johnasmolin.bsky.social
@johnasmolin.bsky.social
#113 The Smiths 'The Queen is Dead' #RollingStoneTop500 Another one I own, I love this album. I've apparently been listening to it since it came out (though I thought it had been around a while). This was the first time I've listened to it since the actual dead of the queen I think. #112 Elton John 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' #RollingStoneTop500 This is a really great album. Starts of strong with 'Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding' and keeps going. 'Candle in the Wind' has been overplayed, but still. The riff from 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' is everywhere-- #111 Janet Jackson 'Control' #RollingStoneTop500 I actually used to own this. I bought it on vinyl, probably because it was on sale at the end of the (first) vinyl era. Maybe I had heard 'Nasty' on the radio, which is a fantastic track. I also like 'Control' quite a bit. After that they blur into #110 Joni Mitchell 'Court and Spark' #RollingStoneTop500 I still don't care for Joni Mitchell but this is lighter and more tolerable than 'Blue.' I did like 'Raised on Robbery' and 'Twisted' which aren't her usual style. The former is kinda honky tonk country and the latter is just insanity at work. #109 Lou Reed 'Transformer' #RollingStoneTop500 I didn't know many of these other than 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Perfect Day,' oh, and 'Satellite of Love.' 'Perfect Day' is perfect. 'Wild Side' was way ahead of its time (except for 'Lola,' which was a couple of years earlier. I especially liked #108 Fiona Apple 'When the Pawn ...' #RollingStoneTop500 I always thought I'd like Fiona Apple while knowing nothing about her but her name. I figured she was some alternative vocalist, which isn't too far from the truth. These turn out to be modern takes on the Jazz standard with a bit of a 70s #107 Television 'Marquee Moon' #RollingStoneTop500 I didn't know any of this but I think I would have liked it if I had known of it back in college. I like it now. I probably confused it with Taco because it starts with a 'T.' Hard to pin down the style. Is it pop? I will definitely come back to #106 Hole 'Live Through This' #RollingStoneTop500 I really like this mix of punk and grunge. You can feel the Nirvana influence. I only kinda knew 'Miss World' and 'Doll Parts' but right from the start 'Violet' evoked 'Celebrity Skin' for me, though I needed a search to figure it out and couldn't #105 The Allman Brothers 'At Fillmore East' #RollingStoneTop500 I liked but don't love this. It's really good bluesy rock with great melody guitar, if that's what it's called. But there's a lot of it and it all starts to sound the same after a while. I've listened to more than the whole album since #104 The Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't like this as much as the other Stones on the list so far even though some think it's their best. 'Brown Sugar' is a banger, and I like 'Dead Flowers' a lot. But despite knowing it, I don't love 'Wild Horses'. #103 De La Soul 'Three Feet High and Rising' #RollingStoneTop500 I really enjoyed this. A whole different kind of hiphop--it's happy. I especially enjoyed 'Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)". Viva the D.A.I.S.Y. age! #102 The Clash 'The Clash' #RollingStoneTop500 I really loved this one, even though I knew exactly none of the songs *(see below). Grabbed me from the first track 'Janie Jones'. What I hear is not so much the punk anger but a lot fo fun (Ramones are like that too). The release was very different in #101 Led Zeppelin 'Led Zeppelin' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't love this. There are some good tracks but I mostly like the ones that are straight-up blues not the Zeppelin schtick like 'You Shook Me' (a cover that influenced AC/DC) and "I Can't Quit You Baby' #RollingStoneTop500 I made it through the top 100! Only took a year and a half. I'm really enjoying this project so far. I am surprised at some things that haven't made it yet. Where are any of my 80s college bands? No Smiths, no Cure? And in harder rock where are the Kinks? Queen? U2? #100 The Band 'Music From Big Pink' #RollingStoneTop500 Big Pink is a house. I started off not liking the first few tracks but that may have just been my impatience to get 100 albums finished. After 'Caledonia Mission' I started getting really into it. I especially liked 'Long Black Veil' (a cover) #99 Taylor Swift 'Red' #RollingStoneTop500 RS probably saved a lot of grief from the Swifties by this slipping in just inside the top 100. But this is a really good album. But what I noticed most is that her singles are much more juvenile than the rest of the album. #98 Lucinda Williams 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road' #RollingStoneTop500 This is a great album and I agree with RS that there's not a bad song on it. It's hard to pick a favorite and I feel a bit wrong to choose 'Drunken Angel' but there you go. #97 Metallica 'Master of Puppets' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't like this one. I mean, I see the skill involved in playing this, and I even get it--I do like lots of music that's loud and distorted and even angry--lots of punk is--but this is so dark and, to steal a word from RS, unrelenting. #96 R.E.M. 'Automatic for the People' #RollingStoneTop500 Finally, so alternative rock in here. I don't think this is R.E.M's most important album and it's not their best in my book (or the best selling) but it has some of their best songs. I love 'Everybody Hurts' and 'Man on the Moon'. #95 Drake 'Take Care' #RollingStoneTop500 This was OK but not fantastic. Very nice storytelling and sort of relatable, though he's a rich rapper so it's loose. Some of the songs are pretty, but I don't like the auto-tune. Either Drake just can't sing, or it's a style but it really dates it. #94 The Stooges 'Fun House' #RollingStoneTop500 All these are new to me. This rocks hard. It's pre-punk more than pre-metal and so avoids the 'balls in vise' sound I dislike so much. All really strong songs, though I don't like how the sax is used (even though I love me some saxophone). #93 Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott 'Supa Dupa Fly' #RollingStoneTop500 This is listenable and even fun, but mostly not my thing. I did especially liked 'Izzy Izzy Ahh' and the sad 'Why You Hurt Me' about someone she knew turning tricks. #92 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 'Axis: Bold as Love' #RollingStoneTop500 These are effortlessly cool, and make me feel cool listening to them. But none of this really stands out to me like the earlier Hendrix on this list. #91 Bruce Springsteen 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' #RollingStoneTop500 A darker Springsteen but quite good. I only have ever heard 'Badlands' maybe. My favorite is 'Racing in the Street.' More piano ballady than I expected. #90 Neil Young 'After the Gold Rush' #RollingStoneTop500 All these songs are very pretty to listen to, some quite moving. But no real standouts. And Young's voice is just not good. #89 Erykah Badu 'Baduizm' #RollingStoneTop500 Now this is jazz singing I like (though Apple Music labels it as Soul/R&B). There's melody and great vocals. I don't think it was my favorite track but 'Apple Tree' keeps getting stuck in my head. #88 David Bowie 'Hunky Dory' #RollingStoneTop500 'Changes' is what inspired me to get into Bowie, and I bought the compilation album 'ChangesBowie' back in college. I only really knew that track and 'Life on Mars' but this is another enjoyable listen. #87 Miles Davis 'Bitches Brew' #RollingStoneTop500 This might be the first one I wanted to just skip. Unstructured Jazz is so damn boring though mostly inoffensive. It ranges from just dull to sounding like an orchestra tuning up for 20 minutes. Sometimes a groove gets going but then dissolves into #86 The Doors 'The Doors' #RollingStoneTop500 Great band (another that ought to be higher on the list) though I have to admit to maybe liking but not loving them. Loved 'Riders on the Storm' from the first time I heard it (it's not on this album) but in college I almost sold off my CD of John Lennon 'Plasic Ono Band' #RollingStoneTop500 I grew up with the zeitgeist that Yoko Ono ruined the Beatles and John Lennon too, so I certainly never gave an album with this name a chance. But it's fantastic! The only track I knew at all is 'Give Peace a Chance' but every song is strong and #84 AC/DC 'Back in Black' #RollingStoneTop500 Hard rock/metal have really gotten short shrift on this list. This is the #2 best selling album of all time and it comes in this low? But it's not the kind of music I like anyway so I guess I don't mind. 'Hells Bells' and 'You Shook Me All Night Long' #83 Dusty Springfield 'Dusty in Memphis' #RollingStoneTop500 I only knew 'Son of a Preacher Man' and a little bit 'Windmills of Your Mind.' Easy to listen to soul by a Brit. Wouldn't have guessed that from the sound. #82 Sly and the Family Stone "There's a Riot Goin' On" #RollingStoneTop500 I didn't know any of these but I liked it. RS says these are dark but I didn't get that at all. Seemed like mid-tempo slightly upbeat funk to me. I guess maybe you have to know the earlier stuff. From the title I was #81 Beyonce 'Beyonce' #RollingStoneTop500 A bunch of these are really good though again, not my type of music. I prefer the songs where we just get her voice (the last two 'Heaven' and 'Blue') instead of it being overproduced. 'Rocket' is almost too sensual. #80 The Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" #RollingStoneTop500 Another forbidden album from just before my time. I wish I had been cool enough to appreciate how great this is back in college. I certainly have heard these before especially 'Anarchy in the U.K.' and #79 Frank Ocean 'Blond' #RollingStoneTop500 This one just bored me. Nothing grabbed me musically and when it started to, it veered off into something weird. To be fair, I think it could grow on me if I listened to the lyrics carefully and got used to the sound. But I didn't like weird voices #78 Elvis Presley 'The Sun Sessions' #RollingStoneTop500 Elvis is everywhere, Elvis is everything, Elvis is everybody, Elvis is still the king! In the more up tempo songs you can really hear the birth of rock and roll. Some of the ballads seem very old fashioned, but only because they are. #77 The Who "Who's Next" #RollingStoneTop500 Not the Who, the Meat Group! (that's from an old educational video about the food groups which apparently is lost to time). Anyway, I forgot how great this album is. I don't think I appreciated it almost 40 years ago. My friend had a tape of this in his #76 Curtis Mayfield 'Superfly' #RollingStoneTop500 Really funky and feels like the 70s. Driving into NYC today listening to this really took me back. Founding myself playing air guitar to one of the riffs. First soundtrack album on the list. #75 Aretha Franklin 'Lady Soul' #RollingStoneTop500 Though I didn't know all of these, they're all classics. Love her singing, love the band backing her. Only problem was it's too short at only 30 minutes. #74 Kanye West 'The College Dropout' #RollingStoneTop500 These are really listenable and fun. I see why people like Kanye's stuff. Great wordplay 'is that a black card? ... Why yes
But I prefer the term African American Express.' And a call out to wear you seat belts too! #73 My Bloody Valentine 'Loveless' #RollingStoneTop500 I jinxed myself. I recently was thinking about how few albums on the list I actually own, and that I probably wouldn't ever own any more because of streaming. So naturally, for some reason this one isn't available on streaming at all in the US. #72 Neil Young 'Harvest' #RollingStoneTop500 This grabbed me from the start. Pure Americana but somehow very moving to me. I especially liked 'Out on the Weekend' that starts it off, 'Old Man', and 'Alabama.' 'A Man Needs a Maid' seems a little bit off (and maybe overdone) but I'm willing to be #71 Beyonce 'Renaissance' #RollingStoneTop500 I can see the craftsmanship and skill put into this, and it's definitely sexy. But it's club music, and that's never been my thing. #70 N.W.A. 'Straight Outta Compton' #RollingStoneTop500 This is good. Fun to listen to, every song tells a story you can understand. And putting out 'Fuck The Police' must have taken a lot of balls. #69 Alanis Morissette, 'Jagged Little Pill' #RollingStoneTop500 'You Oughta Know' is pure feminine rage and a classic. A few others are pretty 'Perfect', 'Mary Jane', but on others she comes across as screechy/whiney. And the less said about 'Ironic' the better. #68 Kate Bush, 'Hounds of Love' #RollingStoneTop500 Man, when this came out I had never heard anything like it. I love a lot of these. But at the same time, I can't listen to too much of this at a time #67 Jay-Z, 'Reasonable Doubt' #RollingStoneTop500 I'm of two minds about this. It's very listenable and musical, and the rapping is on point. But it mostly doesn't do it for me. The best tracks are where he has other featured artists. I especially like the one with Notorious B.I.G. #66 John Coltrane, 'A Love Supreme' #RollingStoneTop500 I have to say, I don't care for this. As much as it was a spiritual experience for Coltrane, and as much as I like saxophone, I don't find this spiritual, at best boring and sometimes grating. Maybe I just don't get it. #65 James Brown, 'Live at the Apollo' #RollingStoneTop500 Now this is James Brown at his best. A tight 32 minutes, it's a refreshing change to the other giant collections on this list. The music just has more power with an audience behind it. 