1967 – Rock Classics … and some Jazz, Country, Soul & Easy Listening

1st March 2022

From mid 1966 – 1967, Brian Wilson recorded tracks for the ‘Smile’ LP, while The Beach Boys were on tour. For years, ‘Smile’ would be regarded as the greatest LP never released.

Brian Wilson with Van Dyke Parks working on the Smile LP. The LP wouldn’t be released until decades later.

On the 24th November 1966, The Beatles went into Abbey Road to begin work on ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

Resting after a motorcycle accident in July 1966, Bob Dylan spent the spring of 1967 writing songs with The Band in his house near Woodstock, New York. In June 1967, they switched to Big Pink, a house The Band shared, and began recording in the basement. These recordings were heavily bootlegged, and finally released in 1975.

Also in July 1966, Peter Green officially replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

The new year was only days old when out of LA came the debut album by The Doors …

Please note, most dates are from Wikipedia so there may be some errors. Also, UK and US release dates varied; I have usually given the UK date. This is a selective discography, showcasing just some of the amazing music of 1967.

December 23rd 1966 Buffalo Springfield ‘For What It’s Worth’ single (charted in Spring 1967)

December 1966 The Electric Prunes ‘The Electric Prunes’ LP

January

4th The Doors ‘The Doors’ LP

4th The Doors ‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’ single

9th The Byrds ‘So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ single

9th The Monkees ‘More Of The Monkees’ LP

13th The Rolling Stones ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’ / ‘Ruby Tuesday’ double A-side single

20th The Rolling Stones ‘Between The Buttons’ LP (UK). Album released Feb 11th USA.

23rd The Supremes ‘Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland’ LP

February

1st Jefferson Airplane ‘Surrealist Pillow’ LP

3rd Herman’s Hermits ‘There’s A Kind Of Hush’ single

3rd Death of Joe Meek (record producer. Produced ‘Telestar’, the second British song to top the US charts)

6th The Byrds ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ LP

10th The Hollies ‘On A Carousel’ single

12th Keith Richards & Mick Jagger arrested for drug possession at Redlands, home of Richards.

Keith Richards & Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones

13th The Beatles ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ / ‘Penny Lane’ double A-side single

16th Miles Davis ‘Miles Smiles’ LP

17th John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers ‘A Hard Road’ LP

27th Simon & Garfunkel ‘At The Zoo’ single

27th Elvis Presley ‘How Great Thou Art’ LP

February The Mamas & The Papas ‘Dedicated To The One I Love’ single

February The Left Banke ‘Walk Away Renne’ LP

February Gene Clark ‘Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers’ LP

February The Mamas & The Papas ‘Deliver’ LP

March

3rd The Walker Brothers ‘Images’ LP

7th Sandie Shaw ‘Puppet On A String’ single (Sandie won the Eurovision Song Contest with this song, the first time the UK won the contest)

8th The Monkees ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ single

10th Pink Floyd ‘Arnold Layne’ single

12th The Velvet Underground “The Velvet Underground and Nico’ LP

13th The Byrds ‘My Back Pages’ single

16th Otis Redding with Carla Thomas ‘King & Queen’ LP

17th Jimi Hendrix ‘Purple Haze’ single

17th Grateful Dead ‘The Grateful Dead’ LP

24th Manfred Mann ‘Ha Ha Said The Clown’ single.

31st The Move ‘I Can Hear The Grass Grow’ single

March The Dave Clark Five ‘You Got What It Takes’ single

March Neil Diamond ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ single

March Frank Sinatra And Nancy Sinatra ‘Something Stupid’ single

April

1st Jefferson Airplane ‘Somebody To Love’ single

7th Lulu ‘The Boat That I Row’ single

‘Pictures Of Lily’ Japanese single cover

14th Bee Gees ‘New York Mining Disaster 1941’ single

21st The Yardbirds ‘Little Games’ single. This is the last UK single by the band, and it failed to chart.

22nd The Who ‘Pictures Of Lily’ single

24th The Doors ‘Light My Fire’ single

29th Aretha Franklyn ‘Respect’ single

29th The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream, a concert held at Alexandra Palace, London. Pink Floyd are the headline act.

April The Mamas & The Papas ‘Creeque Allee’ single

April Anti-Vietnam War protests in Washington DC, New York and San Francisco

1st Pat Martino ‘El Hombre’ LP recorded. Released later in 1967

May

1st The Association ‘Windy’ single

5th Jimi Hendrix ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ single

5th The Kinks ‘Waterloo Sunset’ single

11th Country Joe And The Fish ‘Electric Music For The Mind And Body’ LP

12th Procol Harum ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ single

13th Scott Mackenzie ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)’ single

13th The Grass Roots ‘Let’s Live For Today’ single

19th Traffic ‘Paper Sun’ single

19th Strawberry Alarm Clock ‘Incense And Peppermints’ single

22nd The Byrds ‘Have You Seen Her Face’ single

22nd The Monkees ‘Headquarters’ LP

26th The Hollies ‘Carrie Anne’ single

26th The Beatles ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ LP

26th Mothers Of Invention (Frank Zappa) ‘Absolutely Free’ LP

29th The Tremeloes ‘Silence Is Golden’ single

June

1st David Bowie ‘David Bowie’ LP

1st Elvis Presley ‘Double Trouble’ Soundtrack LP

6th Moby Grape ‘Moby Grape’ LP

Debut LP by Moby Grape, featuring Skip Spence on rhythm guitar and vocals

8th The Association ‘Insight Out’ LP

16th Pink Floyd ‘See Emily Play’ single

16 – 18 Monterey International Pop Festival

Performers include Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Grateful Dead, The Who, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Buffalo Springfield, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Mamas & the Papas. Electric Flag, comprising Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Buddy Miles on drums, made their live debut. The band’s first LP, issued in 1967, was the soundtrack to the film ‘The Trip’

23rd The Small Faces ‘The Small Faces’ LP

24th Jefferson Airplane ‘White Rabbit’ single

25th Our World TV. The Beatles perform ‘All You Need Is Love’ from Abbey Road, EMI studio. The program was broadcast by satellite, and watched by more than 400 million people in 25 countries.

26th The Hollies ‘Evolution’ LP

30th The Who ‘The Last Time’ / ‘Under My Thumb’ single (the single was recorded just two days previously, to support the legal fees of Mick Jagger & Keith Richards.

June Cream ‘Strange Brew’ single

June Captain Beefheart ‘Safe As Milk’ LP

June The Kaleidoscope (USA band) ‘Side Trips’ LP

July

7th The Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’ single

7th Dave Davies ‘Death Of A Clown’ single (solo from Davies of The Kinks)

7th Simon & Garfunkel ‘Fakin’ It’ single

13th The Byrds ‘Lady Friend’ single

14th Bee Gees ‘Bee Gees 1st’ LP

17th Death of John Coltrane

24th The Beach Boys ‘Heroes and Villains’ single

28th Keith West ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’ single

July The Monkees ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ single

The Yardbirds with Jimmy Page (2nd from left). Page would later go on to form Led Zepplin

July The Box Tops ‘The Letter’ single

July Canned Heat ‘Canned Heat’ LP

July The Yardbirds ‘Little Games’ LP (USA only. This lineup has Jimmy Page as sole guitarist)

August

4th The Flower Pot Men ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’ single

4th The Small Faces ‘Itchycoo Park’ single

4th Pink Floyd ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ LP

18th The Rolling Stones ‘We Love You’ single (UK)

19th Jimi Hendrix ‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’ single

21st Bobbie Gentry ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ LP

23rd Big Brother & the Holding Company ‘Big Brother & the Holding Company’ LP

Big Brother & the Holding Company with singer Janice Joplin

23rd Jimi Hendrix ‘Are You Experienced LP

25th The Move ‘Flowers In The Rain’ single

27th Death of Brian Epstein (Beatles manager)

28th Merle Haggard ‘Branded Man’ LP

August Traffic ‘Hole In My Shoe’ single

August Glenn Campbell ‘Gentle On My Mind’ LP

August The Seeds ‘Future’ LP

August Vanilla Fudge ‘Vanilla Fudge’ LP

September

1st John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers ‘Crusade’ LP, featuring new guitarist and future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor.

1st Procol Harum ‘Procol Harum’ LP

4th The Doors ‘People Are Strange’ single

15th The Kinks ‘Something Else’ LP

16th Scott Walker ‘Scott’ LP

18th The Beach Boys ‘Smiley Smile’ LP (USA). The ‘Smile’ concept was abandoned, and this LP was cobbled together to fulfil record company commitments. The Album was released in November in the UK

19th Bee Gees ‘Massachusetts’ single

22nd The Hollies ‘King Midas In Reverse’ single

25th The Doors ‘Strange Days’ LP

End of September John Coltrane ‘Expression’ (First posthumous release) LP

September Gene Pitney ‘Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart’ single

30th Radio One starts broadcasting in the UK. The first song is ‘Flowers In The Rain’ by The Move.

October

3rd Death of folk singer Woody Guthrie (a major influence on Bob Dylan)

6th David McWilliams ‘Days of Pearly Spencer’ single

10th Elvis Presley ‘Clambake’ Soundtrack LP

13th The Who ‘I Can See For Miles’ single

13th The Kinks ‘Autumn Almanac’ / ‘Mr Pleasant’ single

13th The Troggs ‘Love Is All Around’ single

20th The Byrds ‘Goin’ Back’ single

23rd The Beach Boys ‘Wild Honey’ single

23rd Miles Davis ‘Sorcerer’ LP

25th The Monkees ‘Daydream Believer’ single

25th The 13th Floor Elevators ‘Easter Everywhere’ LP

27th Ten Years After ‘Ten Years After’ LP

31st Phil Ochs ‘Pleasures Of The Harbour’ LP

November

1st Love ‘Forever Changes’ LP

2nd Scott Walker ‘Jackie’ single

2nd Cream ‘Disraeli Gears’ LP

6th The Monkees ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd’ LP

10th Moody Blues ‘Nights In White Satin’ single

10th Moody Blues ‘Days Of Future Passed’ LP

18th Buffalo Springfield ‘Buffalo Springfield Again’ LP

24th The Beatles ‘Hello, Goodbye’ / ‘I Am The Walrus’ double A-side single

24th Dave Davies ‘Susannah’s Still Alive’ single

24th Traffic ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’ single

24th Kaleidoscope (UK band) ‘Tangerine Dream’ LP

November The Dave Clark Five ‘Everybody Knows’ single. Their first Top 10 hit since July 1965

November the Lemon Pipers ‘Green Tambourine’ single

November Glenn Campbell ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ LP

November Country Joe And The Fish ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die’ LP

November The Hollies ‘Butterfly’ LP

November Lee Morgan ‘Delightfulee’ LP

November Van Dyke Parks ‘Song Cycle’ LP

Van Dyke Parks, who had collaborated with Brian Wilson on the aborted ‘Smile’ project

November or December The Doors ‘Love Me Two Times’ single

December

1st Jimi Hendrix ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ LP (UK. Released 1968 in USA)

8th The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ double EP (in USA, this is released as an LP with the inclusion of all singles and B-sides from 1967)

8th The Rolling Stones ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ LP

8th Traffic ‘Mr Fantasy’ LP

9th Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested onstage at New Haven, charged with obscenity and incitement to riot. He becomes the first rock star to be arrested onstage.

10th Death of Otis Redding

13th Jimi Hendrix ‘Foxy Lady’ single

15th The Who ‘The Who Sell Out’ LP

18th The Beach Boys ‘Wild Honey’ LP

18th The Beach Boys ‘Darlin” single

26th The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ broadcast on the BBC. The film, which is shown in black & white, is poorly received. A colour version in screened on 5th January 1968

27th Leonard Cohen ‘The Songs Of Leonard Cohen’ LP