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Song of the Day #1,440: ‘Ruby Tuesday’ – The Rolling Stones

Best Albums of the 60s – #17
Between the Buttons – The Rolling Stones (1967)

This marks the first appearance by The Rolling Stones on this list, but not the last. This band has released close to 40 albums over their careers and I own five of them — all excellent. I can’t think of another band that’s so clearly begging for further exploration.

Granted, the Stones went through period where their releases were met with indifference by critics and audiences alike. They are not a model of consistency. But they have released a good dozen or so albums considered classics.

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Song of the Day #1,439: ‘That’s the Story of My Life’ – The Velvet Underground

Best Albums of the 60s – #18
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground (1969)

Considering I was born in 1972, all of my associations with 60s albums have nothing to do with the actual 1960s. I heard some of the records on this list as a kid, some in high school, some in college and some in my 30s and 40s.

The Velvet Underground’s self-titled album (which was actually their third release) is very much a college album. I first discovered it during my freshman year at the University of Florida, when I would make runs to the local used CD shop to discover new (and old) music.

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Song of the Day #1,438: ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #19
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967)

The first Beatles album on this list is one I’ve long considered overrated.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a game-changing masterpiece — almost by definition — but I’ve never really loved it as a collection of songs. ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,’ ‘She’s Leaving Home,’ ‘Within You Without You,’ ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ — these songs wouldn’t make it on any Beatles mix tape I’d ever make.

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Song of the Day #1,437: ‘Time of the Season’ – The Zombies

Best Albums of the 60s – #20
Odessey and Oracle – The Zombies (1968)

 

This freight train back through time keeps rumbling on. I can’t resist the urge to carry these decade-best lists back ten more years into the 60s.

At first I resisted, realizing that this list would be dominated by two or three artists. But after browsing several “official” best-of lists across the web, I realized that every one of them was dominated by the same people. It’s not that I’m woefully out of touch with the music of the decade — it’s just that certain musicians, at the dawn of the rock-n-roll era, completely dominated the landscape.

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Song of the Day #1,436: ‘Desolation Row [Alternate Take]’ – Bob Dylan

Exactly one week ago, I predicted a flood of Bob Dylan tracks on Random Weekends to match the onslaught of Elvis Costello. The two artists most represented in my music collection should, over time, be the two artists most represented in this series, no?

Well, here we go. And while it doesn’t seem fair that two songwriters who have had their own dedicated weekends (lasting close to a year in total) should dominate this one, I can’t feign disappointment over the selection of this alternate take of ‘Desolation Row’ culled from the No Direction Home soundtrack.

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