(by 6 people)
The Music that defined a generation.
I was fortunate enough to experience growing up mostly in London though that strange and magical decade from the mid sixties to the mid seventies - the Hippy Era. The resulting influence on my music tastes and my life direction has been profound.
If you look at the Rolling Stone 500 all time greatest records - more than half were from that period and recently I decided to have another go at replacing more of my vinal record collection with CDs. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a great many of the less well known classics have now become available - and better still are really cheap in the new and used sections of Amazon.
But more amazing has been the discovery of a wealth of video clips, some very rare, of many of my favourite tracks from my favourite albums on YouTube. As far as possible I have tried to remain true to the era with all the video clips - though some are later recordings of music from that time. Some of the early recordings are also a bit iffy and others remind me of just how hard a time some people had accepting us "long haired hippies".
The problem with trying to define my favourite music is that this search has uncovered artists, records and tracks I had long forgotten, that have for some reason been lost from my collection. What started as my top 10 has evolved into my top 10 Rock, Blues and Folk. Some times I have been unable to find video footage from a favourite album but have discovered other stuff that strongly influenced me and was a joy to rediscover.
So what I hope you will find here is an experience, is a journey back to a quite brief period on music, but one that changed and influenced a generation. This is the primary Baby Boomer influence, that hippy generation from 1965 to 1975.
My favourite band is Pink Floyd but there is so much stuff on them that I have had to start a new lens just on Pink Floyd The Worlds Greatest Rock Band
If you also loved this era of Music - please do add a comment at the bottom - and don't forget to give the lens an appropriated rating.
Musical Memories of a Hippy Chick
or should I say dreams of a wanabee Hippy Chick
If you have read my bio you will have deduced that I am transgender. However I didn't transition and begin living as a woman until five years ago so unfortunately my hippy days in the late sixties early seventies were not spent as a hippy chick. (I wish)Fortunately though, the clothes in that brief era were pretty unisex - the velvet loon pants, tye-died tshirts, high heeled boots, long hair, beads and shoulder bag were the quite normal for a guy then, so I managed to cope without giving away the fact that I really wished I were a hippy chick. (even in those enlightend times of the Gay Liberation movement that started in June 1969, transgenderism was not really OK)
Now, half a lifetime on, I am getting back to wearing the same clothes but this time as a somewhat aging hippy chick (but still looking good) and reconnecting with my musical roots.
My new PC has a huge amount of disc space - 250 Gb - so I have loaded my entire growing CD collection and the great thing about juke box software is that I can create play lists that reflect moods, or years.
When I arrived in London in September 1969 I discovered a very different world to the one I had experience in the rural west country (Wiltshire). Quickly influenced by psychedelic mind awakening substances, my previously very constrained music tastes blossomed as I experienced music seldom played on radio because many artists were just too radical for mainstream media and seldom released singles. This was the era of the Album.
June 1970 found me at the first of many outdoor music events returning to near my home town for the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music I am somewhere in that crowd in the picture above. This was the great American Music Invasion - The biggest ever line up of American bands and the first big(250,000 people) UK event after Woodstock and before the Isle of Wight.
Some of the artists there are in my favourite albums, most are in my LP collection. All my favourite CDs are available on Amazon but I have also found on YouTube video footage from the time of most of the artists performing tracks from these albums you can listen to. Occasionally I have had to use later live recordings of music originally released in the hippy era and sometimes I have had to feature tracks not on my favourite albums.
Do add any comments - this lens is a hippy experience and I hope it encourages some comment.
My Last.fm Playlist
Click to listen to some of my favourite music
My Favourite Rock Bands
Artists who performed my favourite albums
- Pink Floyd
- Sadly Sid Barrett passed away in July 2006 but the rest of the band are still around - and I have 50 CDs performed by one or more of Pink Floyd between 1967 and 2006. As this lens has grown I have built a new lens featuring lots of video footage of the band and have transfered information from here to the new Pink Floyd lens. My favourite Floyd Album is Atom Heart Mother which I saw performed live in Hyde Park in 1971 with a full orchestra and choir.
- Barclay James Harvest
- Not as famous as Pink Floyd but in the early seventies equalled them in musical talent. BJH's early albums were all performed with a full orchestra - one of few Rock bands (along with Pink Floyd) to successfully achieved this. Favourite album Once Again.
- The Moody Blues
- The Moody Blues were another very influencial band that set new boundaries in Rock music using instruments like the Mellotron and working with orchestras. The Moody Blues also pioneered concept albums where the entire album or part of it followed a theme.
- David Bowie
- I connected with David Bowie on the release of Man Who Sold the World - As a trans woman the album cover of David in a dress was enough to persuade me to buy it and it has become one of my favourite albums.
- Yes
- Yes are an English progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968. Their line up has changed from time to time but the band has endured. Founder Jon Anderson has also produced some classic albums with Vangelis.
- Spooky Tooth
- Spooky Tooth were an English progressive rock band from the late 1960s. The primary influence on my was the release of the album Last Puff and in particlular their cover of Lennon and McCartney classic I am a Walrus.
My Top 10 Rock Albums from the late sixties early seventies
My tastes in rock music straddled Blues and Psychedelic Rock
A Saucerful of Secrets
Pink Floyd
1968 - My Favourite Pink Floyd Album is Atom Heart Mother, but I have decided to feature Saucerful of Secrets because it was the most infiuential. It was the Album that introduced me to Floyd and some of the tracks are classics still played today.
Amazon Price: $11.97 (as of 11/21/2008) 
In Search of the Lost Chord
Moody Blues
1968 - The Moody Blues were one of the first bands to work seriously with concept albums - and pioneered the fusion of classical and rock music. This album has a number of tracks addressing personal fulfilment, a subject of great interest to me now and then.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
The Man Who Sold the World
David Bowie
1970 - I worked in the city of London and had got to know Nigel, the manager of a Harlequin Record shop on Cheapside. Every payday I visited the shop and one day he held up this album. For me, a closet TV at the time. any man wearing a dress got my attention - I bought the album and became a huge Bowie fan - I still rank this is his best.
Amazon Price: $9.97 (as of 11/21/2008)
In the Court of the Crimson King
King Crimson
1969 - Just as my music tastes began to evolve King Crimson released this classic album that literally defies genre - a true psychadelic rock experience moving from almost heavy metal to melodic drifting sounds - an album that always takes you on a journey.
Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
It's a Beautiful Day
It's a Beautiful Day
1969 - San Francisco psychedelic band that I recall so clearly from the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. The distinctive vocals and violin made them different with beautiful tracks like White Bird and Hot Summer Day - I still love listening to this album.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
My Top 10 Rock Albums from the late sixties early seventies
My tastes in rock music featured mostly Progressive and Psychedelic Rock
Once Again
Barclay James Harvest
1971 - I have the remastered edition with bonus tracks but this was the original cover design - I still tend to play the original tracks and omit the bonus - though it does include quad versions which they like Pink Floyd performed live. Barclay James Harvest became at this time almost equal favourites with Pink Floyd - I loved their slightly more melodic sound and amazing use of orchestras in their rock music.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
Abraxas
Santana
1970 - What an energy album - Carlos Santana mixes latin rythums with rock music to produce a unique sound and this album contains may real classics like Black Magic Woman.
Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Nursery Cryme
Genesis
1971 - This was the Genesis with Peter Gabriel at the front - Phil Collins was a very recent addition to the band. It was a hard choice for favourte between Trespass and Nursery crimes with Selling England by the Pound a close third, but I loved the Genesis of this era.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
The Yes Album
Yes
1971 - another difficult choice because Fragile and Close To the Edge are important albums in my collection featuring the amazing Rick Wakeman in Keyboards - But this album was the one that influenced me most and made me a fan particulary of Jon Anderson's unique voice. It was also the first to feature Steve Howe on Guitar.
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Grave New World
Strawbs
1972 - This album is really up there at the top of my favourites - It was a quite different album from the mostly accoustic previous albums and many feel over produced. I think it is a masterpiece.
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/21/2008)
Rock Videos from the Sixties and Seventies
A great mix of my favourite artists
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Moonage Daydream
The Moody Blues - Voices in the Sky
My Top 10 Blues Albums from the Late sixties early seventies
These were the albums that most influenced me
Easy Rider: Soundtrack
Various Artists
1969 - I had arrived in London with a collection of Elvis records - then I bought this Album and went to see the film - Suddenly in the space of a few months my entire music tastes had changed. The cult classic 1969 film Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson is probably still best known for this epic late 1960's rock soundtrack.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
The Last Puff
Spooky Tooth
1970 - This has got to be one of the most underrated albums of all time. Almost entirely covers but they are fantastic and in the case of "I am a Walrus" - in my opinion far better than the beatles original - this is after all a Rock/Blues version of what was a surrealistic pop song.
Amazon Price: $29.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Astral Weeks
Van Morrison
1968 - Although not a great chart success - a feature of much music of the time this is still considered by many as one of Van Morrisons best works. Late nights stoned in my flat in Highbury this was one of the albums that took me off - I have never tired of listening to it. Still great to drive to.
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
L.A. Woman
Doors
1971
I have to admit to not beinbg a big Jim Morrison fan - but this album had a huge influence. It was probablly the best and of course the last because he died shortly after its release. Tracks like LA Woman and Riders on the Storm will always keep this in my favourites.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
The Very Best Of Canned Heat
Canned Heat
1972 - Again I was not a big Canned Heat fan - but each album they released contained classics that were a huge part of the sounds that influenced me. Going up the Country and On the Road Again were such great tracks that they have to be ther in my favourites - though this is the only best of here because I tend to be selective about what I like from them.
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 11/21/2008)
My Top 10 Blues Albums from the Late sixties early seventies
These were the albums that most influenced me
Beggars Banquet
Rolling Stones
1968 - Of all the Stones Albums this is the one I can almost always play and enjoy - I have included it under Blues because this was at the time a real return to their Rythm and Blues roots - This is such a well put together album of timeless classics like "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man" and the last album to have an significant input from Brian Jones who left the band shortly afterwards and and died the following year.
Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Disraeli Gears
Cream
1967 One of the first rock supergroups, Cream comprised three musicians at the top of their field, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Their influence on the music of the time was considerable - this album was just always around - and countless joints were rolled on this sleeve.
Amazon Price: $7.97 (as of 11/21/2008)
Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
Fleetwood Mac
1967 - 1972 Another hugely influencial band from the sixties because of the considerable musical talent of guitarist Peter Green with hugely memorable tracks like Man of the World, Albatross and Need Your Love So bad. This is actually not the album I have - it is an import but mostly the same traks,
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 11/21/2008)
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
1969 - Proud Mary and Born on the Bayou became classics of the time from this album and marked the start of a short but successful era for the band. I tend to listen now to a best of compilation but this is still I believe their best album
Amazon Price: $11.98 (as of 11/21/2008)
Seven Separate Fools
Three Dog Night
1972 - This was another introduction from my friend Nigel at Harlequin Records in Cheapside in the City of London - I loved the album especially the classic "Black and White" which became a civil rights anthum.
Amazon Price: $6.98 (as of 11/21/2008)
A track from each of 9 of my Favourite Blues Albums
An amazing journey back in time
My Top 10 Folk Albums from the late sixties and early seventies
These were the folk albums that most influenced me
Blue
Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Colin Scot
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
Déjà Vu
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
Sweet Baby James
Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
The Compleat Tom Paxton
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
My Top 10 Folk Albums from the late sixties and early seventies
These were the folk albums that most influenced me
Songs of Leonard Cohen
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
HMS Donovan
Amazon Price: $18.98 (as of 11/21/2008)
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Amazon Price: $18.97 (as of 11/21/2008)
After the Gold Rush
Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 11/21/2008)
She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina
Amazon Price: $11.98 (as of 11/21/2008)
Barclay James Harvest
Everything you need to know about this great band
Despite not being at the height of popularity for most of the past few decades three incarnations of the original band are still performing and recording. Regretably drummer Mel Pritchard who played with Les Holroyd died in 2004.
- Barclay James Harvest Home Page
- Barclay James Harvest - the BJH Home Page, with news, biographies, worldwide discographies, concert listings, photos and more - everything you ever wanted to know about Barclay James Harvest!
- Once Again - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Once Again From Wikipedia
Still my favourite Album - here is a litell more informatino on it - John Lees Barclay James Harvest
- Here you will find comprehensive information about the current activities of Barclay James Harvest founder members John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme and their band. Check the site for details of the current tour.
Go to this site and click on the MySpace link to hear some of the band's current tracks. - Wolley Wolstenholme and MÆSTOSO
- This was the thirs break away band although Wooley Wolsenstone who was responsible for the haunting melotron sounds in the original band still plays with John Lees BJH.
Go to this site scroll down a little and click on the MySpace link to hear the band. - Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd
- Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd - main site with links to European tour dates and tracks you can listen to.
- BJH featuring Les Holroyd - Myspace - Click and Listen
- MySpace Profile - Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd
This is one of three incarnations of the band now performing led by Les Holroyd - The myspace site automatically plays a current track.
David Bowie
Strong influence who helpme to stat accepting myself as trans
- The Man Who Sold the World
- The Man Who Sold the World From Wikipedia
I had just had my entire record collectin stolen and popped into my local shop where the manager recommended this newly released almum - I became a David Bowie fan immediately. - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
- When I went to see the almost last Ziggy Stardust Concert at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park in 1971 - Roxy Music were the backing band. This was far more than a Rock Concert. Bowie was very much into mime at the time and had a scafolding structure with multi level platforms on stage with mime artists on each and amazine lighting - a truely theatrical production.
Are you a fan of Music from this era?
Tell us your favourites from the time.
Please feel free to add your comments about music from the late sixties early seventies.
Brad wrote
There's some great albums listed. In the folk section,
I might suggest Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens
Posted April 17, 2007
giddygabby wrote...
Mmhmm. Santana Abraxas, LA Woman, Fleetwood Mac. And before Fleetwood Mac, Christine Perfect, later to be Christine McVie of FM. Mm-mm-mm. One of the butteriest altos in the biz.
Posted March 01, 2007
