Tag Archives: Jimi Hendrix

Top Ten Pop/Rock Albums By Decade: 1960s

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***Due to my obsessive nature I am editing this article with Amazon.com sales rankings included because I’m obsessed with them right now for some sick reason.***

According to the users of the website RateYourMusic.com, these are the top 10 pop/rock albums of the 1960s:

#01 The Beatles – Abbey Road (1969) – #82 on Amazon

#02 The Beatles – Revolver (1966) – #209 on Amazon

#03 The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) – #3422 on Amazon

#04 Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965) – #903 on Amazon

#05 The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) – #122 on Amazon

#06 The Beatles – The White Album (1968) – #123 on Amazon

#07 King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) – #3877 on Amazon

#08 Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde (1966) – #794 on Amazon

#09 Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home (1965) – #2267 on Amazon

#10 Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced (1967) – #1634 on Amazon Continue reading “Top Ten Pop/Rock Albums By Decade: 1960s” »

Jimi Hendrix On The Billboard Charts

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I wasn’t that surprised to see that Valleys of Neptune (the latest collection of previously unreleased Hendrix recordings released as a new album) debuted at #4 on the US album charts this week, because Hendrix definitely seems to have an enduring popularity. But I was a bit surprised to see how many of his older albums were also on the charts. But then I saw that there are new CD/DVD and vinyl releases for each of his previous albums so there are a lot of Hendrix fans picking those up.

This is a rundown of all of the Hendrix albums in the top 100:

#04 Valleys of Neptune
#44 Are You Experienced?
#60 Electric Ladyland
#63 First Rays of the New Rising Sun
#67 Axis: Bold as Love

New Jimi Hendrix Album: Valleys Of Neptune

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A new Jimi Hendrix album including previously unreleased recordings made from February to May 1969 is due out on March 9, 2010: Valleys Of Neptune.

The 12 song track listing includes some songs that just about every Hendrix fan will already be familiar with (including “Stone Free,” “Fire,” & “Red House”) but it also includes some songs such as the title track and a cover of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” which have not been given an official release before.

The familiar songs will be heard in new ways (at least for those who are not collectors of bootlegs) as these are different recordings of those famous songs. And even those who are bootleg collectors will be pleased to hear these songs in pristine audio quality for the first time. Continue reading “New Jimi Hendrix Album: Valleys Of Neptune” »

Seven Fantastic Double Albums

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1966 – Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

At 71 minutes, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde fits on one CD. Of course with CD’s becoming increasingly irrelevant, what does that really matter? Which leads me to a bit of a meditation on what constitutes a double album in the digital era? How long does an album have to be? Or is length not the real factor in determining an album “double albumness” in 2009? More on this when when I get to The Flaming Lips new album, Embryonic.

Dylan was a ground breaker (not surprisingly) with the first double album in rock music history when it was released in 1966. It’s considered by many to be Dylan’s best album (or if not his best, one of his best.) It’s currently ranked as his 3rd most popular album (after Highway 61 Revisited & Bringing It All Back Home) on RateYourMusic and at #15 overall making it an obvious classic.

I go back and forth personally. Sometimes this is my favorite Dylan album, sometimes it’s not. But it’s definitely among his best in my opinion. You can’t really go wrong with songs like “Visions of Johanna,” “Stuck Inside of Mobile, with the Memphis Blues Again,” and “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.”

Continue reading “Seven Fantastic Double Albums” »

Classic Rock Box Sets

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The Beatles

The fab four are actually a bit late to the box set game as they are finally (in 2009) releasing their first CD box sets (I know, I know, what about the Capital Box Sets? Eh…) Of course they are doing it in style with not just one box set but two. There’s a Beatles Stereo Box Set which includes every song The Beatles recorded & released from 1962 through 1970 in newly remastered stereo sound. And there’s a Beatles Mono Box Set which includes their work up through 1968 (The White Album) in their original mono mixes on CD for the first time.

Bob Dylan

The Limited Edition Catalog Box Set includes 15 albums in both CD & SACD versions (SACD = extremely high sound quality.) Most of the albums are also included in a 5.1 mix (which is great if you have your system set up for it.)

Grateful Dead

There’s The Golden Road which includes 12 discs covering the years 1965 through 1973 and there’s Beyond Description which includes 12 discs covering 1973 through 1989. Grateful Dead fans may also be interested in the Jerry Garcia box set All Good Things which includes 6 discs covering Garcia’s solo career from ’72 through ’82.

Continue reading “Classic Rock Box Sets” »

Jimi Hendrix Was Found Dead On September 18, 1970

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Jimi Hendrix died from a drug overdose on September 18, 1970. He was in London when he died and he was only 27 years old.

Hendrix is considered by most critics to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Along with being an incredible guitarist, Hendrix was also a singer & a songwriter. Hendrix wrote most of his classic hits such as “Purple Haze.”

Hendrix actually only released three studio albums during his career but many more studio recordings and live recordings have been released since his death.

Those three studio albums are 1967′s Are You Experienced & Axis: Bold as Love, and 1968′s Electric Ladyland.

He had some big hits in the UK (“Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” & “All Along the Watchtower” all reached the top 10 in the UK) but “All Along the Watchtower was his biggest US hit and it only reached #20.

Live Performance Of “Purple Haze”

Five Groovy Songs From 1967

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Ah yes. The “Groovy Songs” series takes a turn into the “Summer of Love.” Earlier entries: 1977, 1995, 1996.

The Beatles – “I Am The Walrus”
Magical Mystery Tour

The Pink Floyd – “Bike”
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

The Velvet Underground – “European Son”
The Velvet Underground & Nico

Jimi Hendrix – “Third Stone From The Sun”
Are You Experienced?

Traffic – “Heaven Is In Your Mind”
Mr. Fantasy

Top Ten Rock Albums Of The 1960s*

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*as ranked by the users of rateyourmusic.com

#1 The Beatles – Abbey Road (1969)

Actually only my 4th favorite Beatles album. It’s great for sure but it doesn’t bring quite the excitement and experimentation of my three favorite Beatles albums (which are all make the top 10 along with this one.) Side 1 has some great tracks including the classic singles “Come Together” & “Something” and the side closer “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” which is a truly awesome song. Side 2 may be my favorite side of any Beatles album for the way that it all works together so flawlessly.

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US $91.14
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 0:24:28 PDT
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#2 The Beatles – Revolver (1966)

Revolver is the hip choice for top Beatles album these days. It does have an incredible amount of great songs on it, with a great amount of variety. But “Yellow Submarine “would have worked better as a b-side than an album cut in my opinion. This is actually my 3rd favorite Beatles album.

#3 Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

I prefer Blonde on Blonde actually. But it is a brilliant album.

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US $69.99
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 3:33:29 PDT
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#4 The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

This is ranked a bit higher than I’d put it. It’s great but I don’t think it’s as good as many of the albums it’s ranked ahead of.

#5 Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

#6 The Beatles – The White Album (1968)

This is my #1. I love the sprawling madness of it all. It has the most re-listen value of any album of the ’60s for me. It’s like document of every kind of popular music made up to that point. Some will say that it has too many clunkers and yeah it does have a few songs that aren’t actually that good but for some reason that makes it even better to me. Hard to explain why.

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US $10.00
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 4:08:46 PDT
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#7 Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde (1966)

This is my favorite Dylan album, at the moment anyway.

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US $19.99 (0 Bid)
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 12:59:25 PDT
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#8 Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced? (1967)

Great, but it’s a little overrated with it’s placement this high.

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US $14.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 1:26:25 PDT
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#9 The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

I think years of people calling it overrated have in fact made it now underrated. For me it ranks above Abbey Road & Revolver.

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US $12.14
End Date: Monday May-20-2013 2:48:52 PDT
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#10 The Kinks – The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

A bit overrated in my opinion. I know it’s hip to say the Kinks are super fantastic these days. And yes they were good but no, they were not as good as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, or The Who. Speaking of The Beach Boys, where’s Pet Sounds? It’s #12 among 60s rock albums on RYM, it’d definitely be in my top 10. The top ranked Stones album is Let It Bleed at #18.

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US $30.38 (6 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 13:11:17 PDT
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Remember the rankings are not mine, they were taken from Rate Your Music – But the comments are mine. Those you can flame away on if you disagree (as I’m sure you will, not everyone can be this brilliant!)