Let me take you through this decade album by album. I've got most of these on vinyl — some original pressin's, some reissues I've picked up over forty years. The sleeves alone tell the story. You can see the ambition growin' year by year. 1960 to 1969 — from the Shadows to Abbey Road. What a journey.
1960. The Shadows. Before the beat groups arrived, instrumental rock ruled. Hank Marvin's Fender Stratocaster — imported from America, virtually unheard of in Britain — created a sound that influenced a generation of guitarists. 'Apache', their epochal single, wasn't on a proper album that year, but the EPs and LPs they released showcased the template for British rock guitar. Without the Shadows, no Brian May, no Mark Knopfler, no Dave Gilmour. The sound of Britain learnin' to rock.
1961. The Shadows' debut LP proper. 'Kon-Tiki', 'The Frightened City', 'Apache'. Precision playin' — Bruce Welch's rhythm guitar, Jet Harris's bass, Tony Meehan's drums. Remarkable for a British rock album of the era. A band at the top of their game, definin' a genre before the beat boom arrived to kill it.
1962. The Beatles release 'Love Me Do' in October. A deceptively simple song built around Lennon's harmonica and McCartney's melodic bassline. 'Please Please Me' followed in January 63, but it was written and recorded in late 62. The first tremor of an earthquake.
1963. Please Please Me. Recorded in a single marathon session on 11 February 1963 — ten songs in under ten hours, cost four hundred quid. 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'Twist and Shout' — recorded last, Lennon's voice shredded by cold and exhaustion. Spent thirty weeks at number one. A record that stood until 1977. Raw, breathless, utterly alive.
1964. A Hard Day's Night. The first Beatles album of entirely original compositions. The title track's openin' chord — famously analysed by musicologists for decades. The jangle of 'Can't Buy Me Love', the tenderness of 'And I Love Her'. Harrison's 'I'm Happy Just to Dance with You' showin' a songwriter growin' in confidence. The moment the Beatles proved they were more than a pop phenomenon.
1965. Rubber Soul. The album where they stopped bein' a pop band. Sitar on 'Norwegian Wood', fuzz bass on 'Think for Yourself', the close-harmony genius of 'Nowhere Man', the soulful yearnin' of 'In My Life' — one of the greatest songs ever written. Suddenly albums could be cohesive artistic statements.
1966. Revolver. Widely regarded as their greatest by many fans. Expands the sonic palette beyond recognition. 'Taxman', Harrison's first great political song. 'Eleanor Rigby' with a string octet, no Beatles instruments. Paul's finest ballad 'Here, There and Everywhere'. 'Tomorrow Never Knows', Lennon's tape-loop psychedelic masterpiece. The summit of their middle period. One of the greatest albums ever made.
1967. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Not just an album — an event. The alter-ego concept, groundbreakin' production, the orchestral fade of 'A Day in the Life'. The album that made the album what it is. Four Grammys, Album of the Year. Immortal.
1968. The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. While the Beatles released the sprawlin' White Album, the Kinks quietly released somethin' even more perfect. A concept album about a mythical disappearin' Englishness — tea, cricket, strawberry jam, village churches. Ray Davies's songwritin' at its peak. Sold barely 15,000 copies in its first year. Now recognised as one of the greatest British albums ever made.
1969. Abbey Road and Let It Bleed. Two titans. The Beatles' final recorded album, a triumphant farewell. The medley on side two — unfinished songs stitched into a seamless whole. 'Come Together', 'Something', Harrison's greatest moment. 'Here Comes the Sun'. 'The End' — 'the love you take is equal to the love you make.' The Stones answered with Let It Bleed, their darkest and best. 'Gimme Shelter' apocalyptic, 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' towerin'. Together they closed the decade with a roar.