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
