Reviews (page 4 of 8)
Listened to this while playing Spire's End. I lost to Blob #2. I wish I was joking. I can absolutely imagine the person who loves this album. I can also imagine myself with abs. Unfortunately...I'm not that person. Just meh at best.
ok iguerss
Interesting listen!
5/10. Unos pseudo beatles que no recordaré dentro de dos semanas.
Love love love
++: On Sir Francis Drake, Beautiful, Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down), Quicksand, Sham +: Smug, Sunlight, Double Sunlight, Ride the Wind +-: Darkness, Darkness, Turn It Over, Trilium, Black Mountain Breakdown 5,5/10
Pleasant folk-rock with a handful of decent tunes. Nothing groundbreaking but surprisingly enjoyable.
Fun times in ‘69.
não foi um dos piores álbuns que já ouvi mas definitivamente também não chegou nem perto dos melhores. escutar a voz do vocalista me deu ódio. o country que aparecia do nada me deu ódio. a guitarra que aparecia uma vez ou outra e chegando pro final o estilo que chegou a me lembrar de uma bossa deu uma “salvada”.
Ouviria novamente umas duas músicas no máximo, não é um álbum ruim, é bom tecnicamente, mas não me cativa o suficiente, talvez por não gostar tanto das batidas de country que ouvi, longe de ser um álbum ruim, uma nota 3 sólida.
Didn't really land with me. Even for a song that I kinda dug, the vocals seem a little soft and felt inert? Favorite track: Ride the Wind
Decent album, sounds 60s and not so 60s at the same time. I love the psychedelic, the folk rock and jazz influences. The lead singer sounds so much like Arthur Lee. The tracks flow together but most of the tracks didn't really stand out for me. I did enjoy Quicksand and ride the wind was nice and mellow! (3/5)
Non vocal songs sounded the best as their instrument play I felt like was their strength. Decent album overall.
Who would have thought that the instrumentals would carry the album? Not me
Really nice, pleasant listen. Liked it more than I thought I would.
the plain instrumentals are stronger than ones with vocals. was ok, but not memorable & wouldn't seek it out again
Que álbum legal! A parte instrumental se sobressai. O Contrabaixo é um destaque delicioso na audição. QoA Vesper.
I had never heard this before. I don't plan on hearing it again.
Really nice easy listen. Great morning vibes.
I can't say it's bad, but it didn't do much for me for the most part. Probably 3 or 4 songs that are actually worth listening to, but the rest is kinda plain. 4/10
I enjoyed it
Good. Mixture of late 60’s pop and jazz noodle. Very much of its time but well worth a listen.
A beautiful combination of rock & Jazz with a touch of soul. This album sounded amazing, pencil me in as a Youngbloods fan.
(56/100)
Heb het gevoel dat ik naar 13 verschillende bands heb geluisterd die allemaal leuk waren.
Fun listen. They sound quite far removed from the Greenwich village scene they were originally from. Their sound is folky, but also clearly inspired by Jazz and Psychedelic music. I liked the improv's throughout this album. Generally well made and fun to listen to, the Byrds if they were a jam band.
Je suis un peu indécis, face à cet album. Il y a de belles pièces instrumentales, de bonnes chansons, mais aussi d’autres plus ordinaires et au moins une que je n’aime pas.
Good album. 60s folk rock with hints of bluegrass.
Nice music.
I'd written off the Youngbloods, because "Get Together" is such an overplayed Boomer anthem, and because the one time I saw Jesse Colin Young live, I was bored to tears. But this was really lovely to listen to on an early Saturday morning, and I will be revisiting it.
Fun album! I think the instrumental tracks stood out the most
started and ended and i suppose i heard it. i do agree with nick about the instrumental trax... they were sick
Yeah, it’s all right. I probably need more time with it. At the moment I’d rate it 2½, but since that’s not an option, and 2 seems too stingy, I’ll go for 3. Quicksand is a great song, by the way.
American Rock from the 70's.
It was decent. Most likely not something I’m going to be returning to.
A weird one to rate really It was pleasant and I enjoyed it. But it was also pretty boring and was just background noise Not sure how it can be both, but somehow it is 3 ⭐️
I am aggressively indifferent about this one. It was pleasant enough but I don’t need to hear it ever again
Another interesting find here. Love the vibes of this album. Apart from the great first track darkness, darkness it provides several other good songs. Quicksand, beautiful, sham and ride the wind all deserve a mention here. So i guess i dig this lp a lot.
lighthearted
If the rest of the album had followed the theme of the first song, Darkness Darkness, this could have been an easy 5. Instead it leant into largely predictable 60s American folk rock, with some interesting touches. A low 4 I think.
This a weird album, some of it sounds brand new and some sounds really dated, I wouldn't have guessed it was made in 1969 for the most part, but that is also biased by the band name which sounds quite modern. It's interesting, but I didn't exactly love it.
7 I like it
run of the mill country/folk/rock stuff from the 60s. nice jams.
Pleasant, friendly, playful late 60s rock music that is a little anonymous but doesn’t necessarily work against it.
This was cooler than I thought it would be. Part jam band, part folky, part yacht rock - I can picture some of these songs as part of a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. Not bad at all.
It's fine, but I felt nothing
Rock, ein bisschen psychedelisch
An sich ganz gut, die Instrumentals nervten aber.
1969. New York. Folk rock, country rock, psychedelia
An intresting mixture of folk, country and - verry little - rock. Intresting but 1001?
3.5
I'm a bit surprised by the negative reviews on this one, I didn't really think there was anything to dislike, it's nice varied bluesy/folky/jazzy rock. Between a 3/4 and I've bumped it up to counter the negative narratives.
If Darkness, Darkness is any indication of what I'm in store for, I think I just found an awesome new band! That didn't last long. It's like cornier Byrds. Recording booth chatter is less annoying than most found sound for some reason. Then On Sir Francis Drake is a good instrumental track. I can't decide what's what with this album. I'm liking it so far for the most part, a little uneven, but good.
That was fine, not remarkable.
Maybe I've just been listening to too much heavy/loud music recently but it was really refreshing to hear a lush little folk rock record like this one. Sort of a progenitor to Steely Dan, certainly wouldn't rule out more Youngbloods material in the future.
This is a nice one! And it stands out for having a good amount of variance in styles and approaches, and all done pretty well. 3.5 rounded down.
Really nice album! Very serene sounding and overall peaceful. I like the mix of folk sounding tracks, along with some instrumental songs leaning towards jazz. The singer has a nice voice which works great with this type of music. I found myself enjoying almost all songs on this records, so it was a joy just tugging along the ride. Definitely see myself coming back to this!
Pretty bland album. An ok mix of country, jazz and physchadelic. Nothing really stood out but it was an ok album to have on in the background while working.
An interesting look at one of the 60’s less popular bands. Pleasant songs that show what was happening at the time without being overly derivative
Nice sounding but not that interesting
Good
I think Get Together is the only Young Bloods tune I'm familiar with and this album sounds nothing like that song. I really kinda liked this album. Some Alt country on the first track? Then funky folk music? And then the jam lounge jazz vibes with the last track? It was all over the place style-wise but it all seemed to work cohesively.
It started off as oh God, another one of these albums then I thought it would start to take off, and it never did.
Je trouve ça poche de donner un 3. Mais je ne crois pas que ce soit un 4 pour moi. Il n'y a aucune chance que je ré-écoute cet album même si c'était pas mauvais.
Presque 4 étoiles. Très écoutable.
Pas pire moyen.
Calming
This album fucking rocked
folksy stuff, not my thing, bit tepid
While I had heard the name Youngbloods, I didn't know who they were. Upon research I found they did "Get Together" which is a pretty good classic rock song. Overall I really like this album. While there's not much that makes me go "WOW! That's different", I could definitely see myself playing this while relaxing, working or driving. It's a smooth feel with some interesting instrumentation. This is one of the best reasons to take on this 1001 challenge... finding interesting new (or old) music to listen to. I especially love the instrumental jams. This is sort of like if the Grateful Dead were both a little more commercial and jazzy.
Intriguing 7/10
I consider myself fairly well-versed in 60s psych (and psych-adjacent) stuff, but this one has totally passed me by until now. It's from the more palatable end of the alt-country-rock spectrum for sure - soulful vocals, pleasant enough sounds, it threatens to wander off into instrumental and improv hell after the opening track but does right itself occasionally. The problem is, there are just not any songs of any real quality here - it ultimately comes off like a bunch of songs rejected by other artists. It's hardly an essential listen, but at the same time it's a totally inoffensive collection which spans pop, country, rock, jazz and soul but never satisfactorily commits to any of the above in a convincing manner, nor does it ever threaten to concoct something exciting and new from those ingredients.
It's pretty decent for 60's folk
Had never heard of these guys... solid album! Listened a couple times, and really enjoyed it, overall. Solid 4. Really was into the instrumentals!
Didn’t mind it!
not bad
An album that starts out strong as a lost Buffalo Springfield or Neil Young record with “Darkness, Darkness”, but then jumps from there and springs out into several disconnected directions from pop to bluegrass to country to lounge jazz. The musicians are talented, but few of the songs are truly memorable, creating a sometimes interesting and diverse musical journey but one that is inconsistently executed. In the end this is a perfectly fine record that that isn’t party noteworthy.
You know what? I'm going to be brief on a review for once. This album's good. It's not outstanding in any way, but it's also not underwhelming. Elephant Mountain is a fairly standard late 60s psychedelic folk rock affair. It kind of reminds me of Neil Young a bit, which is not a bad thing. The opener "Darkness, Darkness" is pretty cool. None of the songs are bad, but that's really the only stand-out. The style is cool. The singing is solid. Elephant Mountain isn't a super interesting album and it's probably not a must-listen, but I also don't have any reason to dislike it. Good stuff. High 3/5.
SO GOOD. Listened 4-5 times. Can definitely hear some big band/jazz and blues inspo. Like a Wings album but better. Every instrumental hits the right tone. Great curation!! 4/5
Completely average
Pretty forgettable
Something about a troupe of rich boys from Greenwich Village singing like theyre black sharecroppers from Mizzou makes me itch. It's alright.
This was actually pretty good! The title track was the clear standout, but I found this to be really easy listening on a busy day. ✨
It’s a really good album if also a hit unremarkable. I’d never be disappointed if someone said they loved it and played it whilst not naturally wanting to play it. I don’t know where it stands. Needs a few hits I guess.
Listened to it on the bus with horrible earphones but still really enjoyed it.
cool discovery! thanks, generator.
Nothing interesting here. 'Nuff said.
Pretty good! The generic stuff is generic, but the weird stuff works - opener and closer are incredible
Some of these tracks slap and some of them are well-performed elevator music.
I really enjoyed this album. It's like a jazzier version of The Byrds' "Sweetheart of The Rodeo". An excellent addition to a library of Wayfaring Strangers-- altogether American music.
Aw how peaceful and nice. Cowboy music but the cowboy is unarmed
No tenía ni idea de la existencia de esta banda pero me han conquistado. Hacen un folk rock bastante particular y en ocasiones bastante alegre. Sin duda se trata de una de las mejores sorpresas hasta ahora. 4/5
Meh. It was fine, but halfway through it started pissing me off that this list managed to find the dad rockiest counterculture ever. So it lost a star.
Unremarkable
4.0 / 5.0 - I generally like San Francisco Sound bands and this is a pretty good example but behind the real pillars of the scene. Darkness, Darkness is the obvious standout song but the rest of the album is that nice combination of laid-back folk rock. This kind of album used to be transgressive music from the hippie devil, lol.
3/5
Country rock. Nice and soft, but without an edge, leaving a boring anomynous expression after a few songs.
Pleasant surprise, gotta say. More sophisticated folk, thinking Laurel Canyon and CSN, than goofy, sixties bubblegum pop. Some nice notes being played and sung on this one.
There is nothing exceedingly amazing about this. i did not really get amazed at any one song, but there was also a nice variation of jazz, folk and rock. 3 stars
Good album. Some weird songs that don't really fit, but it still is a good experience as an album
A chill jam
Pretty good.
That bit at the beginning of Nirvana's Territorial Pissings with 'come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together....' is from Get Together by The Youngbloods. That isn't on this album, though, sorry. I actually like this more than a lot of other similar, folk-adjacent stuff from the same era. Also enjoyed the cover art which, if you're not zoomed in, looks like early 90s computer game graphics.
Bad terrible boring
kind of messy but fun.
I’m usually a sucker for folk rock but this is so boring
Better than I was expecting.
Mix of instrumental and vocals, a bit one note throughout - elevator music. Wouldn't listen again
Mellow, fairly easy listening but lacking structure and cohesion at times
This is a very interesting album, I’d love to revisit it again when I have time. I’ve never heard of these guys before, but I love the 70 psychedelia mixed with country and a few other styles. I wonder why they never really seem to get big?
Cool
Gillade detta lite mer än den vanliga 60-talsmusiken vi hört. Mer musik än experiment och därpå melodisk och många bra låtar.
Kul och varierad skiva men en hel del bra låtar (framförallt Darkness, darkness och Quicksand men även Smug, Sunlight, Sham och Ride the wind). Även de instrumentala partierna är bra, även om det kunde ha dragits ned lite på jazzen. En fyra ska dom ha.
Neutrally good I guess?
Ok 2/5
Interesting, but not really my jam.
nothingburger
It was fine but basically a nothing album.
This was a whole lot of nothing.
I liked the songs but what was with the lengthy elevator music interludes
It isn't bad but there isn't really much appealing to me either. A few instrumental parts that I like.
habe in den ferien wirklich besseres zu tun als alte folkscherben zu hören, sorry.
70er - was haben die geraucht?
Jazzy and soft, but not really memorable. Enjoyable as background music, it didn’t leave a strong impression.
Darkness, Darkness really promised a lot in the first half of the song that a lot of the album couldn't deliver. Starts off with this very heavy, European-ish folk vibe, but then the vibe changes into a psychedelic feel that I just don't care much for. Really wish the rest of the album sounded like that. Sunlight is a great little folky track as well, but then it's back to the psychedelic. Quicksand is also a nice tune, kinda Beach Boys-esque, but again, just wish they kept the dark folk through the whole record. Ends on a bit of a high note in Ride the Wind, with it's California/Hawaiian beach resort vibes. I don't think they really sound similar, but this reminds me a lot of the Spirit record I got previously. When they're laser focused on a folk sound, they're great. When they're not, it's just doing nothing for me.
This is the 161st album I’m rating. I feel like this is going to be awful. Adding to my Playlist - Smug, On Sir Francis Duke, Beautiful, Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down, Trillium, and Sham. Not Adding to my Playlist - Darkness, Darkness, Sunlight, Double Sunlight, Turn It Over, Quicksand, Black Mountain Breakdown, and Ride the Wind. All in all I liked 6/13 songs. This isn't as bad as I thought it would be but it isn't good either.
This is a pretty cool album. Eclectic and interesting mix of genres. Too bad it’s not a more mainstream album because this is doing some stuff that the Byrds and Neil Young would do in a few years.
Psychedelia, alt country heroes for your mind brain.
Gear: Aür Audio Aurora Artwork: 🧱⛰️🏔️ Production: 🙄🤔🤷 Music: 🥦🐖🍯 Rating: 🐘🐘/5
It was alright. Nothing special.
Really enjoyed this! No standout tracks but they were all solid and good listen. Able to listen to this several times without getting sick of it, nice variety between songs. Favorite was probably “Darkness, Darkness” but also really liked the weird timing of France’s Drake .. 4/5 easily
"The Youngbloods could not be considered one of the major groups of the 60s, but they were capable of offering some mighty pleasureable folk-rock and produced a few great tunes along the way" Nou... Als je Spotify stukje zo begint, dan blaak je in elk geval van het zelfvertrouwen! Het begint vrij standaard rockig, maar On Sir Francis Drake, dat is verdomme een jazz plaat! Zo leid je me af hoor! Ik ga meteen wat rechter zitten, want zal dit dan toch geen standaard rock album zijn? Word ik gewoon compleet de verkeerde kant hier op gestuurd? Nou niet helemaal, maar ik moet toegeven dat dit album absoluut meer jazzy was dan ik van tevoren had verwacht. Ik ben best blij verrast, maar kan me toch niet helemaal er aan onttrekken dat dit toch een matig jazz album was en geen fantastisch rock album. Waarom dit dan toch op de lijst staat? Misschien dan toch omdat het een rockband uit de jaren 60 is. Toch sterk het idee dat deze lijst daar een hele hele erge sterke voorkeur voor heeft. Maar goed, ik heb me niet zitten irriteren, het was zelfs meer dan prima te doen! Dusja, dan komen we op een lekker gemiddelde rating uit ook. FAVO: Darkness, darkness, On Sir Francis Drake
There's some interesting stuff in here. And some silliness and some boringness. Overall ok.
Su mejor canción no está ne este disco, Get together un himno elevado a clásico primero por la iglesia y luego por Forrest Gump. NO es su mejor álbum, prefiero el debut, más alegre aunque también más sencillo y plano, peor más disfrutable. Este tiene buenos temas como Quicksand ( de largo la mejor del lote). Ride the wind, otro tema con título que luego cogerían otros... no está mal pero se hace larga. Black Mountain Breakdown, también. Entre Blood sweat and tears, Qucksilver meseenger, algo de los Doors, CCR o Buffalo Springfield, pero sin la magia de ellos.
Until today I've never listened to The Youngbloods. I quite enjoyed this, I enjoyed the progressive nature of some of the songs. Standout tracks for me were Darkness, Darkness and Quicksand. Not sure I will revisit it but I enjoyed what I heard.
The album starts good with "Darkness, Darkness" but soon Turnschuhe into nice background-music for me. 2,5
Æ vet æ hørte på det to ganger, minst, men æ huske ingenting? Veldig generisk 60-tall, ikke spesielt interessant bortsett fra at æ tror æ har hørt coverversjoner av førstelåta på albumet.
Yes, this is folk-rock. Good vibes, decent jams, great bass - enjoyable but not remarkable.
whatever
A lot more fun than I thought it would be from previous selections of this type. I might even play it again!!
Another strange inclusion. Limited appeal.
A really pleasant listen, I looped it a couple of times throughout the day and great for my drive to work, but no lasting impression. Couldn't hum you a track the next morning.
Great voice. Weak songwriting.
Yeah this was sort of emblematic of the 60s sound without being too notable. I enjoyed a lot of it but mostly found it pretty fluffy. The stuff of one-hit wonders.
Did not enjoy. Too many instrumental parts.
Nuevamente toca una banda que desconozco completamente pero infiero de qué puede ser teniendo en cuenta el año del álbum. Las voces y la música son muy de los sesenta. Me recuerdan a Jefferson Airplane pero más folk, tranca. Por momentos, sus guitarras me hacen acordar a bandas más de estos tiempos como Electric Octopus. Sin más para agregar, me despido hasta mañana.
Perfectly serviceable 60's background music
Fun songs. Every song is pretty catchy.
A very interesting album, containing flashes of brilliance interspersed with more middling material. I liked it, not enough to want to own it, but enough to want to listen to some of the tracks again and again.
One of the first STRONG 5s ive gotten, keeps your attention and delivers every time. Worth a listen or two if not more
Liked it classi cross-genre
Very long and repetitive, wasn't very impressed
Enjoyed the production more than the writing
Great! Sixties rock, not to heavy.
I did not expect this king of folk-rock feeling from an 1969 album. I guess that shows why listening through this list was a great choice for me. The album it self has some very good songs and some that I would rather skip. It feels really experimental as a whole while individual songs has more of a clear goal of what it wants to be.
This record was awesome. Smooth, but the guitar work and instrumentals are great. The vocals are nice too. Surprised I had never heard of this before.
I’ve never heard of this band and I like the album cover, but this underwhelmed me. The jazzy parts just weren’t all that interesting. I liked the more psych-rock sections such as Sham. Favorite songs were Don’t Let The Rain Bring You Down and Sham.
not bad but unremarkable
J - 2/5 Best Track - "Sunlight" F - DNL
But why?
This album can’t decide what it wants to be. Are they a jug band? Blues? Easy listening? Jazz? It doesn’t do any of them badly, but without nailing any of them it feels overwrought and rudderless
It was interesting I suppose - but in a way a museum is, I feel like it just went by without having to pay too much attention and still got the gist of it
I enjoyed the start of this a lot but it kind of lost me a bit as it went on. Seemed interesting. Wish it kept it up.
Never heard of this band. Very 1960s sound. I like the mixing. Great dynamic sound in the headphones. The jazz aspects peak my interest. On Sir Francis Drake is a cool track. This album is a real solid 3, it's just missing that something. So close to being a 4. In the right situation or especially live this would be great.
Just go with 3/5
They’re a little bit country. They’re a little bit rock and roll.
the album "bridges the gap between the last days of psychedelia and the outbreak of country-rock" NOT ALL GAPS NEED FILLING
This was an interesting listen. I don’t know how to classify it - rock, country, adult contemporary? The opening track was best - reminds of Fleet Foxes. Francis drake gives Doors vibe. Beautiful reminds of Black Crowes. But much of the album feels like coffee house or “on hold” fodder especially Sunlight and Ride the Wind hold music. It’s not offensive and probably deserves a 3 musically and for the ear but simply something I’m doubtful to ever listen to again. 2/5
This is #day317 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… I've got to admit, this was a pretty tedious listen. Forty minutes of psychedelic country/blues noodling had me checking the tracklist more than once to see how much longer I had to go. This is a 2 out of 5, mostly because I have a soft spot for the late '60s. Also, that red pile in the very front of the cover looks like a pile of shit. Given the album title, elephant's shit maybe? Looking forward to #day318.
Not my style
Really solid and refreshing for the time period, folk influence
5/10
As so often with these albums I've never heard they have one maybe two really strong sounds usually at the start then the rest of the album is just a bit flat. This one however is great all the way through
A few tracks really stuck out to me so I suppose this gets bumped to a 4.
Very unremarkable.
gran sorpresa gran
Pretty good!
This was amazing. I had never heard of this band before but I love that late sixties sound.
Smug // On Sir Francis Drake // Sunlight // Beautiful // Quicksand //
Just ok.
Boring but had its moments.
Pleasant enough
One of my favorite albums before I even listened.
Jesse Colin Young has such a distinct and unique voice that I really enjoy. This album is probably The Youngbloods most experimental, blending a more psychedelic sound with folk roots. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I personally prefer the more folk-rock sound that he would continue to explore in his solo efforts. Still, it’s a very good album overall. 3.5 for me but since Jesse Colin Young just passed away recently I'll bump it up to 4.
A couple songs got my attention it mostly it wasn’t a strong “like” for me. The production is excellent, though.
Not annoying but pretty boring.
I thought this was perfectly fine. I liked some of it, didn't like some of it, found some of it to be compelling and a little bit of it to be annoying. Maybe give it another listen in the future.
01) Darkness, Darkness - 9,0 02) Smug - 7,5 03) On Sir Francis Drake - 6,5 04) Sunlight - 8,0 05) Double Sunlight - / 06) Beautiful - 7,0 07) Turn It Over - / 08) Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down) - 6,5 09) Trillium - 6,5 10) Quicksand - 7,0 11) Black Mountain Breakdown - / 12) Sham - 7,0 13) Ride the Wind - 7,0 TOTAL: 7,20 (72/100) Current ranking: 317/577
Elephant Mountain by The Youngbloods is a laid-back slice of late-'60s California folk-rock with a gentle psychedelic shimmer, but for me it never really moves beyond being background music. There’s a soft, jazzy looseness to the arrangements that at times feels pleasant and easy-going, and I did enjoy the warm instrumental moments here and there. But overall, the album just sort of drifts by without anything truly grabbing hold. I kept waiting for a standout song or a spark of energy to lift it, but much of it blends together in a haze of mellow vibes. It's all very competently played, and the musicianship is clearly there, but it lacks a sense of urgency or identity. There are no real missteps either — just a gentle ride that doesn’t leave much of a mark. Not a bad album at all, but one that, for me, is more forgettable than essential.
Meh. 1960s white guy music. Kinda like the Beatles or Faces. 6/10
Quite enjoyed some of this, bit jazzy
Although nothing great, this was a really nice album.
A tough one for me. I really like aspects of the album/songs, but then it would jarringly switch sounds/feel. To the point I kept checking that I hadn't accidently switched artists.
I'd listen to this whilst raking my leaves, for sure. Very mellow.
Nette Songs mit guten aber manchmal übertriebenem Konzept. Der erste Song ist hörenswert.
weird, kinda eh
I expect few albums still sound experimental 56 years on. I don’t want to spend more time with them but I’m glad I heard it. Odd choice to end the EP with six and a half minutes of elevator music, though.
Enjoyable sound but didn’t have any stand out songs on my first listen
Better than expected. 3.5
Had some hope for this when I read the reviews. Too folky for me.
I cannot decide how I feel about this album. The main this I can say is that the songs with no vocals are the much better songs on the album. It just felt like a sampler of a bunch of different styles, all decently executed but with no theme or other factor tying them together. I can’t think of a reason to really return to this album.
Lovely surprise from a band I’d never even heard of. Beautiful folksy sunny music. Just what the doctor ordered.
Het klinkt allemaal best aangenaam die cocktail aan jazz, psychedelic rock en folk, maar het is ook weer bloedirritant om naar te luisteren. Vooral omdat het allemaal nét niet catchy is, terwijl dat wel de insteek lijkt. Kan er dan ook geen voldoende voor geven. 5/10
Interessant album. Een cocktail van genres die de plaat wat ingewikkeld te begrijpen maakt. Maar tegelijkertijd vond ik het op de achtergrond best een vermakelijk geheel, juist omdat er vanalles inzit. Blijkbaar slaat het album een brug tussen psychedelic rock en countryrock van de jaren 70, maar er zit met jazz en pop (Smug) meer verstopt in het album. Het is niet steengoed, maar mijn interesse was gewekt. 6,5/10 Highlights Darkness, Darkness Smug
First half was good, second half was not. I enjoyed the short interludes between the songs
This band somehow never made it across my radar and I was very pleasantly surprised. Outside of some vocal delivery that doesn’t suit me on a few songs, this is a super solid record. Great bass lines. Favorite track: Beautiful
27/05/2025 It wasn't bad, I just couldn't get into it.
нормалек.
Very chill.
This one surprised me! I was doubtful that an album from a one-hit wonder that came out two years after their one hit and never even made the Billboard top 100 should be on a list of 1001 great albums of all time, but there's some good stuff here. "Darkness, Darkness" is the real deal, as about two dozen covers over the years has shown.
Decent 60s rock with other unexpected influences
disparate styles - some nice electric piano, some folk-rock, some mild psychedelia, some ragtime - inconsistent and sketchy
i listened to this first on 1.5 hours of sleep and felt it was not great but not bad. on a full nights sleep i’m giving this another go while sitting outside in the nice spring weather. the first track “darkness, darkness” is really nice, i love this one. i really like “smug” as well. some fun vocal phrasing in here. this is such a difficult album to rate as it quickly becomes background noise for me. my brain struggles to maintain the interest in it. “quicksand” is a really nice song and one that grabs my attention again. “sham” is also quite nice and would’ve been a good song to end the album on. these short instrumental interludes if you will, not sure how to feel about them. just wondering why they’re there as they feel so out of place. i think it’s going to have to be a 3/5.
On one hand, I love how this album caters to a variety of sounds an tastes. However, I felt that some aspects were slightly stronger than the others. I definitely preferred the folk/bluegrass tracks, I felt that they stood out more and sounded more refined, whereas the rock tracks were mostly forgettable.
i like don't know what to feel but i didn't dislike it! interesting that this is on the list bc it didn't really do that good
The 60s are overrated.
This is pretty hum-drum and boring. Not sure what's so special about this in 2025, except that it's a window to the past. If so, this belongs in a museum and not on this list.
The first two minutes did not sound like it was from 1969. But then the classic late-60s hard rock sound came in with some folk and blues mixed in. And it was fine. But I’m tired of fine. When we finish the list, I think I’ll come away from it with a greater appreciation and certainly knowledge of 60s music. But I also think I’ll spend an extended time not listening to any 60s music.
If there weren’t so many instrumental parts, this would be a 5. I’m sad that I had never heard of this before.
There was an awful lot of transformative music being created in the late 60s. I don’t know this band but, on my second listen to this album, I would say they were drawing from some of the best sounds and possibilities while still maintaining their own voice. Love the cover, with the band dwarfed by nature. And that matches the earthy yet psychedelic sound. Standout songs include “Darkness, Darkness” and “Beautiful.”
This might be the most sophisticated, jazz-infused, pop album I have heard. I loved the vocals, production value, instrumentation... it simply has a tight, fun vide to it. Quite a surprise since I only know them from their hit, "Get Together." Every track on this album is better than that one.
Bland 60's country rock(?). Roots rock? I dunno. Nothing grabbed me. Just another boring album. Maybe back then it was attention grabbing.
Not a bad album, but definitely one that I would not have actively sought out on my own.
Quite diverse
Fine. Prob I’d give it a solid 2-1/2 but so I’m gonna give it…. 3 No 2
I dreaded the idea of listening to this album upon reading its Wikipedia article. But it wasn’t that bad! There were little nuggets of quality songs here and there. A nice opener in “Darkness Darkness”, folksy and probably inspirational to Led Zep’s work on the IV album. I’m a particularly big fan of the easy “Sunlight” with those double acoustic guitars, and the “thats the way she feels about you” refrain. Another thing I liked were the strings on “Quicksand”, then how it ended with that little saxophone lick. But the one that takes the cake for me is “Ride The Wind”. That’s a Wii shop channel bear right there, they just (didn’t know it yet) embellished it. Love love love this song. Nothing felt particularly out of place, and almost everything was performed with ease. While I think this general genre and time has compressed ceiling in terms of how GREAT an album could be, this album just about scrapes that ceiling. Good stuff, worth a listen
Nothing earthshaking, perhaps, but very much of its time and place. Enjoyed. 3.5☆
needs more siren whistle
I prefer their album released before this one that has the hit "Let's Get Together". I enjoyed the instrumentation choices. The Lionel Hampton-esque vibraphone work on some of the tracks in the latter half of the album was fantastic, but many tracks overstayed their welcome. I enjoyed "Sunlight" and "Quicksand", but not much else.
Favorite Track: Darkness, Darkness
Elephant Mountain by The Youngbloods was a completely new listen for me, and I was curious to see what it had to offer. There were a few moments that stood out—especially the opening track “Darkness, Darkness,” which I really enjoyed, and “On Sir Francis Drake,” which had its own charm. However, the rest of the album felt disjointed and lacking direction. Many tracks came across as odd or meandering, without any real payoff. Overall, the album doesn’t have any standout tracks or recognizable hits. Most great albums tend to have at least a couple of memorable songs they’re known for, but Elephant Mountain felt mostly forgettable. It left me with a pretty lukewarm impression. Favorite track: "Darkness, Darkness" Least favorite: Pretty much the rest of the album Album artwork: The cover is cool, at least.
This album is like the Scottish weather. They say if you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes and it’ll change. So if you don’t like one track move onto the next for a completely different one. This album seems to cover everything. Traditional folk, jazz, blues, psychedelic rock, laid back lounge type bossa nova and more. So well done to The Youngbloods diversity. But did I like it? Yes and no. Not something I would go out and intentionally buy but another one I’d snap up cheap if I saw it at a charity shop sale. 3/5 1/5/25
Chillig
So i'm objectively a Jesse Colin Young fan, so this is pretty fun. Does it pop off the charts? Not at all. Is there anything that i left thinking "WOW"...no? But was this an easy listen and a good time? fuck yeah. It's honestly bookended really well. Darkness, Darkness is great - but Ride the Wind might be my favorite. Gets a little jazzy with the keys, is that a vibraphone i hear?, the scatting, and the occasional horn vibe
Like kicking a can down the road.
Yeah it's fine, another one of those ten a penny albums of this style in the late 60s. Glad to have heard this though
Didn’t know anything about this band except for “Get Together”. Pretty good record.
1st listen nice sound nothing jumps out at me
# Album Name: Elephant Mountain # Artist: The Youngbloods # Rating: 3/5 # Comments: Very average album. OK as background music i guess. # Top Tunes: Darkness, Darkness # Would I listen to it again? No
Chill af
Enjoyed it. Really pleasant. Nothing that stands out and grabs you by the lugs … but solid, tasteful music.
4.4/5 Echoes in a Redwood Grove Warm. Fuzzy. Deep in places. This is hippie sadness dressed as optimism. Favorite Track: Darkness, Darkness hits like an emotionally literate thundercloud. “Darkness, darkness, be my pillow…” Bro. What?! That’s gorgeous and devastating in one breath.
This album was so boring I forgot I was listening to it
I absolutely love the opening track "Darkness , Darkness" and I kept listening and waiting for something else on this disc to rise to this level but was largely disappointed. Such a shame...
Chill
This multigenre work of art needs just one true banger to rate it higher than mediocrity. Favorite Track: "Beautiful".
After a long stretch of listening to various different genres, we're back to what this is list has to offer the most: Boring late-60's/early-70's bluesy and/or folky psych-rock. And yet another artists never heard from again outside of the context of the book. I already knew exactly what this was going to sound like without hearing a single note of it. In one ear and out the other.
This one really grew on me. Superb and creative musicianship, with a great flow. I've heard a couple songs by them, but this exceeded my expectations
#562. This guy sounds like Herbert the Pervert from Family guy. 3/5: acceptable
For a band that I’d never heard of this was far better than I thought it was going to be. As with many albums for this challenge I’ll need more than one listen to really compose my thoughts. But I enjoyed most of this. A fusion of 60s pop and jazz. 3.5/5
Didn't stand out in anyway. Didn't hate it. But almost instantly rogot what I listened to
I'd never heard of the band or the album before. I wasn't expecting much after reading other reviews. In the end, however, I have to say that I found the album very enjoyable. There were also some really nice parts on it. The whole album was very unexciting, but unfortunately also not thrilling. What did another reviewer write? The album is mediocre even in its mediocrity. 3/5
Solid 3.5 stars. Really enjoyed the bass taking center stage in some of these songs.
What a gem!
Pretty enjoyable.
super cool! Did not hate it at all. Some great songs. A little boring though
God that album was so fuckin awesome what the hell. On a serious heater streak and this was one of the ones I was expecting to skip through. Just great songwriting and fun tunes all vibes let’s go
Really enjoyable! Very rockabilly, very listenable.
Never heard of them but I enjoyed some of the more fun tracks on here
A little all over the place I feel. Not really sure I "got" the instrumental tracks. They sounded just a bit like random jams in the middle of it all
Pretty alright blues rock, liked 'beautiful' and 'dont let the rain'
Not a bad listen, but nothing that really rocks my socks off.
enjoyable but nothing that really set itself apart could i write poetry to this? n
The jazzy parts are a nice change from the typical California Folk/Country/Rock/Psychedelic Music that was getting popular at the time. The overall vibe is a bit closer to Traffic than it is to CSNY. But even so, it's firmly trapped between the walls of Laurel Canyon, where so many other artists from this list reside.
Didn't really like the vocals, and the music veered into Steely Dan territory at times.
For some reason I was expecting this o be much more modern, possibly because I think there was a Sidney Youngblood? Anyway, it started off quite well, but became a bit samey. Part of me wants to give it a 3, part of me says it's mot quite worth it. It is a solid 2.7. So I suppose I ought to round it up to 3. Oh sod it yes I will.
That was really great in places! Standouts for me were ‘Darkness, Darkness’, ‘Beautiful’ (great bass and guitar noodling) and ‘Quicksand’. The last track was a lovely gentle way to end too. A few of the best tracks were then followed by something less enjoyable, a bit goofy or gimmicky. But, I will be adding a slimmed down version of this to my library as there’s much to enjoy. Surprisingly!
This was a bit of a Hodge podge of styles. It had bit of psyche, folk, country and god knows what, all slapped together over the course of the album. It could have been great, but it sounded like a slightly edgy Eagles. That's not good in my book. I don't think it was bad enough for a 1, but not really good enough for a 2. I'll sleep on it.
pretty chill. reminds me of the beatles at some points Would I listen again: No Deserves to be on this list: Maybe 3.5
this is kind of like if neil young was good? really impressive range of styles and sounds, genuinely enjoyable to listen to and pretty unexpected. once again this is the kind of album i would play if i were working in a cool bookstore/café.
This actually was super interesting and had so many different kinds of songs that at various points I thought that Spotify had gone to radio and I was shocked to find it was still the album.
very fucking cool
It's surprisingly light and fun. You can hear the early blending of the genres between country and rock with enough knowledge of jazz for it to count. So it became folk-rock
Interesting listening and hear the mutual influence on some other end of 60s and early 70s bands that I've listened to ... a lot....
Sweet voices, warm and proto cool soundscapes, but just not enough memorable tunes. No Kings of Convenience.
Great few tracks, but not really for me
This album is fine, it is just fine.
Very diverse album all over the indie/ Psychedelic map. Sometimes to its detriment because the band is definitely better at some things than others but as a whole its a cool project. I was between a 4 and 5 because I really dig some of the tracks but there are some I don't. Definitely glad to have listened.
I couldn't quite place what I was thinking of when I listened to this until I basically got through the whole thing. I think the best comparison I can make is if Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead somehow combined taking the not so great parts of Steely Dan and the few good bits of the Dead. I can't say I didn't like it, in fact, I listened to it twice because I was working during the first run through and didn't really take the time to appreciate it, though I could tell it was at least going to be interesting. I really liked the instrumentals, and according to Spotify anyway, I didn't like the songs that had the most plays (Sunlight, Darkness Darkness). Overall this was pretty enjoyable. It wasn't drugged out of its mind and it wasn't so country/western as to make it corny. The fact nothing really stood out over two listens is a bit disappointing but I don't regret doing it.
This will be featured in the Rom-Com I'm writing set in the original Woodstock. Not for me. I'll bet Evan has lots of good things to say.
I liked it but I don’t think I loved it. I thought it was really good but not great. If you listen you will know.
2.8
Interesting folks record not one from that era I was familiar with
...
Inoffensive and pleasent, but hardly exciting. Obviously not up with the real big hitters of the period and lacks the standout tracks that elevate bands from the crowd
Quiet enjoyable easy listening! Fun instrumentals and fitting vocal work. 'Sunlight' was my fave.
Decent.
Soulful 60s rock. Pretty cool.
didn't know what to expect from this one. my dad is a fan of theirs since the 60s but i really only was aware of them from their big song 'get together' (not present on this album). this album is really all over the place. i kind of loved that about it, it's very eclectic. partially psych rock, partially country rock, partially jazz rock? really interesting combination. sometimes this album really cooks. it almost sounds like a moby grape or another band in that sort of psych-country realm from the time. other times this album sort of drags (particularly in the jazzier sections. although an intriguing twist, the jazz-ish sections here are not particularly great and are just sort of... there). i still think the better parts of the album outweigh the more boring parts, but only barely so.
Enjoyed this, but it did not stand out to me as anything special. It felt a bit all over the place at times. Favourite tracks: On Sir Francis Drake, Beautiful, Quicksand
It was all over the place. Are they like Allman Bros? Are they like the Beatles? Is this a jazz album? Probably won't listen again but didn't turn it off.
Overall: 6/10 This was a mildly pleasant surprise. I've never heard of this band or album so I didn't know what I was gonna get. It's very much a product of it's time, mixing psychedelic rock, folk and country. I actually think this mix is a detriment to the album, as it feels like they were trying to do everything at once. Only one track really stood out to me, but I enjoyed experiencing this album overall. Fav Song: Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down Least Fav Song: Sunlight
Kind of rock. kind of folk, all good. Really smooth nice album. I think I liked it-it’s familiar but I’d never heard it before. The Youngbloods shouldn’t have been a one hit wonder.
I think this album is unbalanced. Some of the tracks are fantastic and others are middling to the point of annoyance.
Früher Folk/Country-Rock. Lässt sich schön hören, hat ein paar spannende Momente und schöne Melodieverläufe. 4/5
Some guy here described it as water flowing on rocks and I like that :)
Upon receiving this album, I was rather puzzled. Then I read somewhere that the lead singer of the band had died a day or two before and this felt like obligatory, albeit prerequisite, listening. Elephant Mountain offers itself as a transitory path towards new avenues, with The Youngbloods often lending itself a fancy for instrumental jamming quite like what's depicted on the album cover. Even though it came out in the immortal year of 1969, Elephant Mountain doesn't quite reach the heights of other albums released that year, which (if intended) is fine. Elephant Mountain is simply fine. Favorites: Darkness, Darkness, Smug, On Sir Francis Drake, Beautiful, Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down, Black Mountain Breakdown, Ride the Wind.
A pleasant album with nice songs. No complaints, would listen to again.
Enjoyable album but far from remarkable.
Background music. 2/5