Recommendation Thread: 1960

[Live in Phoenix]

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The newly-named Beatles get to work in Hamburg. (Everyone but Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe will get deported.)
In an interview a week after the JFK assassination, Jackie O said 'Camelot' was "the song he loved best."


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Welcome to 1960, where men are men, and men listen to Broadway musicals! (All I know is, Billboard’s top seller of the year from 1960-65 is: The Sound of Music; Camelot; West Side Story; West Side Story again; Hello, Dolly!; and Mary Poppins.) This is the period of time, of course, when many of rock’s original stars have encountered serious or fatal career interference, and the genre’s long-term viability is not a given. But for the teenagers and young adults, like the Beatles pictured above, the rock and roll gospel was already out there, even if many of its leaders no longer were. So what’s there to listen to this year, besides Elvis’s triumphant return? This is an excellent time to jump into R&B, and it may help to be into jazz or Broadway. If you’re looking for a rock and roll fix, you can scan over the names in Digital Dream Door’s 100-count rock album lists for 1960, 1961, etc. (brought to you by the more-than-famous Bruce).

Debuting on record this year: Otis Redding (i.e., The Shooters featuring Otis - "She's All Right" (youtube link) b/w "Tuff Enuff" (youtube link)

This year also features Charles Mingus' one & only single - "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (Parts I & II)"
This is track #1 of his Blues & Roots album. (Blues & Roots album link) first 5 minutes, 42 seconds

Oliver! debuts on record this year, as well. For Jay-Z’s song “Anything”, he grabbed the chorus from “I’d Do Anything."

Particular favorites:
Song: Camelot, by Richard Burton

Album: Back when ASU had a 20,000 LP record collection, one of the odd treasures I found was the instrumental version of Greenwillow, performed by the Melachrino Strings. (Incredibly, the regular 1960 Original Broadway Cast version starred Anthony Perkins – the OTHER thing he was up to that year.) Frank Loesser also composed Guys and Dolls. I've since acquired this obscurity on gemm.com, but I'm not too sure how to get it onto Youtube.
Well, at any rate, I did find a rendition of "Never Will I Marry" by Judy Garland
And one by Anthony Perkins

Acclaimed Music trivia: Kind of Blue holds the distinction of being the Best Album Ever for the majority of the '60s (until the release of Highway 61 Revisited). "Johnny B. Goode" starts off the decade as the Best Song Ever (then "Be My Baby" --> "Satisfaction" --> Highway 61's "Like a Rolling Stone.") Finally, the 1960s has more songs in the Top 100 than the '50s, '70s, and '80s COMBINED.

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[PlasticRam]

My two favorite songs:

Albums that I have added to my all-time list of about 320 albums:

The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers
Joan Baez - Joan Baez
The Everly Brothers - It's Everly Time

[jamieW]

I figure jazz should get a lot of support in these early years of the 60s. But I'd like to recommend a modern classical piece I discovered on sonofsamiam's all-time songs list: "Threnody To the Victims of Hiroshima" by Krzysztof Penderecki. It's almost unbearably intense and terrifying (as the subject matter would demand), and will certainly be my #1 song of 1960. Hopefully, it will appeal to others, as well. I've attached the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzOb3UhPmig

[Miguel]

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In 1961, Brel released one of his best albums: Jacques Brel 5. But the best song of this album, Le moribond, was released as a single in 1960. Here you can enjoy an extraordinary live version with English subtitles. Here, the studio version.

[DaveC]

A great band having a good time performing many of Muddy Waters finest songs. Engaging and essential.

Other recommended blues:-
Lightnin' Slim - Rooster Blues
Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy
B.B. King - My Kind of Blues

[DaveC]

This extraordinary album ranges from old-style hokey to punch-you-in-the-guts intensity civil-rights polemics. The stylistic combination of jazz/soul/blues/show-tunes is also a bit off-putting at first, but give it a chance and it may get under your skin. Highlights: "Bid 'Em In", "Afro-Blue", "Brown Baby".

(NB Oscar Brown Jr. wrote the lyrics for "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite")

[DaveC]

World music classic.

(NB Michael Babatunde Olatunji played drums on side two of "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite")

[Andre]

In 1961, Brel released one of his best albums: Jacques Brel 5. But the best song of this album, Le moribond, was released as a single in 1960. Here you can enjoy an extraordinary live version with English subtitles. Here, the studio version.

Great Brel song indeed!
And I never knew that Terry Jacks had a big hit with it in 1974, with an adapted English version Seasons In The Sun.

Here's some old Dutch glory from 1960:

[DocBrown]

Terry Jacks had a big hit with it in 1974, with an adapted English version Seasons In The Sun.

IMO, the worst Canadian single of all time. And with Nickelback, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, et al, that's quite a hole to dig.

[Miguel]

Great Brel song indeed! And I never knew that Terry Jacks had a big hit with it in 1974, with an adapted English version Seasons In The Sun.

There have been many covers of Seasons in the Sun, some of them quite interesting: The Beach Boys, Black Box Recorder, The Kingston Trio.

IMO, the worst Canadian single of all time.

Well, I don't think that is a bad song, but of course is far worse than the original. Anyway, there is a very sad thing: the version of Brel is not in the lists of acclaimedmusic ... but look at the number 34 of 1973.

[Andre]

Just discovered this, and it will end up on my list of 1960 albums (too bad I already posted my songs list):


(Link Wray & The Wraymen - Link Wray & The Wraymen)

Some very fine surfabilly proto-punk!

[DaveC]

Just discovered this, and it will end up on my list of 1960 albums (too bad I already posted my songs list):

You can edit your lists on the voting thread anytime before the deadline.

[Kingoftonga]

World music classic.

(NB Michael Babatunde Olatunji played drums on side two of "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite")

Oh man, I wasn't really excited for 1960 until I listened to this album. Fantastic stuff. If I can find one forgotten gem this good every year of the early 60s, this poll will have been well worth it!

[Honorio]

Some non-English recommendations from 1960:



a) Spanish:
Tango is the most renowned style coming from Argentina but it was an urban style from Buenos Aires, in fact it was a suburban style as it was born in the arrabales (suburbs). But Argentina is/was a predominantly rural country and milonga or zamba are music styles representative of the rural Argentina, of the vast fields of La Pampa. Atahualpa Yupanqui was the most important practitioner of these styles. He released in 1960 his most celebrated song, "Los ejes de mi carreta" ("The Axles of My Wagon"), about the loneliness of the coachmen, you can find an English translation of the lyrics here. There is a recent version in Italian by Vinicio Capossela highly recommendable too (see this). Yupanqui released two very good albums in 1960, "Canto y guitarra, Volumen Nº. 7" (Spotify link) and "A qué le llaman distancia, Volumen Nº 8."

Other recommendable album in Spanish from 1960 is "Toda Violeta Parra: el Folklore de Chile Vol. VIII" by Chilean singer-songwriter Violeta Parra, her first album with only original songs (Spotify link). Recommended song: "Puerto Montt está temblando" (You Tube).




b) Xhosa:
There is some confusion about the dates of releases of the first solo albums by Miriam Makeba (Spotify link). According to Discogs, Wikipedia, Allmusic and a complete discography her first solo album was called "Miriam Makeba" and was released in 1960. You can check the original liner notes dating it as 1960. However Rateyourmusic date is as released in March of 1961. Her second album, "The Many Voices of Miriam Makeba" was released in 1962 according to Discogs or Allmusic but other sources as Rateyourmusic date it as released in 1960. If we accept "Miriam Makeba" as eligible for 1960 I would like to recommend the gorgeous "Qongqothwane" ("The Click Song").

Other recommendable African album from 1960 is "Drums of Passion" by Babatunde Olatunji, already recommended in this thread. The Spotify link. Recommended song: "Jin-Go-Lo-Ba" (You Tube).




c) Portuguese:
The early 60s was the golden period for Brazilian Bossa-Nova. The best album of the style on 1960 was João Gilberto's "O amor, o sorriso e a flor" (Spotify link), with many jewels written by an Antônio Carlos Jobim in a state-of-grace. Probably the best song on the album was the Jobim-penned "Corcovado" ("Quite Night of Quiet Stars"). My #1 song of the year.

Other recommendable Brazilian album from 1960 is "Amor em Hi-Fi" by Sylvia Telles (Spotify link). Recommended song: "Samba de uma nota só" (You Tube).




d) French:
Georges Brassens entered the new decade in top shape with his excellent seventh album ("No. 7," Spotify link), with songs "about God (the hilarious Le Mécréant), death and murder (adaptation of XIXth century poet Banville's "Le Verger du roi Louis" about the gallows pole of King Louis in the late Middle Ages), love (Pénélope, L'Orage, Le Bistrot, two of his very best songs)" (nicolas for RYM). My favourite is "L'orage" ("The Storm") the hilarious story of two lovers that only meet when there's a storm because her husband sells lightning rods. There was a very good Spanish cover by Alberto Pérez on "La Mandrágora" (You Tube).

Other recommendable French album recorded in 1960 (but released in 1961) is "Recital 1961" by Édith Piaf (Spotify link). Includes a live version of a fantastic song first released in 1960 that was the life statement of Piaf: "Non, je ne regrette rien" (You Tube).




e) Italian:
One of the best scores by Nino Rota for Federico Fellini (and that's saying a lot) was "La dolce vita" ("The Good Life", Spotify link). Especially the track "La dolce vita (Finale)," an easy-listening take on the main theme.

Other recommendable Italian album from 1960 is "Il cielo in una stanza" by Mina (Spotify link). Recommended song: "Il cielo in una stanza" (You Tube).

[Andre]

Just discovered this, and it will end up on my list of 1960 albums (too bad I already posted my songs list):

You can edit your lists on the voting thread anytime before the deadline.

Thank you, DaveC, I will notify you whenever my list is 'finally' edited.

[Nassim]

I'm not going to vote for anything this year, but given that my favorite "chanson française" ever is from that year, I guess I should post it.

[Romain]

I really want to know if it's a 1960 or a 1961's song because I love so much this song, but, like Le Moribond by Brel, I found 1961.

[Miguel]

I really want to know if it's a 1960 or a 1961's song because I love so much this song, but, like Le Moribond by Brel, I found 1961.

Indeed, Romain, for almost all reliable sources (for instance: discogs, allmusic, brelitud, ultratop,) including Brel's official website, Le moribond is a single released in 1961 .... except for one: rateyourmusic, web generally regarded as "reference" in acclaimedmusic. So I'm not clear whether it should be eligible. In my opinion, no. But I guess it's something that should decide DaveC.

As for Le petit bal perdu (aka C'etait bien), at some sites, like Wikipedia, date the song in 1961, but for most of the sources I've consulted (mot-français, [url=http://chanson_francaise.pagesperso-orange.fr/bourvil/bourvil_disco.htm]chanson française[/url], encyclopedisque) is a song of 1960.

[Romain]

Thanks Miguel...so I think I will put Bourvil in 1960 and Le Moribond in 1961.
Good job

[nicolas]

I doubt anybody will be interested (and Dan has already posted his list) but there is a couple of fantastic field recordings compilations that were released in 1960.

- Mountain Music Of Kentucky : a sort of Deliverance musical trip

- Sounds Of The South (released in 1993 under that name on CD, but it was issued as a box set in '60 under the name "Souther Folk Heritage" : recorded by Alan LOmax, it's a much wider collection ranging from blues to country and even children folk songs. It features the original a cappela version of "Trouble So Hard" that was sampled by Moby in 1999.

[nicolas]

According to this reliable discography, "Le Moribond" is 1961
And to this one too

As a collaborative site, RYM is not 100 % reliable

[Dan]

Sounds Of The South (released in 1993 under that name on CD, but it was issued as a box set in '60 under the name "Souther Folk Heritage" : recorded by Alan LOmax, it's a much wider collection ranging from blues to country and even children folk songs. It features the original a cappela version of "Trouble So Hard" that was sampled by Moby in 1999.

I've listened to the "Sounds of the South" LP of the Southern Folk Heritage box set, and right now I'm listening to the second LP of that box set - the bluegrass and country one called "Blue Ridge Mountain Music". I really like both LPs and I'm sure I will like the whole box set. Sometimes compilations are eligible for our polls, sometimes they're not. It's hard for me to consider this recording an eligible "album" rather than an ineligible "compilation". It will almost definitely be on my list of favourite compilations, though, so thanks for the recommendation!