Day: 25 January 2008

Where it all began: The Bookmark Years : 1967 and 1971

I had some fun trying to pick my 50 best albums for 1971, and it looks like some of you enjoyed it as well. As my dad used to say, “repeat medicine until patient dies” (and no, he wasn’t a doctor, it was a phrase he used when executing squeeze plays in contract bridge; I took him to mean “more of the same, until it hurts”).

I arrived at 1971 almost randomly, influenced by what I was listening to at the time, which was Tull’s Aqualung. This time around, there’s nothing random about the year I’m choosing…. it’s the natural partner for 1971. If 1971 was a bookend, then surely the other bookend would be…. 1967.

So here goes: My top 50 albums for 1967, again in no particular order, but filtered on the basis they have Wikipedia entries. This time around, I’ve also found a faster route. Go to Wikipedia. Enter”1967″ and thereby get here. Then, using the sidebar on the right that says “1967 by topic”, hit “music” and thereby get here. Go to section 2, “Top Albums released in the US”, scan list and copy/paste those I have and like. Augment list from memory, eliding where I find no Wikipedia entry. And bingo.

[Incidentally, I have now found a page with albums released in 1971, which includes pretty much everything I’ve listed and quite a bit more. Worth a quick look.]

Here’s the list:

Mellow Yellow – Donovan

The Doors -The Doors

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

Buffalo Springfield -Buffalo Springfield

Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits -Bob Dylan

The Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead

Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane

The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground

Are You Experienced?  Jimi Hendrix

Absolutely Free  The Mothers of Invention

Magical Mystery Tour  The Beatles

Buffalo Springfield Again  Buffalo Springfield

Disraeli Gears  Cream

Strange Days  The Doors

John Wesley Harding  Bob Dylan


Alice’s Restaurant  Arlo Guthrie

After Bathing At Baxter’s  Jefferson Airplane

Days of Future Passed  The Moody Blues

Blowin’ Your Mind!  Van Morrison

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Pink Floyd (with Syd)

Procol Harum  Procol Harum

Their Satanic Majesties Request  The Rolling Stones

The Who Sell Out  The Who

Axis: Bold as Love  The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Mr. Fantasy  Traffic

The Way I Feel – Gordon Lightfoot

A Hard Road John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers

Ten Years After  Ten Years After

Album 1700 Peter Paul and Mary

Big Brother and The Holding Company Big Brother and The Holding Company


I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Country Joe and the Fish

Just For You Neil Diamond

Matthew And Son Cat Stevens

Songs of Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen

Sunshine Superman Donovan

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out Timothy Leary

Universal Soldier Donovan

Something Else The Kinks

Forever Changes Love

Younger Than Yesterday The Byrds

Crusade John Mayall

Goodbye And Hello Tim Buckley

Smiley Smile The Beach Boys

Joan Joan Baez

Wildflowers Judy Collins

Evolution  The Hollies

Bee Gees 1st Bee Gees

 There’s a Kind of Hush All Over The World Herman’s Hermits

 I Was Made To Love Her Stevie Wonder

From The Beginning Small Faces

Sell a Band. Buy a Club. Bump a track. Do something

Sometimes I think we use terms like community and social network and collaborative filtering and mashing as if they were all going out of style; we pontificate about their pros and cons and pass judgment about all kinds of things. We’re in grave danger of believing our own propaganda, believing that all the value to be had is in our conversations.

Which is why we need to keep reminding ourselves of what’s really happening out there. People using the web to club together to buy a football club, Ebbsfleet United. People taking shares in emerging bands and helping them get to market, as in what Sellaband are doing. People changing the way you find emerging music, like what the sixty one are doing. People making it easier to share what you watch, like what vodpod are doing.  People coming together sharing comments on what music lyrics mean, as in what songmeaning are doing.

All these things have some key similarities, some characteristics that are worth understanding:

  • Low barriers to entry, anyone can come in; where there is a price, the price is affordable
  • Aggregation value: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, there is something being created that no person could create on his or her own
  • Democracy:  Each person has the same voting rights
  • High cohesion, loose coupling: The services offered are entire in themselves, yet can attach themselves to social networks quite easily; they aren’t trying to solve the world, just to do one thing well.
  • A belief in community and in sharing.

I have been quietly compiling a list of these sites, covering a whole variety of topics, subjects and areas. Maybe it’s time I packaged them for sharing here, any interest?

The power of TED

Right now there’s a lot of buzz about Davos, both pro- as well as anti. Part of the anti-buzz is generated by the “artificial scarcity” of the event, its inaccessibility.  And talking about inaccessible events, that brings me on to TED.

I love TED. Even though I’ve never been. [I have actually paid out of my personal pocket to go to TED, it was TED Africa last year, but a heart attack made sure I couldn’t do it].

So. My experience of TED has been restricted to watching the videos. Which I do, religiously. I would encourage everyone to take a walk around the videos, they’re excellent; easily accessible, appropriately short, superbly produced.

It will give you an idea as to why TED is such a hot ticket. Which might explain this: a TED main hall pass is available for purchase on eBay; the auction price is currently $32,100; with nine days to go, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pass $100,000, somewhat too rich for my blood.

It’s for a good cause, Architecture for Humanity, so if you can afford it, go for it. If you’re not sure, sample the videos, available here. There are over 180 of them so far, I’ve personally watched over 170 of them; it’s easy to get them on to your iPod and to watch the videos while you travel.