Which Pop/Rock albums of the 60's are the most well produced?

They're are the obvious ones like Pet Sounds and Sgt. Peppers, Baroque/Psychedelic in Odyssey & Oracle and Forever Changes, Blues Rock in Led Zep 1 and2 and Let it Bleed and a slew of others which include my personal pick The VU & Nico. What are some of your favorites?

 

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Here's a non Beatles/Stones top 5

The Zodiac-Cosmic Sounds
Sly & The Family Stone-A whole new thing
Tim Buckley-Blue Afternoon
Miles Davis-Nefertiti
Nico-Chelsea Girls

 

Mamas And The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears
Jefferson Airplane - Crown Of Creation

 

I was definitely thinking about these two, but would probably pick Happy Sad instead of Blue Afternoon. I also forgot about Astral Weeks which is beautifully done too.

 

Disraeli Gears & Wheels Of Fire-Cream-Felix Pappalardi

 

The Byrds' Notorious Byrd Brothers is an exemplary elaborate-but-tasteful late '60s production.

 

yes it is, another i forgot

 

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Pretty much anything by the Beach Boys, Scott Walker (plus the Walker Brothers), Harry Nilsson, and Lee Hazlewood.
Also, Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks, Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks, Freak Out! by Frank Zappa, and the Monkees by the Monkees are ones that come to mind.

 

A Girl Called Dusssssssty

 

A few not yet mentioned:

SF Sorrow - The Pretty Things
Unhalfbricking - Fairport Convention
Volume Two - The Soft Machine
Children of the Future - Steve Miller Band
The Marble Index - Nico
Pleasures of the Harbor - Phil Ochs
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter - Incredible String Band
Gris-Gris - Dr. John
Super Session - Mike Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Steve Stills

 

The Beatles: Revolver (1966)
The Beatles: Abbey Road (1969)
Blood, Sweat & Tears: Blood, Sweat & Tears (1969)
The Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed (1967)
The Doors: The Doors (1967)
Santana: Santana (1969)
The Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

 

Anything by Dionne Warwick on Scepter Records. Try Make Way for Dionne Warwick.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights
Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 - The Fool on the Hill
Actually, pretty much anything on A&M in the '60s

 

Bookends immediately springs to mind as does other S&G

Most UK stuff sounds terrible from the 60s to except for the Fabs.

The Beach Boys always had a great sound as did Love.

 

All the Byrds recordings are exemplary. The Doors' too. In general American studios and production were ahead of the English in this period, IMO. For example, The Kinks rarely got a great sound until the late 70's, even a major hit like Lola, or say Victoria, sounds ramshackle, IMO. The Who finally did with Who's Next although Tommy was a new departure sonically as well. Most mid-60's American bands still sound great today e.g., The Loving Spoonful, CCR, Glen Campbell, Vanilla Fudge. (Village Green Preservation Society was mentioned above as a good production and I'd actually agree with that, however most of the material is in a quieter, folksy/music hall vein so it comes across better).

The one thing that does date some material of this time is the approach to reverb. Maybe Steve or other members would be interested to explain why this technique was so popular, e.g. did it have something to do with how engineers wanted the music to sound on A.M. radio?

 

Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes.
Anything on Motown.
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
Smile.

 

The Millenium Begin album

 

You'll eat your gumboot after hearing the first two Pretty Things albums and the Zombies stuff.

 

I always forget the Zombies are British.

Nick Drakes records sounded good..

 

Technically recorded in the 60's - Bridge Over Troubled Water sounds amazing.

Always thought The Move were well recorded.

 

All The Doors studio lps.

 

Did you mean the WORST produced?