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
  • Doors (1967)
  • Captain Beefheart: Safe As Milk (1967)
  • Bob Dylan: Blonde On Blonde (1966)
  • Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (1968)
  • Red Crayola: Parable Of Arable Land (1967)
  • Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
  • Velvet Underground: White Light White Heat (1967)
  • Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat (1969)
    8.5/10
  • Leonard Cohen: Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1968)
  • Jefferson Airplane: Volunteers (1969)
  • King Crimson: In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
  • MC5: Kick Out The Jams (1969)
  • Pink Floyd: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
    8/10
  • Band: II (1969)
  • Robbie Basho: Venus In Cancer (1970)
  • Tim Buckley: Happy Sad (1968)
  • Sandy Bull: Fantasia For Guitar & Banjo (1963)
  • Colosseum: Valentyne Suite (1969)
  • Holger Czukay: Canaxis 5 (1969)
  • Deviants: Ptooff (1967)
  • Doors: Strange Days (1967)
  • Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
  • Family: Music In A Doll's House (1968)
  • Grateful Dead: Anthem Of The Sun (1968)
  • Grateful Dead: Live Dead (1969)
  • Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (1967)
  • Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland (1968)
  • Holy Modal Rounders: Indian War Whoop (1967)
  • Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter's (1967)
  • Kaleidoscope: Beacon From Mars (1968)
  • Love: Da Capo (1967)
  • Nico: Marble Index (1968)
  • Pearls Before Swine: Balaklava (1968)
  • David Peel: Have A Marijuana (1969)
  • Pink Floyd: A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
  • Stooges: self-titled (1969)
  • United States Of America: self-titled (1968)
  • Who: Tommy (1969)
  • Neil Young: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (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
  • Amon Duul: Phallus Dei (1969)
  • Kevin Ayers: Joy Of A Toy (1969)
  • Robbie Basho: The Grail And the Lotus (1966)
  • Robbie Basho: Falconer's Arm (1967),
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Gorilla (1967)
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (1968)
  • Tim Buckley: Goodbye And Hello (1967)
  • Tim Buckley: Blue Afternoon (1969)
  • Eric Burdon: Twain Shall Meet (1968)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River (1969)
  • Deviants: Disposable (1968)
  • Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (1969)
  • Family: Family Entertainment (1969)
  • Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa (1969)
  • Incredible String Band: Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1968)
  • Led Zeppelin: I (1969)
  • Laura Nyro: Eli And The 13th Confession (1968)
  • VanDyke Parks: Song Cycle (1968)
  • Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (1969)
  • Rolling Stones: Between The Buttons (1967)
  • Silver Apples: self-titled (1968)
  • Spirit: The Family That Plays Together (1969)
  • Third Ear Band: Alchemy (1969)
  • 13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic Sounds Of (1966)
  • Traffic: Mr Fantasy (1967)
  • Townes Van Zandt: Our Mother The Mountain (1969)
    7/10
  • Allman Brothers Band: self-titled (1969)
  • Amboy Dukes: Journey To The Center Of The Mind (1968)
  • David Axelrod: Song of Innocence (1968)
  • David Axelrod: Songs of Experience (1969)
  • Band: Music From Big Pink (1968)
  • Robbie Basho: Seal Of The Blue Lotus (1965)
  • Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (1966)
  • Beach Boys: Smile (1966-67)
  • Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  • Beatles: Abbey Road (1969)
  • Beaver & Krause: Ragnarok Electronic Funk (1969)
  • Jeff Beck: Truth (1968)
  • Blind Faith: self-titled (1969)
  • Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills: Supersession (1968)
  • Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum (1968)
  • Blues Magoos: Psychedelic Lollipop (1966)
  • Blues Project: Projections (1967)
  • Blues Project: Planned Obsolescence (1968)
  • Bola Sete: The Solo Guitar (1965)
  • Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Tadpoles (1969)
  • Edgar Broughton: Wasa Wasa (1969)
  • Jack Bruce: Songs For A Tailor (1969)
  • Buffalo Springfield: Again (1967)
  • Sandy Bull: Inventions For Guitar And Banjo (1965)
  • Eric Burdon: Love Is (1968)
  • Paul Butterfield: East West (1966)
  • Joe Byrd: American Metaphysical Circus (1969)
  • Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man (1965)
  • Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday (1967),
  • Byrds: Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)
  • Can: Monster Movie (1969)
  • Captain Beefheart: Strictly Personal (1968)
  • Caravan: If I Could Do It All Over Again (1969)
  • Chicago Transit Authority: self-titled (1969)
  • Leonard Cohen: Songs From A Room (1969)
  • Alice Cooper: Pretties For You (1969)
  • Country Joe: Electric Music For The Mind And Body (1967)
  • Country Joe: 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)
  • Fabrizio DeAndre`: Tutti Morimmo A Stento (1968)
  • Deviants: Deviants (1969)
  • Devil's Anvil: Hard Rock From the Middle East (1967 - Collectables, 2001)
  • Donovan: Fairy Tale (1965)
  • Donovan: Sunshine Superman (1966)
  • Doors: Waiting For The Sun (1968)
  • Dr John: Gris Gris (1968)
  • Bob Dylan: Basement Tapes (1967/1975)
  • Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (1967)
  • Earth Opera: Great American Eagle Tragedy (1969)
  • Electric Prunes: Mass In F Minor (1968)
  • John Fahey: The Voice Of The Turtle (1968)
  • John Fahey: Great San Bernardino Party (1966)
  • John Fahey: Requia (1967)
  • Fifty Foot Hose: Cauldron (1968)
  • Larry Fischer: An Evening With Wild Man Fischer (1969)
  • Flock: self-titled (1969)
  • Flying Burrito Bros: Gilded Palace Of Sin (1969)
  • Kim Fowley: Outrageous (1968)
  • Frost: Rock And Roll Music (1969)
  • Fugs: self-titled (1966)
  • Fugs: It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest (1968)
  • Fugs: Tenderness Junction (1968)
  • Mort Garson: Zodiac Cosmic Sounds (1967)
  • Mort Garson: The Wozard of Iz (1969)
  • Ron Geesin: A Raise Of Eyebrows (1967)
  • 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 (1969)
  • Peter Ivers: Knight Of The Blue Communion (1969)
  • Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
  • Jefferson Airplane: Crown Of Creation (1968)
  • Jethro Tull: Stand Up (1969)
  • Kaleidoscope: Side Trips (1967)
  • Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
  • L'Infonie: Volume 3 (1969)
  • Le Stelle di Mario Schifano: Dedicato A (1967)
  • Les Maledictus Sound: self-titled (1968)
  • Limbus 3: Cosmic Music Experience (1969)
  • Love: Forever Changes (1967)
  • Lothar & The Hand People: Presenting (1968)
  • Lothar & The Hand People: Space Hymn (1969)
  • Angus MacLise: The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968)
  • Mad River: self-titled (1968)
  • Mad River: Paradise Bar And Grill (1969)
  • John Mayall: Hard Road (1967)
  • Meters: self-titled (1969)
  • Steve Miller: Children Of The Future (1968)
  • Steve Miller: Sailor (1968)
  • Joni Mitchell: Clouds (1969)
  • Moby Grape: Grape Jam (1968)
  • Monks: Black Monk Time (1966)
  • Moody Blues: In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968)
  • Fred Neil: Fred Neil (1967)
  • Mickey Newbury: It Looks Like Rain (1969)
  • Nihilist Spasm Band: No Record (1968)
  • Laura Nyro: More Than A New Discovery (1967)
  • Laura Nyro: New York Tendaberry (1969)
  • Os Mutantes: Mutantes (1969)
  • Pearls Before Swine: One Nation Underground (1967)
  • Pentangle: self-titled (1968)
  • Quicksilver: Happy Trails (1969)
  • Red Krayola: God Bless the Red Krayola & All Who Sail With It (1968)
  • Rolling Stones: Aftermath (1966)
  • Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet (1968)
  • Santana: self-titled (1969)
  • Seatrain: self-titled (1969)
  • Seeds: self-titled (1966)
  • Seeds: A Web Of Sound (1966)
  • Silver Apples: Contact (1969)
  • Soft Machine: 2 (1969)
  • Alexander "Skip" Spence: Oar (1969)
  • Spirit: self-titled (1968)
  • T. Rex: Unicorn (1969)
  • Taj Mahal: De Ole Folks At Home (1969)
  • Tomorrow: self-titled (1968)
  • Ultimate Spinach: Behold And See (1968)
  • Caetano Veloso: Caetano Veloso (1969)
  • Scott Walker: Scott 4 (1969)
  • West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: Part One (1966)
  • Who: My Generation (1965)
  • Yardbirds: Roger The Engineer (1966)
  • Jesse Colin Young: Young Blood (1965)
  • Frank Zappa: Lumpy Gravy (1968)
  • Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (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