1,001 songs to listen to before you die...

[Liam]

208.      

‘Good Vibrations’, The Beach Boys (1966)

It probably speaks to how good a song ‘Good Vibrations’ is that I completely underestimated how complex it was. An attempt by Brian Wilson to capture the sounds in his head would take eight months and several studios to get right. There is so much going on here, but at heart it is just an excellent slab of pop that has hooks for days. It is another song that does a lot in a relative short run time as there are chunks of music, almost like chapters, each with its own interesting elements. To go from surf pop/rock to this speaks volumes about the musical talent of Wilson.

209.      

‘Dead End Street’, The Kinks (1966)

The books claims the Kinks were the most sonically challenging UK band at this time alongside the Beatles. Without being able to verify that, this song that tells a story of poverty yet with an element of jauntiness in the tune is definitely interesting when held up to some of the purer pop offerings. Paving the way for The Smiths, Madness and Pulp in this social commentary-style (again, according to the book), the shouted backing vocals, trumpet solo and hand claps add a touch of swing to an otherwise tonally negative song. An interesting juxtaposition of ideas, that’s for sure.

210.      

‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’, The Walker Brothers (1966)

A song that sounds like it has Phil Spector’s stamp all over it as the layers of sound and vocals continue to build in lusher and lusher arrangements. The star here is Scott Walker, and it isn’t surprising to know that he was the one that went on to the most success as a singles artist, though departing significantly from this style of music. The lovelorn and angsty teen had a new anthem to sing and dance along to, sung by three guys who may not have been brothers, but could belt out a tune; they weren’t half bad looking either, which helped.

[Liam]

211.      

‘Season of the Witch’, Donovan (1966)

This is a fair step away from the songs I might have expected from the band/man who did ‘Mellow Yellow’. A slightly psychedelic take on the poppier end of rock, yet menacing from beginning to end, this is an excellent song that I’ve never heard of whatsoever.  Another example of a song that utilises the build from the verse to the chorus effectively as the volume (and I believe the speed, or perhaps that’s just an auditory hallucination) increases into the pretty simplistic vocal refrain, before settling back down again for the next stage. This sounds timeless and could be positioned in other decades with ease.

212.      

‘Friday On My Mind’, The Easybeats (1966)

Influenced by: The Swingle Singers   

Influence on: The Sound of the Suburbs • The Members (1979)   

Covered by: The Shadows (1967) • David Bowie (1973) • London (1977) • Peter Frampton (1998) • Richard Thompson (2003) • Ben Lee (2008)

This is dubbed ‘power pop’ and you can hear why that is the case. It has more in keeping with some of the early 60s output and is two minutes of hooky melodies that celebrate living for the weekend. The guitars set the tone with a sense of urgency that is furthered by the vocals – they almost feel like they are trying to outrun the rest of the song. This was one of the only songs to have any success in the UK for the band as issues with contracts and drugs left them foundering. An interesting sidenote – the guitarist George Young’s siblings, Angus and Malcolm, went on to more fame as part of AC/DC.

213.      

‘I’m A Believer’, The Monkees (1966)

Influenced by: Cherry Cherry • Neil Diamond (1966)   

Influence on: Sugar Sugar • The Archies (1969)   

Covered by: The Ventures (1967) • The Four Tops (1967) • Wanda Jackson (1968) • Robert Wyatt (1974) • Tin Huey (1979) • The Frank and Walters (1992) • Sugar Beats (1997) • The Patron Saints (2008)

For those who are a fan of Neil Diamond’s output in the 60s and 70s, you can immediately tell that this was penned by him. The Monkees were a very successful attempt to cash in on Beatlemania and the excitement of (primarily) teenage girl music fans. This is sweetly saccharine pop, but is hard to not enjoy or sing along to. A bit like some of Diamond’s other successful tunes, then.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Liam

[MalaCloudy Black]

That's my second favorite Donovan song. My first is, ofc, Mellow Yellow. 

It's also one of 2 Donovan songs I know.

[Pooker]

Neil Diamond not only wrote I'm A Believer, but he also recorded it. I'm not a huge fan of it, liking the Monkees version better.

[Liam]

1 hour ago, Pooker said:

Neil Diamond not only wrote I'm A Believer, but he also recorded it. I'm not a huge fan of it, liking the Monkees version better.

Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that's the version I first heard.

[Liam]

214.      

‘Dirty Water’, The Standells (1966)

A simple garage rock song that has lived on in its use with the Boston Red Sox (up until 2010 at least). The writer was mugged on a bridge in Boston; there is dirty water and pollution in Boston – that’s about it really. I’m actually struggling with regards to what I can say about it. It’s a decent enough song that is on the list seemingly for its cultural significance to one city in particular.

215.      

‘I Feel Free’, Cream (1966)

A rock supergroup’s second single that needed to deliver after a poor first one, this is a fun burst of pop rock. Jack Bruce’s voice in particular is a real pleasure to listen to and this song gives him ample opportunity to showcase his pipes. The percussion and strings add a feeling of pace that compliments the positive message of the lyrics. I’ve only ever heard once song by Cream – that might need to change.

216.      

‘You Just Keep Me Hangin’ On’, The Supremes (1966)

This is an odd one. I feel that I’ve listened to so many variations of this without hearing the original that I’m surprised by how lacking in oomph the vocals have. Naturally, they can definitely song, but I expected a bit more punch. Naturally, the vocals are well sung, but yeah – just something slightly lacking until the second half of the song at least. The book talks about how this was the route in to a slightly harder edged, psychedelic soul influenced by rock, something heard with the Morse code-esque guitar and furthered (apparently) with the late 60s work by The Temptations.

[Liam]

217.      

‘Happening Ten Years Time Ago’, The Yardbirds (1966)

Apparently the only Yardbirds single that had both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck playing guitar, so it is unsurprising that the guitar work in this is great. The use of reverb helps to create a trippy, psychedelic feel that compliments lyrics that may or may not be about reincarnation. This was a commercial dog compared to a previous run of five top ten singles in the UK, but I guess this was more about what it represented than sales. Sonically, there is a lot more going on in the background as sirens and car engines help to create a whirling dervish of a tune.

218.      

‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, The Beatles (1966)

This is as mind-altering for me now as it was for an audience of Beatles fans in the 60s, I can only imagine. I’ve never heard this before, not being someone who has delved significantly into their back catalogue, so to hear something SOOO trippy from them was a surprise. I’ve used the word a few times with other songs but this does feel somewhat timeless – some of the psycadelic twinges perhaps date it, yet I could imagine it being played as a remix at a dance club tomorrow (well, when the pandemic is less of an issue…). The experimentation in terms of music puts them worlds away from where they were mere years ago.

219.      

‘The End’, The Doors (1967)

The first song to even come close to pushing Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ for the longest thus far. An epic, coming in at eleven minutes plus, it is ambitious from beginning to end, though perhaps too clearly a sign that the drugs don’t always work. This started as a three minute pop song, but before the album was recorded, had blown up to its run time after various live performances had seen it spiral out of control. Like a long book that has passed into the literary canon, you feel like you should at least applaud the deed whether you genuinely think the song is good or not. It is fine. That’s about the sum total of my thoughts on it, but to commit to this song in such a fashion, or be drugged up enough to conceive of it, deserves some plaudits.

[Krabby]

How dare you @Liam forget the greatest cover of I'm a believer!

[Liam]

19 minutes ago, JMarushin said:

How dare you @Liam forget the greatest cover of I'm a believer!

Blame the book - I'm innocent.

[Krabby]

21 minutes ago, Liam said:

Blame the book - I'm innocent.

Oh I thought you did it all! Well how dare the book!

[Liam]

25 minutes ago, JMarushin said:

Oh I thought you did it all! Well how dare the book!

Yeah, the book occasionally has these random suggestions of influences and covers, so thought I'd add it.

Still, boo on the book.

[MalaCloudy Black]

How dare you say "The End" is only "just fine". I'm unsubscribing.

[Liam]

220.      

‘Electricity’, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (1967)

Somewhere in my attic, I have this album. I’ve never listened to it, but that speaks more to random periods of time where I will buy CDs, books and films without finding the time to actually give them a go. This is a wild song though which underneath its general oddity has a hell of a lot going on. Between the creepy vocal delivery (mainly the repetition of the songs title), the use of the theremin, excessive (but not in a bad way) high hat work by the drummer and the general bluesy tone that underpins it all, it sounds almost fit to burst. Many people talked about how influential Captain Beefheart was and it is hard to tell by one song alone, but this is definitely an eye/ear opening slice of music.

221.      

‘Corcovoda’, Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim (1967)

Seemingly on the list as the definitive version of a popular song, one that helped to popularise the ‘bossa nova’ style in the English-speaking world. It has been a while since Frank Sinatra was on the list and this is a step away from what we (or more importantly, I) might have expected from him. He is much more understated, letting the music do the work but hitting every tone and shift that is required. I like that bossa nova sound, though it lacks the edges that I enjoy and helps to give something more staying power personally.

222.      

‘Heroin’, The Velvet Underground (1967)

This is also in my attic, but unlike Captain Beefheart, I have listened to this album numerous times. Several songs have danced around it, but this is about as unambiguously about drugs as you can get. It neither seems to glamorise, nor decry it; it just tries poetically explore the idea of taking heroin. The shifts in pace feel like it aims to try and recreate what I can only imagine is the feeling of taking the drug, with the drumming getting more incessant and the guitar increasing in intensity. What is perhaps most interesting is John Cale’s electric viola (I’ll be honest, the book identified that for me) as its one chord holds the song together until a flurry of screeching gives our first taste of real dissonance within a song. So well put together.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Captain Beefheart is wild shit. I can't remember if it was someone on EWB or elsewhere but I feel like I remember someone in some community I'm apart of being really into Captain Beefheart. 

[Malenko]

That Velvet Underground album is my personal choice out of everything you've posted so far in the whole decade.

[GoGo Yubari]

That "Tomorrow Never Knows" writeup really makes me hope that "A Day in the Life" and "Helter Skelter" are both in there. I'd wholeheartedly suggest just listening through The Beatles' studio albums at some stage of this quarantine, their back catalogue is really fun to experience for the first time because of the way it develops and shoots off into weird places by late '60s. Like, I fully realize "man, The Beatles, what a good band" is a boring take but they really did basically cram what would make for a great twenty or thirty year career for a band now into just seven years.

Also, yeah, there are some '60s songs with drum tracks that sound like they should have come out forty years later. Another amazing one is "Prelude" by The Millennium:

 

[Pooker]

I agree with listening to the entire Beatles catalog. Every music fan should do it at least once in their life. For me, when I listen to them, I can never listen to just one album. It usually ends up to me listening to them all, and in order.

[Liam]

223.      

‘Chelsea Girls’, Nico (1967)

It feels weird to me having a Nico song come up immediately after the things I (and perhaps many others) know her best for – her collaboration work with the Velvet Underground. Telling the tale of Hotel Chelsea, a place that used to play host to a number of drugged up inhabitants, it stands out primarily because Nico herself isn’t a great singer by any stretch of the imagination. Sparse flute and strings add a little bit of interest to the song overall, yet Nico herself hated it (they were added without her permission). More on the list perhaps as a snapshot of a time than due to its quality as a song.

224.      

‘For What It’s Worth’, The Buffalo Springfield (1967)

One of those songs that I’ve heard before, but could never have told you who it was. Written by Stephen Stills as a journalistic take on a riot that the singer witnessed, one that wasn’t afraid to take a pot shot or two at the police themselves for their role. A simple song, but a powerful one – not a lot more I can add to that.

225.      

The Look of Love’, Dusty Springfield (1967)

Sashaying its way out of the speakers and into your ears, ‘The Look of Love’ is sensuous from beginning to end. Written by Burt Bacharach and sung by Springfield, this was a meeting of two perfectionists for the only song they recorded. The swell to the chorus and the relative simplicity of the piano arrangement both work in the song’s favour, with Springfield’s vocals an absolute (and seemingly effortless) delight. By far the best thing to come out of the original Casino Royale, surely?

[MalaCloudy Black]

Heeeeellllll yeah, let's get our Buffalo Springfield on. Was "For What It's Worth" their biggest single? I think it was.

Also I guess maybe it doesn't mean as much given being a foreigner but the riots in question were the Sunset Strip riots. Those were a huge deal in 1966 California. Buffalo Springfield was, IIRC, a house band at some venue there and they were pretty much ground zero during those riots. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Strip_curfew_riots

[Skummy]

I adore Captain Beefheart - one of my favourite "celebrity" encounters in my life was being able to chat for a long time to John "Drumbo" French, who played drums on the majority of Beefheart albums, and sings vocals for the reformed Magic Band. 

"Electricity" is one of my favourite tracks of theirs - the bassline, Beefheart's drawn out vowels on the word "Electricity", just the overall weirdness of it, while still being identifiably a blues jam, it's just superb.