What ridiculously famous album did you only just listen to now you fucking loser? - Page 2

I just found out what I was missing with Guided By Voices. I picked up the vinyl directors cut of Bee Thousands and it blew me away.

I don't know if it was the sequencing of the actual album or what it was. But the LP version is much better.

And since I've had most of their back discography for a long time, I've been getting into the sloppy thirty second pop era of Pollard. Although, his latest solo album is pretty much old school GBV done damn good.

I also just found out I had their final concert that Plexifilm put on dvd and it too is amazing. Are Pollard's live shows that crazy/long and good?

I've been listeing to bee thousand like none stop. I'd say it's Slanted and Enchanted good. If not that good, at least as good as III.

Oh, and I've rediscoverd Enter the Wu Tang: 36 Chambers too. Fucking RZA owns, but I don't think he's been this good since. Except maybe parts of the first Bobby Digital Album and maybe the few tracks he did off of Ghostface's first.

The beautiful thing about all this good music is that, unless something entirely unforseen happens, it will always be there. I know loads of artists and albums that I've willfully let slide because I know that one day when I really need it, there will be that thrill of discovery. Artists like Fela Kuti, Elvis Costello and about a hundred others are just waiting for me to decide the time has come. So enjoy the Sabbath now -- you haven't missed anything by waiting, and now a whole new segment of the musical world is open like a book.

Get on Costello now, Fischer.

My Aim is True, This Years Model, Almost Blue, Armed Forces.

That's your homework. Cause those are amazing albums. And he has more. But Costello also has more duds. Lots more.

I'd say the good far outweighs the bad. Aside from the early period picks that Tony mentioned, I'd put Imperial Bedroom, Blood and Chocolate, King of America, Spike, and maybe even the Juliet Letters up with his greatest stuff; Mighty Like a Rose, Get Happy!, Brutal Youth, Trust, When I Was Cruel, and the Bacharach and Toussaint collaborations are all excellent.

As for out-and-out duds? I'd say North, the Sophie Von Otter collaboration, and this year's live album with the big band are the real losers. But I've still never gotten around to listening to Goodbye Cruel World, which I hear is his low point of the 80s.

I'm still so-so on GBV, and my taste for them has seemingly no rhyme or reason in terms of era. I love Alien Lanes and really like Universal Truths and Cycles, but I could never get into Bee Thousand and some of the others.

To answer Dan's question, I'm so-so on Animal Collective (though their last one was far better than the earlier stuff I'd heard), but I'll have to check out the Bunyan stuff. I meant to listen to Lookaftering, but haven't really been in the mood for that sort of obscure pseudo-psychedelic folk stuff for a while (I've had Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms saved on my PC for about a year and still haven't listened to it straight through).

I'd probably put KING OF AMERICA in my Costello top four.

And I'm not sure I'd put Bunyan in the obscure pseudo-psychedelic folk genre, even though she is one of the patron saints. There's not a very psychedelic quality to her work (well, it's more present on JUST ANOTHER DIAMOND DAY than on LOOKAFTERING.) It's pretty much the standard tropes of folk, what with the whispy vocals and the woodwinds and the longing and what have you.

If there has ever been a perfect album, it's Pet Sounds. This is music that rises above the daily human strife, and encapsulates all beauty as can be perceived in the human mind. There's no way around it. Pet Sounds is a true masterpiece. I don't like to analyze music, it just feels right, and Pet Sounds is fucking heaven.

I randomly bought a copy of the album when I was about 17, around 1995. I listened to it and I thought it was fun and cool, and didn't pay much attention. Years later, when I was about 23 to be exact, I had this feeling deep inside my soul, like there were these harmonies and certain yearning chord progressions pulling me into this deep place, and it took me a couple weeks to realize that I was thinking about Pet Sounds.

I've always been a little lukewarm on the Stones, generally appreciating bands that occasionally ape them (the Replacements, the Faces) more than the institution (they've sort of bypassed band status at this point, haven't they?), itself. I've got a more than passing familiarity with their material, but, with classic rock radio shoving them down our throats non-stop, who doesn't? Still, my experience with their albums is pretty shockingly thin. I bought Steel Wheels years ago when it came out (in retrospect -- ick!), I had Hot Rocks on cassette for years, I've got copies of Aftermath and Between the Buttons (both of which are afflicted with the good-but-not-great filler disease that also hurts the first few Beatles and Who albums), and my wife has Exile, which, contrary to all musical common sense, hasn't really connected with me, "Tumbling Dice" aside. That's about it.

So, anyway, I checked Sticky Fingers out of the library (I think I picked that one due to the Gram Parsons influence I kept hearing about), and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. One of the things I could never get into on Exile is the frequent return to a sort of gritty faux-blues - I just don't buy Jagger in that role for a second. I vastly prefer the Stones in that sort of groovy, R&B-influenced rock that they helped pioneer, and they stick largely to that and country balladeering on SF. I'm not sure if I can ever fully disassociate "Brown Sugar" with the countless radio replays, but it sounds pretty good here. Even better are "Sway," "Bitch," and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking." "Wild Horses" is amazing in context, "Dead Flowers" shows off that Parsons influence, and it's nice to hear "Sister Morphine" in its original versions after hearing Marianne Faithfull's even more depressing version for years.

I've been on a hate-fest with commercial radio for the last five years so I've been trying to find classic albums to listen to at home or on the road. It's introduced me to some really great artists and just stunning works of genius by artists that I never expected it from.

Pet Sound - The Beach Boys

I'm with Dave on this one. But I'll add the genius of the production work on to his comments. This is up there with Sgt. Pepper as revolutionizing what can be done in the studio. One of the best albums of all time. This is all despite the fact that my favourite Beach Boy's song (Feel Flows) isn't on it.

Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan

Wow. Just wow. I was never a Dylan fan until five years ago (mainly due to people trying to ram him down my throat) now I'm a huge fan. Lyrically and musically just a stellar album. Don't let Rainy Day Women scare you away, this is a very strong album. Sounds great on vinyl as well.

Eat a Peach - Allman Brothers

I've heard people criticize the seventies for having weak music but they're clearly refering to the late seventies or early eighties because there was some great rock and roll coming out in the early part of that decade. This is one of the best. Also Dickey Betts is a wonder on slide!

Talking Book - Stevie Wonder

Got to this in a roundabout way. I started looking for more Motown stuff after watching the doc on the Funk Brothers, That got me hooked on that classic R&B vibe which lead me to Stevie's classic. Not a bad song on the album and it's production is fucking unreal.

Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys

Not sure if this could be considered a classic or not but I finally get the love for this piece. I had heard the singles and thought they sucked but in context of the whole they work. It's one of those albums that deserves to be played in it's entirety.

Have no idea what they are saying. The 1970's is the best decade of music yet. Sure, we have some good stuff today, but not THAT good.

I must give up my love for the Allman Brothers. For many years I blasted them for being another clone of Skynerd, which is so far the truth. It sickens me when they get lumped in with those redneck fucking hacks.

Allmans are just so...accomplished all the way around, I tear up when I hear Blue Skies.

Eat a Peach is beyond perfect.

I hear ya. Skynyrd was my first introduction to Southern Gothic Rock. A guy I worked with at a radio station was a huge Skynyrd fan so they became the standard by which I measured that style. Then much later I heard Eat a Peach with fresh ears and what a fucking revelation. Musically and production wise a much better band then Skynyrd ever dreamed of being...it just blew me away.

After that I couldn't listen to Skynyrd anymore especially that fuckin' Sweet Home Alabama. (Though when I saw The Rainmakers they did a great version of it mixed with Southern Man and One Toke Over the Line)

I just borrowed Bowie's "Low" and the Stones "Let It Bleed" from the library and they're great, but the record I'm in love with at this very moment is called "Suffering and Shmiling/No Agreement" by the great Fela Kuti!

I'm assuming that no one has mentioned Springsteen, yet, because we already know his entire catalogue, right?
That said, I always thought of him as a mock-star, being raised in the '80's and all.
But few weeks before my 24th birthday a friend of mine played Lost in the Flood for me off of his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, and I've been border-line obsesssed ever since. I went out and bought 4 albums for myself for that birthday and it was like my musical rennaissance.
I can't believe I waited this long to here this stuff. I go back to Born in The USA and I can't believe I thought of any of it as a joke. That's one of the saddest albums ever laid to wax. In every song, except No Surrender, someone either loses their job or their lover, or they go to jail or just get all-around shit on by life. Its great that this substance is hidden in one of the best selling pop-rock records of all time. I wonder if people even knew what they were singing along to.
And the rest of his catalogue is all amazing. Even the bad stuff is good compared to what his peers were doing at the time.


And, as for The Stones. I love me some Stones and Van Morrison. I love the R&B/Blues sound that those artists have. Back in a day when singers had soul. The best three Stones albums are the late '60's early '70's ones, right after Brian Jones tried to drink his pool. Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed, and Exile on Main St. I think some of the best Rolling Stones tracks are the forgotten ones, like, Moonlight Mile, Shine A Light, and Monkey Man.

While I fundamentally agree with you, I do think in-studio Springsteen lost something special between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. He occasionally recaptures it on album (he comes closest to consistently maintaining it on last year's Seeger Sessions disc) and still amazes in concert, but Born in the U.S.A. marks the beginning of his tentative years, where he cranked out some good to great songs, but sabotaged them with overproduction and sort of rote performances (nearly every song on Born in the U.S.A. also appears on the Live 1975/1985 box set, and most sound tons better in concert).

I think his instincts sometimes fail a little when it comes to knowing what to release and what not to release, as well. You should definitely get your hands on the Tracks box set to see what he could have been releasing in the 80s and early 90s (rather than the generally acknowledged double-nadir of Lucky Town and Human Touch), plus a selection of early material that holds up just as well as the stuff that actually made it to album (disc two of Tracks could practically have been released as a third disc of The River with no noticeable drop in quality of that album overall - it might have even been better).

This post might seem more negative than I meant it; it's probably due to my near-limitless esteem for his earlier albums.

I've been rediscovering the Beatles recently. Not just the hits, but going back and listening to the albums, many of them for the first time. I bought Revolver the other day, and what strikes me, as it does with most of their music, is how really ahead of the time it sounds. So much of it sounds like a product of the early 70s rather than 1966 or 1967.

And you could reasonably argue that "Helter Skelter" is the first heavy metal song.

Ah yes, I have, indeed, delved into the Tracks discs. You can basically throw away disc 4, but the rest is solid. What amazes me is how he holds on to lyrics for so long. And how you see the same lyrics popping up in different versions of songs here and there. Example: Seaside Bar Song from 1972 has the line "the highway is alive tonight so baby do not be frightened", and then The Ghost of Tom Joad from 1995 uses the line "the highway is alive tonight nobody's kiddin nobody about where it goes". That's 20 years and he's like.....ah this would fit nicely here. I definitely agree with you on the "over-production" part. I'm not a fan of the production on The Rising, and I don't listen to Lucky Town or Human Touch. I have a live version of I Wish I Were Blind that he played on his solo tour and it completely blows the album version away. Its like a totally different song.

And I, too, have been discovering The Beatles complete albums. Just like you, I just recently purchased Revolver. I also picked up The White Album. I haven't spent a lot of time with Revolver, but The White Album is incredible. So many good songs, with I'm So Tired being my favorite of the bunch. I agree with you that they were ahead of their time. They even throw a parody song on there with Back In The USSR, which it seems to me, is a Chuck Berry/Beach Boys parody mirroring Back In The USA touched with lyrical references to California Girls.

I felt for The Beatles exactly how Dave B feels about the Rolling Stones. Classic Rock and Oldies stations shove the same tired hits down our throats day after day so its hard to find the desire to pick up an album from one of these bands. I think XM radio and Ipods saved these bands for me. I spend so little time, now, listening to terrestrial radio and getting force fed my music and now I can go out and discover what I actually want to hear.

Good Stuff

I'll respectfully disagree, Dave. Yes, there was the debacle of Human Touch and Lucky Town but there was also the brilliance of Tunnel of Love, probably his most intimate album in terms of lyrics. (I won't argue that it's overproduced. Just listen to his live stripped down version of Brilliant Disguise versus the album version)

I also think the Ghost of Tom Joad is a vastly underrated album (Grammy not withstanding). It's lacking the rawness of Nebraska but I think the stories told are equally as good and I think we're seeing a much better musician on Joad. His guitar work is confident (not something you can say about Nebraska), he uses his voice to better effect, and his arrangements are crisp.

Despite some missteps I think the albums put out since Born in the USA have been on par with his early work. Better in some cases. I would certainly rather listen to Tom Joad then The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (excepting Rosalita which is brilliant).

I always find it amazing when people point to Born in the USA as a positive album. I'm always shocked at how many people misinterpret the title track, "Glory Days" and "My Hometown" as uplifting songs. Those are some pretty brutal lyrics.

Those were Springsteen's Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 -- one good album spread out over two discs.

And the people who think Glory Days is an upbeat song are the same ones who think Every Breath You Take is a romantic love song.

That's what I was saying, though. The live versions are virtually always better these days. This wasn't always the case, but he's given up spontanaity and liveliness for professionalism. His writing on Tunnel of Love is fine (although aside from some of the high points, I don't find it super-memorable), but it's overly polished for what's basically a stripped-down affair.

I also think the Ghost of Tom Joad is a vastly underrated album (Grammy not withstanding). It's lacking the rawness of Nebraska but I think the stories told are equally as good and I think we're seeing a much better musician on Joad. His guitar work is confident (not something you can say about Nebraska), he uses his voice to better effect, and his arrangements are crisp.[/quote]

I liked it lots when it first came out - even thought it was a near equal of Nebraska. But it just hasn't aged well. His voice may be in fine form, but the songs aren't really there. If you chart Springsteen's non-band albums (even Lucky Town/Human Touch had a band, though not one with much character), there's a clear downward trajectory from Nebraska (classic) to Tom Joad (pretty good, but a little sterile with some songs that just don't stick) to Devils and Dust (utterly forgettable). I suppose you could also count Tunnel of Love here (and, in that case, I'd rank it below Tom Joad), but the vibe is so utterly different on that album - much closer to the more introspective moments on Born in the U.S.A. or on the dreaded early 90s duo.

Madness, I say, on the grounds of originality alone. There's never been another album quite like The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle by Springsteen or anyone else (and this could also be said for Born to Run). You can hear the ideas just bursting out of the guy, and the band is so badass that it actually manages to keep up with Springsteen's out-of-control muse as she takes them from rock to soul to jazz to folk and even to funk...

Now, plenty of other artists have made stripped-down folky, acoustic, political albums. Steve Earle could put out an album like Tom Joad and no one would think twice - no one would even bother comparing it to Springsteen, because lots of people have put out albums like it and had even done so before Springsteen had. The closest I've heard to anyone attempting a Wild, Innocent-style album is Marah's Kids in Philly, and, while it's quite good, it misses the epic quality of Springsteen's work by a mile, and, more importantly, you can't shrug off the Springsteen comparison. In terms of establishing a Springsteen idiolect, the Wild, the Innocent is hugely important. Even if an album like Tom Joad had been his second release, it wouldn't have had the same impact on how we perceive his later style or the critical appreciation of it.

And, personally, I just think it's tons more fun to listen to wacked-out stories filled with outlandish Jersey Shore characters and aspiring musicians than bummed-out ballads about burnt-out border patrolmen and exploited illegal immigrants - even Nebraska has more of a sense of dark humor about itself.

I think the major stumbling factor for The Ghost of Tom Joad is that its boring. Don't get me wrong, the songs are close to great. Its just tough to listen through as an album. I've got it on the Ipod now, and when a song comes on, I enjoy it. But, when I pop the disc in my CD player I can get through about 3 songs before my mind wanders.

And as for The Wild, The Innocent......that is my favorite Springsteen sound. I'm glad he never tried to reproduce it. Its not my favorite album, I don't know what is, but is by far my favorite sound of his and when I would have most liked to see him in concert. The songs have so much feeling on that album, Sandy and New York City Serenade. Those songs can make you nostalgic for something you never lived, the same way a great movie, like Goodfellas, can. Its just that feeling in my bones that I get when I listen to it.
Everything works so well together on that album that its easy to miss the brilliant lines in the songs. "...Like a late Juliet she knew he'd never be true, but then, she didn' really mind" Lyrics like that seem like throwaway lines on this album, which is a testament to how good the songs truly are.

And, just to keep this from being a total Springsteen thread, I've also delved into Paul McCartney- McCartney. Brilliant. It really is amazing that those 3, absolutely amazing singer-songwriters (and Ringo), were in 1 band. No wonder The Beatles are hailed as the greatest band ever.

Most of the time, when a band splits to do solo projects you'll get a couple initial hits, but no really classic albums. The Beatles still delivered, post break-up. Maybe I'm Amazed, although a little heavy-handed, stands up to some of the best Beatles love songs, I believe.

Fair enough. I will disagree that his songwriting is only fine but that may be strictly in retrospect. I listened to it a lot after splitting from a long time live-in girlfriend and I certainly identify with the feelings expressed so thoroughly.

Well, you'll never get me to argue that Devils and Dust is utterly forgettable. I think it's part of the reason that The Seeger Sessions sounds so brilliant. That's quite the turnaround in such a short time.

I can certainly see where you may feel the sound of Joad is sterile but I just love the guitar sound which is such a contrast to the dustbowl lyrics and Springsteen's crackly voice. I guess it just works for me.

Bad ass band aside (and they really are a fuckin' tight band) I find E Sreet Shuffle to be such a wondering mess that I can't listen to it as a whole album. As I said I think Rosalita is brilliant but I can't listen to much else on that one. I thought the production was not as good as Greetings From... and as a whole it feels rushed.

Now Born to Run takes everything that was great about Greetings and E Street Shuffle and he makes a complete album

That's an interesting take on E Street Shuffle. And I think a legitimate one. I'm just not sure that establishing his artistic vision (or creating his musical and lyrical world) necessarily makes for a great album. Creatively profound or unique does not inherently mean good. Here I'm thinking in movie terms. Citizen Kane was a creative declaration of auteurship but at it's centre it was a simple melodrama. While I'm amazed at Welles' and Tolland's creative touches I can never get passed the hopelessly average script that holds back the movie as a whole. I think Welles' work is better on his later films. I feel the same with E Street Shuffle. There's flourishes of brilliance but as a whole it's not as good as what comes after it.

On a side note, I think Steve Earle's The Revolution Starts...Now is a great album of angry, folky, political music. It's rare that the left gets an angry person on their side and it makes for a pretty good listen.

Joad is definitely more dour then other stuff he's done before or since. I guess I just like that about it. Again part of that may have been from the point that I was in my life when it was released. I was feeling a little nihilistic in 1995.

And this conversation is why, despite the fact that I have a lot of things on my plate, I keep coming back to CHUD when I should be working. So, I curse you and thank you at the same time Dave.

I really liked Devils and Dust, I thought it made an excellent companion album to his earlier 9/11 influenced, The Rising, but I agree that The Seeger Sessions absolutely smokes it in every possible way.

Also, the Hammersmith Odeon London '75 album is absolutley essential listening for any Springsteen fan. So fucking great.

Yeah. I never really got CITZEN KANE either...

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks and Moondance = wow just wow, why Moondance is the only song played from these two is a crime, so melancoly yet sublime, song all quite similar, but on repeats listen not at all.

Billy Joel - The Stranger and Songs In The Attic = I often get laughed at for my love of Joel, but most people forget how good his early stuff was. The Stranger to me was where it all began to mesh. They also force me to hate Brinkley more and more.

Except for "Cold Spring Harbor," Joel's first, which has one great song mired in a pile of crap.

Fans of Pet Sounds should move on to the six consecutive Beach Boys albums following that title, all of which bombed in the stores but have since gained a devoted (and deserved) cult following:

Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
Friends
20/20
Sunflower
Surf's Up

After this period you're walking on thin ice -- although entertainment can be found even on the awful Love You.

I went on a little Beatles pilgrimage - you can't argue their impact on the culture at the time, nor the high level of craft apparent in their songwriting, but my impressions:

Abbey Road - doesn't do anything for me

Rubber Soul - some REALLY good stuff, "Norwegian Wood" is brilliant

Revolver - probably my favorite as far as songwriting goes, but those lame fucking horns all over the album ruin it for me

Let It Be - notch below Revolver songwriting-wise but still really fucking good. And no lame horns.

But overall, very few songs I'd go too far out of my way to hear.

The WORST thing about the oldies/classic rock stations is that you have bands that have a TERRIFIC catalog and what do you hear - the same fucking shit, day in and day out. If any station's Stones/Beatles/Who catalog goes more than 8-10 songs deep, I'll shit a brick. Nothing wrong with "Yesterday" or "Brown Sugar" or "Magic Bus" but let's get a bit less repetitive here.

Our local Classic Rock station advertises "40 years of great music" - which is B.S. but even the 20 year stretch (65-85 by my reckoning, plus new releases from artists in the Classic Rock genre) of the mainstream artists they play has a TON of songs they don't even go near. One night they were playing "The Core" by Eric Clapton, and my buddy loves the song but never knew the name, so we called up and found out what album it was on and stuff; the DJ asked if I had any requests and I flat-out told him "no, and you probably wouldn't play what I'd think of anyway"; I was impressed the guy sorta badgered me into it - so first I told him "you can't play the MC5"; he said I was right; then I said "well, how about 'The Bomber' by the James Gang?"...and he went nuts - "Man, that is a GREAT tune, Joe Walsh, etc etc...can't play it tonight"

Two bands firmly in the classic rock era, with at least name recognition; one pretty f'in good tune that should have been right in the station's wheelhouse - two strikes, I was out.

I also picked up American Beauty by the Grateful Dead.

I have long hated the dead, but then I read an op-ed where the author admitted that after a long hate-fest of the Dead, he came to the realization that the Dead actually are pretty good, it's their fans who fucking suck.

So I said, what the hell, and queued up American Beauty and Workingman's Dead from the library. Beauty came first - it's a very good album, if not necessarily my bag. Nothing particularly jumped out and grabbed me, but I won't deny that it's a quality piece of work.

I listen to Revolver almost every other day, and can only name three songs from the album that use horns in their arrangement: "Got to Get You Into My Life," "For No One" (a beautiful French horn solo, and then again accompanying McCartney's vocal) and "Yellow Submarine" (briefly, during the "band begins to play" section).

Bottom line: You're exaggerating tremendously, or you're listening to another CD altogether.

Okay, even if you skipped most of Side A which has tremendous opener COME TOGETHER, one of the lovliest love songs ever with Something, McCartney having a ton of fun with Oh, Darling! and Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Ringo doing his thing with Octopus Garden and the great jam of I Want You (She's So Heavy)...how can you not be blown away by the song suite McCartney assembled on side B? It's like heaven for your ears!

The great thing about Beatles fans, is that if you DON'T break your kneecaps in a rush to drop and worship, they figure something is wrong with you.

- "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" seem to be trying too hard to me

- "Come Together" and "Something..." just cannot sound fresh to my ears due to years of overplay; "Something..." IS very good though, but I just couldn't get into it

- "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" may be fun, but it's a novelty song; I found it forced

- "Octopus Garden" - it's RINGO, dude

- "Here Comes the Sun" really is an amazing piece of music that I totally loved, though. "Something..." really sticks in your mind too, but it seemed a bit repetitive by the end.
Eh. It was certainly a big deal at the time to do that, but as a piece of music free of context, it's been done better.

Actually, I just checked it and I ripped 7 of the 14 songs, so I apparently was exaggerating; but "Got to Get You Into My Life" (which I really like) would be MUCH better sans horns.

Not sure if the MC5 could be said to be "classic rock," so I'm not too surprised there. Like the Velvets and the Stooges, they achieved (semi-)widespread recognition long after their existence. Classic rock stations are pretty proccupied with established canon based on the charts of the "classic" era, whatever that is, rather than the (rightly) revisionist opinions most musicians, critics, and fans hold currently.

Which, of course, also means they can play Foreigner and Bad Company constantly, despite the fact that no one gives a fuck about these bands now except for the classic rock station junkies who can't break the habit. In 2007, where else but in the bizarroverse of classic rock radio does REO Speedwagon get cred equal to the Who? Where else is Paul Rogers more important than Lou Reed? And where else is "Glory Days" the best, most playworthy song that Bruce Springsteen ever released? The whole format is a tribute to musical conservatism - it's as if the rules were set up arbitrarily at the outset then simply never changed because of some imagined tradition. As far as I know, they don't even really reflect a reality that ever existed on radio at the time when most of the playlist was released.

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle

Johnny Winter w/ Calvin "Loudmouth" Johnson -Blues To The Bone (one of the best blues albums ever recorded)

Oh, I wasn't surprised (as if you need to know the name, it was WKLH, which I'm sure you'd guessed), but I figured what the hell, I'll ask anyway.
Sez you. Classic-era Foreigner (not that sensitive "I Wanna Know What Love Is" shit) rivals Foghat for the sheer level of dick-swinging machismo committed to record, and I have to applaud that, if not swing my own dick in its honor.

I just started listening to Bjork. I've pretty much been going through one album per day, and dread the fact that they will soon run out. Anyway, I thought of this thread.

Vespertine is the peak, Medulla is brilliance but takes along time to mesh in your head.

Sounds good. Vespertine is next on my list, actually. So far with the first three albums, they just keep getting better, but I wasn't sure how long that would last.

I listened to Homogenic twice yesterday (once while doing my taxes, and again on the city bus). I used to have something of an allergic reaction to this album -- the combination of techno and orchestral is overwhelming to the point of inducing seasickness and claustrophobia. And I really don't like "Bachelorette" at all. But the album as a whole has grown on me. Particularly strong is the opening track, "Hunter" (I get chills up my spine when she sings "How Scandinavian of me!" and about three or four other Bjork voices climb out of the left and right speakers).

Telegram has also gotten better for me over time. Not just a remix of the entire Post album (as some claim), it includes at least one alternate version that is superior to the original -- "Hyperballad," performed with the Brodsky Quartet -- and others that come damn close, like a hip-hop rendition of "I Miss You" with Bjork's re-recorded vocals sitting nicely beside rap. The new material consists of one track, "My Spine," which turned up on a single somewhere and is delightful.

Vespertine really is the zenith for her, though. I doubt she'll ever top it.

I think Rolling Stone had The Stranger in its top 50 or so when they did their 500 greatest albums of all time list a few years ago.

And yeah, classic rock stations don't seem to stock albums anymore, they load up on the greatest hits collections and run them to death. You can probably pull 10-12 non-single tracks from Springsteen's albums and put together a better disc than most most artists' greatest hits collections. And why not, let's do it:

"For You" from Greetings
"E Street Shuffle" from E Street Shuffle
"Night" and "Meeting Across the River" from Born to Run
"Streets of Fire" and "The Promised Land" from Darkness
"Sherry Darling" and "Two Hearts"
"Johnny 99" from Nebraska
"Downbound Train" and "No Surrender" from USA
"Ain't Got You" and "Spare Parts" from Tunnel

And, inspired by my Beatles explorations, I hit up BMG's 12 for the price of 1 deal and have these 7 discs on their way to me:

"Who's Next" - The Who
"The Velvet Underground and Nico" - The Velvet Underground
"Music from Big Pink" - The Band
"What's Going On?" - Marvin Gaye
"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" - David Bowie
"Pet Sounds" - The Beach Boys
"Astral Weeks" - Van Morrison

These all figured prominently on several "best ever" lists I looked into, and I'm familiar with at least bits of all of them.

I did that for Zeppelin. Had a thread a while back about it...

Achilles Last Stand
For Your Life
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Custard Pie
The Rover
Night Flight
The Wanton Song
Boogie With Stu
Black Country Woman
Sick Again
Four Sticks
When the Levee Breaks
Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
Communication Breakdown
Poor Tom
Walter's Walk
Ozone Baby

I've just recently discovered the magnificence that is Leonard Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen. I haven't fallen so hard for an album in such a long time and I feel so bad for having ignored it for so many years, although I've known it was supposed to be great. It's such a beautiful, poet album about losers, and it's one of the few albums that really pulls out sympathy from me while listening to its stories.

AC/DC, "For Those About To Rock, We Salute You"

I'm kind of embarrased how much I love it.

Baby Jesus is crying somewhere

If Jesus is crying over that, I've lost a shitload of respect for God.

I have come to the conclusion that George Harrison gives you the best bang for the buck among Beatles songwriters.

Percentage-wise, I'd have to say it's far more in Lennon and McCartney's favor, when you consider the number of songs each songwriter actually released on Beatles albums. Harrison's got a pretty clean record on the last few albums ("Something," "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), but he hit his stride later than the other guys. His Eastern experiments really don't hold up as well and some of his other early songs are sort of forgettable (even some later ones, like "I Me Mine"). For every "Within You Without You," there's a "Something," but for every "Revolution #9" or "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," there are three or four "Happiness is a Warm Gun" or "Here There and Everywhere"s. More, actually. There really aren't that many bad Beatles-era Lennon-penned songs. Check this list (ignoring the covers).

That list is by singer, not songwriter.

That's why I wrote "ignoring the covers." In most cases (at least with Harrison, Lennon, and McCartney - not Ringo), the singer was the primary writer of the song.

Since all of Lennon and McCartney's songs were attributed to both of them, this might even be a little more accurate than a list of songs by writer. McCartney probably didn't have much to do with "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and Lennon probably didn't have much to do with "Blackbird," but they're both Lennon-McCartney compositions by credit.