When taking nominations for the best year in music the same years always come up, 1966, 1977, 1993. Personally I think 1968 was the best year for music in the 1960s. Sure ’66 had Revolver, Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde and Black Monk Time. Big hitters I accept. 1968 had some big hitters too but the best part of 1968 were the hidden gems, artists who made one album and then faded back into the incense smoke. These are my top ten hidden gems from 1968. No Stones, no Beatles, no Dylan in this list.
Chrysalis – Definition
Formed by Biologist Spider Barbour, who had just finished playing with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Chrysalis recorded just this one album before splitting. Ranging from songs that were total chaos to soft ballads the songs have one thing in common, killer hooks. This album is proof there is no god or else there would have been five number one hits from it.
Daughters of Albion
Daughters of Albion were a duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Greg Dempsey and vocalist Kathy Yesse. The album is a lofi masterpiece with strings. Double tracked vocals, shuffling rythms, mistakes kept in to keep it real, fuzzy guitars, trumpets and the best female vocals of the 1960s, it’s in my top ten of all time for a reason.
The Twilights “Once Upon A Twilight”
Australian psychedelia made by a beat combo from South Australia. Once Upon A Twilight was recorded after a trip to the UK. Hugely influenced by the psychedelic scene in London at the time and quite a bit better…
Michael Yonkers : Microminiature Love
Recorded in 1968 but unreleased until 2003, Microminiature Love was the work of Michael Yonkers, a guy who was building his own effects pedals, double necked guitars and recording fuzzy delay masterpieces.
Silver Apples – Silver Apples
The Silver Apples signal the beginning of pure electronic music. Made up of just two guys, one drumming in the most drum machine way possible before drum machines existed and the other playing a range of sampled bass lines, droning oscillators drone, and tape machines with found sound recordings. The singing is a little grating but the rest of the sound is worth putting up with that for.
White Noise – An Electric Storm (1968)
You know the Dr Who theme tune? Well Delia Derbyshire, who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and created those memorable sounds, was in White Noise along with uber sound geek David Vorhaus. White Noise used everything and anything to get the sounds they wanted. Get ready for tape loops and manipulations and the first British Synthesiser on record.
The Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow
The ‘Uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones’ sure did make some pretty music. Named after a Bo Diddley song, the Pretty Things spent the majority of the 1960s playing straight hard edged RNB until 1967 when they discovered their psychedelic side and created the very first rock opera. The songs don’t feel like they are just there to tell a story though. The Pretty Things accept no passengers.
Os Mutantes – Os Mutantes
If you think that Brazillian kids making music combining traditional Brazillian music styles with RNB beat and psychedelic music sounds amazing then you would be right. No more to say about Os Mutantes other than listen…
The Kinks – The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
1968 was a year filled with concept albums. Rated as the best Kinks album now but when it was released Village Green Preservation Society was a monumental flop. It failed to chart and was critically panned. The Kinks had always worn the Britishness rather proudly but Village Green took that into a new territory with songs about the demise of English society.
The Zombies “Odessey and Oracle”
Yes it does have Time of the Season on it which could make it a big hit and hardly a hidden gem but the album was a conceptual and creative achievement complete with spelling mistake on the cover that should have made the Zombies the biggest British band in 1968. Unfortunately they’d had enough of being the Zombies by then and split. The album flopped but Time of the Season was put out in the US in 1969 as a single and was a huge hit. With no band to tour on the success of the single other groups passed themselves off as the Zombies and the album sank.