# Underappreciated music from the 60s - a proselytizing thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853 "2013-09-14T17:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/21 "2013-09-14T22:40:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > . . . Speaking of Donovan . . . Yes, speaking of Donovan, he does have some absolutely amazing stuff that never “made it big”. Do you know [Jersey Thursday](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAGcT9tzzM4) or the almost jazzy-sounding [Sunny Goodge Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luxtMLNPZtk)? Probably my two favourite Donovan tracks, and certainly in the top five. The links take you to them on YouTube - if you’ve never heard them, _please_ take a listen. Thinking of Donovan reminded me of Season of the Witch and that made me think of Julie Driscoll. [Here she is doing Road to Cairo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmlJEESUEvo). Wow! Now there’s an underappreciated bit of 60s music. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/22 "2013-09-14T23:00:08Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > 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**. i would add **Freak Out!** with **Absolutely Free** , and **We’re Only In It For The Money** as social commentary set to music. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/23 "2013-09-14T23:06:19Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Yes, speaking of Donovan, he does have some absolutely amazing stuff that never “made it big”. Do you know [Jersey Thursday](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAGcT9tzzM4) or the almost jazzy-sounding [Sunny Goodge Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luxtMLNPZtk)? Probably my two favourite Donovan tracks, and certainly in the top five. The links take you to them on YouTube - if you’ve never heard them, _please_ take a listen. **Chefguy** : When talking about some of Donovan’s less “famous” stuff, it would be wrong of me to leave out [The Fat Angel.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxzI3pFLsbg). Another absolutely super track from of the people/groups that formed a huge chunk of what I listened to way back . . . ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/24 "2013-09-14T23:59:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 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. ☹ I also love _Forever Changes_ and, well, some of their other stuff. If John Echols the lead guitarist on _Forever Changes_ and on their earlier stuff (and Arthur Lee’s collaborator even before _Love_ was formed) has died, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Echols) has not heard about it. Indeed, Wikipedia seems to think he is [still performing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_%28band%29#2006.E2.80.93present)with a band still calling itself _Love._ Certainly he outlived Lee. Lee, of course, was by far the most important original member. Love also has the distinction of being perhaps the first significant American racially mixed rock band. Lee and Echols were black, the other main members were white (arguably also at least one Hispanic at one time). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/25 "2013-09-15T00:47:04Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > **Chefguy** : When talking about some of Donovan’s less “famous” stuff, it would be wrong of me to leave out [The Fat Angel.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxzI3pFLsbg). Another absolutely super track from of the people/groups that formed a huge chunk of what I listened to way back . . . I recall another one called “Widow With Shawl, A Portrait”. Of course, anything would be better than _Sunshine Superman_ or _Mellow Yellow_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/26 "2013-09-15T02:02:09Z")
Donovan’s **Sunshine Superman** album is a great one. If you’re going to bring up the Spencer Davis Group, you also need to go with Traffic. **Mr. Fantasy, Traffic** and **Last Exit** are they’re 60s albums, all of which are classics. For single songs, there’s Jaime Brockett’s absolutely insane “[Legend of the USS Titanic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg)” (based on a Ledbelly song). There was the Creation who sounded[a lot like the Who](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mmxMqV00cUE#t=57) Pentangle were five excellent musicians in a folk/rock mode. Here’s “[Light Flight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAlmxT9iNgs)” from their **Basket of Light** album. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/27 "2013-09-15T03:23:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > [Vanilla Fudge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_Fudge_%28album%29) Their first album is my favorite. Exactly what I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/28 "2013-09-15T04:42:36Z")
English folk singer [Anne Briggs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Briggs) is mostly forgotten today, but a listen to these gorgeous songs will show why she was such an influence on singers who came after her, like June Tabor, Sandy Denny, Christy Moore and Maddy Prior. She released her main albums in the 1970’s but her first EP was released in 1964, as well as several other tracks which appeared on [Anne Briggs: A Collection](http://mainlynorfolk.info/anne.briggs/records/acollection.html). Here are a few links. If nothing else, everyone should hear this first song. [“She Moved Through The Fair”](http://youtu.be/3dyUsXgL7ow) (1963) From her EP [“Polly Vaughn”](http://youtu.be/4TyqdoZQhns) (1964) [“Rosemary”](http://youtu.be/NGC0dczkkvU) (1964) [“Lowlands”](http://youtu.be/-kuLTCpP3Ig) (1964) Ok, this is from her 1971 album _Anne Briggs_, but it’s such an iconic song that she performed live throughout the 1960’s, and besides, she taught it to frequent musical partner Bert Jansch, founding member of Pentangle, who recorded it in 1966. [“Blackwaterside”](http://youtu.be/OxOouYO5tY4) I don’t think this is so underappreciated, but it is one song from the 1960’s that everyone should know. Nina Simone - "[Mississippi Goddam"](http://youtu.be/Tst6Fuw2Sfo) (1964) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/29 "2013-09-15T05:50:05Z")
I don’t claim to know much of anything at all about them…can’t even name a song, but I’m always happy to see _Hot Tuna_ come up on my XM display. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/30 "2013-09-15T05:57:55Z")
This really isn’t a serious suggestion, because they may be quite rightly underappreciated, vocally at least, since that can be an acquired taste. I nominate the fun group _Holy Modal Rounders_ in the realm of “Music that makes me smile.” It helps if I have very good drugs handy, which I did back when I discovered them. Like many people, I first heard the Holy Modal Rounders via the film **Easy Rider** , with their novelty [“Bird Song,”](http://youtu.be/Iwq55kt8x4g) (1969) but a friend had their albums and I discovered they had other fun songs too, most with silly lyrics. We did a LOT of drugs back then, but I still can’t help but grin while listening to [“Boobs a Lot”](http://youtu.be/eN3Vl2kf5KM) and was thrilled to discover it on YouTube. A few others I could find on YouTube: [“Interlude”](http://youtu.be/1JinM8QYvys) (short instrumental) [“The Cuckoo”](http://youtu.be/n4CUiX64MmQ) (1964) [“Moving Day”](http://youtu.be/Au5NxDjiyJc) (1964) HMR trivia: The actor/playwright [Sam Shepard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Shepard) was a member of the HMRs for a while. To hear how multi-talented this guy is, listen to his crazy-ass drumming on the demented instrumental song [“Indian War Whoop”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FKPjiIr3ys) (1967). I believe he played drums on that whole [album](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_War_Whoop). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/31 "2013-09-15T23:09:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Donovan’s **Sunshine Superman** album is a great one. > > If you’re going to bring up the Spencer Davis Group, you also need to go with Traffic. **Mr. Fantasy, Traffic** and **Last Exit** are they’re 60s albums, all of which are classics. Definitely agree, but Traffic was hardly under-appreciated. Their Best of Album, which has stuff after Dave Mason left, is fantastic. > [@](#): > > For single songs, there’s Jaime Brockett’s absolutely insane “[Legend of the USS Titanic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg)” (based on a Ledbelly song). The first song played on WBCN in Boston after it went from classical to rock. My nomination is “The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away” by [Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Mother_%26_the_All_Night_Newsboys) and produced by Jimi Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/32 "2013-09-15T23:35:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > For single songs, there’s Jaime Brockett’s absolutely insane “[Legend of the USS Titanic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg)” (based on a Ledbelly song). The song appears on Brockett’s first album, _Remember the Wind and the Rain_. It was a strange mix of folk songs and insanity. It starts with “[Talkin Green Beret Super Yellow Hydraulic Banana Teeny Bopper Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u4U7vq_9q8)” which is almost as wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/33 "2013-09-16T00:08:58Z")
My favourite groups from the '60s are the Chad Mitchell Trio and the Seekers. **Chad Mitchell** : [Lizzie Borden](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wlO-J0v9ZY) [The John Birch Society](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6taS9R1KM) [I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62vmF5ojGg&feature=related) [The Draft Dodger Rag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2wJW0YoafI) **Seekers** : [I’ll Never Find Another You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaXaqoTOFwA) [Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAAMueQQYk&feature=related) [Colours of My Life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQioqPLvG3s&feature=related) [The Carnival Is Over](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZipKdI1sY&feature=related) And just because Judith is my favourite singer, [here they are](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnDd5XaEyLw&NR=1) in 2004… ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/34 "2013-09-16T00:09:51Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > This really isn’t a serious suggestion, because they may be quite rightly underappreciated, vocally at least, since that can be an acquired taste. I nominate the fun group _Holy Modal Rounders_ in the realm of “Music that makes me smile.” It helps if I have very good drugs handy, which I did back when I discovered them. That’s almost exactly how I’d describe [The Shaggs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WJ9w6SAcGQ). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/35 "2013-09-16T00:28:43Z")
I was a big fan of another folkie group, The Clancey Brothers and Tommy Makem. They had a large catalog of traditional Irish songs, as well as newer tunes, and they were entertaining as hell. One of the newer songs was [Lament For Brendan Behan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVapRXgXhi8). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/36 "2013-09-16T01:12:58Z")
The Holy Modal Rounders’ first two albums, with only Peter Stampfel & Steve Weber, were old-timey music true to the spirit of the originals–with some “modern” lyrics, like the first recorded “psychodelic.” I loved this stuff. Their career became successively weirder–and they supplied the musical talent for the first Fugs’ records. The Youngbloods have been mentioned. Their _Elephant Mountain_ is one of those albums that really holds together–mellow & haunting in turn. Of course Love’s _Forever Changes_ is a masterpiece. One of Houston’s folky legends thought I was playing _Gilded Palace of Sin_ too much; he said, if I had to listen to that kind of thing, I ought to get _Wheatstraw Suite_ by the Dillards. One Dillard brother who left the band later joined Gene Clark, an original Byrd, for two albums as the Dillard & Clark Expedition. (Gram Parsons was great but he did _not_ invent country rock all by himself.) Hey, Buffalo Springfield was mixing genres up even a bit earlier–only two albums before they fell apart… The Sir Douglas Quintet’s 1969 _Mendocino_ included the title tune, a smallish hit for them, and “At The Crossroads”–heard quite a bit on FM radio as recorded by Mott the Hoople… Another favorite with regional roots was _The Unwritten Works of Geoffrey, Etc._ by the somewhat obscure Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit & Greenhill. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/37 "2013-09-16T01:57:53Z")
Outside the Beatles universe you had the Beach Boys and Four Seasons in the US. Then there was the Zombies and Rolling Stones. Nat King Cole, Petula Clark, and the Supremes all figured prominently in the 60s. Then of course, you had Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bernstein, and Bart. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/38 "2013-09-16T14:49:03Z")
[Tom Paxton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Paxton). If you need proof, just look at the list of covers in the article. A lot of people don’t even know his name, but you know his songs. “Rambling Boy” is often credited as a “traditional American folk song,” which Paxton has said “is the highest tribute paid to a folk song.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/39 "2013-09-16T16:03:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [Tom Paxton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Paxton). If you need proof, just look at the list of covers in the article. A lot of people don’t even know his name, but you know his songs. “Rambling Boy” is often credited as a “traditional American folk song,” which Paxton has said “is the highest tribute paid to a folk song.” That’s a pretty incredible resumé. I’m going to have to check out his stuff later. I’ve heard of him, but I don’t think I recognize any of his songs. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/40 "2013-09-16T16:43:57Z")
Tom Paxton was to the 1960’s pretty much what John Prine was to the 1970’s [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853.md?page=3)