Pink Floyd "A Saucerful of Secrets" (1968)

A Saucerful of Secrets
release date: Jun. 29, 1968
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
producer: Norman Smith
label: EMI Columbia - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Let There Be More Light" - 2. "Remember a Day"

2nd studio album by Pink Floyd is almost as iconic as the debut. It's the last studio album to feature founding member Syd Barrett who took part in the initial composing and recordings but was replaced by new member David Gilmour as Barrett's behaviour became too troublesome for the band. Apparently, he was severely afflicted by heavy LSD use (reportedly as the only member of the band), and he purposely untuned his guitar while playing, or he would refuse to play at all. Waters, Wright, and Gilmour rewrote most tracks for the album, and only one composition, track #7 "Juggband Blues" is by Barrett. The album is highly experimental, which peaks on the almost 12 minutes long title track. Like its predecessor, the album withstands mostly as a musical document.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Music Guide, The Daily Telegraph 3 / 5 stars ]

Chet Baker Quintet "Groovin' " (1966)

Groovin'
Release date: 1966
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

This is released as The Chet Baker Quintet featuring Chet Baker (trumpet), George Coleman (tenor sax), Kirk Lightsey (piano), Herman Wright (bass), Roy Brooks (drums). The album is another mighty fine Chet collection in his heydays, and again a late hard bop jazz album.

Jethro Tull "Stand Up" (1969)

Stand Up
release date: Aug. 1, 1969
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
producer: Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis
label: Island Records / Chrysalis (reissue) - nationality: England

Track highlights: 1. "A New Day Yesterday" - 3. "Bourée" (4 / 5) (live) - 6. "Nothing Is Easy" (3 / 5) - 9. "Reasons for Waiting" (3 / 5) - 10. "For a Thousand Mothers" (3 / 5)

2nd studio album by Jethro Tull originally released on Island Records, and reissued on Chrysalis in '73. Before this album founding guitarist and songwriter Mick Abrahams left the band due to conflicting ideas about musical direction with Ian Anderson. Abrahams was then replaced by one of the best known members, Martin Barre on guitar and flute, who is the only other member beside Anderson to be in the band from the early 1970s and throughout to modern times. The debut album This Was (1968) is blues rock and r&b-inspired, whereas this has a more progressive rock-styled blues and folk rock, which is more like the band's later albums' although, this is still much more blues rock based than any of their later albums. I have only come to know of this album within the last 10-15 years and didn't know that the album actually went as high as to number #1 on the UK albums chart list. One of the band's most famous instrumental arrangements, "Bourée" (by J.S. Bach) is found on an album that points in (too) many directions. The album starts out with "A New Day Yesterday", which clearly is inspired by blues rock by Jimi Hendrix, and continues in folk rock and psychedelic rock compositions blended with classical, celtic folk, and elements of progressive rock. All tracks are credited Ian Anderson.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Joni Mitchell "Song to a Seagull" (1968)

Song to a Seagull [debut]
release date: Mar. 1968
format: digital / vinyl (2023 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: David Crosby
label: Reprise Records - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "I Had a King" - 3. "Night in the City" - 5. "Nathan La Franeer" - 6. "Sisotowbell Lane" - 10. "Cactus Tree" (live)

Studio album debut by Canadian folk and singer / songwriter Joni Mitchell [aka Roberta Joan Anderson]. The original vinyl album's A-side is labelled "I Came to the City" (tracks 1-5), and the B-side: "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside" (tracks #6-10). Mitchell wrote all songs herself, and she is only accompanied by few others on just a couple of tracks.
Apparently, the album was released somewhat unnoticed despite the fact that Mitchell was already a familiar name for having written songs for other artist including Judy Collins, Fairport Convention, and Tom Rush, and the album just made it to the US Billboard 200 peaking at number #189.
I do find it more than ordinarily interesting, it may be slightly narrow in its sound, production, reflecting scarse arrangements, but it's definitely a fine album.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Jethro Tull "This Was" (1968)

This Was [debut]
release date: Oct. 25, 1968
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
producer: Terry Ellis, Jethro Tull
label: Island Records / Chrysalis (reissue) - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "My Sunday Feeling" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Beggars' Farm" - 9. "A Song for Jeffrey"

Studio album debut by the English quartet Jethro Tull. In retrospect, the band is almost synonymous with Ian Anderson but on this the band was not entirely in the hands of Anderson, as there was no clear leadership yet. The two songwriters of the band were guitarist and vocalist Mick Abrahams and Ian Anderson on flute, piano and vocals. The latter is credited on seven of the album's original 10 compositions, and Abrahams on four. Aside from these two the band consists of Glenn Cornick on bass, and with Clive Bunker on drums. The style is clearly blues rock founded but with influences from jazz, r&b, and folk, which makes it somewhat lacking a direction. Some compositions has a bold Hendrix-inspired blues rock and psychedelic rock style, whereas others are a mix of influences, even with Bob Dylan, The Band, and / or Buffalo Springfield folk styled music, which makes it difficult to consume as one whole album. The jazz element doesn't really help much, and it's rather peculiar as how a track like "Serenade to a Cuckoo", a jazz standard has found it's way to the album.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Burt Bacharach "What's New Pussycat?" (OST) (1965)

Burt Bacharach

What's New Pussycat? (OST) (1965)

[ Main title track featuring Tom Jones from the score (and full debut album) by Burt Bacharach to the movie directed by Clive Donner and Richard Talmadge, written by Woody Allen, and featuring Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Capucine, Romy Schneider, Ursula Andress and Woody Allen. The title track has become pseudonymous with Tom Jones. ]

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Ella Fitzgerald "Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas" (1960)

Original cover

Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
release date: 1960
format: cd / vinyl (2017 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Verve / DOL - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Jingle Bells" - 2. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" - 3. "The Christmas Song" - 6. "Winter Wonderland" - 8. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" - 9. "White Christmas" - 11. "Frosty, the Snowman"

A Christmas studio album with Ella Fitzgerald released on Verve Records. My cd version is the Verve Master Edition remastered and released in 2002, and my vinyl edition is released on European label DOL with a frequently used alternative cover.
This is entirely Christmas songs but a rather fine collection. The original album contains 12 tracks, the remastered edition: 18 tracks. Normally, I prefer original releases to Expanded, Deluxe Editions, or Bonus tracks editions with new or additional songs, but with the cd issue, it somehow makes sense to have an expanded version 'cause they're are perfectly within the context of the original album, although, 3 of the 6 bonus tracks are basically 'only' alternate versions of the original recordings.

2002 Verve Master Edition		2017 vinyl reissue

Toots & The Maytals "Sweet and Dandy" (1969)

Sweet and Dandy
release date: 1969
format: digital (1998 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Leslie Kong
label: Jet Set Records - nationality: Jamaica

Tracklist: 1. "Monkey Man" (5 / 5) - 2. "Pressure Drop" (5 / 5) - 3. "I Shall Be Free" - 4. "Bla Bla Bla" (4 / 5) - 5. "Just Tell Me" - 6. "We Shall Overcome" - 7. "Sweet & Dandy" - 8. "Scare Him" - 9. "Alidina" (4 / 5) - 10. "I Need Your Love" - 11. "54-46 That's My Number" (4 / 5) - 12. "Oh Yeah"

3rd studio album by The Maytals - the first as Toots & The Maytals, and the first to feature material almost entirely written by vocalist Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert. The album was originally released on Beverley's Records founded and owned by [legendary] Chinese Jamaican producer Leslie Kong, and in 1998 reissued on cd by Jet Set Records.
This album is one of the absolute best ever studio releases of rocksteady and Jamaican ska. "Monkey Man" was a favourite cover song by The Specials and later Amy Winehouse, "Pressure Drop" has been covered by many including Robert Palmer and my personal favourite: The punk reggae version by The Clash. That song is together with the title track "Sweet & Dandy" and "I Need Your Love" music that forecast the genre of reggae.

BEST OF 1962:Jacques Brel "Olympia 61" (1962) (live)

Olympia 61 (live)
release date: 1962
format: cd
[album rate: 5 / 5]

Track highlights: 2. "Les bourgeois" - 3. "Les paumés du petit matin" - 4. "Les Flamandes" - 5. "La statue" - 7. "Marieke" - 8. "Les biches" - 9. "Madeleine" - 12. "La valse á mille temps" - 12. "Ne me quitte pas" - 14. "Le moribond" - 15. "Quand on n'a que l'amour"

Live album by Jacques Brel released by Philips Records and recorded Oct. 27–29, 1961 at l'Olympia in Paris. The album is a marvelous live recording showcasing the skills of Brel at the peak of his career.

1962 Favourite releases: 1. Jacques Brel Olympia 61 - 2. Chet Baker Chet Is Back! - 3. Dexter Gordon Go

Jacques Brel "Marieke" (1961)

Marieke
release date: 1961
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

5th studio album by Jacques Brel aka "Jacques Brel 5" released on Philips. The album consists of tracks composed by either Brel alone (5 tracks), Brel together with conductor François Rauber (two tracks), or Brel with Gérard Jouannest (8 tracks). The album contains some of his most well-known compositions: "Marieke", "Le moribond", "On n'oublie rien", "Le prochain amour", "Les prénoms de Paris", and "Les singes". The track "Le moribond" was transleated by Rod McKuen and covered by Canadian singer / songwriter Terry Jacks as "Seasons in the Sun" and that version became a big international hit in 1974.

The Highwaymen "Michael" (1961) (single)

Michael, 7'' single

release date: 1961

format: vinyl (67 007)

[single rate: 2 / 5] [2,16]

producer: Don Costa

label: United Artists - nationality: USA

Tracklist: A) "Michael" - - B) "Santiano"

Single release by American folk quintet The Highwaymen is a recording of a traditional spiritual, which had already been recorded by several other artists but this version peaked at number #1 on the national Billboard Top 40 singles chart, as it repeated on the UK singles hit list - a triumph they were unable to repeat later on. The title song is also known as "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore".

This record was part of my parents' record collection, and it's single I never really took any pleasure from.

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Bill Haley and His Comets "Rock'N'Roll Stage Show Vol. 1" (1956) (ep)

Rock'N'Roll Stage Show Vol. 1, 7'' EP

release date: 1956

format: vinyl (BME 9278)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Milt Gabler

label: Decca - nationality: USA

Tracklist: A) 1. "Hook, Line and Sinker" - 2. "Rudy's Rock" - - B) 1. "Calling All Comets" - 2. "Rockin' Through the Rye"

EP by Bill Haley and His Comets with four tracks from the band's '56 album Rock'N'Roll Stage Show with which it shares same front cover.

This seven inch comes from my parents' record collection. It's an ep I used to play on a portable turntable when 6-8 years old, and already then, I found it strangely oldish, although, still quite party-like.

This is one of my very first music memories that wasn't purely children's songs.

👉 Another one from that earliest stage.

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Pink Floyd "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (1967)

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn [debut]
release date: Aug. 5, 1967
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Norman Smith
label: EMI Columbia - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Astronomy Domine" - 2. "Lucifer Sam" - 4. "Flaming" - 7. "Interstellar Overdrive" - 8. "The Gnome" - 10. "Scarecrow" - 11. "Bike"

Studio debut album by Pink Floyd formed and consisting of Syd Barrett on lead guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, Richard Wright on organ, piano, and vocals, and with Nick Mason on drums and percussion. 8 out of 11 tracks here are composed and written solely by Syd Barrett, which basically was the case at the early stage of the band at a time when psychedelic rock was the predominant style of the band. The remaining tracks are credited the band and Waters (#6). The album is enlisted in a number of best of albums, and is alongside the bands second album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) lauded for being the the first real psychedelic rock albums where Pink Floyd takes experimental rock to new territories. The US version of the album also included the band's first huge single success "See Emily Play", although, that track seems very much out of sync with the rest of the compositions except perhaps from "The Gnome". Today, the album is music history. I don't find it great nor very interesting but in a musical perspective, the album is outstandingly original, and therefore enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Needles to say, the album has been reissued in a number of editions - most noteworthy, I recon, is the "40th Anniversary Edition", which comes in a 2 and 3-disc version of the album with disc 1 containing the mono mix and with disc 2 containing a stereo version of the original European edition of the album. The bonus disc edition (disc 3) also contains the band's first three singles alongside several outtakes.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone Album Guide, Q Magazine 5 / 5, The Daily Telegraph 4 / 5 stars ]

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40th Anniversary Edition

Charles Mingus "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
release date: Jul. 1963
format: cd (1995 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Bob Thiele
label: Impulse! - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

Studio album by Charles Mingus originally released on Impulse!
This is a great album of highly original jazz by one of the most significant composers of the genre. The style here is avant-garde jazz with big band elements. The original vinyl version contains three tracks on the vinyl A-side and one track (in three parts) with the title(s): "Trio and Group Dancers (Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!) / Single Solos and Group Dance (Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on Battle Front) / Group and Solo Dance (Of Love, Pain, and Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, 'Til It's Freedom Day)" on the B-side.
The album is the only Mingus album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

1963 Favourite releases: 1. The Beatles Please Please Me - 2. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave

BEST OF 1960:Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain" (1960)

Sketches of Spain
release date: Jul. 18, 1960
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: A) 1. "Concierto de Aranjuez" (Adagio) (Joaquín Rodrigo) - 2. "Will o' the Wisp" (Manuel de Falla) - - B) "The Pan Piper" (aka 'Alborada de Vigo') (traditional) - 2. "Saeta" (Gil Evans) - 3. "Solea" (Gil Evans)

Studio album by Miles Davis released on Columbia Records and produced by Teo Macero and Irving Townsend. Initially, Davis went to the studio to do his and Gil Evans' version of "Concierto de Aranjuez" (classical concert by Joaquín Rodrigo), but in the rehearsal process the idea to make a Spanish album came up. This is great, beautiful, and really cool jazz with much Spanish tone to it.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone Album Guide 5 / 5 stars ]

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons / The Four Seasons "Sherry" (1962)

Sherry & 11 Others [debut]
release date: Oct. 1962
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Big Girls Don't Cry" - 2. "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" - 3. "Peanuts" - 4. "La Dee Dah" - 5. "Teardrops" - 6. "Apple of My Eye" - 7. "Never on Sunday" - 8. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" - 9. "The Girl in My Dreams" - 10. "Oh Carol" - 11. "Lost Lullabye" - 12. "Sherry" (5 / 5)

The debut album released as The 4 Seasons. At this point of their early career they were also known as The Four Seasons, but from early 1970s they became known as Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons due to their eminent lead vocalist, Frankie Valli, who released his first solo album titled The Four Seasons Present (1967). From then on, he concentrated on his solo career, which had a boost in 1978 with his vocal appearance on the soundtrack album Grease with the homonymous song written by Barry Gibb. After the release of this debut album, the band shortly became the most popular vocal pop band, at least until The Beatles' debut in 1963.

John Coltrane "Ballads" (1963)

Ballads
release date: 1963
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Studio album by John Coltrane Quartet released on Impulse! Records and produced by Bob Thiele. This is a fine melancholic cool jazz album by one of jazz' biggest icons.

BEST OF 1966:Otis Redding "Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul" (1966)

Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul
release date: Oct. 15, 1966
format: cd
[album rate: 5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" (5 / 5) - 2. "I'm Sick Y'All" - 3. "Tennessee Waltz" - 4. "Sweet Lorene" - 5. "Try a Little Tenderness" (5 / 5) - 6. "Day Tripper" - 7. "My Lover's Prayer" - 8. "She Put the Hurt on Me" - 9. "Ton of Joy" - 10. "You're Still My Baby" - 11. "Hawg for You" - 12. "Love Have Mercy"

5th studio album by Otis Redding. This was to be his last studio album release before his untimely death (Dec. 10, 1967) at the age of 26, and the second studio album in '66. This is his studio album with the highest percentage of his own songs (tracks #1, #2, #4, #7, #8, #9, #11), and the album is like his '65 album, enlisted on several 'All times best albums'.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

1966 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul - 2. Dexter Gordon Gettin' Around' - 3. Astrud Gilberto Look to the Rainbow

Jacques Brel "La valse à mille temps" (1959)

La valse à mille temps
release date: 1959
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "La valse à mille temps" (5 / 5) live - 4. "Je t'aime" - 5. "Ne me quitte pas" (4 / 5) - 6. "Les flamandes" (4 / 5) - 10. "La colombe"

4th full-length studio album by Jacques Brel aka "Jacques Brel 4". Like many of his early albums this release is just a self-titled album but is also known as "La valse à mille temps" (taken from the first track). I also enjoy his three earlier albums from the '50s but this particular album is considered one of his best ever original releases, and his first big hit album. It's his second release featuring the great French conductor François Rauber with whom Brel wrote two of the original 10 songs, although, the album's strongest tracks are written by Brel only.

Dexter Gordon "Gettin' Around" (1966)

Gettin' Around
release date: 1966
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Manhã de Carnaval" - 2. "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" - 3. "Heartaches" - 4. "Shiny Stockings" - 5. "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" - 6. "Le coiffeur" - 7. "Very Saxily Yours" (Bonus track) - 8. "Flick of a Trick" (Bonus track)

A studio album by Dexter Gordon. It was recorded in 1965 at the lengendary Van Gelder Studio and released in 1966. The 1987 remastered cd version contains two extra tracks from the same recording session. It's not my first Dexter Gordon album but it really falls in the great ones' category. He is one of my absolute favourite jazz artists, and perhaps the first I adored of the genre. The album is recorded and released in his home country but at this point he lived almost permanently, either in Paris or Copenhagen. It contains the type of music, I guess, people in Europe loved him for - cool, emotional, laid back, and... passionate. Absolutely wonderful.

1966 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul - 2. Dexter Gordon Gettin' Around - 3. Astrud Gilberto Look to the Rainbow