Omar's Album Reviews of The Rolling Stones' Top 500 Albums (and some other albums too)

[Wazmankg]

No one has done more for popular music or was a greater influence on their culture and times than the Beatles. The greatest Rock and Roll Band of all time but SGT Pepper's is way over-rated. It has one of the great songs of all time in "A Day In The Life" but the other songs are just average. The fact that it is looke dupon the way it is still today tells you what a cultural phenomenon the Beatles were.

Agree. I like several of their albums better ... Abbey Road & Revolver easily.

 

[Wazmankg]

I like "Rock and Roll Animal" but not sure if Reed did that with the VU

No. That was solo and it is very good, but it doesn't sound anything like VU except for Reed's voice.

 

[Clayton]

@Clayton I know you listen to current music, have you heard Pretty. Odd.?

Not on my radar but I'll give it a try.

My favorite albums from that time period were:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Unkle - War Stories
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself
Sasha - Involver
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Pearl Jam - Self-titled
Nine Inch Nails - Yearzero

I'll give Pretty.Odd a try, though. I find myself digging through old music so far this year. Not much coming out the past couple of months that I like

 

[Montalban]

Agree. I like several of their albums better ... Abbey Road & Revolver easily.

The amazing thing is that though they have not made an album together since 1969 you can find every one of their albums in every music store. I wish that every kid today could experience what we did in their hey day.

 

[Montalban]

No. That was solo and it is very good, but it doesn't sound anything like VU except for Reed's voice.

Yeah I don't think I even realized he was with them until after I'd had Rock and Roll Animal.

 

[gohusk]

If they called it the top 500 pop albums of all time I'd be cool with it. But come on, would you put any of these up there with Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, A Love Supreme, or some of the other monster jazz albums?

 

[Montalban]

I don't really believe in ranking music......

The Rolling Stone magazine, once did a top all time 100 album list......
The Moody Blues To Our Children's Children's Children album was ranked 20th

and now it doesn't even make the list of 500

Ranking art is kinda silly.......and I am a Beatle's fan.

Sgt. Pepper was a game changing album....It was totally different, from any other music and album,at the time.
And a lot of artists, who made the 500 list, talk about that album, like it is and was the bible.

I always thought, Revolver and Rubber Soul should have been a 2 set double album.

That was the cool thing about the Beatles. Whatever they said was hip was hip. No matter what changes they made in their music, people still couldn't get enough. Although it broke my heart when they broke up I think they were smart to go out on top and keep people wanting more instead of hanging on and being caricatures of themselves as old men like the Stones did.

 

[Voltaire26]

The amazing thing is that though they have not made an album together since 1969 you can find every one of their albums in every music store. I wish that every kid today could experience what we did in their hey day.

This is what @Omar 382 would have been like 10 years ago. Now his writing is very good, and I respect is opinion!!!

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

That was the cool thing about the Beatles. Whatever they said was hip was hip. No matter what changes they made in their music, people still couldn't get enough. Although it broke my heart when they broke up I think they were smart to go out on top and keep people wanting more instead of hanging on and being caricatures of themselves as old men like the Stones did.

Which makes the death of John Lennon even more of a “What If” moment. Would the money have been so damn enticing for the four of them to say “Screw it!” and do something else together at some point? It would have been on their terms too... no one would have dictated otherwise.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

The amazing thing is that though they have not made an album together since 1969 you can find every one of their albums in every music store. I wish that every kid today could experience what we did in their hey day.

My grandsons were raised on “1” playing in Grandma’s car regularly and they have learned of the deeper stuff from Grandpa. They clearly know how important the Beatles were in the big scheme of things... and how they influenced the stuff they listen to today. They dig old stuff as well as new. One of my favorite “moments” with them is coming home from a Rangers game and they along with their buddies singing every word to “War Pigs” cranked to maximum volume. Every... word...

Good times.

 

[Montalban]

This is what @Omar 382 would have been like 10 years ago. Now his writing is very good, and I respect is opinion!!!

That's funny! Poor kids, they don't seem particularly impressed; I guess ya had to be there. It was interesting to hear one of them say "Their songs all sound so different". One of the hallmarks of the Beatles. And it was cool that the one girl remembered the live video of the Beatles doing "Hey Jude". I suppose all is not lost.

 

[Montalban]

My grandsons were raised on “1” playing in Grandma’s car regularly and they have learned of the deeper stuff from Grandpa. They clearly know how important the Beatles were in the big scheme of things... and how they influenced the stuff they listen to today. They dig old stuff as well as new. One of my favorite “moments” with them is coming home from a Rangers game and they along with their buddies singing every word to “War Pigs” cranked to maximum volume. Every... word...

Good times.

Awesome. My granddaughter loves the Beatles too. I'm so glad this music is being passed down. I took my Granddaughter to see "Beatles Love" by the Cirque Soleil at the Mirage in Vegas. We had a blast.
She tells me a lot of kids listen to Beatles stuff along with their own music from today.

I haven't been so fortunate with my own daughters. I remember my youngest one telling me that NSync was better than the Beatles. I thought I was going to die.

 

[Montalban]

Which makes the death of John Lennon even more of a “What If” moment. Would the money have been so damn enticing for the four of them to say “Screw it!” and do something else together at some point? It would have been on their terms too... no one would have dictated otherwise.

I think I've heard both Lennon and Harrison say that it would be impossible to live up to the hype and whatever they did would be disappointing. They were at the perfect place at the perfect time.
I always wanted the Beatles to get back together after they broke up but with this much hindsight perhaps its better that they didn't.
The amazing thing to me is the synergy they had together as a group. Their music was brilliant but I have to say none of them particularly impressed me on their own.

 

[Montalban]

Which makes the death of John Lennon even more of a “What If” moment. Would the money have been so damn enticing for the four of them to say “Screw it!” and do something else together at some point? It would have been on their terms too... no one would have dictated otherwise.

This reminds me of a cool quote by John Lennon about the song "Hey Jude". The record company was after them to shorten it saying "no radio station will play a 7-minute song". Lennon supposedly said "They will if its us". Nice position to be in.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Dig it.

Don’t see too many Mingus references on tHoop.

 

[gohusk]

Dig it.

Don’t see too many Mingus references on tHoop.

He had it all, great individual musical talent on the instrument, great arranger, and great composer. Absolute tyrant though. But it's not like any of the great band leaders had a good reputation for their people skills.

 

[Wazmankg]

If they called it the top 500 pop albums of all time I'd be cool with it. But come on, would you put any of these up there with Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, A Love Supreme, or some of the other monster jazz albums?

They probably should have just stayed in their lane and not included any jazz albums. But sure. They're just different forms. I don't rate one over the other, necessarily. Mingus is one of my favorite artists ... and Monk & Miles. I've always preferred Sonny Rollins to Trane, but solo sax driven jazz isn't my favorite. Mingus had some great sax players in some of his combos.

 

[gohusk]

They probably should have just stayed in their lane and not included any jazz albums. But sure. They're just different forms. I don't rate one over the other, necessarily. Mingus is one of my favorite artists ... and Monk & Miles. I've always preferred Sonny Rollins to Trane, but solo sax driven jazz isn't my favorite. Mingus had some great sax players in some of his combos.

Horn driven jazz really does it for me. Even with a guy like Cecil Taylor who I love you have a guy like Jimmy Lyons playing with him. Haven't listened to Monk in over a decade but when I first started getting into jazz I tried to get into Monk but just couldn't do it. Maybe I was listening to the wrong stuff or maybe I just gave up on it too early. But the reason I brought up that album is because all the guys on the recording paid a huge part. As far as sax players go Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy were always my favorite.

 

[gohusk]

They probably should have just stayed in their lane and not included any jazz albums. But sure. They're just different forms. I don't rate one over the other, necessarily. Mingus is one of my favorite artists ... and Monk & Miles. I've always preferred Sonny Rollins to Trane, but solo sax driven jazz isn't my favorite. Mingus had some great sax players in some of his combos.

And yeah, they should have just kept the stuff in the lanes. Every genre has something to offer and batching it together just creates pissing contests.

 

[Wazmankg]

Horn driven jazz really does it for me. Even with a guy like Cecil Taylor who I love you have a guy like Jimmy Lyons playing with him. Haven't listened to Monk in over a decade but when I first started getting into jazz I tried to get into Monk but just couldn't do it. Maybe I was listening to the wrong stuff or maybe I just gave up on it too early. But the reason I brought up that album is because all the guys on the recording paid a huge part. As far as sax players go Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy were always my favorite.

Monk is my favorite jazz artist. I used to have him in my avi. He had such a unique style and was a brilliant composer. He's the 2nd most covered jazz composer next to Ellington who wrote > 1000 compositions. Monk wrote about 75. He was actually who got me into jazz.. to the extent that I am. I'm not an aficionado. But you're not unique as someone who likes jazz but not Monk because of his seemingly simplistic and odd style. Personally, I think his critics just aren't listening right, but if you tried you probably just don't dig him. Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots are my go to's for Mingus. Ornette Coleman's Shape of Jazz to Come is as 'out there' as I get with jazz. I made it through his Free Jazz, but I have no desire to listen to it again.