Midway through the 1960s and the music scene is really heating up. Beatlemania is at its hysterical peak, Dylan goes electric, and the blues-rock explosion in England is in full swing.
And music turns more and more to politics and culture for inspiration. The civil rights movement heats up in Alabama, with the Reverend Martin Luther King organizing a march from Selma to Montgomery as a peaceful demonstration for African-American voting rights. Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City, and allegations of police abuse spark the Watts riots in Los Angeles. Across the globe, U.S. involvement deepens in Vietnam, with the start of a 3 ½ year aerial bombardment campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder. Anti-war protests pick up here at home. The Space Race gains momentum with the first American spacewalk on the Gemini 4 mission and the Mariner 4 taking photos of the surface of Mars. Winston Churchhill dies, the St. Louis Arch is completed, and Muhammad Ali (still called Cassius Clay) defeats Sonny Liston in about two minutes. Men’s hair styles grow longer as women’s skirt and dress length shorten. Millions of Super Balls are sold.
The ‘60s are truly underway. Music will never be the same.
My Top 6 Albums of 1965
Note: Some of this commentary is adapted from that in No Hype No Trends Music’s 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.
As always, you can jump to the playlist at the bottom of each post to listen while you read.
Within each tier (Top 6, Next 6, etc.), all albums are listed roughly chronologically (all release dates from Wikipedia, unless otherwise noted).
Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob DylanReleased 1965/03/22
Here’s the moment when Dylan went electric. Side one bristled with an abrasive energy he’d never recorded before, with side two returning once again to the relative calm of his more folk-oriented work, although with a more surreal lyrical tinge. It’s the perfect prelude to his masterpiece, Highway 61 Revisited, and almost as good.
Read more in my top 10 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 023
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- The Rolling Stone 200 Essential Record Collection (1997)
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 031
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 048
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 018
- Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 081
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 039
The Beatles
Help! [UK]
The BeatlesReleased 1965/08/06
Another great Beatles album.
Read more in my top 50 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 094
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No . 33
Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob DylanReleased 1965/08/30.
In tales packed with cultural and allegorical pastiche, Dylan creates mythical spaces like Highway 61 and Desolation Row where nonsense reigns supreme—a place for society’s outcasts and misfits, has-beens and nobodies, con-men and crooks, a place where Einstein disguised as Robin Hood can rub elbows with Cinderella and Jack the Ripper—all delivered in Dylan’s perfectly awful nasal whine that cuts to the bone. It ain’t pretty, but it’s one of the great works of art of the century.
Read more in my top 5 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 006
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 004
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 014
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 005
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 009
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 002
Otis Redding
Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
Otis ReddingReleased 1965/09/15
Otis Redding is an absolutely essential part of any ‘60s record collection, and this is probably his most consistently great studio album, if you aren’t satisfied with a thorough compilation album. It has his classic “Respect” (later covered with even more success by Aretha Franklin) and plenty of other scorching R&B slow-burners. Nobody could develop tension like Otis, starting slow and building to a crescendo in a burst of passion at a song’s climax.
Read more in my top 50 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 020
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of All Time (1997), No . 031
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No . 074
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 035
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 010
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No . 041
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No . 025
The Beatles
Rubber Soul [UK]
The BeatlesReleased 1965/12/03
The best of the Beatles early albums, Rubber Soul captures the band when their lyrical and musical aspirations began shifting from masterful pop craftwork into the territory of art.
Read more in my top 20 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 013
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- The Rolling Stone 200 Essential Record Collection (1997)
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 005
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 064
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 013
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 015
The Pretty Things
Get the Picture?
The Pretty ThingsReleased 1965/12
It’s clear that not all the best of the UK scene made it over with the British Invasion. Guitarist Dick Taylor was a cast-off from an early Rolling Stones lineup, and in their early work, The Pretty Things sound like a badder, nastier, filthier version of said band. Indeed, the tracks here make Mick and Keith and crew sound like a bunch of choirboys.
Read more in my top 100 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 354
Here’s the complete 1965: The Year in Review playlist for you—three tracks per album. Enjoy!
More 1965, The Year in Review
More Years in Review of the 1960s…
Cover Art Citations:
- Bringing It All Back Home: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2176289
- Highway 61 Revisited: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13710601
- Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1591061
- Help! [UK]: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29756001
- Rubber Soul [UK]: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25207519
- Get the Picture?: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33003338
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