Bob Dylan – ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ (1965)

For someone who has made as many great albums as Bob Dylan, it’s pretty impossible to choose the record which you would consider his absolute best. That being said, Highway 61 Revisited is an album which doesn’t just highlight his songwriting ability, but his lyrical prowess. He didn’t just put words to melody, he held a mirror up to the world and showed everyone an honest reflection. It set the blueprint for a whole generation of lyric writers who followed.

“I want people to get the same experience from listening to one of my records as I had when I listened to Highway 61 Revisited,” said Bruce Springsteen when discussing the LP, “The idea that something was revealed to them that was fundamentally true and essential, and gave you a view of your world, your country, your town, your neighbours, your family.”

The Beatles – ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (1967)

The term ‘concept album’ is something which we have a thorough understanding of in the modern age; however, in the 1960s, it wasn’t clear what people actually meant when they used it. It simply applied to albums that had some overriding theme on who was singing or the general tone of the songs, but eventually, this basically applied to every record that wasn’t a compilation, and it rendered the term meaningless.

It was The Beatles who managed to apply some boundaries to what a concept album was. Their record Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was incredibly exciting to listen to, as not only was it filled with Beatles classics, but it created a fictional world the listener could get lost in and look around. A great album and a definitive listen, what more could you possibly want?

The Kinks – ‘The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society’ (1968)

While The Beatles may be credited with making one of the first ever concept albums, The Kinks were also responsible for their own record with an encompassing narrative, and it could be considered even better than Sgt Pepper. This record is a real ode to growing up and living in Britain. It feels honest, has a clearer narrative running throughout, and represents what is arguably the greatest record The Kinks ever made.

“Making that album was a high point of my career,” said the band’s bassist Pete Quaife, “It is something of which I am very proud. For me, it represents the only real album made by The Kinks. It is probably the only album made by us in which we all contributed something.”

T Rex – ‘My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows’ (1968)

When a lot of us think about T Rex, we think about their larger-than-life glam rock offerings on their later albums, and why not? They’re great pieces of music to listen to, and they really get the blood pumping. However, the band’s greatest record was much more stripped back and honest.

My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair was a really sweet LP. It was pretty impossible to listen to that album and feel anything other than moved by how simplistic and beautiful it was. It’s a real representation of the hippie movement that was taking hold throughout the ‘60s, and it’s one of the best pieces of music the band ever made.

Jimi Hendrix – ‘Electric Ladyland’ (1968)

It was tricky for Jimi Hendrix to get the interest of labels at first. People could recognise that he was a great guitarist, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he was going to sell records. It took time, but eventually he was able to start recording and releasing music, and when he did, it was truly a sight to behold.

It’s pretty hard picking the best Hendrix album, but you can certainly pick out some really special moments in Electric Ladyland. Just look at that tracklist and tell me it doesn’t give you goosebumps. ‘Crosstown Traffic’, ‘Voodoo Chile’, ‘Long Hot Summer Night’, there is so much to love on that record, no wonder it’s gone down in history as one of the greatest rock LPs ever put together.

Aretha Franklin – ‘I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You’ (1967)

No one understood just how influential musicians can be more than Aretha Franklin. When she spoke about what she could achieve as an artist, she knew that it extended far beyond sound alone. “Being the Queen is not all about singing,” she said, “It has much to do with your service to people… your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well”.

Of course, Franklin also understood just how important music could be. “Music does a lot of things for a lot of people,” she said, “It can take you right back, it’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.” Her attitude to the world around her and the music she made is best reflected on her record, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, which is an album that well and truly stands the test of time. Considering it was released in the ‘60s, it still sounds brand new in its innovation.

Love – ‘Forever Changes’ (1967)

When psychedelic rock was first coming into fruition, there were a lot of listeners who couldn’t stand it, as they felt the genre lacked form. “Here’s one thing I hate, man,” said Jimi Hendrix, “When these cats say, ‘Look at the band. They’re playing psychedelic music!’ All they’re doing is flashing lights on them and playing ‘Johnny B Goode’ with the wrong chords. It’s terrible.”

That being said, while a lot of bands were yet to fully understand just how much they could achieve using psychedelic rock, there were other bands like Love who were well tapped into the newfound potential. Forever Changes, despite being made at a time when this genre was in its infancy, is still one of the best to come out of psychedelia.

Sly and the Family Stone – ‘Stand!’ (1969)

Sly Stone remains one of the most difficult artists to describe; his story expands well beyond just that of music and embeds itself into society’s psyche. “Sly’s story is everybody’s story,” said Questlove, who put together a documentary on the musician, “He is the first Black celebrity of the post-Civil Rights era. His success was different from Chuck Berry’s or Ray Charles’, the acts that couldn’t stay in the hotels or eat in the restaurants where they played. The question is: what happens when you get everything you want?”

While the band might have truly reached the height of their powers in the 1970s, that doesn’t mean they weren’t releasing great music in the decade prior. Perhaps one of their absolute best came in the form of Stand!, which managed to merge the worlds of rock, funk and soul seamlessly, exposing the world to a brand new sound.

The Beach Boys – ‘Pet Sounds’ (1966)

When Brian Wilson stopped touring and started working perilously in the studio in a bid to perfect both his songwriting and recording, it led to the creation of some of the best music that we lucky few on Earth have ever heard. There isn’t an album out there quite like Pet Sounds; it still stands the test of time as one of the greatest and most adventurous pieces of music ever made.

If you need any more proof of how great this group of songs is, look no further than the bands it went on to influence. Even The Beatles said that a lot of their later albums were the byproduct of what The Beach Boys managed to put together.

“If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed [Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band], and my influence was basically the Pet Sounds album. John was influenced by it, perhaps not as much as me,” said McCartney, “It was certainly a record we all played; it was the record of the time, you know? I’ve often played Pet Sounds and cried. It’s that kind of an album for me.”

Nina Simone – ‘Wild is the Wind’ (1966)

We can often read too much into what makes music good, lord knows I do, but when you break everything down, a truly great song can come together with the use of two things: great lyrics and a great voice. It really doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that, and when you get it right, it can lead to absolute magic.

The greatest testament to this was Nina Simone. The power of her voice was enough that it could move mountains. Pair that with some of the most emotive lyrics to ever be laid over music, and you have a recipe for a truly spectacular album. Her record, Wild Is the Wind, remains one of the most perfect and powerful records of all time. No bells or whistles, just Simone, and that’s more than enough.