"The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" by Bob Dylan (May, 1963)

Dad's Take:

I've been looking forward to this one probably about as much as Brad hasn't been, but I'm hoping Brad might see the light.

Bob Dylan's first album didn't get much attention, but this second disc introduced him as the major new force in folk music. Innovative lyrics, social relevancy, solid playing, revolution, and that voice that some people have trouble getting used to but that delivers the songs so perfectly--all of this helped define the music of the sixties. Dylan is to folk music what the Beatles are to rock and roll: a redefining iconoclast that changed everything that came after.

Of course, there was no way to know that when this album first surfaced. There was no way to predict how much Dylan would affect all genres of popular music. There was just a collection of great songs. "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." There's anger, frustration, acidic wit, and beauty in these songs and in most of this album.

Sure, Dylan is not always easy to listen to, but that's true of so many great artists. He challenges you to listen and to think, to look below the surface and see the world. Not since Woody Guthrie had the folk music scene been forced to really see like this. Not since Woody Guthrie had folk music sounded this fresh and bitter at the same time.

We'll hear more Dylan in our list, but few of those albums will have exciting vibe of Dylan's breakout effort. I can't listen to this record enough.

Brad's Take:

My dad was right. I was not looking forward to this album. I've never been a real fan of Bob Dylan. Off the top of my head, the only Bob Dylan song I could name is "Blowin' In The Wind" but I have listened to a punk rock cover of it hundreds of times more than I have listened to the original. I won't ever disagree that he's a classic musician, but I just personally haven't been able to get into his music at all before so I went into this very pessimistically. Since that isn't very fair though, I will try to give this an unbiased review...

Bob Dylan's known mainly for his voice and his lyrics. Robert's voice is hard to get used to at first, but I got used to it on this album. Whether you get used to his unique voice or not, there's no denying that his lyrics are great. His lyrics are very politically charged, like every folk album that came out in the 60s.

As a guitar player myself, I was slightly annoyed that Ol' Bobby's guitar was noticeably out of tune on "Down The Highway" and a couple of others. Also, some of the really high harmonica notes he plays almost killed me, like the final drawn out note in "Girl From North Country." I've never been a real fan of the harmonica...

To me, this album sounds like a guy sitting on his front porch, imperfectly playing his slightly out of tune guitar but singing songs from his heart. But Freewheelin' launched Bob Dylan's career instantly, and it was well earned.

Although I was not excited to listen to an entire Bob Dylan album, I found myself to accept it about halfway through. There weren't any songs I loved, or any that I like-liked, but there weren't any songs I hated either. It's not my typical cup of tea, but for what it is, it's great. It's a perfect snapshot of the 60s folk music scene.

"Please Please Me" by the Beatles (March, 1963)

Dad's Take:
"1, 2, 3, 4!" And with that countdown that opened this record, history changed.

How do you review an album whose iconic status is due as much or more in hindsight to what it led to than to its own content? There was no Beatlemania yet. None of the insanity that followed the Beatles everywhere. The Beatles had not yet become a phenomenon in the United States and the rest of the world. There was no British Invasion yet. There were none of the cultural changes with the Beatles at the forefront.

All there was was this British band that had combined skiffle with rock and roll and R&B from the fifties. They dressed a little funny, and their hair was long. Girls and teens liked them. A lot. Their playing and singing was exciting. Electrifying. Nobody could tell at the time just how much better they'd get and how quickly they'd do it.

The only thing you can can compare this album to, really, is Elvis Presley's debut album. Good, but holy cow what it would lead to.

There are great songs here, to be sure. The opener, "I Saw Her Standing There." "Boys." The title track. "P.S. I Love You." "Do You Want To Know A Secret." "Twist and Shout" (so much more exciting than the version on Booker T & The MGs "Green Onions" record). The Beatles had already grown far beyond "Love Me Do" (also included on this album), but what they would do with each succeeding album, produced quickly while they were also spending much of their time on the road, almost defies explanation. In retrospect, much of what was improved upon in later albums is here. But there was no benefit of retrospect when this was released. Just an exciting new sound that those of us who are too young to have experienced it might not ever fully understand.

So, yeah (yeah, yeah), this is a great classic album. But it's only the beginning for the force that would change rock and roll and create the sounds that defined a decade and influenced nearly everything that came after. And that influence went far beyond the music.

Brad's Take:

There's no denying that The Beatles' first album Please Please Me would be classified as a classic. What the Beatles did for rock and roll goes beyond words. They upped the anty in their early years of making simple rock/pop songs, but then they changed the game entirely shortly thereafter when they caught on to Americans ears, and then when they started being more experimental in the studio in the mid 60s.

Please Please Me doesn't sound like a band's first record, but more like a greatest hits album compiled of early songs from their career. They were already ahead of the game. Although a lot of it doesn't sound that much different than earlier classic rock music we've reviewed so far, you can tell that the Beatles had something really special that no one else had at the time, not even Elvis. It's crazy to think that this new young band would become the Beatles that we all know today.

I was going to mention a couple of highlights from this album, but let's be honest, this entire album is a highlight. Every song is golden.

"Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs (October 1962)

(Note: I noticed when I was nearly finished with this one that our MP3 files are misnamed for this album, so any titles that are mentioned, especially in Brad's review, are likely incorrect. For example, when Brad writes about "Mo Onions," he really means "Green Onions." "Stranger on the SHore" is actually "Mo Onions." I hate it when that happens. --Dad.)

Brad's Take:


Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Booker T. and the MGs... Wait, what?! Green Onions??? This obviously came out of complete left field for me. I've never heard of this group before, and I immediately laughed at the ridiculous album name and cover art. I didn't know what to expect before I put it on, but I eventually stopped laughing, sat back, took a deep breath, and hit play...

This isn't what I expected an album called Green Onions would sound like. Booker T. Jones fronts the instrumental R&B band with his trusty organ. His band, his MG's, shines just as much as Booker, but that organ is definitely the loudest instrument on the album showing that it's the true star.

I didn't know what to make of this album for the first few songs. It's just wild organ-lead blues songs that make your foot bounce like crazy. It wasn't until track 4 ("Mo Onions") when I recognized a song. I remember that song being in one of my favorite childhood movies, The Sandlot. I'm just impressed that I actually knew a song from this band! I thought "Stranger On The Shore" was another one I knew, but then I realized it's basically just the same as "Mo Onions." Almost an identical bassline, and the same chord progression.

In the end, I surprisingly really liked this album a lot, for what it was. The organ sound gets a little irritating after a few songs, but fortunately when the headache begins to start, the next song is one that isn't so organ driven. So you have time to let your eardrums heal for a couple minutes. After laughing at the band and album name, and the ridiculous cover, I have learned the ways of Booker T. and the MGs.

Dad's Take:

I, of course, am very familiar with the hit, "Green Onions." I've no doubt heard it hundreds of times. And I know that Booker T and the MGs are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I've also heard them described as the ultimate studio backing band. But I still only know the one song. So I wondered what it was about that band that could possibly place them on a list next to so many other great albums.

I can see why they had so much success as a backing band. They have a tight sound, with excellent musicianship, and an interesting roots-music sound behind that ever-present organ.

It's curious that they put "Green Onions" and the very similar "Mo Onions" on the record. This reminds me of the two versions of "The Banana Boat Song" with different names on the Belafonte album we listened to earlier. I guess two onions are better than one. But I think I need a good, strong breath mint.

If I were to rank all the albums we've listened to so far, this one likely would not finish in the top half. It's not that I don't dig it. These are some excellent blues and R&B jams with some very cool guitar playing, but I guess I prefer my electric organ in smaller doses. I've always liked that early sixties organ sound, but this is an awful lot of a good thing. It's kind of like cake: the first few bites are heavenly, but the rest of the piece is, well, just cake.

"Jazz Samba" by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd (September 1962)

Brad's Take:


Jazz Samba was the first major bossa-nova to come out of America. It hit number 1 on the Billboard Pop Album charts, and even won Stan Getz a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance in 1963 for the song "Desafinado."

Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd make a great team on this album. Stan's sax playing mixed with Charlie's amazing guitar playing make for a very cohesive record. Neither of them step on the others toes, and they compliment each other very well throughout. There's even moments where they let the bass player and drummer have a shot at the spotlight by backing off almost completely to let them jam out some solos.

I've heard one or two Stan Getz albums before this one. They were more bebop sounding, and less bossa-nova sounding. I prefer the classic bebop style over this, I'm afraid, but this still is a great album front to back. Although it's not my typical cup of tea, I wouldn't plug my ears if I heard this in a restaurant.

Dad's Take:

This one is new to me, the first totally unfamiliar album I've listened to for these reviews for a while. Jazz with a samba flavor turns out to be a pretty decent combination. Like Brad, I really like the bass solos on some of these pieces.

"Desifinado," I guess, is the classic track here, but I really like the track, "Samba Dese Days," a fun, upbeat number on which both Getz and Byrd really show their chops. Byrd's guitar solo is just plain amazing. "O Pato" is just as good, although considerably different.

That's the way this album works. Solid track after track, all easy to listen to, and always with that samba backdrop. This might not be my favorite jazz record we've listened to, but it's easy to hear why it's included on this list of classic albums. It's different than anything else I've ever heard, with its (as far as I know) innovative combination of jazz and samba. Although I'm really not a big samba fan, I found this record enjoyable throughout. It would be good background music when I write certain kinds of stories or scenes. It's easy to listen to and enjoyable. I feel like it expanded my musical horizons a bit, helping me realize I like samba more than I thought I did, and I want to listen to this one some more to get to know it better.

What better praise can you give a new record than that?

"Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" by Ray Charles (April 1962)

Dad's Take:

Country music has never had this much soul. As much as I like Ray Charles, I've never given this album its due because Ray is at his best when singing gospel-tinged soul. Well, the laugh was on me. These might be country songs, but Ray still delivers his trademark sound.

You know the title of the album is a little misleading as soon as you hear the opening notes of Ray's take on the Everly's classic "Bye, Bye Love." The highlight for me is the final track, where Ray takes that old standard, "That Lucky Old Sun," and lifts it up among the best of Negro spirituals. Good luck finding a more moving version of that song.

Nobody sings like Ray Charles, and these soulful, brassy, bluesy renditions of country songs are about as soulful as music gets. This is a great album, despite a kind of lame title and less-than-exciting cover.

How can you not share the pain of "I Love You So Much It Hurts"? And who doesn't get a thrill when listening to the classic "I Can't Stop Loving You" and the almost-identical "You Win Again"? This record moves country music out of the honky tonks and into the smoky bars of the "colored" neighborhoods, improving the songs in the process. Even Hank Williams's "Hey, Good Lookin'" becomes a soul classic. As the civil rights movement heated up, I'm sure the rednecks were thrilled to see their music taken over by the guys at the back of the bus. This is a ballsy record, and it works amazingly well. Maybe Ray couldn't eat at the same restaurants, attend the same schools, or drink from the same water fountains, but he could take the most white music of all and give it gospel-tinged soul. And guess what? The whites ate it up. This record was number one for 14 weeks and remained on the chart for almost two years, falling only three weeks short of that mark.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Ray Charles album on our list, and it deserves to be there. This record contains everything good and soulful about Mr. Charles's music, no matter what the title might lead you to believe.

Brad's Take:


When I saw that this was next on our list, I got really excited. I've never listened to a full Ray Charles album before, but I've always wanted to. I didn't know where to begin so I guess this is a good place to start, with a "classic."

The first song, "Bye, Bye Love", kicks the album off with a bang. It's a fast rockin' 2 minute song, made popular by the Everly Brothers. That song leads right into the slower "You Don't Know Me" and this song really shows what this album's all about. It's a mid-tempo song with more soul than a pair of shoes.

Reading about the recording process, it's interesting how Ray picked the songs to do. Apparently, he was given about 250 songs from popular country artists from the time, and then Ray listened to each one to decide which ones he wanted to remake, giving it that Ray Charles flavor.

I never realized how great Ray Charles actually was. I've always known him as a classic artist, but I've never given him a real chance myself. I love his voice on this album. He sounds young and full of raw emotion and soul. Some songs are better than others, but overall this is a solid 3 and a half stars from me.

"West Side Story Original Soundtrack" (October, 1961)

Dad's Take:

From the initial finger-snapping, there's no doubt that this is Bob Fosse (Or "Don Fosse," as I call him when talking to my Fosse-fanatic wife). West Side Story was not just a hit. It was a phenomenon. Bringing modern (at the time) jazz and rock and roll to Broadway with a streetwise, hipster, racially charged twist on Romeo and Juliette, this musical revolutionized Broadway in 1957 and set the charts on fire when the movie was released in 1961. 54 weeks atop the U.S. album chart, and 175 weeks on the chart in Britain, where it also hit number one.

West Side Story is so heavy with jazzy dance numbers that just listening is only a partial experience, even more so than with other musicals. But the music stands out, so that experience, incomplete as it is, is still pretty spectacular. And if you've seen the movie (and, really, who hasn't) your brain will fill in the pictures even if, like me, you don't have every strut and finger snap memorized.

This record was released three months after I was born, but it was still everywhere when I became old enough to notice. I mean, fifty years later it's still hard to avoid, and it's still a moving experience. As silly as the choreographed "fight scene" might seem in our more realistic time, this remains one of the most beloved soundtracks in Broadway history.

Whether it's your cuppa or not, there's no way to deny this album a spot on any list of classic albums. In the history of the long-playing record, there's been very little that can compare with the phenomenal success of this record.

Brad's Take:


I think I am one of the only humans who has seen this movie less than two times. That's right, I've only seen it once. But even after seeing it that one time, I make references to it all the time by hunching over and snapping my fingers, and then slowly moving my arm in front of me like I'm holding a switchblade.

I had forgotten how jazzy the soundtrack was. It's obviously a film score, but I like it a lot, especially with all of the finger snaps. I love how intense some of the songs get. It's the most intense jazz music I've heard. It makes me feel like a mouse getting chased by a cat.

The instrumental songs were my favorites. Like every musical, the songs with the characters singing are cheesy, but it's hard to deny the classics like "I Feel Pretty."

This isn't an album I'd just put on when I'm wanting to listen to music, but for what it is, it's really fun. I feel like saying the name "Maria" over and over and over and over and over now...

"The Soul of Ike & Tina Turner," by Ike & Tina Turner (October, 1961)

Dad's Take

This is Ike & Tina before Phil Spector's pop stylings. This album highlights the soul sound that brought them to fame. Ike had been around since before rock and roll had a name, with such early songs as "Rocket 88," but the smartest move he ever made was teaming up with Tina.

Musically, this album is a lot like Ike's early R&B music, with its roots firmly in the fifties. But it's Tina's vocal power and soul that makes this record a classic. Song after song, whether rocker or ballad, Tina sings, growls, and screams her way into the listener's soul. How can you not believe her sincerity, her feelings, and her pain, when she puts so much into her performances? Even the largely spoken (and less exciting) "Letter From Tina" had me saying, "Yeah, Tina, you're right. I'm sorry. Whatever you say."

Sonically, these aren't the clearest recordings ever. They sound like they're from an older studio. But it really doesn't matter. The somewhat muddy sound of some tracks adds to the grit of Tina's voice. It just wouldn't sound right with pristine digital clarity.

When you listen to this record (and if you haven't, you really should), there is no doubt that Tina is here to stay, that she's a force who will either self-destruct or be around for decades. As it turns out, Ike and Tina's relationship nearly destroyed them both, but Tina survived it and increased her status as a legend.

This early Ike & Tina record shows that Ike's R&B formula still worked, and that Tina is incomparable, in a tiny class with other legendary soul singers like James Brown and very few others.

Turn it up and marvel.

Brad's Take:


Now we're talking! After reviewing a couple albums that I didn't love, this is a breath of fresh air. I'm loving this album.

The opening song "I'm Jealous" is the perfect one to kick off an album like. It introduces you to Tina Turner's incredibly powerful voice right from the beginning. I couldn't help but get a huge smile on my face when she does her loud scratchy screams. It's great!

I love the overall vibe of this album. It's got soul, R&B, and early pop all mixed together to form one fun album from front to back. Ike and Tina really compliment each others styles.

Tina's vocals are my favorite thing about this album though. She has so much emotion and power in her voice that you feel intimidated by her. I'd never want to make her upset. You can tell that she doesn't need anyone else in order for her to shine.