A bit of a mixed bag of albums here. Of those I hadn't heard before, there were a few I ranked 5/5, which is good.
The first of these was Johnny Cash At San Quentin. This I loved despite my dislike of country music. It had everything a live album should have from great interactions with the audience to great interactions with the band members.
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby by Girls Against Boys was an album I'd never heard before and I liked it enough to add it to my collection.
At the opposite end of the spectrum was Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time, which I loathed as manufactured pop and for the impact Spears' career had on her life.
| 200 | At San Quentin | Johnny Cash | 5 |
3.82 |
| I'm really not a fan of country music, at least in general terms as I kind of like Johnny Cash (particularly his late recordings). I've approached this album with some enthusiasm, and played it three times. I know that some live albums have been heavily edited and rerecorded, and I don't know to what extent this album may have been finessed, but it does come across as one of the finest live albums I've ever listened to. Possibly the finest. Cash is really in his element as he interacts with the audience and the prison warders. The songs are damned fine too. | ||||
| 199 | That's The Way Of The World | Earth, Wind & Fire | 2 |
3.51 |
| I think setting this album in its mid-1970s context is quite difficult. But the opener (Shining Star) is a cracker. I felt the following tracks were a bit too mellow to hold my attention. Some massive flares on the sleeve photo! | ||||
| 198 | Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby | Girls Against Boys | 5 |
2.63 |
| I'd never heard this before, and I love it. It's now in my collection. | ||||
| 197 | Being There | Wilco | 3 |
3.21 |
| Not being familiar with this band, I was quite looking forward to this album. Indeed, I rather liked the opening track, but as the album proceeded I was less and less enthused. I dislike country music and any such influences, and this was rolling in them. And it went on rather too long, being a double album. Rather average, I thought, but I guess that reflects my taste. | ||||
| 196 | Buena Vista Social Club | Buena Vista Social Club | 4 |
3.65 |
| It's been a long time since I heard this album. And it's really good to have a non-English language album on this list! Of course the challenge then is to grasp what the songs are about. Nevertheless, for me this was a pleasant album to listen to, and it made me want to kill time in a Cuban bar with a daiquiri. | ||||
| 195 | Tapestry | Carole King | 3 |
3.89 |
| Well, I guess that Carole King is a top notch songwriter, and this album set the template for similar singer-songwriters but really not my cup of tea. | ||||
| 194 | ...Baby One More Time | Britney Spears | 1 |
2.65 |
| No sorry, this is manufactured pap music that exploited a vulnerable young woman (and continued to do so for many years), and which was marketed on the back of dubious sexuality. If I could rate this zero I would. | ||||
| 193 | British Steel | Judas Priest | 3 |
3.3 |
| This may have been influential on thrash metal bands, but I wish it hadn't been. Not a genre I care for, and I didn't like this album. I'll give it a point for the sleeve design and a point for influence. | ||||
| 192 | The New Tango | Astor Piazzolla | 1 |
2.9 |
| I was quite keen to play this, not being familiar with tango, let alone new tango, but really it left me cold. The vibraphone makes it all sound a bit like elevator music. The Montreux audience seemed to love it though. | ||||
| 191 | In The Wee Small Hours | Frank Sinatra | 2 |
3.28 |
| An album of sad songs! Supposedly the first concept album, plus I can see why Tom Waits cites it as an influence. But the problem I have with it is in the lack of variety - with the music mixed down to the background, Sinatra's (excellent) vocals are really to the fore making the whole album sound pretty much the same. And in the modern era where great albums are generally full of songs written by the artist(s), an album such as this seems somewhat out of place. It's not an album for me I'm afraid. | ||||
| 190 | Sulk | The Associates | 5 |
2.38 |
| This is one of those albums that polarise opinion. And I'm one of those who do love this album. It's wildly over the top - Billy Mackenzie's soaring vocals and the extreme 1980s production values see to that. I absolutely love it. | ||||
| 189 | One Nation Under A Groove | Funkadelic | 2 |
3.41 |
| Oh, I don't like the cover, but let's get on and give this a play. Well, I found this rather a dull album. Much preferred the earlier album Maggot Brain | ||||
| 188 | Meat Puppets II | Meat Puppets | 3 |
3 |
| Well, a fun album - but is it a great album? I don't think so. | ||||
| 187 | More Specials | The Specials | 4 |
2.99 |
| This album is something of a development from The Specials' first album, and that itself is something to be praised. Retaining the overall ska sound of Two Tone, you can discern a variety of styles in the mix. The Wikipedia article refers to the adoption of 'muzak' styles as picked up in their tour of the USA. Dammers is said to have seen this as a slightly off-kilter and subversive approach as the band continued with their social commentary in the lyrics. Whether this approach is completely successful is open to question, but I certainly enjoyed playing this album. Unfortunately, Dammers' approach seems to have generated disquiet in the band. | ||||
| 186 | Music From Big Pink | The Band | 2 |
3.37 |
| Accomplished musicians, but for me not an exciting album. I understand this was seen as quite influential in the years following its release, but it's not an album I'm likely to play in the future as it's not a genre I care for. | ||||
| 185 | Frampton Comes Alive | Peter Frampton | 1 |
3.17 |
| I have never listened to Herd or Humble Pie, but I find the immense popularity (particularly in the USA) of this album rather astonishing. The music is pretty bland and just kind of washes past me. Maybe this is a personal taste thing? But frankly it brings into question what actually gets an album into the list. An album may be a consummate example of musicianship but nevertheless doesn't actually chime with the listener. Are huge sales figures and popularity enough to get on the list? I'm usually looking for a challenging or influential album, something that prompts others to shift boundaries. So, anyway, Frampton Comes Alive! just leaves me a bit cold. | ||||
| 184 | New York Dolls | New York Dolls | 5 |
3.13 |
| This album has an fantastic sense of fun about it - I can fully believe Sylvain Sylvain's view that producer Rundgren captured their live feel. Despite being labelled 'Mock Rock' by a UK TV presenter back in the day, this is a fine debut album that had a great influence on subsequent punk acts, especially those of New York. From the opening track onwards there's a huge energy rush in this album, in large part due to David Johansen's enthusiastic singing. Luv the album. | ||||
| 183 | Ogden's Nut Gone Flake | Small Faces | 5 |
2.99 |
| This is a great 1968 psychedelic album, and a bit of a game of two halves. The second side is a bit weird, and I'm in the camp that thinks Stanley Unwin's narration benefits the record. | ||||
| 182 | Sound of Silver | LCD Soundsystem | 2 |
3.42 |
| This is an album I was fully expecting to like. But playing it was so unrewarding - I spent the time trying to place all the influences. I disliked the vocals and I found the album strangely unengaging and repetitive. | ||||
| 181 | Graceland | Paul Simon | 3 |
3.75 |
| I remember this as being immensely popular but also rather controversial because of Simon's relationship with the South African musicians. That aside, it's a lovely sounding album, if not to my taste. The thing is that the mid-80s production is so perfect and so smooth that the songs just pass by. | ||||