Deep Purple - Shades of Purple

1968

Heavily influenced by Hendrix, but what rock band wasn't heavily influenced by Hendrix in 1968. Then there's the organ that reminds me of all the sounds Vanilla Fudge made.  I hear Jefferson Airplane the Who in there and other stuff. It's their debut and it's swirly psychedelic rock but thicker than most at the time. An enjoyable listen.  

1968 - Ballad of the Godless

1968

Stoner Metal that's drawing from Alice in Chains/Soundgarden. Not till their last song do they sound like what you would expect a band called 1968 too sound like. These guys are from the UK.

Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet

1968

The first one where things really start getting good.

You could throw this one on before Led Zeppelin III at your next record party.

Dragonfly - Dragonfly

1968

Blue Cheer inspired psyche with touches of The Who here and there. Bluesy fuzzed out guitar rockin'. Killer stuff.

Lalo Shifrin - Bullit OST

1968

Jazzy Funky 70's gameshow vibe. Smooth.

The Move - The Move

Good stuff, 60's psychedelic pop rock.

Mount Rushmore - High On Mount Rushmore

Bluesy hard rock with psyche guitar. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Blue Cheer, Cream territory here, but second level.

Buddy Miles - Expressway To Your Skull

Rock and Soul blended to near perfection. Awesome horns killer guitar...groovin' tunes.

Chicken Shack - Forty Blue Fingers

Straight up blues rock like the early Bluesbreakers or Fleetwood Mac.

Pacific Ocean - Purgatory

R&B rock.

The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

The Byrds get all country on your ass with this one. Great album. Gram Parsons pretty much put this all together. Parsons joined the Byrds just before they recorded this album and left the band by the time it was released. It was a commercial failure at the time. Sounds like a bunch of old country songs to me, cover songs, traditional songs I don't know, but it's good stuff.

Munetaka Inoue & His Sharp Five

Sounds like the keyboard player from Pink Floyd sitting in with a instrumental surf band in Japan. Cool mellow stuff.

Dragonfly - Dragonfly

It would be hippie rock except they've got biker garage thing going on too. Not to mention the times where the singer is doing a pretty good Jim Morrison impression. Not great but I like their style. For fans of Blue Cheer.

Steve Miller Band - Children Of The Future

Mellow stuff like if the Beach Boys was one guy, or if sometimes Millers voice is multi tracked to sound like a few guys. Later on it get's a little bluesy sort of Cream lite. Almost a Pink Floyd quality to this...Vanilla Fudge like without any hint of heaviness.

Magic Sam - West Side Soul

1968

I don't know a thing about Soul except Otis Redding, so yeah, it's like that. Not really. Sometimes it's the blues. When he's wailing the needles are pegged. I was tapping my foot. Twangy and clanky reverb guitars...and the Blues.
"Whoa baby I gotta have your love."

July - July

Psychedelic rock! Better than The Magical Mystery Tour. A lot of this stuff sounds ahead of it's time. Some of these songs would fit right in on a Beck CD 30 years later. Little bit of a pop thing going on here.

Fun Facts: After this album, one of the guitar players left. The remaining members of the band started a new band called Jade Warrior. Here's some history on the band.

Zombies - Odessey And Oracle

Kinks like post Sgt. Peppers/Pet Sounds pop goodness. Good songs. Good Album.

The Litter - $100 Fine

First song is pretty heavy then most of the rest is a bit more poppy like the Beatles. Next thing you know it gets heavy like Blue Cheer. Trippy stuff and Blues too. Really good 60's rockin' with a faint Monkees feel to a lot of the songs.

-Mostly grimey psychedelic rock, but they touch on the poppy side of things. Like Blue Cheer with pop tendancies. Psychedelic Rock! Little bit of Blues too. The Album ends with a thud.


Fun Facts: The original album has 10 songs. There is a re-issue that has an additional 18 songs from demos that were recorded between 1965-1968. Those songs sound more garage rock with a British envasion influence. This bandreally evolved. The proper album is solid, but they were even better at being a garage-pop band.

Dirty Blues Band - Stone Dirt

Slower tempo down and dirty blues rock. Really good. They pick up the pace after a while. Sounds like this was recorded live. They cover several songs that Led Zeppelin would go on to do. Chicago style blues similar to Paul Butterfield.

T Swift & The Electric Bag

Mostly enjoyable instrumentals. Good cover of Are You Experienced. Background music.