Day 50 - Nina Simone - Wild Is The Wind (1966)

"Wild Is The Wind" is an amazing album. I've never been a big fan of Nina Simone, in fact I quite often confused her voice for that of a man, but after listening to "Wild Is The Wind" I have been converted and adore The High Priestess Of Soul now. Nina is so passionate when she sings, she wants you to feel every word she sings. This is especially true for the songs that are about black oppression, a cause very dear to her heart. The song 'Four Women', a story told from the perspectives of four different black women about their lives and their role in white society, was actually banned by the New York jazz radio station WLIB for supposedly being racist. I thought this album was made up of all new material at the time but according to Wikipedia it was actually made up of several recordings left off earlier Nina albums, this just goes to prove that whether you listen to an original Nina album or a compilation you'll still be left feeling deep emotion and hearing great music. I give this album a well deserved 5/5.

Tracks I enjoyed the most: Four Women, Lilac Wine, Wild Is The Wind, Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair and If I Should Lose You.

Day 50 - Roger The Engineer - The Yardbirds (1966)

"Roger The Engineer" is another of those albums that I feel don't really belong in the "greatest albums of all time" book. This album was alright but not brilliant. The guitarist who played on every song was great but the rest of the band, and the singer, didn't thrill me. There are quite a few catchy songs on this album that I liked and i'm sure they were successful singles when it was released. "Jeff's Boogie" is a particularly good track, it's so vibrant, fast and fun. It reminds me of the old 50's big band numbers, except with electric guitar. As allmusic points out it does contain some good psychedelic tracks but it's not one of the great albums of the decade. I give this album 3/5.

Tracks I enjoyed the most: Lost Woman, Over Under Sideways Down, Jeff's Boogie, Hot House Of Omagarashid and He's Always There.

Day 49 - John Mayall's Blues Breakers - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)

It's a relief to hear a good album after the last fiasco I reviewed. "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton" (AKA "Beano" because of the children's magazine Eric is reading in the photo) is a great blues rock album. Eric masterfully plays guitar throughout the album as John sings all the songs wonderfully, except for "Ramblin' On My Mind" which Eric sings. Among the songs are several instrumental pieces which I really enjoyed, "Hideaway" and "Steppin' Out" being my favourites. Overall this has become of my favourite blues rock album and i'm sure i'll be playing the songs I like over and over in the future. I give this album 4/5.

Tracks I enjoyed the most: All Your Love, Hideaway, Double Crossing Time, What'd I Say, Key To Love & Steppin' Out.

Day 49 - The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)

"The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators" is by far the worst album i've heard in a long time. When I started playing it and I heard the first song "You're Gonna Miss Me" I thought it was pretty good and was looking forward to the rest of the album being as good as the lead single. Sadly, I was wrong. After the first song the album's quality degenerates rapidly. All the other songs on the album sound as if the band was singing from a mile away with the music being played loudly and obnoxiously right against the microphone. The result of this chaos is that all the songs sound like loud, garbled messes with impossible to understand lyrics and wailing throughout. It took all I had not to turn the album off and listen to something good but for the sake of this challenge I persevered. I give this album my lowest rating ever, 2/5.

Tracks I enjoyed the most: You're Gonna Miss Me.

Day 48 - Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966)

Hey music lovers! It’s been far too long since i’ve posted a review so think of this as my comeback :). 

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was Simon & Garfunkel’s third album and contains the hit singles “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” and “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”. I really like this album, Simon & Garfunkel harmonise really well and a lot of the songs are catchy. I think Paul has a slightly better voice though. 

The soft rock/folk style of the album was very peaceful to listen to and the song “A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)” was very interesting for using a whole list of names throughout it to tell a story, including Art Garfunkel’s name too!

I give this album 4/5.

Tracks I enjoyed the most: Scarborough Fair/Canticle, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), Patterns, Cloudy & The Dangling Conversation.