0023: The 100 Best Rock Albums (10-1)
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:27
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- 1. Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan: Dylan is best known for plugging in folk music and for spurring on the spirit of the sixties with impossibly powerful protests that soon became modern psalms to many. Both of these qualities were gone by the end of the decade. Dylan had retreated from the front lines of political unrest, and he no longer sought to rig disparate styles into new sounds. He relaxed, releasing country albums, stretching out into a comfortable mode of music that combined many of his loves without shattering conventions or rocking the world. By the mid-70s, most critics treated him as a write-off or a wash-out. It seemed his star had finally flamed out. Nobody is really sure what ignited him again. Perhaps it was his impending divorce, perhaps it was a certain uneasiness with the status quo, or perhaps he just wanted to prove that he wasn't dead yet. On Blood on the Tracks, Dylan still avoided any novel mixing of genres or blatant fodder for political radicals. He simply focused all his energy on writing and performing folk-styled songs, and his undivided, honed genius, free of the very concerns that catipulted him into the public eye, produced the greatest album of the rock era. The opener, Tangled Up in Blue, is a quiet song aching with the pain and confusion of lost love, and may well be the best song of the last 50 years. These themes echo throughout the entire album, but never have they been addressed with such skill, depth, or emotion. Every track is a classic, and yet the album is much more than the sum of its parts. This album is the dark, quiet room surrounding an old man reflecting on his life, the whirlwind romances and spitfire disunions, the promises of heaven and the realities of hell, and inside this knowing, cracked voice, a lifetime of experience, joys and regrets spill out until the room is flooded with bittersweet heartbreak and dim hopes of love. He was no longer a force moving millions, only a sad, lonely man who happened to be the greatest songwriter of his century. This was the album that proved it.
- 2. Girls Girls Girls - Elvis Costello: This double disc is a personal compilation of Elvis' favorite songs, and luckily, he is one of the few artists who is an excellent judge of his own work. Every fan can point to favorites that aren't here (Goon Squad and Human Hands leap to mind), but what is contained on the grooves of this collection make up one of the most impressive bodies of work in rock music. Most impressive, perhaps, is the sheer breadth of styles found here. Elvis could play sad, silent political protests (Shipbuilding), acidic songs splattering venom through the speakers (Big Tears, I Hope You're Happy Now, Tokyo Storm Warning), gorgeous layers of orchestral bliss and lyrical woe (Man Out of Time, Loved Ones), lacerating tirades that revealed a romantic's heart breaking (This Year's Girl, the mighty, classic Lipstick Vogue and I Want You), and several brilliant tunes that refuse to fall into any of the categories I've mentioned so far (Chelsea, Pills and Soap, Red Shoes). In short, the reach of his genius is shocking, and on this carefully culled collection, it never once outstretches his grasp. If you've ever been lost in an Elvis classic before, I no doubt do not need to sell you on this album. If not, I advise you pick this sterling compilation up immediately. Now, if only they'd remaster the sound...
- 3. Satellite Sky - Mark Heard: This is the final album Mark Heard made before his death, and it does an excellent job summarizing his lifelong joys, obsessions, and fears into a single, glorious record. The sound is utterly unique (and may take a bit of time to adapt to), moving from his previous folk music to an interesting collage of REM-influenced jangle pop, folk, and country, all drenched with the best elements of Dylan. His songs had reached a point of perfection, merging poetic lyrics of the highest order with brilliant melodies, all punctuated with the eerie strains of his electric mandolin. His struggles with faith, doubt, love, fear, and art are stripped raw, and his intimate words of weariness and wonder work upon the soul with the affecting force of the greatest literature. This is another lost album to history. While its sound screams to be expanded by others, few ever heard this album, and like so many great albums on this list, it is now woefully out of print. It doesn't really matter. It won't influence generations of musicians. It will simply have to settle with being one of the greatest albums ever produced, and Mark Heard will have to swap a legacy of influence with the honor of being one of the three greatest songwriters in rock history.
- 4. This Year's Model - Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Elvis Costello had crafted an excellent debut. Still, there was a certain unifying element missing. My Aim Is True had indeed proved that he was an incredibly focused, on-target artist, but the band rarely seemed to rise to the level Elvis was seeking. Between his debut and his second album, Elvis sought a consistent backing band to work and to tour with. He was blessed to find The Attractions, the greatest backing band in the history of rock music. Spinning his second album, This Year's Model, the heat of sparks showering from this divine fusion is immediately felt. Elvis wrote his sharpest songs and spat them out like razor knifes. The Attractions tear through each song as if trying to outrun the blades. Pure energy wired through cutting guitar, a drummer who may well be going mad as we listen, a swift bass, a circus organ from hell, and the raw, defiant whine of a nerd who will not be silent or polite any more. In one deft move, Costello and the Attractions combined the literate lyrics of Bob Dylan with the pulverizing fury and fire of punk music, and the results are scorching. This album erupted like a volcano, and it remains a much-neglected mountain of lava ready to burst every time the play button is hit.
- 5. The Band - The Band: How does a group of Canadians create the ultimate southern American folk / rock album? It is one of rock's greatest mysteries, but The Band is certainly a unique and captivating album. The music is a perfect blend of rock with the rural music of America's faded south, the lyrics express precise emotions wrapped in a murky swarth of mystery, and the harmonies are ragged, disjointed and sheer bliss. They had toured with Dylan (they're pretty much the crack-band you hear backing Bob up on the recently-released Live 1966 album), they had recorded with Bob, and on their fantastic debut, they used several of Bob's songs to fill out the album. On this album, however, they come into their own, playing a full disc of original material and gelling into a tighter unit. The new songs are classics, ranging from the minor hit, Up on Cripple Creek, the mystical Whispering Pines, the protest anthem King Harvest, and the devastating The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. They never came close to bettering this, only their second album, but they created a masterpiece of a bygone age, one that sounds as out of time and unique today as it did in 1969.
- 6. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth: With Sister, Sonic Youth finally wrestled their jarring noise experiments into some sort of structure, creating songs of surprising power and depth. On Daydream Nation, they continuing shaping these layers of fuzzed out and blaring guitars into a double album, and the result is the most accomplished and moving experimental album ever recorded. Like most double albums (now 1 CD), Daydream Nation takes some time to absorb. A few songs make credible claims for single status, but it is the album as a whole that impresses most. The wild noise fluctuates from full-frontal assaults of punkish fury to mellow, hypnotic layers of haunting beauty and delicacy. The moods mingle and flow into each other until, eventually, they escape simple articulation and morph into soundscapes of elusive emotions and undefinable feeling. WIth this one album, Sonic Youth has fulfilled the promise of The Velvet Underground's debut and layed out a roadmap for the future of indie rock (Total Trash sounds like a blueprint for much of Pavement's work). The songs both stand on their own and support the vision of the album, and somewhere in the midst of the breath-taking melodies and invigorating shards of noise, Sonic Youth created the greatest album of the eighties.
- 7. Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones: The Stones had played with blues, gospel, and country before. Their earliest songs were largely blues covers, and to many, they all too often seemed a bunch of white kids trying desperately to be a blues band. They had much success (especially on their singles), but also several failures. All the while, however, they were absorbing these different strands of music, living inside the riffs and beats until it sunk inside their skin and dissolved into their very blood. In the early 70s, after years of trying to copy the masters, they decided to make it their own. After a decade of touring and abuse, they were a ragged, sleazy, and weary band, and at some point, they decided to try to bend and to wrench the energy of their rock to match their own exhaustion. On Exile in Main Street, they created a murky, dark center so dense, it pulled and forced the music back into itself. This black hole sucked up all the energy of blues, country, and gospel, leaving a dirty, burnt-out shell covered with scorch marks of fatigue and decadence. They recorded over 66 minutes of this lumbering, filthy music, and the results on first listen are utterly alienating. This may well be one of the hardest works to warm to. No single song stands out, and despite the many shifts in musical styles, every second seems completely lost inside the void vacuum that devours the album. After awhile, however, you hear a band also trapped inside this pit, and you even begin to hear Jagger's nails scraping against the sides as he tries to claw his way out of the tar that sucks him down. Eventually, you realize this is a massive, mighty work, and that the Stones have finally created the masterpiece they always promised by subverting their influences and creating a sound completely their own. The band, of course, would soon collapse under the very sin and despair this album expressed, but at least they managed to leave us this brilliant eyewitness account before they imploded. When you hear Mick look at his estranged childhood friend playing guitar, ravaged by drugs and alcohol, think about their 'success,' and sadly and resentfully declare, "I wish I never had brought you," you have heard one of rock's greatest and most poignant moments.
- 8. Dig - Adam Again: This is the greatest alternative rock album of the nineties, and hardly anybody heard it. Lead vocalist and songwriter Gene Eugene was under immense pressure while creating this album. He had recently launched a new record label, he was suffering intense writer's block, and his marriage to his co-vocalist Rikki Michelle was falling apart. Instead of collapsing under his troubles, he decided to harnass them, to somehow capture every conflicting strand of frustration lacerating him onto his new work. For the first time, he starting writing lyrics based upon free association. He chose to augment his band's funky dance grooves with a furious double guitar attack, hoping to integrate elements of Hendrix-inspired rock and funk music more seamlessly than the contemporary Red Hot Chili Peppers' disjointed mixture. He also decided to write intimately about his struggles with writing, his difficult artistic choices, and the anger and pain created by his dissolving marriage. He knew this was risky, especially since his wife would be singing along beside him, but he bravely dove into the challenge. The result was the glorious shock of Dig, a hard rock album you could dance to, and a furious, cathartic roar that also grew hushed to deliver several stark, lush, and haunting ballads. His lyrics, much like Dylan's, welded with the music to fuse into a mighty whole, and the fiery duets with Michelle reached a fevered pitch in Hidden, Hidden, one of the most jarring, gut-wrenching songs of marital unrest ever put onto tape. Songwork is the greatest song about creating art ever made, and the entire album attains a depth previously unreached by this fine band. Dig, if you must, to find a copy of this album. The earth is hard, the treasure fine.
- 9. The Sun Sessions - Elvis Presley: Elvis had no idea what he was doing. He wanted to be a crooner, singing slow, dreamy songs of love and romance. He grew up absorbing music with an untrained ear. He heard blues, jazz, gospel, and country without labels, without drawing the line between genres that most people do immediately in their minds. To be brutal, Elvis was an idiot, but an idiot with an amazing gift he never understood well enough to explain. In the middle of his failing initial sessions for his first record label (Sun), after singing countless versions of lifeless pop standards, his producer, Sam Phillips, was well past the natural point at which to give up. The boy just didn't have what it took to be Dean Martin. Still, something, a hunch or a whim, told him to stick with the sessions, to see what the boy could really do. During a break from recording, Elvis began goofing off in the breakroom. He knew the sessions were going nowhere. He also knew this might well be his only chance to ever make a record. Perhaps the intesity of the situation, coupled with his shyness inside the studio before the mike, encouraged him to begin goofing off with the band, singing the music in his head. His mind naturally combined all the various musics he absorbed growing up, and unfettered by the pressure in the studio, his brain naturally synergized these strands of music into a single, glorious burst of energy and sensuality. Sam heard the music from the other room, ran in, and asked the boys what they were doing. They sorta shrugged. He ordered them back into the studio. Sam knew he was hearing something new, raw, and revolutionary. Inside that small break room in Memphis, Tennessee, next to the cheap, dirty tables and the Coke machines, a shy, scared, and stupid boy gave birth to rock music. Today, even ignoring every shread of historical importance, one can still hear the passion and energy of a new music style bursting to life. Elvis may have been dumb as dirt, but he was possessed by a genius he didn't understand. Somehow, he changed the world forever.
- 10. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison: Van Morrison is modern music's greatest alchemist, mixing music as diverse as classical, jazz, soul, blues, and pop to create pure gold. Astral Weeks is an incredibly intricate, delicate song cycle about growing up. It avoids every cliche. Van Morrison sings strange tales saturated with the tender, the strange, and the joyous. This contains none of his best-known hits, as each single song is absorbed by the whole completely, I admit to having difficulty talking about this strange, beautiful album. It changes you in mysterious ways, much like the death of a parent or a secret love affair does. Like the Beach Boys, it manages to recreate the world anew, to see surroundings with the fresh young eyes of a child. Where Pet Sounds is the childhood of suburbia, though, this is the rough, odd, and magical childhood of Europe, and the earthy, mystical confusion and longings of such a childhood bind this album together. Rightfully praised, Astral Weeks is one of the most unique, touching, and brilliant works of the rock era.
Author Comments:
Influence and historical importance mean nothing here. Each and every album is ranked based solely on its own artistic merits. All official releases are fair game; only bootlegs are not considered. This is it - the best rock albums ever.
I will be adding entries as time allows. The list is complete, but I wish to write a bit about each album, so it may be a week or two until all albums are listed. I hope to add at least two or three entries each weekday and more if I have the chance.
Creating this list hurt. Great albums were left on the cutting room floor, and sadly, I fear albums near the bottom of the list may be looked down upon. Make no mistake - any album on this list is a fantastic work well worth your time. The difference between closely ranked albums was microscopic at best.
To prevent this list's size from becoming prohibitive, I am breaking the hundred entries into blocks of ten.
You are such a tease. Here your "10-1" list finally appears, and it only has #9 and #10 on it! You should write a serial. Folks would wait by the docks. :)
Sorry, no hucksterism intended. I have now written 91 of these write-ups, and I must admit, it takes a bit out of me. As I approach the top albums, I feel a bit intimidated attempting to praise each disc appropriately. I wrote up number eight yesterday and ended up deleting it before I posted. It wasn't good enough, and it didn't quite capture what made the album truly great. Sometimes, I wish I had just posted a straight list without write-ups. All in all, however, I'm glad I chose to include them, despite the trouble they present.
Thanks for the compliments; hopefully, I'll have a few more up before too long. That Elvis one was my longest yet, and it was somewhat exhausting. I am both dreading and anticipating tackling the remainder!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
This list continues to be marvelous. Great writeups. I particularly liked your Exile on Main Street and Sun Sessions reviews.
But my original purpose for writing was to bring good news.
Wow! Either somebody has recently brought it back into print, or Amazon found a stash behind a copy machine recently! This is great, great news.
Thanks for the compliments. I hope to finally finish either today or Monday. I'm especially thrilled that you liked the Exile review. That was the hardest, and I told my wife later that day that I either loved it or I hated it. I had trouble making up my mind. Re-reading it today, I'm much happier with it than I had thought. I'm noticing that my longest write-ups are ending up my favorites. Hmmmm....
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Whew!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Great list. I am impressed and that is becoming increasinly difficult as I near my 40's. I could not agree more About "Blood on the Tracks". Stunning music. I love "you're gonna me me lonesome when you go" I will purchase the Heard and Adam Again albums simply on this list.
Its a pleasure reading your stuff.
Jim
"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" What a beautiful, sad, cynical song. Gets me every time. A man's been hurt so many times that when he finally does find something good, he can only regret the day he is sure it must all come to an end. Besides, who can resist Dylan singing, "You're going to make me give myself a good talkin' to."
Thank you very much for the kind words. Hearing that you will give Heard and Adam Again a shot is frankly the first time that the weeks I spent writing up this list have seemed worth the effort. Be sure to inform me of your reactions to the albums. I promise you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like them!
Again, I appreciate your comments.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm kinda curious lbangs. How many records/cds do you own????
Not as many as you might guess. I probably own around 300-400 records / cds currently. While attending college in the early 90s, I worked on several newspapers as a film / music reviewer and as a dj at several radio stations. As a result, I amassed a huge collection, well into the thousands, largely for free. I also spent quite a bit of time listening to albums at the radio stations' listening rooms. In the mid-90s, however, a move and dire finances forced me to sell off my entire collection, down to the last disc. This was extremely painful, as you may well guess. Luckily, my financial situation is a bit better now, and I have been slowly buying back my favorites (though I refuse to purchase Astral Weeks again until a decent remastering is done).
It is a sob story, but it hopefully is looking to have a happy ending.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Several thousand CDs! That's incredible. Must've been a crushing blow having to sell all of them. At least now we have cd burners and the internet to provide us with some free music, but I still prefer buying cds when I really really like the artist.
It was a killer. Without going into details, I'll simply say that only the love of a fantastic woman could have ever induced me to sell off the lot. Other than that, it is a bit of a story.
In a way, though, it did help me somewhat. Missing my music and flims, I would often turn to various sources such as the All Music Guide and film guides and histories to attempt to find some vicarious joy. I think I learned more about music and films during that period than at any other point during my life, even though I had very little real contact with either art form.
I especially wince sometimes watching ebay.com. I'm not even sure if that site was working at the time, but I often stumble across a high price rare disc and remember when I sold said disc for $2 or so at a CD Warehouse or some such outfit. That hurts a bit as well.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm very impressed. Your writing and knowledge are top-notch, and for the most part, your selections are rather apt.
I do believe you placed Aretha Franklin a bit too high, and I do disagree with your comments about Led Zeppelin (although I was glad to see you include IV on your list and to give the under-rated "When the Levee Breaks," the attention it deserves).
I also would have had to include either Tumbleweed Connection or, more probably, Honky Chateau on the list.
Despite these minor differences, we do have an amazing amount in common, including our love of Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, and Bob Dylan. I suppose I'll have to investigate Adam Again and Mark Heard now.
Really, this list is extremely excellent. You should be proud.
Thanks. You're too kind.
I spent entirely too much time on this list.
I would encourage you check out Adam Again and Mark Heard. I've written quite alot on Adam Again, so I won't bore you by repeating it all here.
While I still stand by my assessment of Led and Aretha, I admit that I haven't really heard the Elton John albums you listed. I've heard quite a bit of his later work, but not those two. I have another friend that mentioned that Honky Chateau should be on this list. I'll have to check it out.
Again, thanks.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Damn. Did you really write all of this?
I'll have to print these lists out and see what I haven't heard yet. I've listened to most of these some, but a few names are new to me.
I'm thrown a bit by Costello's slapdash comp hitting number two here. I love Elvis, but his albums are much stronger than this hail mary collection.
My list would be different, but other than the Costello and the two I haven't heard (Dig and Satellite Sky), I can't quibble much with your choices here. Your insights into Blood on the Tracks, the Sun Sessions, and Exile are poetry, baby, pure poetry.
Do you play any music yourself?
I am impressed by how much you, Johnny Waco, jgandcg, and others know about rock music. I've learned a few things, and you and Johnny in particular mention several albums I haven't even heard of before, which is rare for me. In my 31 years, I've heard a lot of rock. I'm very happy to know I have even more to explore.
Zeep! Zeep! Zeep!
Yes, I did write all of this. It took pretty close to forever to finally wrap up. I'm very happy you enjoy the results.
Girls Girls Girls is, my eyes, one of the most thoughtful and useful compilations ever assembled. It isn't arranged chronologically (if that's what you mean by slapdash), but I think the order flows as well as most of his albums do.
I'm also impressed with Johnnny Waco and jgandcag's music knowledge. Rather impressive, aren't they? Johnny's done a few top lists; I'd love to see a top twenty (or hundred!) list from jgandcag sometime. His ABC list is great.
I don't play any music. Do you?
Thanks you for the glowing compliments and the interesting critiques. You seem to be a guy with alot of rock music in your veins.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Whoops. Sorry, I just read some of your other posts on other lists. Make that 'guy' 'gal', please.
I'm very sorry. I usually try very hard not to assume gender in these forums. Forgive any accidentally sexism, please, and I'll try not to make such silly assumptions again!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
lbangs, although I tend toward the film end of the site, this has got to be one of the best lists here. I'd say it's either your Top 100 or jim's Recommend: lists that are the best.
Why do I think so? Other than they are large, well thought out lists, both of you give clear reasons why each selection is where it is.
What an amazing feat you have accomplished here. Now I've got to go and read them all completely!
Sean
This list is the "king of all lists" on this website. It is a joy to read everytime. I can honestly say after reading this list I had a new appreciation for the best American album ever made, "Blood on the Tracks". Thanks...
Thank you. You've made my day, and I'm always thrilled to find another person who fully appreciates Blood on the Tracks.
Enough to make me smile even on a Monday morning...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
know this list has been dead for a while... but i still don't get the obsession with Astral Weeks as morrison's best album... i believe veedon fleece is much much better.
Les,
Your Dig review is simply amazing. Ending with "The Earth is hard / The treasure fine" makes me think those are my favorite lines from the entire album. Of course, mention some others, and I'll probably think those are my favorites!
I mean this as a sincere compliment: you have probably done more to keep people listening and discovering Gene Eugene and Adam Again than anyone else out there. You're nothing less than his prophet. :)
Johnny Waco
Thanks, Johnny. Your comments are very kind, and once I wake up, they will probably even create a smile!
If anything, time elevates Dig to these ears. At the point where many early 90s albums are starting to sound a bit dated, it always strikes my ears as incredibly fresh. Frankly, I have it ranked too low on this list!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
"this album is the dark, quiet room surrounding an old man reflecting on his life"
Hello? Dylan was 34 when he recorded this. Not sure how old you are, but 34 is not an "old man".
I was (perhaps pathetically) trying to describe the sound of the album, not the actuality its production.
I turn 34 in a few months, so I can't afford to be slinging that label around too loosely! :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs