1960's Mix

As inevitably as day follows night, and as Spring follows Winter, so too does a '60's mix follow a '70's mix.
In putting together this mix I tried to avoid the classic '60's music that everyone discovered in the '70's - the Velvets and the Stooges for instance. Most of the songs were songs I heard and absorbed during the '60's and as such played a big part in creating my rock & roll DNA.
My goal with this mix was to find songs that were true to my '60's experience - in that I actually listened to them in the '60's - but still sounded fresh. It is amazing to me that music I listened to that long ago not only has the ability to sound new, but still has meaning beyond evoking adolescent emotional goosebumps .
The surprises: The Rain, the Park and Other Things," by the Cowsills, is an amazing pop masterpiece, as good as anything by Badfinger, Big Star or the Raspberries. Songs by Love never grow old. it is possible to find a Rolling Stones song that hasn't been overplayed to death. "Polk Salad Annie" sounds as good now as it did when I was 17 and hearing it on a cross country trip at 2:00 in the morning, coming out of the radio like a message from the great beyond.
One more surprise: the music of San Francisco 1966-1969 does not withstand the test of time. Listening to it now, I find a lot of it - even the stuff I liked at the time, like Quicksilver Messenger Service and Country Joe and the Fish, to be sloppily played and creatively uninspiring.
(Of course, having said that, I contradict myself by leading off the mix with "Embryonic Journey" by Jefferson Airplane.)

1960's Mix

The playlist:
1. Embryonic Journey - Jefferson Airplane
2. Without Her - Blood, Sweat and Tears
3. Quicksand - Youngbloods
4. Orange Skies - Love
5. Neon Rainbow - Box Tops
6. Buzzin' Fly - Tim Buckley
7. Gigolo Aunt - Syd Barrett
8. Back in the States Again - Yours Forever More
9. The Rain, the Park and Other Things - The Cowsills
10. Care of Cell 44 - The Zombies
11. Here Comes the Nice - Small Faces
12. Open My Eyes - The Nazz
13. Waiting to Die - Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies
14. Lies - The Knickerbockers
15. Painter Man - The Creation
16. I Can Only Give You Everything - Them
17. Sabre Dance - Love Sculpture
18. Sittin' on a Fence - The Rolling Stones
19. These Are Not My People - Joe South
20. Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White
21. Driving Wheel - Tom Rush
22. Big White Cloud - John Cale
23. Forty Thousand Headmen - Traffic
24. Dance in the Smoke - Argent
25. Peaches in Regalia - Frank Zappa
26. Dreams - The Allman Brothers