Comments on: Greatest Rock Albums

By: RHenderson

RHenderson — Sat, 27 Dec 2003 14:58:15 +0000

If we’re talkin about rock rock, and not old rock or big hair rock, but music u can just jam too, here are the albums: Pearl Jam- Yeild Stone Temple Pilots- Core Local H- As Good As Dead Coldplay- A Rush of Blood To The Head Radiohead- The Bends Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream Audioslave- Audioslave(new but damn its the bomb) Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger Soundgarden-Superunknown PJ Harvey- Rid of Me

By: seth

seth — Fri, 21 Nov 2003 18:48:20 +0000

I can’t understand how anyone could listen to Daydream Nation all the way through. After that one elemental riff in Teenage Riot, that record is sooo boring. Apparently you haven’t listened to that record all the way through, because apparently you’ve never heard “Kissability,” which rules. But if it affronts, I’ll strike “Daydream” from my list and replace it with REM’s “Murmur.”

By: robert allen

robert allen — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 05:32:11 +0000

Benj, with all due respect- and your list does reveal excellent taste- you can’t be serious saying that you prefer Foreigner to the Rolling Stones. The Stones have made more than their share of formulaic and awful sounding music, especially since Mick Taylor departed from the band. (If I wake up one morning and Miss You is playing everywhere that I go, I’ll know that I’ve been sent to hell.) But their recordings before ‘72 are, for the most part, very exciting. (I agree with you that Satanic … is one of their best efforts, contrary to those who dismiss it as a cheap imitation of Sgt. Peppers.) OK, the Glimmer Twins are not great lyricists, but they have a feel for the blues and nobody plays Chuck Berry riffs better than Keith Richards (except, of course, Mr. Berry himself). Foreigner, on the other hand, represents everything that is bad about radio programming since the mid-70s: they don’t even deserve to be called a rock-and-roll band. I’m serious; I’d like to show up at one of their concerts and just boo them off the stage. AC/DC, however, rocks, one of the few things that my dear wife and I agree on.

By: Jorma

Jorma — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 03:20:58 +0000

To hell with the 10 best. There can only be a 10 favorites. An individual thing having to do with the complex contexts we surround them in. (Rock in this case meaning everything but opera) Love Devotion Surrender McLaughlin-Santana Survival Marley Pirates Ricky Lee Jones Indianola Mississippi Seeds BB King Tribute To The Martyrs Steel Pulse Axis Bold As Love Hendrix Blood On The Tracks Dylan Inarticulate Speech of the Heart Van Morrison Layla Speaking In Tongues Talking Heads ]

By: benj

benj — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 23:47:16 +0000

As a radio DJ for 6 years, I am clearly more qualified than those lacking this qualification to weigh in on this one. Hence, in no particular order: a. Neil Young – Everybody Knows this is Nowhere b. Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold as Love c. David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World d. Lou Reed – Street Hassle e. Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation f. Black Flag – My War g. Kevin Ayers – Joy of a Toy h. Bob Dylan – Basement Tapes i. John Lee Hooker – The Great JLH (a horridly produced but wild, stoned set of cutting room floor exploit on Crown Records) j. James Blood Ulmer – Are You Glad to be in America? Close at heels would be k. The Fall – The Frenz Experiment l. Can – Ege Bamyasi m. The Who – Happy Jack n. The Stooges – Fun House o. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless p. Contortions – Buy (or maybe Mars – 78 or DNA - Taste of DNA —something No Wavish) q. Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime r. Red Krayola – Hazel Further opinionated ruminations: * Ya I know this is a pretty fuzz-heavy list, weighted to around 1974. But that’s, like, my stuff. * People should listen to more Conlon Nancarrow. Not rock, but composed art music: still, hyperstimulating, high concept, frenetic compositions programmed via punching holes in piano rolls. * The Magic Band – Trout Mask Sessions is TM Replica without the excessively loud overdubbed Beefheart vocals. This reveals the complex, interesting, varied music. But it leaves me a bit cold. The band plays lethargically because they’d been starving, rehearsing on autopilot, in communal squalor for 18 months. Worthy of respect, and beautiful. But overall assessment is that the awful, annoying recitative has done more for the rep of the fabulous music than the music would have generated on its own. * Aside from Paperback Writer, which would be the best song ever if it weren’t so dissatisfyingly short, and some of the stuff on Revolver, also that weird Vee Jay release, the Beatles have a ponciness I’ve never found appealing. The Stones are the most boring band ever (aside maybe from Satanic Majesties) – tedious, bombastic sludge. Give me Foreigner any day for puerile punch. Or AC/DC! * After Confusion is Sex, Sonic Youth started to go on boring autopilot. I can’t understand how anyone could listen to Daydream Nation all the way through. After that one elemental riff in Teenage Riot, that record is sooo boring. Sister faded for me as well, after I ceased to be able to get into the only two halfway decent songs, Schizophrenia and Stereo Sanctity. People only listen to Sonic Youth because they are good for you. Anything after the 80s is pointless (even Goodbye 20th Century). * Disputes over rock are made irrelevant by the Harry Smith Anthology, which totally blows away 98% of the records mentioned in this thread. Other great compilations are the Bloodstains and Killed By Death series of rare punk 7-inchers.

By: ben wolfson

ben wolfson — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 16:14:08 +0000

Tilt is awesome! (And I would also suggest that people interested in progressive rock should listen to, well, me, on WHPK, which unfortunately doesn’t stream on the web.)

By: James Russell

James Russell — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:26:57 +0000

This article may be of interest in this context. I have always preferred the White Album to Pepper. I refuse to buy the newly naked Let It Be as it's copy-controlled and I don't see any reason to encourage EMI to persist with this heinous practice by buying their products. And I suspect there's a good reason why Tilt hasn't been mentioned so far, i.e. it's a load of shit.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:17:02 +0000

No mention so far of Scott Walker’s masterpiece, “Tilt”.

By: robert allen

robert allen — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 05:53:09 +0000

Thanks John for pointing out my misspelling of ‘Spectorized’. Speaking of bad lyrics, I was listening to The Notorious Bryd Brothers tonight, which, yes, is on my list and was struck by the sophomoricness of the following lines: Truth is real, truth is real That which is not real does not exist. They read like the condensed version of a really bad intro philosophy lecture. But, like you say, sometimes it’s the sound that hooks you: I for one cannot resist Hillman’s bass, McGuinn’s Rickenbacker, and their exquisite harmonies (topped only by those of the Everlys and John and Paul). Timberites who are interested in progressive rock should check out WDET, broadcasting out of Detroit and on the web @ http://www.wdetfm.org, specifically the Jim Bauer, Martin Bandyke, Judy Adams, and Liz Copeland shows.

By: jgl

jgl — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 05:17:40 +0000

Ted Barlow lists “The Amazing Royal Crowns” Ha! If only I had known back then, in the late 1980’s, that when I convince Johnny Maguire to stop listening to the Smiths and start listening to Elvis that this would be the end. “Starless and Bible Black”? That is a record to be destroyed, not cherished. But watch out if you do smash an old copy – an uncommonly thick record that breaks into dangerous flying shards. A certain quality in production, I suppose, at least at that end of things. Ugh, that album makes reading Dylan Thomas more unpleasant than it need be.

By: zizka

zizka — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 02:51:37 +0000

Jim Morrison and Stevie Nicks wrote some of the stupidest lyrics ever. I don’t even know what Stevie was trying to get at. But she was so darn cute when she was young…. don’t tell her I said it that way because I don’t think she’s gotten the word yet. As far as that goes, that’s my problem with Love, too. I like the sound, but the lyrics bother me.

By: Dave Mason

Dave Mason — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 02:44:32 +0000

This is my Top Ten for today- It tends to change from day to day and week to week… (no particular order) Robert Pollard- “Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department”; Husker Du- “Zen Arcade”; Replacements- “Let It Be”; Pavement- “Slanted and Enchanted”; Bob Marley and the Wailers- “Catch a Fire”; R.E.M.- “Document”; Guided by Voices- “Alien Lanes”; Grateful Dead- “American Beauty”; Minutemen- “Double Nickels on the Dime”; The Smiths- “Meat is Murder”…

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 01:45:03 +0000

Spectorized. I have about 30 Dylan albums, and Time Out Of Mind is very good IMO, better than say John Wesley Harding. I don’t know Love And Theft. I’ll add that Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” is one of the best soul songs ever recorded.

By: Nicholas Tyler

Nicholas Tyler — Wed, 19 Nov 2003 00:03:45 +0000

Another rock list, just because: Smashing Pumpkins, GISH Soundgarden, LOUDER THAT LOVE Fugazi, THIRTEEN SONGS (which is a bit of cheating, as it’s two albums turned into a single CD) Jimi Hendrix, BOLD AS LOVE PJ Harvey, TO BRING YOU MY LOVE (and if anybody wants to fight about this one, we can duel with buckets of shit at dawn—it is the finest spaghetti-western rock album ever) King Crimson, STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK Iggy Pop, RAW POWER AC/DC, DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP The Toadies, RUBBERNECK The Pixies, SURFER ROSA (don’t know why everyone is so fixated on Doolittle. Your bones got a little machine…)

By: robert allen

robert allen — Tue, 18 Nov 2003 22:09:01 +0000

I see that I misspelled the title of my #1 album: it should be Blonde on Blonde. Re. Paul’s comment about no one including Elvis’ Sun material, you have there some seminal stuff, no doubt, but it doesn’t add up to an album, which I tend to think of as thematic. If I were to include an Elvis album on my list it would be his 1968 “comeback” effort, From Elvis in Memphis. For the same reason, greatest hits packages and live albums should be excluded from consideration. Having said that, I think The Great 28 by Chuck Berry and Kick out the Jams by the MC5 should be in every afficionado’s library. I see that Keith seems to share my belief that in rock there is Dylan and then everyone else, all albums since Blonde on … being “footnotes.” I am anxious to know what he thinks of Dylan’s last two releases, Time out of Mind and Love and Theft. I think they compare favorably with his earlier work. Ziska should know that there is no shame in liking either the Doors 1st album or Rumors. Finally, is there anyone besides me who prefers The Beatles (aka the White Album) to Sgt. Peppers (that is, Pet Sounds on acid) and the just released version of Let it Be to the Specterized version that came out in 1970?