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Urban75 Album of the Year 1963

There's the first Davey Graham album
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which is a bit disappointing. More jazz/blues end and with a drummer who isn't quite on the same page IMO. Relatively pedestrian but still well worth a listen.

More exciting on the solo guitar front is Argentine Eduardo Falú's Solos de guitarra por Eduardo Falú

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Real virtuoso and inventive and lyrical with it.
 
Lots of blues picks this year, I'll try and go through them. The one that catches my eye is Big Joe Williams Blues on Highway 49.

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Solo delta blues. Physical harsh sound like a force of nature.
 
Quick blues round up.

Jimmy Witherspoon's baby, baby, baby is as cool, smoky, urban and jazzy as you can expect. Give this a listen if you get a chance.
Lightnin' Hopkins Goin' Away is exactly what you'd expect from him. It doesn't matter, the formula works and for me Lightnin's records are the most chill thing out.
John Lee Hooker's Don't Turn Me From Your Door: John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues is a compilation (which I don't think I'm going to allow) of 50's material and shows his range of style. 50's Hooker is where it's at he'd lost a bit of the grit by 1963 as can be heard on the soul-blues crossover The Big Soul of John Lee Hooker
I'm not familiar with Koerner, Ray & Glover but Blues, Rags and Hollers is a revivalist exploration of blues, country, folk and work songs. Great stuff but bordering on redundant.
BB King's Blues in My Heart is relatively stripped back for BB King. Good but not exceptional.
Another rediscovery/revival from the 20's is Sleepy John Estes The Legend of. I think he's great but this does sound like they've dragged him out of retirement against his will here.
 
Let's look at some apalacian folk

Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson at folk City

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Maybe not on the same page as each other but both brilliant in their own right. But away your Bob Dylan, this is the real thing.

Kentucky Colonels - The New Sound of Bluegrass America
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Bluegrass. Does exactly what it says on the tin tremendously well.

Hedy West accompanying herself on the 5 string banjo

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I'm a sucker for solo singers/plucked string players. Polished, confident and powerful. Strongly recommend this one.

The Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina

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Just look at it. You know its going to be brilliant. Musicianship is great, the singing all over the place and the result is riotous. And then they get it together a sing a close harmony ballad like you can only imagine in your dreams. They would have put on an amazing show.

Two New Lost City Ramblers albums.

Gone to Country

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Volume 5

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If I have to choose (and I do) I would pick the second of these. Cleaner recording for dirtier fiddling sound.
 
Los Incas



Is this the best version of El Condor Pasa?

(Apart from the version by the forementioned Eduardo Falú)
 
I think the only 1963 albums I'm halfway familiar with are The Freewheelin', Live at the Apollo, and A Christmas Gift for You, so I'm opting out of this one.
 
Regulars may remember that wonderful electronic album from Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltam from 1959. Well here's a 1963 release from the former. It's cool. Spacey.

 
Aram Khachaturian conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing music from his ballets Spartacus & Gayaneh, think this was recorded 1962, released 1963.
 
That's got to be pretty truncated versions of those to fit on one LP. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
I'm dimly aware of these childrens records from Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson. The first is from 1963.



It's a very odd thing with Haack's homemade electronica accompanying spoken word stories with small bouts of singing. It's a very interesting combination, it sounds quite tinny and alien in a way that I imagine is not especially welcoming to children. But that makes it all the more fascinating.

Play your pots and pans along with the music.

The holy shit album of the year.
 
Soundtrack to Summer Holiday



Like with other Cliff Richard records, the bits featuring The Shadows are fantastic. But that's just half the record. Still Toe Tapper.
 
Elmer Bernstein's soundtrack to the Great Escape



Needless to the the theme tune is a firmer part of the British cultural bedrock than any tune you can think of. In the context of the film, it's fantastic of course. In the context of football chants, it conveys instant meaning. An absolute phenomenon. But listening to it on your own as a context free music album it's a bit awkward - like you're missing the point.
 
Nino Rota's soundtrack to 8 1/2. An extraordinary film that the soundtrack is key component of, I find watching it like watching a ballet in certain scenes. But again as an album, the sound without the sights - it's an oddly eclectic collection of music with moments of brilliance.

 
Well we have 5 contestants. Some firm favourites and some interesting overlaps. That's a competition. We have lift off. Would like some more votes though. Any stragglers wanting an extension? Any small lists of three or maybe even two or one?

Lots of contributions to the thread but no votes from ska invita and zahir .
 
Jacques Brel - Les Bigotes

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Can't let 1963 pass without mentioning The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie, which stormed the US charts in the weeks after the JFK shooting. The ultimate 60s garage rock tune.



Rumours swirled of obscene lyrics. Parents and politicians were outraged. The matter was referred to the FCC who concluded the song was "unintelligible at any speed", but that did nothing to quell the hysteria. The case was referred to the FBI, who spent 31 months investigating the song at their laboratory. They too concluded that the lyrics "could not be interpreted". The actual lyrics are probably the same as any of the other versions of the song released since it was first recorded in 1956.

The Kingsmen album that followed is the single plus a sludgy live recording from after Louie Louie vocalist Jack Ely had left the band, which is only really of interest if you're deep into garage rock.
 
Spandex said:
Can't let 1963 pass without mentioning The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie, which stormed the US charts in the weeks after the JFK shooting. The ultimate 60s garage rock tune.



Rumours swirled of obscene lyrics. Parents and politicians were outraged. The matter was referred to the FCC who concluded the song was "unintelligible at any speed", but that did nothing to quell the hysteria. The case was referred to the FBI, who spent 31 months investigating the song at their laboratory. They too concluded that the lyrics "could not be interpreted". The actual lyrics are probably the same as any of the other versions of the song released since it was first recorded in 1956.

The Kingsmen album that followed is the single plus a sludgy live recording from after Louie Louie vocalist Jack Ely had left the band, which is only really of interest if you're deep into garage rock.
Click to expand...

Garage rock is the film noir genre of music
 
10 -Thomas Dissevelt - Fantasy in Orbit


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What a fantastic piece of electronica! That 60's electro-acoustic heft but lush and bits of it sound like they're from 10 years later. Strangely overlooked figure I think and I'm proud we got it into the top 10.

PS Ooh look it's on bandcamp.
 
9 - Roy Orbison - In Dreams

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To be a bit harsh Orbison was a fairly average rock 'n' roller until he took crooning to operatic levels. Not just the title track either. If anybody asks you who the GOAT singer and song writer was the answer is Roy Orbison.
 
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