Uncut Magazine - 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time

I have several copies and it is good, but there are better IMO. 'Stolen Moments' is gorgeous, but nothing else on the album comes near it for me. That line-up is the crême de la crême and they all have made better records. Nothing personal.

 

"Ray of Light" is an awesome album. She had great production on that one, and her singing was excellent (she improved vastly after taking voice lessons for the "Evita" film).

But the Madonna record that turned me around to her was "The Immaculate Collection", which my wife played in the car on a long trip several years ago. I think it got me because hearing all the hits together in one place makes her approach more identifiable, and things that once seemed like limitations reveal themselves as stylistic choices. Songs that used to sound vaporous and generic start to reveal a lightly built R&B skeleton, and singing that used to sound faceless and nondescript starts to sound straightforwardly plain, direct, and immediate. It's one of the best and most effective compilations I've heard by any artist.

 

I completely agree; her vocals really were improved after Evita. Thanks for pointing that out; it had never occurred to me before.

I also agree with you regarding 'The Immaculate Collection'; hearing all of those hit songs alongside each other really is impressive, and it shows quite how diverse and successful she has been.

 

I agree, although not being a subscriber I cannot read the text.

One can tell from the total absence of metal, apart from AC/DC’s predictable if seminal Back in Black, or hardcore punk just what age the reviewers are. A writer called “janitor-x” around a dozen years ago demonstrated to me that hardcore, metal, and industrial, not “alternative” college rock nor those acclaimed commercially unsuccessful classics from the late 1960s like Astral Weeks, Nick Drake or the Velvet Underground, were the real cutting-edge of generations born after 1960:

Then, in reference to a major critical favorite from the 1990s, which was actually not chosen by Uncut for their Top 200 list:

Ever since then – and despite being no fan of hardcore or metal or industrial – I have long been suspicious of rock critics too focused on the classics of the 1960s, although I do try to be open to them. At the same time, I have tried to understand why metal and industrial, plus hardcore punk to a lesser extent, have had so much impact upon those generations born after 1960, despite not being recognised by the mainstream of the popular music press. When one sees a list completely neglect even the most famous records of these genres (especially hardcore since it was the most critically respected), one can tell a great deal.

 

No mention of the Yardbirds in that list..."Roger the Engineer" should be in there somewhere.

 

That janitor-x stuff. Am speechless. Will make a note to skip over if I ever stumble over that "criticism ".

 

Well that's Uncut's area.
How much "White. Male. Rock." would be in a hip hop/Rn'b magazine's top 200 albums?

 

100. Laura Nyro - Eli & The Thirteenth Confession - 1968
170. Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry - 1969

 

Not hard to skip, AFAIK he's just an amateur reviewer that posts quite a few reviews at Amazon, and while I don't agree with much he says, I think he does bring kind of a refreshing perspective, and seems passionate about what he believes.

 

I think these kinds of lists are fascinating in that they allow you to track the critical popularity of certain acts over time.. same reason i get a kick out of comparing all those different editions of the Rolling Stone Record Guide.

With this list I would say (at least in the UK I presume) there has been a major decline of love for acts like the Doors, Zappa, Zombies, Madonna and Yardbirds and a huge boost for Joni Mitchell and the Smiths.

 

I have 31...out of the 3000 albums I own.

 

It's just one magazine out of many, and it wasn't driven by any kind of editorial consensus, it was just a survey of 59 people that work for Uncut, and they were polled for their top 50 albums, and then the lists were amalgamated to this top 200. I don't think it really says anything about anything, and I don't think it was intended to. Just a slightly new twist on a tired old music magazine page filler.

There's a 10 Albums You Can't Be Without thread going up and down the pages here now, and I can assure you the Doors are still well loved if that thread is any indication. No mention yet of the Yardbirds though.

 

True, but if you read the article that introduces the poll results they mention that they made an effort to include as many critics as possible who participated in similar polls (NME I think) in the 70s and 80s, so there is some kind of consensus.

They also show where an album placed (if at all) in those earlier polls.

 

Yea, I read it and posted some of that earlier in the thread. AFAIK the participants were still all Uncut people, it's just that reviewers often move around, so some of them have worked at other places, and have voted in other polls, and some are apparently pretty old. I still think it comes off as a haphazard list with little focus. I did enjoy reading some of the little blurbs even though they were mostly recycled. And as I mentioned earlier, I can't say too much bad about a top 200 that includes Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs

 

Yes, I agree that it comes across pretty random at times.

 

Pet Sounds & Revolver will continue to sit at the top of these "Greatest albums of all time" lists.

 

Piss off Uncut!

 

For a while in the late 70s and early 80s polls there was brief competition from "Never Mind the Bollocks" but that seems to have dried up.

 

That's still considered one of the most influential and groundbreaking albums of all time.

 

These lists keep looking sillier and sillier as the years go by! A whole lotta good grief indeed!

 

Thanks. I won't take it personally.

 

Never really cared for pet sounds

 

Wow I have 54. Lots of bands and artists missing from this list for some reason.

 

I'm sure I'm not alone in blaming John Lydon for not listening to anything before 1977 in my early years, but in 1995 I decided to finally get serious with some music education when Virgin had a display of the current Mojo Critics Choice Top 100 Albums. Without that decision I'd still have no Joni, Led Zep, Bob, Per Ubu, Carole, Elvis, Queen, Todd, Doors, Muddy, Fairport and lots of others that would have eluded me at least for several years. This list throws up some new ones for me so I'm getting me some Laura Nyro, David Crosby, Gene Clark and, no doubt, all of the other missing albums over time.

 

Quite good I think. Appreciate relatively high inclusions of The Band's eponymous, Neil Young's "On the Beach" and the Kinks' "Village Green," all usually underrated (or not even included) in these type of lists (though would be even higher in mine).

Glaring omission: Bruce Springsteen's best album, "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle."