The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, the Monkees

It's the title word count-up to ten! Seven words.

The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, the Monkees, 1968, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The album, apparently, that proclaimed that the Monkees are real musicians and play their own instruments!  It's fun, innocuous well-crafted pop.  I mean, they're not exactly the Beatles, but who is?  Besides the Fab Four themselves, I mean.  These Monkees are pretty skilled at what they do; their aspirations to be taken seriously are more or less matched by their talent.  For stars for being consistently pleasant listening and for taking chances.  "P.O. Box 9847" is a fun bit of fluff. "Poster" sounds like they're trying to sound like the Beatles.  "Magnolia Simms" is an attempt at, or a parody of, ragtime.  Favorite tracks: "Dream World," "Daydream Believer," "Tapioca Tundra."

Hey Jude, Wilson Pickett

It's the title word count-up to ten! Two words.

Hey Jude, Wilson Pickett, 1968, :32

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

An absolutely solid soul album by a master. There are two rock covers here, the title track and "Born To Be Wild," and they're great, but the other songs are all equally good. Muscular horns, handclaps, and a great set of pipes. That's all you need. But it doesn't hurt that a then-unknown Duane Allman added some blistering guitar. There's nothing particularly brilliant on this album, but it's very strong throughout. Favorite tracks: "Save Me," "Night Owl," "Born To Be Wild."

Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord, Edwin Hawkins Singers

It's black music Month!

Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord, Edwin Hawkins Singers, 1968, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  

Riotous, hand-clapping, toe-tapping gospel.  The lyrical content isn't my joy and comfort typically, but the rousing choruses rising up to build up a veritable wall of sound knocks me off my feet.  I may not fall to my knees, but I get up out of my seat!  This gospel rocks.  Favorite tracks: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "To My Father's House," "Oh Happy Day."

The United States of America, The United States of America

Getting near the end of the alphabet of albums, U is for unusual.

The United States of America, The United States of America, 1968, :37 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The only studio album by an avant-garde, experimental, leftist band. It utilizes found sound and electronic sounds as well as straight rock and traditional singing styles by Grace Slick-like vocalist Dorothy Moskowitz. "Stranded in Time," for example, is basically a lost Beatles track from their experimental period.  There's also shades of Vaudeville, ragtime, Dixieland jazz, even medieval chorale.  It's basically a treasure trove of Americana filtered through a progressive lens.  There's a lot of ideas here and you have to admire the array of styles tackled, but I think a little cohesion would have actually helped the project.  I think the band's politics would be better served by a more unified vision and less of a "everybody pitch in with whatever sounds they want" vibe.  It's too bad they never got a second chance to hone their talents and make a second album.  Favorite tracks: "Stranded in Time," "Coming Down," "The Garden of Earthly Delights."

Aretha Now, Aretha Franklin

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1968.

Aretha Now, Aretha Franklin, 1968, :29

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I haven't heard a lot of Aretha beyond the hits everyone has heard, but this is just a stunning soul album,  scorching and energetic from start to finish. She takes "The Night Time is the Right Time" and remakes it into something her own, and even breathes new life into "You Send Me."  The sheer power of her voice and her ability to inhabit a song are astonishing.  Favorite tracks: "Think," "I Say a Little Prayer," "You're a Sweet Sweet Man."

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band, 1968, :28

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This turns out to be Gram Parsons' first band, right before he quit to join the Byrds.  Once I found that out, I had a good idea of what I'd be hearing, but I didn't know that first, so it still counts as a WTHIT Wednesday.  This album is a lost gem of folk-tock-turned-straight country.  Smooth harmonies, toe-tapping melodies, pedal steel guitar, and originals (four out of the ten tracks) that rival the classic country weepers.  The longhairs add youthful energy and a new shine to covers of "I Still Miss Someone," "A Satisfied Man," and "Folsom Prison Blues," making them their own.  "Luxury Liner" sounds like classic Byrds, or maybe the Monkees.  Just a fun album throughout.  Favorite tracks: "Blue Eyes," "Luxury Liner," "Miller's Cave."

These Twenty-Three Days in September, David Blue

These Twenty-Three Days in September, David Blue, 1968, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Never heard of this fellow, who stares at us sullenly like Bob Dylan from the album cover.  Apparently he played in Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.  His breathy, nearly nasal, drawling, sing-song vocal delivery, while not a Dylan imitation, definitely owes Dylan a thanks for opening the door.  (A cut from another of his albums called "If Your Monkey Can't Get It" is, in fact, a Dylan imitation.)  The enigmatic and literate lyrics are another similarity.  He's not simply a Dylan shadow, though; there's a Caribbean-tinged song on the album, and some of it sounds kind of like if Dylan had been influenced by the Eagles. "The Grand Hotel" struck me as having a Leonard Cohen feel to its lyrics.  Blue died too early, sadly, and while he probably didn't deserve to be memorialized with the greatest songwriters of the era, he certainly doesn't deserve the obscurity he languishes in.  Favorite tracks: "Ambitious Anna," "The Fifth One."

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison, 1968, :47

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've listened to this album before, all the way through, once, and I didn't get into it.  I've heard a few of the songs separately since then, and still nothing  But this time, this album finally got through to me.  Maybe all the jazz I've been listening to helped me hear it.  It's hard to say anything about this album.  That upright bass, leading the band, and Van's voice somehow magically blended together in a way that is very rare.  I read that Van hated the strings which were added later, but I think they lend an unearthly quality to the songs, as if they aren't jazz or folk or rock, but some heretofore unheard-of blend. This album takes you into the mystic and you're real real gone.  Like a sort of enlightenment, and it stones you.  Or the healing has begun, and ye get healed.  Favorite tracks: "The Way Young Lovers Do," "Sweet Thing."