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Song of the Day #1,453: ‘Drive My Car’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #8
Rubber Soul – The Beatles (1965)

Rubber Soul is the album on which The Beatles grew up. The lads who’d smiled through ‘Love Me Do’ and a dozen other simple ditties were now singing about Norwegian wood and nowhere men. Lyrically and musically, they were paving a new path, one from which every rock band for a generation would draw inspiration.

This album also marked the transition from touring band to studio band. The Beatles had performed their last live show — one in which their music could barely be heard over the screams, as usual. From this point on they would dedicate all of their time to recording.

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Song of the Day #1,452: ‘Help!’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #9
Help! – The Beatles (1965)

Help! is kind of the forgotten Beatles album. It’s not their best soundtrack. It’s not even their best album of 1965. It’s a bridge between their more straight-forward early work and the ground-breaking music to come — the classic middle child.

But it’s also a terrific pop-rock album that would be the best thing ever recorded by just about any other band.

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Song of the Day #1,451: ‘You Still Believe In Me’ – The Beach Boys

Best Albums of the 60s – #10
Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys (1966)

One of the most celebrated albums of all time, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds was at the center of a pop music arms race in the mid-60s. Brian Wilson, inspired by the consistent sound and vision of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, crafted this masterpiece, only to have The Beatles respond with Sgt. Pepper.

And while The Beach Boys pale in comparison to the Fab Four overall, this album certainly belongs in the same conversation as the albums that surrounded it.

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Song of the Day #1,450: ‘Ordinary Pain’ – Stevie Wonder

I’ve never liked Stevie Wonder as much as I feel I probably should. Certainly Songs in the Key of Life deserved consideration for my list of the best 70s albums, but I never gave it a second thought. As much as I appreciate this album, and Wonder’s music in general, I’ve never found it in me to love it.

Today’s Random Weekend selection is a perfect encapsulation of my feelings about Stevie Wonder — it’s brilliant right up until it stops being brilliant and starts being annoying.

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Song of the Day #1,449: ‘Wild Honey’ – U2

U2’s tenth album, 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind, was a comeback record following the failed electronica experimentation of 1997’s Pop.

The record was a deliberate attempt to return to the earnest rock style of The Joshua Tree — the style that catapulted the band to superstardom in the first place.

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