Sorry Scott… the idiot replies… you’re right. I meant Rubber Soul moved Brian to make Pet Sounds, as Revolver was recorder contemporaneously to Pet Sounds so no influence was possible either way. Both McCartney and Wilson were huge admirers of each others abilities so we’ll leave it there.
Except to say that Pet Sounds (2 songs certified masterpieces within notwithstanding) is twee and unmemorable in places and would not make my top 100.
here’s sort of a random, personal at-the-moment top 10:
1. Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica
The Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime
The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society
Love – Forever Changes
Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
Akron/Family – s/t
XTC – Skylarking
Olivia Tremor Control – Black Foliage
stuff I really dig but wouldn’t quite put it on the top 10:
The Pop Group – Y
Royal Trux – s/t (first album)/Twin Infinitives
The Flaming Lips – Clouds Taste Metallic/Transmissions From the Satellite Heart
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
Meat Puppets – II
Mercury Rev – Boces
The Wedding Present – Seamonsters
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane…
The Microphones – The Glow Pt. 2
Pinkerton by Weezer
Well, this type of forum really does have an Exterminating Angel dimension, but as I never got around to listing my neglected faves:
Close To The Edge-Yes
Innervisions-Stevie Wonder
Europe ’72-Grateful Dead
Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Decca/Solti recordings)
Preservation: Act 1-The Kinks
Murmur-REM
La Belle Et la Bete-Philip Glass
Hair-The Original OFF-Broadway Cast
Time (the Revelator)-Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Unforgettable Fire/ Achtung, Baby-U2
The Other Village Vanguard Tapes-John Coltrane. (Astounding takes of India and Spiritual)
Blue/Ladies of the Canyon-Joni Mitchell
I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight-Richard and Linda Thompson
Happy Sad-Tim Buckley
Quadraphenia-ThemotherfuckingWHO!!!!
And for the Radiohead fans, Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau does an 18 min. solo improv on Paranoid Android that rips the ass off of anything done by the originators of the tune. You must hear the version on Live In Tokyo, as well as covers on his other albums. Likewise, his variations on Nick Drake’s Riverman are about as astounding as anything I’ve heard.
Also, thanks to all of those with the wisdom to list Revolver—and even just a little bit more to (I think) everybody for omitting Nevermind.
To Rodney Welch and Justin Biberkopf, I present to you my very red face. Hehehe. Gee, Rodney, dont’ know how that #14 got by me when my eyes are so used to zeroing in on the name Todd Rundgren – but am VERY glad you have included it on your list, and Justin, I don’t know why – even after all these years, I STILL never get that album title correct. You are right, it is “WAVE” and NOT “Horses”. But hey, at last nobody argued with The New York Dolls (and in case you didn’t hear, Todd is producing their NEW album – yes, NEW, and it would be Todd’s first production of a group since about 1999). Either ways, I stand corrected………(blush)
Glad to hear that about Todd, although the Dolls just really aren’t the Dolls anymore, are they, with Jerry, Johnny, and now Arthur all gone. I saw Todd and Utopia sometime in the late 1970s. Great show.
The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground
Paul’s Boutique – The Beastie Boys
Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
End Hits – Fugazi
Fear of Music – Talking Heads
Angel Dust – Faith No More
Greatest Hits – Blondie
Odelay – Beck
Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones
Funhouse – The Stooges
Lots and lots of predictably boring choices here. Nice work everybody. I dare somebody to make a list of their top 250 albums.
It’s kind of cool that Dave guy was friends with Flipper.
Funhouse by The Stooges
The album is pure rock
OK, SHOTZI, I will see if I can throw together a 250 this weekend. I’m going to go by albums I’ve spun far too many times and will most likely spin far too many times in the future.. but I suppose limiting to 1 or 2 an artist? Hmmm…
Daft Punk- Discovery. A symphony of funky love. Great to dance to, do it to, whatever.
My itunes/shuffle life lately has kinda put the brakes on my album from start to finish love. But I always recommend Michael Jackson- Thirller for a great record from beginning to end.
I never could get into Captain Beefheart, even after I listened to all of Trout Mask Replica and Safe as Milk.
I also forgot to mention Kind of Blue- Miles Davis. That is easily one of the best.
And to No.Thanks…
I put Nevermind and InUtero on my list. Nirvana is my favorite band.
And Shotzi…
I love FLIPPER! Another one of my favorites.
;)
Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
Love Supreme – John Coltrane
Somethin’ Else – Cannonball Adderly
What’s Goin On – Marvin Gaye
Low – David Bowie
Exile on Main St. – Rolling Stones
The Idiot – Iggy Pop
Discovery – Daft Punk (good choice from preview post)
Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys (another one also)
The Greatest hits on Chess Records – Muddy Waters
Hard Again – Muddy Waters
Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
Live at the Regal – BB King
Van Lear Rose – Loretta Lynn
Folsom Prison – Johnny Cash
American Recordings Vol.1 & 2 Johnny Cash
Pet Sounds – Beach Boys
Since I left you – Avalanches
Return to the 36 Chambers – Wu-Tang Clan
and i forgot Nas – Illmatic
Beefheart sucks.
best albums-
Dylan:
blood on the tracks
love and theft
time out of mind
freewheelin
john wesley hardin
bringing it all back home
hw 61 revisited
oh mercy
street legal
empire burlesque
times they are a changin
waits:
bone machine
mule variations
blood money
swoordfishtrombones
raindogs
alice
nighthawks at the diner
closing time
morrison:
his band and the street choir
moondance
down the road
whats wrong with this picture
beautiful vision
healing game
tupelo honey
no guru, no method, no teacher
back on top
springsteen:
wild innocent and the e street shuffle
born to run
nebraska
ghost of tom joad
marley:
exodus
catch a fire
natty dread
burnin
rastaman vibration
otis:
pain in my heart
soul ballads
soul album
otis sings soul
Immortal
Tell the truth
dock of the bay
Jason, I very seriously doubt that Dylan, Waits, Springsteen or Morrison would offer “Empire Burlesque,” “Nighthawks at the Diner,” “Ghost of Tom Joad,” and “No Guru, No Method, No Teacher,” respectively, as being among their best work.
well, they are lesser works from great artists. I’d put Empire Burlesque over anything Nirvana did.
Funny you should say that, because I’m always a bit of a defender of that album, on the basis of “Tight Connection to My Heart,” “Seeing the Real You at Last,” “Clean Cut Kid,” and “When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky” — but by Dylan standards, those aren’t great songs. They’re just okay. ANY disc by Nirvana is better.
Somehing’s burning Baby is a great song, and Dark Eyes is masterful. I’d put it ahead of Nirvana, but thats me.
Just now I was reading the surprisingly lengthy Wikipedia article on “Empire Burlesque.” Check it out. Very informative and interesting.
Given that Tom Waits was heavily inspired by Captain Beefheart, it strikes me as odd that people who like him would be so dismissive of CB. He’s one of the most exciting and original artists in the history of rock music.
“Captain Beefheart, the only true dadaist in rock, has been victimized repeatedly by public incomprehension and critical authoritarianism. The tendency has been to chide C.B. and his Band as a potentially acceptable blues band who were misled onto the paths of greedy trendy commercialism. What the critics failed to see was that this was a band with a vision, that their music, difficult raucous and rough as it is, proceeded from a unique and original consciousness.” – Lester Bangs
My Faves are in no particular order:
Wu Tang Clan: Enter the 36 Chambers
The Beatles: Abbey Road
Spoon: Girls Can Tell
Crystal Castles Self Titled
Pink Floyd: Wish you Were Here
Nirvana: Nevermind tied with Unplugged in New York
Blue Velvet Original Sound Track
Gorillaz: Demon Days
John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band
Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights (christ their last one was awful)
Daft Punk: Discovery (its a more flashy album but song for song i like it better than Homework)
i don’t know i’m bored
I’ll agree with Lester Bangs that I can’t comprehend Beefheart at all.
Hey, I love a lot of Captain Beefheart’s work =)
@Jason Trochesset
Astral Weeks is the only Morrison album I really love. Why didn’t it make your list?
I don’t like Astral Weeks. It just doesn’t move me. Its some kind of concept album thing and there is a much better version of Madame George that is out there. Its been a while since I gave it another try, so I can’t be more specific, but every time I try it out, it just doesn’t hit me. I like Van when he’s doin r&b. Astral Weeks is something else, just didn’t move me.
I know, I know that Tom Waits likes Beefheart, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like him. I’ve tried to listen to his ‘music’ and its horrible, quite frankly, its God-awful. I don’t care what he was trying to do, or that it comes from a unique and original consciousness-whatever that crap means. I like Waits because he(along with his wife) is one of the great lyricists, and he performs his songs with an energy and theatricality that nobody else has. His music is also very eclectic. Some of his stuff I don’t care for, like the song/skit “Whats he building in there”, or the third disc from his Orphans set. But for the most part, he’s right up my alley.
I left out any pre-twentieth century classical music (or even pre-1950) but I would include Bartok, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin, Bach etc.
Yann Tiersen – Amélie
Don Cherry – Orient
Iggy Pop – The Idiot
David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Thelonious Monk – Straight, No Chaser
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
John Coltrane – Giant Steps
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads
Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die
John Coltrane – Blue Train
Boredoms – Vision Creation Newsun
The Mars Volta – Amputechture
Beck – Odelay
John Coltrane – Stellar Regions
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…..
Brian Eno – Another Green World
Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison
Sage Francis – Human the Death Dance
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F♯A♯∞
Beck – Sea Change
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Björk – Homogenic
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Yanqui U.X.O.
Gorillaz – Gorillaz
Billie Holiday – 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Billie Holiday
Kid Koala – Scratchappyland
Clint Mansell – Requiem for a Dream [Kronos Quartet]
Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun
The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium
Slint – Spiderland
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute
GZA / Genius – Liquid Swords
Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Mogwai – Come on Die Young
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Mogwai – Happy Songs for Happy People
Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
Mono – Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
Tool – Lateralus
Mono – You Are There
múm – Green Grass of Tunnel
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
Aesop Rock – Labor Days
Ween – Chocolate and Cheese
Aphex Twin – Richard D James Album
Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Pink Floyd – The Wall
Kronos Quartet – Black Angels
Pixies – Doolittle
Agalloch – The Mantle
Primus – Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Billie Holiday – Body and Soul
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King
EPMD – Strictly Business
Radiohead – OK Computer
Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine
Sigur Rós – Ný batterí
Tenacious D – Tenacious D
Radiohead – Kid A
The B-52’s – The B-52’s
The Tiger Lillies – Bad Blood + Blasphemy
Metallica – Master of Puppets
Thelonious Monk – Criss-Cross
Pixies – Come On Pilgrim
The Tiger Lillies – The Sea
Air – Moon Safari
The Tiger Lillies – The Gorey End
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Nino Rota – 8½
Mono – One Step More and You Die
Tool – Parabola
Venetian Snares – Meathole
Tom Waits – Alice
múm – Finally We Are No One
Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass
Primus – Frizzle Fry
Doors – Strange Days
The National – Boxer
Tom Waits – Blood Money
The Times They Are a Changing- Bob Dylan
The Sunset Tree- The Mountain Goats
Davy- Coconut Records
Feels- Animal Collective
Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan
Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
Rejoicing in the Hands- Devendra Banhart
Nino Rojo- Devendra Banhart
Cripple Crow- Devendra Banhart
Illinois- Sufjan Stevens
Michigan- Sufjan Stevens
The Avalanche- Sufjan Stevens
Black on Both Sides- Mos Def
Skelatal Lamping- of Montreal
Everyone’s in Everyone- Polyphonic Spree
Songs for Silverman- ben Folds
Ok Computer- Radiohead
Cold Fact- Rodriguez
Friendly Fire- Sean Lennon
Sgt. Pepper- The Beatles
Abbey Road- The Beatles
The Shins- Wincing the Night Away
Daydream Nation- Sonic Youth
Beast Moans- Swan Lake
Shallow Grave- The Tallest Man on Earth
Return to Cookie Mountain- TV on the Radio
Vetiver- Vetiver
Apologies to the Queen Mary- Wolf Parade
New MAgnetic Wonder- The Apples in Stereo
Music From Big Pink- The band
The Flying Club Cup- Beirut
Push Barman to Open Old Wounds- Belle and Sebastian
In the Future- Black Mountain
Red, Yellow and Blue- Born Ruffians
Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep your Ear to the Ground- Bright Eyes
Tea for the Tillerman- Cat Stevens
New Moon- Elliott Smith
Plague Park- Handsome Furs
Goodbye Blue Monday- Jeremy Fisher
Graduate Soundtrack- Simon and Garfunkle
Heart and Crime- Julie Doiron
Loney, Noir- Loney, Dear
Odessey and Oracle- The Zombies
Sorry couldn’t keep it one to an artist. Probably forgot a ton of music though.
Oh God I forgot Pink Floyd so everything by them and The Doors.
No T.Hanks
Exterminating Angel, anyone?