The Best Albums & Songs of the 1960's

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:03 am

So here it is. Your opportunity to rank the albums and songs of the 1960's correctly - the way they should be ranked. Everyone else may not agree with you, so here is the formula that will allow your rankings to become a essential part of the wisdom of the crowd:-

100*(1+30)/(position+30)

Put your rank (1, 2, 3, etc) into the “rank” column of the excel sheet (below). If you have not heard a song or album, please leave the rank cell blank. Songs/albums you don't rank will be given the same score as the song/album in the middle of your list, so if you don't like a song/album do rank it so that it doesn't end up being bumped up in a way you didn't intend.

Send your completed 1960s poll worksheet to the email address below by:-

Songs Deadline: January 16th 2016
Albums Deadline: January 23rd 2016

Email to: amf60spoll@gmail.com

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:05 am

NB If anyone can't read the .xlsx, let me know and I will post a .xls version.

Live in Phoenix · Post by **Live in Phoenix** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:16 am

Mr. C, first of all thank you for all your work on this poll. Second...where am I emailing to, precisely?

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:12 am

Live in Phoenix wrote:Mr. C, first of all thank you for all your work on this poll. Second...where am I emailing to, precisely?

amf60spoll@gmail.com

You're ready to email already!!! I thought that I had a little time to organise that. Can't wait for the first votes to come in.

Live in Phoenix · Post by **Live in Phoenix** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:56 am

Not there yet

I was just a bit surprised by the XXXXX email. I find it best to drag my feet a bit on these things and get some more album listens in...

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:59 pm

For the songs, here is a Spotify playlist and YouTube video's for the missing songs:

Like last year, the Spotify playlist is ordered by year, following the rankings up til now.
I have two questions. First, do I use Moon River with or without the Audrey Hepburn vocals? At the moment I use the version without them. Secondly, which version of Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima is preferred? In Spotify I could choose one with Johnny Greenwood or one classic version. I went with the last one for now.

It's a cool list, though perhaps a little too much Beatles.

Edit: of course Bang Jang posted one a minute earlier...

Bang Jan · Post by **Bang Jan** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:43 pm

Don't worry Rob! I deleted my post of the Spotify list.

Anyway the YouTube link for 21st Century Schizoid Man is a remixed version and the original is nowhere on YT. I have a link here.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:14 am

Thank you Rob & Bang Jan.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:35 am

Bang Jan wrote:Don't worry Rob! I deleted my post of the Spotify list.

No need to do that after you put in all that work.

Anyway the YouTube link for 21st Century Schizoid Man is a remixed version and the original is nowhere on YT. I have a link here.

Thanks. I want a directly visible link so I prefer YouTube. I've changed it, so hopefully this is a good one. It's supposed to be the album version.

Brad · Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:04 pm

I believe the Hepburn-less version of "Moon River" is the correct one.

Great job- both of you. This is extremely helpful!

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 2:25 am

Listyguy · Post by **Listyguy** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:50 am

Hoping I'll have time for all the albums, but if not I'll definitely submit a list of what I've heard.

One other note, when I saw "Hey Joe" listed as the only song under "Jimi Hendrix", all almost shit my pants...until I went down and saw a few more under "The Jimi Hendrix Experience".

Henry · Post by **Henry** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 8:19 am

There seems to be no spurning for songs or albums released in 1960-1963.

This could indicate some sort of bias against the 1964-1969 releases, or it could have a different explanation, e.g., there are fewer top 50 songs and albums from 1960-1963.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:59 pm

Henry wrote: This could indicate some sort of bias against the 1964-1969 releases, or it could have a different explanation, e.g., there are fewer top 50 songs and albums from 1960-1963.

I think it is clearly the latter. There was more diversion in votes for the later years of sixties. Too much to choose from. 1969 is a very popular, highly regarded year, but has the least entries now, because of those split votes.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:20 pm

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 3:11 am

Listyguy · Post by **Listyguy** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 2:40 pm

DaveC wrote: Interestingly, the last AMF 1960's poll (in 2011), favoured these songs overlooked this time:-

20 | Creedence Clearwater Revival | Fortunate Son
22 | The Jackson 5 | I Want You Back
26| The Beatles | Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
28| The Velvet Underground | Heroin
29 | Smokey Robinson and the Miracles | The Tracks of My Tears
32 | Four Tops | Reach Out (I'll Be There)

I guess there is a fan (or two) of these songs who didn't get a chance to vote this time around.

I didn't vote in the year polls in 2011 (I did vote in the final poll though), and I can say that "I Want You Back" is my favorite song of 1969 and "Reach Out" is my #2 of 1966.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 7:08 pm

Listyguy wrote: I didn't vote in the year polls in 2011 (I did vote in the final poll though), and I can say that "I Want You Back" is my favorite song of 1969 and "Reach Out" is my #2 of 1966.

That would have been more than they needed to get over the line.

BTW folks please include Comments in your submissions, they will be published as part of the roll-out.

One Songs submission received so far. Thanks Bang Jan.

Listyguy · Post by **Listyguy** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 9:19 pm

Rob wrote:For the songs, here is a Spotify playlist and YouTube video's for the missing songs:

This playlist was great! I'd just like to point out that "Help Me" and "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" are unavailable in the US. There are other versions that work, which I'll link below for anyone looking for them

[spotifytrack]https://open.spotify.com/track/0yOFuMZLW6xvns77bwTomm[/spotifytrack]

[spotifytrack]https://open.spotify.com/track/1MGfFUjIcWQ3SrTNiu3cwb[/spotifytrack]

Edit: They won't seem to embed.

Andre · Post by **Andre** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:02 am

Listyguy, try removing the s in https, then the embedding works

Zombeels · Post by **Zombeels** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 2:44 am

Question about the ranking. Are we giving each album/song a ranking out of 10? Not sure if this it what you are looking for.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:20 am

Zombeels wrote:Question about the ranking. Are we giving each album/song a ranking out of 10? Not sure if this it what you are looking for.

Didn't really make that clear did I.

Rank each list from 1 to 150. If you haven't heard them all just rank from 1 to {however many you rank}. 1 being your favourite through to 150 being your least favourite.

Zombeels · Post by **Zombeels** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:35 am

Thank you. Working on my list. My top 60's albums not on the list

Pretty Things - SF Sorrow
Kinks - Arthur
Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Easybeats - Vigil
Yardbirds - Roger The Engineer
Monkees - Pices, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones
Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request
Traffic - Mr. Fantasy
Monkees - Headquarters

what a shame

luney6 · Post by **luney6** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:10 am

I can't seem to find the songs spreadsheet for some reason.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:54 am

luney6 wrote:I can't seem to find the songs spreadsheet for some reason.

Try ctrl + {pg dn}

luney6 · Post by **luney6** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:03 pm

DaveC wrote:
luney6 wrote:I can't seem to find the songs spreadsheet for some reason.
Try ctrl + {pg dn}

Oh, okay. I didn't see the other worksheets.

Sorry for bothering you.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:18 pm

Listyguy wrote:
Rob wrote:For the songs, here is a Spotify playlist and YouTube video's for the missing songs:

This playlist was great! I'd just like to point out that "Help Me" and "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" are unavailable in the US. There are other versions that work, which I'll link below for anyone looking for them

[spotifytrack]https://open.spotify.com/track/0yOFuMZLW6xvns77bwTomm[/spotifytrack]

[spotifytrack]https://open.spotify.com/track/1MGfFUjIcWQ3SrTNiu3cwb[/spotifytrack]

Edit: They won't seem to embed.

They work like André said:

I've placed this version of Help Me in my play list. However, the recording of Threnody is rather recent and I'm a bit ware of using it. Thoughts on it anyone?

Brad · Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:35 pm

Perhaps this has question has been broached before, but does anyone know where I can go to hear "Flaming Drums!"? It's the only album on the list I have yet to listen to, it's not available on line (that I've found), and I can't even buy it in a format (ie-CD, MP3) that I can listen to. I'd be happy to buy a copy if I could find it!

Any help would be appreciated!

Sweepstakes Ron · Post by **Sweepstakes Ron** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:52 pm

Brad wrote:Perhaps this has question has been broached before, but does anyone know where I can go to hear "Flaming Drums!"? It's the only album on the list I have yet to listen to, it's not available on line (that I've found), and I can't even buy it in a format (ie-CD, MP3) that I can listen to. I'd be happy to buy a copy if I could find it!

Any help would be appreciated!

It's on Spotify for me. The artist is just shown as "Olatunji".

Brad · Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:48 pm

Sweepstakes Ron wrote:
Brad wrote:Perhaps this has question has been broached before, but does anyone know where I can go to hear "Flaming Drums!"? It's the only album on the list I have yet to listen to, it's not available on line (that I've found), and I can't even buy it in a format (ie-CD, MP3) that I can listen to. I'd be happy to buy a copy if I could find it!

Any help would be appreciated!
It's on Spotify for me. The artist is just shown as "Olatunji".

Well I'll be damned... thank you Sweepstakes! I had put in "Olatunji" before but landed on the other Olatunji (soca music, apparently) and must have given up. I'm good now!

sonofsamiam · Post by **sonofsamiam** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:03 pm

Rob wrote:

I've placed this version of Help Me in my play list. However, the recording of Threnody is rather recent and I'm a bit ware of using it. Thoughts on it anyone?

That version is just OK. A more definitive version can be found on the Matrix 5 compilation, which is essential for anyone interested in Penderecki's earlier works. Here you go...

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:32 pm

Thanks, Sonofsamiam! It's a great piece of music that will end up highly on my list. One of my favorite discoveries of this poll.
The version I chose for my playlist was removed from Spotify. I added another one, for completion.

Also, my playlist has been updated with all the Beatles songs! Now only 21st Century Schizoid Man is missing.

Live in Phoenix · Post by **Live in Phoenix** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:29 pm

Bang Jan · Post by **Bang Jan** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:29 pm

How many people have submitted lists so far?

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 1:29 am

I have 7 song lists and 6 album lists so far, but I expect them to come flooding in later next week.

I think I am fully prepared for the results rollout....

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:27 pm

I handed in my song list yesterday.

Before the roll-out starts I have a request and also something I want to put up for discussion. First the request. It's usual for these polls to show both the fans and haters (or not a fan) of an album or a song. Fans being the people who have the album/ song in their top 15, while haters place them in the bottom 15. However, if there is no one that put a certain work in his or her top 15 we still get to see the highest ranking, but not the other way round. Could we please always get a view of the lowest ranking? I'm always curious how low an all-round respected song gets.

For the discussion: what does everyone think of last years experiment where first songs #100 til #51 were shown and then #150 to 101, to finish with #50 until the top place. It was recently used by a movie poll by BluePanda. I don't remember the exact reasons for this method anymore, something to do with keeping the surprise bigger, although I don't really get how that works out. You can guess perhaps I'm not a fan of this method and don't really care to see it return. Especially from a dramatic viewpoint it doesn't work. Just when things are getting more and more exiting, we go backward to suddenly see the lower ranked songs/ albums, even though by then it is mostly easy to guess which songs/ albums it will be. I wondered what other people's opinion about this was and whether it was actually planned to be repeated.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:58 pm

Rob wrote:I handed in my song list yesterday.

Before the roll-out starts I have a request and also something I want to put up for discussion. First the request. It's usual for these polls to show both the fans and haters (or not a fan) of an album or a song. Fans being the people who have the album/ song in their top 15, while haters place them in the bottom 15. However, if there is no one that put a certain work in his or her top 15 we still get to see the highest ranking, but not the other way round. Could we please always get a view of the lowest ranking? I'm always curious how low an all-round respected song gets.

For the discussion: what does everyone think of last years experiment where first songs #100 til #51 were shown and then #150 to 101, to finish with #50 until the top place. It was recently used by a movie poll by BluePanda. I don't remember the exact reasons for this method anymore, something to do with keeping the surprise bigger, although I don't really get how that works out. You can guess perhaps I'm not a fan of this method and don't really care to see it return. Especially from a dramatic viewpoint it doesn't work. Just when things are getting more and more exiting, we go backward to suddenly see the lower ranked songs/ albums, even though by then it is mostly easy to guess which songs/ albums it will be. I wondered what other people's opinion about this was and whether it was actually planned to be repeated.

I have prepared to show:

Fans: Placements in top 10% of voters lists OR Highest Rank
Not Fans: Placements in bottom 10% of voters lists OR Lowest Rank

So far as the countdown is concerned. I could be persuaded either way, but my preference is to start at #150.

Sweepstakes Ron · Post by **Sweepstakes Ron** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 10:53 pm

I agree with starting at #150. I would also like to continue the "predict the top 20" game for both lists.

Brad · Post by **Brad** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:53 pm

Perhaps this has been addressed elsewhere, but are there plans in place for a 1900-1959 survey/poll (which would be due to begin in February)?

Bruno · Post by **Bruno** » Thu Jan 14, 2016 12:49 am

DaveC wrote:I have 7 song lists and 6 album lists so far, but I expect them to come flooding in later next week.

I think I am fully prepared for the results rollout....

Done!

Maschine_Man · Post by **Maschine_Man** » Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:06 pm

I'm listening to that wonderful Spotify playlist, trying to fill out the list. I had about 35 songs already ranked, about 60 others well enough and many of them are at least familiar to me. This is helpful to flesh out my songs list with older songs, for the next AT Songs Poll (I'm still annoyed I forgot Be My Baby and California Dreamin' last time).

Maschine_Man · Post by **Maschine_Man** » Fri Jan 15, 2016 3:28 pm

I managed to rank 139 of the songs. It was the longer jazz pieces which I'm not familiar with, and need to time to take in, that I left instead of ranking them too low or too high. The piece about Hiroshima was fantastic, but I thought it would have a similar issue.

I sent off my email with the file. I converted it and sent it from my phone so I hope everything goes through okay.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Jan 15, 2016 6:58 pm

Maschine_Man wrote:I managed to rank 139 of the songs. It was the longer jazz pieces which I'm not familiar with, and need to time to take in, that I left instead of ranking them too low or too high. The piece about Hiroshima was fantastic, but I thought it would have a similar issue.

I sent off my email with the file. I converted it and sent it from my phone so I hope everything goes through okay.

Ballot received.

I've been acknowledging each ballot received, so if anyone hasn't received a reply then I might not have your ballot. I will start rolling out the song poll results in about 48 hours time, so keep those ballots coming.

BleuPanda · Post by **BleuPanda** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 8:55 pm

With the song results being revealed, I completely forgot I needed to throw the album list together by tomorrow. If I do so...I feel wrong not filling out most of the list.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 9:12 pm

Please do so BleuPanda.

I'm a bit disappointed by the number of album lists so far, so I'm thinking of extending the deadline.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 5:26 am

I missed the songs poll, but I just sent in my albums list (the upshot of being trapped indoors by a winter storm). I even created a new gmail address to make sure that it's obvious that it's from Jeff.

antonius · Post by **antonius** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 8:01 am

Missed the songs poll too, but I'm more or less done with 2015 for the moment, so I have time to rank the 60's albums. List will be in today.

nicolas · Post by **nicolas** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:21 am

Same for me. Count on my ballott whatever the deadline

Kingoftonga · Post by **Kingoftonga** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 5:07 pm

Sending in my ballot today!

nicolas · Post by **nicolas** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:34 pm

Ballot sent in !