5 Incredible Albums Released 55 Years Ago This Month

For those who were around to witness it, November 1969 must have seemed like a topsy-turvy time. Not only had it been a year full of incredible triumphs and significant turmoil, but the entire decade would be coming to a close in just as few months.

Luckily, there were some musicians taking the temperature of the times and delivering some incredible albums. Here are five LPs that debuted 55 years ago this month and haven’t lost a bit off their fastball after all these years.

Joe Cocker! by Joe Cocker

The start of Joe Cocker’s recording career was about as good as it gets: Two standout albums in ’69, followed the next year by the landmark live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen. The Joe Cocker! album just might be the high point of his entire career. Only Cocker had the ability to take songs by writers as heavy and distinctive as, for example, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Leonard Cohen, and make it all sound like a seamless album that was written entirely for him. For all his bluesy bluster, Cocker also brings home the romance of songs like John Sebastian’s “Darling Be Home Soon” and Leon Russell’s “Delta Lady” with aplomb.

The Rod Stewart Album by Rod Stewart

November 1969 turned out to be a pretty great time for rock interpreters, right? To be fair, Stewart, unlike Joe Cocker, also wrote a few of the songs on his solo debut, which was released in the UK as An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down. But he hadn’t quite achieved the knack for shaggy storytelling he’d later master on songs like “Maggie May.” No matter, because the covers here are stellar. Stewart naturally sounds at home delivering the bluesy rock of “Street Fighting Man,” but he also shows off his sensitive side on the folk of “Dirty Old Town” and the pomp-pop of “Handbags and Gladrags.”

Scott 4 by Scott Walker

Blessed with a booming voice that just naturally cut through speakers, Scott Walker easily could have built a solo career in line with the easy-listening hits he released with the Walker Brothers. He instead insisted on forging a path that took him far from commercial success into cult-favorite status. Listening to Scott 4, it actually sounds not too far off a typical singer/songwriter effort, once you get past some of the out-there song titles. The thing really catches fire on Side Two, with the sauntering “The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime),” the romantic “Duchess,” and the elegiac “Rhymes of Goodbye.”

The Allman Brothers Band by The Allman Brothers Band

With an embarrassment of riches at their recording disposal, The Allman Brothers Band simply couldn’t miss on their debut record. After all, a few of the six members of the group had already proven themselves playing on other records, and their approach (two guitarists, two percussionists) was novel to the rock world. They naturally handled the Muddy Waters classic “Trouble No More” with grit and grace, but the bulk of the album comes from Gregg Allman’s underrated songwriting pen. He delivers ideal showcases for the interweaving guitars of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, both soulful (“It’s Not My Cross to Bear”) and searing (“Whipping Post”).

Ballad of Easy Rider by The Byrds

Because they were always changing lineups and styles from album to album, any single LP by The Byrds could take on a personality all its own and separate from anything else by the band. Ballad of Easy Ryder let them concentrate on being interpreters, since Roger McGuinn didn’t write much for the record besides the title track (which Bob Dylan allegedly initiated). Speaking of Dylan, they deliver a superb, slowed-down take here on “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” The Byrds’ country influence also comes to the fore with tender takes on “Tulsa County Blue” and “There Must Be Someone.” For good measure, they churn out one of the tenderest versions of the Woody Guthrie evergreen “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).”

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Photo by David Redfern/Redferns