1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: The 60's Part One

I'm still trucking along with the project, and not hating it yet! The first chunk of the 60's is done, and it sounds a lot like the 50's so far. Not a bad thing though, since I mostly liked the 50's. This ten pack was also light on boring jazz records, so it gets some bonus points.

0024 Baez, Joan – Joan Baez (1960)
I'm guessing this is her debut. It's good, and her voice is amazing. So amazing, that to hear her draw out folk standards wears a but thing and gets a bit annoying. So I'm a bit torn since it's good, but i doubt I'll want to listen to it again. At least not all in one sitting.

0025 Presley, Elvis – Elvis is Back!
Back from the army, this was a big crap shoot since no one knew if the King would still have it. Ends up he did. The over all style is cleaned up on this one, no raw Sun tracks to be found. It's still a solid album though as Elvis shows some maturity by knocking out some pop songs on top of the rock. This pretty much sets the stage for the rest of his career. Elvis always was closer to Frank Sinatra then he was to Chuck Berry, and this is a damned fine start.

0026 Makeba, Miriam – Miriam Makeba (1960)
This is an album by a South African jazz singer, and mixes south African songs with some popular tracks. I really liked this. She has an incredible voice, and when you hear songs like "The Click Song", it doesn't actually sound real. I'm trusting that it's no bullshit though, and this is a recommended listen.

0027 Everly Brothers – A Date with the…
You hear the name and it's hard not to think "White Bread Rock" in the Pat Boone sense. It's not. This is a great rock album that features some honest harmonies. The brothers are fantastic interpreters of song, and they really shine on this one.

0028 Smith, Jimmy – Back at the Chicken Shack
Pretty solid blues instrumental album. Nothing really stood out though.

0029 Muddy Waters – At Newport
Muddy lays it all out on this live disc. If you like Muddy, you'll like this. If you've never heard Muddy, this is as good a place to start as any since he was dynamite live.

0030 Evans, Bill – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
This is a highly regarded piano Jazz album, but it sounds like back ground dinner music to me. Just can't get into it.

0031 Charles, Ray - Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music
This is considered Ray's best work, and it's hard to argue. Ray transforms country standards into music that sounds right at home in a blues club. In doing so he proves himself to be a master interpreter, as well as gives substance to a genre that typically gets short shrift in some circles as a throw away dumb genre. Not a small feat by any means. Recommended.

0032 Booker T & the MGs – Green Onions
The house band for Stax Records get a chance to shine. A great collection of soul instrumentals that are perfect for a summers day. I should know, I listened to this while walking around on a summer day after all.

0033 Getz, Stan & Charlie Byrd – Jazz Samba
The title makes me cringe, but this was actually pretty nice. It's a bit of what you'd expect to hear in a 1960's cocktail bar, but none of the songs out stay their welcome. Modern Jazz could learn from this...

So there it is, nothing blew the doors off my ears, but nothing annoyed me terribly either. A nice safe collection of music! Until next time, keep listening!

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: The 50's part 2

Late in posting this, but the fifties are done! Being only 23 albums in, it's a little early to declare this project a success, but it sort of already is. The variety of music and genre already gives this challenge a bump over the Rolling Stone one in my mind. When I think of the fifties, I think of a pretty uniform, safe period with a blast of rock and roll. Going through these albums though, it shows just how diverse the fifties really were as a decade, and completely setting up the sophistication and experimentation that would take place with music in the 60's. Great stuff, here's the list!


0012 Davis, Miles – Birth of the Cool
Also known as "The Death Of Peppy Jazz". I can appreciate the playing, but it bores the hell out of me.


0013 Machito – Kenya
More Jazz here, but it's peppy Latin Jazz and kept me interested. The songs weren't crazy long either which helped bunches.


0014 Little Richard – Here’s Little Richard
I loved this. I've always loved Little Richard. Arguably the greatest rock singer of all time. That voice was no good for anything else. So loud, so full of life. The music matches the energy and it all works perfectly. Recommended


0015 Puente, Tito & His Orchestra – Dance Mania (1958)
Mambo mania more like it! I'm not a huge fan of this type of latin music, but it's hard to hate something with a song called "3-D Mambo"


0016 Holiday, Billie – Lady in Satin
Holiday is undoubtedly one of the greatest female vocalist. This album however finds her sounding old and in poor health. It distracts from the performances and just makes the whole thing sad. I'd go for her earlier material.


0017 Elliott, Jack – Jack Takes the Floor
Before Dylan there was Ramblin' Jack tearing through folk standards. A prettty good album too, his introductions to the songs give it a personal performance feel, and he's in fine voice. None of these versions are the best you'll find or eclipse earlier artists, but they don't have to. Jack still shows you a good time, and even brings in Woody for a song.


0018 Vaughan, Sarah – At Mister Kelly’s
Sounds like a night club recording, and a pretty good one to. Sarah is in fine form singing some pop songs of the day.


0019 Fitzgerald, Ella – Sings the Gershwin Song Book
If your looking for a sophisticated vocal album, this ones for you. Ella does a great job interpreting 50 or so songs from the Gershwin song book. The music is lush, and Ella never gets lost in the orchestra and manages to put her own take on these. Great stuff.


0020 Charles, Ray – Genius of
You have to be either really good or a real asshole to use the word "Genius" on an album. Ray of course was really good. This is a hell of a record. A big band sound that still keeps the soul, not a bad song on it.


0021 Davis, Miles – Kind of Blue
Actually it's not kind of blue, it's totally boring.


0022 Robbins, Marty – Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs
I loved this record. I loved it so much, I listened to it 3 times in a row. Marty Robbins has the perfect cowboy voice, and these are great cowboy songs for him to sing. El Paso might be one of the greatest cowboy songs ever written. the band and harmonies are of the equal high quality, and all together I'm sure this is now a favorite.


0023 Brubeck, Dave – Time Out
As far as jazz albums go, i don't mind this one. I'm yet to have a desire to listen to it outside of these lists, but still it's at least not boring like many of the other ones. The thing with this though is it always makes me think of the soundtracks to NFB cartoons. Which is probably really complimentary to the NFB and a big slap in the face to Brubeck...

Right, that's about it! Bring on the 60's!