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

[Omar 382]

Who's Next: 4.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 28

I was torn between giving this album 4/5 stars and giving it 4.5/5 stars... really close call, but I ended up bumping it up. It's just a great album.

The 5th studio album by English rock band The Who, Who's Next developed from the abandoned Lifehouse project- which was intended to be a multi-media science fiction rock opera whose abortion makes it one of the most legendary unreleased studio albums of all time (perhaps second only to The Beach Boys' abandonment of Smile). After Lifehouse caused extreme friction within the group (lead singer Roger Daltrey said The Who "were never nearer to breaking up"), and a near-nervous breakdown from lead guitarist and principal songwriter Pete Townshend, the group cancelled their Lifehouse project and Townshend persuaded the group to record the songs as a straightforward rock album. Owing to its straightforward nature, or perhaps in spite of it; many consider Who's Next the greatest Who album and one of the greatest albums of all time.

This is the first Who album I've ever listened to. I've listened to it probably 20 times over the last 4 months. Though the album is divided into Side 1 (the first 5 songs) and Side 2 (the last 4 songs), I personally break this album down into three parts: Its first part is the first 2 songs ("Baba O'Riley" and "Bargain"), both long at at or over 5 minutes and considered masterpieces. The next part would be the next 5 songs- none of them considered Who classics; and then the last part is the last 2 songs ("Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled Again") both extremely long (over 8 minutes) and both also considered Who classics. Believe it or not, using this classification system, my favorite part of the album would be the second part, with the relatively unknown songs, then the first part with the two opening classics, and then the last two songs (which are not my personal favorites).

I think the middle 5 songs are awesome. "My Wife," written and sung by bass guitarist John Entwistle is a great song, as is "Going Mobile." The first two songs of the album are obviously classics; I personally prefer "Bargain" to "Baba O'Riley." I'm not as big on the last two songs as many are, but I still like them both overall (this is the very rare album where there isn't a single bad song. Probably the worst, in my opinion, is "Getting In Tune," but that's still a more than serviceable song.)

Though I don't consider any songs on the album a top 250 song of all time/masterpiece, my favorite song on the album just misses that cut: "Bargain." I previously stated that my favorite love song is "God Only Knows" with the Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" and "Here, There, and Everywhere" right behind it. Well, we have to add "Bargain" to that list. Perhaps only Pete Townshend could write lyrics this beautiful, all surrounded by Entwistle's bass guitar:

I sit looking 'round
I look at my face in the mirror
I know I'm worth nothing without you
And like one and one don't make two
One and one make one
And I'm looking for that free ride to me
I'm looking for you

Like I said, great album. I particularly love the interplay between the hard, electric, reverberated sound and the gentler acoustic guitar that weaves in and out of the album. They juxtaposed the two sounds masterfully. I can't wait to listen to more Who shit.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

@Sir Robin Of Camelot
@beardown07
@Wazmankg
@Clayton
@SlinkyRedfoot
@outofyourmind
@TheDayMan
@broncosmitty

Any Badfinger fans?

Every time our folks took us to the pizza parlor, my sister and I played all the Badfinger stuff. "Baby Blue", "Day After Day", "No Matter What"... over and over and over. Very underrated and I still have their Greatest Hits in my play list.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Physical Graffiti: 3.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 73

My highest-reviewed LZ album thus far, though I think that if I listened to Untitled (3/5 stars), otherwise known as LZ IV again, I would have it higher than Graffiti. Suffice to say, I've gotten into Zeppelin.

I've listened to this album in its entirety 8 or 9 times, most recently on Wednesday while I was blasted at a ketamine infusion center. It's a good album to listen to either sober or high, with the only problem being that Side 4 REALLY falls off ("Night Flight," "The Wanton Song," "Boogie with Stu," "Black Country Woman," and "Sick Again"). Up until that point, the album is a borderline classic, but the inclusion of Side 4 and the decision to make it a double album has to be taken into account. It's kind of the like The Beatles (4/5 stars) also known as The White Album in that respect: keep it a single album, and it's a borderline masterpiece.

But Sides 1-3 (the first 10 songs) are fucking incredible. While I don't consider any of the songs on the album masterpieces (top 250 songs of all time), "The Rover," "House of the Holy," and "Trampled Under Foot" are all very close. I also have come to enjoy "Kashmir." Of course, I knew the song before ever listening to Physical Graffiti (I knew it when I was 8 or so technically- it was Chase Utley's walk-up song every time he came to bat). I used to think it was a little over long, but I've come to be able to enjoy Page's guitar and Bonham's drum-playing in between the lyrics, which are good in their own right (I mean, imagine being high as shit off ketamine and hearing "I'm a traveler of both time and space").

Also, "Bron-Yr-Aur" may be my all-time favorite instrumental song. It's nice that LZ can rock it with the best of any group, and then produce a song as sweet and subtle as "Bron-Yr-Aur" or "Going To California" or "Stairway To Heaven," (as overplayed as it is- it is still a fucking masterpiece).

Like I said, I'm officially in on Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant may be the best rock singer/vocalist of all time. For me, he is what makes the band so special. But that's probably because I just can't appreciate Bonham's drumming, or Page's guitar work, or even Jones' bass and keyboard work at the moment. I really like Led Zeppelin, but I believe that in due time I will come to like them even more when I realize the importance of the other three members' work. Led Zeppelin is awesome.

4.5 Stars. I saw Plant & Page twice in the 90's. Both times they opened with "The Wanton Song". I'll give you "Boogie With Stu" and maybe "Sick Again" not being "up there".

But - "In My Time Of Dying" alone makes up for Side 4. I still remember the first time I heard the album - at a buddy's house on his dad's PA system (his dad was in a band so this was usually how we did "first play" with a new album). As great as "Kashmir" is... as great as "Bron-Yr-Aur" is... as great as "The Rover" is... as great as the rest of Sides 1,2 & 3 are... I will NEVER forget the first time I heard "In My Time Of Dying"... cranked loud as hell on a PA system. Everything about Zeppelin is on that song... and after it finished I remember looking at my buddy and saying "Fuck!!!". Fired up another doobie and went to Side 2.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

So glad to see @SlinkyRedfoot and @Ricky Roma give props to "Animals". Doesn't get near the props that "Dark Side..." or "The Wall" or "Wish You Were Here" do but it damn sure should. Some of their most biting lyrics along with some of their most creative "jams"... It's probably my favorite Pink Floyd album as well.

 

[PatsFan2003]

Unless I missed it.

Jeff Beck's Truth not being on this list is a travesty.

One of the great rock albums of all time.

Truth (Jeff Beck album) - Wikipedia

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Any album recommendations for my appointment Monday?

Clearly late on this one... but I've been reconnecting with some of my old school Funk days recently. My brother-in-law has been gifting me with compilation sets throughout the year to compliment what I already have in the collection. The star so far has been the Curtis Mayfield set...

You should give "Curtis" a roll. It was his first solo effort after leaving the Impressions. As great as "Superfly" is (and make no mistake - it's GREAT), "Curtis" is every bit as great.

Put on some headphones and immerse yourself.

 

[Wazmankg]

Who's Next: 4.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 28

I was torn between giving this album 4/5 stars and giving it 4.5/5 stars... really close call, but I ended up bumping it up. It's just a great album.

The 5th studio album by English rock band The Who, Who's Next developed from the abandoned Lifehouse project- which was intended to be a multi-media science fiction rock opera whose abortion makes it one of the most legendary unreleased studio albums of all time (perhaps second only to The Beach Boys' abandonment of Smile). After Lifehouse caused extreme friction within the group (lead singer Roger Daltrey said The Who "were never nearer to breaking up"), and a near-nervous breakdown from lead guitarist and principal songwriter Pete Townshend, the group cancelled their Lifehouse project and Townshend persuaded the group to record the songs as a straightforward rock album. Owing to its straightforward nature, or perhaps in spite of it; many consider Who's Next the greatest Who album and one of the greatest albums of all time.

This is the first Who album I've ever listened to. I've listened to it probably 20 times over the last 4 months. Though the album is divided into Side 1 (the first 5 songs) and Side 2 (the last 4 songs), I personally break this album down into three parts: Its first part is the first 2 songs ("Baba O'Riley" and "Bargain"), both long at at or over 5 minutes and considered masterpieces. The next part would be the next 5 songs- none of them considered Who classics; and then the last part is the last 2 songs ("Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled Again") both extremely long (over 8 minutes) and both also considered Who classics. Believe it or not, using this classification system, my favorite part of the album would be the second part, with the relatively unknown songs, then the first part with the two opening classics, and then the last two songs (which are not my personal favorites).

I think the middle 5 songs are awesome. "My Wife," written and sung by bass guitarist John Entwistle is a great song, as is "Going Mobile." The first two songs of the album are obviously classics; I personally prefer "Bargain" to "Baba O'Riley." I'm not as big on the last two songs as many are, but I still like them both overall (this is the very rare album where there isn't a single bad song. Probably the worst, in my opinion, is "Getting In Tune," but that's still a more than serviceable song.)

Though I don't consider any songs on the album a top 250 song of all time/masterpiece, my favorite song on the album just misses that cut: "Bargain." I previously stated that my favorite love song is "God Only Knows" with the Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" and "Here, There, and Everywhere" right behind it. Well, we have to add "Bargain" to that list. Perhaps only Pete Townshend could write lyrics this beautiful, all surrounded by Entwistle's bass guitar:

I sit looking 'round
I look at my face in the mirror
I know I'm worth nothing without you
And like one and one don't make two
One and one make one
And I'm looking for that free ride to me
I'm looking for you

Like I said, great album. I particularly love the interplay between the hard, electric, reverberated sound and the gentler acoustic guitar that weaves in and out of the album. They juxtaposed the two sounds masterfully. I can't wait to listen to more Who shit.

Who's Next is a R&R masterpiece. There's not an iffy cut on it. If any album is worth 5/5 stars Who's Next is... imnsho

 

[Omar 382]

Blood On The Tracks: 3.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 16

I know some will shit on my 3.5/5 star rating.....

Physical Graffiti: 3.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 73

I can't like that rating.

........so I will start out by saying that I really like this album. 3.5/5 stars indicates a very good album/movie/TV season/whatever. But I do think it is ranked a little high on RS' list, mainly due to some of the less stellar songs on the album ("Meet Me in the Morning," "If You See Her, Say Hello," "Buckets of Rain"). Outside of those three songs, and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" which I find very clever and well-written, but not very moving, the rest of the songs on this album are great.

While I don't consider any of the songs on the album top 250 songs of all time, "Tangled up in Blue," "Idiot Wind," and "Shelter from the Storm" are all amazing songs and near-misses. My favorite of the three would be "Idiot Wind," which comes in the mold of "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Stuck Inside of Memphis with the Memphis Blues Again" (both easily top 250 songs- probably both top 50) in that it incorporates everything from a great Bob Dylan song: howling vocals, long length, vivid imagery, and great guitar work. My favorite lyrics from the entire album come from this song:

There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pouring out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars
After losing every battle

Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom

I fucking love that part of the song, where the guitar changes rhythm and you can hear the pain/anger/contempt in Dylan's voice.

My biggest complaint of the album, outside of the few mediocre songs in a 10-song CD, is that Dylan's voice quality lacks in certain parts of the album, foreshadowing what he sounds like today in 2018. I know that complaining about Bob Dylan's voice is verboten among Dylan fans, but I think his voice is one of the greatest aspects of his songs. When he sounds like a constipated, inbred redneck- like in "Meet Me in the Morning" or "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" it takes away from the otherwise decent to good lyrics.

I think this is a very good album, though a good tick below Blonde on Blonde and a larger tick below Highway 61 Revisited. Maybe ranked a little too high, but fuck it, it's Bob Dylan and three of the songs are pure Dylan masterpieces.

One last note on the album-

So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix

"Delacroix" is pronounced with a long "o"- like "Delaquah." Most non-French assholes will miss this one.

 

[Omar 382]

Who's Next is a R&R masterpiece. There's not an iffy cut on it. If any album is worth 5/5 stars Who's Next is... imnsho

Yeah, it is great. What are your top 3 Who albums? I know Tommy and Quadrophenia are up there for most everyone. I'm gonna have to give both a listen (and maybe review) soon.

 

[Voltaire26]

Blood On The Tracks: 3.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 16

I know some will shit on my 3.5/5 star rating.....






........so I will start out by saying that I really like this album. 3.5/5 stars indicates a very good album/movie/TV season/whatever. But I do think it is ranked a little high on RS' list, mainly due to some of the less stellar songs on the album ("Meet Me in the Morning," "If You See Her, Say Hello," "Buckets of Rain"). Outside of those three songs, and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" which I find very clever and well-written, but not very moving, the rest of the songs on this album are great.

While I don't consider any of the songs on the album top 250 songs of all time, "Tangled up in Blue," "Idiot Wind," and "Shelter from the Storm" are all amazing songs and near-misses. My favorite of the three would be "Idiot Wind," which comes in the mold of "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Stuck Inside of Memphis with the Memphis Blues Again" (both easily top 250 songs- probably both top 50) in that it incorporates everything from a great Bob Dylan song: howling vocals, long length, vivid imagery, and great guitar work. My favorite lyrics from the entire album come from this song:

There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pouring out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars
After losing every battle

Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom

I fucking love that part of the song, where the guitar changes rhythm and you can hear the pain/anger/contempt in Dylan's voice.

My biggest complaint of the album, outside of the few mediocre songs in a 10-song CD, is that Dylan's voice quality lacks in certain parts of the album, foreshadowing what he sounds like today in 2018. I know that complaining about Bob Dylan's voice is verboten among Dylan fans, but I think his voice is one of the greatest aspects of his songs. When he sounds like a constipated, inbred redneck- like in "Meet Me in the Morning" or "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" it takes away from the otherwise decent to good lyrics.

I think this is a very good album, though a good tick below Blonde on Blonde and a larger tick below Highway 61 Revisited. Maybe ranked a little too high, but fuck it, it's Bob Dylan and three of the songs are pure Dylan masterpieces.

One last note on the album-

So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix

"Delacroix" is pronounced with a long "o"- like "Delaquah." Most non-French assholes will miss this one.

You are going to need to produce some ID!!!! Damn you good!!!

 

[Omar 382]

You are going to need to produce some ID!!!!

Don't trigger me. Last time I heard that phrase, I was 20 and on my third liquor store at 2 AM when I pulled out my .45 and blasted that goddamn law-abiding Arab away to meet his 72 virgins

 

[Omar 382]

Aja: 4/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: 145

The fifth album from Steely Dan proved to be their most commercially successful, and also may have included the largest incorporation of jazz into their music. Over 40 different session musicians participated in the recording of the album.

The first four songs on this album are nearly flawless. "Deacon Blues" is the clear winner here, and is the lone masterpiece from the album IMO. The last three songs can't match the quality set up by the beginning of the album, but are still more than serviceable.

This album just sounds so fucking good. It's a landmark in hi-fi production for audiophiles. If you haven't heard it in a while, go give it a listen.

 

[Omar 382]

I've always considered Abbey Road the perfect album. There are only a handful of those. But start to finish, it's just perfect. There is absolutely nothing anyone could do that would make it a better album.

*I'd cut Octopus's Garden.

Reading back through the early posts....

"Octopus's Garden" is my favorite song from the first half. "Something" is right up there with it for me, but those two are far and away better than the more beloved songs on side one ("Here Comes The Sun," "Come Together").

 

[Omar 382]

Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)
We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden with you

 

[Wazmankg]

Yeah, it is great. What are your top 3 Who albums? I know Tommy and Quadrophenia are up there for most everyone. I'm gonna have to give both a listen (and maybe review) soon.

Just those 2 after Who's Next, plus many assorted individual cuts before and after those. I've never been a big fan of Townsend's more adventurous material and there are even a couple of cuts on both of those I'd just as soon never hear again, though they're concept albums and I guess the songs work for that purpose. But I'm not a big fan of concept albums either. To be clear, I think that instrumentally they're the best rock band ever but their material has often been a mixed bag for me.

 

[Omar 382]

The Final Cut: 4.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: N/A

The last Pink Floyd album to feature conceptual leader, primary songwriter, and main lead vocalist Roger Waters (and the only Pink Floyd album to not feature keyboardist Richard Wright), The Final Cut may not be PF's greatest album in their discography, but it is an amazing, emotionally heartbreaking album. Even with the departure of Wright (who is often regarded as the unsung hero of PF in a manner similar to George Harrison's contribution to The Beatles) and the lack of opportunities for David Gilmour's guitar work to take form (though he does get his licks in on a couple of tracks), The Final Cut triumphs on Waters' clear emotional connection to the lyrics and thematic content he constructed for the album.

The Final Cut was originally planned as a soundtrack album to Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd- The Wall, but after the Falklands War, Waters decided to change the concept of the album and write new material. He saw Margaret Thatcher's response to Argentina's invasion as jingoistic, and dedicated the new album to his father Eric Fletcher Waters- who died serving in WWII in Italy in February 1944. Waters saw Thatcher's response as a betrayal of "The Post-War Dream" (the first track on the album) in which those who died in WWII died so that no more lives due to war would have to be sacrificed- that the men who served in WWII's sacrifice was the last sacrifice that would ever have to be made. (Boy, were they wrong about that one.)

Strengthened by the overarching themes of betrayal, sadness, and pain due to the effects of war, Waters creates some of the most poignant songs ever recorded. The only song off the album that I consider a masterpiece (a top 250 song of all time) is the titular "The Final Cut," but "The Gunner's Dream," "Paranoid Eyes," and "Not Now John" are all great songs as well. "The Final Cut" (the song) was originally written to appear on The Wall (4.5/5 stars), but was reworked to describe the pain Waters went through himself growing up feeling that he was alone, being without a father, and how he almost killed himself, but could not go through with it and "make the final cut." Heart-wrenching, it also almost feels like it could be interpreted as Waters' goodbye song to Pink Floyd, as some of their most famous sounds are heard in the background while Waters sings the lyrics: dogs barking ("Dogs") and a clock ticking ("Time").

"Not Now John" is the only song to feature Gilmour singing lead vocals (co-lead with Waters), and also features a great guitar solo from him. Described by Rolling Stone Magazine as "one of the most ferocious performances Pink Floyd has ever put on record," it describes the world's leaders as a bunch of corrupt maniacs who are hellbent on world domination, which culminates in the nuclear holocaust detailed in the final song on the album "Two Suns in the Sunset." "The Final Cut" transitioning to "Not Now John" shows Waters' sadness turning into extreme anger and rage at the drop of a hat in a vein similar to Pink's emotional swings on The Wall. The last lyrics ever sung by Waters with Pink Floyd- lamenting the fallout of a nuclear holocaust- rank among his best (and saddest):

Finally I understand
The feelings of the few
Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end

The Final Cut is often considered throwaway Pink Floyd and a de facto Waters solo album. It received mixed reviews from critics, had no tour to support it, and was the lowest-selling Pink Floyd studio album in the United States and worldwide since Meddle. But I think it's among their top 3 albums of all time, and I recommend anyone that has not listened to it in a while to go back and give it a re-listen. You may be amazed at what you hear all after all these years.

 

[beardown07]

The Final Cut: 4.5/5 stars. Rank on RS Top 500 Albums List: N/A

The last Pink Floyd album to feature conceptual leader, primary songwriter, and main lead vocalist Roger Waters (and the only Pink Floyd album to not feature keyboardist Richard Wright), The Final Cut may not be PF's greatest album in their discography, but it is an amazing, emotionally heartbreaking album. Even with the departure of Wright (who is often regarded as the unsung hero of PF in a manner similar to George Harrison's contribution to The Beatles) and the lack of opportunities for David Gilmour's guitar work to take form (though he does get his licks in on a couple of tracks), The Final Cut triumphs on Waters' clear emotional connection to the lyrics and thematic content he constructed for the album.

The Final Cut was originally planned as a soundtrack album to Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd- The Wall, but after the Falklands War, Waters decided to change the concept of the album and write new material. He saw Margaret Thatcher's response to Argentina's invasion as jingoistic, and dedicated the new album to his father Eric Fletcher Waters- who died serving in WWII in Italy in February 1944. Waters saw Thatcher's response as a betrayal of "The Post-War Dream" (the first track on the album) in which those who died in WWII died so that no more lives due to war would have to be sacrificed- that the men who served in WWII's sacrifice was the last sacrifice that would ever have to be made. (Boy, were they wrong about that one.)

Strengthened by the overarching themes of betrayal, sadness, and pain due to the effects of war, Waters creates some of the most poignant songs ever recorded. The only song off the album that I consider a masterpiece (a top 250 song of all time) is the titular "The Final Cut," but "The Gunner's Dream," "Paranoid Eyes," and "Not Now John" are all great songs as well. "The Final Cut" (the song) was originally written to appear on The Wall (4.5/5 stars), but was reworked to describe the pain Waters went through himself growing up feeling that he was alone, being without a father, and how he almost killed himself, but could not go through with it and "make the final cut." Heart-wrenching, it also almost feels like it could be interpreted as Waters' goodbye song to Pink Floyd, as some of their most famous sounds are heard in the background while Waters sings the lyrics: dogs barking ("Dogs") and a clock ticking ("Time").

"Not Now John" is the only song to feature Gilmour singing lead vocals (co-lead with Waters), and also features a great guitar solo from him. Described by Rolling Stone Magazine as "one of the most ferocious performances Pink Floyd has ever put on record," it describes the world's leaders as a bunch of corrupt maniacs who are hellbent on world domination, which culminates in the nuclear holocaust detailed in the final song on the album "Two Suns in the Sunset." "The Final Cut" transitioning to "Not Now John" shows Waters' sadness turning into extreme anger and rage at the drop of a hat in a vein similar to Pink's emotional swings on The Wall. The last lyrics ever sung by Waters with Pink Floyd- lamenting the fallout of a nuclear holocaust- rank among his best (and saddest):

Finally I understand
The feelings of the few
Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end

The Final Cut is often considered throwaway Pink Floyd and a de facto Waters solo album. It received mixed reviews from critics, had no tour to support it, and was the lowest-selling Pink Floyd studio album in the United States and worldwide since Meddle. But I think it's among their top 3 albums of all time, and I recommend anyone that has not listened to it in a while to go back and give it a re-listen. You may be amazed at what you hear all after all these years.

Might be my favorite PF album.