The Remains - EPIC/LEGACY
Artist: Remains

Most 1960s garage rock obsessives collect singles rather than albums for a good reason: While plenty of snarling teenagers could come up with two decent songs at a stretch, a precious few seemed able to brainstorm a dozen tunes without reaching to the bottom of the barrel or resorting to covers of other people's hits. But there were exceptions... Read More

At the River's Edge
Artist: New Colony Six

Twenty-two tracks, including all of the worthwhile songs from their classic Breakthrough album, a non-LP single, and most of their second album, Colonization. The only New Colony Six package worth owning. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide Read More

Elvis TV Special - RCA
Artist: Elvis Presley
Community Score: 4.00

After years of making abysmal movies, Presley appeared before a live audience, scared to death. That he more than rose to the challenge is evidenced here, a masterly performance highlighted by the jam-session segment with DJ Fontana and Scotty Moore, where Presley plays electric guitar and knocks out drop-dead versions of "Baby, What You Want Me... Read More

The Pretty Things - UK
Artist: The Pretty Things

The Pretty Things' debut LP was a legendary exercise in anarchy -- 30 minutes into the two days' worth of sessions, their original producer, Jack Baverstock (the head of the label, no less), walked out, and was eventually replaced by a slightly more sympathetic personality in the hopes of salvaging something from the efforts of the band, who,... Read More

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Community Score: 10.00

Did the 13th Floor Elevators invent psychedelic rock? Aficionados will be debating that point for decades, but if Roky Erickson and his fellow travelers into inner space weren't there first, they were certainly close to the front of the line, and there are few albums from the early stages of the psych movement that sound as distinctively trippy... Read More

Beggars Banquet
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Community Score: 8.12

The Stones forsook psychedelic experimentation to return to their blues roots on this celebrated album, which was immediately acclaimed as one of their landmark achievements. A strong acoustic Delta blues flavor colors much of the material, particularly "Salt of the Earth" and "No Expectations," which features some beautiful slide guitar work.... Read More

From Elvis in Memphis
Artist: Elvis Presley
Community Score: 7.86

After a 14-year absence from Memphis, Elvis Presley returned to cut what was certainly his greatest album (or, at least, a tie effort with his RCA debut LP from early 1956). The fact that From Elvis in Memphis came out as well as it did is something of a surprise, in retrospect -- Presley had a backlog of songs he genuinely liked that he wanted... Read More

How Great Thou Art
Artist: Elvis Presley
Community Score: 9.00

Between 1966 and 1968, Elvis recorded just enough studio material to fill one complete secular album and How Great Thou Art, a far more polite (and slightly surreal) reading of traditional religious material than the previous outing, a half-dozen years earlier. The performances throughout are superb, the sound impeccable; this actually beat Sgt.... Read More

The Kink Kontroversy
Artist: The Kinks
Community Score: 5.33

The Kinks came into their own as album artists -- and Ray Davies fully matured as a songwriter -- with The Kink Kontroversy, which bridged their raw early British Invasion sound with more sophisticated lyrics and thoughtful production. There are still powerful ravers like the hit "Till the End of the Day" (utilizing yet another "You Really Got... Read More

The Kinks' Greatest Hits
Artist: The Kinks

In its time -- and it was in print for about 20 years -- this ten-song compilation was the way that most listeners discovered the Kinks for the first time. Along with The Live Kinks, it was the sole showcase for the band's early work in the United States for those same 20 years, and it did its job well as far as it went, opening with that rock &... Read More

The Very Best of the Standells
Artist: The Standells

The Standells were a one-hit wonder, and that hit was "Dirty Water," which appropriately opens and closes this compilation (the second version is in stereo). Among the 15 other tracks are the group's less successful follow-ups to their hit, notably "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," and LP tracks from their three albums of 1966-67,... Read More