1968, The Year in Review, P5

1968 was no typical year.  A whopping 43 albums from 1967 made my top 200 of the decade.   That leaves thirteen albums beyond my standard top 30 worthy of a more thorough discussion (plus one more displaced when I bumped an album up a few notches).  So let’s dive in.

More Albums from My Top 200 of the Decade

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).

Kaleidoscope (US)
A Beacon from Mars

Released 1968/01

A Beacon from Mars offers more psychedelic folk-rock weirdness from Kaleidoscope, featuring as diverse a collection of styles you are likely to find on vinyl.

The Middle-Eastern “Taxim” stretches out like a raga played on oud and saz. “Greenwood Sidee” is a dark traditional Scottish ballad, underscored by bagpipe drones. “Baldheaded End of a Broom” and “Life Will Pass You By” feel like dancehall and bluegrass, respectively. The title track, the only moment they give in to unnecessary excess, is a psychedelic blues epic (worth a good listen, even if it’s among the weaker tracks here).   Better, the single “I Found Out” is as accessible as the band gets. Throughout, no matter how many musical guises they wear, they still sound like themselves.

Listen to more Kaleidoscope.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 236

Canned Heat
Boogie with Canned Heat

Released 1968/01/21

Boogie with Canned Heat is a great disc of propulsive blues rock.  Both AllMusic.com and the album’s title tell me that their style of blues is called “boogie,” or more specifically, “boogie-woogie,” which explains why it makes me want to get up on my feet and move when it comes on. You can’t go wrong with the grooves of “On the Road Again,” “Evil Woman,” and “Amphetamine Annie,” with it’s rousing anti-drug shout-out chorus of “Speed kills!” Great stuff, loads of fun.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 331

Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf

Released 1968/01/29

Quite familiar with Steppenwolf’s biggest hit “Born to be Wild,” I expected the rest of their self-titled debut album to be rather generic, macho, wild-man rock and roll, and approached the album ready to dismiss it offhand.  Instead, I was impressed.

I always felt this famous song, when considered alongside the band’s name, revealed a misinterpretation of Herman Hesse’s classic early-20^th century novel.  As I remember it, Hesse wrote about what he felt was the inherent position of the artist, who—like the wolf of the steppes—is neither comfortable within society nor in the wild, condemned to be an detached observer of both the natural and civilized states.

And indeed, said song’s lyrics and sound make it sound like Hesse’s novel should be about some bad-ass biker rebel, not some isolated figure who can’t fit in completely with either the rebels or the squares.  But despite the misplaced fit of the band’s name, the songs on this album are very good, with a more active counter-culture stance than I had assumed I would find.

True, the testosterone level here is not set to “low.” But there’s a certain attempt at thoughtfulness as well, to go along with the muscle. Of the originals, the standout is “The Ostrich,” an unrelenting indictment of the American way and how we choose to ignore its shortcomings. “A Girl I Knew” and “Desperation” show a sensitive touch. Elsewhere, they stretch out Hoyt Axton’s anti-hard-drug “The Pusher” as a slow guitar grind, and crank out surprisingly solid covers of soul (Sookie Sookie) and blues (“Hoochie Coochie Man”) classics.

Well worth checking out.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 223

Blood, Sweat & Tears
Child Is Father to the Man

Released 1968/02/21

The brainchild of Al Kooper, Blood, Sweat & Tears was one of the first bands to consistently integrate jazzy horns and sax into their rock-and-blues-based sound. Their debut, Child is Father to the Man, delivers a wealth of eclecticism.

A big band arrangement propels “My Days are Numbered,” with its striking tempo change for the gloriously pessimistic chorus. “I Can’t Quit Her” starts as a piano-driven pop number, morphing briefly into R&B/soul mode before the big brass band takes over for the finale. But they could play it simple, too, as on the slow-burning blues of “I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know.” Elsewhere, on “The Modern Adventure Of Plato, Diogenes And Freud” a string section provides luxuriant accompaniment.

Read more in my top 100 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 205
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No . 264

Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac [Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac]

Released 1968/02/24

Everyone of course knows the UK/US hybrid incarnation of Fleetwood Mac—fronted by Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie—that dominated the airwaves in the mid- to late-‘70s. And many music fans know that before the addition of Buckingham and Nicks, the Mac was one of the premier British blues bands, fronted by a guy named Peter Green.

But if you were like me, you hadn’t listened to them much.  I had a vinyl copy of their 1969 album Then Play On; I liked it, but not so much that I was inspired to look for more.

This album, their debut, shows them in excellent form, cranking out inspired versions of blues standards and Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer originals. Their fiery take on Elmore James’ “Shake Your Moneymaker” is a clear standout, as are album opener “My Heart Beat like a Hammer” and the brooding “The World Keep On Turning.”

Green and Spencer were terrific blues guitarists and vocalists, and their incarnation of Fleetwood Mac is considered one of the very best blues rock bands of their time. Spencer would leave the band to join a religious cult, and Peter Green would eventually descend into LSD-induced schizophrenia, leaving room for first Christine McVie and later Buckingham and Nicks to join and lead the band to the pop music stratosphere.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 264

The Mothers of Invention
We’re Only in It for the Money

Released 1968/03/04

See my comments in the Most Overrated Albums of the Year.

Listen to more Mothers of Invention and Frank Zappa.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 054
• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)
• SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s, No. 051
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 077
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 296
• NME Writers All-Time 100 (1974), No. 058
• NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 059
• NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 035

Simon and Garfunkel
Bookends

Released 1968/04/03

Bookends is another excellent outing from Simon and Garfunkel, this one thematically focused on the cycle of life, and the shallowness and futility of the quest for the American Dream.

Side one chronicles the progression through the stages of life and is, appropriately, bookended by the “Bookends Theme,” giving the side the feeling of unity. Album and career highlight “America” describes a young couple’s journey in search of the America—or the idea of it, at least—only to grow disillusioned. “Voices of Old People” is a sound collage of just that, recorded by Garfunkel at nursing homes.

On side two, the narrator of “Fakin’ It” feels his life is a sham. Perhaps the album’s best moment comes with “Mrs. Robinson,” written for The Graduate, a film whose themes and tone match quite well with those of the Bookends album itself. One can almost imagine the film’s two main characters, Benjamin and Elaine, standing in for the couple in “America.”

I tend to think of Simon and Garfunkel for their songs more than for their albums. But on Bookends, the concept album nature of side one, reinforced by the exploration of similar themes on side two, make this Simon and Garfunkel’s most coherent album, the one that best stands by itself and deserves to be experienced in its entirely.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 070
• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of All Time (1997), No. 099
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 233

Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal

Released 1968

Many critics seem to prefer Taj Mahal’s sophomore release, The Natch’l Blues, but I slightly prefer this, his self-titled debut album. Both are worth picking up—there’s plenty of great electric blues rock between the two of them.

Whereas The Natch’l Blues would be filled mostly with Taj Mahal originals, for his debut Mahal tackled covers of such blues legends as Sleepy John Estes, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. His updated versions of their acoustic blues songs are just about as good as straight-up blues rock gets.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

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

Ray Barretto
Acid

Released 1968

Ray Barretto’s Acid isn’t psychedelic at all, as the title and lettering scrawled across the cover would suggest.  Rather, each song is an infectious burst of Latin jazz and soul, guaranteed to make you want to shake your hips. Great fun.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s, No. 046

Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival

Released 1968/07/05

For some reason that I don’t entirely understand, a “serious” roots-rock band like, say, the Band, were highly regarded at the time. But from what I understand, Creedence Clearwater Revival—who seem just as “roots” to me as the Band, only a heck of a lot more fun to listen to—were pretty seriously dissed at the time.  (At least, I’ve read more than once that John Fogerty always felt they weren’t taken seriously.)

I do respect the Band, of course—their first two albums are essential—but I don’t really love them.  Creedence, on the other hand, has plenty to love—impassioned singing, great grooves, catchy hooks and melodies, and the occasional “serious song” mixed in with the lighter fare to give them some gravity.

Their self-titled debut album is one of their classics.  It has a bit of the feel of a band finding itself, and it features more covers than their other albums, but it has enough great stuff to easily recommend it. Two of the John Fogerty originals in particular, “The Working Man” and “Porterville,” show his growing songwriting abilities. But the album’s standouts are in fact the three covers; perhaps not yet quite comfortable enough to do so with their own material, the band lets loose and tears up Screaming Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You,” Wilson Pickett’s “Ninety-Nine and a Half,” and Dale Hawkins’ “Suzie Q,” which they stretch out across eight delightfully throbbing minutes. Fogerty’s powerful singing and vibrant guitar work are on full display throughout.

Listen to more Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Cream
Wheels of Fire

Released 1968/07 or 1968/08 (both sources, Wikipedia, different pages)

See my comments in the Biggest Disappointments of the Year.

Listen to more Cream.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 095
• The Rolling Stone 200 Essential Record Collection (1997)
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 203

The Byrds
Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Released 1968/08/30

See my comments in the Most Overrated Albums of the Year.

Listen to more Byrds.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 041
• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 082
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 117
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 128
• Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 035

The Kinks
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

Released 1968/11/22

See my comments in the Most Overrated Albums of the Year.

Listen to more Kinks.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 040
• 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 255
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 037
• Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 018

Elvis Presley
Elvis (TV Special)

Released 1968/11/22

Artist comebacks are a dime-a-dozen in rock history.  The critics and fans love to proclaim an artistic rebirth almost as much as they like tearing artists down in the first place. (To be fair to critics, often they’re just reporting an artistic decline, more than enacting it. The least fickle of them do so without excessive schadenfreude.)

Of course, some critically acclaimed triumphs are more well-deserved than others.  Elvis in Memphis gets the most critical nods of Elvis Presley’s late-‘60s output, but it pales in comparison to this recording—taken from a live NBC TV special, of all places—in which the King barrels through rapid-fire medleys of many of his famous tunes, plus pays tribute to gospel music more convincingly than he does on the Memphis album.

In a spoken introduction he gives credit to gospel and rhythm and blues as the source of his music, subsequently launching into a medley of “Where Could I Go But to the Lord / Up Above My Head / Saved” that perfectly demonstrates his connection to the music. (It shows far more musical empathy with African-American culture than the unfortunate “In the Ghetto” from the Memphis record.)

I like the speedy rock and roll numbers the best, of course. I could do without the slow numbers awash in treacle. If I never hear “Love Me Tender” again, my life will surely not feel incomplete as a result. Luckily, here Elvis plays it for laughs, changing a lyric or two to cut the sap.

Highly recommended.

Read more in my top 200 of the decade.

Notable Critical Mentions:

• Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 160

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

More 1968, The Year in Review

More Years in Review of the 1960s…

Cover Art Citations:

• A Beacon from Mars: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33939753
• Boogie with Canned Heat: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12919237
• Steppenwolf: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2188404
• Child Is Father to the Man: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=199808
• Fleetwood Mac [Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac]: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1133907
• We’re Only in It for the Money: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29345652
• Bookends: By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48438205
• Taj Mahal: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10358209
• Acid: Source, Discogs.com
• Creedence Clearwater Revival: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1122301
• Wheels of Fire: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1633781
• Sweetheart of the Rodeo: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=195766
• The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=195595
• Elvis (TV Special): By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18569514
• Mr Schadenfreude (with a bow to Roger Hargreaves): copyright Creative Commons/Flickr dullhunk, found at https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/arts_culture/2018/12/schadenfreude-the-joy-of-anothers-misfortune-or-envy-humiliation-and-pleasure-.html