The Best of the 60s, Pt. 1

Here are the first ten 1960s albums from 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die that I feel everyone truly should hear before they die. As usual, let me know if listen to any of these, and what you think. Or, if you've already listened to one of them, what you thought of it then.

The Everly Brothers, A Date with the Everly Brothers (1960)
I just really enjoy the brothers Everly. The songs aren't anything abnormal, but they're all perfect in their execution and variety. The singing is, of course, top-notch, and some of the harmonies are really tricky. Wonderful album.

Muddy Waters, Muddy Waters at Newport
This, my friends, is the blues. Not guitar-heavy, Claptonesque blues, though it's certainly not lacking in that area, but the real, thick, from your soul blues. Astounding.

Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba (1962)
I don't enjoy instrumental albums that feature one player all that often. It's very rare, in fact. But I can relate to Stan Getz, and the way he plays a saxophone. It's just as lyrical as any words, and may very well have more emotion for it. A new favourite.

Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
Dense, complex, and astounding. I haven't listened to it again since the first time, but I need to. It was an amazing journey, to use the old cliché. Probably not for most, though.

Stan Getz and João Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto
It opens with "The Girl from Ipanema," which has one of the single most attractive female vocals ever laid down in a studio, and just gets better from there. Another wonderful album, but this time with vocals from Gilberto. Absolutely wonderful.

The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night (1964)
This is the peak of their innocent, guitar-pop era. After this, it starts to get serious. Exquisitely crafted songs throughout, as you've come to expect by this point. "Any Time at All" may very well be the least appreciated Beatles track.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1965)
By the time I got to this album, I was wiped out, having had enough of the albums limited to I-IV-V progressions, where every song sounds the same. I assumed it would be more of the same, and while it is, the ferocity with which Lewis performs live is staggering. This is how live rock is supposed to be; energizing, thrilling, exciting, and just a little dangerous. Undoubtedly the best live record I've listened to.

B.B. King, Live at the Regal
Another excellent blues outing, from the King himself. I never appreciated how great his voice is for blues until I listened to this album. An excellent performance from an excellent bluesman.

The Beatles, Revolver (1966)
This might be my favourite Beatles album. The raw skeletons of all the songs here, the craft they were written with, are unprecedented. The way they're all dressed up just adds to the mix. "And Your Bird Can Sing" is the only time I've heard guitars sound like that. And, fun fact, "For No One" is the song I'm most likely to start humming to myself at any given time. Out of every song I've ever heard, that is.

The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
This is a very unusual album. The songs are all unique in their structure, all of them floating around in their own insular worlds, while still bleeding together into an amazing whole. "God Only Knows" truly is a brilliant piece of work, and there's never been a better opening track for an album than "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Sure, there have been better songs that opened albums, but there has never been a better opening track.

Happy listening!