The best albums of 1963

The 1960s were a time when the world's music stars grew like mushrooms after rain: bands were formed, albums were released, iconic songs were written, etc. Frank Sinatra had been charming audiences with his velvety voice for years, while the legendary The Beatles were just beginning their musical career. Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Coltrane - the world charts were full of legendary names.

It was a very interesting time, and the best albums from that era are still popular among music lovers today.

The Beatles take the stage

One of the first landmark events of the year took place on the Late Night at the Palladium programme on 19 January. A still little known group of musicians from Liverpool performed on the TV show. Thus began a very busy year for the Liverpool Four.

On 11 February the band reunited to record their first album "Please, please me", which became their breakthrough. All the material for the album was recorded in 10 hours and on 12 April "Please, please me" topped the UK national charts and remained at number one for 6 months. But the Beatles didn't stop there.

The same year saw the release of the band's second studio album, With The Beatles. This time the foursome took their time. The work on the album lasted several months, and by the time of its release on 22 November it had received 250 thousand pre-orders, so the album became "silver" before it was released. It stayed on the first place in the national list for 21 weeks. The most popular song on the album was "All My Loving", sung by Paul McCartney.

...and the guys from the beach

The Beach Boys were also on a roll that year. The Beach Boys released three albums, all of which topped the charts in the US.

The first album was Surfin' U.S.A., released in March and reaching number two on the U.S. charts. The title song of the same name went to number three on the hit list and became the band's first major success. True, the success of the song had to be shared with the famous musician Chuck Berry, the author of the melody.

The third studio album was called "Surfer girl" and reached number 7 on the charts. The title song was written by Brian Wilson, who was 19 years old at the time. The composition "Our car club" expanded the theme of the band's songs. Now, racing cars were added to surfing.

"Little deuce coupe" is the fourth album and fourth place in the chart. The new album was entirely devoted to automotive themes. The very name of both the album and the lead track - "Little Deuce Coupe" - is a reference to the Ford hot-rod car "B" model. The same car is featured on the album cover.

The best sales

Sales leaders in '63 often overlapped with those who topped the charts. For example, the best-selling album in the UK was The Beatles' second album With the Beatles.

The best-selling single of the year also belongs to the Liverpool Four - "She loves you". The song was conceived as a "response" to Bobby Rydell's "Forget him". The song had its own peculiarity: the story was told in the third person, whereas romantic songs were usually sung in the first person. As a result, the song was very warmly received by the audience, and the rhythmic refrain "Yeah, yeah, yeah" became a memorable "feature" not only of the song, but also of the band.

Especially for West Germany, the single was translated and performed in German, although the band itself did not enjoy the experience.

The Beach Boys' song "Surfin' U.S.A." was the best-selling single in the United States, according to Billboard magazine. The lyrics to the song were written by Brian Wilson and set to Chuck Berry's "Sweet little sixteen".

Of the albums, the soundtrack to the film West Side Story by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins received the biggest sales. The film was based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which was an adaptation of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet

The film's soundtrack included 19 songs. The year before, in 1962, the film won the Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack, and its popularity did not diminish the following year.

In '63, the Grammy Award went to Barbra Streisand for the album that bears her name.

The best song was "Days of wine and roses" by Henry Mancini, who was nominated a total of 72 times.

To summarise, 1963 was a very interesting and eventful year for music lovers. Many famous bands were actively working to please fans with new bright hits and albums, and some were just starting their way to success and world fame.