VA - Magic Of The Sixties Vol. 1 [2012] + Magic Of The Sixties Vol. 2 [2015] (8 x CDs)

SIXTIES

VA - Magic Of The Sixties Vol. 1 [2012] + Magic Of The Sixties Vol. 2 [2015] (8 x CDs)

I’ve always thought Magic Of The Sixties volumes one and two make the most sense when they’re treated as a single eight-disc run, even though they were released a few years apart, the first in 2012 and the second in 2015. Played together, they don’t lock the decade into one sound or storyline. Instead, they let it unfold naturally, full of overlaps, detours, and subtle shifts. Familiar hits sit right alongside less obvious choices, and that closeness does the explaining without needing to spell anything out.

The first set leans into movement and lift in a very deliberate way. Those opening discs draw heavily from the early and mid-sixties, when pop, beat, soul, and folk-rock were still sharing vocabulary rather than staking out territory. The sequencing isn’t locked to a strict timeline, and that choice matters. It keeps the set from feeling like a history lesson and lets the music behave the way it originally did, circulating through radios, jukeboxes, and charts at the same time. Tracks slide into one another easily, not because they’re similar, but because they belong to the same listening world.

Volume two doesn’t try to outdo that earlier energy, it works by adding weight instead. The selections lean further into the later sixties, where arrangements grow denser and performances carry more emotional and political awareness. Songs begin to stretch, not just musically but thematically, taking in psychedelia, deeper soul, and a more inward kind of pop writing. The sequencing avoids a clean break between eras. Instead, it lets the shift happen gradually, so the listener feels the decade pressing forward rather than turning a corner all at once.

Taken together, the eight discs reward time and repeat listening. Familiar songs settle back into proportion when they’re heard alongside lesser-known period material, and genre boundaries start to feel fluid rather than fixed. These sets don’t make a case for a definitive version of the 1960s. They behave more like a working listening map, shaped by sequencing and pacing rather than thesis. What lingers is the sense of motion, how quickly sounds changed, how much overlap there was, and how the decade’s real pull comes from that forward momentum rather than any single moment held up as final. (B)

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Track lists

Vol. 1 CD1

01 Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe in Magic 2:03

02 Moody Blues - Boulevard De La Madeleine 2:55

03 Love Affair - Rainbow Valley 3:50

04 Who - Happy Jack 2:16

05 Marbles - Only One Woman 2:42

06 Byrds - Ballad of Easy Rider 2:05

07 Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 2:39

08 Easybeats - Hello How Are You 4:01

09 Spencer Davis Group - Time Seller 2:51

10 Peter & Gordon - True Love Ways 2:38

11 Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday 3:09

12 Young Rascals - Groovin' 2:31

13 Box Tops - Cry Like A Baby 2:34

14 Fortunes - Seasons in The Sun 3:43

15 David McWilliams - Days of Pearly Spencer 2:33

16 Guess Who - American Woman 3:53

17 Searchers - What Have They Done to The Rain 2:35

18 Procol Harum - Homburg 3:54

19 Four Tops - Walk Away Renee 2:46

20 World of Oz - The Muffin Man 2:28

Vol. 1 CD2

01 Manfred Mann - Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James 2:36

02 Donovan - Atlantis 5:03

03 Paul Revere & The Raiders - Let Me 2:30

04 Herman's Hermits - There's A Kind of Hush 2:35

05 Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit 2:34

06 Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - I'm The Urban Spaceman 2:24

07 Beach Boys - I Can Hear Music 2:37

08 Question Mark & The Mysterians - 96 Tears 2:57

09 Casuals - Jesamine 3:37

10 Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl 3:04

11 Chris Farlowe - Out of Time 3:14

12 Yardbirds - For Your Love 2:30

13 Raymond Froggatt - Callow-La-Vita 2:37

14 Wilson Pickett - Land of 1000 Dances 2:26

15 Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525 3:15

16 Joe Jeffrey Group - My Pledge of Love 2:44

17 Move - Blackberry Way 3:41

18 Georgie Fame - Sitting in The Park 3:20

19 Rod Stewart - Handbags and Gladrags 4:24

20 Canned Heat - On The Road Again 3:26

Vol. 1 CD3

01 Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) - Fortunate Son 2:18

02 Animals - It's My Life 3:03

03 Tommy James & The Shondells - Crimson and Clover 3:21

04 Thunderclap Newman - Something in The Air 3:54

05 Honeybus - I Can't Let Maggie Go 2:57

06 Kinks - Wonder Boy 2:49

07 5th Dimension - Aquarius-Let The Sunshine In 4:48

08 Marmalade - I See The Rain 3:49

09 PJ Proby - Today I Killed A Man 3:26

10 Diana Ross & The Supremes - In and Out of Love 2:40

11 Scorpions (UK) - Hello Josephine 2:23

12 Mason Williams - Classical Gas 2:59

13 Troggs - Love is All Around 2:58

14 Creation - Painter Man 2:53

15 Herd - From The Underworld 3:17

16 Jeff Beck - Tallyman 2:45

17 Traffic - Paper Sun 4:16

18 Hep Stars - Sunny Girl 2:23

19 Dave Dee & Dozy & Beaky & Mick & Tich - Last Night in Soho 3:18

20 Them - Here Comes The Night 2:47

Vol. 1 CD4

01 Spooky Tooth - That Was Only Yesterday 3:50

02 Hollies - Gasoline Alley Bred 3:56

03 Joe South - Games People Play 3:31

04 Nirvana (UK) - Rainbow Chaser 2:36

05 Flower Pot Men - A Walk in The Sky 3:53

06 Cream - White Room 4:57

07 Dave Berry - The Crying Game 2:43

08 Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer 5:09

09 Small Faces - My Mind's Eye 2:02

10 Los Bravos - Bring A Little Lovin' 2:21

11 Tremeloes - Silence is Golden 3:08

12 Fleetwood Mac - Albatross 3:11

13 Mama's & The Papa's - Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to The Canyon) 3:24

14 Fat Mattress - Magic Forest 3:04

15 Pretty Things - Road Runner 3:11

16 Aphrodite's Child - It's Five O'Clock 3:30

17 Bob Dylan - I Want You 3:08

18 Dusty Springfield - I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself 3:01

19 Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino 2:39

20 Blood Sweat & Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy 4:13

Vol. 2 CD1

01 Monkees - (Theme From) The Monkees 2:21

02 Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire 2:48

03 Marbles - The Walls Fell Down 2:56

04 Byrds - My Back Pages 3:08

05 Marty Wilde - Abergavenny 2:46

06 Tremeloes - Even The Bad Times Are Good 2:35

07 Spencer Davis Group - Somebody Help Me 2:00

08 Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man 3:14

09 Chicago - I'm A Man 5:42

10 Chris Andrews - To Whom it Concerns 2:37

11 Fortunes - Here it Comes Again 3:04

12 Lovin' Spoonful - Rain on The Roof 2:12

13 Marianne Faithfull - Summer Nights 1:48

14 Jos  Feliciano - Light My Fire 3:05

15 Four Tops - If I Were A Carpenter 2:48

16 Flirtations - Someone Out There 3:01

17 World of Oz - King Croesus 3:10

18 Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) 4:49

19 Tom Jones - What's New Pussycat 2:05

20 Cats - Sure He's A Cat 2:28

Vol. 2 CD2

01 Elvis Presley - Guitar Man 2:20

02 Dave Berry - Little Things 2:24

03 Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe 4:16

04 Manfred Mann - My Name is Jack 2:53

05 Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love 2:59

06 Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir 2:20

07 Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda 2:47

08 Herman's Hermits - I'm Into Something Good 2:32

09 Overlanders - Michelle 2:22

10 Move - I Can Hear The Grass Grow 3:10

11 American Breed - Bend Me Shape Me 2:08

12 Supremes - I Hear A Symphony 2:43

13 Canned Heat - Going Up The Country 2:51

14 J Vincent Edward - Thanks 3:04

15 Tiny Tim - Tip Toe Thru' The Tulips 1:48

16 Union Gap & Gary Puckett - Woman Woman 3:15

17 Wallace Collection - Daydream 5:00

18 Scaffold - Lily The Pink 4:22

19 Whistling Jack Smith - I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman 2:18

20 Procol Harum - A Salty Dog 4:33

Vol. 2 CD3

01 Esther & Abi Ofarim - Cinderella Rockefella 2:29

02 Animals - We've Gotta Get Out of This Place 3:14

03 Family Dogg - A Way of Life 4:02

04 Bob Dylan - Tombstone Blues 5:57

05 Kinks - Plastic Man 3:04

06 Blood Sweat & Tears - And When I Die 4:03

07 Moby Grape - It's A Beautiful Day Today 3:05

08 Marmalade - Lovin' Things 3:05

09 Stevie Wonder - Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday 3:04

10 Troggs - I Can't Control Myself 3:05

11 Mary Hopkin - Goodbye 2:25

12 John Fred & His Playboy Band - Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) 2:56

13 Sonny & Cher - The Beat Goes On 3:26

14 Dave Dee & Dozy & Beaky & Mick & Tich - Save Me 2:59

15 Barry Ryan - Love is Love 4:53

16 Grapefruit - Deep Water 2:11

17 Deep Purple - Hush 4:23

18 Jethro Tull - Bour e 3:46

19 Ten Years After - Hear Me Calling 3:42

20 Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride 4:23

Vol. 2 CD4

01 Simon & Garfunkel - I Am A Rock 2:50

02 Hollies - King Midas in Reverse 3:03

03 Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie 3:42

04 Tim Hardin - Simple Song of Freedom 3:52

05 Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman 3:00

06 Melanie - Beautiful People 3:34

07 Long John Baldry - Let The Heartaches Begin 3:14

08 Small Faces - All Or Nothing 3:02

09 Oliver - Good Morning Starshine 3:37

10 Scott Walker - Jackie 3:21

11 Mamas & The Papas - Creeque Alley 3:48

12 Aphrodite's Child - Rain and Tears 3:13

13 Sandie Shaw - Always Something There to Remind Me 2:44

14 Lou Christie - I'm Gonna Make You Mine 2:40

15 Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten 3:10

16 Sir Douglas Quintet - Dynamite Woman 3:43

17 Humble Pie - Natural Born Bugie 4:14

18 Traffic - Feelin' Alright 4:17

19 Pretty Things - Come See Me 2:39

20 Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues 3:44

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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