Bob Dylan - one more night, 1969

"It’s a fun jolly tune, very singable, very easy to get the hang of, and with dead simple words that have nothing to do with the music. Why not throw a brick through the window half way through, just to make sure we are still awake? Just to remind us this is Bob Dylan."

Genesis - the serpent, 1969

"Imagine if someone wrote that today, how it might be received. This is some serious hippy music"

Pink Floyd - cirrus minor, 1969

"It was written by Roger Waters and performed by David Gilmour on vocals and guitar and Rick Wright on organ. The song has a hallucinogenic, pastoral quality, with prominent organ and bird sound effects, like those later that year featured on the Ummagumma track "Grantchester Meadows". It was also included on Pink Floyd's compilation album Relics. The song features no drums. The Hammond and Farfisa organ coda is similar to that found on the "Celestial Voices" section of "A Saucerful of Secrets".

Genesis - in the beginning, 1969

"This debut Genesis album, which has appeared under license to various labels in addition to Decca and London in different configurations, is largely of historical interest. The group was still in its formative stages, the members barely past their 18th birthdays and still working out what they wanted to sound like."

Neil Young - here we are in the years, 1969

"The songs were gathered from the past and the future, mostly dreams, nothing concrete; they were mostly created as vehicles for record-making, like 'Here We Are in the Years,' or personal expression and longing, such as 'I’ve Been Waiting for You.' Some of them were stream-of-consciousness, like 'The Last Trip to Tulsa,' with no preconceived thought behind them. They were just songs. There was no big pressure on me at that time to top anything I had already done. That came later. The sky was the limit. I had no idea what was coming my way."

Pink Floyd - the narrow way part three, 1969

"Part three of the song features Gilmour's only vocal contribution to the studio part of the album. This final part was incorporated into The Man and the Journey by the full band on their 1969 tour."

Neil Young - the loner, 1969

"It's one of Young's most enduring early songs, blending acoustic folk elements with electric guitar flair and subtle string arrangements. Critics praised its "ice-pick vocal" and powerful instrumentals"

Neil Young - sugar mountain live in concert at the canterbury house ann arbor michigan nineteen sixty-eight, 1969

"In 1965 I was up in Canada, and there was a friend of mine up there who had just left a Rock'n'Roll band in Winnipeg/Manitoba near where I come from on the prairies to become a folk singer a la Bob Dylan, who was his hero at that time, and at the same time there were breaks in his life and he was going into new and exciting directions. He had just newly turned 21, and that meant in Winnipeg he was no longer allowed into his favorite hangout which is kind of a teeny-bopper club and once you're over 21 you couldn't get in there anymore, so he was really feeling terrible because his girlfriends and everybody that he wanted to hang out with, his band could still go there, you know, but it's one of the things that drove him to become a folk singer was that he couldn't play in this club anymore. But he was over the hill. So he wrote this song that was called "Oh to live on sugar mountain" which was a lament for his lost youth. And it went like this... [sings a few verses]. And I thought, God, you know, if we get to 21 and there's nothing after that, that's a pretty bleak future, so I wrote a song for him, and for myself just to give me some hope. It's called The Circle Game."

B J Thomas - raindrops keep fallin on my head, 1969

"The song Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, sung by B.J. Thomas and with Carole King on bass, was written for the film. Not everyone, Robert Redford included, thought it as the correct choice. It didn't fit with the film, there was no rain, Redford said it 'seemed like a dumb idea'. It was massive, sold over two million copies and won an Oscar."

Genesis - in hiding, 1969

"By the end of 1969, after three underwhelming singles and an album that missed the mark, Genesis was ready to move on. Jonathan King had taken the group as far as he could. The band withdrew to the countryside to reflect and write new music that would take them in a very different, much more adventurous direction. Still, King left them with one important legacy: the name Genesis."

Genesis - in the wilderness, 1969

"Songs which were primarily or wholly written by Banks-Gabriel include "The Serpent", "The Conqueror", "In Limbo", and "The Silent Sun", while songs which were primarily or wholly written by Phillips-Rutherford include "In the Wilderness". "Window" is a rare example of significant collaboration between the pairs; the music was composed on the roof of Thomas's house by Phillips and Rutherford, and the lyrics were written by Gabriel."

Zager And Evans - in the year twenty-five twenty-five, 1969

"In the Year 2525" is a song about the journey of mankind over a 10,000-year span. It predicts that man's thoughts, relationships and body will be negatively impacted by technological advances and ends with man's extinction."

Neil Young - the emperor of wyoming, 1969

"Being the opening track on Neil Young's self-titled solo debut album, "The Emperor of Wyoming" is in some ways the song that first introduced the general public to Neil Young as a solo artist (he'd already achieved a degree of notoriety with Buffalo Springfield)."

The Moody Blues - have you heard part two, 1969

“Now you know how nice it feels.” This is the first line in “Have You Heard part 2,” and much like the opening line in part 1, this works a calming reset. The voyage and its excitement are over, time to relax once more; and relax we should. It is real mellow experience sitting back and listening to “On the Threshold of a Dream.” Everyone knows The Moody Blues, and every knows “Nights in White Satin,” but have you heard of “On the Threshold of a Dream?” Mike Pinder is a genius."

The Moody Blues - out and in, 1969

"'Out and In' looks beyond the planets as part of the journey toward the total view where inside and outside become one"

The Moody Blues - lovely to see you, 1969

"Lovely to See You" opens the album. With its welcoming lyrics, the song later served as a concert opener during the later part of the group's career."

The Moody Blues - so deep within you, 1969

"Mike Pinder's "So Deep Within You" was later recorded by the Four Tops with instrumental backing by members of the Moody Blues."

The Moody Blues - lazy day, 1969

"Ray was my best pal. I met Ray when I was 14. We were two young kids from Birmingham who were reaching for the stars — and I think we got there. I'm really pleased that Ray was around to know we'd be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I spoke to Ray just before Christmas — because his birthday was after Christmas, on the 29th — and we had a long conversation. We're very close friends — or were very close friends. Very sad. Very, very sad."

Genesis - am i very wrong, 1969

"beneath all of the superficial weaknesses lie two of Genesis’ strengths, in just as full of force now as they would be later – incredible songwriting and incredible vocals from Peter. . . . [A]lmost a dozen of the songs on here (and yes, I’m counting the singles . . . ) are, at least in one aspect in each of them, absolute pop perfection. “Am I Very Wrong?,” for instance, may have a slightly awkward and Disney-sounding chorus, but how about that vocal melody in the verses?!"

The Moody Blues - are you sitting comfortably, 1969

"According to Hayward, "Are You Sitting Comfortably" is "about storytelling, but elevated to a bit of a psychedelic story". Its lyrics recall the days of medieval minstrels, featuring finger-picked guitar and lyrics full of vibrant imagery including "a fleet of golden galleons on a crystal sea" and the "glorious days of Camelot" while Merlin casts a spell of slumber. The song takes its first line from a popular children's show, Listen with Mother, that always began with the same line and became associated with the phrase. "Are You Sitting Comfortably" was written towards the end of the sessions, and apart from "The Dream", was the last track recorded for the album. Hayward remembers, "I already had the guitar riff and the chord sequence, and I had the first line and the title. And then we just took it from there. Ray contributed a lot of lyrics. I know the first thing he did was that second line, "A fleet of golden galleons, on a crystal sea," which is a very Ray Thomas phrase."