| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label |
| 1 | Moody Blues | In the Beginning & Lovely to See You | On the Threshold of a Dream | 1969 | Deram/Decca |
| Well, what can I say about one of my top-20 favorite albums? I'll try not to resort to fan-boyism, but it's one of the best musical creations ever! Oops. Equisite vocals, rich instrumentation, and great songs. | |||||
| 2 | Caravan | Place of My Own | Caravan | 1969 | HTD Records |
| Caravan, along with Soft Machine, is one of the most important bands of the Canterbury sound. Caravan's first album is very pleasant with nice sounding vocals and great keys. The feel of the album is pretty laid back most of the time. It is a very nice album, but, not essential like the next couple of albums. | |||||
| 3 | Spooky Tooth | Waitin' for the Wind | Spooky Two | 1969 | A&M Records |
| Spooky Tooth's second album is IMO their best. Vocals are handled mostly by Mike Harrison joined by Gary Wright in a sort of dueling lead vocal role. Guitarist Luther Grosvenor does some major smokin' guitar leads on Evil Woman, but, unfortunately that is the only song where he lets loose. Grosvenor later changed him name to Ariel Bender and played with Steeler's Wheel and Mott the Hoople. This album has a great dark vibe running though, best exhibited on songs like "Lost in My Dream", and "Evil Woman". Comparison's can be made to Procol Harum, Rare Bird, Family... | |||||
| 4 | Incredible String Band | Witches Hat | The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter | 1968 | Hannibal/Rykodisc |
| Well, this is a highly regarded folk-rock album. I have only listened to it a couple of times, so far, and it has not made much of an impact, yet. Folk-rock is not something I am accustomed to listening to, so it may take awhile. There is a large array of interesting instruments playing all the time, so I am sure there is much to discover in the music. The album seems to be completely acoustic. "The Minotaur's Song" reminds me a lot of Ponty Python's "Lumberjack Song". | |||||
| 5 | Jethro Tull | Back to the Family | Stand Up | 1969 | Chrysalis |
| Jethro Tull's second album marks the introduction of guitarist Martin Barre who has been with band ever since and is just as important in the sound of Jethro Tull as Ian Anderson. The band perfectly weaves together many seemingly diverse musical styles into a new sound that was one of the most influential of all progressive music artists. Some of those elements are a heavy hard rock (A New Day Yesterday), classical (Bouree), jazz (Bouree), folk, and blues. This album exudes an effortless inspirational magic that makes it far and away my favorite JT album. On later albums, the inspiration was still there and they made great albums, but, this one sounds like it just happened effortlessly based on the right circumstances. Know what I mean? There is the music that you work hard to make good, and then there is great music that you just let happen. Oh well, enough philosophizing. | |||||
| 6 | Strawbs | Tell Me What You See in Me | Strawbs | 1969 | A&M Records (vinyl) (Si-Wan CD?) |
| The Strawbs first album finds them in a more folky direction that their later prog albums, but, they still manage to rock pretty good on songs like "Where is this dream of your youth?". The band started out as a trio consisting of Dave Cousins, Tony Hooper and Ron Chesterman. Guest musicians include John Paul Jones and Nicy Hopkins. There is lots of great instrumental ornamentation including trumpets, violins, sitars, mellotron, that brings this album up from simply being a folk rock album. This is an excellent album and essential if you are a big fan of Dave Cousins voice, like me. | |||||
| 7 | Pink Floyd | Bike | Piper at the Gates of Dawn | 1967 | Capitol/EMI |
| Pink Floyd's first album was the only album under Syd Barrett's direction. It is one of the first (if not The first) space rock album, and also one of the first and most influential psychedelic albums. Highly experimental and testing all of the boundaries of music. This is another essential album. So much great stuff from 1960's England! The conclusion of this particular song sounds like a pre-cursor to "Time" on their 1973 album _Dark Side of the Moon_. | |||||
| 8 | Fairport Convention | Tam Lin | Liege and Lief | 1969 | A&M Records |
| OK, now I have found the Fairport Convention that I like. I found the earlier couple of albums too folky for my tastes, but, this one is far more electric and energetic. Excellent folk rock with great lead guitar solos and violin accompaniment. And, of course, Sandy Denny's beautiful voice. Sandy recorded an album with the Strawbs in 1967 or 1968, but, I do not think that the album was released until several years after. Liege and Lief is the last album that Sandy recorded with Fairport Convention. | |||||