The Top 25 1960s Folk-Rock Albums: A Subjective List of Personal Faves
1. The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man
2. Love, Forever Changes
3. Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again
4. The Byrds, Greatest Hits
5. Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield
6. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
7. The Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow (half folk-rock and half psychedelic, but we can count it, can't we?)
8. The Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday
9. Skip Spence, Oar
10.The Bluethings, Story Vol. 2 [LP version]
11.The Beau Brummels, Best of the Beau Brummels
12.Fairport Convention, Heyday
13.Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell
14.Fred Neil, The Many Sides of Fred Neil
15.Donovan, Sunshine Superman
16.The Lovin' Spoonful, Anthology
17.Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello
18.The Leaves, ...Are Happening! The Best of the Leaves
19.Donovan, Summer Day's Reflection Song
20.Pentangle, Basket of Light
21.Dino Valenti, Dino Valente
22.Richard & Mimi Fariña, The Best of Richard & Mimi Fariña
23.Fred Neil, Bleecker & MacDougal
24.Kaleidoscope, Rampe Rampe
25.The Byrds, The Preflyte Sessions
Honorable Mention: Fairport Convention, Fairport Convention
The 25 Most Important 1960s Folk-Rock Albums (judged by historical significance and impact upon 1960s popular music):
1. The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man
2. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
3. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
4. Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde
5. The Byrds, Greatest Hits
6. Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield (double-LP anthology)
7. Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home
8. Simon & Garfunkel, The Columbia Studio Recordings 1964-1970
9. Donovan, Troubadour: The Definitive Collection 1964-1976
10.The Lovin' Spoonful, Anthology
11.The Mamas & Papas, Creeque Alley
12.Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding
13.The Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow
14.Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills & Nash
15.Fairport Convention, What We Did on Our Holidays
16.Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen
17.Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
18.Gordon Lightfoot, The United Artists Collection
19.Bob Dylan, Live 1966: The Royal Albert Hall Concert
20.Bob Dylan, The Basement Tapes Vol. 1-5 (bootleg series)
21.The Beau Brummels, The Best of the Beau Brummels
22.Joni Mitchell, Clouds
23.Pentangle, Sweet Child
24.Love, Forever Changes
25.Fred Neil, The Many Sides of Fred Neil
Twenty-one Important "Pre-Folk-Rock" Albums: The Music That Helped Pave the Way For Folk-Rock
1. The Byrds, The Preflyte Sessions
2. Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
3. The Searchers, Greatest Hits
4. The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night
5. The Beau Brummels, Introducing the Beau Brummels
6. Jackie DeShannon, What the World Needs Now...The Definitive Collection
7. Fred Neil, Bleecker and MacDougal
8. Richard & Mimi Farina, Celebrations for a Grey Day
9. Ian & Sylvia, Northern Journey
10.The Beatles, Beatles for Sale
11.Peter & Gordon, The EP Collection
12.Tim Hardin, This Is Tim Hardin
13.Dion, The Road I'm On: A Retrospective
14.Judy Henske, High Flying Bird
15.Judy Collins, #3
16.The Springfields, Over the Hills & Far Away
17.Various Artists, Before They Were the Mamas & the Papas...The Magic Circle
18.The Mugwumps, The Mugwumps: An Historic Recording
19. Davy Graham, Folk, Blues & Beyond
20. Jesse Colin Young, Young Blood
21. Gale Garnett, We'll Sing in the Sunshine
The Twelve Most Important Folk-Rock Songs
1. The Byrds: "Mr. Tambourine Man." The mid-1965 #1 hit single that truly made folk-rock a phenomenon, socially, artistically, and commercially. The ideal combination of the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
2. Bob Dylan: "Like a Rolling Stone." The biggest and hardest-rocking hit by folk-rock's most noted (and covered) songwriter.
3. The Byrds: "Turn! Turn! Turn!" Another #1 single by the Byrds. A cover of a Pete Seeger song that was the ideal marriage of rock with a progressive social conscience. The song that, as the critical phrase went, rocked the Bible and got away with it.
4. Simon & Garfunkel: "The Sound of Silence." Not just Paul Simon's first great song, but the most canny realization of how a good acoustic folk song could be made over into an electric folk-rock hit, in this case through the literal overdubbing of electric instruments onto an acoustic recording.
5. Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth." The most memorable protest folk-rock song of the 1960s.
6. The Mamas & the Papas: "California Dreamin'." The most pleasing overtly commercial manifestation of folk-rock, the harmonies and beguiling melody resulting in the group's first big hit.
7. The Lovin' Spoonful: "Do You Believe in Magic?" Folk-rock at its happiest, on the song that introduced the Lovin' Spoonful to a wide audience.
8. Donovan, "Sunshine Superman." The track that not only fully moved Donovan from acoustic to electric music, but also helped trigger psychedelic rock.
9. The Beatles, "Norwegian Wood." Undoubtedly the Beatles' greatest lyrical triumph during their folk-rock phase.
10. Judy Collins, "Both Sides Now." The most graceful mass folk-rock smash of the late 1960s, an example par excellence of an original early 1960s folkie growing into the folk-rock revolution with maturity, and the track that first enabled a Joni Mitchell song to reach most ears.
11. The Youngbloods, "Get Together." Many artists covered Dino Valenti's classic ode to love and brotherhood, including the We Five, the Jefferson Airplane, and (in live performance) Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. The Youngbloods were not the first to do it, but they were the ones to have the biggest hit with the song, and deservedly so, as their slow arrangement and Jesse Colin Young's vocals brought out the most rousing, soulful qualities of the tune.
12. Country Joe & the Fish, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag." The funniest, and most vicious, anti-Vietnam War protest song. Not always thought of as a folk-rock song, but it should be noted that -- in addition to boasting a psychedelic jugband flavor -- it was first recorded as an acoustic jugband folk tune on a 1965 EP, prior to the release of the famous rock version two years later on the group's second album.
Seventeen Crucial Behind-the-Scenes Architects of Folk-Rock
1. Jim Dickson: Early manager of the Byrds, and producer of their electric demos in 1964 (now available on The Preflyte Sessions). The one who gave them nearly unlimited studio time to learn their electric instruments and perfect their harmonies, the one who brought bluegrass musician Chris Hillman into the band on bass, and the one who suggested the group cover "Mr. Tambourine Man." The Byrds probably would have never happened without him.
2. Tom Wilson: The producer at the helm when Bob Dylan made his transition from acoustic folk to electric rock music, helping to facilitate the change by overdubbing electric instruments on Dylan's acoustic version of "House of the Rising Sun" as an illustration of the possibilities (unreleased at the time, this later came out on a Dylan CD-ROM). He later did the same thing, this time resulting in a #1 hit, for Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." Also the producer for Dion's overlooked folk-rockish recordings of the mid-1960s.
3. Bob Johnston: Columbia producer. Behind the boards for Bob Dylan's 1960s recordings from the middle of the decade onward. Also produced Simon & Garfunkel, Dino Valenti, and Johnny Cash.
4. Jac Holzman: Founder and president of Elektra Recordings, often doing production for the discs as well. Elektra was home of several of the 1960s most important folk singer-songwriters and folk-rockers, including Judy Collins, Love, Tim Buckley, and Phil Ochs.
5. Joe Boyd: Although American, he was the key non-musician in the evolution of British folk-rock, as producer and overall mentor for Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, and Nick Drake.
6. Albert Grossman: Manager of Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Ian & Sylvia, the Band, Janis Joplin, and others.
7. Lou Adler: Co-founder of Dunhill Records and, as producer for the Mamas & the Papas and Barry McGuire, the visionary behind folk-rock at its most commercial. Also the co-producer, with the Mamas & the Papas' John Phillips, of the Monterey Pop Festival.
8. Bruce Langhorne: Session guitarist who played on early (and often the first) first folk-rock records of Bob Dylan, Richard & Mimi Farina, Fred Neil, Richie Havens, Gordon Lightfoot, and others.
9. Sis Cunningham & Gordon Freisen: The husband-and-wife team that co-founded Broadside, the magazine that helped give major 1960s songwriters -- and future folk-rockers -- Bob Dylan, Janis Ian, Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, the Fugs, Phil Ochs, and Richard Farina their start by printing their songs and in some instances making some of their early recordings.
10. Paul Rothchild: Elektra Records producer for Love, Fred Neil, Tim Buckley, Phil Ochs, Paul Butterfield, and eventually the Doors.
11. Terry Melcher: Producer of the Byrds' first albums.
12. Shel Talmy: Far more famous as the producer of the early hits by the Kinks and the Who, but also a major contributor to British folk-rock as producer for the Pentangle, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, and Ralph McTell.
13. Nik Venet (sometimes spelled Nick Venet): In the late 1960s, producer of laid-back folk-rockers and antecedents of Southern California country-rock and soft rock, including Fred Neil, Hearts and Flowers, Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys, and John Stewart.
14. Erik Jacobsen: Folk banjo player turned producer, he produced the earliest and best recordings by the Lovin' Spoonful and Tim Hardin, as well as some obscure folk-rock by the Charlatans, Jerry Yester, and a pre-Mamas and the Papas Cass Elliot.
15. Bill Lee: Bassist for innumerable folk records of the early and mid-1960s, including ones for Ian & Sylvia, Judy Collins, and Odetta, popularizing the concept of adding accompaniment to folk sessions. Also filmmaker Spike Lee's father.
16. Herb Cohen: Manager for Judy Henske, Fred Neil, Tim Buckley, Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys, and the Modern Folk Quartet.
17. Naomi Hirshhorn: Invested $5,000 for a five percent interest in the then-unknown Byrds as they were starting, enabling them to finally buy state-of-the-art instruments, including a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar for Roger McGuinn, a Fender bass for Chris Hillman (who was previously using a cheap Japanese bass) and a full drum kit for Michael Clark (who was previously using cardboard boxes!).
Twenty-Two Great Overlooked Folk-Rock Songs
Phil Ochs, "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" (1966 electric single version). Ochs had previously done this protest classic as a solo acoustic track. For a 1966 non-LP single, it was totally redone as a galvanizing electric number, with bursts of bagpipes at the beginning and end, and roadhouse piano runs throughout. Inexplicably only released in England, this could have been a hit if it had been promoted properly.
The Byrds, "I Knew I'd Want You." The B-side of "Mr. Tambourine Man," this is one of many gorgeously melodic, sensitively sung early Byrds songs written by Gene Clark that could have qualified for this list.
Bob Dylan, "If You Gotta Go, Go Now." Recorded in January 1965, but only released as a European single in 1967, and then later (in an alternate take) on his Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3box. A great hard-rocking number with an infectious chorus that could have been a big hit. (And in fact a pop-oriented cover by Manfred Mann got to #2 in 1965 in Britain; an even more unlikely French-language cover by Fairport Convention, "Si Tu Dois Partir," made #21 in the UK in 1969.) The decision not only not to put it out as a single, but not to release it at all, is one of many such curious decisions on the part of Dylan and Columbia throughout the singer's career. Incidentally, Manfred Mann and Fairport Convention were not the only well-known performers to give the song an airing. Warren Zevon, as half of the folk-rockish duo Lyme & Cybelle, covered it on an obscure 1966 single that seemed to be trying its hardest to make it into a clapalong good-time pop song, while the Flying Burrito Brothers put it on their second album.
The Jefferson Airplane, "Today." Perhaps the greatest folk-rock ballad ever, and a hit single that should have been, but never got released as a 45. From their classic Surrealistic Pillow album, with Jerry Garcia contributing guitar.
Fred Neil, "The Dolphins." The greatest song by the singer-songwriter most known for "Everybody's Talkin'," mixing oceanic dolphin imagery with allusions to failed love.
Judy Collins, "Hard Lovin' Loser." Yet another hit single that should have been, from her In My Life album. A great cover of a Richard & Mimi Farina song with an ascending harpsichord riff, barrelhouse honky-tonk piano, and convincing rock'n'roll vocals that totally outdistances the original.
Richard & Mimi Farina, "Reno Nevada." The husband-and-wife duo's best song, a moody meditation on loss and chance, with a hypnotic minor-key melody and winding, wordless backup vocals by Mimi Farina. Later covered masterfully by Fairport Convention in the late 1960s for the BBC.
The Bluethings, "Doll House." With its veiled references to the sad life of a prostitute, the best song from the only album by Kansas' Bluethings, the great lost folk-rock band. Guaranteed to appeal to fans of the mid-1960s Byrds and Beau Brummels.
Tim Buckley, "No Man Can Find the War." The opening track of his 1967 album Goodbye and Hello, and one of the great anti-war songs of all time, right from the atomic explosion that opens the cut.
The Beau Brummels, "Sad Little Girl." A bolero-like ballad with ringing guitar riffs and
enchanting harmonies from that most haunting of folk-rock groups.
Dion, "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You." A cover of an obscure early Bob Dylan song, recorded in September 1965, but sadly unreleased until the 1991 CD compilation Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings (1962-1965). A terrific blues-rock performance by Dion, produced by Dylan producer Tom Wilson, who from the sound of the track may well have employed some of the same musicians who played on Dylan's first electric sessions.
Ian & Sylvia, "You Were on My Mind." Not quite but almost folk-rock, the original version of the song covered for a huge pop hit in 1965 by the We Five. Written by the duo's Sylvia Fricker, the original is a far earthier performance, with the pair's trademark moving harmonies, an autoharp, and an almost gospelly earnestness.
Blackburn & Snow, "Stranger in a Strange Land." Written by David Crosby, though credited to the pseudonym Samuel F. Omar, this great haunting close-harmony jangler was recorded by this male-female San Francisco duo in early 1966. Unfortunately it wasn't issued until the beginning of 1967, as an obscure Verve single. Blackburn & Snow never issued an album during their lifetime, but a fine compilation of their two singles and many unreleased tracks, Something Good for Your Head,is now available as a Big Beat CD.
Jim & Jean, "Strangers in a Strange Land." Believe it or not, a totally different song than the nearly identically titled one by Blackburn & Snow described above, although Jim & Jean were also a male-female folk-rock duo. It too, however, is a magnificent bittersweet tune with close harmonies, recorded (like Blackburn & Snow's track) around 1966. This one was written by another folk-rock David, David Blue, though the composition is credited to his real name, David Cohen; it was a darn sight better than anything on Blue's self-titled, mid-1960s Dylan photocopy LP, David Blue, also released in 1966.Taken together, both songs present an argument for Robert A. Heinlein, author of the classic science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land , as one of the great lost influences on folk-rock. Just kidding...
P.F. Sloan, "I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth." A superb, rare non-LP single by the underrated author of "Eve of Destruction," never reissued to my knowledge. A delicate yet forceful ballad of love that never bloomed, underscored by an arrangement with beautiful cello, strings, vibes, and standup bass.
Fairport Convention, "Suzanne." Recorded for the BBC in August 1968, but never done for Fairport's proper studio albums, and only released until the Heyday compilation of late-1960s BBC sessions nearly twenty years later. A stunning interpretation with great alternation between harmonies and male-female solo turns, as well as dramatic guitar work. The album, incidentally, is full of such relatively hidden goodies, including covers of songs by the Everly Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Eric Andersen, Gene Clark, Bob Dylan, and Richard & Mimi Fariña's "Reno, Nevada," the original of which is mentioned elsewhere on this list.
The Avengers, "Open Your Eyes." Not exactly folk-rock in the classic formal sense, but if there's a better obscure mid-1960s garage rock single with a heavy Byrds influence in the guitars and harmonies, I'd like to hear it. Initially released on the tiny Current label, and reissued more than once on '60s garage compilations, most recently on Ya Gotta Have Moxie Vol. 1.
Sandy Denny & the Strawbs, "And You Need Me." From the album done during Denny's brief stint with the Strawbs, recorded in 1967 but unissued until 1973. A great catchy folk-rock ballad with some melodic resemblance to the Beatles' "If I Fell," if you can imagine that, from the pen of Strawbs mainstay Dave Cousins. When this album came out on Hannibal in the early 1990s, some tracks had orchestral overdubs, including this one; it's better (and harder) to find the unoverdubbed original.
The Belfast Gypsies, "Baby Blue" (aka "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"). Perhaps the best virtually unknown Bob Dylan cover of the 1960s. The Belfast Gypsies were a Van Morrison-less spinoff of Them, who had done their own version of this same song, with Morrison on lead vocals. If Morrison or a comparable lead singer had taken lead vocals on the Belfast Gypsies' version, it would be a classic, but even so this is an amazingly taut, tense interpretation with an ultra-catchy, intricate guitar riff.
The Rising Storm, "Frozen Laughter." From the very obscure 1967 Calm Before album, a beautiful hazy psychedelic folk-rock ballad, somewhat reflecting the influence of early Love songs such as "Mushroom Clouds." Recorded by prep school kids on the album they privately pressed as souvenirs of sorts for them, their friends, and their graduating class, this serves as evidence of just how far and wide the tentacles of the folk-rock movement reached.
The 13th Floor Elevators, "Splash 1." Known more for garage-psychedelic dementia than folk-rock, the 13th Floor Elevators did have ties to the Austin, Texas folk scene. They were never put to better use than on "Splash 1," a folk-rocker of shimmering melodic beauty from their debut album, with eerily psychedelic yet romantic lyrics. There's also a fine, somewhat more forceful live 1966 recording of the song that has shown up on several releases (such as Live at the Avalon, 1966 ), and a good acoustic version of the tune by lead singer Roky Erickson and co-composer Clementine Hall.
Donovan, "Celeste." The most beautiful composition from the bard of beautiful psychedelic folk-rock ballads, from his best album, Sunshine Superman. What possible reason could there have been for excluding this from his Troubadour: The Definitive Compilation anthology?
The Mamas & the Papas, "Got a Feelin'." Not that obscure, perhaps. But relative to the Mamas & the Papas' numerous hits, this early track, from their debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (and also placed on the B-side of "monday, Monday), is somewhat overlooked. This is folk-rock at its most lovely and haunting, in the restrained yet angelic female vocals, shimmering flecks of reverb guitar, counterpoint harmonies, ticking-clock rhythms, and a lyric that, better than any other of the group's songs, captured the melancholy ambivalence and impermanence of relationships at the dawn of the free-love era.
Yet More Overlooked Obscure Folk-Rock Albums
If you've made it this far down the page, you are either thinking: Enough! Or, hopefully: More! What about some more folk-rock I haven't heard, you may be saying? So here are some interesting, rather (or very) little-known folk-rock albums, all from the 1960s, that didn't quite fit into any of the above lists, but are certainly worth a listen:
Blackburn & Snow, Something Good for Your Head
Fapardokly, Fapardokly (would have made personal fave list, except only about half of it's folk-rock)
P.F. Sloan, Anthology
Jim & Jean, Changes
Dan Hicks, Early Muses
Eclection, Eclection
Hearts and Flowers, The Complete Hearts and Flowers Collection
The Gentle Soul, The Gentle Soul
The Stone Poneys, The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt
Nico, Chelsea Girl (if it ain't quite folk-rock, it comes damn close)
The Rising Sons, Rising Sons FeaturingTaj Mahal and Ry Cooder
The Gosdin Brothers, Sounds of Goodbye
Melanie (yes, Melanie), Melanie
Satya Sai Maitreya Kali, Apache/Inca (Note: the two albums combined onto this CD reissue originally came out in the early 1970s, but almost certainly were largely or wholly recorded in the mid-to-late 1960s)
The Daily Flash, I Flash Daily (side one)
Marianne Faithfull, North Country Maid
The Dillards, Copperfields
The Strawbs, The Strawbs
Townes Van Zandt, For the Sake of the Song
The Johnstons, Give a Damn/Bitter Green
Steve Young, Rock, Salt & Nails
Important Unreleased 1960s Folk-Rock
All right, now we're getting to the hardest of the hardcore folk-rock collectibles: Music that has still never found official release. It might not be the best music done by these artists, but it's pretty good, and quite historically important. Will it ever come out? Well, Bob Dylan's 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert (which was actually not at Royal Albert Hall) finally came out, didn't it? And since this list was first composed and put up on this site, one item's actually been released (P.F. Sloan's mid-1960s demos), with the long-awaited Buffalo Springfield box set scheduled for release in July, and rumors of unreleased Nick Drake hitting the shops soon. And Neil Young has been promising so many unreleased early solo goodies on his archival box set for so long that their actual appearance would be an anti-climax! Here's to multi-CD box sets of unreleased Jackie DeShannon demos...
Bob Dylan, The Basement Tapes Vol. 1-5. This would probably head many lists of the most important unreleased music of any kind, period. An exhaustive, five-volume CD retrospective of the music made by Bob Dylan and the then-unnamed band in 1967, most of which does not show up on the official The Basement Tapes collection in any form. These CDs even provided the basis for an entire scholarly book, Greil Marcus' Invisible Republic.
Buffalo Springfield, Stampede. Sometimes referred to as a missing Buffalo Springfield album from 1967, that's really not quite accurate, although a sleeve bearing this title was printed (and not used). Actually, the Buffalo Springfield bootlegs bearing this name feature a variety of studio outtakes, all good and some great (including some alternate versions and solo acoustic demos), laid down by the band in 1966-67. These are in turn usually augmented by a few fair-fidelity but enjoyable live 1967 tracks, done during one of the periods when Neil Young was not in the band. (Most of the material on Stampede was issued on the Buffalo Springfield Box Set in mid-2001.)
Joni Mitchell, Second Fret Sets: 1966-1968. There are quite a few unreleased late-1960s solo acoustic tapes of Mitchell floating around. This double-CD bootleg is a good place to start, with live versions of numerous early outstanding compositions from her first pair of albums, as well as a number of good original tunes that never made it onto those albums, particularly "Eastern Rain" (covered by Fairport Convention) and "Urge for Going," as well as a cover of Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain."
Paul Simon, live in England, circa June 1965. A fairly good quality tape of Paul Simon, playing solo during the year or so he lived and worked in England, prior to Simon & Garfunkel's first hit. This was reported to have been recorded at a party after a show in Exeter in June 1965. Simon plays a lot of material that would appear on early S&G LPs, including "Kathy's Song," "April Come She Will," "I Am a Rock," and "The Sound of Silence," the last of which deservedly excites a zealous ovation from the onlookers at its conclusion. It's also interesting to hear Simon interrupt himself mid-song to castigate someone talking loudly in the audience, and perform an otherwise unreleased song, "Northern Line." Of the several Simon & Garfunkel bootlegs that have come out, incidentally, the most interesting is Village Vanguard, mixing three 1966-67 studio outtakes with various TV, live, and BBC tapes from 1966-69. Also worthy is the 71-minute, professionally recorded disc of a 1968 Hollywood Bowl concert (issued under various titles), in which the two played acoustic and unaccompanied, as they usually did in live performances.
Neil Young, Elektra demos, late 1965. Recorded in Elektra Records' studio in New York, which might make the session appear more impressive than it actually was. These seven solo acoustic tracks, Young has recalled, were sung into an old tape recorder on a metal chair. Nonetheless, these seven songs -- which have appeared on numerous bootlegs -- are undeniable evidence of his blossoming talent as an outstanding songwriter, with early versions of "Sugar Mountain" and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing"; parts of another, "The Rent Is Always Due," would evolve into "I Am a Child."
Fairport Convention, A Chronicle of Sorts, 1967-1969. This boot has no less than 22 songs from BBC and television broadcasts that not only were not released, but don't even appear on the excellent official studio compilation of 1960s Fairport BBC sessions, Heyday. Fidelity is quite variable, but at the least listenable and sometimes good. Includes lots of covers never recorded by Fairport on their studio records of the era: Eric Andersen's "Violet of Dawn," Joni Mitchell's "Night in the City" and "Marcie," Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory," and even a brief send-up of the Doors' "Light My Fire." The long version of "Reno, Nevada" is different from the one on Heyday, with some excellent extended soloing by Richard Thompson.
Sandy Denny, Dark the Night. True, half of this 19-song bootleg was done in the early 1970s, and the half that was done in the 1960s is solo acoustic. Still, an excellent document of extra-studio solo material by one of the great folk-rock singers, including a couple of 1966 BBC tracks, eight 1966 home demos, and more BBC items from 1972-73 (which surfaced on the briefly available legit Strange Fruit comp The BBC Sessions 1971-1973). A few more obscure late-1960s solo demos, including covers of Fred Neil's "A Little Bit of Rain," appear on the Australian Friends of Fairport cassette The Attic Tracks Vol. 3, and it would be great to see these and other early Denny rarities make it into wider circulation.
Sandy Denny, Borrowed Thyme. Yet more Sandy Denny! And who are we to complain, even if this 2001 bootleg -- which, unbelievably, repeats absolutely nothing from the Dark the Night bootleg described above -- is entirely devoted to 1966-68 demos and BBC cuts that are truly acoustic folk, rather than folk-rock. The fidelity is erratic but generally quite acceptable, and includes some obscure Denny originals (according to the songwriting credits) and solo versions of songs that she would redo in more famous studio versions, like "Fotheringay" and "She Møves Through the Fair."
Jackie DeShannon, Metric Music Demo LP May 27, 1965. In 1964-65, DeShannon made five LPs of demos for Metric Music, almost certainly intended for circulation within the publishing and recording industry to solicit possible cover versions. All of them are actually listed, with track listings and catalog #s, in the discography with DeShannon's EMI CD compilation What the World Needs Now Is...Jackie DeShannon: The Definitive Collection. From a folk-rock historian's viewpoint, the most interesting of these is the one given the date May 27, 1965 in that discography. These dozen solo acoustic demos feature her blooming from an expert pop-rocker to a more serious and personal, very folk-influenced singer-songwriter, with early versions of "Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe" (covered by the Byrds) on their first LP, "With You in Mind" (covered by Marianne Faithfull), and "Splendor in the Grass."
Nick Drake, The Complete Home Recordings. Perhaps this would not be so remarkable if not for Drake's eventual emergence as one of the most popular cult rockers (there's an oxymoron for you) on the planet, and the hunger for just about anything he recorded, since he only released three albums (plus one posthumous outtakes compilation). Recorded at the end of 1967 at his family's home, the fidelity is lo-fi but bearable, and gives us a chance to hear Drake as he sounded prior to his recording contract. The influence of Bert Jansch and Donovan were much more prevalent than they would be on his proper albums, both on the original compositions and odd covers of items like "Summertime," "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," "Get Together," and "Cocaine Blues." A couple of home recordings from this time did show up on the official Time of No Reply release, and there have been reports that some or all of the home recordings on this bootleg might find official release in 2001.
P.F. Sloan, mid-1960s demos. Sloan recorded several dozen (at the minimum) unreleased demos in the mid-1960s. A CD compilation of many but not all of them was scheduled by Varese Sarabande in the late 1990s, but failed to appear. Not all of them are folk-rock -- some would be much more comfortably categorized as pop-rock -- but there are a good number of quality folk-rockish tunes in this batch, including "Miss Charlotte," "Child of Our Time," and "Autumn." Not all of these are the kind of underproduced numbers you might expect from demos; quite a few have full band arrangements that are totally up to the standards associated with final studio releases. (Note: Twenty of these demos appeared in spring 2001 on the fine official Varese Sarabande compilation Child of Our Times: The Trousdale Demo Sessions 1965-1967.)
The Jefferson Airplane, August 5, 1967, live in Toronto. There are several fine unreleased live tapes and bootlegs of the Airplane from 1966 and 1967, the time in which they were most folk-rocky. This one is my favorite, but there are others from late 1966 that are quite good as well. The later you go in the 1966-67 span, the more psychedelic the set veers (which isn't at all a bad thing), but superb original folk-rockers like "Today," "It's No Secret," and "Go to Her," as well as covers like Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life," Billy Wheeler's "High Flying Bird," and Donovan's "Fat Angel," were also mainstays of their shows.
David Bowie, The Beckenham Oddity. David Bowie?! Folk-rock? Yep, or close enough at any rate to deserve mention here. Probably recorded in early 1969, this unreleased acoustic tape, since bootlegged (usually under the title The Beckenham Oddity ), documents the brief period when Bowie, with singer-guitarist accompanist John Hutchinson, sounded something like a British Simon & Garfunkel. Bowie takes most of the vocal leads, with frequent harmonies by Hutchinson, on this nine-song set, recorded to solicit interest from Mercury Records. There are "unplugged" versions of several of the better songs that would show up on his 1969-1970 recordings, including "An Occasional Dream," "Letter to Hermione," "Janine," "Conversation Piece," and of course "Space Oddity," as well as some rarer items known primarily to Bowiephiles. Despite wobbly low fidelity, it's charming, tuneful, affecting, and, well, sincere -- an adjective you wouldn't often use for Bowie's work. Only "Space Odditiy" has seen official release (on a box set) from this batch, and since the sound is vastly superior on that official release, one hopes that the entire set exists in similar superior fidelity, and wonders if it will ever be issued in its entirety.
Dino Valenti, unreleased Dick Charles Recording Service acetate, 1961. Yes, this predates folk-rock by a few years, and these seven songs are solo acoustic folk, not folk-rock. Still, it's a document of how one of the most important folk-rock precursors sounded in the early 1960s, notable for his intense guitar drumming and dramatic balladeering vocal delivery on traditional material such as "Wayfaring Stranger." In his autobiography, Richie Havens says that there are two unreleased Valenti solo albums from the early 1960s; all of this material would make interesting listening for aficionados. And if you've read this entire list, you must be an aficionado, right?
They Just Missed...Ten Important Folk-Rock Albums of 1970
You've got to cut off a mammoth study somewhere, and my history of 1960s folk-rock history does actually end at the end of 1969, though a few albums of special importance from 1970 are discussed. Folk-rock, of course, has continued to be an element of rock music through the present, and was still a strong though diminishing force in rock as the 1970s began. Here are ten important 1970 folk-releases, or at least releases that were very strongly folk-rock-flavored, that came out just too late to qualify for the 1960s best-of lists. They're listed in order of my personal preference, rather than their actual influence/impact:
Nick Drake, Bryter Later
Neil Young, After the Gold Rush
Fotheringay, Fotheringay
Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Deja Vu
The Grateful Dead, American Beauty
The Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead
Steeleye Span, Hark the Village Wait
James Taylor, Sweet Baby James
Bob Dylan, New Morning
And honorable mention for most interesting unknown folk-rock release of 1970: Linda Perhacs, Parallelograms.
And another honorable mention for the most interesting unknown unreleased folk-rock of 1970, even if the artist might not have conceived of it as folk-rock: George Harrison's All Things Must Pass-era demos, performed solo on guitar, and issued on bootlegs with different titles, such as Beware of Abkco.
Oh Yes They Did...Unlikely Folk-Rockers
For a day, a month, or at least one record, quite a few performers who were never identified with folk-rock tried their hand at the style, with results ranging from rather impressive to quite awful. Here are some of them, on a list bound to expand as research continues...
Glen Campbell, "The Universal Soldier." Before becoming an MOR pop star, Campbell actually chalked up some decent rock credentials, including a stint as a touring Beach Boy and work on numerous rock'n'roll recording sessions in the first half of the 1960s. In the fall of 1965, he had one of the earlier folk-rock, or at least folk-rock-pop, hits with a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier." This went head to head on the charts with Donovan's superior version of the same song, actually making #45, slightly better than Donovan's #53 placing. Soon after the single was released, Campbell made it clear he didn't take the anti-war message of the song that seriously, telling Variety that he thought people who burn their draft cards "should be hung...If you don't have enough guts to fight for your country, you're not a man." Furthermore, Variety reported, Campbell said "the 'Universal Soldier' disk resulted in his receipt of several anonymous cmoplaint letters from fans, but that he really didn't think protest songs do much in shaping or changing opinions. Campbell, however, emphasized that if he records any more protest songs, they will be of the 'red-blooded American variety.'"
The Bee Gees, "And the Children Laughing." Prior to moving to England in 1967 and becoming international superstars, the Bee Gees did quite a bit of recording in Australia from 1963-66, including this mid-1960s stab at social consciousness, featuring loud Byrdsy guitars and harmonies, as well as castigation of a neighbor that won't shake hands "with a *****."
Nico, "I'm Not Saying"/"The Last Mile." As noted in the listing of Nico's solo debut Chelsea Girl elsewhere on this site (as a notable obscure 1960s folk-rock LP), there was more folk influence in Nico's sound, at least prior to the late 1960s, than has been acknowledged. Even before joining the Velvet Underground, she made this 1965 single for Immediate, the A-side featuring what must have been one of the very first Gordon Lightfoot covers. It was arranged in a pop-folk style rather similar to that heard on some mid-1960s Marianne Faithfull records. The B-side, by contrast, was an entirely acoustic, moody ballad, co-written by Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Oldham and then-sessionman Jimmy Page. It has been reported that both Page and Brian Jones play guitars on the track.
The Wonder Who, "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." Surely the most absurd Dylan cover to reach the Top Twenty was this bouncy castrato pop rendition at the end of 1965, which went all the way to #12. Even the teenyboppers quickly figured out that it was in fact the Four Seasons under a pseudonym. The group did trot out the Wonder Who alias one more time in May 1966, but this time opted for a treatment of "On the Good Ship Lollipop," which not only had no relationship whatsoever to folk-rock, but got no further than #87. Other Four Seasons oddities: it's not well known that on their early 1964 album Born to Wander, the Four Seasons did a Phil Ochs song, "New Town," that Ochs never recorded himself. Plus, in 1965, they did a whole LP side of Dylan songs, backed with...a whole LP side of Bacharach-David tunes.
The Staple Singers, "For What It's Worth." The Staple Singers are actually an under-recognized, if tangential, influence on folk-rock. Pop Staples' style of guitar reverb was a big influence on Bruce Langhorne, who played guitar on numerous early folk-rock sessions by Bob Dylan, Richard & Mimi Fariña, Fred Neil, Gordon Lightfoot, and others. Also, the Staple Singers were among the earliest non-folkies to cover Bob Dylan, doing "Masters of War" early in the 1960s. Still, covering the Buffalo Springfield hit seemed like an unlikely choice, but they did so in 1967, and even got to #66 in the pop charts with it.
Bob Seger, "Persecution Smith." In the mid-1960s, Seger was a long way off from his mainstream arena stardom of the mid-to-late 1970s. But he was already pretty well-known on the Michigan scene, and some of his earliest singles are not only wholly unlike his big pop hits of later vintage, but quite intense and worthwhile. "Persecution Smith" is a dead-on rewrite of Bob Dylan's "Tombstone Blues," and pretty smoking hard talkin' blues-folk-rock despite its derivative genesis.
Chad & Jeremy, "Teenage Failure." One could argue that British Invasion popsters Chad & Jeremy had some influence on folk-rock with their acoustic-oriented arrangements, although I would contend that Peter & Gordon had a far more tangible and concrete effect. There's no doubt that C&J's 1966 single "Teenage Failure" was folk-rock, though, with its parodic (and not incredibly funny) sub-Dylan vocal and catalog-of-complaint lyrics. Like the song's protagonist, the single was a failure, reaching just #131 in the charts.
The Loose Ends, "A Free Soul." A very little-known, and quite good, 1966 single by a Fort Worth, Texas band, with a strong late-1965 Beatles/Kinks influence and adamant I've gotta-do-my-own-thing lyrics. The writer and guitarist of the group? A teenaged T-Bone Burnett.
Jan & Dean, "The Universal Coward." A bit desperate, perhaps, to remain relevant at a time when surf and hot rod music was on the way out, Jan & Dean put out their Folk'n'Roll LP, which included passes at "It Ain't Me Babe," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "Eve of Destruction," interspersed with far more innocuous pop-rock tracks. Also on the album was "The Universal Coward," a vicious satire of "Universal Soldier." I like Jan & Dean (when they did surf and pop-rock, anyway). But "The Universal Coward" is not just as politically unhip as could be at a time when anti-war protest was heating up, but also musically terrible, and lyrically unfunny. One of Jan Berry's co-writers on this non-charting single (credited solely to Jan Berry when it was issued as a 45) was then-girlfriend Jill Gibson, who briefly replaced Michelle Phillips in the Mamas & Papas shortly afterward, when Phillips was kicked out for various indiscretions. (According to Steve Kolanjian's liner notes to Jan & Dean's All the Hits -- From Surf City to Drag City, Jan's partner Dean Torrance "felt Jan and Dean should be apolitical and didn't want to release it," hence its appearance as a Jan Berry solo effort on the single.)
The Ides of March, "I'll Keep Searching." Known primarily for their blustery 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears-style megasmash "Vehicle," the Ides of March actually started as a rather typical midwestern teen pop-rock band in the mid-1960s. "I'll Keep Searching," buried on the B-side of a 1966 single, is not too folk-rock lyrically -- it's a typical lovelorn ode -- but has downright riveting folk-rock guitar riffs and harmonies. A prime example of how folk-rock's influenced reached into teen/garage rock.
Ben Carruthers & the Deep, "Jack o' Diamonds." Ben Carruthers was primarily known as an actor, particularly for his role as the moody brother in John Cassavetes' groundbreaking independent film Shadows in 1959. He also had parts in The Dirty Dozen and avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas' Guns of the Trees. He was living in London in the mid-1960s and tried, just once, his hand at becoming a recording artist. He set part of a poem that Bob Dylan had written and put on the back cover of Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) to music, calling the result "Jack o' Diamonds," and recording it with the Deep (whoever they were). The record was produced by Shel Talmy, another American expatriate, then riding high with productions by the Kinks and the Who. Released in June 1965, this pretty decent rock tune -- one of the earlier rock covers of a Bob Dylan creation of any sort -- sank without a trace. Fairport Convention, who in their early days had a genius for discovering obscure songs to cover, somehow found it and covered it on their first album. Shel Talmy, Ben Carruthers, Bob Dylan, John Cassavetes -- all those influences coming together for just one early folk-rock single? It did happen. And not in America, but England. Ain't rock history amazing?
Peter Fonda, "November Nights." Fonda, like Ben Carruthers (see above), is primarily an actor, and a much more famous one than Carruthers. But, like Carruthers, he was a musician too, and recorded an entire unreleased album around late 1966, with input from Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Hugh Masekela. He also issued one single, "November Nights," on the small Chisa label in 1967, written by none other than Gram Parsons, then a nearly total unknown. The song is an average pop-folker with adequate, characterless vocals by Fonda and some trumpet, perhaps by Masekela. The single did nothing commercially; plans for another album by Fonda came to nothing; and shortly afterward, Easy Rider became a hit, perhaps permanently distracting Peter Fonda from pursuing a singing career.
Johnny Winter, "Birds Can't Row Boats." This utterly atypical 1966 single, years before Winter became a blues-rock star, has very attractive Byrds-like guitars, magnificently moody melody and harmonies, and somewhat surreal lyrics about what a statue would think if it was able to come to life and view the present. Oddly, this track has been reissued with two entirely different vocals. The version included on the compilation Acid Visions (a highly recommended compilation of mid-1960s Texas garage rock, incidentally) is pretty straightforward and serious; another, on the early Winter compilation Birds Can't Row Boats, has joking, novelty-slanted singing. The rendition on Acid Visions is the one to get.
Terry Knight & the Pack, "A Change on the Way." Former Michigan disc jockey Terry Knight had some regional hits in the mid-1960s by aping a variety of trends and top artists, including "Positively Fourth Street"-era Bob Dylan on "Dimestore Debutante" and the Lovin' Spoonful on "What's On Your Mind." "A Change on the Way," one of those "the new generation will usher in a new dawn for mankind" anthems, is thus probably about as sincere as a presidential campaign promise, but is a likable melancholy soft folk-rocker despite itself. In a few years, his backup group, the Pack, would become Grand Funk Railroad. And Terry Knight? He became Grand Funk Railroad's manager.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, "Call on Me" (1965 version) . One of the most pop-oriented numbers on Captain Beefheart's debut album Safe As Milk -- his most accessible album to the pop audience, though not that accessible -- was "Call on Me." It was yet more normal-sounding in its 1965 demo acetate version, unearthed for the recent Beefheart rarities box Grow Fins , with a decidedly Byrdsy guitar line, appealing melody, and a vocal so sweetly restrained that one is tempted to believe that it might not actually be Don Van Vliet singing (although the Captain is given the vocal credit). Or, perhaps, that he was parodying folk-rock with his deliberate, elongating phrasing, though it just sounds too sincere for that. If you're a rabid fan of Beefheart's unfathomable avant-rock weirdness, it might be your least favorite item n his catalog; if you generally can't stand Beefheart, it might well be your most favorite song in his discography. By the time it was recorded for Safe As Milk, however, the arrangement had been somewhat Beefheartized, with a yelping vocal and funkier jagged rhythms that removed it some distance from its folk-rock prototype.
Noel Harrison, "Suzanne." Perhaps better known as an actor on the TV series "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." than as anything else, Harrison had actually been performing in British folk clubs since the late 1950s, and recorded several albums for major labels in the late 1960s. And he actually had a mild (#56) hit with this 1967 cover of the famous Leonard Cohen song. For many listeners, it was not just the first version of "Suzanne" that they heard, but the first time they had heard any Leonard Cohen song. Harrison also did a ridiculously jaunty cover of a P.F. Sloan song, "The Man Behind the Red Balloon," on a 1966 single. (Some would also throw William Shatner's legendarily ludicrous cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" into the TV actors-turned-folk-rockers category, but that was a recording that crossed the border from oddity to novelty.)
The Guess Who, "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong." Big for years in Canada before they became huge in the US with "These Eyes," the Guess Who recorded the very first cover of a Neil Young song in early 1967 when they did this tune from Buffalo Springfield's debut album. The arrangement, with AM radio-friendly fluegelhorn and glockenspiel on the bridge, was inferior to the original, if undeniably more pop-slanted. The Guess Who, like Young, emerged as performers in Winnipeg, and knew Neil dating back to his pre-Buffalo Springfield days in his early band the Squires.
The Cowsills, "All I Wanta Be Is Me." Yes, these are the same Cowsills who scaled the charts with the wholesome prototype-Partridge Family pop-rock of "The Rain, The Park and Other Things." Before that, however (and before Mom Cowsill came aboard), they were a struggling New England garage band. Their obscure mid-1960s indie single, "All I Wanta Be Is Me," was a typically snarling raw rebellious adolescent folk-rocker, with a heavy Byrds influence to the guitars and P.F. Sloan/Sonny Bono flavor to the vocal and defiantly individualistic lyrics.
Link Cromwell, "Crazy Like a Fox." The teenaged Link Cromwell did a pretty credible, witty Sonny Bono homage/takeoff for this obscure independent mid-1960s single. In the 1970s, as critic Lenny Kaye, "Link Cromwell" would become one of the first champions of overlooked vintage rock music; as musician Lenny Kaye, he was an important first-generation punk/new wave pioneer, as guitarist in the Patti Smith Group.
Leon Russell, "Everybody's Talking 'Bout the Young." It wasn't until the very end of the 1960s that Russell truly launched his career as a singer-songwriter and solo recording artist. In the mid-1960s, however, he was already a successful L.A. session keyboardist, arranger, and producer on a variety of pop-rock recordings. In the summer of 1965, he found time to record this obscure solo folk-rock single for the Dot label. Continuing the sub-Dylan/Sloan/Bono thread, here we have another defiantly abrasive-but-hummable observation of the widening gulf between old and young generations. Co-produced by Snuff Garrett and Russell himself, there's a bit of an everything-but-the-kitchen sink feel to this track, with lyrics scooting over themes of the assertion of youthful identity, anti-Vietnam War protest, and nuclear weapon angst, not to mention the snarling Dylanesque vocals and angry high-pitched distorted guitars. Like many top session musicians of the time, incidentally, Russell played on folk-rock recordings of note, including the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Gene Clark's debut solo album.
Link Wray, "Girl from the North Country." Although known principally as a supreme purveyor of instrumental guitar mayhem, and mostly identified with pre-Beatles rock'n'roll and rockabilly styles, Wray has occasionally issued vocal numbers throughout his career, and sometimes even concentrated on vocal productions. Soon after folk-rock hit big in 1965, Link weighed in with a raw cover of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," complete with harmonica, tambourine, and organ. Its B-side, the Wray original "You Hurt Me So," was clearly inspired by the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," albeit with a more countrified twang, and a guitar riff that sounded halfway between wah-wah pedal and Jew's harp. Of course, that Beatles song had been to a large degree inspired by Bob Dylan-styled folk. Wray's interest in folkish music was not a one-off detour, as in the early 1970s he recorded several interesting low-key vocal albums for Polydor that showed a heavy Band influence. This material was repackaged for the double-CD reissue Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years.
The Blues Magoos, "The People Had No Faces"/"So I'm Wrong and You Are Right." Remembered primarily as a Nuggets-type garage-psych-pop band, particularly for their big hit "("We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet," the Blues Magoos actually began life as the Bloos Magoos, a folk-rock band. Their rare debut single, recorded for Verve Folkways and issued under the Bloos Magoos spelling, was actually a fairly tasty, moody folk-rocker with all the hallmarks of youth newly awakened to the form circa late 1965: sullen vocalizing, a lumbering but appealing mid-tempo beat, slightly surreal lyrics projecting social alienation. Both sides were produced by Rick Shorter, who wrote the A-side and co-wrote the flip. Shorter, one of the few African-American singer-songwriters to record in the folk-rock's early boom days, had a pretty respectable what-does-the-future-hold-for-me-in-this-messed-up-world folk-rock single of his own, "Last Thoughts of a Young Man," produced by Teo Macero, who in turn was far more famous for producing Miles Davis. The odd connections abound in folk-rock, and we'll stop this particular thread, though we could note that it was Miles Davis who helped the Byrds get a contract at Columbia by personally recommending them...By the way, although the B-side of the Bloos Magoos single does show up on the most common Blues Magoos compilation (Mercury's Kaleidoscope Compendium: The Best of the Blues Magoos), the superior A-side does not, though it's recently appeared, believe it or not, on a reissue of the single (of dubious legality).
The Deviants, "Child of the Sky." Yes, it's true that not many rock listeners would even know who the Deviants are, and thus have no basis upon which to be surprised that they did a precious, enchanting acoustic song with flute, rather in the mold of Donovan, on their debut LP. The group, however, does have a considerable cult reputation as one of the more interesting British underground acts of the late 1960s, usually known for far more abrasive pre-punk blasts of blues-rock and avant-rock noise collage. "Child of the Sky," however, did much to enhance the diversity of Ptooff!, the manic psychedelic rollercoaster ride that was their highly recommended 1967 debut LP. In an interview with me, Deviants singer Mick Farren -- one of the three writers credited with the song's composition -- expressed considerable disdain for the track, blaming the inclusion of it and the acoustic guitar instrumental "Bon" on guitarist Cord Rees, whose stint in the group was brief. Says Farren: "I always felt they were kind of a sop to the worst kind of Donovan fey hippie Incredible String Band mentality in the audience."
George Hamilton IV, "Urge for Going." Improbably, the country star was the first to release a Joni Mitchell song, recorded in late 1966 (and produced by Chet Atkins), and a #7 country hit in early 1967. It's not a bad version, actually, with the opening three-note burst of steel guitar strongly echoing the style of Bruce Langhorne, who played on Tom Rush's cover of the same song. Mitchell herself would not release the song until it appeared on the B-side of a 1972 single.
Christopher & the Chaps, "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding." This garagey, not-so-great rock cover of one of Bob Dylan's finer mid-1960s songs by a terribly obscure mid-1960s group would not be so notable on its own grounds. What's interesting is that one of the members was one Mike Lookofsky, who co-wrote the B-side, "They Just Don't Care," a vaguely folk-rockish tune. Under the name Mike Brown, he would be the keyboardist and prime creative force of the Left Banke, the great baroque-rock group that formed shortly after Christopher & the Chaps vanished into oblivion.
John Denver (with the Mitchell Trio), "The Sound of Protest (Has Begun to Pay)." The Chad Mitchell Trio was one of many innocuous harmonizing groups during the early-1960s folk revival; Roger McGuinn worked with them as an accompanist for a while. McGuinn was long gone, as was Chad Mitchell, by the time of their 1966 LP Violets of Dawn, credited to just the Mitchell Trio. In this lineup was a young John Denver. Most of the album is unmemorable, passé acoustic folk, with the astonishing exception of "The Sound of Protest Has Begun to Pay." Its full electric folk-rock arrangement, with its twelve-string guitar and soaring harmonies, is an obvious attempt to recreate the sound of the Byrds. This is not an homage, however, but a mean-spirited swipe at folk-rock as a whole, the lyrics quite clearly inferring that the Byrds and their flock were mining the social protest song with dollar signs in their eyes. The intention might have been humorous, but actually it comes off as the last desperate gasps of drowning folk revivalists, bitterly bemoaning the tidal wave of electric folk-rock that was quite literally putting them out of business. The song was co-written by Fred Hellerman, a member of the vastly important 1950s folk revival stars the Weavers. Hellerman couldn't have taken the sentiments of his song too close to heart; in just a year or two, he would be producing the first albums by folk-rock singer Arlo Guthrie.
Solomon Burke, "Maggie's Farm." Who knows what the reasoning was behind getting Solomon Burke, the soul singer known for classics like "Cry to Me" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," to cover this Bob Dylan song in April 1965? It was a daring decision by Atlantic Records, as the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" had yet to reach the charts and open the floodgates for rock covers of Dylan songs. Burke's version isn't as weird as you might think, given an uptempo soul-rock dance rhythm and some brass in the backing, with some nice slashing funky guitar. No cover version can quite cover up the song's lack of melody, though.
Keith Jarrett, Restoration Ruin album . Jarrett is mostly, if not wholly, known as a major jazz pianist and composer. Restoration Ruin, from 1968, is the folk-rock skeleton in his closet, recorded while he was still a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet. Jarrett does not play jazz on this album, but sings and plays all the instruments, alternating -- quite literally, track to track -- between sub-Dylan outings and more folk-baroque ones that echo the late-1960s work of artists like Love and Tim Buckley. There's a certain amateurish appeal to the LP, in keeping with other crossover "acid-folk" artists of the period. Yet the fact is that Jarrett is a major jazz musician, but a journeyman-at-best folk-rock singer (with a hoarse, wavering croon-whine), instrumentalist, and songwriter, with a bent for flaky wordplay that gives this a bit of a fried-psychedelic tinge. At times, to be harsh, it's less than journeyman, particularly on the Dylanesque cuts, which have almost embarrassing wheezing son-of-Dylan harmonica, and some downright embarrassing out-of-sync drums. Better are the dainter, more melodic tracks with trimmings of flute,strings, and flamenco-like guitar, like the title song, "For You and Me," and "Sioux City Sue New," with their bossa nova feel.
Far and Wide: Folk-Rock's Influence on Major 1960s Rock Artists
Several of the greatest and most influential rock acts of the 1960s made brief or not-so-brief detours into folk-rock, even if they were not themselves folk-rockers all or much of the time. For proof, check out the following:
The Beatles. The Beatles' huge influence on spurring folkies to rock has been documented, and a folk influence was apparent in some of the Beatles' material from the start. As noted by the inclusion of Rubber Soul in the list of top folk-rock albums, in 1965 much (though not all) of the Beatles' output was folk-rock, although they didn't stay in that bag or indeed any bag for too long. It isn't often observed that the folk influence made something of a comeback on the White Album, on songs such as "Dear Prudence," "Blackbird," "I Will," "Julia," and "Long, Long, Long." This may well have been an afterglow of their trip to study transcendental meditation in India, where only acoustic instruments were available. Also on that meditation course was Donovan, who has recalled teaching John Lennon the finger-style folk guitar used on White Album songs such as "Dear Prudence." Just prior to the White Album sessions, the Beatles did a couple of dozen or so "unplugged" acoustic demos of White Album material that might qualify as a lost Beatles folk-rock album of sorts, complete with a campfire singalong version of "Revolution"; some of the songs were released on Anthology 3, the others are available on bootlegs such as Unsurpassed Demos. To stretch things further, there's an entire album of "unplugged" George Harrison 1970 demos from the All Things Must Pass era (see list of important 1970 folk-rock recordings above).
The Rolling Stones. Folk-rock is not a style identified with the Rolling Stones, who are often stereotyped as a raunchy blues-soaked band no matter what the era. Yet in the mid-1960s, several of their songs were quite folky and acoustic in feel, dating right back to their first American Top 40 entry, "Tell Me." If "Lady Jane" is not folk-rock, with its Elizabethan melody and dulcimer, then what is? To which we can also add "Play With Fire"; "Take It Or Leave It," covered by the Searchers; "Sittin' on a Fence," with its distinct Appalachian feel; and "Who's Been Sleeping Here?," a quite obvious attempt to mimic Bob Dylan's mid-1960s sound.
The Kinks. Acoustic folk roots had informed occasional Kinks songs well before folk-rock became fashionable, including obscure tracks like "Nothin' in This World Can Stop Me Worryin' About That Girl" (early 1965). Their late 1965 EP Kwyet Kinks was mostly folk-rock in tone, including the classic "Well Respected Man" (a hit in America) and the far less celebrated "Don't You Fret," with its almost Celtic feel. Kinks producer Shel Talmy has recalled that "Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," another song that used bashing acoustic guitars, were folk-rock spoofs of sorts. Folk and social commentary with a British slant continued to be heard in much of the subsequent Kinks work, and some of Dave Davies' late-1960s solo singles, such as "Lincoln County," were noticeably Dylan-influenced. Dave once went on record noting the guitar work of folkie Spider John Koerner as a profound influence.
The Animals. People such as Bob Dylan were blown away by the Animals' classic blues-rock interpretation of "House of the Rising Sun," a worldwide #1 hit with a song that was a staple of many folksingers' repertoires, including Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Carolyn Hester, and Dylan himself. It's sometimes been speculated that the Animals learned this song and their first single, "Baby Let Me Take You Home" (a variation of the oft-played folk tune "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"), from the versions on Bob Dylan's first album. As it turns out, that was not the case: Animals bassist Chas Chandler said he learned "House of the Rising Sun" by seeing Josh White perform it at a club in Newcastle, England in the late 1950s, and learned "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" from a rendition by the obscure blues performer Hoagy Lands. The Animals didn't do many other explicitly folk-derived songs in their classic phase, but they did do a good, little-known cover of Donovan's "Hey Gyp" in 1966.
The Velvet Underground.