Jim's Gems 1965: The best albums marking their 60th anniversary

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

Everything was turned on its head in the music world in 1965. The quickest musical change in the history of popular culture provided a backdrop to the civil rights movement, growing opposition to the Vietnam war and the birth of the counterculture.
Ireland was plugging into it all, not least when the Rolling Stones toured the country, including a gig at the Savoy in Cork.
1. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
The album that kickstarted the 60s counterculture kicks off with six minutes of anger and vitriol. Like A Rolling Stone was released 6 days after the infamous Newport appearance and it was clear that Dylan was still protesting, but on his terms.
Taking the hard abrasive sound that he was introducing to his live shows Dylan emerged from the studio with a collection of songs that would change everything. While it felt like a jam session it clearly wasn't.
The bar had been set with every song taking on a life of its own. His scathing and brilliantly accurate put down of the press, Ballad Of A Thin Man, which must have hurt, packs a punch to this day
2. The Byrds, Mr Tambourine Man
When The Byrds added the 12 string Rickenbackers and those harmonies to Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man the course of music changed.
It was as if The Beatles and Dylan had merged. The Byrds gave birth to folk rock and shifted the focus from Britain and the East coast to California — and caused the burgeoning west coast scene to explode and dominate music worldwide.
The Byrds didn't just do Dylan. In Gene Clark they had their own in-house genius. Feel A Whole Lot Better, Here Without You and I Knew I'd Want You — all written in a day.
Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home; The Beatles' Rubber Soul
3. Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home
By 1965 Dylan was beginning to find the sometimes-intense folk scene claustrophobic and irritating. He was becoming increasingly frustrated by the artistic limitations imposed on him by a very conservative genre.
He had much bigger visions for his music. He had watched The Beatles and Johnny Cash and he liked what he saw and realised that electric was the way to go. This is probably the transition record that appealed to both sets of fans.
Side-one is a blistering electric set that opens with Subterranean Homesick Blues while he bows out acoustically on side-2 with some of the greatest songs ever committed to vinyl.
4. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
It had been evident for a while that The Beatles were changing musically. They'd been to America and soaked it up.
They'd listened to Dylan and other artists and they realised that the mop top era had clearly run its course. To quote John Lennon ' Rubber Soul was when it really started to happen' .
And it certainly was a game changer. They were focusing on albums rather than singles now and inspired by what they'd heard (and smoked) in The States they rose to a new level of creativity and everyone followed.
Norwegian Wood introduced the sitar to pop music for the first time while Nowhere Man tipped its hat musically to the west coast.
Otis Redding's Otis Blue; The Who's My Generation
5. Otis Redding, Otis Blue
Otis first visited Hitsville USA as a driver and roadie for another band.
After a long day in the studio, he managed to persuade a reluctant Booker T to let him try one of his songs. When Booker T heard him sing These Arms Of Mine, he nearly fell off his stool.
In that minute his life, Otis's life and indeed the life of the Stax label changed.
One of the greatest voices in soul music, this is his third studio album and while it only contains two original songs one of those is Respect which was immortalised by Aretha.
Sadly, he never got to fulfil his potential. He died in a plane crash two years after this album was released.
6. The Who, My Generation
The Who were a little bit different to the other bands around at the time. They were louder, harder and angrier. In effect, they were the first punk band.
Pete Townshend would often smash his guitar on stage while Keith Moon had been known to blow up his drums.
They were closely associated with the mod scene, which saw itself as a separate and sometimes higher entity than the rest of the mere mortals.
They channeled all this aggression, energy and talent into a loud, abrasive, badly recorded, yet absolutely blistering, debut that even to this day is still loudest record in my collection.
The single My Generation, complete with bass solo, became a rallying cry for disaffected teenagers throughout the UK.
Unsurprisingly the album bombed in America... the Home Of The Brave clearly not ready for them yet.
The Beatles' Help!; Them's The Angry Young Them
7. The Beatles, Help
Dylan famously said to The Beatles 'your music is great but you're not saying anything'. That must have seriously stung because they took it on board with bells on for their fifth studio album and soundtrack to their second movie.
On Help the songwriting and arranging went to a different dimension and everything became more introspective and topical while still retaining that Beatle factor.
Help dealt with John's depression while You've Got To Hide Your Love Away was probably the first song to tackle homophobia — an absolute taboo subject in 1965.
Paul's Yesterday also has the distinction of being the most recorded song of all time.
8. Them, The Angry Young Them
From the streets of Belfast, having learnt their craft in the much-maligned showband circuit, come five guys simply known as Them.
What set them apart from other bands was their incredible frontman. Grumpy, shy, paranoid and socially awkward Van Morrison spent his lonely childhood cooped up at home listening to his dad's jazz and blues records.
'Heard Leadbelly and Blind Lemon on the street where I was born' he would later sing in Cleaning Windows. And that was so true.
He had an understanding of blues which shaped his songwriting and his often stunning delivery. The debut contains Gloria, the template for every band on the planet that ever got together in an attic or garage.
Shangri-Las' Leader of the Pack; The Rolling Stones' Out of Our Heads
9. Shangri-Las, Leader Of The Pack
I absolutely love the sound of the girl groups of the early to mid-60s so this is an essential choice for me. Most of the acts came from either the Phil Spector stable or Lieber & Stollers Red Bird label.
The Shangri-Las were the leaders of the pack, excuse the pun. Two sets of sisters with a limited but unique vocal style, their songs were like mini dramas focusing on teenage angst, melodrama and unrequited love for tough and aloof boys.
Familiar material to a dad to an often-melodramatic teenager. While they released only two albums of note (both in 1965), they're as important to that unique New York street sound as The Velvets or The Ramones.
Amy Winehouse's Back To Black wouldn't exist without them.
10. Rolling Stones, Out Of Our Heads
The Rolling Stones' third album is a bit confusing as the UK and US versions have different tracks.
The UK version being the better one as it flows better and it contains Heart Of Stone — one of only three Jagger Richards compositions that would appear on the record.
They were still finding their way as songwriters and still playing catch up with The Beatles.
The album does, however, contain Satisfaction, which would give them their first US number 1. It's a very good album that reflected the swinging London of the time... better was to come.
The tour for this album would bring them to The Savoy in Cork for their only gig in the real capital.
Could've been contenders
Ennio Morricone, For A Few Dollars More: The second of the Dollars Trilogy and the best soundtrack, it's all about the chimes.
The second of the and the best soundtrack, it's all about the chimes. Astrud Gilberto, The Astrud Gilberto Album: I keep imagining myself driving along the cliffs of St Tropez every time I listen to this.
I keep imagining myself driving along the cliffs of St Tropez every time I listen to this.
Sound Of Music soundtrack: I'm not a fan of musicals but this is something special.