East-West was an incredibly influential album in the San Francisco scene. A lot of bands got into “raga rock” after hearing this but nobody did it better than Bloomfield.
Great list. Another great albums from that year: The Remains - S/T The Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop The Standells - Dirty Water The Shadows of Knight - Gloria The Music Machine - (Turn On) The Music Machine Them - Them Again The Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer John Mayall & The Blues Breakers - With Eric Clapton The Blues Project - Projections The Young Rascals - S/T
That Music Machine album is great. Standells, Blues Magoos, and Roger The Engineer in particular is a personal all time fave. The best Yardbirds studio album.
I've got a cassette tape of Animalization - great LP! Don't Bring Me Down is probably my fav Animals track. I turned 10 in 1966, and really started listening to AM radio that summer. So many good memories.
Good selection. Very informative as always. Several of those albums are like time machines that transport you back to a certain time and place. For example, I first heard East West in a Vietnamese bar In Bien Hoa, Vietnam in '67.
I bought the first 4 albums by Love and the Spoonful, all of which are great. I totally agree with poster who flagged up Softly to Me which would be a worldwide standard if it had been written by Lennon & McCartney
Agree on the Who’s Happy Jack. I actually like it better than their first. But I’ve gotta track down a copy of Love’s debut. I’m a huge Doors fan so i can definitely appreciate their support in helping the Doors get their start, back in ‘ 66 at the “ Whiskey. “ And I’m not surprised you included that Paul Butterfield album. Always did love that awesome title track, supposedly the first long, epic rock song ever released. But of course, us Doors fans might argue that “ The End “ was first 😆. It was a close race.
Great stuff! All of these are wonderful records🎉 The long eastern jam "East West" Remains a firm favourite and probably influenced the San Franciscan Scene of Quicksilver, Airplane, Dead and Country Joe & The Fish. Steve Marriott moulded Dixon's "Need love" in a veritable monster adding the riff and the vocal middle part and this became the blueprint for Led Zeppelin's "Whole lotta love".Steve should have received credit and royalties. Last not least: The Animals released 3 albums in 1966 with similar titles: animalization, animalism and animalisms 😂
Great picks from an incredible list of ‘66 albums So happy to see Bert and John I’m a huge fan and their influence carries on even through today For me a stand out album and definitely unsung Fred Neil : Fred Neil It gave us one of the greatest songs of all time ; Dolphins
Arthur Lee, Bryan Mc Lean, Johnnie Echols-- wish they would have stayed together, first 3 albums were way ahead of their time. Animals were great , Lovin' Spoonful, the Who -- loved Happy Jack/ and later " I can see for miles" one of the best rock songs ever/ saw them play it " live" unbelievable!!
Great video! I agree with every album. Y'know Tom, a geographical area that is grossly overlooked here in America is the Netherlands. They had a great music scene going on there in the '60s. A tremendous debut album from that region was "Revolution" from a band called Q65. Their version of "Spoonful" is incredible! So are originals like "The Life I Live," "I Got Nightmares," "Summer Thoughts in a Field of Weed" and "Sour Wine." "Down in the Bottom" is also great! Cuby+Blizzards put their debut lp out that year too; great electric blues band! Golden Earring and Shocking Blue are probably the best remembered Dutch bands here, but from a country with roughly the same square miles as the state of New York, a ton of great music was generated, and those two albums barely scratch the surface, but they're two incredible 1966 debut albums! You should definitely hear them before you die!!!
I million percent agree. But why no mention of Dutch Rock band The Outsiders, not to be confused with their American Soft Pop namesakes. The Dutch band were known as the Dutch Pretty Things, as their lead singer Wally Tax sounded similar to Phil May, but was harder and a bit stronger. Furthermore, British bands who could not crack the UK or States, like The Pretty Things and The Downliners Section found large success in Holland.
Yep, totally agree with you about The Outsiders! I didn't mention them though, because they didn't release an album until 1967, and Tom's video is dealing with unsung albums of 1966. However, I did drop the ball by not mentioning The Motions second album which was fantastic, and is from '66.
They were all big in Holland, as were The Outsiders, who released their first single in Holland a few months before their U.S. Bubblegum Pop namesakes released their first single in the States under that name. These bands' sounds would have fitted neatly into the British Invasion had they attempted to crack it here.
Really good stuff. The Jam actually covered so Sad About Us in 1978, in reaction to Keith Moon’s death. Totally agree about the Rock ‘N’ Roll Circus performance by The Who: one of the very best bits of filmed rock music ever.
Nice to see you include Love's debut. One of the songs you didn't mention is Softly To Me by Bryan MacLean, which to me is one of the best on the album. I'd also include Tim Buckley's debut which I quite enjoy, even though it's not one of his highest rated albums. Do you consider Face To Face by The Kinks to be an unsung album?
Face To Face over the decades has really become one of the most highly regarded albums of 1966 and deservedly so. If we’re talking about Soap Opera, Schoolboys In Disgrace or Preservation Act 2 those in my opinion would be totally unsung. 😉
Good stuff, as always. Believe it or not, I have a test pressing of Tim Hardin 1. A thrift shop find. I would have to include Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention. Amazing debut album, and a double album no less!
Man, you didn't miss much ,Tom. All steller albums from an incredibly explosive year in so many ways. I turned 8 that summer and even at such a young age I could literally feel all the changes going on, often in a very violent form. The only lp I could add would be Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, sort of the first steps of one of rocks greatest bands.
Jimi Hendrix is often considered the first Black musician to lead an otherwise all-white rock band, but it was actually Arthur Lee, the founder of Love, in L.A. in 1965, a year before the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Also, "The Sounds of Silence" was originally recorded in an all-acoustic version for the first Simon and Garfunkel album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m." The album flopped, but a year later someone at Columbia Records dug up the song, had a rock band dub in backing, and released it as a single. It was an enormous hit and Simon and Garfunkel, who'd already broken up, had to get back together to record a full album to capitalize on the success of the single "The Sounds of Silence."
The only thing wrong with the Daydream LP was its length. Their best LP, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, would be similarly brief. not even 27 minutes long. The first LP from Love is still a keeper! Arthur Lee steps out with an impressive first. Animalization has been a favorite for almost 60 years, now. It was Eric Burdon's finest moment, then the band fell apart. Best of Unsung 1966 Albums 01 S U N S H I N E S U P E R M A N Donovan 02 C A S S , J O H N , M I C H E L L E , D E N N I E The Mamas and the Papas 03 R I V E R D E E P , M O U N T A I N H I G H Ike & Tina Turner 04 F A C E T O F A C E the Kinks 05 O V E R , U N D E R , S I D E W A Y S , D O W N (aka Roger ..., US release) the Yardbirds
1966 may have been the first important year for albums (1965 was getting there). But unfortunately, the main focus was still on singles, which were still occupying most of the record sales. It was the following year it all changed. So the vast majority of the great 1966 albums were overlooked. I noticed your list here was almost the same list as your Top 20 albums of 1966 from about a year ago. To print a list here, I would have to duplicate my list there, but deduct Revolver, Pet Sounds, Fresh Cream and The Yardbirds' self-titled album (UK version), as they were by no means overlooked, and replace them with the Tim Hardin (I don't think I included that originally), and the two John Renbourn UK Folk albums of that year. That Small Faces album that you mentioned and showed here, and in your Top 20 1966 albums, must have been a UK Decca label release, as that album was not released in the States, due to the fact they so far had no entries in the Top 100 singles chart in the U.S. After switching labels, Decca in the UK put together another Small Faces album called From The Beginning, containing tracks they recorded for Decca not long before they left, plus tracks from previous singles, two of which were also on their first album. The latter contained their earlier version of My Way Of Giving, which I thought was way better than their Immediate label re-recording, as it sounded rougher and edgier. Their later version sounded smoother. All their albums are on CD with bonus tracks. But I think the reason they were the only huge British Invasion band outside the States never to crack the States, was that they got banned from the States, due to a drug conviction that Ian MacGlagan had in this country, just as they were about to embark on a U.S. tour with The Lovin' Spoonful, and The Mamas & The Papas, obviously hoping that being on a U.S. tour with bands who were huge in the States would have given them some promotion there. But the other two bands had to fulfill the tour themselves. But to broaden out, there is the massive various artists download only release, Motown Unreleased 1966, which I have linked with one of the two tracks by Garage Rock band The Mynah Birds, featuring Neil Young and Bruce Palmer who soon after, went into Buffalo Springfield, and Rick James. They are not completely previously unreleased, as they appeared on a six track mini CD with all their 1966 tracks, which I think is still on download. ua-cam.com/video/SEQYRAUFXgU/v-deo.html But that final track you mentioned on that Who album was great in parts, but sounded very silly in other parts, likewise that later live version of theirs.
There’s a great band from Scotland 🏴 called The Poets, they didn’t release any albums in the 60’s. There first two singles Now We’re Through from 1964 and That’s The Way It’s Got To from 1965 are classic! They did release another 45 in 1966, Baby Don’t You Do It, a cover of the Tamla Motown song by Marvin Gaye, The Who covered it on Who’s Next and The Small Faces on there album, but I think the Poets version has a rawness to it that beats the other versions imo! Plus they had a psych single In Your Tower in 1967! There is a singles anthology album that’s well worth a listen!
Hm, well... I don't know how unsung it is, but I think The Psychedelic Sound Of The 13th Floor Elevators belongs here, if the debuts by Buffalo Springfield and Love do. Gotta mention the frequently overlooked Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, too -- a mix of half-assed folk-rock and some fairly great original directions. I still put on "It's No Secret" when I need a shot of joy.
I just listened to Takes Off the other day. It’s No Secret is great, but like you said a lot of half ass folk rock. That would change with the next 4 albums where they were cranking out stellar mind bending material.
It was released in the UK in December 1966, and Tom usually goes by the first year an album was released, but not necessarily in the States. It may have been released elsewhere earlier. But the UK release was under the ridiculous title of A Quick One, and included their completely Soulless version of Martha And The Vandellas' Heatwave, and which to be truthful was completely unlistenable. It lasted well under two minutes, and was an obvious filler. But when the album was released in the States, that very track was replaced by the A side of their then-present hit single, Happy Jack, which wasn't at that time an album track in the UK, but made the American release of the album slightly longer in playing time, and the whole album was very sensibly re-titled Happy Jack when released in the States. Just those two small alterations polished the U.S. release enormously.
@@paulgoldstein2569 Yeah. Import copies of British discs weren't available to me where I was in 1966. I remember seeing the album in stores in spring, 1967 for the first time.
@@tomrobinson5776 All the bonus tracks make the 2014 Geffen release less quick with 20 tracks running 56 minutes, Thanks to Apple Music I discovered it this morning.
That album would have been perfect if they ditched Captain Soul and Hey Joe and threw in I Know My Rider & Psychodrama City from the same time period. Regardless, an early psych classic.
East-West was an incredibly influential album in the San Francisco scene. A lot of bands got into “raga rock” after hearing this but nobody did it better than Bloomfield.
Great list. Another great albums from that year:
The Remains - S/T
The Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop
The Standells - Dirty Water
The Shadows of Knight - Gloria
The Music Machine - (Turn On) The Music Machine
Them - Them Again
The Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer
John Mayall & The Blues Breakers - With Eric Clapton
The Blues Project - Projections
The Young Rascals - S/T
Barry & the Remains !
That Music Machine album is great. Standells, Blues Magoos, and Roger The Engineer in particular is a personal all time fave. The best Yardbirds studio album.
Wonderful stuff, Classic albums!
I've got a cassette tape of Animalization - great LP! Don't Bring Me Down is probably my fav Animals track. I turned 10 in 1966, and really started listening to AM radio that summer. So many good memories.
Beautiful albums released 1966☮️🇺🇲🍄🎸🙏 thanks capo
Wow CF on the roll! ❤Love
💕 👍 love
Good selection. Very informative as always. Several of those albums are like time machines that transport you back to a certain time and place. For example, I first heard East West in a Vietnamese bar In Bien Hoa, Vietnam in '67.
The Mamas & Papas were hammering 1966.
They had some great singles. I Saw Her Again is a stellar song.
I bought the first 4 albums by Love and the Spoonful, all of which are great. I totally agree with poster who flagged up Softly to Me which would be a worldwide standard if it had been written by Lennon & McCartney
Agree on the Who’s Happy Jack. I actually like it better than their first. But I’ve gotta track down a copy of Love’s debut. I’m a huge Doors fan so i can definitely appreciate their support in helping the Doors get their start, back in ‘ 66 at the “ Whiskey. “ And I’m not surprised you included that Paul Butterfield album.
Always did love that awesome title track, supposedly the first long, epic rock song ever released. But of course, us Doors fans might argue that “ The End “ was first 😆. It was a close race.
Arthur Lee did a terrific live version of "Signed DC" on the "Complete Forever Changes Live" album.
Great selections...I 100 percent agree about Steve Marriott ( "All or Nothing" still gives me chills)...Peace and Love ,Terry Tutor
Great stuff! All of these are wonderful records🎉
The long eastern jam "East West" Remains a firm favourite and probably influenced the San Franciscan Scene of Quicksilver, Airplane, Dead and Country Joe & The Fish.
Steve Marriott moulded Dixon's "Need love" in a veritable monster adding the riff and the vocal middle part and this became the blueprint for Led Zeppelin's "Whole lotta love".Steve should have received credit and royalties.
Last not least: The Animals released 3 albums in 1966 with similar titles: animalization, animalism and animalisms 😂
Great picks from an incredible list of ‘66 albums
So happy to see Bert and John I’m a huge fan and their influence carries on even through today
For me a stand out album and definitely unsung
Fred Neil : Fred Neil
It gave us one of the greatest songs of all time ; Dolphins
Arthur Lee, Bryan Mc Lean, Johnnie Echols-- wish they would have stayed together, first 3 albums were way ahead of their time. Animals were great , Lovin' Spoonful, the Who -- loved Happy Jack/ and later " I can see for miles" one of the best rock songs ever/ saw them play it " live" unbelievable!!
Great video! I agree with every album. Y'know Tom, a geographical area that is grossly overlooked here in America is the Netherlands. They had a great music scene going on there in the '60s. A tremendous debut album from that region was "Revolution" from a band called Q65. Their version of "Spoonful" is incredible! So are originals like "The Life I Live," "I Got Nightmares," "Summer Thoughts in a Field of Weed" and "Sour Wine." "Down in the Bottom" is also great!
Cuby+Blizzards put their debut lp out that year too; great electric blues band!
Golden Earring and Shocking Blue are probably the best remembered Dutch bands here, but from a country with roughly the same square miles as the state of New York, a ton of great music was generated, and those two albums barely scratch the surface, but they're two incredible 1966 debut albums! You should definitely hear them before you die!!!
I million percent agree. But why no mention of Dutch Rock band The Outsiders, not to be confused with their American Soft Pop namesakes. The Dutch band were known as the Dutch Pretty Things, as their lead singer Wally Tax sounded similar to Phil May, but was harder and a bit stronger. Furthermore, British bands who could not crack the UK or States, like The Pretty Things and The Downliners Section found large success in Holland.
Yep, totally agree with you about The Outsiders! I didn't mention them though, because they didn't release an album until 1967, and Tom's video is dealing with unsung albums of 1966. However, I did drop the ball by not mentioning The Motions second album which was fantastic, and is from '66.
Thanks for mentioning Q65 and Cuby+Blizzards. Never heard these bands. I’ll check them out. 😉
@@paulgoldstein2569 Downliners Sect
They were all big in Holland, as were The Outsiders, who released their first single in Holland a few months before their U.S. Bubblegum Pop namesakes released their first single in the States under that name. These bands' sounds would have fitted neatly into the British Invasion had they attempted to crack it here.
Really good stuff. The Jam actually covered so Sad About Us in 1978, in reaction to Keith Moon’s death. Totally agree about the Rock ‘N’ Roll Circus performance by The Who: one of the very best bits of filmed rock music ever.
Nice to see you include Love's debut. One of the songs you didn't mention is Softly To Me by Bryan MacLean, which to me is one of the best on the album. I'd also include Tim Buckley's debut which I quite enjoy, even though it's not one of his highest rated albums. Do you consider Face To Face by The Kinks to be an unsung album?
tim buckley ❤
I think so. It doesn't get much mention.
Face To Face over the decades has really become one of the most highly regarded albums of 1966 and deservedly so. If we’re talking about Soap Opera, Schoolboys In Disgrace or Preservation Act 2 those in my opinion would be totally unsung. 😉
👍👍 love
Good stuff, as always. Believe it or not, I have a test pressing of Tim Hardin 1. A thrift shop find. I would have to include Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention. Amazing debut album, and a double album no less!
That’s awesome and a real find. Freak Out is great. I love We’re Only In It For The Money and especially Hot Rats.
Reason to believe was the A side and Maggie May the B side. A dj at WMEX in Boston flipped it over and the rest was history! No joke !
Yes, I remember hearing about that. Pretty wild.
Man, you didn't miss much ,Tom. All steller albums from an incredibly explosive year in so many ways. I turned 8 that summer and even at such a young age I could literally feel all the changes going on, often in a very violent form. The only lp I could add would be Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, sort of the first steps of one of rocks greatest bands.
Love the Airplane. I plan on doing a ranking in the near future.
Roy Buchanan's Hey Joe probably my fav version.
Never heard it. I’ll check it out.
Anazing guitar player
There is a great live video ob YT
While you watch bear in mind No Pedals Roy didn’t use any
@jessem470 fender needs to make a buchanan tele model. No one can touch his volume swells as an effect!
Jimi Hendrix is often considered the first Black musician to lead an otherwise all-white rock band, but it was actually Arthur Lee, the founder of Love, in L.A. in 1965, a year before the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Also, "The Sounds of Silence" was originally recorded in an all-acoustic version for the first Simon and Garfunkel album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m." The album flopped, but a year later someone at Columbia Records dug up the song, had a rock band dub in backing, and released it as a single. It was an enormous hit and Simon and Garfunkel, who'd already broken up, had to get back together to record a full album to capitalize on the success of the single "The Sounds of Silence."
4 great albums worth mentioning, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, Donovan-Sunshine Superman, Them Again, Projections-The Blues Project!
All stellar albums. 😉
The only thing wrong with the Daydream LP was its length. Their best LP, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, would be similarly brief. not even 27 minutes long. The first LP from Love is still a keeper! Arthur Lee steps out with an impressive first. Animalization has been a favorite for almost 60 years, now. It was Eric Burdon's finest moment, then the band fell apart.
Best of Unsung 1966 Albums
01 S U N S H I N E S U P E R M A N
Donovan
02 C A S S , J O H N , M I C H E L L E , D E N N I E
The Mamas and the Papas
03 R I V E R D E E P , M O U N T A I N H I G H
Ike & Tina Turner
04 F A C E T O F A C E
the Kinks
05 O V E R , U N D E R , S I D E W A Y S , D O W N (aka Roger ..., US release)
the Yardbirds
👍 yardbirds
1966 may have been the first important year for albums (1965 was getting there). But unfortunately, the main focus was still on singles, which were still occupying most of the record sales. It was the following year it all changed. So the vast majority of the great 1966 albums were overlooked. I noticed your list here was almost the same list as your Top 20 albums of 1966 from about a year ago. To print a list here, I would have to duplicate my list there, but deduct Revolver, Pet Sounds, Fresh Cream and The Yardbirds' self-titled album (UK version), as they were by no means overlooked, and replace them with the Tim Hardin (I don't think I included that originally), and the two John Renbourn UK Folk albums of that year.
That Small Faces album that you mentioned and showed here, and in your Top 20 1966 albums, must have been a UK Decca label release, as that album was not released in the States, due to the fact they so far had no entries in the Top 100 singles chart in the U.S. After switching labels, Decca in the UK put together another Small Faces album called From The Beginning, containing tracks they recorded for Decca not long before they left, plus tracks from previous singles, two of which were also on their first album. The latter contained their earlier version of My Way Of Giving, which I thought was way better than their Immediate label re-recording, as it sounded rougher and edgier. Their later version sounded smoother. All their albums are on CD with bonus tracks. But I think the reason they were the only huge British Invasion band outside the States never to crack the States, was that they got banned from the States, due to a drug conviction that Ian MacGlagan had in this country, just as they were about to embark on a U.S. tour with The Lovin' Spoonful, and The Mamas & The Papas, obviously hoping that being on a U.S. tour with bands who were huge in the States would have given them some promotion there. But the other two bands had to fulfill the tour themselves.
But to broaden out, there is the massive various artists download only release, Motown Unreleased 1966, which I have linked with one of the two tracks by Garage Rock band The Mynah Birds, featuring Neil Young and Bruce Palmer who soon after, went into Buffalo Springfield, and Rick James. They are not completely previously unreleased, as they appeared on a six track mini CD with all their 1966 tracks, which I think is still on download.
ua-cam.com/video/SEQYRAUFXgU/v-deo.html
But that final track you mentioned on that Who album was great in parts, but sounded very silly in other parts, likewise that later live version of theirs.
That live version of a Quick One on Rock and Roll Circus really takes it to another level. Incredible dynamics going on there..
There’s a great band from Scotland 🏴 called The Poets, they didn’t release any albums in the 60’s. There first two singles Now We’re Through from 1964 and That’s The Way It’s Got To from 1965 are classic! They did release another 45 in 1966, Baby Don’t You Do It, a cover of the Tamla Motown song by Marvin Gaye, The Who covered it on Who’s Next and The Small Faces on there album, but I think the Poets version has a rawness to it that beats the other versions imo! Plus they had a psych single In Your Tower in 1967! There is a singles anthology album that’s well worth a listen!
Sounds cool. I’ll investigate..
You know the Spoonfuls Daydream is lifted from 1934s Got a Date With a Angel. Also let's not forget the Fugs 2 ND Album.
Hm, well... I don't know how unsung it is, but I think The Psychedelic Sound Of The 13th Floor Elevators belongs here, if the debuts by Buffalo Springfield and Love do. Gotta mention the frequently overlooked Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, too -- a mix of half-assed folk-rock and some fairly great original directions. I still put on "It's No Secret" when I need a shot of joy.
I just listened to Takes Off the other day. It’s No Secret is great, but like you said a lot of half ass folk rock. That would change with the next 4 albums where they were cranking out stellar mind bending material.
Gandalf does an amazing cover of Hang on to a Dream.
Very cool. I’ll have to hear that version.
13th floor elevators - psychedelic sounds
The remains - self titled
The Happy Jack album by the Who came out in spring. 1967! NOT 1966!
Yes it did!
It was released in the UK in December 1966, and Tom usually goes by the first year an album was released, but not necessarily in the States. It may have been released elsewhere earlier. But the UK release was under the ridiculous title of A Quick One, and included their completely Soulless version of Martha And The Vandellas' Heatwave, and which to be truthful was completely unlistenable. It lasted well under two minutes, and was an obvious filler. But when the album was released in the States, that very track was replaced by the A side of their then-present hit single, Happy Jack, which wasn't at that time an album track in the UK, but made the American release of the album slightly longer in playing time, and the whole album was very sensibly re-titled Happy Jack when released in the States. Just those two small alterations polished the U.S. release enormously.
@@paulgoldstein2569 Yeah. Import copies of British discs weren't available to me where I was in 1966. I remember seeing the album in stores in spring, 1967 for the first time.
The Happy Jack LP was released in the U.S. in December 1966.
You mention Mike Bloomfield on East-West but skip Elvin Bishop who more than holds his own. Especially on the title track.
True, very true. 😉
A Quick One mono version is pretty good!
I’ve only heard the stereo version. I’ll check it out. 😉
@@tomrobinson5776 All the bonus tracks make the 2014 Geffen release less quick with 20 tracks running 56 minutes, Thanks to Apple Music I discovered it this morning.
The Byrds - Fifth Dimension...Eight Miles High, 5D, Mr. Spaceman, I See You...the beginning of psychedelia.
That album would have been perfect if they ditched Captain Soul and Hey Joe and threw in I Know My Rider & Psychodrama City from the same time period. Regardless, an early psych classic.