The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed (Decca) -
Released:
December 5, 1969
Second in an unbroken four album run of bona fide Stones
classics. Harder, funkier, grittier and more erotic than “Beggars Banquet”,
and with a dash of Americana to boot. Darker in its moods too as it captures
the end of the 60’s spot on: “Oh, a storm is threat’ning my very life today”
(The opening line of “Gimme Shelter”).
Side 1 is a perfect ride, they touch all the bases that
would characterize the best of their 70’s output. Side 2 is more uneven,
“Midnight Rambler” is too long and more unpleasant than groovy, and “You
Can’t Always Get What You Want” is their most overrated track by far, a
pretentious attempt to create their own “Hey Jude” (the melody itself is
nothing but the same phrase on repeat). I love “You Got The Silver” though,
and “Gimme Shelter” is so strong you want it to last forever.
Contents: Gimme Shelter/Love in Vain/Country
Honk/Live with Me/Let It Bleed/Midnight Rambler/You Got the Silver/Monkey
Man/You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin
(Atlantic) - Released: January 12, 1969
They took the blues and turned it into the sound of the
future. The depth and dynamics of this recording was stunning for its time,
and it still sounds as fresh and powerful today.
The group’s versatility is already on display, even
though the heavy electric blues is dominating the proceedings. They sculpted
the arrangements different from any band before them, and the captivating
alteration between calmness and explosion was effectively enhanced by the
room ambience the group exploited so wonderfully.
Contents: Good Times Bad Times/Babe I’m Gonna
Leave You/You Shook Me/Dazed and Confused/Your Time Is Gonna Come/Black
Mountain Side/Communication Breakdown/I Can’t Quit You Baby/How Many More
Times
Jethro Tull, Stand Up
(Island) - Released: August 1, 1969
Ian Anderson: “This was Martin Barre’s first album with
us, and it marks the turning point in our music, away from the blues and
toward progressive rock. It is a very broad, eclectic album…” A great album.
My absolute favourite is “We Used To Know” (nicked by the Eagles and turned
into “Hotel California”).
Contents: A New Day Yesterday/Jeffrey Goes to
Leicester Square/Bourée/Back to the Family/Look into the Sun/Nothing Is
Easy/Fat Man/We Used to Know/Reasons for Waiting/A Thousand Mothers
In The Court Of The
Crimson King, King Crimson (Island) - Released: October 10, 1969
The most influential progressive rock album of all time,
the title track and “Epitaph” are epic beauties, while the opening track is
the noisiest, scariest piece of metallic industrial rock you’ll ever
encounter.
Contents: 21st Century Schizoid Man (including
“Mirrors”)/I Talk to the Wind/Epitaph (including “March for No Reason” and
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow”)/Moonchild (1.”The Dream” 2.”The Illusion”)/Court of
the Crimson King (including “The Return of the Fire Witch” and “The Dance of
the Puppets)
Fleetwood Mac, Then Play
On (Reprise) -
Released: September 19, 1969
Released when they were the hottest group around, quite a
surprising record as it displayed a broader stylistic range than the two
preceding albums that were both exponents of traditional electric blues. The
melancholy state of mind of both Danny Kirwan and Peter Green is very
apparent.
Contents: Coming Your Way/Closing My Eyes/Fighting
for Madge/When You Say/Showbiz Blues/Underway/One Sunny Day/Although the Sun
Is Shining/Rattlesnake Shake/Without You/Searching for Madge/My Dream/Like
Crying/Before the Beginning
Fairport Convention,
Unhalfbricking (Island) - Released: July, 1969
Fairport dug deeper into traditional British folk music
on their next album, the masterpiece “Liege & Lief”. But “Unhalfbricking”
will always be my favourite, and it’s got “Who Knows Where The Times Goes?”
on it.
Contents: Genesis Hall/Si Tu Dois Partir/Autopsy/A
Sailor’s Life/Cajun Woman/Who Knows Where the Time Goes?/Percy’s
Song/Million Dollar Bash
Nick Drake, Five Leaves
Left (Island) - Released:
September 1, 1969
He wrote sad songs of extraordinary beauty and performed
them with a soft, whispery voice, mainly accompanied by his own, restless
acoustic guitar. This is his debut, unique pieces of melancholy, like
watercolour paintings of autumn. Drake left us in 1974 and only made three
albums.
Contents: Time Has Told Me/River Man/Three Hours/Way to Blue/Day
is Done/Cello Song/The Thoughts of Mary Jane/Man in a Shed/Fruit
Tree/Saturday Sun
