# 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:** 3
**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, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/41 "2013-09-16T18:59:23Z")
I’ll just add this Small Faces number - seems Jimmy Page and crew had some appreciation of their music. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_pYjcoXG5c) ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/42 "2013-09-16T22:24:53Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Tom Paxton was to the 1960’s pretty much what John Prine was to the 1970’s Now Prine I’m a little more famiar with, but that’s via Steve Goodman and they were both from this general area. I’m not that well-versed in folk otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/43 "2013-09-17T10:32:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **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. I loved Buffy! I watched her on Sesame Street and then my parents bought some of her albums. > [@Chefguy](#): > > 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). I listen to the Clancys still but I really like The Dubliners better. And while it’s kind of silly to say Van Morrison is underappreciated, I think it’s kind of nuts that everyone knows Brown Eyed Girl but not Madame George. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/44 "2013-09-17T11:50:08Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > 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. Ditto! ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/45 "2013-09-17T12:52:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. I would definitely second Pentangle. Some of their early work consisted of updated versions of old English songs. I would recommend [Lyke Wake Dirge](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_jKsQjuCfE) – still one of the most haunting and yet beautiful tunes I have ever heard. But for something less sombre, try [Hunting Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqlh6WmAxQ) which they described as a “13th Century folk-rock song.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/46 "2013-09-17T14:02:15Z")
If we are going there, then Fairport Convention must be mentioned. A grossly under-appreciated band on this side of the pond. **Chefguy** , thanks for mentioning Buffy Sainte Marie. I actually produced a benefit concert she headlined back in the 70s. Nice person. ---
**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 17, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/47 "2013-09-17T14:59:42Z")
**Love** was going to be my contribution, but already mentioned. Another artist that I don’t see on this list, however, is **Scott Walker**. I’m not entirely sure how under-appreciated he is, as he does seem to be show up in discussion a lot on music geek websites, but most people I know are unfamiliar with his work. Here’s [Jackie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUS1XDIIhTE) for a taste of his music. While they’re not obscure, I think **the Zombies** ought to be more well-known in pop culture, especially their album Odessey and Oracle. It’s considered a classic by music critics, but it really should be as well known in pop culture as _Pet Sounds_ and _Sergeant Pepper’s_. I would even argue that much of **the Kinks** work is under-appreciated. Their catalog should be played with the breadth and depth that Beatles and the Rolling Stones are. This is not to say the Kinks don’t get radio play–they do–but they have many, many more songs that deserve regular airplay. And one curveball, I’ve always been fond of the baroque pop of **The Left Banke**. They’re best known for “Walk Away Renee” and [“Pretty Ballerina,”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm_-jr8I3Ko) but their two albums are pure golden pop goodness. I especially love the orchestration on “Pretty Ballerina” with its haunting piano and oboe, and gorgeous vocal melodies. Impressive that the songwriter (Michael Brown/Lookofsky wrote it, and “Walk Away Renee,” when he was 16.) I don’t know what it is about that song, but it always gives me chills at the end of each verse, where the vocals rise against the string countermelody. It’s not just the songwriting, but also the vocals have this sincere vulnerability to them that just gets me. ---
**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 17, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/48 "2013-09-17T16:42:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > While they’re not obscure, I think **the Zombies** ought to be more well-known in pop culture, especially their album Odessey and Oracle. It’s considered a classic by music critics, but it really should be as well known in pop culture as _Pet Sounds_ and _Sergeant Pepper’s_. “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No” are two of the greatest tunes in rock history. Whenever they come on I want to hear them over and over and over again. “Time of the Season” from _Odyssey and Oracle_ is superb, but… Every once in a while I hear somebody praising the album in rapturous terms and I take it out an play it again. And… nothing. It’s a collection of thin songs. In that way it’s very much like Van Dyke Parks’ _Song Cycle_, which gets similar adulation and is similarly nothing. If we’re going to singles, then the field opens up to zillions of half-forgotten classics. Moby Grape’s [“Omaha”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_FlNwQlBmU) is the great lost rock classic, from the days when a chord sweeping from speaker to speaker was the epitome of cool. (Hendrix did it in “All Along the Watchtower,” and listening to it through headphones achieved transcendence without drugs.) More stereo play in [“Hot Smoke and Sassafras”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_otNCZ5T2o) by Bubble Puppy. Who? Bubble Puppy. Who? I don’t know. Who cares. Just listen. Everybody goofs on Iron Butterfly, but their [“Soul Experience”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtuDAnNysls) is a pretty piece of psychedelia. Tommy James and the Shondells were a teen band until “Crimson and Clover” but [“Crystal Blue Persuasion”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2821Jvnaeg8) was their peak. Today people can easily hear Jim Pepper’s “Witchi Tai To” but once you had to run to the radio when some adventuresome FM DJ played it. There are fifty versions, but the right one is the long one from [Pepper’s Pow Wow](http://wingingwithwhitehawk.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/witchi-tai-to-everything-is-everything/). That’s a 1971 rerecording of a 1969 single, which was released by his then band Everything Is Everything. The difference? The long version has the spine-tingling, maniacal sax solo that turned a pretty song into a piece of art. ---
**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 17, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/49 "2013-09-17T16:48:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Jim Pepper’s “Witchi Tai To” but once you had to run to the radio when some adventuresome FM DJ played it. There are fifty versions, but the right one is the long one from[Pepper’s Pow Wow](http://wingingwithwhitehawk.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/witchi-tai-to-everything-is-everything/). That’s a 1971 rerecording of a 1969 single, which was released by his then band Everything Is Everything. The difference? The long version has the spine-tingling, maniacal sax solo that turned a pretty song into a piece of art. What a fabulous track. [Here is the good version](http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=ce270d38103a630c3181db372a25a052&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.straightdope.com%2Fsdmb%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D573268&v=1&libId=efcb55eb-f81a-420e-880a-0abe95b06f09&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS2YeEUlyhQw%26feature%3Drelated&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=What%20is%20this%20song%3F%2060's%20one%20hit%20wonder%3F%20-%20Straight%20Dope%20Message%20Board&txt=this%2C%20the%20%22real%22%20version&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13794363816268) (with the ‘song’ starting at about the 35 second mark). ---
**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 17, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/50 "2013-09-17T16:55:39Z")
I forgot to add and ask: is that Larry Coryell playing guitar on Witchi-Tai-To? ---
**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 17, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/51 "2013-09-17T17:13:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No” are two of the greatest tunes in rock history. Whenever they come on I want to hear them over and over and over again. “Time of the Season” from _Odyssey and Oracle_ is superb, but… Every once in a while I hear somebody praising the album in rapturous terms and I take it out an play it again. And… nothing. It’s a collection of thin songs. In that way it’s very much like Van Dyke Parks’ _Song Cycle_, which gets similar adulation and is similarly nothing. Never heard of _Song Cycle_, but sounds like I should get to it. 🙂 Don’t know why _Odyssey_ doesn’t work for you, but it’s a glorious album. “This Will Be Our Year” was even our first dance wedding song, so, yeah, it’s up there for me as Top 10 albums of all time. (Last time we did a “best albums of all time” list, it made #10 for me, dropping from its previous spot at #6.) ---
**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 17, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/52 "2013-09-17T17:29:34Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > What a fabulous track. [Here is the good version](http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=ce270d38103a630c3181db372a25a052&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.straightdope.com%2Fsdmb%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D573268&v=1&libId=efcb55eb-f81a-420e-880a-0abe95b06f09&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS2YeEUlyhQw%26feature%3Drelated&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=What%20is%20this%20song%3F%2060's%20one%20hit%20wonder%3F%20-%20Straight%20Dope%20Message%20Board&txt=this%2C%20the%20%22real%22%20version&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13794363816268) (with the ‘song’ starting at about the 35 second mark). Yes, that’s the same version. I didn’t realize that it had an intro chant that the radio never played. > [@KarlGauss](#): > > I forgot to add and ask: is that Larry Coryell playing guitar on Witchi-Tai-To? Sure is. They were in an earlier band, The Free Spirits, which has claims on being the first jazz-rock fusion band, but I’ve never heard it. The Pepper LP used all-star studio musicians. ---
**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 17, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/53 "2013-09-17T17:45:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Never heard of _Song Cycle_, but sounds like I should get to it. 🙂 I’m about five minutes through this album, and it’s wild. This is pretty crazy stuff. Love it. I wonder why I’ve never heard of it before. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/54 "2013-09-17T17:53:55Z")
I’d like to say a word for three albums by The Steve Miller Band: [“Children of the Future” (1968)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/children-of-the-future-mw0000653095), [“Sailor” (1968)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/sailor-mw0000689837), and [“Brave New World” (1969)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/brave-new-world-mw0000198787). For those who think Miller only put out nonsense like “Fly Like an Eagle” or “Take the Money and Run,” these three albums are quite a revelation. If you only want to check out one, make it “Sailor,” but all three are extraordinary, and IMO far superior to the jillion-sellers from later in his career. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/55 "2013-09-17T18:59:34Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > I’d like to say a word for three albums by The Steve Miller Band: [“Children of the Future” (1968)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/children-of-the-future-mw0000653095), [“Sailor” (1968)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/sailor-mw0000689837), and [“Brave New World” (1969)](http://www.allmusic.com/album/brave-new-world-mw0000198787). For those who think Miller only put out nonsense like “Fly Like an Eagle” or “Take the Money and Run,” these three albums are quite a revelation. If you only want to check out one, make it “Sailor,” but all three are extraordinary, and IMO far superior to the jillion-sellers from later in his career. Whoa! I just finished listening to the first two listed above (first time in decades) and then see this thread! I wore these out in 69-70. This was the Steve Miller Blues Band, no the later (post Joker?) iterations. I commend them to all. ---
**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 17, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/56 "2013-09-17T21:42:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m about five minutes through this album, and it’s wild. This is pretty crazy stuff. Love it. I wonder why I’ve never heard of it before. Well, this is supposed to be a proselytizing thread. Proof that any publicity is good publicity. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/57 "2013-09-21T01:39:03Z")
I’ll fifth [**Love**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdELzBV9pyo)… And add **Lee Michaels** and **Leo Kottke** , from the very late 60’s. ---
**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 21, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/58 "2013-09-21T02:12:04Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > I’ll fifth [**Love**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdELzBV9pyo)… I honestly cannot fathom why these guys aren’t better known. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/59 "2013-09-21T19:40:07Z")
You guys are really hittin’ the note on this topic. I’d swear that **LabDad** , **Exapno Mapcase** and **Chefguy** are my long-lost foster-brothers. QMS: Anyone who digs Quicksilver is okay in my book. Even the later albums, uneven as they might be, had some great tunes (‘Fire Brothers’, ‘The Truth’, ‘Cowboy on the Run’, ‘Gypsy Lights’). Steve Miller Band: Boz Skaggs and Ben Sidran (Dr. Jazz) were in the group in those days and the influence shows. Buffy St. Marie: ‘God is Alive, Magic is Afoot’. 'Nuff said. Let us not forget Electric Flag - Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Barry Goldberg, Nick Gravanites and Harvey Brooks + killer horns. ‘Killing Floor’, indeed! ---
**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 21, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853/60 "2013-09-21T20:57:51Z")
One obvious group from the 60s is **The Dave Brubeck Quartet**. Brubeck had been playing jazz since the 40s with various bands and group members, but he struck gold when he took on Joe Morello, Paul Desmond and Gene Wright. The quartet had a couple of big crossover hits in the 60s with _Take Five_ and _Blue Rondo_, but their work on albums like _Live at Carnegie Hall_ and _Jazz Impressions of Japan_ really showed them at their best with both arranging and improvising, and brought them to the forefront of the west coast jazz scene. Unfortunately, none of it got much air play other than on jazz format stations, of which there were few. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underappreciated-music-from-the-60s-a-proselytizing-thread/668853.md?page=4)