My Favorite Album From Each Year of My Life, Pt. 1: The 60s & 70s

Rock, disco, & more — Come get groovy with me!

Writer Paul Combs recently wrote a great series of articles about his favorite album from every year that he’s been alive.

Here’s the one that started it all:

I was in the middle of writing a non-music-related article when I read the above, but Paul’s article greatly inspired me. I immediately dropped what I was working on and started making my own list of my favorite albums from each of my years on this planet.

Paul and I were both born in 1966— so that’s a lot of albums to write about it! One article covering 56 albums would be very, very long, so Paul decided to break his list up into different parts.

I’m doing the same thing and will be splitting mine up into four or five parts. Since I was alive for only four years of the 1960s, I’m combining those years with the 1970s.

NOTE: These are my personal favorites from those years, as opposed to the “best” albums from those years. I’m not trying to agree here with critics, Grammy Awards, record sales, etc. My only criteria here is that I deeply love the music on these albums.

I’m also including Honorable Mention albums for each year. At the end of the article is a very long Spotify playlist including songs from each of the albums (unless they’re not available on Spotify.)

So, let’s head now to the 1960s and 1970s!

1966: Pet Sounds — The Beach Boys

Even though The Beach Boys were one of the first bands I loved, I didn’t own a copy of Pet Sounds until the late 1990s. I think I held out for so long because it seemed a bit over-hyped to me. The album frequently showed up towards the top of every single “greatest albums of all-time” list I ever read — and I was afraid I’d be disappointed in it when I finally listened to it. It couldn’t possibly be as wonderful as everyone said it was, right?

Wrong.

As soon as I heard Pet Sounds in its entirety for my first time, I loved it. It truly is one of the greatest albums ever.

While it contains big hits like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “God Only Knows,” it also contains fantastic lesser-known songs like this one:

Honorable Mentions: Revolver by The Beatles and The Monkees by The Monkees.

1967: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. — The Monkees

This was the third album released by The Monkees in 1967. It’s not only my favorite by them from that year, but it’s my favorite album ever by the band.

Some standout songs from it: “She Hangs Out,” “The Door Into Summer,” “Words,” “Love Is Only Sleeping,” Cuddly Toy,” “Don’t Call On Me,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”

Honorable Mentions: More of The Monkees by The Monkees, The Doors by The Doors, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, and Headquarters by The Monkees

1968: The Beatles (The White Album) — The Beatles

Whenever people ask me what my favorite album by The Beatles is, I find it impossible to choose just one as my favorite. I usually say that it’s a three-way tie between Revolver, Abbey Road, and The White Album.

I love every song on this album — even the much-hated “Revolution 9!”

Even though I love every song on The White Album, I think this one just might be my favorite:

Honorable Mentions: Friends by The Beach Boys, Waiting For The Sun by The Doors, and The Birds, The Bees, & The Monkees by The Monkees

1969: The Soft Parade — The Doors

I’ve heard some people say that this is their least favorite album by The Doors, but it’s always been my favorite. “Tell All The People,” “Touch Me,” and “Wild Child” are some of my favorite songs from it, but my ultimate favorite is the long, brilliant, and somewhat bizarre title track:

And for those who don’t know “The Soft Parade” song and would like to check out the complete 8 minutes and 35 seconds of it, here you go.

“When I was back there in seminary school…”

Honorable Mentions: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young, Tommy by The Who, and Abbey Road by The Beatles.

1970: Sweet Baby James — James Taylor

Oh, man — this one is so darned good. There’s not a bad song on it. Some of my favorites are the title track, “Sunny Skies,” “Fire And Rain,” “Steamroller Blues,” “Suite for 20G” and “Blossom.”

Honorable Mentions: McCartney by Paul McCartney, After The Gold Rush by Neil Young, Sunflower by The Beach Boys, Changes by The Monkees

1971: Ram — Paul and Linda McCartney

This is one of my favorite solo albums from Paul McCartney. I’d put it near the top of my list, right alongside Band On The Run and Tug of War.

As far as I know, the only big hit song from Ram was “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.” I love that one a lot, but I love most of the other songs even more. My favorites are “Ram On,” “Dear Boy,” “Heart Of The Country,” “Long Haired Lady,” and “Smile Away.”

Honorable Mentions: Meddle by Pink Floyd, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon by James Taylor, and Who’s Next by The Who.

1972: Obscured by Clouds — Pink Floyd

Since this came before their legendary Dark Side of The Moon album, this is probably one of Pink Floyd’s least popular albums. However, it’s one of my favorites by the band. Some of the standout tracks on it: “Burning Bridges,” “Childhood’s End,” “Free Four, “Stay,” and “Wot’s…Uh the Deal.”

Honorable Mentions: Whole Oats by Daryl Hall and John Oates, Close To The Edge by Yes, Can’t Buy A Thrill by Steely Dan, Harvest by Neil Young, and Trilogy by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

1973: Abandoned Luncheonette — Daryl Hall and John Oates

I always enjoy recommending this album to people who love the duo, but maybe aren’t familiar with their earliest music. Standout tracks here include: “Had I Known You Better Then,” the title track, “She’s Gone,” “Lady Rain,” and “Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song.)

Honorable Mentions: Band On The Run by Paul McCartney and Wings, The Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd, Quadrophenia by The Who, The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen, Living In The Material World by George Harrison

1974: Walking Man — James Taylor

With only one or two exceptions, I love all of James Taylor’s albums. Having said that, Walking Man is probably my favorite by him. Standout songs include the title track, “Let It All Fall Down,” “Me And My Guitar,” and “Hello Old Friend.”

Honorable Mentions: Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan and On The Beach by Neil Young

1975: Katy Lied — Steely Dan

If someone were to hold a gun to my head and demand that I name my favorite album by Steely Dan, I’d most likely say:

“Hey, put that gun down!”

Then, once everything was calm, I would tell them that it’s Katy Lied, which contains such wonderful songs as “Black Friday,” “Bad Sneakers,” “Doctor Wu,” and “Everyone’s Gone To The Movies.”

Honorable Mentions: Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac by Fleetwood Mac, Gorilla by James Taylor, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, and Tonight’s The Night by Neil Young.

1976: The Pretender — Jackson Browne

This was a tough year to decide on and I changed my mind three times. I ultimately chose The Pretender because it’s my 2nd favorite album from Jackson Browne and I still listen to it regularly. In addition to the amazing title track, some other awesome songs on the album are “The Fuse,” “Here Come Those Tears Again,” and “Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate.”

P.S. — My #1 favorite album by Jackson Browne will be featured in the next article I do in this series, in which I’ll write about albums from the 1980s.

Honorable Mentions: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Destroyer by Kiss, Takin It To The Streets by The Doobie Brothers, Crystal Ball by Styx, The Royal Scam by Steely Dan, and High Voltage by AC/DC.

1977: Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack)

Another year with a lot of several fantastic albums, but this one is pretty hard to beat. In addition to containing several great songs by The Bee Gees, the soundtrack also features classics from Yvonne Elliman, Tavares, Kool & The Gang, The Tramps, KC & The Sunshine Band, and more.

Honorable Mentions: Animals by Pink Floyd, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Love Gun by Kiss, JT by James Taylor, Aja by Steely Dan, The Stranger by Billy Joel, Livin’ On The Fault Line by The Doobie Brothers.

1978: Toto — Toto

This debut album from Toto is one of my favorite albums ever by anyone. I bought it not long after it was released and I still listen to it at least a few times each year. In addition to the hit singles “Hold The Line” and “Georgy Porgy,” my other favorites on the album include “Manuela Run,” “Girl Goodbye,” “Takin’ It Back,” and “Rockmaker.”

Honorable Mentions: Van Halen by Van Halen, 52nd Street by Billy Joel, Grease soundtrack, Pieces of Eight by Styx, The Cars by The Cars, The Rutles by The Rutles, David Gilmour by David Gilmour, Minute By Minute by The Doobie Brothers, and The Cars by The Cars.

1979: Tusk — Fleetwood Mac

Tusk has a lot of fantastic songs on it, including “Over And Over,” “Think About Me,” “Sara,” “Angel,” “Beautiful Child,” “That’s All for Everyone,” “Brown Eyes,” and the somewhat odd, but totally wonderful title track.

Honorable Mentions: George Harrison by George Harrison, Van Halen II by Van Halen, Get The Knack by The Knack, Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross, Highway To Hell by AC/DC, The Wall by Pink Floyd, Off The Wall by Michael Jackson, On The Radio: Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II by Donna Summer.

As I said earlier, I’ve compiled a Spotify playlist with songs from all of the albums I’ve mentioned in this article, except for a few of them that aren’t available on Spotify.

I kept it relatively short and limited it to only 100 songs. If you’ve got 6 hours and 55 minutes (or so) to spare and you’d like to check it out, here you go:

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on X, Substack, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the Gotta Pop podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.