GNMD Poll: Top 10 Albums of 1966

[Bloopy]

Post your top 10 albums of 1966. If there's some kind of consensus, your 1st pick might get some points, your 2nd pick may get some too etc. and in the end the scoring system is made up and the points don't matter.

Throw in EPs, box sets and whatever you like so long as they were released in 1966.

RateYourMusic 1966 Album Chart | 1966 EP Chart

I'm just plugging the gap given these threads have the rest of the 60s covered:

• GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1969
• GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1968
• GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1967
• Music from 1965 and older

 

[no country for old wainds]

i don't really consider this a good year for albums and couldn't even fill a top 10 of ones i really like, so i'll do songs instead:

15) the music machine - come on in
i'll never get enough of tense, complex songs which stand on precipices or crossroads. i definitely think you should follow this bloke into the metaphorical water, he's probably not the devil or anything.

14) ike & tina turner - river deep - mountain high
a song which should be bad but is so utterly balls to the wall it comes full circle to great.

13) frank zappa - trouble every day
one of the most badass protest songs, more authentic and righteous than any of dylan's with just as much flow and bile. blow your harmonica son!

12) the wimple winch - save my soul
all about the contrast between the hushed verses and the defiant chorus. plus yanno the gorgeous guitars.

11) james carr - you got my mind messed up
starts out seeming like a soul standard and then suddenly you're fully immersed in his fucked headspace. helps that he's one of the greatest vocalists there's ever been.

10) the electric prunes - i had too much to dream last night
the way the fucking dawn (and then the dawn chorus) intrudes on this is a nightmare, a musical migraine in the best way. mulholland drive vibes.

9) the squires - going all the way
one of the most obviously proto-dead moon songs of this period (especially that opening melody), even moreso than a lot of stuff fred cole was actually involved in. the solo is fucking fire.

8) roy junior - victim of circumstances
properly haunting bitter fatalistic gutter rat shit.

7) the rolling stones - paint it black
one of those tunes that makes you think hmm maybe the right bands did 'make it' after all. scorched earth shit of the highest order and it just keeps gathering flames.

6) the shangri-las - past, present and future
we like to think we're exploring trauma more directly and honestly through art nowadays. clearly, we aren't. not even close.

5) the contours - just a little misunderstanding
every time i remember this isn't bolded on RYM i get angry. fuck you, RYM! one of the best choruses of the sixties obviously.

4) the supremes - love is like an itching in my heart
hot take but this easily the best of the three supremes singles from this year (the others being 'you can't hurry love' and 'you keep me hangin' on', both good not great). there's a 6+ minute supermix of this on youtube which i listen to regularly even though it just does the same shit over and over. gotta scratch that itch i guess.

3) bob dylan - one of us must know (sooner or later)
one of bob's most close to the bone even if it's still behind layers of sarcasm. clearly an apology of sorts, full of hurt and regret.

2) the beach boys - god only knows
obviously hard to evaluate what is probably a top 3 most critically acclaimed pop song in history, but it's an astoundingly gorgeous arrangement. wilson worshipped the phil spector era and took the task of surpassing that stuff very seriously, and while i generally favour that era over the late '60s white boy pop that supplanted it, he may have just about pulled it off with this song.

1) islay brothers - this old heart of mine
ecstatic and joyous beyond belief.

 

[CiG]

I'm listening to Blonde on Blonde right now! Great song choices man.

On the topic of "Paint It, Black" I was always a bit more partial to "Under My Thumb" but unintentionally buying the UK version of Aftermath which omitted "Paint It, Black" made me realise just how much I love that song. Fucking insane that they didn't include it until the US release. What the fuck were they thinking!? Aftermath ain't the same without it.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i always forget it has a comma in the title

blonde on blonde has a few major tunes on it tbh but i like that one most. if we were doing 1965 there'd be an insane amount of dylan songs in contention though.

 

[CiG]

Yeah your track ratings for Blonde on Blonde are brutal.

Here's a Supremes hot take; Kim Wilde's cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" is superior. Vanilla Fudge's is nice too.

 

[Slammed]

Best song ever released was on the best album in 1966.
I still have the album and the 45.


1. The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy Versus The Red Baron
2. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
3. Neil Diamond – The Feel Of Neil Diamond
4. The Monkees – The Monkees
5. The Who – A Quick One
6. The Beatles – Revolver
7. Jim Croce – Facets
8. Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs – Don’t You Dig This Kind Of Beat
9. Simon And Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence
10. Duane Eddy – The Biggest Twang of Them All

 

[Bloopy]

i don't really consider this a good year for albums and couldn't even fill a top 10 of ones i really like

Even 5 would be nice, but yeah, it's about where albums start to thin out. We started doing lists in the '65 & Older thread and I didn't reach 10 in any year there. I'm doing alright for '66, but only with repeating artists, and my picky arse rating everything 3/5 up to this point, heh. I figure 4/5 is the mass of secondary faves that don't stand out among that pile, while 3/5 is everything from 'good' to 'patchy with occasional favourite moments'. Since my 3/5 pile is stupidly massive it's harder to notice the standouts even if I'm sure something in there's waiting to grow to 3.5.

 

[Bloopy]

1. Cream - Fresh Cream
2. Jefferson Airplane - Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
3. Nancy Sinatra - Boots
4. Nancy Sinatra - Sugar
5. The Who - A Quick One
6. Rosa Maria - Uma Rosa Com Bossa
7. Ralph Lundsten & Leo Nilson - Elektronmusikstudion: Dokumentation 1
8. Nancy Sinatra - How Does That Grab You?
9. Tod Dockstader - Quatermass
10. Tod Dockstader - Luna Park / Traveling Music / Apocalypse

 

[CiG]

3 Nancy albums? She put in work in 1966!

 

[Bloopy]

And then RYM crapped on said effort by filing one of them under an incorrect primary! There's also 'Nancy in London', but I'm indifferent to that one - doesn't have much for me other than an inferior (but still great) version of Friday's Child.

 

[CiG]

10. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde


9. The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out!


8. The Seeds - A Web of Sound


7. The Sonics - Boom


6. Monks - Black Monk Time


5. The Remains - S/T


4. The Seeds - S/T


3. Small Faces - S/T


2. Love - S/T


1. The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators