1969 Deep Dive: Part One

      Last year, I committed to this 1969 Deep Dive, but about half way in I became completely burnt out. With all the changes at my job it became too daunting to spend so much time listening to albums (most of which I didn't like) and posting. I even stopped engaging in the Tastes Like Music discord group, because it's an intense, competitive group of individuals who seemingly do nothing but listen to music. However, when they announced new deep dives for 1980 and 1995 it got my Mojo working again. Since I have been recovering from surgery this past week, I decided to knock out 1969 and prepare for the 1980 dive. 

     1969 was kind of a slog, but I did make a few discoveries and only one of my original Mt. Rushmore albums survived the dive. I struggled to come up with a solid 4 star Top 25 albums list. Most everything else I listened to was on a spectrum from okay to God awful. 1965 to 1968 was a golden age for music and 1969 marks the beginning of a transition from The Summer of Love to the unsure footing of new horizons and possibilities. In 1969, we see the phasing out of classic 60's bands and the genesis (pun intended) of new classic bands of the 70's. And while Led Zeppelin came out swinging with two great albums, bands like Genesis and YES were still looking for their signature sound. My 21-25 consists of two rock albums, two jazz and one country. 

25. Johnny Cash - At San Quentin ( 4 Stars )

     You probably predicted this would be the country album in my top 25. Truthfully, it made the bottom of my list mostly for its cultural significance. There is a palpable energy and tension to Cash's performance to a literal "captive audience". This setting also gives this set of songs more power. In many ways it's more revolutionary and more of a "Fuck You" to the Man than a whole summer's worth of hippies rolling around in the mud. "San Quentin, what good do you think you do? Do you think I'll be different when you're through"? The lyrics to "San Quentin" are venomous and vitriolic and Cash was allowed to sing them to these inmates. "San Quentin, I hate every inch of you". Their reaction was boisterous and cathartic. The Warden, probably not so much. 

24. Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia ( 4 Stars )

     I included this album because it was released in 1969, even though it was recorded in 1967, in the middle of Shorter's time in Miles Davis' Second Quintet. In fact, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter are on this record as well. It's a very good album for 1967, but by 1969 it wasn't relevant to the current state of jazz. That said, Wayne Shorter is a legend and he would soon go on to be a pivotal figure in the jazz-rock fusion movement of the 70's. If you take Schizophrenia out of it's historical context, it's a fantastic record.

23. Pharoah Sanders - Karma ( 4 Stars )

     This was my first experience with Pharoah Sanders. It pushed me out of my comfort zone of jazz listening. I'm not a huge fan of vocals in jazz, but they weren't jarring on this record. Karma is representative of where jazz was in 1969. Of all the albums I listened to in this vein, Karma was by far the best. 

22. CCR - Willy and the Poor Boys ( 4 Stars )

     Spoiler Alert: I have three CCR albums in my Top 25 and I have them ranked in the opposite order of pretty much everyone else. For me, the greatness of "Fortunate Son" cannot overcome my exhaustion with the title track and some other substandard tracks like "Cotton Fields" and "Poorboy Shuffle". I'm also not a huge fan of "Midnight Special". Sorry, not sorry. I don't feel too bad though. If a band puts out three albums in a year and their worst one is 4 Stars, that's pretty solid. "Effigy" is a good closer. 

21. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere ( 4 Stars )

     "Cinnamon Girl" is a tremendous opener. I may have this ranked too low. I wanted to put some stuff ahead of this that I felt was more ahead of its time or influential, but this is a great album. The title track is fun and it also has "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand". Those two tracks are arguably too long, though. I will write that off as Neil incorporating Crazy Horse into his sound. What am I saying, "Cowgirl in the Sand" is not too long. In 1969, I was only five years old, so I have no idea how influential Neil Young was back then. My perception is he was more influential later on with Grunge and Alt-Country. By the way, why has no one written a Neil Young biography and titled it, "A Painter of Pictures"? Peace.