-third album by Luiz Bonfá
Released in 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Sambalero
2. Malaguena Salerosa
3. Moonlight in Rio
4. Dream Girl
5. Avocado
6. That Old Black Magic
7. I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby
8. Zomba
9. Yesterday
10. Bye Bye Blues
11. Embolada
12. Her Face
#22. The Temptations – Get Ready
Soul, Motown Sound, Pop Soul, Vocal Group
Third album by The Temptations
Released June 15, 1966
trivia:
o This album marks the transition of The Temptations, from executive producer Smokey Robinson who served them until now, to new producer Norman Whitfield. Two #1 R&B hit singles, one from each producer, are in the album: Get Ready from Robinson and Ain’t Too Proud to Beg from Whitfield.
o Ain’t Too Proud to Beg appears on a short scene of The Sopranos‘ season 2 finale episode, Funhouse.
o Ain’t Too Proud to Beg was first heard by me like ten years ago, when I watched the Maraamu Morning Show.
o Too Busy Thinking About My Baby was rerecorded as a hit for Marvin Gaye in 1969.
o The 1998 CD reissue saw two bonus tracks: Give It Up and The Man Who Don’t Believe in Love.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
2. Get Ready
3. Fading Away
4. I’ve Been Good to You
5. You’re Not an Ordinary Girl
6. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
7. Say You
8. Little Miss Sweetness
9. Lonely, Lonely Man
10. It’s a Lonely World Without Your Love
11. Who You Gonna Run To
12. Not Now, I’ll Tell You Later
#21. John Fahey – Guitar Vol. 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions
American Primitivism, Tape Music, Psychedelic Folk
Fourth album by John Fahey
Released in 1966
trivia:
o This is the Fahey album that is most-remembered as “psychedelic”. However, Fahey himself has a personal distaste for the counterculture movements going on in the 60s.
o The title The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions was never shown on the labels. This was the fourth album Fahey released under his own Takoma record label, and just got the title Vol. 4 attached to it.
o One of the contributing musicians here (dueting on Sail Away Ladies), Alan Wilson had history with John Fahey: the two had worked together on John’s UCLA master’s thesis on the music of Charley Patton.
o Sail Away Ladies became a lifelong favorite of the British DJ John Peel, whose championing of Fahey’s music on his influential BBC radio shows helped the guitarist gain an audience outside the United States. Peel included Sail Away Ladies in his 1999 Peelenium, a personal selection from 100 years of recorded music.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Guitar Excursions Into the Unknown
2. The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party
3. Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel
4. Knott’s Berry Farm Molly
5. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
6. Sail Away Ladies
7. 900 Miles
#20. The Mar-Keys – The Great Memphis Sound
Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Southern Soul, Soul Jazz
Third album by The Mar-Keys
Released in 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Philly Dog
2. Plantation Inn
3. Grab This Thing
4. Honey Pot
5. Cleo’s Back
6. Walking with the Duke
7. The Girl from Ipanema
8. In the Mood
9. Loving You Too Long
10. “Dear James” Medley
#19. Columbia Symphony Orchestra / Ithaca College Concert Choir / Texas Boys Choir / The Gregg Smith Singers / Igor Stravinsky / Vera Zorina / Michele Molese – Stravinsky Conducts Persophone
Neoclassicism, Oratorio
Fifty-seventh album by Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Debut album by Ithaca College Concert Choir
Debut album by Texas Boys Choir
Fourth album by Gregg Smith Singers
Sixty-third album by Igor Stravinsky
Sophomore album by Vera Zorina
Debut album by Michele Molese
Released October 3, 1966
trivia:
o Far from the first performance of the Igor Stravinsky-work, Perséphone was debuted by the composer himself at the Opéra in Paris, on April 30th, 1934. That performance was a double bill with the ballet Diane de Poitiers by Jacques Ibert. Ida Rubinstein (the owner of the ballet company) danced and spoke the part of Persephone in the performance.
o Persephone, also called Kore, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. Her function is represented as the personification of vegetation. It shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation.
#18. Bola Sete – Autêntico!
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-15513813-1592824115-5014.jpeg.jpg)
Samba-Jazz
Eleventh album by Bola Sete
Released in 1966
#17. Chico Hamilton – The Further Adventures of El Chico
Jazz, Cool Jazz
Twenty-seventh album by Chico Hamilton
Released August 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Got My Mojo Working (But It Just Won’t Work on You)
2. The Shadow of Your Smile
3. Stella by Starlight
4. Evil Eye
5. Daydream
6. That Boy with That Long Hair
7. Manila
8. My Romance
9. Monday Monday
10. Who Can I Turn To
#16. Simon and Garfunkel – Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Folk Pop, Folk Rock, Chamber Folk, Folk Baroque
Third album by Simon & Garfunkel
Released October 10, 1966
trivia:
o Eventually certified triple platinum by the RIAA.
o Three songs on this album appeared on Paul Simon’s solo debut album from last year, The Paul Simon Songbook: Patterns, Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall and A Simple Desultory Phillippic.
o Art Garfunkel has said he doesn’t like The Dangling Conversation, deeming the song pretentious.
o The simulated newscast on the closing track 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night was voiced by Charlie O’Donnell, then a radio DJ.
o The cover art was shot by Bob Cato.
o The original back cover of the LP includes an essay by music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
o There was a songwriting dispute about the opening track. Scarborough Fair was introduced to Paul Simon by Martin Carthy, and he was never credited on the album. Worse, according to Peter Ames Carlin, “it credited Paul and Artie as coauthors, as if the centuries-old tune had emerged entirely from their imaginations.” However, as Carlin notes, “none of the money ever got to Carthy” due to fine-print on a contract he had never read that ceded his stake in the song.
o Robert Dimery included this album in his book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Homeward Bound
2. Scarborough Fair/Cnaticle
3. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
4. The Dangling Conversation
5. For Emily, Whenever I May See Her
6. Cloudy
7. Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall
8. A Poem on the Underground Wall
9. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
10. Patterns
11. 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night
12. A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)
#15. The Supremes – The Supremes A’ Go-Go
Girl Group, Motown Sound, Pop Soul
Ninth album by The Supremes
Released August 25, 1966
trivia:
o You Can’t Hurry Love and Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart both were top 10 hits; #1 and #9 respectively.
o Put Yourself in My Place is a The Elgins cover, Baby I Need Your Lovin’, Shake Me Wake Me (When It’s Over) and I Can’t Help MyselfFour Tops covers, Get Ready a The Temptations cover, Come and Get These Memories a Martha and The Vandellas cover, Money (That’s What I Want) a Barrett Strong cover, This Old Heart of Mine a The Isley Brothers cover, These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ a Nancy Sinatra cover, and Hang on Sloopy a The McCoys cover.
o Other songs recorded for this album, but not included in the original release: It’s Not Unusual (Tom Jones), Mickey’s Monkey (The Miracles), Uptight (Everything’s Alright) (Stevie Wonder), Can I Get a Witness (Marvin Gaye), In My Lonely Room (Martha and the Vandellas), and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones).
o On April 28, 2017, Universal Music Group released The Supremes A’ Go-Go [Expanded Edition], a two-disc limited edition re-release. Disc one contains the digitally remastered original mono and stereo editions of the album. Also on disc one are bonus tracks, alternate vocals, and alternate mixes. Disc two features alternate vocals and alternate mixes. One of the high points of the edition is the inclusion of an early version/scratch mix of Love is Like An Itching in My Heart, in which Diana Ross‘ first attempt and progress of the track are heard, and a “fantasy duet” of Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over) between the Supremes and the Four Tops.
o The track You Can’t Hurry Love has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. You Can’t Hurry Love
2. Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart
3. These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
4. This Old Heart of Mine
5. Put Yourself in My Place
6. Baby I Need Your Loving
7. Get Ready
8. That’s What I Want
9. Hang on Sloopy
10. Come and Get These Memories
11. I Can’t Help Myself
12. Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)
#14. Hugh Masekela – Grrr
Afro-Jazz, Mbaqanga
Sophomore album by Hugh Masekela
Released in 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Zulu and the Mexican
2. Umaningi Bona
3. U, Dwi
4. Emavungweni
5. Sipho
6. Phatsha-Phatsha
7. Ntjilo-Ntjilo
8. Kwa-Blaney
9. Sharpville
10. Mra
#13. Dexter Gordon – Gettin’ Around
Hard Bop
Thirteenth album by Dexter Gordon
Released August 1966
trivia:
o The CD reissue added two additional recordings from the sessions as bonus tracks: titled Very Saxily Yours and Flick of a Trick.
o Le Coiffeur is the only Dexter Gordon-composition on the tracklist.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Manha De Carnaval
2. Heartaches
3. Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
4. Shiny Stockings
5. Who Can I Turn To?
6. Le Coiffeur
#12. Otis Redding – The Soul Album
Southern Soul, Deep Soul, Rhythm & Blues
Fourth album by Otis Redding
Released April 1, 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Cigarettes and Coffee
2. Just One More Day
3. Chain Gang
4. It’s Growing
5. Good to Me
6. Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down and Out)
7. Everybody Makes a Mistake
8. Any Ole Way
9. Treat Her Right
10. Scratch My Back
11. 634-5789
#11. The Beatles – Revolver
Pop Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Psychedelic Rock
Tenth album by The Beatles
Released August 5, 1966
Parlophone / Odeon / Hör Zu / Capitol Records / First Record
trivia:
o The Beatles’ final recording-project before their retirement as live performers.
o Recording sessions produced a non-album single, Paperback Writer / Rain.
o In its’ North-American release, Revolver was just 11 tracks short, with the omitted three appearing later on the June 1966 LP .
o Klaus Voormann won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts., for his work on this album’s cover.
o During mid-May of 1996 — when recording was in progress for a good two months by that time — Lennon and McCartney attended a private Pet Sounds-listening party.
o The Beatles spent more than 220 hours of recording-time on Revolver — a figure that doesn’t include mixing sessions, and compares with less than 80 hours for last year’s Rubber Soul.
o The project’s completion was celebrated by The Beatles, by attending the opening of Sibylla’s, a nightclub in which George Harrison had a financial stake.
o Tomorrow Never Knows was the first track to be attempted in the sessions.
o No member of The Beatles played instruments on Eleanor Rigby.
o The main inspiration for the ballad Here, There and Everywhere was cited to have been God Only Knows by The Beach Boys.
o Frank Ocean sampled/interpolated Here, There and Eveywhere for the beloved Blonde track, Seigfried, 50 years later.
o McCartney and Lennon wrote Yellow Submarine with the intention of it being a children’s song and for Ringo Starr to get a vocal contribution into the album. Scottish singer Donovan (who got his biggest hit out this year, too, with the song Sunshine Superman) was an assistant-writer on the song.
o For No One was inspired by McCartney’s relationship with English actress Jane Asher.
o About Tomorrow Never Knows, George Harrison said, “This is easily the most amazing new thing we’ve ever come up with. Some people might say it sounds like a terrible mess of a sound… But the song ought to be looked on as interesting – IF people listen to it with open ears. It’s like the Indian stuff. You mustn’t listen to Eastern music with a Western ears.”
o Revolver was voted the third best album of all time in the 1998 “Musioc of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV and Channel 4. In 1998 Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums placed this at number one, directly ahead of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the album that followed it. This was first again in the 2000 edition of the book. Q ranked this at #1 in “50 Greatest British Albums Ever” in 2000; four years later the album topped the same magazine’s list “The Music That Changed the World”. In 2001 Revolver topped VH1’s “100 Greatest Albums”, compiled from a poll of more than 500 journalists, music executives and artists. In 2004, the record appeared at #2 in The Observer‘s “The 100 Greatest British Albums”, compiled by a panel of 100 contributors.
o 2nd greatest album of its’ year, 5th best album of its decade and 25th greatest album of all time, according to RateYourMusic.com.
o The track Eleanor Rigby has an average score of 4.6/5 on RYM.
o The track Tomorrow Never Knows has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Eleanor Rigby (+854k total listeners)
2. Yellow Submarine (+853k total listeners)
3. Taxman
4. I’m Only Sleeping
5. For No One
6. And Your Bird Can Sing
7. Tomorrow Never Knows
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. Here, There and Everywhere
10. Got to Get You Into My Life
11. Love You To
12. She Said She Said
13. Doctor Robert
14. I Want to Tell You
#10. Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Post-Bop, Modal Jazz, Hard Bop
Fifth album by Wayne Shorter
Released April 1966
trivia:
o The cover shows Shorter’s first wife, Teruko Nakagami, whom he met in 1961.
o The 1987 Rudy Van Gelder remaster edition included one bonus track, an alternate take of Dance Cadaverous. The 2013 Japan-released Blue Note SHM-CD remaster edition added onto that also alternate takes of Witch Hunt and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Infant Eyes
2. Dance Cadaverous
3. Speak No Evil
4. Witch Hunt
5. Wild Flower
6. Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum
#9. The Rolling Stones – Aftermath [U.S. version]
Blues Rock, Rock, British Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll
Fifth album by The Rolling Stones
Released July 2, 1966
trivia:
o First Stones album to have all-original material written and performed by the band.
o First of their albums to be recorded in true stereo as opposed to electronically recreated stereo.
o The album was meant to be titled Could You Walk on the Water? for a time, and a cover was going to be used depicting Jesus walking on water. Both of the two things were rejected by the Stones’ record label for bein ‘offensive material.
o Paint it Black reached #1 in both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, becoming the first Stones single to ever achieve both feats.
o Paint in Black was the ringtone of a good friend of mine for four years of me knowing about it, probably even more time than that.
o The track Paint It Black has an average score of 4.8/5 on RYM.
#8. American Symphony Orchestra / Leopold Stokowski / Glenn Gould – Emperor Concerto
Classical Period
Sophomore album by American Symphony Orchestra
Fiftieth album by Leopold Stokowski
Twenty-third album by Glenn Gould
Released May 16, 1966
trivia:
o The last Ludwig van Beethoven piano concerto ever completed.
#7. Marianne Faithfull – Faithfull Forever…
Folk Rock
Sixth album by Marianne Faithfull
Released November 1966
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Tomorrow’s Calling
2. Monday, Monday
3. With You in Mind
4. Counting
5. I Have a Love
6. That’s Right Baby
7. In the Night Time
8. Some Other Spring
9. The First Time
10. Lucky Girl
11. Ne Me Quitte Pas (Love Theme From Umbrellas of Cherbourg)
12. I’m the Sky
#6. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Baroque Pop, Sunshine Pop, Psychedelic Pop, Progressive Pop
Eleventh album by The Beach Boys
Released May 16, 1966
trivia:
o This is the most ranked album on all-time lists according to acclaimedmusic.net.
o This album came in at #10 on RYM’s all-time chart.
o The Beach Boys and The Beatles were in a relationship of grand mutual influence in the mid-to-late 60s. Starting with Brian Wilson hearing Beatles’ Rubber Soul (released in December 1965), and attaining serious desire to make what he calls “a complete statement”. He was immediately enamored with the album, feeling like it had no filler tracks, and thus pushing his ambition to a new height. Many albums up until the mid-60s — especially in the mainstream — were lacking of a cohesive artistic goal, and were largely used to sell singles at a higher price point. Rubber Soul, in Brian’s eyes, broke this chain, and subverted the trend by having a wholly consistent thread of music. He would say of his reaction to Rubber Soul: “I liked the way it all went together, the way it was all one thing. It was a challenge to me … It didn’t make me want to copy them but to be as good as them. I didn’t want to do the same kind of music, but on the same level.” Respectively, Paul McCartney from The Beatles has frequently praised Pet Sounds in interviews, even called God Only Knows as his favorite song of all time, and credited his melodic bass-playing style to the album. He acknowledged that Pet Sounds was the primary impetus for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released the following year.
o Another spike in creativity came due to a panic attack Wilson experienced in December 23, 1964, while catching a flight from Los Angeles to Houston in the midst of their ’64 tour in support of their last album, All Summer Long. This has been later retrospectively cited as a significant turn in his motivation to take the Beach Boys to a different stylistic and lyrical path, marking the end of their beach-themed period.
o Along with the elaborate layers of vocal harmonies that Brian Wilson’s symphonic arrangements allowed, sound effects were added with unusual instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, cans of coke, and barking dogs.
o The metaphor of the title Pet Sounds — extended with the cover image of feeding animals — stands for, quite literally, Brian’s favorite sounds and implementing them to a Rock record.
o Pet Sounds is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the field of music production, introducing non-standard harmonies and timbres, and incorporating elements of pop, jazz, exotica, classical, and the avant-garde. A heralding work of psychedelia, the album furthered an aesthetic trend within rock by helping it transform from dance music into music that was made for listening to.
o Wouldn’t It Be Nice featured in the film 50 First Dates starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. In the film, Sandler falls in love with Barrymore, but she has no short term memory and forgets about him every morning. He realizes that some part of her knows of him because she sings this song, which she heard with him. The song was also extensively used in Michael Moore‘s debut film (as director), Roger & Me. On one scene, a recently laid off auto worker talks about hearing it on the radio as he was driving home after his firing. It also appears at the end of movie as the credits are rolling.
o I’m Waiting for the Day was recorded by Wilson and Mike Love, and copyrighted in 1964, but wasn’t used or released until they needed another track to complete Pet Sounds.
o Sloop John B is a traditional West Indies tune about a sunken boat, adapted as early as in 1951 by Lee Hays of The Weavers (titled The John B Sails) and revived in 1960 by Lonnie Donegan. The Beach Boys’ folk music buff Al Jardine turned Brian Wilson onto The Kingston Trio‘s recording of the song.
o God Only Knows was used in films such as the romantic comedyLove Actually, the porn industry-focused drama Boogie Nights, and the teen drama Saved! (two cover versions)
o When asked which Beach Boys song took the shortest amount of time to write, Brian’s answer was God Only Knows. Him and Tony Asher wrote it in 45 minutes.
o A cover version of God Only Knows was broadcast simultaneously across BBC television and radio channels on October 7, 2014 to launch BBC Music. The new adaptation featured Brian Wilson himself as well as various guest stars including Pharrell Williams, Elton John, Lorde, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Stevie Wonder, One Direction and Dave Grohl.
o This album and Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan were released the very same day, and both celebrated their 50th birthday 16 of May, 2016.
o The single Wouldn’t It Be Nice / God Only Knows topped the RYM single chart for 1966, topped the 60s-chart, is the greatest single of all time according to the site.
o God Only Knows topped the RYM EP chart for 1966, topped the 60s-chart, and came in at #5 on the all-time chart.
o Wouldn’t It Be Nice is the most played Beach Boys track of all time, according to last.fm
o The track Wouldn’t It Be Nice has an average score of 4.7/5 on RYM.
o The track God Only Knows has an average score of 4.7/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (+706k total listeners)
2. God Only Knows (+584k total listeners)
3. Sloop John B
4. You Still Believe in Me
5. That’s Not Me
6. I’m Waiting for the Day
7. Don’t Talk (Put Your Hand on My Shoulder)
8. I Know There’s an Answer
9. Here Today
10. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times
11. Pet Sounds
12. Let’s Go Away for a While
13. Caroline No
#5. The Philadelphia Orchestra / Eugene Ormandy – Symphony No. 10: Performing Version by Deryck Cooke
Symphony, Romanticism
140th album by The Philadelphia Orchestra
114th album by Eugene Ormandy
Released in 1966
trivia:
o This was the first recording of Cooke‘s first performing edition of the complete symphony; met with immediate praise from critics, it’s one of the crowning achievements of Ormandy’s career as a conductor.
#4. Nina Simone – Wild Is the Wind
Vocal Jazz, Soul
Eleventh album by Nina Simone
Released June 1966
trivia:
o Connections to albums I have loved in my life: Four Women was sampled on The Story of O.J. by Jay-Z in 2017, for his 4:44 album. Lilac Wine was covered by Jeff Buckley in his 1994 album, Grace. The title track was covered by David Bowie on his 1976 album, Station to Station. Four Women gave its’ same to a hidden track on Train of Thought by Reflection Eternal. Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair was namedropped on Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star by Black Star.
o Pretty effin’ good for an album that was compiled from recordings left over from sessions in 1964 and 1965 for previous Phillips albums.
o Four Women was banned by the New York Jazz-focused radio station WLIB due to concern over the lyrics.
o Nina first recorded Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair as far back as a decade prior (1955) in Philadelphia with a string-arrangement and was not intended for release at the time. In 1970 that version appeared on Gifted & Black.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Four Women
2. Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
3. Lilac Wine
4. Break Down and Let It All Out
5. If I Should Lose You
6. What More Can I Say
7. I Love Your Lovin’ Ways
8. That’s All I Ask
9. Either Way I Lose
10. Why Keep on Breaking My Heart
11. Wild Is the Wind
#3. Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
Folk Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Blues Rock
Seventh album by Bob Dylan
Released June 20, 1966
trivia:
o Another album considered by numerous publications as one of the greatest of all time, this is the 9th most ranked album on all-time lists according to acclaimedmusic.net.
o Blonde on Blonde wraps up what is nowadays called Dylan’s Electric trilogy, or just “rock trilogy” for short. The trilogy started with 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home, and the second addition was Highway 61 Revisited, released the same year.
o The cover photo of Blonde on Blonde shows a 12-by-12 inch close-up portrait of Dylan. The double album gatefold sleeve opens to form a 12-by-26 inch photo of the artist, at three quarter length. The artist’s name and the album’s title only appear on the spine. A sticker was applied to the shrink wrap to promote the release’s two hit singles, I Want You and Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. In the photo, Bob’s posed in front of a brick wall wearing a suede jacket and a black-and-white checkered scarf. The jacket is the same he wore on the covers of his next two albums, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.
o The first track of this album is a testament of the self-awareness in Bob Dylan’s lyrics that revolutions not only Folk music songwriting-wise, but also Rock music visa vie the conception of the Rock Trilogy. According to author Andy Gill, by starting his new album with what sounded like “a demented marching-band … staffed by crazy people out of their mind on loco-weed”, Dylan delivered his biggest shock yet for his former folkie fans. The elaborate puns on getting stoned combine a sense of paranoiac persecution with “nudge-nudge wink-wink bohemian hedonism”. Heylin points out that the Old Testament connotations of getting stoned made the Salvation Army-style musical backing seem like a good joke. The enigmatic title came about, Heylin suggests, because Dylan knew a song entitled “everybody must get stoned” would be kept off the airwaves. Heylin links the title to the Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 15: “A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.”
o Pledging My Time is a tone-setter for the rest of the album, with its somber tone that draws its influence from Chicago Blues. The recurring couplet at the end of each verse expresses the theme: a pledge made to a prospective lover in hopes she “will come through, too”.
o Biographer Clinton Heylin places the writing of Visions of Johanna — considered by many critics to be one of Dylan’s masterpieces — in the fall of 1965, when Dylan was living in the Chelsea Hotel with his wife Sara. In the New York recording studio, on November 30, Dylan announced his epic composition: “This is called Freeze Out.” Andy Gill notes that this working title captures the “air of nocturnal suspension in which the verse tableaux are sketched … full of whispering and muttering.” The track proved itself to be difficult to be caught on tape. Dylan guided his backing musicians through fourteen takes, trying to sketch out how he wanted it played, saying at one point, “it’s not hard rock, The only thing in it that’s hard is Robbie.”
o The recording session of One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) stretched out over the night and into the next morning, on January 25 of 1966. Before coming to the session Dylan’d yet to work out the sequencing of the lyrics, or come up with a chorus — which only came on the fifth take, giving the song its title. It was not until a fifteenth take that a full song was completed and recorded.
o I Want You is a specific kind of a songwriting landmark, with contrasting stances within the verses and the chorus. Whereas the verses keep coming with different characters within a scene that’s in slow motion — guys like the Queen of Spades, a lonesome organ grinder, a guilty undertaker, weeping fathers, mothers, sleeping saviors — a juxtaposition is made by a repetitive and memorable chorus (“I want you / I want you / (Oh, honey) I want you / So bad”), lead-up on visa vie a predictable lead-up at the end of each verse.
o The lyrics of Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again evolved from what had survived from a part-typed, part-handwritten manuscript page.
o Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat developed over the course of six takes in New York, 13 in the first Nashville sessions, and then the very first take on March 10, which was the take used for the album.
o Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine is a songwriting contrast for not only this album, but Bob’s electric period by a large. Not only in being one of the most literal songs he wrote during that era, but it delivers its punchline — unlike other popular Blonde on Blonde tracks like Just Like a Woman and Absolutely Sweet Marie, which usually take until the final verse to reveal it — right there, in the title. It’s just a song about two lovers parting.
o In the song Temporary Like Achilles, the narrator has been spurned by his lover, who has already taken up with her latest boyfriend. Referring to his rival as Achilles, the narrator senses the new suitor may end up being discarded as quickly as he was. The refrain that ends each of the main verses — “Honey, why are you so hard?” — is a double entendre Dylan had been wanting to work into a song before.
o 4th Time Around was described by historian Sean Wilentz as “Bob Dylan impersonating John Lennon impersonating Bob Dylan”. In one of the more buzzed-about songs of The Beatles‘ 1965 record Rubber Soul, Norwegian Wood, John Lennon disguised his account of an illicit affair in cryptic, Dylanesque language. Dylan sketched out this song as a response, also in a 3/4 time signature, copying the tune and circular structure, but taking Lennon’s tale to an ever darker direction.
o The working title for Obviously 5 Believers was Black Dog Blues. The recording was complete within four takes, because Dylan told his band he didn’t want to spend much time of it, since it was “very easy, man”.
o Outtakes from this album include I’ll Keep It with Mine, which was released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3: (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991, I Wanna Be Your Lover, which was released on the compilation Biograph, Jet Pilot, later released on the same compilation, Medicine Sunday released on the Highway 61 Revisited 1995 interactive CD-Rom, Number One which is an unreleased track copyrighted in 1971, and She’s Your Lover Now, also on The Bootleg Series Volume 1-3.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Just Like a Woman
2. I Want You
3. Rainy Day Women #12 & #35
4. Visions of Johanna
5. Pledging My Time
6. Leopard-Skin Bill-Box Hat
7. One of Us Must Know
8. Abslutely Sweet Marie
9. Temporary Like Achilles
10. Obviously 5 Believers
11. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine
12. Fourth Time Around
13. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Low Lands
14. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
#2. Otis Redding – Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul
Southern Soul, Deep Soul, Rhythm & Blues
Fifth album by Otis Redding
Released October 15, 1966
trivia:
o The Sopranos re-immortalized My Lover’s Prayer by their extensive usage of it in the season 2 episode From Where to Eternity.
o Try a Little Tenderness was adorably used on the last season of How I Met Your Mother, in an episode-ending there that took place at a lighthouse.
o Try a Little Tenderness was famously sampled by Kanye West in 2011, for his and Jay-Z‘s collaboration track Otis off of their Watch the Throne-album.
o Similarly to last year’s best album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (My Top 50 of 1965), this album’s A-side mainly contains cover versions, while the other side mainly cover versions of other artists’ songs.
o This was the last solo studio album released by Otis before his death.
o In 2016 an expanded edition was released, with stereo- and mono-mixes of the original album as well as additional tracks.
o Additionally to Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & The M.G.’s, who had served on the two 1965 Otis Redding records, this album also employed The Memphis Horns.
o Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) was derived from the theme of The $64,000 Question.
o Try a Little Tenderness was heavily featured in the 1991 Irish film The Commitments, at one pont the band performed the song in the style of Otis. It also appears on Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and Pretty in Pink and, of course, Shrek.
o The track Try a Little Tenderness has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Try a Little Tenderness
2. My Lover’s Prayer
3. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
4. Day Tripper
5. I’m Sick Y’all
6. Sweet Lorene
7. Tennessee Waltz
8. You’re Still My Baby
9. Ton of Joy
10. She Put the Hurt on Me
11. Hawg for You
12. Love Have Mercy
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Lee Morgan – Search for the New Land
Post-Bop, Hard Bop, Modal Jazz
Fifteenth album by Lee Morgan
Released July 1966
trivia:
o This album was shelved for two years despite being recorded in 1964.
o This album was considered largely more abstract than its predecessor, The Sidewinder, by critics. Also, Jazz-commentator Scott Yanow called it “one of the finest Lee Morgan records”.
o Also the greatest Blue Note Records album of all time (Top 50 Blue Note albums).
o The track Search for the New Land has an average score of 4.5/5 on RYM.
last.fm ranks the tracks:
1. Mr. Kenyatta
2. Search for the New Land
3. The Joker
4. Melancholee
5. Morgan the Pirate
Thank you, and be safe out there!
Or don’t, lol.
I noticed back when I as unemployed this spring, and churning out these lists like hangover-turds, that I always promised a way longer waiting-time in these segments of my lists, than what it ended up being. Just out of wanting to be certain. Thinking I might get some new commitments that would take my attention off music. Now that I’m really in the thick of it, and there’s gonna be way more stuff to intake per every coming year, I’m happy that this list – two months in the making; which used to be my “guarantee” back when I could research write and drop a top 50 in three weeks – is finally out. And if you’re reading this, and have read what I’ve written up so far, thank you.
I just want to put people on to cool music. That’s all I want.
I started going through the sixties year-by-year in December of 2019. Seven lists are now done, and three big ones to go; the years 1967-1969 were the big three all along. I anticipated listening, discovering, learning about those years and here we now are.
janiojala 