Playlist: The Rock and Roll Circus Annotated

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Profusion, superabundance, an embarrassment of riches: they all describe the popular music world around the time when the Rolling Stones made Rock and Roll Circus. It also helps explain why the band left it unreleased for more than 20 years. The extraordinary variety and quality of rock, jazz, soul, country rock from November 1968 to March 1969 was unprecedented and is yet to be equaled again.

Jimi Hendrix - "Crosstown Traffic" (Electric Ladyland, October 1968) A varied experimental-for-its-time track that's filled with background singers (and Jimi on kazoo), pop tune is a groovy, less-guitar-more-singing classic and may be a clue as to where Jimi would have gone musically had he lived.
Diana Ross and The Supremes - "Love Child" (Love Child, September 1968 / November 1968) Although it was released in September, this anguished plea against illegitimacy became the tune that knocked "Hey Jude" out of the top spot in singles chart in November 1968. A group effort by the Motown creative team, including James Jamerson and other Funk Brothers setting the groove, it was recorded during a period of upheaval in the group and became one of their last hits before Ross went solo in November 1969.
The Rolling Stones - "Street Fighting Man" (Beggars Banquet, December 1968) With that bravado opening of oddly-toned guitar strumming, claves and Jagger's double tracked vocals, this call to revolution was supremely tuneful and more evidence that Brian Jones was out and the Jagger/Richards songwriting team had now made the Stones their band.
Blood, Sweat and Tears - "You Made Me So Very Happy" (s/t, December 1968) A fertile era like no other, there was even room in the late '60s for so-called jazz rock horn bands like BS&T After personnel changes (including the exit of founder Al Kooper), the band recruited David-Clayton Thomas, and powered by a clutch of killer covers including this Berry Gordy/Brenda Holloway number, the second self-titled album beat out the Beatles for the 1970 Album of the Year Grammy.
Elvis Presley - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" ('68 Comeback Special 50th Anniversary Edition, December 1968) In the "sitdown show" part of the Elvis' famous Comeback Special, fans and those who'd wondered all along what all the fuss was about, got to see the hillbilly cat one last time. The portrait of raw sexuality in a Bob Mackey-designed black leather suit, Elvis, surrounded by members of his original band, enthusiastically launched into a set of his early rock 'n' roll numbers including this Lloyd Price classic. Energized by the TV special's success, he went into Chips Moman's American Sound Studio and made From Elvis in Memphis, the last, and perhaps best album of his entire career.
The Beatles - "Dear Prudence" (s/t [The White Album], November 1968) While "Hey Jude", the foursome's monster hit single of 1968, would not be released as an album track until 1970, it was the band's self-titled double album, soon to be known as just The White Album for its blank cover, that set the world on fire. As their most sprawling recording, it contains traces of nearly every musical and cultural influence the four had ever used in their expansive musical vision. A Lennon tune written for Mia Farrow's sister, "Dear Prudence" opens with a crossfade of jet engine noise from the album's opening track, "Back in the USSR." Covered many times since by the likes of The Grateful Dead and Siouxsie and the Banshees, the song benefits from George Harrison's droney guitar parts and it remains one of Lennon's finest compositions.
Neil Young - "The Loner" (s/t, November 1968) Another soon-to-be influential voice emerged in late 1968, as Young left Buffalo Springfield and made this low key debut which hints at greatness to come With a lilting number of string and flutes, "The Loner" (which may or may not be about Stephen Stills) charges through galloping verses and is enlivened by the psychedelic guitar tone Young achieved via Leslie speaker.
The Kinks - "Starstruck" (The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, January 1969) Written around the loose concept of a special protected place, a nostalgic place of memories and wishes, what Ray Davies called "ideals that can never be kept," this album by a band at the height of their powers was a critical success but did not sell, hamstrung perhaps by its stuffy concept and title. It has subsequently come to be thought of as one of Ray Davies' true masterworks. "Starstruck" is a classic bit of hooky Kinks-ian pop with its charming repeated chorus and handclaps.
Aretha Franklin - "Gentle on My Mind" (Soul '69, January 1969) An odd conundrum in the large Franklin catalog of recordings, Soul '69 somehow gets overlooked, overshadowed perhaps by the hit-filled Lady Soul album of the previous year. Here she improbably takes on John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind," and shows that she could indeed make any song her own. Thinking of Aretha stowing her sleeping bag behind a couch is a stretch but thanks to an inventive upbeat arrangement for Atlantic Records she turns in a tour de force performance.
Dusty Springfield - "Son of a Preacher Man" (Dusty in Memphis, January 1969) Looking to recharge her career, UK singer Dusty followed Aretha Franklin to Atlantic Records. With label execs Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd, backup vocals from The Sweet Inspirations singers, and an A-list of Memphis studio players, Springfield created the most transcendent album and single—one originally written for Aretha—of her career.
Miles Davis - "Frelon Brun" (Filles de Kilimanjaro, February 1969) A mix of acoustic and electric instruments, Filles, features the playing of one of Miles' finest ensembles: Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams. Released at a time when jazz musicians like Miles would routinely appear on bills with rock bands, Filles is another snapshot of this moving target transitioning from one artistic direction to another, in this case from acoustic jazz to his controversial electric fusion period. "Frelon Brun" features bassist Dave Holland and pianist Chick Corea playing with the trumpeter for the first time.
MC5 - "Kick Out the Jams" (Kick Out the Jams, February 1969) Music often leads social change and here, the coming hard rock revolution which destroyed the world of peace and love, was presaged by this wonderfully unhinged Detroit rock band. The band became legends when initial copies of this album got out with the F word prominently howled in the spoken word intro.
The Flying Burrito Brothers - "Do Right Woman" (The Gilded Palace of Sin, February 1969) Made famous by the aforementioned Aretha Franklin, this Chips Moman/Dan Penn classic transforms into a country rock standard courtesy of Gram Parsons who infused his post-Byrds repertoire with a host of diverse musical influences including gospel, soul and country. With Parsons’ quavery lead vocals and high harmonies from Chris Hillman, this is a prime example of the "Cosmic American Music" Parsons wanted the Burritos to make.
Bob Dylan (with Johnny Cash) - "Girl From the North Country" (Nashville Skyline, April 1969) Originally part of his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, this wondrous original was re-recorded as a duet with Johnny Cash in a much more dramatic fashion with Dylan using his "Lay Lady Lay" voice.
Joni Mitchell - "Both Sides, Now" (Clouds, May 1969) Recorded by Judy Collins the year before, this Mitchell original from her second album, which she says was based on reading Saul Bellow's novel Henderson the Rain King while on a plane, has become one of her best-known tunes. It has been covered by everyone from Bing Crosby and Dion to Herbie Hancock and Hole. © Robert Baird/Qobuz
Photo © Michael Randolph