1965, The Year in Review, P2

Here are my next six albums, for the top 12 of 1965.

The Next 6 Albums,
for My Top 12 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).

B.B. King
Live at the Regal

Released 1965/02 (source:45worlds.com)

This is B.B. at his finest—it’s a classic set of electric blues.  In general, my favorite blues stuff is grungier than B.B.; he’s a little smooth for my tastes.  But the quality of this disc is undeniable.

Read more in my top 100 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 069
• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 141

Buck Owens
I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail

Released 1965/03/10

Owens is best known by rock music lovers indirectly; his song “Act Naturally” was famously covered by the Beatles (in probably Ringo’s greatest moment). But there is far more to him than one song. This album is chock-full of great, upbeat country tunes, complete with barbed witticisms and hapless narrators, like the one in that Beatles cover. Great stuff.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)

Them
The Angry Young Them [UK]

Released 1965/06/11

Most people know Them (if they know Them at all) only as the band that spawned Van Morrison, and for their classic single “Gloria” (featured here). But they were a terrific band in their day. Van Morrison was already a compelling vocalist and a solid songwriter, and the band behind him was vigorous and fiery. The style is British-Invasion rock and roll; traces of Morrison’s mystic sensibilities show through here and there, but take the shape of frenzied, climactic outbursts, rather than the more meandering expressiveness characterized by his solo work. It’s highly charged, compelling stuff. Highly recommended on its own right, not just as a precursor to his later work.

Listen to more Them and Van Morrison.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 109

Junior Wells’ Chicago Blues Band
Hoodoo Man Blues

Released 1965

Charged, gritty, down-home blues-a-plenty here. Great stuff.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 168

The Fugs
The Fugs’ First Album

Released 1965

Not unlike the folk silliness of the Holy Modal Rounders, the Fugs were another prankster-folk act from New York’s Lower East Side. They took their name from a similar-sounding four-letter-word, and made a point of including some vulgarity in many of their songs (when they weren’t protesting the beginnings of the war in Vietnam). It’s deliberately offensive, provocative, riotous, humorous stuff. A terrifically fun listen. This album was originally released in 1965 as The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction and released a year later as The Fugs’ First Album, by which it is more commonly known.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music, bubbling under the top 3000 albums of all time
• SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s, No. 024

Fred Neil
Bleecker & MacDougal

Released 1965/08

Great Greenwich Village folk. Here, on his debut album, he is more edgy than on the more radio-friendly standard critical favorite, his eponymous follow-up. It’s his finest moment.

Listen to more Fred Neil.

Read more in my top 100 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music, bubbling under the top 3000 albums of all time

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:

• Live at the Regal: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13626989
• I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19865008
• The Angry Young Them [UK]: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6230552
• Hoodoo Man Blues : Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15163884
• The Fugs’ First Album: Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13551925
• Bleecker & MacDougal: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16882785