For many Los Angeles pop and rock acts paying dues in the mid-1960s music scene, 1968 marked an end.
Worldwide standard bearers the Beatles had concluded 1967 with “Magical Mystery Tour,” a stylistic Pandora’s box of sounds that typified the experimentation of the time (and featured George Harrison’s hat-tip to Los Angeles, “Blue Jay Way”).
Rock ‘n’ roll and folk-rock sounds were giving way to a kaleidoscopic vision of what popular music could be, an all-encompassing canvas upon which flair, long hair and dynamic self-exploration could mingle. In jazz, too, freedom reigned, as structured compositions gave way to pure, borderless improvisation.
Below, 7 essential, if lesser known, Los Angeles-area records issued in 1968.
• Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, “Together” (Warner Bros.). Partly recorded at a Hollywood discotheque called the Haunted House, Wright and band’s second album is a maximalist soul-funk work featuring Watts-based Wright and a band propelled by drumming legend James Gadson. The influential outfit performs work by James Brown, T-Bone Walker, the Rolling Stones and others on “Together” as well as a few Wright originals.