Another year, another batch of artists added to my ever-expanding library. And just like last year, I'm up to the challenge of ranking the importance that each artist had on my year in music.

Honorable Mentions: Bobby "Blue" Bland, The Allman Brothers Band, The Box Tops, Buffalo Springfield, Buddy Holly, The Delfonics, The Kinks, Malo, The Turtles

*WARNING: This list is heavily weighted towards the 60s*


10) Michael Henderson
A bass viruoso, he played with well-known asshole and trumpet player Miles Davis before making some fine funk and soul music of his own. And I recommend listening to "Wide Receiver" about 30 times so that you can hear all of his hilarious witticisms laced throughout the song's 8 minutes.

9) Moses Mayes
This fantastic band from Winnipeg specializes in groovalicious music. Truly refreshing to hear an actual funk band these days. Luckily for y'all many of their songs are downloadable from last.fm!

8) Three Dog Night
So I was at a barbershop getting my hair cut, when somehow my barber gets to talkin' about Three Dog Night. His synopsis of the group? "Man, them was some harmonizin' crackers!" 'Nuff said, though I don't approve of the saltine vernacular.

7) The Guess Who
Another band from Winnipeg! Their fusion of blues, rock and ,quite often, jazz made for an always interesting listen. We all know "American Woman" and "These Eyes" but "Undun" and "When Friends Fall Out" are my Guess Who jams. Plus they begat BTO. Now that's takin' care of business.

6) The Association
Furthering the impression that I was in a sunshine pop mode this past year, I became addicted to "Never My Love" and "Everything that Touches You". Could it be that I've grown soft? Yep, cuz the next artist is...

5) The 5th Dimension
I became addicted to their rendition of "Never My Love" as well. I was at least able to salvage some bad assness by boogieing down to the second half of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".

4) The Black Crowes
I got my mojo back now. These boys could kick some hard-rockin' ass. They arguably outdid Otis Redding on "Hard to Handle", no easy feat, and even got some soul sisters to take care of back up vocal business on such gems as "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye".

3) Tommy James & The Shondells
My mojo restoration continues with the delightful garage rock of "Mony Mony" and "Hanky Panky". Were the Shondells limited to such repetitive rockers? Nope. "She", "Crimson & Clover" and other mellow classics provided a nice change of pace but a listen to "Cellophane Symphony" shows that these guys were not at their best in the psychedelic mold.

2) Creedence Clearwater Revival
An artist I've known about for quite some time, I finally got around to getting all their albums and Cosmo's Factory would easily make a top 50 album list if I ever found the time to do so. "Ramble Tamble" rumbles and tumbles magnificiently, justifying its 7-minute length. Same goes for the 11-minute interpretation of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine".

1) The Byrds
The most important discovery of the past year. I purchased a box set of theirs almost exactly a year ago, as of this writing, and how could anyone not love the jingly jangly guitar or the harmonies? And for the record, "Chestnut Mare" has to be one of the dumbest songs ever written, but that don't mean it ain't good!


So there you have it. My year was filled with lots of sunshine 60s pop harmonies and crunching southern rock with just a pinch of funk.

Happy New Year!