From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Moon landings, this was the decade that changed the world, and nothing communicates that change more than the albums that defined the decade.
From the early sixties, a time of relative innocence, but also of division, through the cultural revolution that gave unprecedented freedoms to the world’s youth, while at the same time violence and war dominated the news.
But such is the breadth and scope of music produced in this decade, it’s a thankless task to pick the one album that defines each year. To avoid a list dominated by Dylan and The Beatles, we limited ourselves to one LP per artist.
As the debate was fierce, we allowed three honourable mentions per year for those that pushed our panel the hardest.
Let battle commence!
Best 1960s albums, year by year
1960: Etta James, At Last!
The Los Angeles blues and soul singer Etta James was a regular on the Chitlin’ Circuit by the time she made her debut album for Chess Records’ Argo imprint in 1960. Produced by Phil and Leonard Chess, At Last! features lush arrangements over which James’ almost-unbearably soulful delivery brings to life such eternally wonderful cuts as ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, ‘Stormy Weather’ and, of course, that perfect title song.
Honourable mentions:
- John Coltrane – Giant Steps
- Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger
- Miles Davis – Sketches of Spain
1961: West Side Story (original soundtrack)
One of the best-selling albums of the entire 1960s (it spent a record 54 weeks at number one on Billboard’s albums chart), the original soundtrack to the hit movie of the Broadway smash is rightly considered a masterpiece.
Originally composed as a 1957 stage musical by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), West Side Story takes its inspiration from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, transposing the action from Verona to modern-day Manhattan, with the warring gangs the Jets and Sharks pitted against each other, all soundtracked by timeless songs including ‘Maria’, ‘America’ and ‘Somewhere’.
Honourable mentions:
- Bobby Bland – Two Steps From The Blues
- Ray Charles – Genius + Soul = Jazz
- Patsy Cline – Showcase
1962: Ray Charles, Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music
At a time when soul, blues and jazz musicians didn’t cut country records, the inimitable Ray Charles threw the rule book out of the window (not for the first time, nor the last!) with this genre-defying tour de force.
Released at the height of the racial tensions that fuelled the Civil Rights movement, Charles fused what had traditionally be white and black music on an album that was lapped up by customers and critics alike. ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘I Love You So Much It Hurts’, ‘Born To Lose’ and the smash hit ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ gave Charles a mainstream audience and made him a household name.
Honourable mentions:
- Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions
- Howlin' Wolf – Howlin' Wolf
- Roy Orbison – Crying
1963: James Brown, Live At The Apollo
On an epic, 10-minute ‘Lost Someone’, the screaming of female fans is testament to the gospel-like performance that whipped crowds into a frenzy. Considered by many critics to be the greatest live album of all time, Live At The Apollo captures the Hardest Working Man In Showbiz at the peak of his powers.
‘Think’, ‘I’ll Go Crazy’ and ‘Night Train’ showcase his insanely tight band, underpinning that rasping voice and an energy so infectious that Rolling Stone named this 24th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
- We also named this one of the greatest live albums of all time
Honourable mentions:
- Various Artists – A Christmas Gift For You
- Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
- The Beatles – With The Beatles
1964: The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night
By early 1964, The Beatles could do no wrong, and the only album they ever made that entirely comprised of Lennon & McCartney compositions finds them in effortlessly brilliant form.
Singles ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, Paul’s tender ‘And I Love Her’, and great lesser-known Fabs tracks like ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘Tell Me Why’ and ‘I Should Have Known Better’ could be heard from the windows of millions of homes, as Beatlemania followed them around the world. It’s a breathless assault on the ears, the grooves packed with elation, melody, harmony and Beatle magic.
Honourable mentions:
- The Rolling Stones – 12 x 5
- Sam Cooke – Ain't That Good News
- The Supremes – Where Did Our Love Go
1965: Otis Redding, Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
After hearing the great recordings coming out of the Memphis soul house Stax Records, The Beatles began enquiries to make what would become their 1966 Revolver album there. According to reports, it was only the lack of security that poured cold water on the idea. But when you listen to Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul, it’s easy to see why they would have wanted a slice of that action.
Eternal sunshine spills from the speakers on some of the most brilliantly soulful recordings ever made. Whether covering Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, or on his own ‘Respect’ or ‘I've Been Loving You Too Long’, Redding’s velvet voice sounds as good any anything he ever made in a career cut so tragically short.
- See where Otis Redding finished in our rundown of the 51 greatest US musical icons
Honourable mentions:
- The Beatles – Rubber Soul
- Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
- The Who – My Generation
1966: The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Although it failed to create many waves in their native US at the time, The Beach Boys’ masterpiece has since become known as one of the greatest albums ever made.
Largely the brainchild of Brian Wilson, the rest of the band added their heavenly harmonies on breaks in touring, while Brian used the studio of an instrument to create these teenage symphonies that sounded like nothing else before or since.
From the joyful opener ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ through ‘God Only Knows’, on which Carl’s voice sounds like an angel, to introspective songs like ‘I Just Wasn't Made for These Times’, rarely (if ever) has pop music sounded better.
Honourable mentions:
- The Beatles – Revolver
- Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde
- The Byrds – Fifth Dimension
1967: Love, Forever Changes
Arthur Lee’s psychedelic folk rock band Love’s third long player captured the spirit of the summer of love, full of innocence, exploration and hope. And while it failed to set the charts on fire at the time, it has seen come to be recognised for the wonderful album it undoubtedly is.
The album was recorded between June and September 1967 at Hollywood’s Sunset Sounds, and on songs like ‘Alone Again Or’, ‘A House Is Not A Motel’ and ‘The Red Telephone’, they created a soundtrack for all those disenfranchised kids in America that flocked to California looking for peace and love.
Honourable mentions:
- Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
- The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico
1968: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland
On this, his third album, Jimi Hendrix and the Experience pulled out all the stops.
Electric Ladyland is a towering double album that includes some of the hottest guitar riffs ever committed to wax, including ‘Crosstown Traffic’, ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’ and a version of Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ that could stake a claim to being the greatest cover version of all time.
Even now, almost 60 years later, it still sounds like something from the future.
Honourable mentions:
- The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
- The Band – Music From Big Pink
- Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends
1969: The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
From the opening, intertwining guitar figures of the dark ‘Gimme Shelter’, Let It Bleed seems to announce the end of the hippie dream of the 60s, with what sounds like a warning of what’s to come.
The band steps out of the shadows of their contemporaries on the album that they finally feel like they’ve worked out who they are. The country tinged title track and ‘You Got The Silver’ sit well alongside Robert Johnson’s ‘Love In Vain’. On ‘Midnight Rambler’, their brand of blues rock hits the groove like no other, and by the closing ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, the Stones had ushered in a new era.
Honourable mentions:
- Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis
- The Beatles – Abbey Road
- Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
All photos Getty Images / Album art Amazon
Top image Bob Dylan in Eat The Document, a documentary remembrance of Bob Dylan's 1966 concert tour of Europe
