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

[Ojb81]

Ok, so this fell by the wayside- but I thought I'd give a review of an album I've listened to in entirety recently.

Station To Station: 4/5 stars

I really enjoyed this one, even if it's not nearly as accessible as some of Bowie's other stuff (but still more accessible than some of his other stuff, like the instrumentals on "Low").

I feel like this album is largely forgotten in his catalog, but it's really worth checking out. My favorites are "Station To Station," "Golden Years," and "TVC 15." There's a lot of interesting backstories to a lot of the questions. Station To Station (the song) is 10 minutes long, but trust me, give it a listen.

Bowie claims to not remember hardly any of the making of this album, as he was insufflating mass quantities of cocaine every day (some say around a gram). While I don't condone such actions, it gives the songs their sort of manic feel that works for this particular album.

"insufflating" great word usage there

 

[Omar 382]

"insufflating" great word usage there

Oh, we're bourgeois coke users up in this piece

 

[Voltaire26]

No, but then (like most things in my life)- it's not my fault.

If Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" didn't suck so much ass, then I might have finished it and continued in my quest.

Come on!! Desolation Row is one of the best song ever

 

[Omar 382]

It was only an 8 song album, but (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd) might top my list for best album.

Free Bird
Simple Man
Tuesday's Gone
Gimme Three Steps
Mississippi Kid
Things Goin On(my favorite Skynyrd song, love the honky tonk piano)
Poison Whiskey
I Ain't the One

Not a bad track on the album and 3 of my 10 favorite rock songs.

I assume the 3 songs you're referring to are "Free Bird," "Gimme Three Steps," and "Simple Man." For whatever reason, and I know that it's regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time by many, but "Free Bird" does nothing for me. I like "Gimme Three Steps;" it's pretty good, not great to me though. "Simple Man" is very good, and easily my favorite song of the three you are (I'm assuming) referring to.

However, my favorite song by Lynyrd Skynyrd is easily "Sweet Home Alabama." It's usually written off as a catchy, simple cliched song- but if you actually listen to it, it's really insightful and interesting.

After these self-explanatory lyrics about Neil Young and his song "Southern Man" that put down the south as lazy racists.

"Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow"

the second verse starts with

In Birmingham they love the governor (boo, boo, boo)
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

Obviously, LS is referencing George Wallace and his racist policies. However, they covertly express their disapproval of him with the lines "Boo boo boo." The next line "Now we all did what we could do" says to me that the non-racist members of Alabama tried their best to oppose Wallace and what he stood for, but obviously activism does not always work.

The next two lines are fucking iconic (Now Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you?) At first, it seems like LS is saying that Nixon's actions don't bother them (maybe, showing support for the Republican Party). But on second glance, it seems to me that LS are not identifying with Nixon/the Republican Party, but rather, they are identifying as a simple, non-D.C. politician southerner, and identifying Nixon as a corrupt politician. By saying that Watergate doesn't bother them, they are basically saying that they are forgiving the actions caused by the richer folks up north. The north (or at least Neil Young) commits scandalous acts and engages in corruption, and still has the nerve to look down upon and label the entire South as all racists. LS asks the North if their hypocrisy bothers their conscience.

The song could be written today about modern Democrats/Hillary Clinton "basket of deplorable's" and still be just as apt.

Sorry for the rant. Oh, and if you think I'm virtue-signaling as a northerner in college; well fuck you, you dirty, in-bred, conservative, racist moron!!!

 

[Chewbaccer]

I assume the 3 songs you're referring to are "Free Bird," "Gimme Three Steps," and "Simple Man." For whatever reason, and I know that it's regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time by many, but "Free Bird" does nothing for me. I like "Gimme Three Steps;" it's pretty good, not great to me though. "Simple Man" is very good, and easily my favorite song of the three you are (I'm assuming) referring to.

However, my favorite song by Lynyrd Skynyrd is easily "Sweet Home Alabama." It's usually written off as a catchy, simple cliched song- but if you actually listen to it, it's really insightful and interesting.

After these self-explanatory lyrics about Neil Young and his song "Southern Man" that put down the south as lazy racists.

"Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow"

the second verse starts with

In Birmingham they love the governor (boo, boo, boo)
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

Obviously, LS is referencing George Wallace and his racist policies. However, they covertly express their disapproval of him with the lines "Boo boo boo." The next line "Now we all did what we could do" says to me that the non-racist members of Alabama tried their best to oppose Wallace and what he stood for, but obviously activism does not always work.

The next two lines are fucking iconic (Now Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you?) At first, it seems like LS is saying that Nixon's actions don't bother them (maybe, showing support for the Republican Party). But on second glance, it seems to me that LS are not identifying with Nixon/the Republican Party, but rather, they are identifying as a simple, non-D.C. politician southerner, and identifying Nixon as a corrupt politician. By saying that Watergate doesn't bother them, they are basically saying that they are forgiving the actions caused by the richer folks up north. The north (or at least Neil Young) commits scandalous acts and engages in corruption, and still has the nerve to look down upon and label the entire South as all racists. LS asks the North if their hypocrisy bothers their conscience.

The song could be written today about modern Democrats/Hillary Clinton "basket of deplorable's" and still be just as apt.

Sorry for the rant. Oh, and if you think I'm virtue-signaling as a northerner in college; well fuck you, you dirty, in-bred, conservative, racist moron!!!

Things Goin On, Simple Man and Mississippi Kid were the 3.

I like Free Bird, and Sweet Home Alabama, but as much as I love Skynyrd both of those have been ran into the ground, especially since they've even started playing Sweet Home Alabama on classic Country stations too around here for some reason.

 

[outofyourmind]

So
Did we get this wrapped up yet or more to go?

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Ok, so this fell by the wayside- but I thought I'd give a review of an album I've listened to in entirety recently.

Station To Station: 4/5 stars

I really enjoyed this one, even if it's not nearly as accessible as some of Bowie's other stuff (but still more accessible than some of his other stuff, like the instrumentals on "Low").

I feel like this album is largely forgotten in his catalog, but it's really worth checking out. My favorites are "Station To Station," "Golden Years," and "TVC 15." There's a lot of interesting backstories to a lot of the questions. Station To Station (the song) is 10 minutes long, but trust me, give it a listen.

Bowie claims to not remember hardly any of the making of this album, as he was insufflating mass quantities of cocaine every day (some say around a gram). While I don't condone such actions, it gives the songs their sort of manic feel that works for this particular album.

This one came out while I was in the Air Force and I was around a lot of Bowie fans. It had to grow on me at the time but it did. Certainly not my favorite Bowie album but it’s one that brings back plenty of memories and for that alone it sits in my collection.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

It was only an 8 song album, but (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd) might top my list for best album.

Free Bird
Simple Man
Tuesday's Gone
Gimme Three Steps
Mississippi Kid
Things Goin On(my favorite Skynyrd song, love the honky tonk piano)
Poison Whiskey
I Ain't the One

Not a bad track on the album and 3 of my 10 favorite rock songs.

As much as I love Skynyrd and as much as I love this album and as great as this album is, I might put "Second Helping" above it. Once again - 8 songs with absolutely no duds anywhere to be found.

Sweet Home Alabama
I Need You
Don't Ask Me No Questions
Workin' for MCA
The Ballad of Curtis Loew
Swamp Music
The Needle and the Spoon
Call Me the Breeze

If "Pronounced" was their "Hi - this is us" album, then "Second Helping" was the "We ain't going anywhere" masterpiece. And like you - 3 of my all timers on it (Sweet Home Alabama; Needle & The Spoon; Call Me The Breeze). It's been on my "10 albums I take to a deserted island" list from the first time I heard it.

Personal tastes... and neither are very wrong.

 

[kburjr]

I prefer live music myself so my favorite Skynyrd album is One More From The Road. More gut to them.

 

[beardown07]

No, but then (like most things in my life)- it's not my fault.

If Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" didn't suck so much ass, then I might have finished it and continued in my quest.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

I prefer live music myself so my favorite Skynyrd album is One More From The Road. More gut to them.

I went through 3 copies of the vinyl. Wore that sucker out over and over. Thank God for CD's and MP3's.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

No, but then (like most things in my life)- it's not my fault.

If Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" didn't suck so much ass, then I might have finished it and continued in my quest.

Might have missed the mark on that one, my friend.

Game changer in so many ways it's isn't funny.

 

[Omar 382]

Getting back into this, though the album I review today is not included in Rolling Stones' Top 500 list. Nevertheless, Their Satanic Majesties Request: 3.5/5 stars.

I listened to this one this morning all in one go. I really liked the first song, "Sing This All Together," but then I felt like the songs took a dip in quality from there, with "Citadel" being below average and "In Another Land" being average.

By the time I got to side 2 of the album come together, I started to get a sense of the album's feel. It's not a concept album like Elton John's "Tumbleweed Connection" was a concept album. But when listened to as a whole, I definitely felt like the album was construed with the same concept in mind for each song. On their own, the individual songs are nothing to marvel at ("She's a Rainbow" and "Sing This All Together" are probably the best), but when listened to continuously, the album has a weird, captivating aura to it.

I know that The Stones' entrance into psychedelia was, and maybe still is not well received. I don't think this album is as good as Sgt. Pepper (4/5 stars), but I view it in a completely different lens. Mick Jagger's voice is perfect for the genre, and I feel that with better production (the Stones self-produced the album) and more discipline in recording, this could have been a masterpiece.

What album review is next? There's no telling, but I will say that it should drop in an hour or so.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Their Satanic Majesties Request: 3.5/5 stars.

Definitely my least favorite of the early Stones works. I've listened to it in every state possible (altered and otherwise). Just never connected with it. In the end, while it was a decent attempt to bridge into that particular era of music, it just didn't register with me. Their next album did however. Maybe my favorite Stones album of the 60's.

And FWIW... "Tumbleweed Connection" - maybe in my Top 3 favorite Elton John albums. Absolutely love that one.

 

[Omar 382]

The Velvet Underground & Nico: 2.5/5 stars. I am not the hugest Lou Reed guy- some of his stuff is good, other stuff, meh. This is my first time hearing him as part of The Velvet Underground.

Overall, not a bad album, but certainly not a great one. The best songs include "Sunday Morning," "I'm Waiting For The Man," "Femme Fatale," and "Heroin." What's funny is that those four songs are great, not just good. What's a shame is that the rest of the album drags like it does. After "Heroin," the rest of the album is boring/forgettable, at least on a first listen, culminating in the longest song on the album, the mostly-instrumental "European Son," which is also one of the worst songs on the album.

I think that it's received such critical acclaim (13 on Rolling Stones Top 500 list) because it received no attention when it came out. I'm not saying that it's not a good album or that others can't like it more than I did (or that I won't like it more one day), I'm just saying that I don't think many people would objectively put this as their 13th favorite album, based on their own subjective tastes.

I've got a 30 minute drive downtown (one way) for a doctor's appointment, another album to listen to, and then a review to write. I'll give everyone a hint: the first name of the guitarist of the band this album comes from is my first name as well.

 

[Omar 382]

@outofyourmind alert the masses. I'm on a roll today, already two down, at least one more, maybe two, in the works to be released no later than tonight

 

[Omar 382]

Led Zeppelin: 2.5/5 stars. The first three songs of this album were pretty bad. So bad that they had me on my Spotify app, holding my dick in my hand, going

Luckily, the album picks up speed towards the end. I think, also, I understood more what they were going for. Though the rock music is better at the end, still, heavy rock and the lack of lyrics is kind of annoying. Also, Robert Plant's whaling voice is so annoying. He sounds like a girl crying sometimes.

I was ok with this album, but certainly not a favorite. I like my Robert Plant's vocals and my Jimmy Page's guitar solos to be a lot more somber (read: Stairway To Heaven) than the work on this album.

Another album review coming tonight.

 

[beardown07]

Led Zeppelin: 2.5/5 stars. The first three songs of this album were pretty bad. So bad that they had me on my Spotify app, holding my dick in my hand, going

Luckily, the album picks up speed towards the end. I think, also, I understood more what they were going for. Though the rock music is better at the end, still, heavy rock and the lack of lyrics is kind of annoying. Also, Robert Plant's whaling voice is so annoying. He sounds like a girl crying sometimes.

I was ok with this album, but certainly not a favorite. I like my Robert Plant's vocals and my Jimmy Page's guitar solos to be a lot more somber (read: Stairway To Heaven) than the work on this album.

Another album review coming tonight.

 

[Omar 382]

Shit... do people like Led Zeppelin (1969)? @Used 2 B Hu what's my next move here? Can I do that 4-D chess thing that Trump does and say I only did it all in order to get a better deal at the China King Buffet?

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Shit... do people like Led Zeppelin (1969)? @Used 2 B Hu what's my next move here? Can I do that 4-D chess thing that Trump does and say I only did it all in order to get a better deal at the China King Buffet?

Better move to 5-D...

I do own several discs of Zeppelin, but I don't listen to them as much as when I was young and full of hormone therapy shots