60`s

In the '60s Elvis made 27 movies, many interchangeable, but each had a built-in excuse for him to release a soundtrack. Individually they fail to advance the legend, but when the best of each is collected in one place, as here, the results are very rewarding. This two-CD set has 62 tracks, which makes it, for lack of a better word, essential. Much of it sounds fairly na(ve now, but that's only part of the inherent charm. The personality that Presley infuses into each track is incredible, and gives the listener an idea of why he earned the nickname "The King."

The Top 100 '60s Rock Albums represent the moment when popular music came of age. In the earliest part of the decade, bands were still regularly referencing earlier sounds and themes. By the middle, something powerful and distinct was happening, which is why the latter part of the '60s weighs so heavily on our list. A number of bands evolved alongside fast-emerging trends of blues rock, folk rock, psychedelia and hard rock, adding new complexities to the music even as the songs themselves became more topical. If there's a thread running through the Top 100 '60s Rock Albums and this period of intense change, it has to do with the forward-thinking artists who managed to echo and, in some cases, advance the zeitgeist. Along the way, legends were made.