The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
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The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Considered one of the earliest art rock LPs and a precursor to progressive rock, Sgt. Pepper is a pivotal piece of British psychedelic music. It combines a variety of styles, including as Western and Indian classical music, circus, music hall, and avant-garde. Many of the recordings were colored with sound effects and tape manipulation with the help of Geoff Emerick and George Martin.

The Byrds - Fifth Dimension (1966)
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The Byrds – Fifth Dimension

Fifth Dimension finds The Byrds breaking free—no Dylan, no Clark, just raw psychedelia, raw ambition, and cosmic riffs. It’s messy, bold, and brilliant, a band chasing new frontiers and nearly falling apart while inventing something timeless in the process.

The Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer (1966)
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The Yardbirds – Roger the Engineer

It sounds like a band trying to break out of themselves, each song another shove against the walls closing in. Roger the Engineer isn’t polished; it’s impulsive, twitchy, and brilliant in its refusal to stay in one place. It wasn’t just ahead of its time – it was already annoyed at the future.

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966)
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Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

Blonde on Blonde is frequently considered one of the greatest albums by critics. The album’s tracks, which combine a modernist literary sensibility with the experience of Nashville session musicians, have been characterized as musically expansive.

The Beatles – Yesterday and Today

The Beatles – Yesterday and Today

Yesterday and Today might not have been crafted with any big artistic statement in mind, but it catches a real moment: a band too restless to stay put, too smart to be boxed in, and too damn good to make it sound anything less than essential.