Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Best Album

EW did a best of everything issue and chose REVOLVER as the best album. Would this be your choice?

24 comments:

Charlieopera said...

Wheels of Fire ...

pattinase (abbott) said...

I don't have a good sense of CREAM. Need to listen to them more.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I have a soft spot for Sergeant Pepper's.... And although I'm not at all a Pink Floyd fan, I think The Wall was very influential.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Patti, I don't remember REVOLVER as an album though I might have heard the songs behind it. I like R.E.M.'s OUT OF TIME and the singles "Losing My Religion," "Shiny Happy People," and "Near Wild Heaven." I'm also quite fond of the song "Drive" by The Cars though I don't remember any of the other songs from their hit album HEARTBEAT CITY.

Anonymous said...

Not even my favorite Beatles album - I've always preferred RUBBER SOUL and even ABBEY ROAD.

Of course there is no #1 favorite for me. I could maybe pick out 10 favorites at any one time... (and no, Cream wouldn't be on it).

Off the top of my head, some favorites:

Let It Bleed
American Beauty
Bat Out of Hell
Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music
Rubber Soul
After the Gold Rush
Bringing It All Back Home
Music From Big Pink


Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Yes, I prefer RUBBER SOUL. That would be my choice.
I really liked Cyndi Lauper's first album. Have to go check the title.

pattinase (abbott) said...

SHE'S So UNUSUAL.
And Norah Jones first album too.

Anonymous said...

Pet Sounds might make my list.


Jeff M.

George said...

BLONDE ON BLONDE by Bob Dylan.

Charles Gramlich said...

My favorite album is "We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll" double album by Black Sabbath.

Rick Robinson said...

Tough.

Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan
Hotel California - Eagles
Aja - Steely Dan
Aftermath, Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones
Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road - Beatles
Layla - Eric Clapton
Late For the Sky - Jackson Browne
Afterburner - Z.Z. Top

Anonymous said...

See, that's why I left room in my top 10. AJA is definitely one I forgot.


Jeff M.

Rick Robinson said...

And in jazz,

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
Giant Steps - John Coltrane
Take 5 - Dave Brubeck
Blues in Orbit - Duke Ellington

pattinase (abbott) said...

TAKE FIVE might be the best for me.

pattinase (abbott) said...

the next nine were PURPLE RAIN, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, THRILLER, LONDON CALLING, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS, LADY SOUL, MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY, PET SOUNDS,NEVER MIND.

Anonymous said...

To me, Revolver and Rubber Soul are a double album--and, at least when I'm talking about The Beatles, my favorite(s). As for the best of all time, well that's too hard to narrow down. Certainly Let It Bleed would be there, Coltrane's A Love Supreme, the previously-mentioned Kind of Blue (the best record for background at dinner parties--and I mean that in a good way), Pet Sounds, Rumours, Deja Vu, Life's Rich Pageant, the list goes on...

/Did anyone else notice that in the greatest novels list, EW claimed the publication date of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy to be 1895? Hello, Editor!

Deb

Steve Oerkfitz said...

I also prefer Rubber Soul.
my favorite album would be a choice between London Calling by the Clash, Exile On Main Street by the Rolling Stones, Blonde on Blonde by Dylan or The Velvet Underground with Nico.

Todd Mason said...

The album featuring "Take Five" is called TIME OUT. The next one in that sequence from the Brubeck Quartet, TIME FURTHER OUT: MIRO REFLECTIONS, was my default favorite album for a decade, when I was a kid. The contrapuntal fugue "Bluette" and "Blue Shadows in the Street" particularly. ("It's a Raggy Waltz" and "Unsquare Dance" are the "hits"...)

For the Beatles, the original (Parlophone) HELP! is almost as good as the original REVOLVER and the original RUBBER SOUL is just a shade behind. "Run for Your Life" is a minus, "In My Life" is a plus.

Among the rock contenders:
The Zombies BEGIN HERE
THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY
BIG STAR'S 3RD/SISTER LOVERS
The Byrds FIFTH DIMENSION
The Velvet Underground WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT
Jawbox GRIPPE (cd version)
The Bangles ALL OVER THE PLACE
The Go-Go's TALK SHOW

Todd Mason said...

Jazz album contenders (among so many):

Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Charles Mingus: MONEY JUNGLE

Charles Mingus Band: MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS

George Russell Smalltet: JAZZ WORKSHOP--where Bill Evans learned modal improvising, so he could teach it to the other Miles Davis Quintet members later on for KIND OF BLUE (a toss-up with the GR Orchestra's LIVING TIME)

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross: THE HOTTEST NEW GROUP IN JAZZ

Brubeck Quartet and the New York Philharmonic: BRUBECK PLAYS BERNSTEIN PLAYS BRUBECK

The Modern Jazz Quartet: THE LAST CONCERT (nearly a toss-up with THIRD STREAM MUSIC)

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson: WINTER IN AMERICA (with a lot of potential subs)

Billie Holiday: STRANGE FRUIT: THE COMMODORE YEARS (the CBS collections of course vie with this)

Thelonious Monk Quartet: CRISS-CROSS

Gil Evans Orchestra with Miles Davis: PORGY AND BESS

Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln et al.: FREEDOM NOW SUITE

Toshiko Akiyosh/Lew Tabackin Big Band: INSIGHTS

Todd Mason said...

Among the folk and related albums:

BLUE ROSE

THE WEAVERS: THE CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1963 (essentially all the Weavers together, though if Erik Darling's boring solo number got lost, it would be no crisis)

Maggie and Terre Roche: SEDUCTIVE REASONING

Johnny Cash: DESTINATION VICTORIA
STATION (no kidding...it gathers a brilliant mix of country and folk train songs--even better than RIDE THIS TRAIN)

Doc Watson: SOUTHBOUND

Miriam Makeba: PATA PATA

The Dave Grisman Quartet: DAWG JAZZ/DAWG GRASS

The Brothers Cazimero: HO ALA

so many Newport and similar concert albums...



Todd Mason said...

...and how could I forget...

The Count Basie Orchestra: KANSAS CITY SUITE

The Duke Ellington Orchestra: CARNEGIE HALL 1943

Husker Du: WAREHOUSE: SONGS AND STORIES

FAIRPORT CONVENTION or any of their next five albums (counting the BBC sessions)

The Pretenders: LEARNING TO CRAWL

The Miracles: GOING TO A GO-GO

Ray Charles: WHAT'D I SAY

and on and on...

How could anyone have a single best album?

Leaving aside all the classical recordings one would have to cull...

Todd Mason said...

Also, Lauper recorded, as you probably recall, with the band Blue Angel before going solo.

Anders E said...

Albums with tracks like WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU or LOVE YOU TO or YELLOW SUBMARINE should not even be considered. The best Beatles LP is probably A HARD DAYS NIGHT. However, he opening quartet of tracks from WITH THE BEATLES are incredible.

I'm not really into all this "best album" stuff anyway. Pop music has always been the best when it was about singles. This was the case up until ca 1968, and it had kind of a rennaissance in 1977-1982.

But if you twist my arm, I'd like to mention the following items:
Can't Stand the Rezillos (The Rezillos)
Inflammable Material (Stiff Little Fingers)
I Just Can't Stop It (The Beat)
Stands for Decibels (The dB's)
Violent Femmes (Violent Femmes)
All Mod Cons (The Jam)
Blank Generation (Richard Hell)
Marquee Moon (Television)
Prehistoric Sounds (The Saints)

Hm, I'm showing my age, I guess...

Anders E said...

How could I forget?...

This Year's Model (Elvis Costello)
New Boots and Panties (Ian Dury)
Another Music In a Different Kitchen (Buzzcocks)
The Modern Dance (Pere Ubu)
Parallell Lines (Blondie)
Drums & Wires (XTC)