Time Out was released in 1959, and I always think of Brubeck as a 50s guy even though technically that California cool jazz style was mostly 60s, as you say.
In music, though, the 60s are post-Beatles. I can think of dozens of exceptions, but I don’t really care. I just listened to The Best of Jay and the Americans, who started releasing songs in 1962 very near the start of the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons. (Was there a better voice in rock than Jay Black, especially in Cara Mia?") And I started paying attention to rock in the summer of 1963, the first time I had a radio I could listen to separate from my parents. I have a ton of favorites from the early 60s. Doesn’t matter. They’re all Alan Sheppard. The real stuff starts with Neil Armstrong.
You’re right, although the albums I mentioned were solidly in the 60s. I agree on Jay and the Americans. The guy had a terrific voice. For that matter, so did Gerry Marsden of Gerry and The Pacemakers (though not on a par with Jay Black). Ferry Cross the Mersey was one of my favorite songs.
I’d say the British equivalent of Jay Black was Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers. (Even though they were American, I never knew that until today when I looked them up.)
This is a mesmerizing song. The whole album it’s from, which is called Illuminations, sounds like nothing else of its time. I like a lot of her earlier records too, but this one is something special.
My nomination is The Free Design, a harmony group from upstate New York who were also phenomenal instrumentalists and put out a string of great records in the late '60s and early’70s. They sounded a tiny bit like the Fifth Dimension, but did not have hits, which is mysterious.
I’m afraid to post. Most of the great songs/singers I listened to in that era I’ve long forgotten. A few I remember liking (Petula Clark? ) will seem silly. But Glenn Yarbrough did ring a bell. It may be 40+ years since I heard Baby, The Rain Must Fall.
For a while I lstened to a lot of Leonard Cohen, though I don’t know if he’s “underappreciated.” Recently I stumbled on a 2008 video of “Everybody Knows” which I recommend to watch.
I was reading the Wiki article on Jerry Jeff Walker this morning, and it reminded me that JJW had once been associated with a band called Circus Maximus (circa 1967). Which brings us to this post.
Circus Maximus’s Wind remains a terrific song. I just finished listening to it for the first time in decades. It has aged remarkably well; like not at all! Definitely an underappreciated bit of music from the 60’s, so I couldn’t resist opening this almost-Zombie thread to push it.
Fairport Convention’s " Liege and Leaf" deserves special mention.
I got a lot of mileage performing Tom Paxton’s “Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues” back in the day.
And I’m pleasantly surprised Jaime Brockett has been mentioned.
Hot Tuna is Jack and Jorma, The Jeferson Airplane’s bass player and lead guitarist.
They played together before the Airplane, they opened Airplane shows as Hot Tuna, they were Hot Tuna when the Airplane split, and they still play today. I love me some Hot Tuna!
Seeing this thread has been revived, I looked through and was surprised no-one has mentioned John Mayall, who not only ‘discovered’ some of the most important musicians of the era, but made a lot of very good music himself. Most of it is very bluesy, and much features musicians who went on to greater fame and success in other bands (Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Jack Bruce, Ansley Dunbar, Jon Hiseman etc., etc.), but in my opinion Mayall’s best work of all is with lesser known musicians, his 1969 jazz inflected live album The Turning Point. (Oddly, the studio album Empty Rooms, that he made with the same band, is nowhere near as good.) Here is California from The Turning Point: possibly the best track, but the whole album is great.
) will seem silly. But Glenn Yarbrough did ring a bell. It may be 40+ years since I heard 