Day 0129 - Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso "Caetano Veloso" (1968)

 
Groovy and quirky, Veloso was at the head of the 'Tropicalia' movement, playing highbrow art pop psychedelic bossa-nova.  He was hated by the dictatorship in Brazil and was forced out of the country to live in exile in the UK (which just made him seem cooler to the various anti-establishment types who were attracted to him at the time).  Veloso went on to become hugely popular with artists in the UK and US such as David Byrne and Beck.

Great album.

Day 0128 - Truth

Jeff Beck "Truth" (1968)

 

 
Hadn't really heard much of Jeff's music outside of some of his work with the Yardbirds, and his beautiful playing on the version of 'A day in the life' for Sir George Martin's "In my life" album.

This is a nice bluesy rocking album (aside from a breezy acoustic rendition of Greensleeves) with various star players featuring, most notably Beck's upcoming young singer Rod Stewart.  The Who's Keith Moon appears on one track and the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood pops up on another. Beck shines most in the instrumental tracks, but then I'm glad that it's not an entirely instrumental guitar album as the vocals add some variety to proceedings.

Day 0127 - Songs From the Big Pin

The Band "Songs From the Big Pink" (1968) - got it

 
I'll preface my comments by saying that I really like this album.  It's a good solid collection of songs without any real filler. I say that in advance because I kind of feel like this album is a bit 'too' even, the songs feel like they're all roughly the same tempo and sound, in fact it's not until towards the end (the mellow 'lonesome Suzie' and the raucous "this wheel's on fire") that you get some noticeable variety. This doesn't ruin the album or anything, it just makes it slightly less exciting listen than I'd like.

For those that don't know (I'm sure that many do), the Band was Bob Dylan's backing band of the time.  Bob co-writes some of the tracks here, but this is largely the band making their own name. The music eschews the popular fuzz guitar and psychedelic buzz of the time by sonically digging into a little American music history, utilising violins, mandolins and organs.

Day 0126 - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

Small Faces "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" (1968)

Grr had kind of an uneven experience trying to listen to this one.  The album features various spoken-word interludes (that sound suspiciously like excerpts from John Lennon's books) and I was listening to it on youtube which had broken the video up with a bunch of commercials throughout so it was occasionally confusing whether you were listening to the album or an annoying bloody ad.  Kind of ruined the listening experience a bit.

Good music though.  Rowdy, psychedelic, and catchy.

Day 0125 - Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends" (1968)

That was a bit different; I was so used to mellow folky Simon and Garfunkel that the blurt of more raucous sound at the start of this album threw me off!  This is a really nice mix of sounds, with Garfunkel's sound collage "voices of old people" being an interesting interlude to the more considered and crafted songs of Simon.

I know it's overplayed, but I think "Mrs Robinson" may still be my favourite thing on here.

Day 0124 - S.F Sorrow

The Pretty Things "S.F Sorrow" (1968)

 
Apparently this was a concept album/rock opera that greatly inspired the Who's "Tommy", to the extent that when this one was released in the US after a sizeable delay, they were accused of copying the Who!  The concept album thing is kind of lost on me because, as usual, the lyrics didn't really interest me beyond musically filling in their spot within the songs.

To be honest, I'd never heard this band or album, but to my ears it is just good music, no more no less. It sounds like a rowdier Beatles... which sounds like I'm describing the Rolling Stones, but I'd say I preferred this to a lot of RS stuff.

Day 0123 - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Iron Butterfly "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968)

According to the book, this was the first album to be certified platinum million selling... you'd have thought it would have been the Beatles or Elvis or even Miles Davis but nope... Iron Butterfly.

The title track, which takes up the whole second side of the album, was the big winner.  It gained its title because the guy who wrote it was too drunk to say 'in the Garden of Eden'.

The first half of the album is a relatively enjoyable collection of fuzzy psychedelic jams mixed with proto-metal riffery that kind of pre-empts Black Sabbath.