Photo: Jim Summaria / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
1965’s Best Albums list showcases an incredible year in music history. Two amazing new Beatles albums were released in 1965. The year also presented rock fans with three new Rolling Stones albums and two new Kinks albums. Once again, The Beach Boys released three new albums while Bob Dylan also issued two historic records. One of the year’s most spectacular debut albums was the release of The Who’s first record. 1965 would turn out to be one of the most historic years on record as far as the arrival of new rock bands. Other legendary debut albums that arrived in 1965 also included the debut albums of The Byrds, The Moody Blues, The Loving Spoonful, Herman’s Hermits, Donovan, The Pretty Things,The Beau Brummels, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Turtles, The Four Tops, The Shangri-Las and The Wailers.
1965 defined another year in which so many forms of music proved successful on a mass cultural level. While The Beatles were inspiring the signing of new bands that were trying to follow in their footsteps, the sounds of rock, pop, soul, R&B, Adult Contemporary and especially jazz were enjoying great success on the music charts. Its one of the reasons we decided to title this article 1965’s Best Albums as opposed to 1965’s Best Rock Albums. There were just too many great records that fell outside of the rock arena that we couldn’t ignore. The only genre we have chosen to exclude is Jazz because there were just too many great jazz albums released to label here. They will have their own separate section.
Once again, Capitol Records released different versions of Beatles albums in the U.S from the original UK Albums. We have listed only the original Beatles UK albums on the top 100 and added the Beatles US albums underneath the top 100.
Every year that we have covered in the 1960s has proven better than the year before. The next four years are going to be fantastic. Some of the greatest moments in rock and roll history occurred during the years 1967,1968 and 1969. Those will be big articles. We greatly appreciate those who have continued to read these articles. It’s great to go back in time and explore how it all came together.
# 100 – Beat & Soul – The Everly Brothers
# 99 – Downtown – Petula Clark
# 98 – Orange Blossom Special – Johnny Cash
# 97 – Soul Time! – Jackie Wilson
# 96 – Shake – Sam Cooke
# 95 – Going Places! – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
# 94 – How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You – Marvin Gaye
# 93 – The Ventures Knock Me Out – The Ventures
# 92 – 1,661 Seconds with Del Shannon – Del Shannon
# 91 – Going Out Of My Head – Little Anthony & The Imperials
# 90 – All I Really Want to Do – Cher
# 89 – Chuck Berry In London – Chuck Berry
# 88 – The Missing Links – The Missing Links
# 87 – Hold What You Got – Joe Tex
# 86 – We Remember Sam Cooke – The Supremes
# 85 – Before and After – Chad & Jeremy
# 84 – The Sound of The Shadows – The Shadows
# 83 – Whipped Cream & Other Delights – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
# 82 – Look at Us – Sonny & Cher
# 81 – I Want Candy – The Strangegloves
# 80 – This Diamond Ring – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
# 79 – Rock’n Soul – The Everly Brothers
# 78 – People Get Ready – The Impressions
# 76 – I Ain’t Marching Anymore – Phil Ochs
# 75 – All Systems – Go! – The Honeycombs
# 74 – Hey! Good Lookin’ – Bo Diddley
# 73 – Get the Picture? – The Pretty Things
# 72 – The Temptin’ Temptations – The Temptations
# 71 – Here I Am – Dionne Warwick
# 70 – Mercy – Don Covay
# 69 – Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire
# 68 – Songs Of Our Times – P.F. Sloan
# 67 – Harum Scarum – Elvis Presley
# 66 – Take Me For What I’m Worth – The Searchers
# 65 – James Brown Plays James Brown Today & Yesterday – James Brown
# 64 – The Wailing Wailers – The Wailers (Bob Marley)
# 63 – Girl Happy – Elvis Presley
# 62 – Land of 1000 Dances – Cannibal & the Headhunters
# 61 – This Is New! – The Righteous Brothers
# 60 – 500% More Man – Bo Diddley
# 59 – The Game of Love – Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders
# 58 – Hang On Sloopy – The McCoys
# 57 – Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-Las
# 56 – Take A Heart – The Sorrows
# 55 – The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest – Fugs
# 54 – Shakin’ All Over – Chad Allen & The Expressions (The Guess Who)
# 53 – The Tempations Sing Smokey – The Temptations
# 52 – Elvis for Everyone! – Elvis Presley
# 51 – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ – The Righteous Brothers
# 50 – The Pretty Things – The Pretty Things
# 49 – Come My Way – Marianne Faithfull
# 48 – Everything’s Coming Up Dusty – Dusty Springfield
# 47 – Everybody Loves A Clown – Gary Lewis and the Playboys
# 46 – Introducing The Beau Brummels – The Beau Brummels
# 45 – !!!Here Are The Sonics!!! – The Sonics
# 44 – Fresh Berry’s – Chuck Berry
# 43 – The Animals On Tour – The Animals
# 42 – Dance Party – Martha and the Vandellas
# 41 – Hoodoo Man Blues – Junior Wells’ Chicago Blues Band w/ Buddy Guy
# 40 – Mann Made – Manfred Mann
# 39 – Going to a Go-Go – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
# 38 – Wooly Bully – Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
# 37 – Introducing Herman’s Hermits – Herman’s Hermits
# 36 – Beach Boys’ Party! – The Beach Boys
# 35 – The Paul Simon Songbook – Paul Simon
# 34 – More Hits by The Supremes – The Supremes
# 33 – Soul Dressing – Booker T & the M.G.s
# 32 – The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick – Dionne Warwick
# 31 – There Is Only One Roy Orbison – Roy Orbison
# 30 – Four Tops – The Four Tops
# 29 – Them – Them (Van Morrison)
# 28 – In the Midnight Hour – Wilson Pickett
# 27 – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
# 26 – Catch The Wind – Donovan
# 25 – Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) – The Beach Boys
# 24 – Hollies – The Hollies
# 23 – The Kink Kontroversy – The Kinks
# 22 – Four Tops Second Album – The Four Tops
# 21 – Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul – Otis Redding
# 20 – Here They Come! – Paul Revere & the Raiders
# 19 – Having a Wild Weekend – The Dave Clark Five
# 18 – Do You Believe in Magic – The Lovin’ Spoonful
# 17 – The Magnificent Moodies – The Moody Blues
# 16 – Turn, Turn, Turn – The Byrds
# 15 – It Ain’t Me Babe – The Turtles
# 14 – The Beach Boys Today! – The Beach Boys
# 13 – Bringing It Al Back Home – Bob Dylan
# 12 – Kinda Kinks – The Kinks
# 12 – Kinda Kinks – 
# 11 – The Rolling Stones No. 2 (UK) / The Rolling Stones, Now! – The Rolling Stones
# 10 – For Your Love – The Yardbirds
# 9 – Out of Our Heads – The Rolling Stones
# 8 – Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds
# 7 – Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds – The Yardbirds
# 6 – December’s Children (And Everybody’s) – The Rolling Stones
# 5 – The Zombies – The Zombies
# 4 – Help – The Beatles
# 3 – Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan
# 2 – My Generation – The Who
# 1 – Rubber Soul – The Beatles
Th U.S Capitol Beatles albums that were released in 1965 and combined songs from their new original UK albums with the non-album singles were……
Beatles VI
The Early Beatles
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Best Albums of The Year Series
1970’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1971’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1972’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1973’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1974’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1975’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1976’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1977’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1978’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
1979’s Best Classic Rock Albums List
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The Sonics on #45??? Genre defining album. Ok. Some of the better placed albums didn’t survive test of time. But that’s just my two cents.