The Best Rock Albums of the 1960's

Appendix to my book "A History of Rock Music 1951-2000"
Selected by piero scaruffi | Best albums of all times | Bands | Back to music
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Best of the 1960's Best of the 1970's Best of the 1980's Best of the 1990's Best of the 2000's
TM, ®, Copyright © 1998 Piero Scaruffi
(Revised in 2003 by Chris Ford)

If you know the recording (NOT release) dates of these albums, please send them to me. It is ridiculous that rock music uses the release date instead of the recording or composition dates.

    9.5/10
  • Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica (1969)

    9/10

  • Bob Dylan: Blonde On Blonde (1966)
  • Captain Beefheart: Safe As Milk (1967)
  • Doors: The Doors (1967)
  • Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat (1969)
  • Red Crayola: Parable Of Arable Land (1967)
  • Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (1968)
  • Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
  • Velvet Underground: White Light White Heat (1967)

    8.5/10

  • Jefferson Airplane: Volunteers (1969)
  • King Crimson: In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
  • Leonard Cohen: Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1968)
  • MC5: Kick Out The Jams (1969)
  • Pink Floyd: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

    8/10

  • Band: II (1969)
  • Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
  • Colosseum: Valentyne Suite (1969)
  • David Peel: Have A Marijuana (1969)
  • Deviants: Ptooff (1967)
  • Doors: Strange Days (1967)
  • Family: Music In A Doll's House (1968)
  • Grateful Dead: Anthem Of The Sun (1968)
  • Grateful Dead: Live Dead (1969)
  • Holger Czukay: Canaxis 5 (1969)
  • Holy Modal Rounders: Indian War Whoop (1967)
  • Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter's (1967)
  • Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (1967)
  • Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland (1968)
  • Kaleidoscope: Beacon From Mars (1968)
  • Love: Da Capo (1967)
  • Neil Young: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)
  • Nico: Marble Index (1968)
  • Pearls Before Swine: Balaklava (1968)
  • Pink Floyd: A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
  • Robbie Basho: Venus In Cancer (1970)
  • Sandy Bull: Fantasia For Guitar & Banjo (1963)
  • Stooges: Stooges (1969)
  • Tim Buckley: Happy Sad (1968)
  • United States Of America: United States of America (1968)
  • Who: Tommy (1969)
  • Frank Zappa: Freak Out (1966)
  • Frank Zappa: Absolutely Free (1967)
  • Frank Zappa: We're Only In It For The Money (1967)

    7.5/10

  • 13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic Sounds Of (1966)
  • Amon Duul: Phallus Dei (1969)
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (1968)
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Gorilla (1967)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River (1969)
  • Deviants: Disposable (1968)
  • Eric Burdon: Twain Shall Meet (1968)
  • Family: Family Entertainment (1969)
  • Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa (1969)
  • Incredible String Band: Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1968)
  • Kevin Ayers: Joy Of A Toy (1969)
  • Laura Nyro: Eli And The 13th Confession (1968)
  • Led Zeppelin: I (1969)
  • Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (1969)
  • Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (1969)
  • Robbie Basho: Falconer's Arm (1967)
  • Robbie Basho: The Grail And the Lotus (1966)
  • Rolling Stones: Between The Buttons (1967)
  • Silver Apples: Silver Apples (1968)
  • Spirit: The Family That Plays Together (1969)
  • Third Ear Band: Alchemy (1969)
  • Tim Buckley: Blue Afternoon (1969)
  • Tim Buckley: Goodbye And Hello (1967)
  • Townes Van Zandt: Our Mother The Mountain (1969)
  • Traffic: Mr Fantasy (1967)
  • VanDyke Parks: Song Cycle (1968)

    7/10

  • Alexander "Skip" Spence: Oar (1969)
  • Alice Cooper: Pretties For You (1969)
  • Allman Brothers Band: Allman Brothers Band (1969)
  • Amboy Dukes: Journey To The Center Of The Mind (1968)
  • Angus MacLise: The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968)
  • Band: Music From Big Pink (1968)
  • Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (1966)
  • Beach Boys: Smile (1967)
  • Beatles: Abbey Road (1969)
  • Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  • Beaver & Krause: Ragnarok Electronic Funk (1969)
  • Blind Faith: Blind Faith (1969)
  • Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills: Super Session (1968)
  • Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum (1968)
  • Blues Magoos: Psychedelic Lollipop (1966)
  • Blues Project: Planned Obsolescence (1968)
  • Blues Project: Projections (1967)
  • Bob Dylan: Basement Tapes (1967)
  • Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (1967)
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Tadpoles (1969)
  • Buffalo Springfield: Again (1967)
  • Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man (1965)
  • Byrds: Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)
  • Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday (1967)
  • Can: Monster Movie (1969)
  • Captain Beefheart: Strictly Personal (1968)
  • Caravan: If I Could Do It All Over Again (1969)
  • Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
  • Country Joe & The Fish: Electric Music For The Mind And Body (1967)
  • Country Joe & The Fish: I Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die (1967)
  • Cream: Disraeli Gears (1967)
  • Cream: Wheels Of Fire (1968)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bayou Country (1968)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: Willy And The Poor Boys (1969)
  • Cromagnon: Orgasm (1968)
  • David Axelrod: Song of Innocence (1968)
  • David Axelrod: Songs of Experience (1969)
  • Deviants: III (1969)
  • Devil's Anvil: Hard Rock From the Middle East (1967)
  • Donovan: Fairytale (1965)
  • Donovan: Sunshine Superman (1966)
  • Doors: Waiting For The Sun (1968)
  • Dr John: Gris Gris (1968)
  • Earth Opera: Great American Eagle Tragedy (1969)
  • Edgar Broughton: Wasa Wasa (1969)
  • Electric Prunes: Mass In F Minor (1968)
  • Eric Burdon: Love Is (1968)
  • Fifty Foot Hose: Cauldron (1968)
  • Flock: Flock (1969)
  • Flying Burrito Bros: Gilded Palace Of Sin (1969)
  • Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (1969)
  • Frank Zappa: Lumpy Gravy (1968)
  • Fred Neil: Fred Neil (1967)
  • Frost: Rock And Roll Music (1969)
  • Fugs: It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest (1968)
  • Fugs: Fugs (1966)
  • Fugs: Tenderness Junction (1968)
  • Godz: Contact High With The Godz (1966)
  • Hapshash & The Coloured Coat: Featuring The Human Host And The Heavy Metal Kids (1967)
  • Holy Modal Rounders: Moray Eels Eat (1969)
  • HP Lovecraft: II (1968)
  • Incredible String Band: 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (1967)
  • International Harvester: Sov Gott Rose-Marie (1968)
  • International Submarine Band: Safe At Home (1968)
  • Iron Butterfly: In A Gadda Da Vida (1968)
  • It's A Beautiful Day: It's A Beautiful Day (1969)
  • Jack Bruce: Songs For A Tailor (1969)
  • Jeff Beck: Truth (1968)
  • Jefferson Airplane: Crown Of Creation (1968)
  • Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
  • Jesse Colin Young: Young Blood (1965)
  • Jethro Tull: Stand Up (1969)
  • Joe Byrd: American Metaphysical Circus (1969)
  • John Fahey: Great San Bernardino Party (1966)
  • John Fahey: Requia (1967)
  • John Fahey: The Voice Of The Turtle (1968)
  • John Mayall: A Hard Road (1967)
  • John Mayall: Turning Point (1969)
  • Joni Mitchell: Clouds (1969)
  • Kaleidoscope: Side Trips (1967)
  • Kim Fowley: Outrageous (1968)
  • Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
  • L'Infonie: Volume 3 (1969)
  • Laura Nyro: More Than A New Discovery (1967)
  • Laura Nyro: New York Tendaberry (1969)
  • Leonard Cohen: Songs From A Room (1969)
  • Les Maledictus Sound: Les Maledictus Sound (1968)
  • Lothar & The Hand People: Presenting (1968)
  • Lothar & The Hand People: Space Hymn (1969)
  • Love: Forever Changes (1967)
  • Mad River: Paradise Bar And Grill (1969)
  • Mad River: Mad River (1968)
  • Meters: Meters (1969)
  • Mickey Newbury: Looks Like Rain (1969)
  • Moby Grape: Grape Jam (1968)
  • Monks: Black Monk Time (1966)
  • Moody Blues: In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968)
  • Mort Garson: The Wozard of Iz (1969)
  • Mort Garson: Zodiac Cosmic Sounds (1967)
  • Nihilist Spasm Band: No Record (1968)
  • Paul Butterfield: East West (1966)
  • Pearls Before Swine: One Nation Underground (1967)
  • Pentangle: Pentangle (1968)
  • Quicksilver Messenger Service: Happy Trails (1969)
  • Red Krayola: God Bless the Red Krayola & All Who Sail With It (1968)
  • Robbie Basho: Seal Of The Blue Lotus (1965)
  • Rolling Stones: Aftermath (1966)
  • Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet (1968)
  • Ron Geesin: A Raise Of Eyebrows (1967)
  • Sandy Bull: Inventions For Guitar And Banjo (1965)
  • Santana: Santana (1969)
  • Scott Walker: Scott 4 (1969)
  • Seatrain: Seatrain (1969)
  • Seeds: A Web Of Sound (1966)
  • Seeds: Seeds (1966)
  • Silver Apples: Contact (1969)
  • Soft Machine: Volume Two (1969)
  • Spirit: Spirit (1968)
  • Steve Miller: Children Of The Future (1968)
  • Steve Miller: Sailor (1968)
  • T. Rex: Unicorn (1969)
  • Taj Mahal: De Ole Folks At Home (1969)
  • Tomorrow: Tomorrow (1968)
  • Ultimate Spinach: Behold And See (1968)
  • West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: Part One (1966)
  • Who: My Generation (1965)
  • Yardbirds: Roger The Engineer (1966)
  • Fabrizio DeAndre`: Tutti Morimmo A Stento (1968)
  • Bola Sete: The Solo Guitar (1965)
  • Caetano Veloso: Caetano Veloso (1969)
  • Larry Fischer: An Evening With Wild Man Fischer (1969)
  • Le Stelle di Mario Schifano: Dedicato A (1967)
  • Limbus 3: Cosmic Music Experience (1969)
  • Peter Ivers: Knight Of The Blue Communion (1969)
  • Os Mutantes: Mutantes (1969)

The greatest of the 1960s

  1. Velvet Underground
  2. Frank Zappa
  3. Captain Beefheart
  4. Pink Floyd
  5. Doors
  6. Bob Dylan
  7. Jefferson Airplane
  8. Tim Buckley
  9. Red Crayola
  10. Jimi Hendrix
  11. Soft Machine
  12. King Crimson
  13. Rolling Stones
  14. Grateful Dead
  15. Who
  16. Stooges
  17. Van Morrison
  18. MC5
  19. Led Zeppelin
  20. Amon Duul
  21. Colosseum
  22. Fugs
  23. Holy Modal Rounders
  24. Sandy Bull
  25. Leonard Cohen
  26. Band
  27. Janis Joplin
  28. Creedence Clearwater Revival
  29. Van Dyke Parks