#56 Liz Phair, 'Exilie in Guyville' #RollingStoneTop500 Another one I own. I've loved this album since I first got it a few years after it came out. Strangely, upon this listen, the last song, 'Gunshy,' sounded different to me. Memory is weird, but I might have to pull out my CD and check.
#55 Pink Floyd, 'The Dark Side of the Moon' #RollingStoneTop500 Finally! Another one I own and would have put higher. The whole thing just works and takes me back to college (duh). 4th best selling album of all time. Charted 996 weeks (has to be the record)!
#54 James Brown, 'Star Time' #RollingStoneTop500 Another collection? I like these, but they all start to sound the same after a while. Brown shouts, a good jazzy horn comes in, repeat. Four hours of this was a bit much!
#53 Jimi Hendrix, 'Electirc Ladyland' #RollingStoneTop500 Honestly, I'm far behind writing this up. I think I liked the jams on this but I can't really remember. Deserves another listen for sure. 'All Along the Watchtower' is classic, of course.
#52 Davie Bowie, 'Station to Station' #RollingStoneTop500 More good Bowie, but a few weeks from listening I don't really remember much of it. 'Golden Years' is the only song I know from having 'ChangesOneBowie' on CD.
#51 Chuck Berry, 'The Great Twenty-Eight" #RollingStoneTop500 Weird to have a collection make this list but whatever, I've always liked Chuck Berry. A lot of these sound alike with the same intro (are the all 'Johnny B. Goode' but so what? I found myself singing along a lot.
Reflecting on having made it through the first 50 albums in #RollingStoneTop500 a few weeks ago: First, it's amazing how few of these I was familiar with. I said I wasn't going to quibble with the order but I definitely think some things are missing that shouldn't be.
Hooray! I'm 10% of the way through #RollingStoneTop500. It took about 5 months so this whole project is going to take years. It's been extremely interesting and fun so far.
#50 Jay-Z, 'The Blueprint' #RollingStoneTop500 I really liked the first half of this then it kinda lost me. But very musical, and strong lyrics telling a story. 'Takeover' is a hell of a diss track "And all you other cats throwin' shots at Jigga, You only get half a bar, fuck y'all [n-words].'
#49 Outkast, 'Aquemini' #RollingStoneTop500 Very pleasing to have discovered this. Good rap and very funky and really good storytellin'.
#48 Bob Marley and the Wailers, 'Exodus' #RollingStoneTop500 This is probably all I've ever known about Reggae, but I dig it. I didn't know most of the songs, but certainly 'Jamming,' which I would have bet had no 'g' at the end, 'Three Little Birds,' and 'One Love' are classics for sure.
#47 Ramones, 'Ramones' #RollingStoneTop500 Great album that really captures (started?) Garage/Punk Rock. I don't think I ever heard the gentle 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend' before, it's really good. Speaking of production, the quality of the sound is amazingly good considering it was recorded for $600
#46 Paul Simon, 'Graceland' #RollingStoneTop500 All of these are good but I don't love it. I picked up the idea somewhere that Simon really wanted this to be cleanly produced. To me they seem overproduced, so mission accomplished I guess.
#45 Prince, 'Sign O' the Times' #RollingStoneTop500 Prince still doesn't do it for me. I did like 'If I Was Your Girlfriend,' I think.
#44 Nas, 'Illmatic' #RollingStoneTop500 Another one that needs more listens to really get into the lyrics. Not really my cup of tea but evocative of the 90s in New York. If you're from a culture that I'm clearly not.
#43 A Tribe Called Quest, 'The Low End Theory' #RollingStoneTop500 I really like this one. Nice rhymey fast rapping over a jazz bass line. Relatively clean lyrics. I really liked 'What?'
#42 RadioHead, 'OK Computer' #RollingStoneTop500 Another that doesn't really hit for me. Writing about this a few weeks after a listen I only really remember 'Exit Music (for a Film)'. I like its classical influence (apparently Chopin's Prelude Op 28, No. 4). It also reminded me of 'Figure 8' from
#41 The Rolling Stones, 'Let it Bleed' #RollingStoneTop500 Every song here rocks! I love 'Let it Bleed' and 'Country Honk' which I could have sworn was called 'Honky Tonk Woman' because it turns out to be a county version of it. Also, it's really called 'Honky Tonk WomEn'. Who knew?
#40 David Bowie, 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars' #RollingStoneTop500 Every track is classical Bowie and great listening. But this is another concept album that I don't see working that way. Maybe it felt different in context when it came out
#39 Talking Heads, 'Remain in Light' #RollingStoneTop500 I wasn't familiar with this album but it all sounds just like the Talking Heads songs I do know, all very catchy and danceable.
#38 Bob Dylan, 'Blonde on Blonde' #RollingStoneTop500 More great Dylan. I only knew 'Rainy Day Women #12 and 35', which is ridiculous, and 'Just Like a Woman' which was apparently controversial.
#37 Dr. Dre, 'The Chronic' #RollingStoneTop500 While there are lots of nasty words this is fairly approachable rap, rather fun and funky. And introducing Snoop Doggy Dog. Plus silly things like 'The $20 Sack Pyramid' and "The Doctor's Office"
#36 Micheal Jackson, 'Off the Wall' #RollingStoneTop500 Still not an MJ fan. "She's Out of My Life" is a good ballad, and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" takes me back, but I don't much like it.
#35 The Beatles, 'Rubber Soul' #RollingStoneTop500 Not my favorite Beatles album, but still lots of classic songs: 'Drive My Car,' 'Norwegian Wood,' 'Nowhere Man,' and Michelle are all songs I know and love. 'Run for Your Life' is disturbing and I hope not reflective of anything they would really do
#34 Stevie Wonder, 'Innervisions' #RollingStoneTop500 I was worried I wasn't going to like this one. The first two songs seem a little slow and improvisational jazzy to me (see #31 Miles Davies) but really gets going (and political) with 'Living for the City' and doesn't stop.
#33 Amy Winehouse, 'Back to Black' #RollingStoneTop500 35 minutes of bluesy goodness, there's not a bad song here. These hit harder (especially 'Rehab'!) knowing she drank herself to death only five years later. Highly recommend the documentary of the same name.
#32 Beyonce 'Lemonade' #RollingStoneTop500 Not the kind of music that I normally hear somehow but this is really good. They're all catchy and she can sure sing. I don't see what the fuss is about her getting a country and western Grammy since 'Daddy Lessons' is country and almost 10 yrs old.
#31 Miles Davis, 'Kind of Blue' #RollingStoneTop500 Frankly, I find this kind of improvisational jazz boring. It's cool in a way, and would be great in a fancy whisky bar but I'd happily carry on talking with my friends with this in the background.
#30 Jimi Hendrix, 'Are You Experienced?' #RollingStoneTop500 'Purple Haze' must have hit like a ton of bricks back in 1967, and it still does! No one had ever heard anything like it! The only other song I could have identified is 'Foxey Lady' (with an 'e'?') absolutely classic.
#29 The Beatles, 'White Album' #RollingStoneTop500 The first album is great starting off strong with 'Back in the U.S.S.R.,' 'Dear Prudence' (which I knew better from the iconic Siouxsie and the Banshees cover), and 'Glass Onion' (early meta?). Even 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Dah' holds up surprisingly well.
