It's Only Rock and Roll, Part 3
Trust me, I have heard the complaints and the disparaging remarks about my lists. That will not deter me. You can call me an idiot but it just means you care and you voice your opinions and I thank you all.
However, with that being said I will continue to give the occasional list and add to it as time goes on and everyone is entitled to reach out to me and give me their opinion. Not only do I learn from my mistakes, I also learn by listening to other voices.
In that spirit, I am going to add to list of The Best Albums of All Time. Again, the criteria is pretty simple: The album has to be strong throughout and it has to still be listenable.
Surprisingly, I didn’t put this album in either of my earlier columns and it goes without saying that Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon should be here. This album was the greatest headtrip ever recorded and still plays nicely. Even though a good percentage of the album has been beaten to death by FM radio over the years, I can still listen to it in it’s entirety. No wonder this album was on the Billboard top 100 album chart for something like 30 years in a row. No doubt, a masterpiece from every angle.
Another album that had(has) incredible staying power is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors album. Before I start, I will have to mention, I only liked two songs from this album, “Gold Dust Woman” and “The Chain”. However, I can’t deny the significance of this record and the popularity it still has. It’s an album about relationships, good and bad, and the people behind those relationships were all band members so the band put everything out there and the public did their best to figure it out.
Dire Straits debut album may not hold up as a masterpiece but it is very close and because this is my list, I am including it. This album introduced us to Mark Knopfler who I feel is one of the cleanest guitarist alive today. His guitar playing is what makes this album so good. Everyone loved “Sultans of Swing” when it was released but if you dig a little deeper into the album there are several gems, “Down to The Waterline” and “Southbound Again” are two great examples of Knopfler’s virtuosity on guitar.
Now things will get sticky.
The Clash’s Sandinista was a 36 song exposition of death, drugs, political upheaval, political oppression, depression, anxiety and everything else that was twisting the youth in England in the late 70’s and early 80’s. As far as punk, new wave and alternative music from that era, I really dont think many of the albums released stand the test of time. Maybe, The Clash’s London Calling or the Sex Pistol’s Never Mind the Bullocks would be close. The genre produced some pretty good songs but very few great albums. Any album that contains “The Magnificent Seven and “Hitsville USA” and 34 other punch to the gut songs, has to be included. The band was always rough and raw but in this album they refined the sound a little without losing any of the power of the music.
Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon is another album that may not truly qualify as a masterpiece but in my humble opinion it is very close. Critics made fun of some of the tracks on the album because Zevon had a warped sense of humor and they obviously missed the point. The title track and “Werewolves of London” are just fun to listen to and isn’t that what music is all about? My favorites are “Nightime in the Switching Yard” with it’s funky guitar lick and “Lawyers, Guns and Money”. The true measure of an album is if you can listen to it from beginning to the end without flipping past a particular song, this album does that.
The Who’s Tommy. I don’t think any explanation is needed. Not the original rock opera but the first one anyone actually listened to. Disregard the stupidity of the movie based on the album. It sucked. Like Quadrophenia, this album needs to be listened to in order to really get how great it is.
Sue me, but I am going to include Nilsson Schmilsson by Harry Nilsson because not only was he one of the most talented musicians out in California, he had a great sense of humor and this album proves it. Every song on this album could hold up on its own and even though most of it was played to death in the early ‘70’s, I could still listen to “Jump into the Fire” or “Gotta Get Up” again and again. He was prolific and well loved and it really was a shame that he passed away at such an early age. His whole catalog is littered with gems but Nilsson Schmilsson is the best of the bunch.
Reaching back a little, I think that “King Crimson’s In The Court of The Crimson King can be held up there as one of the best albums of the ‘60’s. Every song was a long meander down the progressive rock highway and the album requires patience. Nothing will jump out at you but if you are in the mood, this album is excellent and the richness of the sound and the haunting lyrics will stay with you for a while. I get that this will not be everyones cup of tea but I think as a whole, it is an amazing piece of work and deserves to be on this list.
This really isn’t a stretch but Sly and Family Stone’s Stand is an album I think every millennial, Gen Z, Gen X or whatever they call themselves should listen to. There are songs about getting along and being the best you can be. There are songs about racial tension. There are songs about being together and conquering the injustices of the day. All relevant to today and they did it with a funky groove that no artist today can match (maybe Lettuce can). There isn’t one weak song on this album.
Originally, I did not get why so much was made about Van Morisson’s Astral Weeks album. Nothing seemed catchy or relevant until two years ago. It was then that I gave a listen to it and realized how good this record is. You can’t flippantly just listen to it to understand it. You must sit down, relax and enjoy. I now see why all the fuss. It’s brilliant and beautiful and a song like “Ballerina” will grow on you. I guess I wasn’t mature enough to get the messaging in this album back in the day, but now I do and I have to say, I like this album as much as anything he has ever done. There is no rushing this album.
I am sure many of you might feel the same way but the ‘90’s produced very little in the way of great music. Other genre’s were taking over and to be honest, they all sucked. In 30 years will anyone remember anything produced in the 90’s, probably not. However, there is one album that I do think warrants inclusion on this list and it is Nirvana’s Nevermind. When this album came out I felt that maybe rock and roll would survive through the wasteland of music during that decade. Unfortunately, Nirvana never produced anything original afterwords that was as good as this album. I am not saying that every song is a classic but it was very good, if not great rock and roll. Depressing as it may have been, it was powerful and thats why it is included here. Listening to the lyrics you had to know that Kurt Cobain was a short timer.
If you have any thoughts feel free to reach out to me. I will be adding more to this list so all you Donna Summer fans just be patient.