I had posted this on FB on December 30, 2018 to not much response at all. I found that interesting and felt a little badly that nobody seemed interested. I post it here to keep track of it as I continue to find 1969 a great year for iconic rock albums. I offer no links as I am just too lazy today to bother...Cutting and pasting and going onto YouTube is the way to go here if one is curious to listen to those albums:
1969-2019. This is a going to be a golden anniversary for so many iconic rock albums, where the albums were the event, not merely a single off the album. I list below a variety of albums, in no particular order, as there really can't be, as one puts on each album depending upon one's mood. The end of the 1960s and up through the mid-1970s were a moment where rock bands constructed albums as albums, where they went to the max in trying to create an overall mood, where it was not about a single song for a hit single. Here are some I have come up with off the top of my head:
1. Tommy, by The Who;
2. Stand Up, by Jethro Tull;
3. Court of the Crimson King, which is King Crimson's debut album;
4. The first Yes album;
5. Led Zeppelin's first album;
6. From Genesis to Revelation, Genesis' debut album;
7. Crosby Stills Nash's first album;
8. Clouds, by Joni Mitchell;
9. Abby Road, by some band from Liverpool;
10. Let it Bleed, the Rolling Stones' last innovative album;
11. Doors' Soft Parade (the Doors channeling Frank Zappa in various parts);
12. Hot Rats and Uncle Meat, two albums in one year, Frank Zappa;
13. More and Ummagumma, also two albums in one year, by Pink Floyd;
14. On the Threshold of a Dream (and to a much lesser extent, Our Children's Children's Children), the Moody Blues.
15. Arthur (The Decline and Fall of the British Empire), by the Kinks;
16. Santana, first album;
17. Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, a way-out cult classic;
18. Shazam, by the Move, a cult classic;
19. Sweet Thursday, its one and only album, a cult classic;
20. Tadpoles, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, another cult classic where, if one knows the Bonzos, may be surprised by how various much-loved songs resided in this particular album;
21. Trout Mask Replica, Captain Beefheart;
22. Live/Dead, though not, Aoxomoxoa, also released in 1969, by the Grateful Dead;
23. It's a Beautiful Day.
There are other bands that produced great or interesting music that year, such as Van Der Graaf Generator first album, Alice Cooper Band's first album, the Zombies last, posthumous album, but the overall albums were not that great. There are also some bands who produced albums that simply were not iconic compared to other works; here, I am thinking of Traffic's Last Exit album, among others. Again, I am thinking of individuals and bands who and which produced albums where the albums themselves, not merely a song or a few songs, were immediately iconic or became iconic, and where one listened to the entire album, letting it play right through, even if there are a couple of songs that may be deemed, in retrospect, clunkers.
