From 45s to LPs: The Advent of Album-Oriented Rock from 1965 to 1977

We will consider the evolution of a popular music industry that mostly produced singles with songs that rarely lasted more than three minutes to albums that often contained songs of much longer duration and, eventually, with linked ideas or themes: “albumoriented rock” or “concept albums.” Definitions remain ill-defined, but for our purposes, we will begin by examining one of the earliest of these albums, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan, that moves toward a cohesive collection of songs and themes. We will discuss 10 influential albums that span the years of 1965 to 1977. We will listen to a lot of music, placed in its historical and cultural context, with time left for interactive discussion.