1967’s Best Rock Albums

Photo: Heinrich Klaffs / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

1967’s Best Rock Albums list will blow your mind and knock you off your rock and roll feet. From 1964 on, every year has gotten better and better. I’m not sure if we are going to be able to top this one. Once again, The Beatles released two new legendary albums with one of them being hailed by many as possibly the greatest rock album of all time. The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Frank Zappa and so many others continued to release records that we would listen to almost on daily basis for the rest of our lives. One of the most thrilling aspects of looking back at the year 1967 was remembering how many amazing debut albums were released. 1967 not only gave us possibly the greatest album of all time, it unveiled a guitarist that many would rate the most important guitarist in classic rock history. In 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience exploded onto the scene with their debut album. No one had ever played guitar like Jimi Hendrix. His playing would turn the rock and roll world upside down.

There were many other huge debut albums. The year 1967 also brought us possibly the biggest cult band of all time with the debut of The Grateful Dead. The rock world would also be blown away by a new band called The Doors whose lead singer Jim Morrison would entertain audiences on a level never seen before. There were so many rock Gods who arrived on the scene in 1967. One of the biggest names who would celebrate a cult following that would eventually mix with tremendous commercial success was the very much loved David Bowie. From New York came the debut album of singer and songwriter Laura Nyro who would become a heavy fan and critic favorite. Laura Nyro blended soul, folk and pop music in a mix that was devastatingly addictive for so many. We also saw the release of the first Van Morrison album after having released two albums with his group Them. Van Morrison would go on to have one of the most important careers in music releasing over forty one studio albums. And the man is still going strong in 2020.

There were just so many spectacular debut albums released in 1967 that launched the careers of legends. These would include albums from The Youngbloods, The Stone Poneys, Cat Stevens, Big Brother & the Holding Company, The Fifth Dimension, Vanilla Fudge, Spanky and Our Gang, Captain Beefheart, Canned Heat, Sly & The Family Stone, Ten Years After, Richie Havens, Keith Emerson and the Nice, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Spinners and more.

Our 1967’s Best Rock Albums list presents one hundred and twenty five of what we believe were the best albums of 1967. Most of the albums are rock and roll, combined with some of the classic R&B and Soul and adult contemporary records that also played a critical roll in classic rock history. We really took our top thirty pretty seriously and it’s in the order of what we believed were the top thirty albums. These were really important to us to get right. Of course, its only our opinion, but we based our choices on the impact that these albums had on classic rock history and how relevant they have continued to be. The top 50 is pretty close to that too. However after number 50 it just became too difficult to rank albums. So from around number 50 to 125, the albums are pretty much in random order. Have fun with this one. It was a lot of work to put this together, but so much fun to do.

Oh and one more thing. 1967’s Best Rock Albums article stands as our thousandth article that we have published since we came online in 2013. We wanted to make sure that we published a great one for number one thousand. We hope you think we did.

# 125 – You Got My Mind Messed Up  – James Carr

# 124 – The Parable of Arable Land – The Red Crayola

# 123 – A Gift from a Flower to a Garden – Donovan

# 122 – Higher and Higher – Jackie Wilson

# 121 – The Time Has Come – The Chamber Brothers

# 120 – The Original Spinners – The Spinners

# 119 – One Nation Underground – Pearls Before Swine

# 118 – The Soul of a Bell – William Bell

# 117 – Up, Up and Away – The Fifth Dimension

# 116 – Ricochet – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

# 115 – The Great Conspiracy – The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

# 114 – Knock on Wood – Eddie Floyd

# 113 – Trogglodynamite – The Troggs

# 112 – The Letter/Neon Rainbow – The Box Tops

# 111 – Super Blues – Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters & Little Walter

# 110 –  Hour Glass – Hour Glass (pre-Allman Brothers)

# 109 –  Emotions – The Pretty Things

# 108 –  Super Psychedelics – The Ventures

# 107 –  Album 1700 – Peter, Paul & Mary

# 106 –  The Look of Love – Dusty Springfield

# 105 –  The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw – Paul Butterfield Blues Band

# 104 –  King & Queen – Otis Redding & Carla Thomas

# 103 –  Mixed Bag – Richie Havens

# 102 –  Moby Grape – Moby Grape

# 101 – Electric Music for the Mind and Body – Country Joe & Fish

# 100 – There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World – Herman’s Hermits

# 99 – Tim Hardin 2 – Tim Hardin 

# 98 – Club Meeting – Billy Preston

# 97 – Nina Simone Sings the Blues – Nina Simone

# 96 – The Way I Feel – Gordon Lightfoot

# 95 – The Fastest Guitar Alive – Roy Orbison

# 94 – James Brown Sings Raw Soul – James Brown

# 93 – Born Under a Bad Sign – Albert King

# 92 – Alice’s Restaurant – Arlo Guthrie

# 91 – Make It Happen – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

# 90 – Revolution! – Paul Revere & the Raiders

# 89 – Don’t Stop Me Now! – Cliff Richard

# 88 – Chuck Berry In Memphis – Chuck Berry

# 87 – Hip Hug-Her – Booker T & the M.G.’s

# 86 – The Everly Brothers Sing – The Everly Brothers 

# 85 – Ode to Billie Joe – Bobby Gentry

# 84 – The Sound of Wilson Pickett – Wilson Pickett

# 83 – The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack – The Nice

# 82 – Kaleidoscope –Tangerine Dream

# 81 – Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd – The Monkees

# 80 – Wildflowers – Judy Collins

# 79 – Cry Softly Lonely One – Roy Orbison

# 78 – Pandemonium Shadow Show – Harry Nilsson

# 77 – Just For You – Neil Diamond

# 76 – Aretha Arrives  – Aretha Franklin

# 75 – Reach Out – The Four Tops

# 74 – Souled Out –  The Righteous Brothers

# 73 – Bee Gees’ 1st  – Bee Gees

# 72 – Eric Is Here – Eric Burdon & The Animals

# 71 – The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland –The Supremes

# 70 – Incense and Peppermints – Strawberry Alarm Clock

# 69 – Shakedown – Savoy Brown

# 68 – The Stone Poneys – The Stone Poneys

# 67 – A Whole New Thing – Sly & The Family Stone

# 66 – Songs of Leonard Cohen – Leonard Cohen

# 65 – Live in Europe – Otis Redding

# 64 – Insight Out – The Association

# 63 – Wild Honey – The Beach Boys

# 62 – Evergreen, Vol. 2  – The Stone Poneys

# 61 – Evolution – The Hollies

# 60 – You’re a Big Boy Now – The Lovin Spoonful

# 59 – Spanky and Our Gang – Spanky and Our Gang

# 58 – Safe As Milk – Captain Beefheart

# 57 – I Was Made to Love Her – Stevie Wonder

# 56 – Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina – The Left Banke

# 55 – Crusade –  John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

# 54 – Canned Heat – Canned Heat

# 53 – Cold Sweat – James Brown

# 52 – Let’s Live For Today – The Grass Roots

# 51 – I Think We’re Alone Now – Tommy James & Shondells

# 50 – Soul Men – Sam & Dave

# 49 – The Electric Prunes – The Electric Prunes

# 48 – More of the Monkees – The Monkees

# 47 – Electric Comic Book – The Blues Magoos

# 46 – Ten Years After – Ten Years After

# 45 – Butterfly – The Hollies

# 44 – More Than a New Discovery – Laura Nyro

# 43 – Sock It To Me Baby! – Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels

# 42 – Big Brother & the Holding Company – Big Brother & The Holding Company

# 41 – Headquarters – The Monkees

# 40 – A Hard Road –  John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

# 39 – Winds Of Change – Eric Burdon & The Animals

# 38 – The Youngbloods  – The Youngbloods

# 37 – Matthew And Son – Cat Stevens

# 36 – There Are But Four Small Faces. – Small Faces

# 35 – Mellow Yellow  – Donovan

# 34 – Deliver – The Mamas & The Papas

# 33 – Younger Than Yesterday – The Byrds

# 32 –  I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You – Aretha Franklin

# 31 – Little Games – The Yardbirds

# 30 – Blowin’ Your Mind! – Van Morrison

# 29 – Smiley Smile – The Beach Boys

# 28 – Procol Harum – Procol Harum

# 27 – The Velvet Underground & Nico

# 26 – Vanilla Fudge – Vanilla Fudge

# 25 – David Bowie – David Bowie

# 24 – Flowers – The Rolling Stones

# 23 – Forever Changes – Love

# 22 – John Wesley Harding – Bob Dylan

# 21 – Lumpy Gravy – Frank Zappa

# 20 – Strange Days – The Doors

# 19 – Something Else by the Kinks – The Kinks

# 18 – Their Satanic Majesties Request – The Rolling Stones

# 17 – Happy Together – The Turtles

# 16 – Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – Pink Floyd 

# 15 – Buffalo Springfield Again – Buffalo Springfield 

# 14 – Days of Future Passed  – The Moody Blues

# 13 – Sell Out – The Who

# 12 – Absolutely Free – Frank Zappa & The Mothers 

# 11 – The Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead

# 10 – Groovin’ – The Young Rascals

#  9 – Axis: Bold As Love – The Jimi Hendrix Experience

#  8 – Surrealistic Pillow – The Jefferson Airplane

#  7 – Mr. Fantasy – Traffic

#  6 – Disraeli Gears – Cream

#  5 – Magical Mystery Tour  – The Beatles

# 4 – The Doors – The Doors

#  3 – Between the Buttons  – The Rolling Stones

#  2 – Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience

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

Best Albums of The Year Series

1962’s Best Rock Albums List

1963’s Best Rock Albums List

1964’s Best Rock Albums List

1965’s Best Albums

1966’s Best Albums

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

1980’s Best Rock Albums List

1981’s Best Rock Albums List

1982’s Best Rock Albums List

1983’s Best Rock Albums List

1984’s Best Rock Albums List

1985’s Best Rock Albums List

1986’s Best Rock Albums List