4 Albums From the British Invasion’s Most Well-Known Bands That Ruled 1968

We’re sure some people might argue with us on this matter. But for our money, the four most impactful bands to come out of the British Invasion were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Kinks.

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In 1968, all four of these acts stood tall with landmark albums. Here’s a look back at one magical year and a quartet of stellar LPs from the British Invasion.

The White Album by The Beatles

The Beatles didn’t really have to answer to anybody in 1968 during the British Invasion. There was no one around to tell them they couldn’t do something. While that would cause problems down the road, in this particular year it meant they could release the first double album of their career. Packed with songs they had written while on retreat in India, The White Album contains the widest breadth of material on one collection that they had ever attempted. Incredibly, amidst all those songs, there are precious few that don’t feel essential to their musical legacy. Maybe they started to split up on this album. But at least we got an idea of how fruitful the solo eras would be on songs like “Mother Nature’s Son”, “Julia”, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

‘Beggars Banquet’ by The Rolling Stones

The Stones backed themselves into a musical corner with their late 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request, a wrongheaded album that took them far from what they did best. In 1968, they hacked their way out of that corner back to the top of the rock world. The single “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” started them on the path. Beggars Banquet solidified their resurgence. On “Sympathy For The Devil”, they took the improved lyrics and musical ambition of their Baroque pop era and combined it with a decidedly pessimistic, anti-flower power outlook. “Street Fighting Man” promised revolution in the music and offered ambivalence in the words. Those contradictions powered an album whose bluesy realism set the band apart.

‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ by The Kinks

Ray Davies just couldn’t contain himself to the old singles-and-filler approach that characterized much of rock and roll in the late 60s. He saw his songs in terms of thematic cycles that should give listeners a more thoroughly emotional experience when heard from start to finish. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was the first time that The Kinks dove into this approach. Davies throws his spotlight here on everyday folks who usually didn’t get that kind of representation in rock music. He also tries to bring back a long-lost England in the face of encroaching modern society. “The Village Green Preservation Society” lays out his concerns, and the remaining 14 songs do a wonderful job of elucidating them in greater detail.

‘The Who Sell Out’ by The Who

We had to cheat a bit here, as this album was technically released in the closing weeks of 1967. But its impact was felt most in 1968, so we feel that it works in the context of this list. Like Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, The Who’s artistic architect, was thinking in terms of album-long statements. The idea of a pirate radio station gets a bit lost in the shuffle by the end of The Who Sell Out. But that doesn’t matter once you get caught up in Townshend’s winning character sketches within songs like “Mary Ann With The Shaky Hand” and “Odorono”. He writes about relationship troubles with insight and feeling on songs like “Our Love Was” and “I Can’t Reach You”. And “I Can See For Miles” previews the hard rock glory the band would achieve in the next decade.

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