To Sir With Love (Lulu) Daydrewam Believer (The Monkees) Windy (The Association) Ode To Billie Joe「ビリー・ジョーの歌」(Bobby Gentry) Somethin' Stupid「恋のひとこと」(Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra) Groovin' (The Young Rascals) The Letter「あの娘のレター」(The Box Tops) Light My Fire「ハートに火をつけて(ハートに灯をつけて)」(The Doors) Happy Together (The Turtles) Hello Goodbye (The Beatles)
アルバム "Are You Experienced" Jimi Hendrix 「青い影」 Procol Harum "The Basement Tapes 地下室" Bob Dylan(& The Band) "Buffalo Springfield Again" Buffalo Springfield "Days Of Future Past" The Moody Blues (オーケストラとロックの初共演) "I Feel Free"「カラフル・クリーム」Cream
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ■その他の海外ヒット曲 Up, Up And Away「ビートでジャンプ」(The Fifth Dimension) There's A Kind Of Hush「見つめあう恋」(Harman's Hermits) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
■デビュー
ロック系 The Bee Gees "The Bee Gees " Buffalo Springfield "Buffalo Springfield" Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band "Safe As Milk" Country Joe & The Fish "Electric Music" David Bowie"David Bowie" , The Doors "The Doors" Grateful Dead "Grateful Dead" Harpers Bizarre "Feelin' Groovy" (ソフト・ロックの伝説的バンド) Janis Joplin"Big Brother & The Holding Company" Joni Mitchel "Joni Mitchel" Linda Rondstodt "Stone Pony" Leonard Cohen "The Songs Of Leonard Cohen" Mama's & Papa's 「夢のカリフォルニア」(デビュー作にして時代の代表作) Mason Williams "Phonograph Record" (TVの脚本家でもある才人、バーバンク系) Mobby Grape "Mobby Grape" (サンフランシスコ・サイケの代表的バンド、解散後評価が高まった) Nice"The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack" (キース・エマーソン在籍のクラシック・ロック系バンド) Nilson "Pandemonium Shadow Show" The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Pink Floyd "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" , Red Crayola "Parable Of Arable Land" (メイヨ・トンプソンを中心にテキサスで結成、21世紀に入っても活躍) The Soul Survivors "Expressway To Your Heart" (ホワイト・ソウル・グループ、ギャンブル&ハフ初期のプロデュース作) Status Quo "Picture Of Matchstick Men" Strawberry Alarm Clock "Incense And Peppermints" Traffic "Mr. Fantasy" Ten Years After "Ten Years After" T Rex "My People Were Fair And Sky In Their …" , Vanilla Fudge "Vanilla Fudge" (大ヒット「キープ・ミー・ハンギング・オン」) The Velvet Underground & Nico "The Velvet Underground" (ウォーホルとこのバンドこそ、ポップ・アートの原点) The Youngbloods "The Youngbloods" (ジェシ・コリン・ヤング在籍のフォークロック・バンド) ドアーズ ブラッド・スウェット&ティアーズ、 フリー、 グレイトフル・デッド、ヴァン・ダイク・パークス、ジェイムス・テーラー、クリーデンス・クリアウォーター・リバイバル、バッファロー・スプリングフィールド、ジミ・ヘンドリックス、ジャニス・ジョップリン、ジェファーソン・エアプレイン、ジェネシス、シカゴ、イエス、ジョニ・ミッチェル、クリーム、マザーズ・オブ・インベンション、サンタナ、レッド・ツェッペリン、スティーブ・ミラー・バンド、トラフィック、スリー・ドッグ・ナイト、フェイセス、スライ&ザ・ファミリーストーン、ディープ・パープル、ドクター・ジョン、ニッティー・グリティー・ダート・バンド、フェアポート・コンベンション、ニルソン、フリートウッド・マック、プロコル・ハルム、マリアンヌ・フェイスフル…etc
ソウル系 Al Green "Back Up Train" Eddie Floyd "Knock On Wood"
【洋画】 夜の大捜査戦[米] アカデミー賞 俺たちに明日はない Bonnie and Clyde[米] [出演]フェイ・ダナウェイ 卒業 The Graduate[米]Yahoo [出演]ダスティン・ホフマン、キャサリン・ロス 007は二度死ぬ YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE[英] 詳細 冷血 In Cold Blood (米)[米] 冒険者たち[仏+伊] [出演]アラン・ドロン ドリトル先生の不思議な旅 招かれざる客 夕陽のガンマン
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Artist: The Beatles
Release Date: 6 1967
tracks
01 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
02 With a Little Help from My Friends
03 Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
04 Getting Better
05 Fixing a Hole
06 She's Leaving Home
07 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
08 Within You Without You
09 When I'm Sixty-Four
10 Lovely Rita
11 Good Morning Good Morning
12 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13 Day in the Life
With Revolver, the Beatles made the Great Leap Forward, reaching a previously unheard-of level of sophistication and fearless experimentation. Sgt. Pepper, in many ways, refines that breakthrough, as the Beatles consciously synthesized such disparate influences as psychedelia, art-song, classical music, rock & roll, and music hall, often in the course of one song. Not once does the diversity seem forced -- the genius of the record is how the vaudevillian "When I'm 64" seems like a logical extension of "Within You Without You" and how it provides a gateway to the chiming guitars of "Lovely Rita." There's no discounting the individual contributions of each member or their producer, George Martin, but the preponderance of whimsy and self-conscious art gives the impression that Paul McCartney is the leader of the Lonely Hearts Club Band. He dominates the album in terms of compositions, setting the tone for the album with his unabashed melodicism and deviously clever arrangements. In comparison, Lennon's contributions seem fewer, and a couple of them are a little slight but his major statements are stunning. "With a Little Help From My Friends" is the ideal Ringo tune, a rolling, friendly pop song that hides genuine Lennon anguish, à la "Help!"; "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" remains one of the touchstones of British psychedelia; and he's the mastermind behind the bulk of "A Day in the Life," a haunting number that skillfully blends Lennon's verse and chorus with McCartney's bridge. It's possible to argue that there are better Beatles albums, yet no album is as historically important as this. After Sgt. Pepper, there were no rules to follow -- rock and pop bands could try anything, for better or worse. Ironically, few tried to achieve the sweeping, all-encompassing embrace of music as the Beatles did here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Artist: The Beatles
Release Date: 11 1967
01 Magical Mystery Tour
02 Fool on the Hill
03 Flying
04 Blue Jay Way
05 Your Mother Should Know
06 I Am the Walrus
07 Hello Goodbye
08 Strawberry Fields Forever
09 Penny Lane
10 Baby You're a Rich Man
11 All You Need Is Love
The U.S. version of the soundtrack for the Beatles' ill-fated British television special embellished the six songs that were found on the British Magical Mystery Tour double EP with five other cuts from their 1967 singles. (The CD version of the record has now been standardized worldwide as the 11 tracks found on the American version.) The psychedelic sound is very much in the vein of Sgt. Pepper, and even spacier in parts (especially the sound collages of "I Am the Walrus"). Unlike Sgt. Pepper, there's no vague overall conceptual/thematic unity to the material, which has made Magical Mystery Tour suffer slightly in comparison. Still, the music is mostly great, and "Penny Lane," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "All You Need Is Love," and "Hello Goodbye" were all huge, glorious, and innovative singles. The ballad "The Fool on the Hill," though only a part of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, is also one of the most popular Beatle tunes from the era. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Album: Days of Future Passed
Artist: The Moody Blues
Release Date: 0 1967
01 Day Begins
02 Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling
03 Morning: Another Morning
04 Lunch Break: Peak Hour
05 Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)/Time to Get Away
06 Evening: The Sun Set/Twilight Time
07 Night: Nights in White Satin
This album marked the formal debut of the psychedelic-era Moody Blues; though they'd made a pair of singles featuring new (as of 1966) members Justin Hayward and John Lodge, Days of Future Passed was a lot bolder and more ambitious. What surprises first-time listeners -- and delighted them at the time -- is the degree to which the group shares the spotlight with the London Festival Orchestra without compromising their sound or getting lost in the lush mix of sounds. That's mostly because they came to this album with the strongest, most cohesive body of songs in their history, having spent the previous year working up a new stage act and a new body of material (and working the bugs out of it on-stage), the best of which ended up here. Decca Records had wanted a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to showcase its enhanced stereo-sound technology, but at the behest of the band, producer Tony Clarke (with engineer Derek Varnals aiding and abetting) hijacked the project and instead cut the group's new repertory, with conductor/arranger Peter Knight adding the orchestral accompaniment and devising the bridge sections between the songs and the album's grandiose opening and closing sections. The record company didn't know what to do with the resulting album, which was neither classical nor pop, but following its release in December of 1967, audiences found their way to it as one of the first pieces of heavily orchestrated, album-length psychedelic rock to come out of England in the wake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour albums. What's more, it was refreshingly original, rather than an attempt to mimic the Beatles; sandwiched among the playful lyricism of "Another Morning" and the mysticism of "The Sunset," songs like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Twilight Time" (which remained in their concert repertory for three years) were pounding rockers within the British psychedelic milieu, and the harmony singing (another new attribute for the group) made the band's sound unique. With "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights In White Satin" to drive sales, Days of Future Passed became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era. On CD, its history was fairly spotty until 1997, when it was remastered by Polygram; that edition blows every prior CD release (apart from Mobile Fidelity's limited-edition disc) out of contention, though this record is likely due for another upgrade -- and probably a format jump, perhaps to DVD-Audio -- on or before its 40th anniversary in 2007. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Album: The Doors
Artist:The Doors
Release Date: 1967
01. Break on Through (To the Other Side)
02. Soul Kitchen
03. Crystal Ship
04. Twentieth Century Fox
05. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
06. Light My Fire
07. Back Door Man
08. I Looked at You
09. End of the Night
10. Take It as It Comes
11. End
A tremendous debut album, and indeed one of the best first-time outings in rock history, introducing the band's fusion of rock, blues, classical, jazz, and poetry with a knockout punch. The lean, spidery guitar and organ riffs interweave with a hypnotic menace, providing a seductive backdrop for Jim Morrison's captivating vocals and probing prose. "Light My Fire" was the cut that topped the charts and established the group as stars, but most of the rest of the album is just as impressive, including some of their best songs: the propulsive "Break On Through" (their first single), the beguiling Oriental mystery of "The Crystal Ship," the mysterious "End of the Night," "Take It as It Comes" (one of several tunes besides "Light My Fire" that also had hit potential), and the stomping rock of "Soul Kitchen" and "Twentieth Century Fox." The 11-minute Oedipal drama "The End" was the group at its most daring and, some would contend, overambitious. It was nonetheless a haunting cap to an album whose nonstop melodicism and dynamic tension would never be equaled by the group again, let alone bettered. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide [-] Hide
Album: Strange Days
Artist: The Doors
Release Date: 1967
01 Strange Days
02 You're Lost Little Girl
03 Love Me Two Times
04 Unhappy Girl
05 Horse Latitudes
06 Moonlight Drive
07 People Are Strange
08 My Eyes Have Seen You
09 I Can't See Your Face In My Mind
10 When The Music's Over
Many of the songs on Strange Days had been written around the same time as the ones that appeared on The Doors, and with hindsight one has the sense that the best of the batch had already been cherry picked for the debut album. For that reason, the band's second effort isn't as consistently stunning as their debut, though overall it's a very successful continuation of the themes of their classic album. Besides the hit "Strange Days," highlights included the funky "Moonlight Drive," the eerie "You're Lost Little Girl," and the jerkily rhythmic "Love Me Two Times," which gave the band a small chart single. "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "I Can't See Your Face in My Mind" are minor but pleasing entries in the group's repertoire that share a subdued Eastern psychedelic air. The 11-minute "When the Music's Over" would often be featured as a live showstopper, yet it also illustrated their tendency to occasionally slip into drawn-out bombast. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Album: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Artist: Pink Floyd
Release Date: 8 1967
tracks
01 Astronomy Domine
02 Lucifer Sam
03 Matilda Mother
04 Flaming
05 Pow R. Toc H.
06 Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk
07 Interstellar Overdrive
08 Gnome
09 Chapter 24
10 Scarecrow
11 Bike
The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences -- "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments -- in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation -- the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
tracks
01. Strange Brew
02. Sunshine of Your Love
03. World of Pain
04. Dance the Night Away
05. Blue Condition
06. Tales of Brave Ulysses
07. Swlabr
08. We're Going Wrong
09. Outside Woman Blues
10. Take It Back
11. Mother's Lament
The threesome of Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, and legendary guitarist Eric Clapton forming the band Cream was a monumental effort of jazz, blues, and psychedelic rock during the British rock period of the late 1960s. Cream, with their raw fury of intense sound, was renowned for their rare talent of taking songs of complex arrangements and making them an act of spontaneous beauty during live shows. Disraeli Gears, their second release, was an essential landmark recording that brought listeners to the direction they were soon to take with Wheels of Fire. Taking on a circus-spinning arsenal of sounds and effects, Cream's fashionable art is a blend of highly sustained drenched distortion, rampant percussion, and a kaleidoscope of various musical textures and colors, both in melody and rhythm. Each of Disraeli Gears' list of 11 tunes is original in format, containing it own unique brands of dashing blues-laden guitar riffs by Clapton, as well as thick basslines and smashing drum leads. Highlights of the record feature Clapton's awe-inspiring and soul-gripping guitar leads, including hits such as "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Tales of Brave Ulysses." The latter is a magical poem laced into a line of mesmerizing chordal changes. Disraeli Gears is a definitive staple of early British rock and a sensational addition to the avid classic rock listener. ~ Shawn Haney, All Music Guide
Album: Big Brother & the Holding Company - 1967
Artist: Big Brother & the Holding Company
Release Date: 0 1967
track
01 Bye Bye Baby
02 Easy Rider
03 Intruder
04 Light Is Faster Than Sound
05 Call on Me
06 Women Is Losers
07 Blindman
08 Down on Me
09 Caterpillar
10 All Is Loneliness
11 Coo Coo [Single][#][*]
12 Last Time [Single][#][*]
13 Call on Me [Alternate Take][#][*]
14 Bye Bye Baby [Alternate Take][#][*]
Big Brother's debut album was not recorded under optimum circumstances. The sessions were too rushed, and the sound thinner than the band would have liked, especially given how much more powerful some of the material (such as "Down on Me") would sound in later concerts. Still, it's not the useless throwaway some critics have portrayed it as, and it decently conveys the band's loose, sometimes reckless blend of blues, folk-rock, and psychedelia. Janis Joplin sings with soulful intensity on "Down on Me" and "Call on Me"; Peter Albin's "Light Is Faster Than Sound" is good wacked-out early Haight-Ashbury psychedelic rock; and the rock cover of Moondog's "All Is Loneliness" is spookily imaginative. The 1999 CD reissue adds the worthy single "Coo Coo"/"The Last Time" (good Eastern-influenced guitar work on the former, a good hurt hard rock vocal from Joplin on the latter) and previously unreleased alternate takes of "Call on Me" and "Bye, Bye Baby." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
01. Whiter Shade of Pale Purchase
02. She Wandered Through the Garden Fence Purchase
03. Something Following Me Purchase
04. Mabel Purchase
05. Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of) Purchase
06. Christmas Camel Purchase
07. Conquistador Purchase
08. Kaleidoscope Purchase
09. Salad Days (Are Here Again) Purchase
10. Repent Walpurgis
Procol Harum's self-titled, debut album bombed in England, appearing six months after "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Homburg" with neither hit song on it. The LP was successful in America, where albums sold more easily, but especially since it did include "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and was reissued with a sticker emphasizing the presence of the original "Conquistador," a re-recording which became a hit in 1972. The music is an engaging meld of psychedelic rock, blues, and classical influences, filled with phantasmagorical lyrics, bold (but not flashy) organ by Matthew Fisher, and Robin Trower's most tasteful and restrained guitar. "Conquistador," "Kaleidoscope," "A Christmas Camel," and the Bach-influenced "Repent Walpurgis" are superb tracks, and "Good Captain Clack" is great, almost Kinks-like fun. Not everything here works, but it holds up better than most psychedelic or progressive rock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Album: Are You Experienced
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Release Date: 1967
01 Foxey Lady (0:03:19)
02 Manic Depression (0:03:42)
03 Red House (0:03:44)
04 Can You See Me (0:02:33)
05 Love or Confusion (0:03:12)
06 I Don't Live Today (0:03:55)
07 May This Be Love (0:03:11)
08 Fire (0:02:45)
09 Third Stone from the Sun (0:06:44)
10 Remember (0:02:48)
11 Are You Experienced? (0:04:14)
12 Hey Joe
13 Stone Free
14 Purple Haze
15 51st Anniversary
16 Wind Cries Mary
17 Highway Chile
In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship -- he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire -- has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.
When Hendrix became an international superstar in 1967, it seemed as if he'd dropped out of a Martian spaceship, but in fact he'd served his apprenticeship the long, mundane way in numerous R&B acts on the chitlin circuit. During the early and mid-'60s, he worked with such R&B/soul greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backup guitarist. Occasionally he recorded as a session man (the Isley Brothers' 1964 single "Testify" is the only one of these early tracks that offers even a glimpse of his future genius). But the stars didn't appreciate his show-stealing showmanship, and Hendrix was straight-jacketed by sideman roles that didn't allow him to develop as a soloist. The logical step was for Hendrix to go out on his own, which he did in New York in the mid-'60s, playing with various musicians in local clubs, and joining white blues-rock singer John Hammond, Jr.'s band for a while.
It was in a New York club that Hendrix was spotted by Animals bassist Chas Chandler. The first lineup of the Animals was about to split, and Chandler, looking to move into management, convinced Hendrix to move to London and record as a solo act in England. There a group was built around Jimi, also featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, that was dubbed the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The trio became stars with astonishing speed in the U.K., where "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," and "The Wind Cries Mary" all made the Top Ten in the first half of 1967. These tracks were also featured on their debut album, Are You Experienced?, a psychedelic meisterwerk that became a huge hit in the U.S. after Hendrix created a sensation at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967.
Are You Experienced? was an astonishing debut, particularly from a young R&B veteran who had rarely sung, and apparently never written his own material, before the Experience formed. What caught most people's attention at first was his virtuosic guitar playing, which employed an arsenal of devices, including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, crunching distorted riffs, and lightning, liquid runs up and down the scales. But Hendrix was also a first-rate songwriter, melding cosmic imagery with some surprisingly pop-savvy hooks and tender sentiments. He was also an excellent blues interpreter and passionate, engaging singer (although his gruff, throaty vocal pipes were not nearly as great assets as his instrumental skills). Are You Experienced? was psychedelia at its most eclectic, synthesizing mod pop, soul, R&B, Dylan, and the electric guitar innovations of British pioneers like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton.
01. Ticket to Ride Preview Purchase
02. People Get Ready Preview Purchase
03. She's Not There Preview Purchase
04. Bang Bang Preview Purchase
05. Stra (Illusions of My Childhood, Pt. 1)/You Keep Me Hangin' On/Wber (Il Preview Purchase
06. Take Me for a Little While/Ryfi (Illusions of My Childhood, Pt. 3) Preview Purchase
07. Eleanor Rigby/Elds
In a debut consisting of covers, nobody could accuse Vanilla Fudge of bad taste in their repertoire; with stoned-out, slowed-down versions of such then-recent classics as "Ticket to Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," and "People Get Ready," they were setting the bar rather high for themselves. Even the one suspect choice -- Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang" --... [+] Continue
In a debut consisting of covers, nobody could accuse Vanilla Fudge of bad taste in their repertoire; with stoned-out, slowed-down versions of such then-recent classics as "Ticket to Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," and "People Get Ready," they were setting the bar rather high for themselves. Even the one suspect choice -- Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang" -- turns out to be rivaled only by Mott the Hoople's version of "Laugh at Me" in putting Bono's songwriting in the kindest possible light. Most of the tracks here share a common structure of a disjointed warm-up jam, a Hammond-heavy dirge of harmonized vocals at the center, and a final flat-out jam. Still, some succeed better than others: "You Keep Me Hanging On" has a wonderfully hammered-out drum part, and "She's Not There" boasts some truly groovy organ jams. While the pattern can sound repetitive today, each song still works as a time capsule of American psychedelia. ~ Paul Collins, All Music Guide
Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Release Date: 1967
1. Sunday Morning
2. I'm Waiting for the Man
3. Femme Fatale
4. Venus in Furs
5. Run Run Run
6. All Tomorrow's Parties
7. Heroin
8. There She Goes Again
9. I'll Be Your Mirror
10. Black Angel's Death Song
11. European Son
One would be hard pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground and Nico. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy pop ("Sunday Morning"), tough garage rock ("Waiting for the Man"), stripped-down R&B ("There She Goes Again"), and understated love songs ("I'll Be Your Mirror") when they weren't busy creating sounds without pop precedent. Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of drugs and kinky sex (then risky stuff in film and literature, let alone "teen music") always received the most press attention, but the music Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker played was as radical as the words they accompanied. The bracing discord of "European Son," the troubling beauty of "All Tomorrow's Parties," and the expressive dynamics of "Heroin," all remain as compelling as the day they were recorded. While the significance of Nico's contributions have been debated over the years, she meshes with the band's outlook in that she hardly sounds like a typical rock vocalist, and if Andy Warhol's presence as producer was primarily a matter of signing the checks, his notoriety allowed The Velvet Underground to record their material without compromise, which would have been impossible under most other circumstances. Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground and Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more than 30 years after first hitting the racks. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide [-] Hide
When Creed Taylor left Verve/MGM for his own label under the auspices of A&M, he quickly signed Antonio Carlos Jobim and they picked up right where they left off with this stunningly seductive record, possibly Jobim's best. Jobim contributes his sparely rhythmic acoustic guitar, simple melodic piano style, a guest turn at the harpsichord, and even a vocal on "Lamento," while Claus Ogerman lends a romantically brooding hand with the charts. A pair of instant standards are introduced ("Wave," "Triste"), but this album is to be cherished for its absolutely first-rate tunes -- actually miniature tone poems -- that escaped overexposure and thus sound fresh today. The most beautiful sleeper is "Batidinha," where the intuitive Jobim/Ogerman collaboration reaches its peak. One only wishes that this album were longer; 31:45 is not enough. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide