1968, The Year in Review

Politically and culturally, 1968 was a year defined by hope thwarted by unrest and cataclysmic events.

Countercultural views infiltrated the mainstream like never before, whether in civil rights protests, the women’s liberation movement, or antiwar sentiment. The Olympics saw a black power salute by American gold and bronze medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos, women gathered to burn their bras in protest of the Miss America Pageant, Star Trek featured television’s first interracial kiss, and Broadway productions of The Boys in the Band and the first rock musical Hair explored themes of homosexuality, draft resistance, drug use, and the sexual revolution. Student activism increased in the US and across the globe—most notably in France, where student protests in Paris grew into a nationwide workers’ strike that led to a government shutdown and a call for new elections and reforms.

Yet violent actions across the globe shattered the ideas that progress was inevitable. The assassinations of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy left a generation distraught and disillusioned. And when the Czech government decided to acknowledge civil liberties in what was known as the Prague Spring, Soviet forces invaded, squelching the movement. The launching of the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese forces escalated the Vietnam war dramatically, and as a result swayed popular opinion back in the US against the war and called into question America’s notion of itself as an unswayable policeman for the world. The controversy influenced President Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to run for re-election, the Democratic Party’s inability to consolidate its base, and the subsequent election of Richard Nixon as US President.

Rarely has a single year seen such a seismic shift in cultural trends (read more here and here)—and music played a central role. The breakthrough of psychedelic music in 1966 and 1967 led to an unprecedented level of experimentation and diversity in music. Everywhere, musicians were pushing boundaries and breaking barriers. And yet, as in the political sphere, the cracks were showing. The Beatles began to fracture, and roots rock emerged as a reaction against psychedelia’s excesses. Rarely has music seen such a complex or prolific year.

My Top 6 Albums of 1968

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).

Serge Gainsbourg
Initials B. B.

Released 1968/06

It’s very hip to like the Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg—at least it was the last time I paid much attention to what was hip. And for good reason:  he’s got some terrific stuff.  You don’t need to understand all the lyrics to hear his musical inventiveness and his perverse irreverence.

This album catches Gainsbourg at the peak of his ‘60s cartoon-pop phase, in partnership with Brigitte Bardot.  Always the incorrigible ladies’ man, he would soon split with Bardot and shack up with Jane Birken in time to release another of his great albums.  But here with Bardot he serves up an enticing menu of self-conscious pop culture pastiche in “Comic Strip,” “Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde,” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” among others.

This album itself seems very hard to find, as least in physical form.  (It is, however, available now on Spotify.) Unfortunately, it seems to have been replaced in the collective cultural consciousness by the inferior compilation Bonnie and Clyde, which repackages some tracks from this album with other songs available elsewhere.  The best and easiest way I know of to experience the songs from this period is on the flat-out excellent compilation Comic Strip, which contains this entire album, plus other highlights from that same time period and in the same vein.  (Indeed, unable to find this disc at all, I digitally reconstructed it in iTunes by ripping my Comic Strip CD and changing the track info and artwork of the appropriate tracks.)

Listen to more Serge Gainsbourg.

Read more in my top 50 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music  top albums of the ’60s, No. 250

Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes

Released 1968/06

In terms of both innovation and appeal, the debut album from Brazilian Tropicália act Os Mutantes can easily rank among the greatest psychedelic releases of the time, from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper to some of the best releases of 1968 (from the Pretty Things, Small Faces, Zombies, and more). If you can get past the idea of not understanding the lyrics, it’s a flat-out fabulous listen.  (But then psychedelic lyrics aren’t always the greatest, anyway, are they?)

Listen to more Tropicália.

Read more in my top 50 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music  top albums of the ’60s, No. 138
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s, No . 091

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Electric Ladyland

Released 1968/10/16

Not many double-albums are worth more than half the vinyl they’re etched on, but Electric Ladyland certainly earns its length. Much of the album features songs along the lines of Hendrix’s earlier blues-rock guitar experimentation. But he adds some funk and R&B numbers here and there—and in the album’s quieter moments, elements of jazz and space rock, most notably in the 13-minute epic “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be).” It’s dreamy and hypnotic, and unlike anything heard before. This is his most diverse album—and, after his stellar debut album, his most rewarding.

A quick note should be made about the various covers for this release. Hendrix’s original idea was a Linda McCartney photo of the band and some children on an Alice in Wonderland statue in New York’s Central Park. But the album was released in the US with a close-up of Hendrix singing, in the UK with a panorama of an assortment of naked women, and in parts of Europe with another cover entirely. The original idea has been brought to life in some recent reissues.

Listen to more Jimi Hendrix.

Read more in my top 50 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music  top albums of the ’60s, No. 011
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• The Rolling Stone 200 Essential Record Collection (1997)
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No . 062
• Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of All Time (1997), No . 032
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No . 054
• NME Writers All-Time 100 (1974), No. 006
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No . 042
• Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No . 037

Van Morrison
Astral Weeks

Released 1968/11

The best of Van Morrison has always had a healthy dose of the mystical, of transcendence.  Astral Weeks features Morrison at his most sublime; unlike on some of his more popular recordings (on Moondance, for example), in which he dusts regular-sounding songs with a sprinkling of the mystical, here everything genuinely seems slightly unhinged at its core, a little loose and flowing, as if the whole work comes from an otherworldly source.

It helps that his band (who hardly knew who he was, if I remember the story right) was comprised of jazz musicians who could dance around a melody and song structure at will, without losing sight of the whole.  In particular, bassist Richard Davis delivers the most beautiful, gloriously off-kilter bass performance in perhaps all of rock history.  His syncopated beats boost and ride the rhythm in unexpected ways; it’s the perfect accompaniment to Morrison’s intensely personal expression.

Listen to more Van Morrison.

Read more in my top 5 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 009
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 007
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 019
• NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 015
• NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 006
• Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 018
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 003
• Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 016

The Beatles
The Beatles (“White Album”)

Released 1968/11/22

If any album can challenge Revolver as the Beatles strongest and most diverse, song-for-song, it’s this one—a sprawling collection of brilliant songs across two LPs.

If the album is sometimes perceived as a ragtag assemblage of solo efforts, rather than a cohesive collaborative effort, it would have to be one of the best such albums of its kind. All three songwriters were at the top of their game. True, it was becoming easier to distinguish between Lennon’s angst-ridden, jaded ethos and McCartney’s light and bouncy style—which Lennon had begun disparagingly referring to as “granny music.” (That said, McCartney contributes some of the edgier numbers here, most notably “Helter Skelter.”)

But the album never feels like an assortment of solo performances cobbled together; it simply comes across as one of the greatest albums by one of the greatest acts of all time. But you probably have this one already, and know how great it is, so you don’t need to hear it from me.

Listen to more Beatles.

Read more in my top 10 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 007
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 009
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 010
• NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 008
• NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 004
• Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 004
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 005

The Rolling Stones
Beggars Banquet

Released 1968/12/06

The Stones put out a string of four consecutive albums spanning the late ‘60s to early ‘70s that were nearly flawless: Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street.  These four albums, their four best, represent all that is great about the Stones’ music, and all are essential.

True, much of the rest of their subsequent career feels like a predictable imitation of what they once were—it’s been pretty easy to dis the Stones for a long time. But back in the day, they were a force.

After dabbling in psychedelic music with the middling Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones did an about-face to play to their blues-rock strengths, adding some country sounds as well. The end result was by far their best album to date. It’s a reversal to conventionality that I find much more convincing than most other roots-rock retreats of the day.

It was here that their identifications with the working class American South—already present in their obvious blues influences—became more explicit, to the point that Jagger affected a Southern US accent on several tracks (a trend that would only grow with subsequent albums).

And surely Mick Jagger must be rock’s apotheosis of charismatic male swagger. “Sympathy for the Devil,” which marries a propulsive samba groove to Jagger’s first-person portrayal of Satan boasting of his vast accomplishments, is perhaps their greatest song, and one of the defining songs in rock history. And the rest of the album is almost as flat-out brilliant.

Perhaps the album’s only relative weak link (still a 5-star track, though) might be critics’ darling “Salt of the Earth” which attempts to sum up their working-class empathies—but to my mind doesn’t tell me anything that the rest of the album hadn’t already shown me more convincingly. (Besides, they would do the grand choral finale much better on their next album, Let It Bleed.)

A note on the cover: The original album cover depicting a graffiti-covered toilet stall was rejected by the record company, but has been given new life in some reissues.

Listen to more Rolling Stones.

Read more in my top 10 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 014
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 015
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 057
• NME Writers All-Time 100 (1974), No. 019
• NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 011
• Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 094
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 116
• Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 034

Here’s the complete 1968: The Year in Review playlist for you—three tracks per album. Enjoy!

Also check out the singles playlists from 1968!

More 1968, The Year in Review

1968 seems to me a pretty “flat” year in terms of quality, meaning that there are a lot of very good albums, with not much difference in quality between the large part of them. After my favorite four (which I’d probably rank Astral Weeks, Beggars Banquet, The Beatles, and Initials B.B.) there’s not a large separation between the rest of my top 20. On a different day, I could easily sequence them entirely differently.  Be sure to check out the rest of my commentary for the year!

More Years in Review of the 1960s…

Cover Art Citations:

• Astral Weeks: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=207654
• The Beatles (“White Album”): By Beat 768 – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11866101
• Beggars Banquet (original proposed cover): By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18063282
  (released cover)
• Initials B.B.: By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40548730
• Electric Ladyland US cover: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1180977
  UK cover: Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28118094
  France, Belgium cover: French cover: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64796803
  Original proposed cover: Source, Discogs
• Os Mutantes: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15852649