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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am Joined 01-01-70
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| 10 albums of 1964
Don't think I had forgotten about these! 1964 saw the unstoppable rise of The Beatles, but I did go for a couple of jazz albums and a little national treasure from my homelands that precedes my time on Earth. What are your picks for '64, Sputfam? | 1 | | The Beatles A Hard Day's Night
Parlophone // July 10th, 1964
It's 1964 and the Beatlemania has reached pandemic levels. Conceived as the soundtrack for a film that narrates a day in the unreal life of the Beatles at the time, "A Hard Day's Night" sees them coming back from their first US and Canadian tour as kings, and this soundtrack would only mount up to their already incredibly succesful and frenetically short career. The title track that opens the album, "I Should Have Known Better", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", ""And I Love Her", "Can't Buy me Love", "Things We Said Today"... This album is banger after banger and a firm example of the greatness of the Liverpool boys. | 2 | | The Beatles Beatles for Sale
Parlophone // December 4th, 1964
For this entry, I have to start quoting this gold nugget from Wikipedia: "While in New York, the Beatles met American folk singer Bob Dylan, who introduced the band members to cannabis". There's no way I'll be able to listen to this album ever again without imagining them stoned to death while recording "Baby's in Black". Makes all the sense now. In any case, The Beatles were pretty battered when they recorded this album. Their schedule was insane, they were wanted everywhere, and still they managed to churn out enough songs to make another record before the year ended, adding a few covers to meet the bill set by the label, from which Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" is my favorite. There are too many good tracks to single out, but I basically love this phase of the Beatles. From 64 to 65 the Lennon/McCartney writing combo was at its peak. | 3 | | Los Brincos Los Brincos
Novola / Jolly // December, 1964
The same month The Beatles released "Beatles For Sale", the Spanish answer to the Beatles, Los Brincos, saw the release of their first album, "Flamenco". Nobody knows if the band's choice for a name was a blatant attempt at trying to come as close to The Beatles as possible so people digging the crate with a "B" on it could find them too, but sadly for them, under the dictatorship of Franco, The Beatles albums were translated in Spain and classified as "Los Escarabajos". So epic fail. Nevertheless, Los Brincos were more racous, shameless and deeply rooted in their Spanish roots. In "Dance "La Pulga"" you can hear them practicing some screamo... in 1964, pretty revealing. Los Brincos became a pretty big success in Spain and they would even branch out into different projects and solo adventures in the future. The title track "Flamenco" is hear to believe. Classic. | 4 | | Charles Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Impulse! // July, 1964
I feel that Mingus here is unleashed, fully confident of the sound he has found in "The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady" and so he sets up to re-record some oh his classics with the new line-up, and honestly the results are absolutely worth the effort. You know he's deeply immersed in this new sound because you almost don't hear him shouting the band what to do like in previous records (lol). Dolphy is sensational on this, I mean, every musician involved is, but yes, this one is my second favorite album of his after "The Black Saint...", because there's no way anything's gonna beat that. | 5 | | Francoise Hardy Mon amie la rose
Vogue // October, 1964
My Francoise Hardy crush goes on. This is a lovely album, a significant improvement on the somewhat disappointment of her sophomore. "Mon amie la rose" doesn't rely as heavily in whatever was succesful in the US at the time (it was doo wop), and traces back to French pop and folk, with a production job that feels closer to Phil Spector's work with The Ronettes, but we'll get to that in a minute. The first track, "Je veux qu'il revienne", is fantastic, and already sets the tone for the rest of the album. Many consider this one as her best, and yes, it certainly has to be among her best works, but let's not assume anything just yet. | 6 | | The Beach Boys All Summer Long
Capitol // July 1, 1964
I'll go to hell for jamming this album during the freezing nights of January when I should be just blasting black metal like everybody else but if anything, it makes me long for summer, and believe me, I hate fucking summer. This sounds like the Beach Boys, no other way to put it. "I Get Around" is such a great track, the perfect opener. It doesn't even matter what comes next, your mental anus is already open and everything will just flow in and be yours forever. No regrets though, but please someone remind me to revisit this in 6 months. | 7 | | The Kinks Kinks
Pye / Vogue // October 2, 1964
A good start for the Kinks. They were loud, fast, way more caustic than the almighty Beatles. Obviously, there's not a single on Earth that hasn't heard "You Really Got Me" and I was really anticipating to hear it in context for the first time. Turns out, even listening to the whole record from front to back, the all time classic still feels out of place, because it's so much better than anything else on the record. Still, "So Mystifying" is another song I like a lot, and there's plenty more, but I;m looking forward to keep climbing their catalogue and get to the real good stuff. | 8 | | The Ronettes ...Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Philles // November, 1964
You can say all you want about Phil Spector but what he did with this girl group from Manhattan is the work of a genius. I recently watched a documentary claiming that this album set the bases for shoegaze. It's an interesting theory for sure. I could listen to "Be My Baby" forever, I know Brian Wilson did, and I can't blame him. That song has some sort of melancholic spell that I swear once it touches you it never disappears. Magical album. Wish I could say more, but this is one that needs to be heard. | 9 | | Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch!
Blue Note // August, 1964
This is the first record I hear of Eric Dolphy as main, after hearing him play in mostly every jazz record I've heard from the three previous years. As opposed to Coleman's free jazz incursions, Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" is way easier to digest for me. I can a get a grip of what Dolphy is playing meanwhile listening to Coleman is like hearing a whole block of jazz players playing a different song while being trapped in the elevator. Dolphy had an amazing Blue Note line up with him. Hubbard on trumpet, Bobby Hucherson on vibraphone, no piano which already gives this album a completely different vibe, and then a rythm section composed of Richard Davis on bass, who manages to glue the chaos masterfully and Anthony Davis on drums doing some pretty neat beats with both brushed and sticks. Hope I can get a copy on wax soon. | 10 | | The Supremes Where Did Our Love Go
Motown // August 31, 1964
The Supremes never sounded so good. This is an interesting album to couple with The Ronettes one. While the latter sounds noisy, grand and magnificent, this one has a sort of lovely simplicity to it. Sounds like the perfect Motown record, and it's generously stuffed with great songs. Very front loaded, truth be told, but even the second half withstands itself with tracks like "A Breathtaking Guy" or the uplifting closer "Ask Any Girl". Also, Diana Ross shines on this. | |
Dewinged
01.10.24 | Blurbing later! | VlacDrac
01.10.24 | 9 is amazing. | Dewinged
01.10.24 | had the vinyl in my hands a few days ago and didn't buy it cause the price was too steep so I went with another 7 albums ;D | VlacDrac
01.10.24 | Was it an older pressing? I remember buying a re-issue for like 20 bucks about 11 years ago. | Dewinged
01.12.24 | A JP reissue from the 80s and not in a very good state, definitely not worth the price. | myri14
01.14.24 | Love both Beatles albums and Where Did Our Love Go, want to check the rest now. | JohnnyoftheWell
01.14.24 | makes me a little sad to see the Beatles elbowing their way into this otherwise cosy perusal series; 1 does slap, but it feels like a sizeable moot point to have a double innings for such a tight format
otherwise, 8 is probs the best record here, though I need to get to 4+5. list v much needs both Empyrean Isles and Getz/Gilberto | GhandhiLion
01.14.24 | Ur out to lunch | Mort.
01.14.24 | ur a sly munch | Dewinged
01.14.24 | Have a sentimental thing for the Beatles, being the music background I grew up with and one of the last links I preserve with my ever-disappearing family so that's why they elbow everyone else
Don't worry Johnny, 1970 will be the last we'll see of them.
I'll take your recs though, thanks. Like I said on the first list, these will eventually be 20 albums, then 30, etc. | GhandhiLion
01.14.24 | Check
Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
Michael Garrick Trio - Moonscape | Dewinged
01.15.24 | Cheers Ghandhi, will add them to the second season. Moonscape was actually on my radar. | VlacDrac
01.15.24 | @Dewinged That sucks, I hate when stores try to rip off people by trying to sell items in bad shape while trying to justify the price just because they are "retro" or "imported". | Dewinged
01.15.24 | Yeah, it's a hard time to be a vinyl collector in Japan at the moment. Low yen and craaazy shipping costs so we basically have to content with whatever we find on local stores, which reduces the buying options for sure. I'm not crazy about this or that edition, but I do want something that is not broken, if that makes sense XD | dedex
01.15.24 | rec for l8er:
Stan Getz & João Gilberto featuring Antônio Carlos Jobim - Getz / Gilberto | Dewinged
01.15.24 | Nice, dedex doubling up with Johnny on that Getz/Gilberto rec, I guess there's no escape from the BOSSA.
It's 1# on RYM too, what a surprise. | dedex
01.15.24 | ya cant escape DA BOSSA | Dewinged
01.15.24 | I haven't looked at the track list but I'd bet a testicle it has Girl from Ipanema, am I correct? | dedex
01.15.24 | your corones are still intact | Dewinged
01.15.24 | Oh it has Corcovado too, didnt Everything but the girl cover that one? | Dewinged
01.20.24 | Yes Dewi they did.
I'm all blurbed out so on to 1965! | Ryus
01.20.24 | 9 is such a masterpiece | Dewinged
01.20.24 | Absolutely. I have lined up some Hutcherson records too. I only heard "Now!" and that album is amazing. |
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