Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Album-by-Album Thread

#333 Bill Withers - Still Bill
An album lying somewhere in the great wilderness; I have no real feelings about it. I enjoy some of the funkier material such as the opener Lonely Town, Lonely Street, but there's nothing that leaves a particular impression.

#332 Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley
Going against the grain, I'm also not that hot on Elvis' debut either. There is a balance issue between the firebrand rock 'n' roll and schmaltzy ballads, with too much of the latter. It's hip-shaking and influential and I can respect all that, but the album fails the main litmus test - I just don't enjoy it that much.

#331 Madonna - Like a Prayer
Starts off in fine fashion with the title track and has some other good material such as Cherish, but by the mid-point of the album I am bored. I'm not overly keen on Madonna as a vocalist which doesn't help. A small package of her early-career hits is about all I need to hear of Madonna.

Three strikes and out for this batch.

 

Madonna - Like a Prayer - For nostalgic purposes, I own the first three or four Madonna albums. The problem with some of those early outings is that there is a clear distinction between the obvious hits, where all the bells and whistles are appropriately applied, and the more or less pleasant filler. The plus to this is that there are several hits per album and they are all good enough to make up for the less noteworthy tracks. Then came Like a Prayer, which I think is the first one that feels like a proper album intended to be great from beginning to end, and not just a vehicle to house the hits. That said, I don't care for every song on here, particularly Express Yourself...though I'll take it over anything Miley Cirus and the like have ever churned out. THAT being said, there are lots of great songs on here: the infectious and darling Cherish, the driving pop-tastic Till Death Do Us Part, the soulful Promise to Try, the dreamy pseudo blues of Oh Father, and the powerhouse title track that might be the best moment of her career. 4/5

 

330. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966)
Producer: Andrew Loog Oldman

Aftermath is a studio album by the English rockband the Rolling Stones. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by Decca Records and in the United States on 2 July by London Records. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and closely follows a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and fame rivalling that of their contemporaries the Beatles.

Aftermath is considered by music scholars to be an artistic breakthrough for the Rolling Stones. It is their first album to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Brian Jones emerged as a key contributor and experimented with instruments not usually associated with popular music, including the sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, Japanese koto and marimbas, as well as guitar and harmonica. Along with Jones' instrumental textures, the Stones incorporated a wider range of chords and stylistic elements beyond their Chicago blues and R&Binfluences, such as pop, folk, country, psychedelia, Baroque and Middle Eastern music. Influenced by intense love affairs and a demanding touring itinerary, Jagger and Richards wrote the album around psychodramatic themes of love, sex, desire, power and dominance, hate, obsession, modern society and rock stardom. Women feature as prominent characters in their often dark, sarcastic, casually offensive lyrics.

The album's release was briefly delayed by controversy over the original packaging idea and title – Could You Walk on the Water? – due to the London label's fear of offending Christians in the USwith its allusion to Jesus walking on water. In response to the lack of creative control, and without another idea for the title, the Stones bitterly settled on Aftermath, and two different photos of the band were used for the cover to each edition of the album. The UK release featured a run-time of more than 52 minutes, the longest for a popular music LP up to that point. The American edition was issued with a shorter track listing, substituting the single "Paint It Black"[nb 1] in place of four of the British version's songs, in keeping with the industry preference for shorter LPs in the US market at the time.

Aftermath was an immediate commercial success in both the UK and the US, topping the British albums chart for eight consecutive weeks and eventually achieving platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. An inaugural release of the album era and a rival to the contemporaneous impact of the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965), it reflected the youth culture and values of 1960s Swinging London and the burgeoning counterculture while attracting thousands of new fans to the Rolling Stones. The album was also highly successful with critics, although some listeners were offended by the derisive attitudes towards female characters in certain songs. Its subversive music solidified the band's rebellious rock image while pioneering the darker psychological and social content that glam rock and British punk rock would explore in the 1970s. Aftermath has since been considered the most important of the Stones' early, formative music and their first classic album, frequently ranking on professional lists of the greatest albums.

Background
In 1965, the Rolling Stones' popularity increased markedly with a series of international hit singles written by the band's lead singer Mick Jagger and their guitarist Keith Richards.[2] This success attracted the attention of Allen Klein, an American businessman who became their US representative in August while Andrew Loog Oldham, the group's manager, continued in the role of promoter and record producer.[3] One of Klein's first actions on the band's behalf was to force Decca Records to grant a $1.2 million royalty advance to the group, bringing the members their first signs of financial wealth and allowing them to purchase country houses and new cars.[4] Their October–December 1965 tour of North America was the group's fourth and largest tour there up to that point.[5] According to the biographer Victor Bockris, through Klein's involvement, the concerts afforded the band "more publicity, more protection and higher fees than ever before".[6]

By this time, the Rolling Stones had begun to respond to the increasingly sophisticated music of the Beatles, in comparison to whom they had long been promoted by Oldham as a rougher alternative.[7] With the success of the Jagger-Richards-penned singles "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud" (1965) and "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966), the band increasingly rivalled the Beatles' musical and cultural influence.[8] The Stones' outspoken, surly attitude on songs like "Satisfaction" alienated the Establishment detractors of rock music, which, as the music historian Colin King explains, "only made the group more appealing to those sons and daughters who found themselves estranged from the hypocrisies of the adult world – an element that would solidify into an increasingly militant and disenchanted counterculture as the decade wore on."[9] Like other contemporary British and American rock acts, with Aftermath the Stones sought to create an album as an artistic statement, inspired by the Beatles' achievements with their December 1965 release Rubber Soul – an LP that Oldham later described as having "changed the musical world we lived in then to the one we still live in today".

Within the Stones, tensions were rife as Brian Jonescontinued to be viewed by fans and the press as the band's leader, a situation that Jagger and Oldham resented.[12] The group dynamics were also affected by some of the band members' romantic entanglements.[13] Jones' new relationship with the German model Anita Pallenberg, which had taken on sadomasochistic aspects, helped renew his confidence and encourage him to experiment musically, while her intelligence and sophistication both intimidated and elicited envy from the other Stones.[14] Jagger came to view his girlfriend, Chrissie Shrimpton, as inadequate by comparison; while Jagger sought a more glamorous companion commensurate with his newfound wealth, the aura surrounding Jones and Pallenberg contributed to the end of his and Shrimpton's increasingly acrimonious relationship.[15] Richards' relationship with Linda Keith also deteriorated as her drug use escalated to include Mandrax and heroin.[16] The band's biographer Stephen Davis describes these entanglements as a "revolution under way within the Stones", adding that "Anita Pallenberg restored the faltering Brian Jones to his place in the band and in the Rolling Stones mythos. Keith Richards fell in love with her too, and their romantic triad realigned the precarious political axis within the Stones."

Writing and Recording
Aftermath is the first Stones LP to be composed entirely of original material by the group.[18] All the songs were, at Oldham's instigation, written by and credited to the songwriting partnership of Jagger and Richards.[19] The pair wrote much of the material during the October–December 1965 tour and recording began immediately after the tour ended.[20] According to the band's bassist Bill Wyman in his book Rolling with the Stones, they originally conceived Aftermath as the soundtrack for a planned film, Back, Behind and in Front. The plan was abandoned after Jagger met the potential director, Nicholas Ray, and disliked him.[21][nb 2] The recording sessions took place at RCA Studios in Los Angeles on 6–10 December 1965 and, following promotion for their "19th Nervous Breakdown" single and an Australasian tour, on 3–12 March 1966.[24] Charlie Watts, the group's drummer, told the press that they had completed 10 songs during the first block of sessions; according to Wyman's book, at least 20 were recorded in March.[25] Among the songs were four tracks issued on singles by the Rolling Stones in the first half of 1966, the A-sides of which were "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint It Black".[26][nb 1] "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' on a Fence" were also recorded during the sessions but were not released until the 1967 US album Flowers.[27]

Referring to the atmosphere at RCA, Richards told Beat Instrumental magazine in February 1966: "Our previous sessions have always been rush jobs. This time we were able to relax a little, take our time."[28]The main engineer for the album, Dave Hassinger, was pivotal in making the group feel comfortable during the sessions, as he let them experiment with instrumentals and team up with session musicians like Jack Nitzsche to variegate their sound. Wyman recalled that Nitzsche and Jones would pick up instruments that were in the studio and experiment with sounds for each song. According to Jagger, Richards was writing a lot of melodies and the group would perform them in different ways, which were mainly thought out in the studio.[29] In the recollection of the engineer Denny Bruce, the songs often developed through Nitzsche organising the musical ideas on piano.[30] Wyman was later critical of Oldham for nurturing Jagger and Richards as songwriters to the exclusion of the rest of the band.[31] The bassist also complained that "Paint It Black" should have been credited to the band's collective pseudonym, Nanker Phelge, rather than Jagger–Richards, since the song originated from a studio improvisation by himself, Jones and Watts, with Jones providing the melody line.[32]

Jones proved important in shaping the album's tone and arrangements, as he experimented with instruments that were unusual in popular music, such as the marimba, sitar and Appalachian dulcimer.[33] Davis cites the "acid imagery and exotic influences" on Rubber Soul, particularly George Harrison's use of the Indian sitar on "Norwegian Wood", as the inspiration for Jones' experimentation with the instrument in January 1966: "One night George put the massive sitar in Brian's hands, and within an hour Brian was working out little melodies."[13] According to Nitzsche, Jones deserved a co-writing credit for "Under My Thumb", which Nitzsche recalled as being an unoriginal-sounding three-chord sequence until Jones discovered a Mexican marimba left behind from a previous session, and transformed the piece by providing its central riff.[34] Wyman agreed, saying, "Well, without the marimba part, it's not really a song, is it?"[35]

During the recording sessions, Richards and Oldham dismissed Jones' interest in exotic instrumentation as an affectation.[36] According to the music journalist Barbara Charone, writing in 1979, everyone connected with the Stones credited Jones for "literally transforming certain records with some odd magical instrument".[37] While Nitzsche was shocked at how cruelly they treated Jones, he later said that Jones was sometimes absent or incapacitated by drugs.[38] Hassinger recalled seeing Jones often "laying on the floor, stoned or on some trip" and unable to play, but that his bandmates would wait for him to leave rather than entering into an argument as other bands would.[39]

Because of Jones' distractions, Richards ended up playing most of the guitar parts for Aftermath, making it one of the first albums to have him do so. Richards later said he found the challenge musically rewarding but resented Jones for his unprofessional attitude when the band were under extreme pressure to record and maintain a hectic touring schedule.[40] On some songs, Richards supported Wyman's bass lines with a fuzz bass part, which the music historians Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon suggest was influenced by Paul McCartney's use on the track "Think for Yourself" (from Rubber Soul).[41] Aftermath was also the first Stones LP to be recorded in true stereo, as opposed to electronically recreated stereo.

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
Blender 5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music UK: 4/5
US: 3/5
Entertainment Weekly A–
The Great Rock Discography 7/10
MusicHound Rock 5/5
Music Story 5/5
NME 7/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5
Tom Hull – on the Web UK: A−
US: A

Audience Reception
79/100 from 264 users, #34 for 1966 - AlbumOfTheYear.org
8.8/10 from 2,405 users - AllMusic
US: 3.6/5 from 157 users
UK: 3.9/5 from 46 users - Musicboard
3.73/5 from 9,958 users, #39 for 1966, #2,912 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath - The "first" "great" Stones album, this one is certainly a dividing line, or maybe middle ground between their early years and when they fully "became the Stones," which is of course all based on preference and point of view...but I guess the real significance is that these are all original tunes, which was of course big at the time, but in some ways it very much shows. Some of these songs are pleasantly sweet (Lady Jane) or cheeky slight fun (Stupid Girl), but for me still shows some jitters in being responsible for an album of all originals. What's more, influences are still heavily felt, such as Doncha Bother Me or Flight 505 or Going Home (a superior elder brother to Midnight Rambler), and that's completely fine. But where they really come alive is when they sound less like something else - I Am Waiting, High and Dry, Under My Thumb, and Paint It Black, their first dark masterpiece. This is a highly important, and not at all shabby, album in the development of the Rolling Stones, but its necessity to be on this list with half a dozen albums from them that, to me, kick this one in the shins, seems excessive - unless of course it's because of said development. Anyway, second shelf Stones for me, but still a 4/5

 

AFTERMATH (Rolling Stones)
The first of three generally underrated Stones album (the others being BETWEEN THE BUTTONS and HER SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST). The general consensus is the next few albums are their best, but for me this trio are the best Rolling Stones albums, mainly because of the contributions of Brian Jones adds a degree of musical variety that is missing from the 68 and on albums. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS is my favorite Stones album, but this one is not far behind.
GRADE: A

My Current Top 50+ Albums:
1. THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
2. SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)
3. ALL THINGS MUST PASS (George Harrison)
4. NUGGETS (Various Artists)
5. RAM (Paul & Linda McCartney)
6. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS (Rolling Stones)
7. GREATEST HITS (Sly & the Family Stone)
8. THE CARS (The Cars)
9. RADIO CITY (Big Star)
10. #1 RECORD (Big Star)
11. ODELAY (Beck)
12. COSMO'S FACTORY (CCR)
13. ROCKEY TO RUSSIA (Ramones)
14. DOOKIE (Green Day)
15. LET IT BE (The Beatles)
16. ANTHOLOGY (The Temptations)
17. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Neil Young)
18. ANTHOLOGY (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
19. YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (Aretha Franklin)
20. THE STOOGES (The Stooges)
21. SURREALISTIC PILLOW (Jefferson Airplane)
22. MY AIM IS TRUE (Elvis Costello)
23. SOMETHING/ANYTHING (Todd Rundgren)
24. BROTHERS IN ARMS (Dire Straits)
25. CLOSE TO THE EDGE (Yes)
26. PROUNCED LENHERD SKINNERD (Lynryd Skynryd)
27. ELEPHANT (The White Stripes)
28. ABRAXAS (Santana)
29. MOVING PICTURES (Rush)
30. KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS (Robert Johnson)
31. DICTIONARY OF SOUL (Otis Redding)
22. SOME GIRLS (Rolling Stones)
33. CURRENTS (Tame Impala)
34. BEACH BOYS TODAY (The Beach Boys)
35. ELVIS PRESLEY (Elvis Presley)
36. BO DIDDLEY/GO BO DIDDLEY (Bo Diddley)
37. PARKLIFE (Blur)
38. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins)
39. 19 LOVE SONGS (Magnetic Fields)
40, LUCINDA WILLIAMS (Lucinda Williams)
41. HEART LIKE A WHEEL (Linda Rondstadt)
42. PAUL SIMON (Paul Simon)
43. LIKE A PRAYER (Madonna)
44. SHERYL CROW (Sheryl Crow)
45. BACK TO MONO (Phil Spector w/various artists)
46. NICK OF TIME (Bonnie Raitt)
47. THE ANTHOLOGY (Muddy Waters)
48. PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES (Ronettes)
49. MOANING IN THE MOONLIGHT (Howlin Wolf)
50. MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDING AND FOOD (Talking Heads)
51. ANOTHER GREEN WORLD (Brian Eno)

I'm increasing the number of albums on my list and won't make further cuts until I reach 60.

 

Aftermath is the first of the Stones' great albums, I think most agree, including me. It's stellar. Such great songwriting. What a year 1966 was, it seems like every single one of the mid sixties bands that were great and who I love -- Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds, Kinks, Stones, plus Bobby D. himself came out with masterpieces. Aftermath's one flaw ("Goin' home" way too long) is easily fixed. I prefer listening to a hybrid American/UK playlist personally, because "Mother's Little Helper" and "Paint It, Black" are both utter classics.

5/5

1. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
2. #1 Record
3. Radio City
4. I Do Not Want What I haven't Got
5. If You're Feeling Sinister
6. Brian Wilson Presents "SMiLE"
7. Paul Simon
8. Aftermath
9. My Aim Is True
10. Ram
11. Wild Honey
12. The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
13. The Basement Tapes
14. John Wesley Harding
15. Surfer Rosa
16. Everyone Thinks This Is Nowhere
17. Village Green Preservation Society
18. Something Else
19. Gilded Palace Of Sin
20. Today!
21. Let It Be
22. Siamese Dream
23. Parklife
24. Dookiee
25. Music Of My Mind
26. Sheryl Crow
27. Goo
28. Let's Get It On

 

'Aftermath' is a fantastic album, the first truly great Stones one and , sadly, Brian's final shining moment.

 

Madonna was quirkily interesting on her very early 45s. By the time of Like A Prayer though that fluid poptasticness had solidified into a hard-sell, faux-emotive, glossy billboard. The album does nothing for me.

Aftermath was The Stones first good-to-great album. Jagger & Richards finally break through on the songwriting front, the band noticeably extend their musical palette, and Brian comes to the fore. There's a touch of filler, and Goin Home almost - but not quite - capsizes it. Overall though, it's a nifty pop album.....and one of their best efforts.

 

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath

My least favourite TRS LP. No further comments lol just not interesting in the slightest to me.




1. Mobb Deep - The Infamous (9/10)
2. X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents (9/10)
3. Massive Attack - Mezzanine (9/10)
4. GZA - Liquid Swords (9/10)
5. Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (9/10)
6. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (9/10)
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (9/10)
8. The Roots - Things Fall Apart (9/10)
9. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (9/10)
10. Suicide - Suicide (8/10)
11. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um (8/10)
12. Pixies - Surfer Rosa (8/10)
13. M.I.A. - Arular (8/10)
14. Black Flag - Damaged (8/10)
15. Madvillain - Madvillainy (8/10)
16. Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (8/10)
17. Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat (8/10)
18. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (8/10)
19. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (8/10)
20. J Dilla - Donuts (8/10)
21. Brian Eno - Another Green World (8/10)
22. CAN - Ege Bamyasi (8/10)
23. Sonic Youth - Goo (8/10)
24. Eminem - The Slim Shady LP (8/10)
25. 2Pac - All Eyez on Me (8/10)
26. Green Day - Dookie (8/10)
27. The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today! (8/10)
28. The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (8/10)
29. Brian Wilson - Smile (8/10)

 

329. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing….. (1996)
Producer: DJ Shadow

Endtroducing..... is the debut album by American music producer DJ Shadow, released on September 16, 1996, by Mo' Wax. It is an instrumental hip hopwork composed almost entirely of samples from vinyl records. DJ Shadow produced Endtroducingover two years, using an Akai MPC60 sampler and little other equipment. He edited and layered samples to create new tracks of varying moods and tempos.

In the United Kingdom, where DJ Shadow had already established himself as a rising act, Endtroducing received praise from music journalists at the time of its release, and reached the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Mo' Wax issued four singles from the album, including the chart hits "Midnight in a Perfect World" and "Stem". It took considerably longer for Endtroducing to find success in the United States. After promoting the album and returning to his hometown of Davis, California, DJ Shadow devoted his time to creating new music. During this period, interest in Endtroducing began to build among the American music press, and it peaked at number 37 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Endtroducing was ranked highly on various lists of the best albums of 1996, and has been acclaimed by critics as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. It is considered a landmark recording in instrumental hip hop, with DJ Shadow's sampling techniques and arrangements leaving a lasting influence.

Background
As a high school student, DJ Shadow experimented with creating music from samples using a four-trackrecorder,[1] inspired by sample-based music such as It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) by the hip hop group Public Enemy.[2] He began his music career in 1989 as a disc jockey for the University of California, Davis campus radio station KDVS.[3] His KDVS work impressed A&Rrepresentative Dave "Funken" Klein, who signed him to the Hollywood Basic label to produce music and remixes.[2] DJ Shadow's output for Hollywood Basic, including the 1993 single "Entropy" and his work with the SoleSides crew, brought him to the attention of English musician James Lavelle, who signed DJ Shadow to his Mo' Wax label.[4]

DJ Shadow's first two singles for Mo' Wax, "In/Flux" (1993) and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)" (1994), utilized samples from "used-bin" vinyl records, blending elements of hip hop, funk, soul, jazz, rock, and ambient music.[5] The singles were acclaimed by the British music press, and soon DJ Shadow and other Mo' Wax artists came to be viewed as leading practitioners of a nascent genre that the press termed "trip hop"[6][7] – a name coined by Mixmagjournalist Andy Pemberton in June 1994 to describe "In/Flux" and similar tracks being played in London clubs.[8][9] In the summer of 1994, DJ Shadow started producing his first album.[10] He completed around half of the record, but Mo' Wax opted to instead issue the finished music as a single – "What Does Your Soul Look Like" – the following year.[10][11]As a result, DJ Shadow began work on his debut album anew.[10] He was intent on capturing the same feel of his three Mo' Wax singles, and chose the title Endtroducing..... for the album as "it signified the fourth and final chapter in a series of pieces that I was doing for Mo' Wax with a certain sound, a certain tone, a certain atmosphere."

Production
DJ Shadow began production on Endtroducing in 1994 in his California apartment, before moving to the Glue Factory, the San Francisco home studio of his colleague Dan the Automator.[13] Shadow strove to create an entirely sample-based album.[2] His setup was minimal, with only three main pieces of equipment: an Akai MPC60 sampler, a Technics SL-1200 turntable and an Alesis ADAT tape recorder.[2]He used the MPC60 for almost all composition.[14]DJ Shadow bought it in 1992 at the suggestion of DJ Stretch Armstrong, who recommended it as a more advanced alternative to the "industry standard" sampler at the time, the E-mu SP-1200; according to DJ Shadow, the SP-1200 "had been around for like four years, the sound was well established, and it had some real audio limitations in terms of the bit rate and stuff".[14]

DJ Shadow sampled vinyl albums and singles accumulated from his trips to Rare Records, a record shop in his native Sacramento, where he spent several hours each day searching for music.[15] His routine is depicted in the 2001 documentary film Scratch.[16] The Endtroducing album cover is a photograph taken at Rare Records by B Plus, showing producer Chief Xcel and rapper Lyrics Born(the latter wearing a wig), who like DJ Shadow were members of the SoleSides collective.[15][17][18] ABB Records founder Beni B (wearing a baseball cap) is also seen in the full version of the photograph, which appears in the album's liner notes.[17]

Endtroducing samples music of various genres, including jazz, funk, and psychedelia, as well as films and interviews.[19] DJ Shadow programmed, chopped, and layered samples to create tracks.[20]He opted to sample more obscure selections, making it a rule to avoid sampling popular material.[2] Though he also used samples of prominent artists such as Björk and Metallica,[21] DJ Shadow said that "if I use something obvious, it's usually only to break my own rules."[2] Minor vocal contributions were provided by Lyrics Born and another SoleSides member, rapper Gift of Gab,[22]as well as DJ Shadow's then-girlfriend Lisa Haugen.[23] He finished recording Endtroducing in early 1996.

Composition
DJ Shadow describes his albums as "really varied", and said of Endtroducing: "I feel like 'Organ Donor' sounds nothing like 'The Number Song' which sounds nothing like 'Midnight' and on and on."[25]He said he was often depressed during the production of the album and that his "feelings of self-doubt and self-esteem come through in the music."[26][27]

Endtroducing is opened by "Best Foot Forward", a sound collage of record scratches and hip hop vocal samples.[24] "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" is built around a looped piano line sampled from Jeremy Storch's "I Feel a New Shadow",[28] with various other musical elements entering throughout the track, including samples of an interview with drummer George Marsh,[28] a women's choir, bass fills, electronically altered drum kicks, and funk guitar.[19][29] "The Number Song" uses multiple drum breaks and vocal samples of count-offs.[30]"Changeling" deviates from the previous uptempo tracks, incorporating new-age sounds and gradually building toward a "sublimely spacey" coda.[24][31] It segues into the first of three "transmission" interludes placed throughout the album, each featuring a sample from the 1987 film Prince of Darkness.[32] "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" layers wordless chants over a looped bass groove, creating what Paste's Mark Richardson describes as an "uneasy" techno soundscape.[33]Track six is an untitled interlude featuring a man reciting a monologue about a woman and her sisters over a funk backing.[34]

The two-part "Stem/Long Stem" begins the second half of Endtroducing. John Bush of AllMusic called the track a "suite of often melancholy music, a piece that consistently refuses to be pigeonholed into any musical style."[35] The first half, "Stem", sets strings against a recurring sequence of erratic drum beats, before giving way to the more ethereal "Long Stem",[24] followed by "Transmission 2". "Mutual Slump" features "dreamy" female spoken vocals and prominent samples of Björk's "Possibly Maybe".[23][36] The sparse "Organ Donor" juxtaposes an organ solo and a drum break.[24]"Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96" is a brief interlude featuring a repeating G-funk-esque beat, over which a voice shouts "It's the money".[24][37] DJ Shadow composed the track to express his dissatisfaction with the state of commercial hip hop music in the mid-1990s.[37]

"Midnight in a Perfect World" mixes a soulful vocal line with a slow drum beat.[24][38] It samples the bassline from Pekka Pohjola's "The Madness Subsides",[39] as well as elements of David Axelrod's piano composition "The Human Abstract".[40]"Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain" progresses slowly, starting with a bassline and a drum loop, then gradually increasing in tempo as additional instrumentation enters the mix.[24] The track eventually reaches its climax and deconstructs itself, leaving a single string sample playing by its conclusion.[29] Endtroducing ends "on an up note" with "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit)", which is anchored by warm saxophone and keyboard hooks.[33] A third and final "transmission" closes the album with the spoken words "It is happening again", sampled from the television series Twin Peaks.

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
Alternative Press 5/5
Christgau's Consumer Guide A+
Entertainment Weekly A−
The Guardian 5/5
NME 8/10
Pitchfork 10/10
Rolling Stone 4/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5
Spin 9/10

Audience Reception
89/100 from 1,389 users, #5 for 1996, #63 overall - AlbumOfTheYear.org
9.3/10 from 1,851 users - AllMusic
4.4/5 from 646 users, #2 for 1996, #127 overall - Musicboard
4.12/5 from 28,559 users, #2 for 1996, #50 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

Rolling Stones - Aftermath: A big jump forward for the lads with some true classics, but much better still to come.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...: Great trip-hop album with iconic cover. Deserves a place in the list.

 

1. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
2. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
3. Rolling Stones - Some Girls
4 Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
5. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
6. Roxy Music - Avalon
7. Blur - Parklife
8. Pixies - Surfer Rosa
9. Paul Simon - Paul Simon
10. Madonna - Like a Prayer

 

Aftermath
A-
Probably seemed game-changing at the time, but now gets overshadowed by the albums of the 1968-1972 period.

 

Entroducing
A+
In my 1990s top 10 for sure.

 

Aftermath
Incredibly disappointing given how legendary The Rolling Stones are as well as how this was praised as being the first great Stones album. While there are some great songs here like Paint it, Black, Mother’s Little Helper, and Under My Thumb (the lyric specifying that the woman used to be the one under control saves it from being yet another misogynistic Stones song), most of the other songs are underwhelming and frankly pale in comparison to what their supposed rivals The Beatles were doing. Going Home tries to be an epic sprawling song, but it just ends up sounding monotonous and embarrassing, the backing vocals of It’s Not Easy just take away so much from the song, and the songs near the end like I Am Waiting and Think sounded good the first time around, but their weaknesses just became more apparent as they went on. The US version gets almost a 7/10 from me because Paint it, Black is included and some of the weaker songs aren’t but the UK version does not.

US: 6.5/10
UK: 6/10

Ranking of Albums I’ve Found Through this Game

1. (8/10) Liquid Swords
2. Bizarre Ride II Pharcyde
3. The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
4. Black Sabbath
5. Blackout
6. Cosmo’s Factory
7. Mingus Ah Um
8. Suicide
9. Young, Gifted, and Black
10. Ege Bamyasi
11. The Stooges
12. (7/10) Sound of Silver
13. Time (The Revelator)
14. Cheap Thrills
15. The Emancipation of Mimi
16. Tha Carter II
17. For Your Pleasure
18. Never Too Much
19. First Take
20. Close to the Edge
21. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
22. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
23. Amor Prohibido
24. Music of My Mind
25. (6/10) Aftermath
26. The Shape of Jazz to Come
27. II
28. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
29. (5/10) Born This Way

 

Endtroducing is an all-timer for me. I've spun it hundreds of times since its release. With that said, it's lost just a tiny bit of freshness over the years and I think J Dilla's Donuts just might top it. I've recently counted down and talked about my Top 10 Albums from each year of the 90s and I actually placed Mazzy Star - Among My Swan in my top spot for '96, just above Shadow. If one can't hear Josh's sheer overall love of music in Endtroducing, then I'm not sure what to say...bias against sample-based music?

 

ENDTRODUCING (DJ Shadow)
I've never heard of this artist. I listened to a few cuts. Pleasant enough mix of easy listening and hip/hop and soul styles. This is something that I can enjoy for a single song, but wouldn't have much interest in a whole album of. Not a top 500 for me, but better than some of the stuff that has made this top 500.
GRADE: C+

My Current Top 50+ Albums:
1. THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
2. SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)
3. ALL THINGS MUST PASS (George Harrison)
4. NUGGETS (Various Artists)
5. RAM (Paul & Linda McCartney)
6. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS (Rolling Stones)
7. GREATEST HITS (Sly & the Family Stone)
8. THE CARS (The Cars)
9. RADIO CITY (Big Star)
10. #1 RECORD (Big Star)
11. ODELAY (Beck)
12. COSMO'S FACTORY (CCR)
13. ROCKEY TO RUSSIA (Ramones)
14. DOOKIE (Green Day)
15. LET IT BE (The Beatles)
16. ANTHOLOGY (The Temptations)
17. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Neil Young)
18. ANTHOLOGY (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
19. YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (Aretha Franklin)
20. THE STOOGES (The Stooges)
21. SURREALISTIC PILLOW (Jefferson Airplane)
22. MY AIM IS TRUE (Elvis Costello)
23. SOMETHING/ANYTHING (Todd Rundgren)
24. BROTHERS IN ARMS (Dire Straits)
25. CLOSE TO THE EDGE (Yes)
26. PROUNCED LENHERD SKINNERD (Lynryd Skynryd)
27. ELEPHANT (The White Stripes)
28. ABRAXAS (Santana)
29. MOVING PICTURES (Rush)
30. KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS (Robert Johnson)
31. DICTIONARY OF SOUL (Otis Redding)
22. SOME GIRLS (Rolling Stones)
33. CURRENTS (Tame Impala)
34. BEACH BOYS TODAY (The Beach Boys)
35. ELVIS PRESLEY (Elvis Presley)
36. BO DIDDLEY/GO BO DIDDLEY (Bo Diddley)
37. PARKLIFE (Blur)
38. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins)
39. 19 LOVE SONGS (Magnetic Fields)
40, LUCINDA WILLIAMS (Lucinda Williams)
41. HEART LIKE A WHEEL (Linda Rondstadt)
42. PAUL SIMON (Paul Simon)
43. LIKE A PRAYER (Madonna)
44. SHERYL CROW (Sheryl Crow)
45. BACK TO MONO (Phil Spector w/various artists)
46. NICK OF TIME (Bonnie Raitt)
47. THE ANTHOLOGY (Muddy Waters)
48. PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES (Ronettes)
49. MOANING IN THE MOONLIGHT (Howlin Wolf)
50. MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDING AND FOOD (Talking Heads)
51. ANOTHER GREEN WORLD (Brian Eno)

I'm increasing the number of albums on my list and won't make further cuts until I reach 60.

 

This album deserves a proper listen from beginning to end, not just randomly pulling a song or two up.

 

#330 The Rolling Stones - Aftermath
I'm in the middle ground here. An album with merit but not one that I would necessarily reach for. Paint it Black is a great song, others are good, some of the material isn't that impressive (e.g. High and Dry, Goin' Home). Not much else to contribute, in part because I'm not necessarily a major fan of the Stones.

#329 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
I see this as a sister album to Donuts, given the extensive use of samples. However, where Donuts is comprised of short skits, on Endtroducing DJ Shadow brings forth a fully-formed palette of soundscapes. And that for me is an even more impressive achievement because in composition and flow this album is stunning. Meticulous and creative, sourcing from a vast range of material that includes or hints at funk, soul, hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, EDM, classical and much more, the end output is almost genre-less. A mini-genre in itself. The majority of samples are unrecognisable to me, even if some appear familiar, and yet the same samples (or similar enough to sound so) seem to duplicate at different parts of the album. It's another layer that ties the content together, and one I really appreciate.

Favourite section of the album is Stem/Long Stem into Mutual Slump - the reverbed tribal drumming on the latter is hypnotic - and also Building Steam with a Grain of Salt. That is to choose but three tracks though; the album has to be appreciated as a whole.

Another stellar album!

 

328. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (2013)
Producer: Rostam Batmanglij, Ariel Rechtshaid

Modern Vampires of the City is the third studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It was released on May 14, 2013, by XL Recordings. The group began to write songs for the album during soundchecks on the supporting concert tour for their 2010 album Contra. After a period in which each member explored individual musical projects, they regrouped and continued working on Modern Vampires of the City in 2011. With no deadline in mind, the band brought in an outside record producer for the first time, Ariel Rechtshaid, to record the album.

With Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend attempted to depart from the African-influenced indie pop style of their previous records. Broadly experimental, the album's sound was the result of a variety of unconventional recording assets, including pitch shifting. Subjects explored on the record include characters with adult responsibilities, reflections on growing old, mortality, and religious faith. Vampire Weekend titled the album after a lyric in the 1990 Junior Reid song "One Blood" and chose a Neal Boenzi photograph of the 1966 New York City smog event as the album cover, citing the haunting qualities of both the title and photograph as the reason for using them.

Modern Vampires of the City debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Vampire Weekend's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. By December 2014, the album had sold 505,000 copies in the US. It was also a widespread critical success and ranked by several publications as 2013's best album, while finishing second in the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. It has since been ranked on many lists of the best albums from the 2010s.

Background
The success of Vampire Weekend's second album, Contra (2010), established the group as "one of the past decade's great indie-rock success stories."[1]By the time their world tour for Contra ended, the band realized they had not taken a break in nearly five years.[1] During the break, each member pursued individual projects: Baio performed DJ sets and scored the Bob Byington film Somebody Up There Likes Me,[2] Batmanglij recorded solo material and produced tracks for Das Racist and spent time traveling India with three friends,[3][4] and Koenig collaborated with Major Lazer.[5] Koenig had broken up with his girlfriend shortly before the release of Contra and subsequently moved out of their shared apartment in New York.[3] Feeling "weird and aimless", Koenig attempted to stay in Los Angeles but he returned to New York after four months.

Writing and Recording
Batmanglij and Koenig wrote most of the songs in Batmanglij's apartment, a former factory building in Brooklyn.[1] By the time Vampire Weekend eventually regrouped in 2011, the band members had amassed plenty of written material and made sure to take their time making a new record. Koenig and Batmanglij met several times a week to write songs, some of which they'd later scrap. The also pair took a "writing retreat" to Martha's Vineyard, where they bore down and composed several new tracks[3] at a rented cottage.[1] Working with no deadline in mind, the group began recording Modern Vampires of the City.[2]

The songs for Modern Vampires of the City were recorded at several locations, including Downtown Studios in New York City, Echo Park Back House and Vox Studios in Los Angeles, Slow Death Studios in Burbank, and the apartment of Rostam Batmanglij, Vampire Weekend's multi-instrumentalist and producer.[6] Early drafts of the tracks "Obvious Bicycle" and "Worship You" were produced at OK Go frontman, Damian Kulash's old house in Chicago, before being taken to an official studio to work on. Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, the album's co-producer, used a pair of mirrored solid state MacBooks with UAD-2 Satellite Firewire Cards so they could take their recordings anywhere and work on them from separate locations with maximum ease.[7]

Modern Vampires of the City was an attempt by Vampire Weekend to distance themselves from the sounds featured on their debut record and Contra. "Whenever we came up with something familiar sounding, it was rejected", said Rechtshaid.[8] The band credits Vox Studios with the defining special quality of the recordings, especially the use of their vintage analog tape machines, with Batmanglij remarking, "Much of the overall sound and approach to the album was being able to record the drums to tape on an old Ampex machine."[8] The group wanted a unique drum sound, and so they recorded in a room with high ceilings and had engineer David Schiffman use a "pretty non-conventional drum miking setup" in which a pair of Neumann U 47swere used as over head mics with RCA 77dx ribbon mics between the Neumanns and the drum kit for added texture. Tape recordings of the drums were then heavily treated and manipulated with Ableton Live plug-ins. Lastly, the band layered samples onto select portions of the drum recordings to accent or shape the finished tone.[8]

Pitch shifting proved a major component of recording the album. For tracks such as "Step", drums were recorded on a Varispeed Tape deck set to a lower speed so that they would play back faster and more high pitched. Drummer Chris Tomson would then re-record the drums playing to the sped-up recording to get an uptempo live take.[8] This second recording was then slowed back down to original speed to create an "underwater" effect. The effect is featured prominently on vocals as well. Ezra Koenig's vocals were run through Eventide H949 and 910 on tracks such as "Diane Young", with both the pitch and formant shifted changed to manipulate the sound of recorded vocals.[8] Bass guitar was also recorded straight to tape "with a fairly ambient miking approach where the mic was three feet away from the cabinet". Vocals were recorded with Soundelux U99 Microphones, in combination with 1176 Classic limiter plug-in, Fairchild 670 Compressor and Elektro-Mess-Technik 140 Plate Reverb, giving the vocals a quality Batmanglij described as "buttery".[7] For guitar sounds, Batmanglij chose not to mic his guitar and instead plugged his Gibson Les Paul direct-in to Pro Toolsthrough a SansAmp Amp Emulation Pedal, a technique used by Jimmy Page.[8]

Vampire Weekend concentrated their efforts on giving each recording "warmth", feeling that modern digital recordings lacked the sound quality of older records.[8] In an attempt to make the tracks sound less harsh, the band and their recording engineers used a spectrum analyzer, Sonnox SuprEsser and heavily automated EQs to edit out harsher, colder frequencies and soften the mix. Vampire Weekend painstakingly listened to the record several separate times using technology from standard commercial iPod earbuds to professional equipment to ensure the record sounded nice regardless of equipment the listener owned.[8] Desiring to "check the relative warmth levels", the engineers would "go in and perform surgery and automate EQs" in order to make the mixes listenable. The band felt the finished product was something of a third chapter and a continuation of material explored in their previous two efforts. "We thought these three albums should look like they belong together on a bookshelf", said Batmanglij. "We realized that there are things connecting the songs across three albums, like an invisible hand was guiding us. It does feel like we've been able to create three distinct worlds for each album, and yet have them be interconnected."

Music and Lyrics
Modern Vampires of the City is a departure from the percussive, African-influenced indie pop of Contra.[10] Batmanglij said that the album has a recurring tension that distinguishes it from the band's previous albums: "Even if the songs are mostly in a major key, there’s something that’s hanging out there that’s a little bit dark. And I think that’s reflective of the world."[11] According to Heather Phares of AllMusic, the album abandoned the eclectic influences of Contra in favor of "a less audacious production style and smaller instrumental palette: guitar, organ, harpsichord, and the occasional sample combine into a rarefied sound that suggests a more insular version of their debut". She pointed to how the album is bookended by the stylistically narrow chamber pop on the songs "Obvious Bicycle" and "Young Lion".[12]

"Step" was inspired by a lyric from Souls of Mischief's 1993 song "Step to My Girl", which sampled Grover Washington, Jr.'s cover of Bread's "Aubrey". The vocal melody of the chorus interprets the melody of "Aubrey" so close that the band had to clear it as a sample.[8] The chorus vocals were recorded in Ableton Live using the onboard microphone in Batmanglij's MacBook Pro.[8] Alexis Petridis viewed that some songs echo lesser known "musical tropes" from the group's previous albums—a mock Irish folk influence is heard on "Unbelievers", while "Step" features "Left Banke-inspired baroque pop".[13] More generally, Steven Edelstone of Pastemagazine regarded the music as a mix of "chamber pop and world-weariness".[14] According to Brice Ezell from PopMatters, this album is "very much an indie rock record" because of Koenig's voice and diction, which reveals "the youth that he and his bandmates so often strive to shrug off." Ezell asserts that, on songs such as "Unbelievers", the "reckless abandon" expressed by the lyrics reveals "the group's grasp on the genuine rebellion that indie rock ought to strive for."[15]

In comparison to the band's previous music, the lyrics explore more mature, world-weary themes such as growing old and disillusionment with American foreign policy.[10] The album abandons the theme of privileged youth from their first two albums in favor of characters faced with adult responsibilities and reflections on the passage of time. Faith and mortality are recurring themes on songs such as "Unbelievers", "Worship You", and "Everlasting Arms".[11] Koenig discussed Modern Vampires of the City in the context of the band's first three albums, which he compared to Brideshead Revisited: "The naïve joyous school days in the beginning. Then the expansion of the world, travel, seeing other places, learning a little bit more about how people live. And then the end is a little bit of growing up, starting to think more seriously about your life and your faith. If people could look at our three albums as a bildungsroman, I’d be O.K. with that."

Critical Reception

Aggregate Scores
AnyDecentMusic? 8.2/10
Metacritic 84/100

Review Scores
AllMusic 5/5
Entertainment Weekly A−
The Guardian 4/5
The Independent 4/5
MSN Music (Expert Witness) A+
NME 7/10
Pitchfork 9.3/10
Rolling Stone 4.5/5
Spin 8/10
The Times 4/5

Audience Reception
85/100 from 1,877 users, #4 for 2013, #484 overall - AlbumOfTheYear.org
8.5/10 from 1,819 users - AllMusic
4.3/5 from 914 users, #3 for 2013, #230 overall - Musicboard
3.67/5 from 12,463 users, #18 for 2013, #3,170 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

Modern Vampires of the City
A
Nice to see this getting ranked so high - most likely, there will not be many albums from the 2010s ranked higher.

 

MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY (Vampire Weekend)
I knew of Vampire Weekend when my nephew told me he thought I would like them. There are three songs of theirs that I really like a lot: "A Punk", "Cousins", and "Unbelievers". And wouldn't you know it they are all on different albums! I'm not really sure which is their best album. I do like "Step" from this album quite a bit too-it has a different sound from most of their uptempo percussion heavy stuff so perhaps this one is their best. Probably I'd be best served by a compilation? Anyway I am pleased to see this album in the top 500 compared to some of the other 2000's stuff that has been on this countdown. I don't think it makes my top 500, but I'll put it into my top 50+ albums!

My Current Top 50+ Albums:
1. THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
2. SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)
3. ALL THINGS MUST PASS (George Harrison)
4. NUGGETS (Various Artists)
5. RAM (Paul & Linda McCartney)
6. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS (Rolling Stones)
7. GREATEST HITS (Sly & the Family Stone)
8. THE CARS (The Cars)
9. RADIO CITY (Big Star)
10. #1 RECORD (Big Star)
11. ODELAY (Beck)
12. COSMO'S FACTORY (CCR)
13. ROCKEY TO RUSSIA (Ramones)
14. DOOKIE (Green Day)
15. LET IT BE (The Beatles)
16. ANTHOLOGY (The Temptations)
17. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Neil Young)
18. ANTHOLOGY (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
19. YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (Aretha Franklin)
20. THE STOOGES (The Stooges)
21. SURREALISTIC PILLOW (Jefferson Airplane)
22. MY AIM IS TRUE (Elvis Costello)
23. SOMETHING/ANYTHING (Todd Rundgren)
24. BROTHERS IN ARMS (Dire Straits)
25. CLOSE TO THE EDGE (Yes)
26. PROUNCED LENHERD SKINNERD (Lynryd Skynryd)
27. ELEPHANT (The White Stripes)
28. ABRAXAS (Santana)
29. MOVING PICTURES (Rush)
30. KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS (Robert Johnson)
31. DICTIONARY OF SOUL (Otis Redding)
22. SOME GIRLS (Rolling Stones)
33. CURRENTS (Tame Impala)
34. BEACH BOYS TODAY (The Beach Boys)
35. ELVIS PRESLEY (Elvis Presley)
36. BO DIDDLEY/GO BO DIDDLEY (Bo Diddley)
37. PARKLIFE (Blur)
38. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins)
39. 19 LOVE SONGS (Magnetic Fields)
40, LUCINDA WILLIAMS (Lucinda Williams)
41. HEART LIKE A WHEEL (Linda Rondstadt)
42. PAUL SIMON (Paul Simon)
43. LIKE A PRAYER (Madonna)
44. SHERYL CROW (Sheryl Crow)
45. BACK TO MONO (Phil Spector w/various artists)
46. NICK OF TIME (Bonnie Raitt)
47. THE ANTHOLOGY (Muddy Waters)
48. PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES (Ronettes)
49. MOANING IN THE MOONLIGHT (Howlin Wolf)
50. MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDING AND FOOD (Talking Heads)
51. ANOTHER GREEN WORLD (Brian Eno)
52. MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY (Vampire Weekend)

I'm increasing the number of albums on my list and won't make further cuts until I reach 60.

 

Aftermath is a generous collection of interesting music, but I don't know that it's a Great Album, whatever that means. And I like "Going Home" just fine, although the mix could be better. I love Jones-era Stones, but I'm not sure which of the albums from that era would make my 500.

 

Again, I wish everyone would specify if they are refering to Aftermath (UK) or Aftermath (US) because the the two albums are quite different. As for me, I don't like the UK Aftermath but I quite like US configuration.

 

Like A Prayer

I had the first three Madonna albums but never had the desire to pick this one up. I did eventually get the 12-inch single for the title track - the dance remix is my go-to version of that song. I also bought the 45s for Cherish and Keep it Together. To this day, I'm fine with not owning this one.