2. Yes, two Beatles in a row. But they simply are the best, and not overrted. I think you could swap number one and two positions here if you want. This is a put on the smoking jacket and drink a dry scotch Beatles album. Although they were influenced by Dylan here, they make folk very much their own. It's too bad they had to end with one of the worst throw-away songs ever, "Run For Your Life." Lennon said it was one of the worst songs he ever wrote.

4. Sell Out. The Who. Pretending to be one hour of music on Radio London, I think this is the best concept album around. But get the expanded reissue. It includes a shit-load of bonus material and extra mock advertisements, which seems to come close to finishing the Who's original and incomplete vision. This album roams from psychedelia to rock to drop dead gorgeous ballads to hilarious satire. This is a creative range hard to find anywhere. If you like 60s music and you don't have this one, don't walk, run to the computer and order it. Now! I'm serious.

7. Rolling Stones. Flowers and Aftermath. OK, I'm lumping two albums together again. But this is a special case. The Rolling Stones 1960s catalog is, like their music, sort of all over the place. Aftermath was their 1966 breakthrough, their first album of music penned completely by Jaggers / Richards. They fuse the pop craftsmenship of the Beatles with the edgier R & B they had covered previously to create a new and unique sounding pop. Whether they were being balladic, satirical or bluesy, they maintained an ominous, threatening tone. Get the UK version of Aftermath, and, if you can find it, the reissue that includes a bunch of outtakes and unreleased music. Although they did steal the sitar from the Beatles, the Stones incorporate a lot of unique instruments that they make their own: dulcimer, vibes, harpsichord, clavicord. A song like "I Am Waiting" comes as a wonderful surprise. The album, Flowers, is a different story. Like The Beatles Yesterday and Today, it is a collection of music left off of the butchered American version of their albums in 1966-67. Yet, this one, always underrated, works. Rolling Stone Record review finally gave it five stars in the most recent volume, and called it one of the greatest collection of 1960s music ever. Like the Kinks Face to Face (a HUGE influence on that other 1967 great, Between the Buttons), the album charts the life of a so-called gentleman in what most kids nowadays recognize as the Austin Powers swinging world of London, but with that minor-chord and shadowy edge that the Stones bring to pop. Flowers also sports the most underrated song by the Stones, "Backstreet Girl," which originally appeared on the UK version of Between the Buttons. Mick Jagger often claimed it was the best thing they recorded in 1967.

9. Zombie Heaven. The Zombies. OK, I'm cheating here a bit by including a compilation. But this four CD collect EVERYthing this incredible group ever recorded. And there is not one dud in the bunch, making it the best boxset I have ever heard. Although they are one of those quintessential British Invasion groups, the Zombies created a sound entirely their own. Outside of "Tell Her No" and "Time of the Season," they were a commercial flop. My theory as to why they commercially failed is that they were too good. Always working within the 2 -3 minute structure, they created complicated and carefully crafted songs. When you listen to each song, you get the feeling that they did not want to treat any of them as filler or throw-aways. If you don't want to dish out the $$ for the boxset, you must at least get Odyssey and Oracle. It is their stab at making a Sergent Peppers, but, unlike so many other groups, theirs is unique, baroque and every bit an equal to The Beatles--and they had a lot less resources and studio time. Recently, the bastions that canonize these sorts of things have been putting this album on the top album of all time lists.