Sixteen brilliant Baroque pop albums that make for must-listens

Back in the 1960s, baroque pop turned into a full-fledged subgenre that produced some exquisite albums, sometimes from the middle of the decade up to the mid-seventies, and then kept on coming up with brilliant albums up to this day.

Some gave it different names - from baroque rock to orchestral pop, mostly characterized by the use of compositional techniques of classical music, as well as instruments, particularly that from the classical music period called baroque.

Yet, it was the accessibility of pop and rock that were at the forefront, sometimes with added touches of jazz and Brazilian bossa nova. The influence of rock and pop innovators such as Phil Spector and Burt Bacharach was evident.

16 Baroque pop albums you need to have on high rotation

It is said that the Beatles started the ball rolling with their seminal song "In My Life," but it seems that it was the Beach Boys' absolute classic album Pet Sounds that made things happen for baroque pop, something that Brian Wilson, the mastermind behind that album created again with his version of the band's never-released album Smile (2004).

Some great albums that fall into the genre, like Love’s Forever Changes (1967), Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks (1968), and the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle (1968), are to this day considered among the best recorded so far. Yet, there are quite a few baroque pop albums that have a similar level of brilliance that got critical acclaim but never went beyond cult fandom, were promptly forgotten, or never got the attention they deserved. Here are sixteen of such albums, that every pop/rock fan should know about.

The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (1967)

Well, to be frank, the phrase baroque pop was actually coined when the band’s main songwriter and keyboardist, Michael Brown, came up with the band’s big hit and often covered song “Walk Away Renee,’ after which the band’s other hit “Pretty Ballerina" bears its name.

Even though the whole album was full of such orchestrated pop/rock gems, the album itself never got the full attention of wider audiences it deserved, even with numerous reissues and critical praise it got.

Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle (1967)

Parks was the lyricist and Brian Wilson’s key collaborator for The Beach Boys never officially released album Smile. Moving on, Parks presented his penchant for intriguing orchestrations and arrangements for this, his first solo album. Essentially, Parks does here what Wilson was supposed to do with Smile, a showcase of all achieved in American music, folk, pop, or classical, but this time, only in a way he saw (heard) it.

Duncan Browne - Give Me Take You (1968)

Over in England, Duncan Browne took the cues from the Left Banke, but also from the Beatles and the Zombies, and even more so from English folk and classical music and came up with an incredibly tender, melancholic, fully-orchestrated album. Many say that Nick Drake might have taken cues from this Browne album.

Billy Nichols - Would You Believe (1968)

Another British artist like Browne, Nichols recorded for the same company (Immediate) who took the baroque pop route, and came up with an album that was more appreciated later on than at the time that it was released. Nichols, though, seems to have taken more inspiration from what the Beach Boys did on their seminal Pet Sounds album, with producer Andrew Oldham coming up with some great arrangements.

Margo Guryan - Take A Picture (1968)

At the time, Margo Guryan was mainly a songwriter, but decided to start recording herself, this being her first. It is a brilliant, breezy album that is full of orchestrated jazz and bossa nova touches. Considered a commercial flop at the time, the album got full critical appreciation later on and a staunch fan base, the result of which is a recent tribute album to Guryan, who has passed on.

Sagittarius - Present Tense (1968)

If there were producers that worked on some great baroque - and sunshine pop - albums, then it is Gary Usher (Pet Sounds lyricist), and Curt Boetcher, the two men behind this (first) Sagittarius album.

Through their connections, they were able to engage the likes of Glen Cambell, the Beach Boys’ Bruce Johnston, and other stellar musicians for this project. The album didn’t make much waves at the time, until “My World Felt Down” from it was included on the famed Lenny Kaye compilation Nuggets.

Scott Walker - Scott 4 (1969)

After leaving The Walker Brothers, Scott Walker, the man with one of the most incredible voices in modern music (from pop to avant-garde), recorded a series of numbered solo albums, ending (for the time being) with this one. The first three made a dent in the British charts, but this one didn’t. Yet it turned out to be the most accomplished musically. After it Walker, went briefly commercial again, but then went into experimental and avant-garde waters.

The first three made a dent in the British charts, this one didn’t. Yet it turned out to be the most accomplished musically. After it Walker, went briefly commercial again, but then went into experimental and avant-garde waters.

David Axelrod - Songs of Experience (1969)

One of the producers and arrangers at the time, Axelrod, took inspiration here from the poetry of William Blake, something he did with his previous album, Songs of Innocence. Axelrod presents what fully accomplished arrangements should sound like, with a pop sound enveloped in classical orchestration with jazzy touches.

Marc Jonson - Years (1972)

By the time then 20-year-old Jonson recorded this album, many thought that the heyday of baroque pop was gone. Rightfully so, Jonson seemed not to think so, coming up with this almost forgotten masterpiece, he both wrote and produced himself. Her, Jonson seems to be inspired by the more psychedelic side of baroque pop (think Van Morrison and Love’s Arthur Lee), but enough individuality to make it stand out.

Arthur Verocai - Arthur Verocai (1972)

Considered master producer and arranger in his native Brazil (rightfully so), Verocai’s initial solo album became a sort of a cult classic elsewhere and for all the right reasons. Combining elements of Brazilian Tropicalia sound with Western pop and funk, Verocai enveloped everything in a big orchestra and a brass section, creating some incredible sounds.

John Cale - Paris 1919 (1973)

After leaving Velvet Underground Cale, rarely disappointed with his solo work, this album that just recently got a deluxe version stands out as one of his best. Cale seems to have constructed the album as a set of musical short stories, combining the sounds of great rockers and jazzers like Little Feat’s Lowell George and Crusader’s Wilton Felder with lushly orchestrated arrangements.

Virginia Astley - Hope in a Darkened Heart (1986)

Decades passed, but baroque pop remained, as this album by British composer Astley (produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto) shows. Astley approached the songs on this album as a sort of vignette or watercolor paintings with classical touches added to her dream pop songs.

The Sea Nymphs - On the Dry Land (1995-2015)

This band started out as an off-shot of rockier Cardiacs, but well into the nineties; The Sea Nymphs presented all the key elements of what great baroque pop albums brought us three decades before them. Combining some excellent songwriting rooted in both folk and chamber music, the recordings started in the mid-nineties, but due to health problems, the album was truly finished in 2015.

Rufus Wainwright - Poses (2001)

Wainwright always had part of his roots firmly rooted in classical music, so the chamber pop route he initially took on his first album (produced by Van Dyke Parks), continues on this, his second one. The usual staples of baroque pop are all over here, but Wainwright also added loops and beats here and there, bringing baroque pop to the new century.

The Divine Comedy - Absent Friends (2004)

Irish musical maverick Neil Hannon, the man behind The Divine Comedy, was always considered one of the best purveyors of baroque pop from the early nineties up to this day. Although he never faltered with his albums, this one is possibly one of his most accomplished as, in many ways, it represents a sort of compendium of everything he has done up to that point.

Storefront Church - Ink & Oil (2024)

Lukas Frank and his Storefront Church are real proof that baroque pop is still a musical force today. While musically, Frank takes all the key baroque pop cues, his fully fledged arrangements and particularly lyrics have much darker overtones, in many ways reflecting the mood of the times. Yet with all the darkness present, the album is a truly rewarding listening experience.

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