It Starts With a Birthstone...: Albums of the Year 1965

Another quite unnecessary series to keep me occupied. Accessing the Best Ever Albums site which is a quite incredible resource. It catalogues every album countdown you could imagine, all organised from the votes from site users. So I'm going to list their Top Ten from each year starting from the year of my own birth in 1965, then my own Top Ten from the same year, the proviso being that I need to own the records concerned myself. On vinyl.

1965 is a good place to start. That's when the album really set off as a meaningful form of expression in Rock Music. It began to take over from the single in the next few years but 1965 was the cusp. Here is the Best Ever Albums Top Ten.

1. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
2. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
3. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
4. Bob Dylan - Bringing it all Back Home
5. The Beatles - Help
6. Otis Redding - Otis Blue
7. The Who - My Generation
8. Nina Simone - Pastel Blues
9. The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today!
10. The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man

After this it becomes predominantly a Jazz list. It was in 1966 when this balance started to be redirected to Rock. Here is my own Top Ten list of albums I own from this year. I struggled a bit to make it to ten but these are all fine records in their different ways. Should be easier from now on.

1. The Beatles - Rubber Soul

2. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

I feel I need to qualify this. Great as this record is, (and it's actually a very important life record to me), it felt a bit fussy for my tastes listening to it right now. Easier to admire and be in awe of than to love sometimes. So Rubber Soul pips it.

3. Otis Redding - Otis Blue