1965 Briefly Revisited: AotY

Featured songs from this post: Spotify
If you only listen to one song: "Country Boy", Muddy Waters

This revisit features a lot of albums worth your time. Here's a very quick list of them.

Ballads, Blues and Boasters, Harry Belafonte

There's a song on this album called "Back of the Bus", which reminded me that, within my mom's lifetime, there were rules about fronts-of-buses and who was allowed to sit there. That's weird to think about.

The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones

It was hard to listen to this album without thinking of all the blues artists who wrote and performed with all of the skill and talent but none of the fame or fortune of the Stones.

That said, it's a fun album.

Free for All, The Jazz Messengers

I love aggressive jazz.

A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles

The Beatles are easy to like.

Empyrean Isles, Herbie Hancock

You'll probably recognize "Cantaloupe Island" because this song samples it. The original is better.

Folk Singer, Muddy Waters

Every house in America should have an acoustic guitar and someone who plays music like this.

I love the sound production/mixing on this album. I don't know how they made it sound like that, but it's great.

Jazz på svenska, Jan Johansson

I only listened to this album because I saw the word "jazz" in the title and thought, "... Really??"

Turns out it's a pretty good album.

It Might as Well Be Swing, Count Basie and Frank Sinatra

"Fly Me To The Moon" might be my favorite Sinatra song.

Also, this album has been a favorite of mine for at least 15 years.

Also also, the album was arranged by Quincy Jones, and his name has been appearing more than I expected during this era. Previously, I only knew him from his album Back On The Block, which was released in 1989. (Certainly if he's back on the block, that means he was previously on the block.)

Finally, while we're on the subject of Back On The Block: "The Secret Garden".

Barry.