1966 was an extremely top heavy year. I only have five contenders. You may be thinking to yourself "That's not possible idiot". Well, if you factor in that Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones aren't going to be contenders it's slim pickings. So the one that didn't make the cut was Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention. Originally I penciled that one in for the Mt. Rushmore, but it got edged out in the end.
So, obviously the two albums that came out in 1966 were Revolver and Pet Sounds. My personal preference is Revolver, so that's my number one. Revolver is my fourth favorite Beatles album. If it included "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" it would be the greatest record of all-time. It's interesting that the opening track is one of George's songs, "Taxman". Apparently by 1966 taxes were the number one concern of the Fab Four. George also contributed one of my favorite tracks on Revolver, "I Want to Tell You". I love that guitar riff he plays after he sings "I don't mind". While critics point to "Eleanor Rigby" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the seminal songs from this album, but my favorite is "And Your Bird Can Sing". I really love this jangly period the band went through before they went psychedelic. And it has "Yellow Submarine", which was the first Beatles song I was exposed to as a kid. I mentioned 10 years ago, when I started Sound Mind, that being born in 1964 skewed my Beatles fandom. When I started to listen to music they were all in the middle of solo careers, so I knew them as solo artists before I knew who The Beatles were. Crazy.
Ok, number two is Pet Sounds. It's basically my number two because I don't want to be a contrarian dickhead. I understand it's an important album and many bands I love were inspired by it. However, apart from a couple tracks, I find it quite boring. I question how many people have actually listened to this entire album more than a few times through. It's a critics album. There's nothing wrong with that, but listening to Pet Sounds is like doing homework. "God Only Knows" is a very good song, but it's not the greatest song of all-time. Having said that , it is an important record and deserves Mt. Rushmore status.
The Miles Davis Second Quintet didn't release an album in 1966, but Wayne Shorter did. He enlisted fellow quintet members Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, as well as, Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones to record Speak No Evil. It was actually recorded a week before I was born in December 1964, but not released until 1966. Wayne Shorter composed all the tracks. Herbie Hancock, in particular, is on fire on this record. Everyone made impressive contributions to Speak No Evil though. This album served to get Shorter out of the shadow of John Coltrane, which is quite a feat. Brilliant record.
Finally, a sloppy, psychedelic garage classic, The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. This is one of the earliest, and best, albums of the garage rock movement. The guitar work of Stacy Sutherland is incredible. It's like lysergic surf guitar. Roky Erickson's vocals are fantastic and they even had an electric jug player. which is delightfully insane. If you are a fan of the Garage Revival of the Aughts, you need to go back and check out this album. Tremendous.
Looking ahead to 1965, I have some pretty diverse contenders and it may be a difficult task to get down to four albums. There's a lot of jazz, British Invasion and a Christmas album, so chew on that. My number one is locked in and it's probably not the one you think it is. Peace.
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