In September 2020, Rolling Stone magazine released their most recent list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which includes a greater variety of artists and genres than previous lists. Looking through the list, there were many albums I’d never listened to before and a few I’d never even heard of. In fact, counting it up, I found that I’d only listened to 140 of the albums, although I’d heard songs from many more. So I’ve decided my project for 2021 is to listen to 10 albums each week and write up some thoughts about each one.
Previous Posts:
Artist: David Bowie
Album: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Year: 1972
Label: RCA
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Five Years”
- “Moonage Daydream”
- “Starman”
- “Lady Stardust”
- “Ziggy Stardust”
- “Suffragette City”
Thoughts: This concept album offers a lot to chew on regarding aliens, fictional rock stars, and impending doom. Musically it’s a compilation of rock and roll styles bridging rockabilly to punk rock. A definite Bowie classic.
Artist: Talking Heads
Album: Remain In Light
Year: Sire
Label: 1980
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Crosseyed and Painless”
- “The Great Curve”
- “Once in a Lifetime”
- “Houses in Motion”
- “Listening Wind”
Thoughts: It’s kind of appropriate for Talking Heads to follow David Bowie since they both took their own form of weirdness and made it so compelling that it forced the mainstream to accept them. The Heads merged New Wave and avant garde music with African polyrhythms and funk grooves to create an album that was both art rock and commercially accessible.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Album: Blonde on Blonde
Year: Columbia
Label: 1966
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No
Favorite Tracks:
- “Rainy Day Women #12 and #35”
- “Pledging My Time”
- “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)”
Thoughts: I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of the Bob Dylan albums on this list, but this one meets my preconceived notion of Dylan as someone singing SAT vocabulary words in a nasally voice. It is a surprise that most of the songs are blues tunes as well as some more traditional folk love ballads. The opening track is a classic, but most of this album gets a “meh” from me.
Artist: Dr. Dre
Album: The Chronic
Year: 1992
Label: Death Row
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No
Favorite Tracks:
- “The Day the N****z Took Over”
- “Lil’ Ghetto Boy”
- “Lyrical Gangbang”
- “Stranded on Death Row”
Thoughts: Hip hop producer Dr. Dre makes his performing debut album with Snoop Dogg also making a significant early career appearance as a featured rapper. No doubt this is an historic collaboration. Beyond that I had the realization that internet staples like “beeotch” and “deez nuts” probably had their origin here. Overall I found the misogyny and n-words too much, and probably enjoyed the tracks best when I liked the sample sources of artists like Parliament, Funkadelic, James Brown, Donny Hathaway, and Isaac Hayes.
Artist: Michael Jackson
Album: Off The Wall
Year: 1979
Label: Epic
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: No
Favorite Tracks:
- “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”
- “Rock With You”
Thoughts: Michael Jackson was at his peak of fame and talent during the impressionable years of my childhood. And I felt like the only kid who wasn’t gaga for Michael Jackson. Later in life I came to appreciate his work as an artist even if it wasn’t the first thing I’d chose to listen to. That was followed revelations that Jackson was a bad, perhaps even evil, person who harmed children making me even less willing to reevaluate his music. Anyhow, I kind of like Jackson’s hits on this album more than his bigger hits on Thriller, but we’ll get to that later.
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Rubber Soul
Year: 1965
Label: Parlophone
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
- “Nowhere Man”
- “Think for Yourself”
- “The Word”
- “Girl”
- “I’m Looking Through You”
- “In My Life”
- “If I Needed Someone”
Thoughts: It kind of boggles the mind that in the years 1963-1965, the Beatles averaged two new albums per year plus singles and eps, toured the world, and made two movies. And yet their 6th album, released at the end of 1965, shows no sign of exhaustion and decline. Instead the band were beginning their transition to a studio band with inventive new song stylings and production. One demerit for ending this album with “Run For Your Life,” a hateful stalker song.
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Album: Innervisions
Year: 1973
Label: Tamla/Motown
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Living for the City”
- “Higher Ground”
- “All In Love Is Fair”
- “He’s Misstra Know-It-All”
Thoughts: This album features a jazzier sound for Stevie Wonder with some funk overtones. I found it not as consistent as his previous albums with some valleys and peaks, but when the peaks are “Living for the City” and “Higher Ground” they are some mighty fine peaks! Also, “He’s Misstra Know-It-All” is a song about a bad President that became all-too-relevant again in recent memory.
Artist: Amy Winehouse
Album: Back to Black
Year: 2006
Label: Island
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Rehab”
- “You Know I’m No Good”
- “Back to Black”
- “Tears Dry On Their Own”
Thoughts: I’m so happy to see Amy Winehouse’s classic album ranked so highly in this RS 500. Winehouse’s personal troubles and tragic death have overshadowed her remarkable talent and the perfection of this album. I remember first hearing “You Know I’m No Good” back in 2007 and being blown away and I still feel the same listening to this album today.
Artist: Beyoncé
Album: Lemonade
Year: Parkwood/Columbia
Label: 2016
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “Hold Up”
- “Sorry”
- “6 Inch”
- “Freedom”
Thoughts: I wasn’t all that attentive to Beyoncé’s music until 2016 when Lemonade forced me to pay attention. I suppose some people will argue that this album is too recent to be ranked #32, but really from the first time I heard it I knew it was an instant classic. It definitely deserves a spot among the best albums of all time.
Artist: Miles Davis
Album: Kind of Blue
Year: 1959
Label: Columbia
Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes
Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes
Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes
Favorite Tracks:
- “So What”
- “Freddie Freeloader”
- “All Blues”
Thoughts: Miles Davis, trumpeter and composer, made some of the most brilliant jazz music ever. Listen to this album to find out.
Running List of Albums I’d Listen to Again
- 500. Arcade Fire, Funeral
- 498. Suicide, Suicide
- 497. Various Artists, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
- 494. The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
- 489. A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector from Phil Spector and Various Artists, Back to Mono (1958-1969)
- 487. Black Flag, Damaged
- 485. Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
- 483. Muddy Waters, The Anthology
- 482. The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
- 481. Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister
- 478. The Kinks, Something Else by the Kinks
- 477. Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight
- 469.Manu Chao, Clandestino
- 465. King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years
- 464. The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3
- 462. The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin
- 459. Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day
- 457. Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
- 456. Al Green, Greatest Hits
- 455. Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley
- 453. Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
- 452. Diana Ross and the Supremes, Anthology
- 451. Roberta Flack, First Take
- 448. Otis Redding, Dictionary of Soul
- 446. Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada
- 444. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
- 443. David Bowie, Scary Monsters
- 440. Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter
- 439. James Brown, Sex Machine
- 438. Blur, Parklife
- 437. Primal Scream, Screamadelica
- 435. Pet Shop Boys, Actually
- 433. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
- 431. Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive?
- 430. Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True
- 429. The Four Tops, Reach Out
- 428. Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising
- 427. Al Green, Call Me
- 426. Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams
- 425. Paul Simon, Paul Simon
- 424. Beck, Odelay
- 423. Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
- 422. Marvin Gaye, Let’s Get It On
- 421. M.I.A., Arular
- 417. Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come
- 416. The Roots, Things Fall Apart
- 415. The Meters, Looka Py Py
- 414. Chic, Risqué
- 413. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory
- 412. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Going to a Go Go
- 409. Grateful Dead, Workingman’s Dead
- 408. Motörhead, Ace of Spades
- 406. Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs
- 405. Various, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
- 403. Ghostface Killah, Supreme Clientele
- 402. Fela Kuti and Africa 70, Expensive Shit
- 401. Blondie, Blondie
- 400. The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat
- 398. The Raincoats, The Raincoats
- 397. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
- 395. D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah
- 392. Ike and Tina Turner, Proud Mary: The Best of Ike and Tina Turner
- 390. Pixies, Surfer Rosa
- 388. Aretha Franklin, Young, Gifted and Black
- 387. Radiohead, In Rainbows
- 386. J Dilla, Donuts
- 385. Ramones, Rocket to Russia
- 384. The Kinks, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
- 380. Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um
- 378. Run-DMC, Run-D.M.C.
- 377. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell
- 375. Green Day, Dookie
- 374. Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues Singers
- 373. Isaac Hayes, Hot Buttered Soul
- 371. The Temptations, Anthology
- 369. Mobb Deep, The Infamous
- 368. George Harrison, All Things Must Pass
- 365. Madvillain, Madvillainy
- 364. Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food
- 363. Parliament, The Mothership Connection
- 360. Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove
- 358. Sonic Youth, Goo
- 357. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
- 356. Dr. John, Gris-Gris
- 354. X-Ray Spex, Germfree Adolescents
- 351. Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure
- 350. Stevie Wonder, Music of My Mind
- 349. MC5, Kick Out the Jams
- 348. Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)
- 347. GZA, Liquid Swords
- 346. Arctic Monkeys, AM
- 345. Bruce Springsteen, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
- 344. Toots and the Maytals, Funky Kingston
- 343. Sly and the Family Stone, Greatest Hits
- 342. The Beatles, Let It Be
- 341. The Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream
- 338. Brian Eno, Another Green World
- 337. Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding
- 335. Bob Dylan and the Band, The Basement Tapes
- 334. Santana, Abraxas
- 333. Bill Withers, Still Bill
- 332. Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley
- 330. The Rolling Stones, Aftermath
- 329. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing…
- 328. Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City
- 326. Prince, Dirty Mind
- 323.The Clash, Sandinista!
- 320. X, Los Angeles
- 319. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
- 317. Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin
- 316. The Who, The Who Sell Out
- 310. Wire, Pink Flag
- 309. Joy Division, Closer
- 308. Brian Eno, Here Come the Warm Jets
- 307. Sam Cooke, Portrait of a Legend
- 306. Al Green, I’m Still In Love With You
- 304. Bill Withers, Just As I Am
- 301. New York Dolls, New York Dolls
- 299. B.B. King, Live at the Regal
- 297. Peter Gabriel, So
- 294. Weezer, Weezer
- 293. The Breeders, Last Splash
- 292. Van Halen, Van Halen
- 289. Björk, Post
- 288. The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers
- 287. The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man
- 283. Donna Summer, Bad Girls
- 282. Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours
- 279. Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York
- 278. Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy
- 276. Radiohead, The Bends
- 275. Curtis Mayfield, Curtis
- 274. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
- 273. Gang of Four, Entertainment!
- 272. The Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat
- 267. Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime
- 266. The Beatles, Help!
- 263. The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night
- 262. New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies
- 261. Beastie Boys, Check Your Head
- 260. The Slits, Cut
- 259. Janis Joplin, Pearl
- 257. Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors
- 256. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
- 254. Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters
- 252. Devo, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
- 250. Buzzcocks, Singles Going Steady
- 246. LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out
- 245. Cocteau Twins, Heaven of Las Vegas
- 242. The Velvet Underground, Loaded
- 240. Sam Cooke, Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
- 239. Boogie Down Productions, Criminal Minded
- 238. Kraftwerk, Trans Europe Express
- 237. Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger
- 236. Daft Punk, Discovery
- 232. John Coltrane, Giant Steps
- 229. Patsy Cline, The Ultimate Collection
- 228. De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead
- 227. Little Richard, Here’s Little Richard
- 226. Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
- 223. John Lennon, Imagine
- 221. Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine
- 220. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Déjà Vu
- 215. Grateful Dead, American Beauty
- 213. Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel…
- 212. Nina Simone, Wild is the Wind
- 211. Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
- 210. Ray Charles, The Birth of Soul
- 209. Run-DMC, Raising Hell
- 206. David Bowie, Low
- 205. Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman
- 202. Björk, Homogenic
- 201. A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders
- 198. The B-52’s, The B-52’s
- 197. The Beatles, Meet the Beatles!
- 195. Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen
- 193. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willy and the Poor Boys
- 192. Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill
- 191. Etta James, At Last!
- 190. The Who, Tommy
- 189. Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out
- 185. The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet
- 184. Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual
- 181. Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home
- 178. Otis Redding, Otis Blue
- 177. Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story
- 176. Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet
- 175. Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.
- 174. Jimmy Cliff and Various Artists, The Harder They Come: Original Soundtrack
- 173. Nirvana, In Utero
- 172. Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water
- 171. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
- 170. Cream, Disraeli Gears
- 169. Billy Joel, The Stranger
- 167. Depeche Mode, Violator
- 166. Buddy Holly, 20 Golden Greats
- 165. R.E.M., Murmur
- 164. Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison
- 162. Pulp, Different Class
- 161. Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills, & Nash
- 156. The Replacements, Let it Be
- 155. Jay-Z, The Black Album
- 154. Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace
- 153. PJ Harvey, Rid of Me
- 150. Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska
- 149. John Prine, John Prine
- 148. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
- 146. Blondie, Parallel Lines
- 144. Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
- 143. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground
- 142. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.
- 141. Pixies, Doolittle
- 140. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Catch a Fire
- 139. Black Sabbath, Paranoid‘
- 138. Madonna, The Immaculate Collection
- 137. Adele, 21
- 136. Funkadelic, Maggot Brain
- 135. U2, The Joshua Tree
- 134. Fugees, ‘he Score
- 132. Hank Williams, 40 Greatest Hits
- 131. Portishead, Dummy
- 130. Prince, 1999
- 127. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
- 125. Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
- 124. U2, Achtung Baby
- 123. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II
- 122. Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral
- 121. Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model
- 120. Van Morrison, Moondance
- 119. Sly and the Family Stone, Stand!
- 116. The Cure, Disintegration
- 114. The Strokes, Is This It
- 113. The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
- 111. Janet Jackson, Control
- 109. Lou Reed, Transformer
- 108. Fiona Apple, When the Pawn …
- 107. Television, Marquee Moon
- 104. The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
- 103. De La Soul, Three Feet High And Rising
- 102. The Clash, The Clash
- 101. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin
- 99. Taylor Swift, Red
- 98. Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
- 94. The Stooges, Fun House
- 92. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold as Love
- 88. David Bowie, Hunky Dory
- 87. Miles Davis, Bitches Brew
- 86. The Doors, The Doors
- 85. John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
- 84. AC/DC, Back in Black
- 83. Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis
- 82. Sly and the Family Stone, There’s a Riot Goin’ On
- 81. Beyoncé, Beyoncé
- 80. The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
- 78. Elvis Presley, The Sun Sessions
- 77. The Who, Who’s Next
- 76. Curtis Mayfield, Superfly
- 75. Aretha Franklin, Lady Soul
- 73. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
- 71. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Exodus
- 68. Kate Bush, Hounds of Love
- 66. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme
- 65. James Brown, Live at the Apollo
- 64. OutKast, Stankonia
- 61. Eric B. and Rakim, Paid in Full
- 60. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
- 59. Stevie Wonder, Talking Book
- 58. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
- 56. Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
- 54. James Brown, Star Time
- 53. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland
- 52. David Bowie, Station to Station
- 51. Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight
- 50. Jay-Z, The Blueprint
- 49. OutKast, Aquemini
- 48. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Legend
- 47. Ramones, Ramones
- 46. Paul Simon, Graceland
- 45. Prince, Sign O’ the Times
- 44. Nas, Illmatic
- 43. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
- 42. Radiohead, OK Computer
- 41. The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
- 40. David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
- 39. Talking Heads, Remain in Light
- 35. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
- 34. Stevie Wonder, ‘nnervisions
- 33. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
- 32. Beyoncé, Lemonade
- 31. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
Panorama of the Mountains 