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

195. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
5/5

I was a real latecomer to Leonard Cohen music. This didn't get into my collection until many years after release but it is a great work.

 

Licensed To Ill They subsequently apologized for some of the frat boy lyrics & stances here. Which I thought was quite a gutsy thing to do. I like a couple of the songs, but most of it either bores, or repels, me. I prefer Check Your Head.

 

192. Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill (1986)

Dated incredibly badly in my opinion. Can’t listen to it. Pass.

 

191. Etta James - At Last! (1961)
Producer: Phil Chess, Leonard Chess

At Last! is the debut studio album by American blues and soul artist Etta James. Released on Argo Records in November 1960 the album was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. At Last! also rose to no. 12 upon the Billboard Top Catalog Albums chart.

History
The original release of At Last! was issued as a 12-inch LP consisting of ten tracks, five songs on each side of the LP. Phil and Leonard Chess believed that James's voice had crossover pop potential, so with this debut album, they backed her with orchestral arrangements on many of the tracks.[7] At Last!eventually spawned four singles being "All I Could Do Was Cry", "Trust in Me", "At Last", and "My Dearest Darling". The album also included covers of pop and jazz standards, such as "Stormy Weather", "A Sunday Kind of Love", and "I Just Want to Make Love to You".[1] In 1987, the album was released for the first time by MCA/Chess, and then digitally remastered and reissued on compact disc in 1999 with four bonus duet tracks performed with Harvey Fuqua: "My Heart Cries," "Spoonful," "It's a Crying Shame," and "If I Can't Have You."

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
Pitchfork (9.0/10)
Rolling Stone 5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5/5

Audience Reception
81/100 from 152 users, #7 for 1961 - AlbumOfTheYear.org
9.2/10 from 522 users - AllMusic
4.4/5 from 83 users - Musicboard
3.81/5 from 2,591 users, #10 for 1960, #1,711 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

Now that is a favorite...

191. Etta James - At Last! (1961)
4/5

 

Update of my list. I did not add Meet The Beatles as in my collection as I had posted earlier because I only have With The Beatles...

494. Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time (1989) 4/5
490. Linda Ronstadt - Heart Like a Wheel (1975) 5/5
486. John Mayer - Continuum 4/5
485. Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight 4/5
478. The Kinks - Something Else By the Kinks (1967) 3/5
477. Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) 4/5
475. Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow (1996) 3/5
471. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (1967) 5/5
468. Rolling Stones - Some Girls (1978) 5/5
466. The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today! (1965) 3/5
463. Laura Nyro - Eli & the 13th Confession (1968) 3/5
462. The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) 4/5
457. Sinéad O’Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990) 3/5
456. Al Green - Greatest Hits (1975) 4/5
455. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley (1958) 3/5
450. Paul and Linda McCartney - Ram (1971) 3/5
448. Otis Redding - Dictionary of Soul (1966) 4/5
445. Yes - Close to the Edge (1972) 4/5
443. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (1980) 3/5
431. Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984) 4/5
430. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (1977) 4/5
426. Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams (1988) 5/5*
422. Marvin Gaye - Let’s Get it On (1973) 4/5
420. Earth, Wind, and Fire - That’s the Way of the World (1975) 3/5
418. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (1985) 5/5
417. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) 3/5
413. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory (1970) 5/5
411. Bob Dylan - “Love and Theft” (2001) 4/5
409. Grateful Dead - Workingman’s Dead (1970) 5/5*
407. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969) 5/5*
396. Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? (1972) 5/5*
384. The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1969) 3/5
381. Lynyrd Skynyrd - (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) (1973) 4/5
380. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um (1959) 5/5
374. Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961) 4/5
373. Issac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul (1969) 3/5
372. Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills (1968) 4/5
368. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970) 5/5
366. Aerosmith - Rocks (1976) 3/5
364. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) 4/5
357. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985) 3/5
356. Dr. John - Gris-Gris (1968) 4/5
353. The Cars - The Cars (1978) 4/5
350. Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind (1972) 4/5
348. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) (2001) 5/5*
345. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973) 4/5
344. Toots and the Maytals - Funky Kingston (1973) 4/5
343. Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits (1970) 4/5
342. The Beatles - Let it Be (1970) 5/5
337. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (1967) 4/5
336. Roxy Music - Avalon (1982) 4/5
335. Bob Dylan and the Band - The Basement Tapes (1975) 3/5
334. Santana - Abraxas (1970) 5/5*
333. Bill Withers - Still Bill (1972) 4/5
330. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966) 5/5*
327. The Who - Live at Leeds (1970) 3/5
323. The Clash - Sandinista! (1980) 3/5
317. Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin (1958) 4/5
316. The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967) 3/5
311. Neil Young - On the Beach (1974) 4/5
304. Bill Withers - Just As I Am (1971) 4/5
302. Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night (1975) 4/5
299. B.B. King - Live at the Regal (1965) 4/5
298. Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989) 5/5
297. Peter Gabriel - So (1986) 5/5
296. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps (1979) 4/5
292. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978) 4/5
287. The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) 4/5
282. Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours (1955) 5/5
281. Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971) 4/5
278. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973) 5/5*
275. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970) 4/5
274. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968) 4/5
268. Randy Newman - Sail Away (1972) 5/5
266. The Beatles - Help! (1965) 3/5
264. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975) 5/5*
263. The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night (1963) 3/5
259. Janis Joplin - Pearl (1971) 5/5*
258. Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) 5/5*
256. Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (1988) 5/5
255. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) 4/5
254. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973) 4/5
251. Elton John - Honky Château (1972) 5/5
242. The Velvet Underground - Loaded (1970) 4/5
237. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975) 4/5
232. John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1960) 5/5*
231. Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes (1979) 5/5
227. Little Richard - Here’s Little Richard (1957) 3/5
226. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) 5/5*
223. John Lennon - Imagine (1971) 4/5
220. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Déjà Vu (1970) 5/5
215. Grateful Dead - American Beauty (1970) 5/5*
214. Tom Petty - Wildflowers (1994) 4/5
212. Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind (1966) 4/5
207. Eagles - Eagles (1972) 4/5 I do really like the new MoFi release
206. David Bowie - Low (1977) 3/5 never really been a fan of this period of Bowie
205. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman (1970) 5/5* one of the all time favorites and greats for me
200. Sade - Diamond Life (1984) 5/5
195. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) 5/5
191. Etta James - At Last! (1961) 4/5

 

At Last Ms James overdoes the powerhouse vocals. She belts it out as though foghorns were going out of fashion. Apart from the title track - easily the best song here - and All I Could Do Was Cry, nuance and subtlety are discarded in favour of attack. Although a short album - under 30 minutes - it gets very wearing listening to someone SHOUT so much. The arrangements are rather similar too, as are the tempos. Miss.

 

At Last
B+
Even at 30 minutes, it's top-heavy, IMO. One bona-fide classic and a couple of other excellent songs - and nothing at all wrong with the rest of it - but I don't personally get this one's Great Album ascendance over the last 10 years or so.

 

I love Etta James and think her rendition of Mack Gordon & Harry Warren's "At Last" is exquisite, but the album as a whole doesn't really work for me. Much of it feels forced and awkward. So the single would make that list but this album wouldn't make any list of mine. The only album of Etta's that would make my list is Etta Rocks the House and maybe a comp if I could figure out which one.

 

190. The Who - Tommy (1969)
Producer: Kit Lambert

Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Who, a double album first released on 17 May 1969. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend, and is a rock operathat tells the story of Tommy Walker, a "deaf, dumb and blind" boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family.

Townshend came up with the concept of Tommyafter being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music. Recording on the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics, who hailed it as The Who's breakthrough. Its critical standing diminished slightly in later years; nonetheless, several writers view it as an important and influential album in the history of rock music. The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of Tommy, which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the University of Leeds, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The live performances of Tommy drew critical praise and revitalized the band's career.

Subsequently, the rock opera developed into other media, including a Seattle Opera production in 1971, an orchestral version by Lou Reizner in 1972, a filmin 1975, and a Broadway musical in 1992. The original album has sold 20 million copies and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It has been reissued several times on CD, including a remix by Jon Astley in 1996, a deluxe Super Audio CD in 2003, and a super deluxe box set in 2013, including previously unreleased demos and live material.

Synopsis
Tommy has never had a definitive plot, but the following synopsis was published following the original album's release.[1]

British Army Captain Walker goes missing during an expedition and is believed dead ("Overture"). His wife, Mrs. Walker, gives birth to their son, Tommy ("It's a Boy"). Years later, Captain Walker returns home and discovers that his wife has found a new lover. The Captain kills the lover in an altercation. Tommy's mother brainwashes Tommy into believing he did not see or hear anything, shutting down his senses and making him deaf, dumb and blind to the outside world ("1921"). Tommy now relies on his sense of touch and imagination, developing an inner psyche ("Amazing Journey/Sparks").[2]

A quack claims his wife can cure Tommy ("The Hawker"), while Tommy's parents are increasingly frustrated that he will never find religion in the midst of his isolation ("Christmas"). They begin to neglect him, leaving him to be tortured by his sadistic"Cousin Kevin" and molested by his uncle Ernie ("Fiddle About"). The Hawker's drug-addicted wife, "The Acid Queen", gives Tommy a dose of LSD, causing a hallucinogenic experience that is expressed musically ("Underture").[2]

As Tommy grows older, he discovers that he can feel vibrations sufficiently well to become an expert pinball player ("Pinball Wizard"). His parents take him to a respected doctor ("There's a Doctor"), who determines that the boy's disabilities are psychosomatic rather than physical. Tommy is told by the Doctor to "Go to the Mirror!", and his parents notice he can stare at his reflection. After seeing Tommy spend extended periods staring at a mirror in the house, his mother smashes it out of frustration ("Smash the Mirror"). This removes Tommy's mental block, and he recovers his senses, realising he can become a powerful leader ("Sensation"). He starts a religious movement ("I'm Free"), which generates fervor among its adherents ("Sally Simpson") and expands into a holiday camp ("Welcome" / "Tommy's Holiday Camp"). However, Tommy's followers ultimately reject his teachings and leave the camp ("We're Not Gonna Take It"). Tommy retreats inward again ("See Me, Feel Me") with his "continuing statement of wonder at that which encompasses him".

Background
Townshend had been looking at ways of progressing beyond the standard three-minute pop single format since 1966.[3] Co-manager Kit Lambert shared Townshend's views and encouraged him to develop musical ideas,[4] coming up with the term "rock opera". The first use of the term was applied to a suite called "Quads", set in a future where parents could choose the sex of their children. A couple want four girls but instead receive three girls and a boy, raising him as a girl anyway. The opera was abandoned after writing a single song, the hit single, "I'm a Boy".[5] When The Who's second album, A Quick One, ran short of material during recording, Lambert suggested that Townshend should write a "mini-opera" to fill the gap. Townshend initially objected, but eventually agreed to do so, coming up with "A Quick One, While He's Away", which joined short pieces of music together into a continuous narrative.[6] During 1967, Townshend learned how to play the piano and began writing songs on it, taking his work more seriously.[7] That year's The Who Sell Out included a mini-opera in the last track, "Rael", which like "A Quick One ..." was a suite of musical segments joined.[8]

“The package I hope is going to be called "Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy." It's a story about a kid that's born deaf, dumb and blind and what happens to him throughout his life ... But what it's really all about is the fact that ... he's seeing things basically as vibrations which we translate as music. That's really what we want to do: create this feeling that when you listen to the music you can actually become aware of the boy, and aware of what he is all about, because we are creating him as we play."

Pete Townshend talking to Jann Wenner, August 1968[9]​

By 1968, Townshend was unsure about how The Who should progress musically. The group were no longer teenagers, but he wanted their music to remain relevant.[10] His friend, International Timesart director Mike McInnerney, told him about the Indian spiritual mentor Meher Baba,[11] and Townshend became fascinated with Baba's values of compassion, love and introspection.[12] The Who's commercial success was on the wane after the single "Dogs" failed to make the top 20, and there was a genuine risk of the band breaking up.[13] The group still performed well live and spent most of the spring and summer touring the US and Canada,[14]but their stage act relied on Townshend smashing his guitar or Keith Moon demolishing his drums, which kept the group in debt. Townshend and Kit Lambert realised they needed a larger vehicle for their music than hit singles and a new stage show, and Townshend hoped to incorporate his love of Meher Baba into this concept.[15] He decided that The Who should record a series of songs that stood well in isolation, but formed a cohesive whole on the album. He also wanted the material performed in concert, to counter the trend of bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys producing studio output that was not designed for live performance.[16]

In August 1968, in an interview to Rolling Stone, Townshend talked about a new rock opera, which had the working title of Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy, and described the entire plot in great detail, which ran to 11 pages.[17] The Who biographer Dave Marshsubsequently said the interview described the narrative better than the finished album.[18]Townshend later regretted publishing so much detail, as he felt it forced him to write the album according to that blueprint.[19] The rest of The Who, however, were enthusiastic about the idea, and let him have artistic control over the project.

Critical Reception
AllMusic 4.5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5
MusicHound Rock 4/5
Q 4/5
Robert Christgau A−
Rolling Stone 4/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 4/5
Tom Hull – on the Web A−
Uncut 3/5

Audience Reception
80/100 from 351 users, #59 for 1969 - AlbumOfTheYear.org
9/10 from 2,973 users - AllMusic
3.9/5 from 223 users - Musicboard
3.77/5 from 12,253 users, #38 for 1969, #1,633 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

Tommy If only Pete had stuck to the day job - writing killer pop songs - instead of trying to impress the broadsheet art critics, the world would have been a better place. Or something like that.

For all its pretensions of grandeur and confected conceits, Tommy is a musical boot that doesn't quite fit. No matter how hard Townsend tries to shoehorn the disparate songs into place, he can't. And anything with an overture, let alone an Underture, ought to set alarm bells ringing in popland. There are several nonentities here, since conceptual concerns obviously trumped compositional ones. Daltrey belts it all out in fine fashion, and Moon goes into overdrive. Guitar and bass, though, don't particularly stretch themselves much. Best song, by miles, is Pinball Wizard because it works on its own terms. As for the rest, it's mostly an underwhelming ego trip.

 

Good write-up.

 

I have never been able to get into Tommy. A few good songs and a lot of filler that is there for narrative. I will not rate it.

 

Alf is spot on.

 

Tommy
B+
I suspect I like it a fair amount more than Alf, but I agree generally that it's not the classic it's cracked up to be; not decades removed from it, and not considering the band's other output. I very much appreciate the historical importance and very much enjoy at least half of the songs. But others kind of make it drag. And the "story" is just not that interesting, IMO.

 

Tommy is a ridiculous conceit, and a bone-headed one at that, held together with duct tape and spit. But it doesn't matter, because "We're Not Gonna Take It"/"See Me, Feel Me"/"Listening to You" is magnificent. It's all of humanity's struggles in one song and has music to match (especially live) so it more than justifies the whole enterprise. No other rock writer would've gone out on this limb and no other rock band could've pulled it off. Letter grades grades or x/10 ratings are irrelevant in the face of such bravery. Playing it in its entirety in real Opera Houses was genius. A live album and a 'regular' album were smart choices to follow it. But another 'rock opera', no matter how well executed couldn't have the same impact. The air around us felt different after Tommy. Art is not a check the boxes and add up the score sort of thing for me.

 

Catching Up:

LISCENSED TO ILL (The Beastie Boys)
Moronic simplistic shouting rap. I hated this with a passion when it came out. I like their later song "Intergallatic" and could consider it for the top 5oo songs, but I dislike every song on this album.
GRADE: D

AT LAST (Etta James)
At least in this case the song I might include in my top 500 songs is from this album (the title song) and the rest of the album is competent. This isn't an album I'd put in my top 500, but I can see how a jazz oriented listener would include it.
GRADE: B

TOMMY (The Who)
I loved TOMMY when I first heard it, then I kind of went with the conventional wisdom for a bit that it was "overrated". But after listening to it again a few years ago I realized I was right in the first place. It is a great album! WHO'S NEXT will rank as my favorite Who album, but TOMMY also ranks highly for me!
GRADE: A

My Current Top 90+ Albums:
1. THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
2. ODYSSEY AND ORACLE (The Zombies)
3. PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (Pink Floyd)
4. TOMMY (The Who)
5. SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)
6. ALL THINGS MUST PASS (George Harrison)
7. NUGGETS (Various Artists)
8. DEJA VU (Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young)
9. MODERN LOVERS (Modern Lovers)
10. RAM (Paul & Linda McCartney)
11. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS (Rolling Stones)
12. A HARD DAYS NIGHT (The Beatles)
13. THE WHO SELL OUT (The Who)
14. DAMN THE TORPEDOES (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
15. GREATEST HITS (Sly & the Family Stone)
16. THE CARS (The Cars)
17. FULL MOON FEVER (Tom Petty)
18. RADIO CITY (Big Star)
19. #1 RECORD (Big Star)
20. ODELAY (Beck)
21. COSMO'S FACTORY (CCR)
22. WISH YOU WERE HERE (Pink Floyd)
23. MEET THE BEATLES (The Beatles)
24. ROCKET TO RUSSIA (Ramones)
25. DOOKIE (Green Day)
26. THE B 52'S (The B 52's)
28. HELP )The Beatles)
29. AMERICAN BEAUTY (Grateful Dead)
30. LET IT BE (The Beatles)
31. WEEZER (Weezer)
32. ANTHOLOGY (The Temptations)
33. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Neil Young)
34. ANTHOLOGY (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
35. YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (Aretha Franklin)
36. HERES LITTLE RICHARD (Little Richard)
37. THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION (Abba)
38. HOUSES OF THE HOLY (Led Zeppelin)
39. AMERICAN IDIOT (Green Day)
40. THE STOOGES (The Stooges)
41. SURREALISTIC PILLOW (Jefferson Airplane)
42. MY AIM IS TRUE (Elvis Costello)
43. SOMETHING/ANYTHING (Todd Rundgren)
44. BROTHERS IN ARMS (Dire Straits)
45. CLOSE TO THE EDGE (Yes)
46. IMAGINE (John Lennon)
47. PINK MOON (Nick Drake)
48. PROUNCED LENHERD SKINNERD (Lynryd Skynryd)
49. ELEPHANT (The White Stripes)
50. UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK CITY (Nirvana)
51. ABRAXAS (Santana)
52. PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND (Sam Cooke)
53. WILLY AND THE POOR BOYS (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
54. STORIES FROM THE CITY (PJ Harvey)
55. MOVING PICTURES (Rush)
56. KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS (Robert Johnson)
57. DICTIONARY OF SOUL (Otis Redding)
58. SOME GIRLS (Rolling Stones)
59. LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS (Derek & the Dominoes)
60. CURRENTS (Tame Impala)
61. BEACH BOYS TODAY (The Beach Boys)
62. ELVIS PRESLEY (Elvis Presley)
63. BO DIDDLEY/GO BO DIDDLEY (Bo Diddley)
64. PARKLIFE (Blur)
65. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (Velvet Underground)
66. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins)
67. LIVE AT LEEDS (The Who)
68. RUST NEVER SLEEPS (Neil Young)
69. CALIFORNICATION (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
70. NORMAN R ROCKWELL (Lana Del Rey)
71. 19 LOVE SONGS (Magnetic Fields)
72, LUCINDA WILLIAMS (Lucinda Williams)
73. HEART LIKE A WHEEL (Linda Rondstadt)
74. MR TAMBOURINE MAN (The Byrds)
75. PAUL SIMON (Paul Simon)
76. SO (Peter Gabriel)
77. LIKE A PRAYER (Madonna)
78. HONKY CHATEAU (Elton John)
79. SHERYL CROW (Sheryl Crow)
80. BACK TO MONO (Phil Spector w/various artists)
81. NICK OF TIME (Bonnie Raitt)
82. THE ANTHOLOGY (Muddy Waters)
83. PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES (Ronettes)
84. HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS (Cocteau Twins)
85. THE BIRTH OF SOUL (Ray Charles)
86. MOANING IN THE MOONLIGHT (Howlin Wolf)
87. MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDING AND FOOD (Talking Heads)
88. ANOTHER GREEN WORLD (Brian Eno)
89. HEADHUNTERS (Herbie Hancock)
90. FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN (Bob Dylan)
91. METALLICA (Metallica)
92. DEFINITELY MAYBE (Oasis)
93. TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN (Cat Stevens)
94. COAT OF MANY COLORS (Dolly Parton)
95. EITHER/OR (Elliot Smith)

 

#191 Etta James - At Last!
This album doesn't work for me either. One particularly strong song, albeit not to my personal taste, and the other material is variable. Vocal attack too often at the expense of shade, which may not matter as much if I liked the material more. But I don't, and thus a miss.

#190 The Who - Tommy
I find this album insufferable. The never-ending opener (it's a boy!) followed by reams of mismatched songs - plot devices - don't make for a captivating listen. 'Rock opera' is on somewhat shaky ground to begin with, but this firmly crosses the line of grandiosity. Some good songs? Sure. 75mins of it is torturous though.

 

My second most favorite The Who album...

190. The Who - Tommy (1969) 5/5

 

189. Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out (1997)
Producer: John Goodmanson

Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and rollbands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album cover is an homage to The Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy.

Two singles were released in support of the album: "One More Hour" and "Little Babies". The title track "Dig Me Out" peaked at number six on the KEXP Top 90.3 Album Chart in 1997 without being released as a single. The album was acclaimed by music critics, who praised the album's energy and feminist lyrics. Retrospectively, Dig Me Out is considered the band's breakthrough record and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists.

Background and Recording
Dig Me Out is the follow-up to Sleater-Kinney's highly acclaimed second album Call the Doctor, released in 1996 by the queercore independent record label Chainsaw Records. Call the Doctorconfirmed the band's reputation as one of the major musical acts from the Pacific Northwest, rebelling against gender roles, consumerism, and indie rock's male-dominated hierarchy.[1][2] After the release of Call the Doctor, drummer Janet Weiss of Quasijoined the band. Previously, the band had had a number of temporary drummers, including Misty Farrell, Lora Macfarlane, and Toni Gogin.[3] Weiss would eventually become Sleater-Kinney's longest serving drummer. For its third album, Sleater-Kinney worked again with producer John Goodmanson.[4]The band left Chainsaw Records and decided to release the album through Kill Rock Stars, another independent record label which singer and guitarist Corin Tucker thought had better resources to ensure the band's distribution. Goodmanson also remarked that Kill Rock Stars afforded the band a generous amount of studio time for an independent label, stating that Call the Doctor only took four days to record while Dig Me Out was recorded over the period of eight days.[5]

Dig Me Out was written in nearly two months and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington.[6][7]During the recording sessions, recording the vocal interplay between Tucker and co-vocalist and guitarist Carrie Brownstein involved some difficulties. However, the producer took care and prevented favoring one voice over the other. As Goodmanson recalls: "We always used different mikes for the lead vocal and for the second vocal, or different kinds of processing to make those things really distinct. To make it so you can hear both things at once".[3] Goodmanson also noted that the fact that the band features no bass player was an advantage for the album's production.[4] He explained: "The awesome thing about having no bass player is you can make the guitars sound as big as you want. Usually you have to clear all that room out for the bass, so you can hear the bass line. With no bass there, you can just go for giant guitar sounds that you wouldn't normally be able to go for".

Musically, Dig Me Out was considered rockier than its predecessor. Weiss' drumming style was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Kinks, as well as numerous blues rock musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Billy Boy Arnold, and Bessie Smith, among others.[4] Both Tucker and Brownstein remarked that Weiss became an essential part of the band's sound. According to Tucker, "Musically, she's completed our band. She's become the bottom end and the solidness that we've really wanted for our songwriting".[4] In addition to playing drums, Weiss provides hand claps and tambourine in "Turn It On".[4] Dig Me Outalso contains more guitar and vocal interplay by Tucker and Brownstein than Call the Doctor.[8] As Brownstein explains, "If you were to separate our guitar parts I don't necessarily think they would fully stand on their own. Our songs [...] aren't really complete until the other person has put their part over it, and their vocals".[8]

The lyrical themes on Dig Me Out deal with issues of heartbreak and survival.[9] The song "One More Hour" is about the breakup of Tucker and Brownstein's romantic relationship.[10] Before the release of the album, Spin published a controversial article discussing Tucker and Brownstein's personal relationship without their permission.[6] Brownstein felt that "it was a complete invasion of privacy. My parents didn't know Corin and I were going out. They didn't know I had ever dated a woman before. It was horrible. I was pissed at Spin, really mad. Luckily my parents are great people, but God forbid I would have some family that would disown me over something like that. And I would have totally held Spin responsible for that."[6] The song features a lot of vocal interplay by Tucker and Brownstein. Chris Nelson of Addicted to Noise noted that "one can almost hear Tucker crying in the studio as she wails, 'I needed it', while behind her Brownstein offers her attempts at consolation".[3] In her 2015 memoir Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, Brownstein also states that almost all the songs on Dig Me Out are about either her or Tucker's future husband, Lance Bangs.[11]

Like its predecessor, Dig Me Out also features songs that show frustration with sexism and gender stereotypes.[12] "Little Babies" is a protest against the traditional maternity role, while the title song "Dig Me Out" exposes a woman in a dominant role.[12] The album's title was inspired by the fact that the band had to literally dig out the recording studio after a heavy snowstorm that took place in Winter 1996 in Seattle.[13] Musically, the song "Words and Guitar" was said to "[leap] and [skit] with the just-released repression of early Talking Heads",[12] while "Dance Song '97" was said to "sport Devo-esque keyboards of a distinctly '80s vintage".[14] Jenn Pelly of Pitchfork described "Heart Factory" as a song that "roars over synthetic emotions of the Prozac Nation."

Critical Reception
AllMusic 4.5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5
Entertainment Weekly B+
Los Angeles Times 3.5/4
NME 8/10
Pitchfork 9.3/10
Rolling Stone 4/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 4/5
Spin 9/10
The Village Voice A

Audience Reception
83/100 from 315 users, #48 for 1997 - AlbumOfTheYear.org
8.8/10 from 541 users - AllMusic
4.1/5 from 171 users - Musicboard
3.77/5 from 6,211 users, #34 for 1997, #1,961 overall - RateYourMusic.com

 

Dig Me Out
B+
I probably have to go back and revisit the Sleater-Kinney catalog (it's probably been close to 10 years since I played one) but my recollection is that this was solid stuff - some better than others - but there isn't any of their albums that I stood out as being really excellent or great.

 

Dig Me Out Sleater Kinney are content to recycle the usual '90s guitar indie tropes. Brownstein's faux-angry, tuneless, caterwauling gets on my nerves. An album of (mostly) unmemorable songs, by a band that's no more cutting edge than a pair of blunt scissors. Bikini Kill were far superior in the riot grrrl stakes.

 

Dig Me Out is fantastic. They meshed their more honed songs and anger together for this one and it just might be my favorite of theirs. It’s certainly their best up to this point. I’ve been a big fan from the beginning but can’t really get on with their last few releases, I wish they never befriended St. Vincent.

 

While there are vocals that actively annoy me and make it impossible for me to sit through some records (Arcade Fire, Nick Cave, Bright Eyes/Connor Oberst), Corin Tucker is one of my favorite singers, her voice both cathartic and an endless source of fascination. Having played in rock bands myself I can appreciate having a singer of this caliber in your band, with the added awesomeness of Janet Weiss of course. Sleater-Kinney gets my vote for the best rockband in the period 1997-2005. Dig Me Out is my favorite but all their albums from this period are excellent. The vinyl box set is a high point of my collection (Sleater-Kinney - Start Together // 1994 - 2006 ).

 

If I even began to say how much I don't like Sleater-Kinney, I'd get banned and the thread would get shut down. So, no thanks. That otherwise reasonable people like them is just one of life's mysteries to me.