the spirit of '66

1966 was a pretty good year in the world of popular music & with good reason: some of the most important albums of the entire decade came out left & right, leaving their lasting marks on us, the eager listeners that we were in those days. Just to name a few: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, The Beatles' Revolver (which by the way was their longest-running album at this point in their career), Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. (Of course, Dylan always enjoyed defying convention: Blonde on Blonde is roughly 73 minutes of great music from start to finish, as opposed to the half hour or so of power to be found in just 12 songs during that era.)

The Spirit of '66: In each of these aforementioned albums, it definitely is going strong. The sixties in general, proved to be a vast receptacle of all things cultural, political, mystical & spiritual. But each of the aspects which came to define the decade (& the spirit of the times) was displayed in all of its brilliant power & glory during 1966 through such masterpieces as the albums I just mentioned earlier.

At the time, popular music was viewed like a sacred institution, each relevant release a sacred book, its songs serving as scriptures full of comforts, assurances & truths which still hold up over four decades later. There was heartfelt life, meaning, symbolism, & truth in music back then; even the most schmaltzy stuff, it seemed, carried a fabric of sincerity which is woefully lacking now. Moreover, much of the monumental releases which found their way into the listeners' musical rotation back in 1966 have still endured, never lost their ability to amaze, capture our attention in more ways than one.

But why? Such music was made out of necessity, out of personal experience, being able to articulate one's concerns, emotions & feeling about living in times like those; it was all about risk-taking, breaking the norms & conventions of the day to get one's voice heard. The main premise of each artist like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, or Brian Wilson, at this point was this: to speak the honest truth in their own way, on their own terms. And they would leave us wanting more.

Back in that day, listening to an album from any of these above artists was like reading an inspirational book, in hopes that it could bring sparks of hope & joy into your life, that you would be enlightened by the overall experience. And thanks be to efforts like the aforementioned Revolver and The Byrds' Fifth Dimension, among the other releases listed earlier, 1966 turned out to be a very good year indeed.