VA - Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene: Vanguard Records and the 1960s Musical Revolution (2012)

Ace Records’4-CD box set Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene: Vanguard Records and the 1960s Musical Revolution is a comprehensive chronicle of the Vanguard sound and style, taking in not only folk, but blues, gospel, country and even rock. (The label’s jazz and classical forays, alas, shall have to wait until another day.) As such, it’s a hugely impressive monument to a decade-plus of recordings that influenced a generation of blues-rock and psychedelic performers as the 1960s made way for the 1970s. But it’s even more of a revelation, for good or ill, that the universal themes reflected in these artists’ works still resonate today. This set isn’t for casual, background listening, but instead offers a serious (and seriously entertaining) glimpse back at a heady time for American culture...