1001 Albums: #49 - The Sonics - Here are the Sonics

The Sonics - Here are the Sonics
Etiquette, 1965

Listening to this is like looking at the packet of seeds that says PUNK ROCK at the hardware store. You can tell these hastily recorded tunes and covers crawled out of a Seattle garage and the raw energy is something you can't teach. This is pure sonic chaos, and that's the best compliment I can give it. The covers--like their dirtied up "Do You Love Me"--are fun but the originals are where this record really signs. "The Witch" is unlike anything else I have heard from the time. "Strychnine" and "Psycho" are also excellent, but "The Witch" is where it's at. It sounds like it wants to hurt you with its lurching guitars, sore-throat vocals, and clumsy rapid-fire vocals. 

1001 Albums: #48 - Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
Phillips, 1965

I'm starting to feel like the 1960s just got the live album. Listening to another live album that feels like the most exemplary offering from an artist (see previously: Sam Cooke, James Brown), it took me back to my high school days listening to Blink-182's Live album The Mark, Tom, and Travis Tour. I only bring up Blink-182 because Jerry Lee Lewis' rawness here feels on par with the dick and fart jokes of the Blink boys (I attended the KC show on that tour and it remains one of the defining moments of my life). The book rightly points out how the band can barely keep up with Jerry here, and there's a lightning-in-a-bottle energy here that you can't deny (despite being able to deny Jerry Lee Lewis in the "marrying his 13 year old cousin" part of his life, Jesus). Weirdly, he sells "Your Cheating Heart" better than Buck Owens probably could. 

1001 Albums: #47 - Buck Owens and His Buckaroos - I've Got the Tiger by the Tail

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos - I've Got the Tiger by the Tail
Capitol, 1965

Ah yes, the Bakersfield Sound. My immediate reaction was revulsion, but once that Telecaster really kicks in on "Let the Sad Times Roll On" I'm coming around. Just a kiss of the Telecaster there, but it really opens up going forward. As a lifelong Fender player (first out of necessity, second out of principle), I dig. I've always wanted a Telecaster, but that's beside the point. The thing is, Buck Owens comes across as a little too slick for country and western (I mean, listen to any other version of "Streets of Laredo" from Marty Robbins to Johnny Cash to Joan freakin' Baez, they just sell it better). That said, when Owens isn't trying to play a cowboy, the results are a helluva lot better. The lovelorn "Cryin' Time" was my favorite of the lot. I guess for me Buck's heart just isn't in it the way I want it to be for this vintage country music. The music itself is crisp and better recorded than anything else in the genre, and maybe I just need a little more stank on my country music. Who knows! I'm the first to admit when I'm wrong, and maybe I'm wrong on this one.

1001 Albums: #46 - The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones
Decca, 1964

The first song that comes up when you open the Rolling Stones' discography on Spotify is the 2021 reissue of Tattoo You. I inadvertently started playing that album, the pure stadium rock of "Start Me Up" coming through the speakers. I scrolled alllllllll the way down to the bottom and put on their eponymous debut and man alive, the cover of "Route 66" that starts things off sounds fully tepid in comparison. Which is to say, like the Beatles, the Stones had to figure some things out and this early in their career, it's better to just get something down on tape and keep on moving. There are a couple originals here, and the rest are blues tunes with a little stank on them (a stank that would soon define the band). 

1001 Albums: #45 - Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty
Philips, 1964

You'd think going from the pure soul of Solomon Burke to the blue-eyed soul of Dusty Springfield would produce a sort of audio whiplash, but the thing is, Dusty can hang. The songs are all over the place but Dusty is at her best when she's covering the Supremes and the Shirelles (though her version of Gene Pitney's "Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa" was my favorite here). Growing up on Oldies, I'd be shocked if I hadn't heard Dusty Springfield before, but I couldn't name a single song. Fixed! 

1001 Albums: #44 - Solomon Burke - Rock n' Soul

Solomon Burke - Rock n' Soul
Atlantic, 1964

"Cry to Me" is my wife's favorite song, and for that reason the incredibly ratty and scratched Solomon Burke greatest hits album in my record collection is on the DO NOT PURGE list. That said, I'd only purge it due to the poor quality of the physical media, because the record itself is can't miss. It just doesn't get much better than Solomon Burke on this record. It's what you think of when you think about soul, and if Aretha is the queen, maybe Solomon is the king (I'm sure that reads as shots fired in some circles, but Burke does namedrop Sam Cooke and Ray Charles on "Can't Nobody Love You" so maybe it's more like, what, a panel of Kings? A committe?). 

Now listen

Sam bought you cake and ice cream

And he called you cherry pie

Ray Charles called you his sunshine

But you never mind

I love it. I could listen to this all day and will certainly be adding this to the dinnertime rotation. 

1001 Albums: #43 - Jacques Brel - Olympia 64

Jacques Brel - Olympia 64
Barclay, 1964

For years I had a Jacques Brel live record in my collection, and I can't remember for the life of me why I bought it. I think maybe Zach Condon from Beirut mentioned him in an interview when I was big into Gulag Orkestar (hard to say, but the influence is there annnnd, boom goes the dynamite). What I love about Brel is the way he throws himself entirely into each song. His energy is borderline psychotic, and despite the anachronism of this mid-century French pop music, that energy is undeniable. 

1001 Albums: #42 - The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
Parlophone, 1964

Oh look, the Beatles. This is a marked improvement on the cover-heavy With the Beatles, but that makes sense considering the Beatles' career lasted a whopping seven years. I mean I guess that's why the Beatles are the Beatles, the amount of ground they were able to cover in such a microscopic amount of time. I mean I've had favorite bands who release an album once every seven years. Jesus. Now, are all the songs here no doubters as they are on the later albums? Well, no. But, you can hear the band tightening up in real time. This is like watching one of those animations of human evolution from the primordial stew to the atomic age. 

1001 Albums: #41 - Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberty

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
Verve, 1963

I know this is a (dated) classic, but the story of Astrud Gilberto being thrust into vocal duties on the inescapable "The Girl from Ipanema" because the producer wanted one of the verses on that track sung in english and Joao couldn't speak English deserves its spot in music lore. You can trace those low-key, borderline mysterious vocals all the way up to present day (not to mention launching her own solo career). One of those happy accidents born of necessity (or a producer's whim for the US market). Either way, that track only feels hack now because it's so frequently used as a punchline. Outside of that unfortunate overuse, this album is a lovely blend of Latin American rhythms and American jazz.

1001 Albums: #40 - James Brown - Live at the Apollo

James Brown - Live at the Apollo
King, 1963

It's always nice to hear the wife ask what it is I'm listening to, but given that 1960s soul is in her wheelhouse, I wasn't surprised (more on that when we cover Solomon Burke in a few). The result? I got to keep this one on during dinner. It's hard to think of a record that is more of a crowd pleaser than this one. As we saw with Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, there really isn't a better genre suited to the live treatment than soul. Hence, Live at the Apollo isn't just one of the greatest live albums of all time, but one of the most iconic records in any genre, anywhere. This is pure, uncut joy poured over you by the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. There's something about the women screaming in the album's quiet moments that perfectly captures what music can do to an otherwise sane and rational person. Great music can drive you absolutely insane, and if you haven't felt that before, I suggest you keep going to shows until you find it.