For good reason, lots of people still listen to and enjoy early Beatles and Stones stuff. Absolutely.
But there’s a lot of really fine music from that era that, regrettably, seldom gets mentioned let alone played.
Here are some albums that I still listen to, getting on to a half century later. If even one young whippersnapper in Doperland gets turned on to (any of) them, this thread will have served its purpose.
Quicksilver Messenger Service (their self-titled first album) - try the opening cut “Pride of Man” or, at the 10 minute mark ‘Gold and Silver’, or the final track, at 19’ 50" “The Fool”.
Velvet Underground and Nico- check out the opening track or ‘I’ll be Your Mirror’ at the 36 minute mark as good intros to the album.
Hot Rats and Absolutely Free. Zappa is most definitely not underappreciated. These albums are though. Musically, Hot Rats has Zappa at his peak. “Philosophically” or “from a social commentary perspective” or whatever, Absolutely Free has no equal (although his next - We’re Only In It for the Money - came close). This is how Zappa should be remembered not with the commercial shite that he did later (like Apostrophe, Overnight Sensation, etc).
The cheese I have for you, my dear, is real. And very new.
Quicksilver is my favorite underappreciated San Francisco group. Part of their problem is that they never developed a consistent, distinctive sound. Dino Valenti was supposed to be part of the group, then got busted so he wasn’t on the first album. Note that “Dino’s Song” is one of the cuts. “Pride of Man” was a cult hit. I’m one of the five people in America who played the original version by folk singer (later actor) Hamilton Camp on a radio show. The long songs became a trademark, but they all sounded different. Valenti would come back and do the FM hits “Fresh Air” and “What About Me?”, both wonderful and impossible not to sing along with. And genius piano player Nicky Hopkins joined for a couple of albums and contributed fantastic instrumentals, with the highlight being “Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder.”
Blood, Sweat and Tears, the second BST album, is criminally underappreciated because everyone hates David Clayton-Thomas. Look, Child Is Father to the Man is a good album, but BST has better songs, better musicians, better arrangements, better production, and a lead singer who was absolutely perfect for those songs at that time.
And one you have never heard of. H. P.Lovecraft II, a terrifically tasty slice of folk psychedelia from 1968.
Speaking of which, note that one of the songs on that album was by Brewer and Shipley, who did three fine folk rock albums, Weeds, Tarkio, and Shake Off the Demon from 1969 to 1971. What’s that? Nicky Hopkins sat in on Weeds and Quicksilver guitarist John Cipollina on Demon? California was a small town in the 60s, wasn’t it?
I’ll mention the Bonzo Dog Band, who were they Monty Pythons of rock music (and the Python troupe was clearly influence by them, since they worked with them pre-Python; Neil Innes of the Bonzos has been called “The Seventh Python.”)
Kak was completely obscure (they don’t even have a Wikipedia page) with a single album that went nowhere, but it’s a great collection of psychedelic/progressive hard rock (they’ve been described with all the adjectives). Here’s their song “Electric Sailor” Here’s their full album.
I also a fan of the original Renaissance, which was a spinoff from the Yardbirds and specialized in classical-based progressive rock. Their first album is terrific. The group went through all sorts of changes and a later version (with none of the original personnel) became a success, but far less rocking than the first one. Here’s their “Kings and Queens.”
It’s a Beautiful Day is known for their classic “White Bird,” but their first album is amazingly good. “Girl with No Eyes” is my favorite, but there’s not a bad song on the album
Spirit put out three fine albums in the 60s: Spirit, A Family that Plays Together and Clear; their masterpiece, The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus came out in 1970. They had three great songwriters and an eclectic mix of jazz and rock. “I Got a Line on You” is the closest thing to a hit, but “Taurus” has probably been heard the most, since its tune “influenced” “Stairway to Heaven.”
The Velvet Underground and Nico is genre-establishing and often on lists of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. I don’t see how it could be considered underappreciated unless you’re going by airplay on classic rock stations or record sales when it was first released.
I was going to suggest Nick Drake but his following has grown considerably in the last 20 years so I can’t really say he’s still underappreciated.
Arthur Brown. He had one song that got a lot of air play, that being Fire from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, but the guy’s other songs were pretty good, as well. Usually when I mention him, people think I have him confusing him with James Brown. :rolleyes:
I was a folkie back then, as well as a rocker. Ian & Sylvia had some great stuff, writing such classics as Four Strong Winds and Someday Soon, which was a hit for Judy Collins, another favorite of mine, and You Were On My Mind, a hit for a group called We Five.
Spanky and Our Gang was a pop group led by Elaine (Spanky) McFarlane. The music was soft, but she had a killer voice, as heard on Sunday Will Never Be the Same.
Buffy Sainte Marie, who became well known on Sesame Street, was a voice of protest and a defender of Native Americans before it was popular to be so. Her anti-war song Universal Soldier, was a hit for Donovan. Her songs like Broke Down Girl and Co’dine were powerful. Speaking of Donovan, while his popular stuff was largely crap, he had some very good songs on his albums that never made it to the big time.
Marrying Maiden was better, if for no other reason than Don & Dewey.
I agree with most of the above groups, so I will suggest specific cuts that are underappreciated, like the Jefferson Airplane version of “Let’s Get Together.” The Youngbloods had the hit, and damn near everybody performed it, but the version of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off! blows it away. Signe’s vocal was the 60s in a nutshell.
Mississippi John Hurt helped revive an interest in 60’s American Folk. Quite a few retired bluesman made recordings before they passed. You gotta listen to Today! to appreciate Mississippi John Hurt.
Long Journey Home 1964 Newport Folk Festival Vanguard records
Indeed. Spirit is a great choice and if Twelve Dreams had come out twelve months earlier, it would have made my (short) list.
I agree completely about The Velvet Underground and Nico being such a seminal album. And, that’s why in addition to its terrific ‘sound’ and edge, I included it, i.e. despite its importance and quality, ISTM that it gets precious little attention nowadays.
ETA: Exapno, we share a lot in common. Really, in so many threads your interests/likes and mine seem to coincide. You must be a terrific guy!
**TOUCH
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name of the band and the album. I first heard this album in 1969, not far from Laurel Canyon where it was recorded. 45 years later I still love it. The greatest proto-progressive rock album most people have never heard of.
Agreed. Hot Rats (the original mix, which is finally the “official” CD version), Absolutely Free, and We’re Only In It For The Money (again, the original mix) are three of the four masterpieces for which Zappa should be remembered. The fourth being Uncle Meat.
Those are the four. I agree one hundred percent. The reason I didn’t include Uncle Meat in (quite) the same league as the others is because there are times when it does get a bit self-indulgent, i.e. some of the less impressive (IMO) instrumental ‘interludes’ seem to go on too long.
I have to mention Glenn Yarbrough, although I may not get much agreement. A former member of The Limeliters, the man had a gorgeous tenor that could make singing the dictionary sound like poetry. I probably owned a half dozen of his albums at one time, and still like to have a listen on YouTube from time to time. I think the only songs he was noted for were Baby, The Rain Must Fall and The Honey Wind Blows, two of his lesser efforts, IMO.
For many years, Love’s “Forever Changes” consistently appears on lists of “Top Whatever” critic’s favorites. I finally purchased a copy a couple years ago in a used CD store, and HOLY SMOKES WHAT WAS I MISSING? That band was FANTASTIC! They released several albums and imploded, mainly because of drug issues, and every one of the band members is deceased; their singer, Arthur Lee, was the last to die just a few years ago from cancer, and his was the only natural death.
Some PBS affiliates have aired a half-hour show about a northern California band called Afterglow that released a single album in the late 1960s that sank without a trace, and was discovered in the 1990s and released on CD without the knowledge of any of the band members. Their names must not have been on it, because several of them have had very successful non-musical careers, and one is a mayor. Their main singer was in poor health and died during the show’s production. They were very good too.
Although I consider UM equal to the other three, I agree with you about many of those UM instrumental spacefillers. Unfortunately for us, self-indulgence was one of Zappa’s trademarks throughout his recording career.
That’s a pretty fair cross section of their stuff, but if you didn’t know it, you’d swear the lead singer was black - he does blues that well. At the time he was around 16 years old. Stevie Winwood
Another group that doesn’t seem to get the recognition they deserved The Small Faces
Their names must not have been on it, because several of them have had very successful non-musical careers, and one is a mayor. Their main singer was in poor health and died during the show’s production. They were very good too.
