Yardbirds

The Yardbirds were a breeding ground for three great rock guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck And briefly Jimmy Page, in fact, Led Zeppelin were initially known as the new Yardbirds!!
"For Your Love" captured our ears with harpsichord and guitar together. Then "Still I'm Sad" with its Gregorian chant sound. And of course the futuristic sound of "Shapes of Things"

Captain Beefheart

I took a chance on this album by importing it from England without knowing much about it.
I was hooked by "Sure nuff" then "Zig Zag Wanderer", loved "Electricity" And then "Abba Zabba" and what a great voice!! I was saddened when he went all experimental and gave away singing any blues based songs later in his career.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd's first album introduced us to Syd Barrets acid visions and, what a trip it was."Astronomy Dominie" took us into space, "Matilda Mother" took us back to Childhood' and "Chapter 24" gave us philosophy!!
And then a room of musical tunes in "Bike".
Plus some lovely acoustic guitar to end "Scarecrow"

The Who

Another British invasion!! And we all became mods!!"My Generation" became our anthem and what a powerful rocking song it still is today.With powerful bass, and great vocals and lyrics, and then Pete's guitar pounding along then the feedback "mindblowing!!"

Bob Dylan

The First Dylan album I listened to and i loved every bit of it from "Blowin in the Wind", "Masters of War" plus "Hard Rain","Oxford Town" to the lovely cover of "Corrina, Corrina"
and of course it was the closest we got to acoustic fingerstyle guitar music at this time in NZ!!

Zappa + Mothers of Invention

Frank Zappa's satire on SGt Pepper is very droll and amusing, plus pointedly cynical about the whole "hippy" scene and America in general.
Also some great psych rock as an added bonus!!

Cream

The Brits do it again! British white boy blues and rock, Great Stuff.
Clapton becomes a rock god, Jack Bruces powerful voice and bass, and to bring it all together Ginger Bakers pounding drums.
A lovely version of "I'm So Glad" and Four Until Late, Then Spoonful!!

Procol Harum

Their first album with of course the classic "Whiter Shade of Pale", i also enjoyed "Outside the Gates of Cerdes" and the paranoid "Something Following me", In total a satisfying listen all round

Crazy world of Arthur Brown

Another album import here in NZ we could only read about his stage show which really was "crazy" but there is a lot of great music on this album, especially the "fire" suite

The Nice

I imported this from England andfound the sound new, and very interesting, great guitar work and listenable lyrics and of course the first manifestation of ELP.

Otis Redding

Of course the british beat boom introduced us to a whole lot of American soul artists particularly the Atlantic label artists.
This is my favourite Otis Redding containing the bluesy "hawg for you" and the lovely "Try a little Tenderness"

The second stones album arrived in NZ with little fuss
and i "discovered" it in a suburban record shop, and bought, and listened, it grew on me gradually, but i immediately loved their version of Muddy Waters, "I can't be Satisfied", a great bass line from Bill, and slide guitar from Keith.

The second album from Donovan was special to me because of the great acoustic guitar work throughout, E.G. "jersey thursday", and the jazzy "sunny goodge street", plus i'm always a sucker for a nice "sunshine" song like colors

Beatles

I had enjoyed the Beatles since they first appeared, but they were still a bit "Pop" for me.
But Revolver was a milestone and i loved the sound and was particularly taken by "Tomorrow never Knows" and the general experimentation on the whole album, "relax your mind and float downstream" indeed!!

And then arrived Jimi he blew our minds with powerful, innovative new guitar sounds. "third stone from the sun" wow!! yes we wanted to be "experienced" Such feedback such a beautiful tone.
The first album i ever played twice in a row!

Another great British R&B album [No i have not included DoWah Diddy!] a cross between blues, rock and jazz this album grooved on like a steam train, another great version of "mojo" plus their own composition "don't ask me what i say".

Paul Butterfield

Another gem from the Elektra label, Raw, brash, and wonderful harmonica playing from Paul.
It was the first time i heard "got my mojo working" and i loved it.
But all the songs are great chicago style blues, and still sound fresh today.

Apart From the great cover there was some very exotic and interesting sounds on Incredible String Bands 2nd album the loveliest song is "painting box" i was a big fan for a while i even bought a sitar and struggled to play along with it!!

The Kinks hit "you really got me" was stunning and considered "wild" at this time the album was more laid back by comparison but still rocking.

I played this many times, it is a classic british blues album, being down here in the southern hemisphere, i had to import it from England, at that time it would take a year before we saw any new releases!!!
Claptons guitar playing was so fluid and intense it was a religous experience to hear.