1. Fun fact about Barry & the Remains: They once were the opening act for The Beatles. And “Don’t Look Back,” to this day, still kills.

2. Thanks to “American Idol” and a well-received tour, Leonard Cohen is becoming popular again. Start with his first three albums, along with early touchstone “Bird on the Wire.”

3. Vashti Bunyan was saved from obscurity a few years back after the re-release of her album “Just Another Diamond Day.” Early unreleased single “Winter is Blue” shows why.

4. Silver Apples is an intriguing early attempt at electronic music, with a weird, rhythmic mix of noisy electronics and big drums, exemplified by “Oscillations.”

5. The late-’60s psych-folk of Pearls Before Swine clearly plays forefather to today’s oddball indie rock; the swoon of “The Surrealist Waltz” feels at home in today’s climate. source