1967: A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

It's been a while since I posted up a Spotify playlist, so I thought I'd follow up the ones I've already posted for 1968-1971 with a playlist for 1967, which is still maybe the most famous year in music history. Home to many of my favourite albums of all-time, the year has much more to offer than just the summer of love. And remember, Spotify doesn't have everything, but if you think I should know about a band or album from '67, then please let me know! Stick it on shuffle, sit back and enjoy. Listen here.

See Rate Your Music's chart for 1967 here.

CLASSIC SCENES: Apocalypse Now (1979)

One of the greatest films ever. One of the greatest songs ever. Doesn't really need any explaination!

When You're Strange - a film about The Doors

 
This looks incredible! Make sure you watch it in HD! It's due out on 9th April and looks like it has some amazing footage! If you watch the clips on the official website, you'll also notice that it was the remaining members who wanted the project to be done, so that can only be a good thing! Following the Wu-Tang Clan, The Doors were the first real band I became obsessed with and changed the way I listened to music forever. Hopefully this film will capture what they meant to me and still do.

http://www.whenyourestrangemovie.com/

1969...A Spotify Playlist

 
I've not made a post for a while as I've just started a new job and had some visitors over last week. I've kinda lost track of new releases over the past couple of weeks, so thought I'd kick things off again with a playlist from another favourite year of mine...1969.

1969 is a really interesting year, as it's the beginning of the end of the hippie movement of the previous year. There's a perfect blend of all my favourite genres with classic releases all over the show and of course, this is the year Woodstock happened.

 The psych scene was slowly dying, with bands like The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service turning more towards lengthy jam based material, whilst Jefferson Airplane and Love both released what may have been their last great records. Whilst The Doors opted for a record that included brass, strings and a full orchestra and although often seen as their worst album, I still think it's a great album with some classic tracks.

Artists such as Neil Young, Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley and CSN  all helped pave way for the singer-songwriter scene that would explode in the early 70s.

Whereas artists such as The Band, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and The Allman Brothers helped pave the way for country and roots based rock.

There were some great classic rock records from the like of The Rolling Stones, CCR, The Beatles and Blind Faith.

Blues based, heavier stuff was also starting to creep in with Free, High Tide, MC5, Deep Purple, Zeppelin's first two albums and The Stooges debut.

Elements of prog (Yes, King Crimson) also started to appear, as well as early signs of krautrock, with Can and Amon Duul 2 both releasing albums in '69.

The soul and funk scene was really starting to change direction and would explode in the 70s with classics from Sly Stone, The Meters and Isaac Hayes released in '69.

Take a look through the Rate Your Music list below and stick the playlist on shuffle on Spotify and I'm 100% sure you'll find a new favourite or something you'd never heard before. The playlist doesn't include everything, as some albums have not been added to Spotify yet, either due to their rareness or in the case of The Beatles, a greedy record label. Let me know if I've missed anything obvious and please leave a comment! ENJOY!

Listen to 1969 Playlist in Spotify

Rate Your Music - 1969

Kurt Vile

I've heard his name around before and often cofused him with the inspiration behind The Doors' 'Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar),' Kurt Weill:





His latest album, 'Childish Prodigy', was included in Uncut's Top Albums of 2009 and he has compared with everyone from Ariel Pink to tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. I'd listened to his band 'War On Drugs' once or twice a while back and remember enjoying them, but not returning to them. I decided today that I'd set some Kurt time to one side and listen to his 2008 album 'Constant Hitmaker.' The first song on the album is 'Freeway' and is instantly likeable:





I'm only a few tracks into the album and can already understand the various comparisons made. The album jumps from style to style with the first radio friendly track 'Freeway' making way for a dreamy Neil Young meets My Bloody Valentine track ('Space Forklift') before the fingerpicked 'Slow Talkers' floats over my speakers....