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

24. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Producer: George Martin

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967,[nb 1] Sgt. Pepperis regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.

Inspiration and Conception
While in London without his bandmates, McCartney took the hallucinogenic drug LSD (or "acid") for the first time, having long resisted Lennon and Harrison's insistence that he join them and Starr in experiencing its perception-heightening effects.[21][22] According to author Jonathan Gould, this initiation into LSD afforded McCartney the "expansive new sense of possibility" that defined the group's next project, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gould adds that McCartney's succumbing to peer pressure allowed Lennon "to play the role of psychedelic guide" to his songwriting partner, thereby facilitating a closer collaboration between the two than had been evident since early in the Beatles' career.[23] For his part, Lennon had turned deeply introspective during the filming of How I Won the War in southern Spain in September 1966. His anxiety over his and the Beatles' future was reflected in "Strawberry Fields Forever",[24] a song that provided the initial theme, regarding a Liverpool childhood, of the new album.[25] On his return to London, Lennon embraced the city's arts culture, of which McCartney was a part,[26] and shared his bandmate's interest in avant-garde and electronic-music composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage and Luciano Berio.[27][28]

In November, during his and Evans' return flight from Kenya, McCartney had an idea for a song that eventually formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepperconcept.[14] His idea involved an Edwardian-eramilitary band, for which Evans invented a name in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service.[29][nb 2] In February 1967, McCartney suggested that the new album should represent a performance by the fictional band.[31] This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically by releasing them from their image as Beatles.[32]Martin recalled that the concept was not discussed at the start of the sessions,[33] but it subsequently gave the album "a life of its own".[34]

Portions of Sgt. Pepper reflect the Beatles' general immersion in the blues, Motown and other American popular musical traditions.[35] The author Ian MacDonald writes that when reviewing their rivals' recent work in late 1966, the Beatles identified the most significant LP as the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, which Brian Wilson, the band's leader, had created in response to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.[36]McCartney was highly impressed with the "harmonic structures" and choice of instruments used on Pet Sounds, and said that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could "get further out" than the Beach Boys had.[37] He identified Pet Sounds as his main musical inspiration for Sgt. Pepper, adding that "[we] nicked a few ideas",[38] although he felt it lacked the avant-garde quality he was seeking.[39]Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention has also been cited as having influenced Sgt. Pepper.[40]According to the biographer Philip Norman, during the recording sessions McCartney repeatedly stated: "This is our Freak Out!"[41] The music journalist Chet Flippo stated that McCartney was inspired to record a concept album after hearing Freak Out![40]

Indian music was another touchstone on Sgt. Pepper, principally for Lennon and Harrison.[42] In a 1967 interview, Harrison said that the Beatles' ongoing success had encouraged them to continue developing musically and that, given their standing, "We can do things that please us without conforming to the standard pop idea. We are not only involved in pop music, but all music."[43]McCartney envisioned the Beatles' alter egos being able to "do a bit of B.B. King, a bit of Stockhausen, a bit of Albert Ayler, a bit of Ravi Shankar, a bit of Pet Sounds, a bit of the Doors".[44] He saw the group as "pushing frontiers" similar to other composers of the time, even though the Beatles did not "necessarily like what, say, Berio was doing".

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
The Daily Telegraph 5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5/5
MusicHound Rock 5/5
Paste 89/100
Pitchfork 10/10
Q 4/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5
Sputnikmusic 5/5
The Village Voice A

Audience Reception
89/100 from 3,607 users, #1 for 1967, #70 overall - AlbumOfTheYear
9.4/10 from 10,768 users - AllMusic
4.4/5 from 5,679 users, #1 for 1967, #108 overall - Musicboard
4.13/5 from 52,117 users, #2 for 1967, #31 overall - RateYourMusic

 

I'll go up to bat for Carole and Tapestry. I thnk that she really captured a moment, especially lyrically with this one. I see it as really capturing a moment in time, with lyrics that speak to me today, but also seem really part of the time they are written in -- this is a very "1971" album, the year I was born by the way, and for some reason this one feels more real than way Sticky Fingers or Who's Next as far as that goes. And the melodies are glorious, I love her voice and I think she was quite good-looking back in the day. For what that's worth. It's not in my Top 10 or anything but at her best Carole King can make a pop song that feels so poignant and somehow emotionally direct htat it strikes tears to my eyes.

5/5

1. 1. Achtung Baby
   2. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
   3. Murmur
   4. Sign 'o' the Times
   5. Automatic For The People
   6. The White Album
   7. Sticky Fingers
   8. Velvet Underground
   9. The Clash
   10. Third/Sister Lovers
   11. Pink Moon
   12. Marquee Moon
   13. #1 Record
   14. The B-52s
   15. Rubber Soul
   16. OK Computer
   17. Led Zeppelin IV
   18. Bridge Over Troubled Water
   19. The Doors
   20. Led Zeppelin
   21. Odyssey And Oracle
   22. Bringing It All Back Home
   23. This Year's Model
   24. Modern Lovers
   25. Graceland
   26. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
   27. 1999
   28. I Do Not Want What I haven't Got
   29. Tapestry
   30. Blonde On Blonde
   31. Either/Or
   32. The Queen Is Dead
   33. The Joshua Tree
   34. Saturday Night Fever
   35. All Things Must Pass
   36. Daydream Nation
   37. Weezer
   38. If You're Feeling Sinister
   39. Brian Wilson Presents "SMiLE"
   40. Transformer
   41. Doolittle
   42. Innervisions
   43. Homogenic
   44. Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York
   45. Parallel Lines
   46. Ten
   47. Radio City
   48. Horses
   49. In Utero
   50. Blood Sugar Sex Magick
   51. Aftermath
   52. The Wall
   53. Tea For The Tillerman
   54. Post
   55. Paul Simon
   56. My Aim Is True
   57. Meet The Beatles
   58. Led Zeppelin II
   59. Mr. Tambourine Man
   60. Ram
   61. The Great 28
   62. The Pretenders
   63. Beggar's Banquet
   64. Let It Bled
   65. Dirty Mind
   66. Wild Honey
   67. Never Mind the Bollocks
   68. Pink Flag
   69. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
   70. The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
   71. The Dark Side of the Moon
   72. Imagine
   73. Wish You Were Here
   74. So
   75. Loaded
   76. Harvest
   77. Physical Graffiti
   78. The Basement Tapes
   79. John Wesley Harding
   80. Surfer Rosa
   81. Aftermath
   82. Everyone Thinks This Is Nowhere
   83. Full Moon Fever
   84. Village Green Preservation Society
   85. Something Else
   86. Gilded Palace Of Sin
   87. The Bends
   88. After the Gold Rush
   89. Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
   90. Deja Vu
   91. Today!
   92. Let It Be
   93. Siamese Dream
   94. Parklife
   95. Village Green Preservation Society
   96. Houses of the Holy
   97. A Hard Day's Night
   98. Golden Hour
   99. Dookie
   100. Synchronicity
   101. Disintegration
   102. Crosby Stills And Nash
   103. Faith
   104. Odelay!
   105. Help!
   106. Music Of My Mind
   107. Sheryl Crow
   108. White Light/White Heat
   109. Sandinista!
   110. Goo
   111. Let's Get It On
   112. Slanted And Enchanted

 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is another album that perfectly captures its time...but I don't relate to it as much as I do Tapestry. A marvel of production and chock full of great or at lesast interesting songs, it seems to fall lower and lower down my personal list the longer I live. I just don't relate to it that much I guess. I can't imagine really just waking up and thinking, "Yeah, I really need to "Sgt Pepper's today!" Maybe the hype has been too much or (more likely) I just burned out on the Beatles back in college, when I was obsessed with them.

5/5

1. 1. Achtung Baby
   2. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
   3. Murmur
   4. Sign 'o' the Times
   5. Automatic For The People
   6. The White Album
   7. Sticky Fingers
   8. Velvet Underground
   9. The Clash
   10. Third/Sister Lovers
   11. Pink Moon
   12. Marquee Moon
   13. #1 Record
   14. The B-52s
   15. Rubber Soul
   16. OK Computer
   17. Led Zeppelin IV
   18. Bridge Over Troubled Water
   19. The Doors
   20. Led Zeppelin
   21. Odyssey And Oracle
   22. Bringing It All Back Home
   23. This Year's Model
   24. Modern Lovers
   25. Graceland
   26. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
   27. 1999
   28. I Do Not Want What I haven't Got
   29. Tapestry
   30. Blonde On Blonde
   31. Either/Or
   32. The Queen Is Dead
   33. The Joshua Tree
   34. Saturday Night Fever
   35. All Things Must Pass
   36. Daydream Nation
   37. Weezer
   38. If You're Feeling Sinister
   39. Brian Wilson Presents "SMiLE"
   40. Transformer
   41. Doolittle
   42. Innervisions
   43. Homogenic
   44. Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York
   45. Parallel Lines
   46. Ten
   47. Radio City
   48. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
   49. Horses
   50. In Utero
   51. Blood Sugar Sex Magick
   52. Aftermath
   53. The Wall
   54. Tea For The Tillerman
   55. Post
   56. Paul Simon
   57. My Aim Is True
   58. Meet The Beatles
   59. Led Zeppelin II
   60. Mr. Tambourine Man
   61. Ram
   62. The Great 28
   63. The Pretenders
   64. Beggar's Banquet
   65. Let It Bled
   66. Dirty Mind
   67. Wild Honey
   68. Never Mind the Bollocks
   69. Pink Flag
   70. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
   71. The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
   72. The Dark Side of the Moon
   73. Imagine
   74. Wish You Were Here
   75. So
   76. Loaded
   77. Harvest
   78. Physical Graffiti
   79. The Basement Tapes
   80. John Wesley Harding
   81. Surfer Rosa
   82. Aftermath
   83. Everyone Thinks This Is Nowhere
   84. Full Moon Fever
   85. Village Green Preservation Society
   86. Something Else
   87. Gilded Palace Of Sin
   88. The Bends
   89. After the Gold Rush
   90. Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
   91. Deja Vu
   92. Today!
   93. Let It Be
   94. Siamese Dream
   95. Parklife
   96. Village Green Preservation Society
   97. Houses of the Holy
   98. A Hard Day's Night
   99. Golden Hour
   100. Dookie
   101. Synchronicity
   102. Disintegration
   103. Crosby Stills And Nash
   104. Faith
   105. Odelay!
   106. Help!
   107. Music Of My Mind
   108. Sheryl Crow
   109. White Light/White Heat
   110. Sandinista!
   111. Goo
   112. Let's Get It On
   113. Slanted And Enchanted

[/QUOTE]

 

But maybe not necessarily the songs from 'Tapestry'!
I have a 'Tapestry' tribute/covers album which I've only played a couple of times but I recall it being somewhat bland and dull. It featured Rod Stewart, The Bee Gees, Celine Dion and Amy Grant among others.

 

Bland and dull? Get out!!! (But I like the Bee Gees.)

 

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

While Revolver, The Beatles and Abbey Road still sound fresh and exciting today, this one hasn't aged too well for me. The only song I still think is totally amazing is "A Day in the Life". But it remains one of a handful of major landmark albums whose influence on popular music is impossible to overstate.

 

Sgt. Pepper
B+
Although it was one of their most influential albums, this one now IMO sounds very dated, kind of quant; the songs linked very much to the overall conceit and, in general, IMO it gets overshadowed by some of the other later-period Beatles albums. I understand that many will rank it extremely highly - probably especially if they lived through the time - but I would only include it in my own top 500 (and toward the bottom, I would say) because of its importance.

 

Sgt Pepper Style over substance. George Martin sculpts an album that (most) broadsheet critics salivate over, feeds into the prevailing Summer Of Love zeitgeist, and finally tips Brian Wilson over the edge. But strip away all the bells & whistles production and you're left with an underwhelming hodgepodge.

Kicks off well, with The Fabs in giddy kipper mode. Then falls flat on its face with an almighty nasal plodder, followed by hippie drippy nonsense about trees made of marmalade.....or something. Not to say there aren't some corkers: Mr Kite tootles along nicely, as does Fixin A Hole. And She's Leaving Home is poetry in motion. But then we're back to guff like George's modal mundanity plus Paul's granny knees-up. And so on. All the fancy pants arrangements in the world can't disguise the paucity of some of the songwriting in places though, nor an overarching tweeness. It also sounds very dated in 2023. MISS.

 

I don't agree with your 'review' of ' Sgt Pepper's....' but I had a laugh reading it.

 

Considering how many comment now on how dated it all is, it's kind of surprising that Stg. Pepper is as high as #24. A long way down from some poll of college students the following fall where a majority said it had 'changed their life'! I wouldn't spend one of 50 votes on it if I had been a voter in this poll, but if I was making a list of impactful albums in the rock genre of course it would be there. Better in mono 'cause on my system I can hear the bass better which makes it sound more like a band. A Day in the Life still resonates and if you stick the single on the front then it's a pretty solid tape side that starts and finishes strong and goes all over the place in between. The alter ego pretending to be something else might seem like whimsy but I think it's a sign that they really weren't happy being who they were and a hint of impending doom. Not a bad listen, but a very bad influence since it spawned lots of bad imitations and made lots of perfectly good stuff suddenly seem old and out of it. I don't hate psychedelia, but I'm just as glad its reign was short.

 

How 'psychedelic' is ' Sgt Pepper's...' really?
Except for some of the lyrics ( and only some) the album seems as much rooted in other musical times as anything else.

 

There's a dream-like quality to the whole thing, as if it's all an hallucination. And sonically much of it sounds out of focus and as if any sound could morph into any other. Nothing less psychedelic than trying to prescribe what that sounds like.

 

TAPESTRY (Carole King)
One of the best singer/songwriter albums of the early 70's. The quality of all the songs is high and the album tracks are as good (or better) than the hits. Really glad to see this make the list and kind of amazed (but pleased) that it is this high.
GRADE: A

SGT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (The Beatles)
It has become kind of trendy to run this album down as "dated", but I totally disagree. REVOLVER is better (the reason it wasn't considered so at the time in the US has to do with the bastardized CAPITAL version-more on that later) but PEPPER is still great. All the songs work. Great variety, creativity, and originality. It has both substance AND style.
GRADE: A+

My Current Top 130 Albums:
1. SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (The Beatles)
2. THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
3. WHO'S NEXT (The Who)
4. ODYSSEY AND ORACLE (The Zombies)
5. PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (Pink Floyd)
6. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER (Simon & Garfunkel)
7. RUBBER SOUL (The Beatles)
8. TOMMY (The Who)
9. MURMUR (REM)
10. SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)
11. ALL THINGS MUST PASS (George Harrison)
12. NUGGETS (Various Artists)
13. DEJA VU (Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young)
14. THE BEATLES (The Beatles)
15. MODERN LOVERS (Modern Lovers)
16. THE JOSHUA TREE (U2)
17. RAM (Paul & Linda McCartney)
18. BETWEEN THE BUTTONS (Rolling Stones)
19. AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (REM)
20. LED ZEPPELIN IV (Led Zeppelin)
21. DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Pink Floyd)
22. THE DOORS (The Doors)
23. GRACELAND (Paul Simon)
24. TAPESTRY (Carole King)
25. A HARD DAYS NIGHT (The Beatles)
26. THE WHO SELL OUT (The Who)
27. DAMN THE TORPEDOES (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
28, PARALLEL LINES (Blondie)
29. HOTEL CALIFORNIA (The Eagles)
30. THE CARS (The Cars)
31. FULL MOON FEVER (Tom Petty)
32. GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD (Elton John)
33. RADIO CITY (Big Star)
34. #1 RECORD (Big Star)
35. ODELAY (Beck)
36. COSMO'S FACTORY (CCR)
37. WISH YOU WERE HERE (Pink Floyd)
38. MEET THE BEATLES (The Beatles)
39. ROCKET TO RUSSIA (Ramones)
40. DOOKIE (Green Day)
41. THE B 52'S (The B 52's)
42. THIS YEAR'S MODEL (Elvis Costello)
43. IS THIS IT? (The Strokes)
44. INNERVISIONS (Stevie Wonder)
45. EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY (Rod Stewart)
46. TALKING BOOK (Stevie Wonder)
47. ELECTRIC LADYLAND (Jimi Hendrix)
48. FOREVER CHANGES (Love)
49. BORN IN THE USA (Bruce Springsteen)
50. CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD (Lucinda Williams)
51. HELP (The Beatles)
52. AMERICAN BEAUTY (Grateful Dead)
53. LET IT BE (The Beatles)
54. WEEZER (Weezer)
55. THE CLASH (The Clash)
56. COURT AND SPARK (Joni Mitchell)
57. STAND (Sly & the Family Stone)
58. MOONDANCE (Van Morrison)
59. ANTHOLOGY (The Temptations)
60. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Neil Young)
61. ANTHOLOGY (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
62. YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (Aretha Franklin)
63. SWEET BABY JAMES (James Taylor)
64. 20 GOLDEN GREATS (Buddy Holly)
65. HERES LITTLE RICHARD (Little Richard)
66. THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION (Abba)
67. HOUSES OF THE HOLY (Led Zeppelin)
68. AMERICAN IDIOT (Green Day)
69. BEGGARS BANQUET (Rolling Stones)
70. THE STRANGER (Billy Joel)
71. VELVET UNDERGROUND (Velvet Underground)
72. THE STOOGES (The Stooges)
73. SURREALISTIC PILLOW (Jefferson Airplane)
74. MY AIM IS TRUE (Elvis Costello)
75. PLASTIC ONO BAND (John Lennon)
76. THE SUN SESSIONS (Elvis Presley)
77. RAMONES (Ramones)
78. HARVEST (Neil Young)
79. SOMETHING/ANYTHING (Todd Rundgren)
80. BROTHERS IN ARMS (Dire Straits)
81. CLOSE TO THE EDGE (Yes)
82. IMAGINE (John Lennon)
83. THE PRETENDERS (The Pretenders)
84. PINK MOON (Nick Drake)
85. EXODUS (Bob Marley)
86. ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? (Jimi Hendrix)
87. PROUNCED LENHERD SKINNERD (Lynryd Skynryd)
88. 1999 (Prince & the Revolution)
89. BACK IN BLACK (ACDC)
90. JAGGED LITTLE PILL (Alannis Morrisette)
91. ELEPHANT (The White Stripes)
92. UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK CITY (Nirvana)
93. ABRAXAS (Santana)
94. THE GREAT 28 (Chuck Berry)
95. PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND (Sam Cooke)
96. WILLY AND THE POOR BOYS (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
97. BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME (Bob Dylan)
98. EXILE IN GUYVILLE (Liz Phair)
99. STORIES FROM THE CITY (PJ Harvey)
100. MOVING PICTURES (Rush)
101. STAR TIME (James Brown)
102. KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS (Robert Johnson)
103. DICTIONARY OF SOUL (Otis Redding)
104. SOME GIRLS (Rolling Stones)
105. DISRAELI GEARS (Cream)
106. LED ZEPPELIN II (Led Zeppelin)
107. LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS (Derek & the Dominoes)
108. ACHTUNG BABY (U2)
109. HOUNDS OF LOVE (Kate Bush)
110. CURRENTS (Tame Impala)
111. BEACH BOYS TODAY (The Beach Boys)
112. ELVIS PRESLEY (Elvis Presley)
113. BO DIDDLEY/GO BO DIDDLEY (Bo Diddley)
114. PARKLIFE (Blur)
115. MUSIC FROM BIG PINK (The Band)
116. OK COMPUTER (Radiohead)
117. AFTER THE GOLD RUSH (Neil Young)
118. REMAIN IN LIGHT (Talking Heads)
119. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (Velvet Underground)
120. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins)
121. LET IT BLEED (Rolling Stones)
122. LIVE AT LEEDS (The Who)
123. RUST NEVER SLEEPS (Neil Young)
124. CALIFORNICATION (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
125. CROSBY, STILLS & NASH (Crosby, Stills, & Nash)
126. TEN (Pearl Jam)
127. THE WALL (Pink Floyd)
128. ZIGGY STARDUST...(David Bowie)
129. DUSTY IN MEMPHIS (Dusty Springfield)
130. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (Queen)

Other worthy albums: ANOTHER GREEN WORLD (Brian Eno), TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN (Cat Stevens), EITHER/OR (Elliot Smith), OTIS BLUE (Otis Redding), ELECTRIC WARRIOR (T-Rex), COAT OF MANY COLORS (Dolly Parton), CAN'T BUY A THRILL (Steely Dan), WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY (Oasis), METALLICA (Metallica), LIVE AT FOLSOM PRISON (Johnny Cash), FREEWHEELIN BOB DYLAN (Bob Dylan), SHE'S SO UNUSUAL (Cyndi Lauper), HEADHUNTERS (Herbie Hancock), JOHN PRINE (John Prine), THE MARSHALL MATHERS ALBUM (Eminem), MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDING AND FOOD (Talking Heads), MOANING IN THE MOONLIGHT (Howlin Wolf), THE BIRTH OF SOUL (Ray Charles), HEAVEN OF LAS VEGAS (Cocteau Twins), 40 GREATEST HITS (Hank Williams), THE ANTHOLOGY (Muddy Waters), PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES (Ronettes), NICK OF TIME (Bonnie Raitt), SHERYL CROW (Sheryl Crow), BACK TO MONO (Phil Spector w/various artists), THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION (Madonna), HONKY CHATEAU (Elton John), SO (Peter Gabriel), PAUL SIMON (Paul Simon)., MR. TAMBOURINE MAN (The Byrds), CONTROL (Janet Jackson), HEART LIKE A WHEEL (Linda Rondstadt), STICKY FINGERS (The Rolling Stones), LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST (The Allman Brothers), LUCINDA WILLIAMS (Lucinda Williams), 69 LOVE SONGS (Magnetic Fields), NORMAN F ROCKWELL (Lana Del Rey), AXIS/BOLD AS LOVE (Jimi Hendrix), HUNKY DORY (David Bowie), THERE'S A RIOT GOING ON (Sly & the Family Stone), SUPERFLY (Curtis Mayfield), LOVELESS (My Bloody Valentine), ASTRAL WEEKS (Van Morrison), SIGN OF THE TIMES (Prince), THE LOW END THEORY (A Tribe Called Quest), BACK TO BLACK (Amy Winehouse), LEMONADE (Beyonce), KIND OF BLUE (Miles Davis), HORSES (Patti Smith)

 

Tapestry
A+
Singer-songwriter doesn't get much better than this. This album really is a monster of modern day 'Great American Songbook' numbers, just look at the tracklisting. 'It's Too Late', 'I Feel the Earth Move', 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', 'You've Got a Friend', '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman'.... yeah. A winner for sure. That being said, I have seen some comment on how others often have provided a better rendition, and I am of course inclined to agree (see: Donny Hathaway's stunning take on 'You've Got a Friend' off his 1972 Live album (featuring a very enthusiastic crowd); or Aretha Franklin's definitive cover of 'Natural Woman'; or Smokey Robinson's quiet storm take on 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow'). But that's perfectly fine because she's a songwriter first, and it is quite nice to hear the author's take on their creation. And again, a collection of that many influential, defining songs on a single LP is insane. I very much think it's worthy of it's placement here even if it's not MY personal 25th favorite album of all time.

Sgt. Pepper
A-
It's been kind of amusing watching this one relatively fall in estimation in the recent decades. I personally follow that general trend as I think Revolver is the best thing since sliced bread and Pepper's sort of pales in comparison, but only really in songwriting quality, everything else is full on maximalism on display. From the wild, colorful gatefold jacket to the whole concept and alter ego they adopted, and the way they committed to the bit with the outfits and that sort of world building, it was really the first time any major artist created an 'era' in which that album's promotional cycle was done under a theming with a story, fashion, style, and sound. Like Revolver the album is a masterclass in production, I'm frankly a sucker for those sort of ornate (or what some might call 'whimsical' (or what John might have called 'granny music')) arrangements, so I'm not bothered by the 'dated sound' as others are. It feels like an otherworldly experience, or really, a big fever dream. So while I'm not as high on this record as some of the others preceding and succeeding it, it's kind of silly to deny this LP's impact on modern music or its quality.

 

23. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Producer: Andy Warhol, Tom Wilson

The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground and German singer Nico, released in March 1967 through Verve Records. It was recorded in 1966 while the band were featured on Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour. The album features experimental performance sensibilities and controversial lyrical topics, including drug abuse, prostitution, sadomasochismand sexual deviancy.

The Velvet Underground & Nico initially sold poorly, but later became regarded as one of the most influential albums in rock and pop music. Described as "the original art-rock record",[6] it was a major influence on many subgenres of rock music and alternative music, including punk, garage, krautrock, post-punk, shoegaze, goth, and indie.[7] In 1982, the English musician Brian Eno said that while the album only sold approximately 30,000 copies in its first five years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band".

Recording
The Velvet Underground & Nico was recorded with the first professional line-up of the Velvet Underground: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker. At the instigation of their mentor and manager Andy Warhol, and his collaborator Paul Morrissey, German singer Nicowas also featured; she had occasionally performed lead vocals for the band.[11] She sang lead on three of the album's tracks—"Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "I'll Be Your Mirror"—and back-up on "Sunday Morning". In 1966, as the album was being recorded, this was also the line-up for their live performances as a part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable.[12]

The bulk of the songs that would become The Velvet Underground & Nico were recorded in four days in mid-April 1966 at Scepter Studios, a run-down recording studio in Manhattan. This was financed by Warhol and Columbia Records' sales executive Norman Dolph, who also acted as an engineer with John Licata. The cost of the project is unknown. Estimates vary from $1,500 (US$12,528 in 2021 dollars)[13] to $3,000 (US$25,055 in 2021 dollars).[13][14]

Soon after, Dolph sent an acetate disc of the recordings to Columbia Records in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they declined, as did Atlantic Records and Elektra Records—according to Morrison, Atlantic objected to the references to drugs in Reed's songs, while Elektra disliked Cale's viola.[15] Finally, the MGM Records-owned Verve Records accepted the recordings, with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson who had recently moved from a job at Columbia.[16]

With the backing of a label, one month later in May 1966 three of the songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man", "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", were re-recorded in two days at TTG Studios during a stay in Hollywood. When the record's release date was postponed, Wilson brought the band into Mayfair Recording Studios in Manhattan in November 1966, to add a final song to the album: the single "Sunday Morning".

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
Blender 5/5
Chicago Tribune 4/4
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5/5
Pitchfork 10/10
Q 5/5
Rolling Stone 5/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5
Spin Alternative Record Guide 10/10
The Village Voice A

Audience Reception
89/100 from 3,319 users, #2 for 1967, #74 overall - AlbumOfTheYear
9.2/10 from 8,357 users - AllMusic
4.3/5 from 4,066 users, #2 for 1967, #230 overall - Musicboard
4.23/5 from 53,477 users, #1 for 1967, #13 overall - RateYourMusic

 

VU & Nico When a ripple becomes a tsunami. Has there ever been an album that sold so poorly, on release, yet influenced so many? It's a tour-de-force of pop-noir originality. Having said that, I still prefer White Light/ Heat over the debut. HIT.

 

Were it not for teh rather shoddy sound, you'd swear The Velvet Underground and Nico were recorded twenty or thirty years after the fact. Great lyrics, great singing, and Lou Reed really balances the hard-ass leather cladl sick biker junkie thing with the delicate sorrow and melancholy of the ballads. "Sunday Morning" one of the greatest hangover songs of all time, too. An S&M song too, decades before that became just normal.

My favorite from these guys is the third album, but this is definitely (for me) the greatest album of 1967.

1. 1. Achtung Baby
   2. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
   3. Murmur
   4. Sign 'o' the Times
   5. Automatic For The People
   6. The White Album
   7. Sticky Fingers
   8. Velvet Underground
   9. The Clash
   10. Third/Sister Lovers
   11. Pink Moon
   12. The Velvet Underground & Nico
   13. Marquee Moon
   14. #1 Record
   15. The B-52s
   16. Rubber Soul
   17. OK Computer
   18. Led Zeppelin IV
   19. Bridge Over Troubled Water
   20. The Doors
   21. Led Zeppelin
   22. Odyssey And Oracle
   23. Bringing It All Back Home
   24. This Year's Model
   25. Modern Lovers
   26. Graceland
   27. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
   28. 1999
   29. I Do Not Want What I haven't Got
   30. Tapestry
   31. Blonde On Blonde
   32. Either/Or
   33. The Queen Is Dead
   34. The Joshua Tree
   35. Saturday Night Fever
   36. All Things Must Pass
   37. Daydream Nation
   38. Weezer
   39. If You're Feeling Sinister
   40. Brian Wilson Presents "SMiLE"
   41. Transformer
   42. Doolittle
   43. Innervisions
   44. Homogenic
   45. Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York
   46. Parallel Lines
   47. Ten
   48. Radio City
   49. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
   50. Horses
   51. In Utero
   52. Blood Sugar Sex Magick
   53. Aftermath
   54. The Wall
   55. Tea For The Tillerman
   56. Post
   57. Paul Simon
   58. My Aim Is True
   59. Meet The Beatles
   60. Led Zeppelin II
   61. Mr. Tambourine Man
   62. Ram
   63. The Great 28
   64. The Pretenders
   65. Beggar's Banquet
   66. Let It Bled
   67. Dirty Mind
   68. Wild Honey
   69. Never Mind the Bollocks
   70. Pink Flag
   71. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
   72. The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
   73. The Dark Side of the Moon
   74. Imagine
   75. Wish You Were Here
   76. So
   77. Loaded
   78. Harvest
   79. Physical Graffiti
   80. The Basement Tapes
   81. John Wesley Harding
   82. Surfer Rosa
   83. Aftermath
   84. Everyone Thinks This Is Nowhere
   85. Full Moon Fever
   86. Village Green Preservation Society
   87. Something Else
   88. Gilded Palace Of Sin
   89. The Bends
   90. After the Gold Rush
   91. Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
   92. Deja Vu
   93. Today!
   94. Let It Be
   95. Siamese Dream
   96. Parklife
   97. Village Green Preservation Society
   98. Houses of the Holy
   99. A Hard Day's Night
   100. Golden Hour
   101. Dookie
   102. Synchronicity
   103. Disintegration
   104. Crosby Stills And Nash
   105. Faith
   106. Odelay!
   107. Help!
   108. Music Of My Mind
   109. Sheryl Crow
   110. White Light/White Heat
   111. Sandinista!
   112. Goo
   113. Let's Get It On
   114. Slanted And Enchanted

 

The Velvet Underground & Nico

Music that was way ahead of its time and iconic album art. Not at all surprising why it sold poorly upon release. This just went way over most people's heads (and still does).

 

23. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico

Fully deserves its high ranking in here. It's long been recognised as one of the greatest and most influential American albums of the 60s. Made #13 in one of the first such list of great albums (NME 1974).

This is from Lilian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia of 1969:

"The important thing about the velvet Underground was that in 1966 and 1967 they were as far away as a group could possibly be from the world of incense and peppermints and even earnest teenage protest. Theirs was the dim underworld of drugs and sexual perversion, of heroin addiction and the desperate loss of hope that goes with it. Their concern was with death and violence. They were singing about a world that exists and that they knew...You can easily imagine someone performing black masses with the Velvet Underground's album. Not for the kiddies."

 

Funny that this should be right next to Sgt. Peppers, given all the commentary about how different they are and how different their reception was at the time. Now the're just two old records whose reputations have started to fade and even back in the day I might have played them back to back and the world outlook and lives they supposedly represented were as often as not right next to each other rubbing shoulders too. I wonder if anyone's done a Beatles/VU mashup? I had a Sgt. Peppers patch on my jeans jacket (that my late brother sold for beer $) and probably listened to "Heroin" while wearing it. The Age of asparagus. Addled Miscreants perceptions should be respected as cultural artifacts, but not bought as coherent analysis, or something like that. The further away we get from this era, the less difference it makes what kind of drugs they did at all of yesterday's parties or which old records they listened to. They all just got wasted instead of dealing with stuff, micro or macro. Where am I going with this? Well, I guess that I just don't know. I used to listen to these two, and so many others that we discuss here, with friends who are now gone or who I don't talk to any more and soon enough I'll be gone too and no one will remember my scattered attempts to write about what any of this meant to me.

 

The Velvet Underground and Nico
A
There was a time when the Velvet Underground's music sounded "peak ahead of its time," (meaning when the most/most-important bands influenced by them or by other bands influenced by them were around and prominent); I'd say this was the early-to-late 1990s. Not so much now, though the differences between this music and the music of their contemporaries should still be apparent. Anyway, it's still the building blocks of much of what I consider much of the best rock music to have taken from.

 

The Velvet Underground and Nico
A+
Venus in Furs!! Inject this straight into my veins. One comment I've read about this LP is that 'it made everyone who listened want to start a band', and I can definitely see that. But it's hard to emulate what the Velvets did here because of the unique sound they produced, imo courtesy of John Cale's arrangements and his viola playing. A lot of the songs here sound apocalyptic and oppressing (in a good way) thanks to Tom Wilson and John Cale's production. The record that introduced Lou Reed as one of the generation's best songwriters (and pioneer of the 'ostrich guitar' tuning method), and Nico before she went on to become a left field avant garde artist. And then Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker with their guitar playing and drumming, respectively (I especially love Moe's simple but incredibly effective drumming on 'Heroin', the way she adjusts the tempo is just *chef's kiss*). Everyone shines here in full form. Favorite track: Venus In Furs

 

22. The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)
Producers:

• Sean "Puffy" Combs(exec.)
• Mister Cee (also exec.)
• Bluez Brothers
• DJ Premier
• Easy Mo Bee
• Rashad Smith
• Lord Finesse
• Poke
• Darnell Scott
• Chucky Thompson

Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. It was recorded from 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of the rapper's experiences as a young criminal, and was the only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered sixteen days before the release of his second album Life After Death in 1997.

Ready to Die peaked at number 15 on the Billboard200 and was subject to widespread critical acclaim and soon a commercial success. Three singles were released from the album: "Juicy", "Big Poppa", "One More Chance" and a promotional track of Biggie: "Warning". "Juicy", the lead single, peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and reached number 3 on the Hot Rap Singles.[1] "Big Poppa" was a hit on multiple charts, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and also being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performanceat the 1996 Grammy Awards. The Notorious B.I.G.'s lyrics on the album were generally praised by critics, with many praising his story-telling ability.

In April 2018, Ready to Die was certified 6× Platinumby the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA). The album was significant for revitalizing the East Coast hip hop scene, amid West Coast hip hop's commercial dominance.[2] It has been ranked by many critics as one of the greatest hip hop albums, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Production
The production on the album was mainly handled by Easy Mo Bee and The Hitmen. Cheo H. Coker of Rolling Stone depicted the beats as "heavy bottomed and slick, but B.I.G.'s rhymes are the showstoppers. The tracks only enhance them, whether it's the live bass driving a menacing undercurrent or [the] use of bluesy guitar and wah-wah feedback" and that the production is used to "push the rapper to new heights."[15] The production is mainly sample-based with the samples varying from the percussion of funk tracks to the vocals of hip hop songs. Steve Huey presented some criticism over the beats, stating that the "deliberate beats do get a little samey, but it hardly matters: this is Biggie's show".

Lyrical Themes
The Notorious B.I.G.'s lyrics on the album were generally praised by critics. Many critics applauded his story-telling ability such as AllMusic writer Steve Huey, who stated "His raps are easy to understand, but his skills are hardly lacking—he has a loose, easy flow and a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession". He also went on to mention that his lyrics are "firmly rooted in reality, but play like [a] scene from a movie".[16] Touré, writing for The New York Times, referred to The Notorious B.I.G., proclaiming that he stood out from other rappers because "his lyrics mix autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty, telling how he felt while making a living as a drug dealer".[17] The album is also noted for its dark tone and sinister sense of depression.[16] In the original Rolling Stone review, Cheo H Coker declared that he "maintains a consistent level of tension by juxtaposing emotional highs and lows".[15] "Things Done Changed" was also one of the few hip hop songs in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature.[18]

The lyrics on Ready to Die tend to deal with violence, drug dealing, women, alcohol and marijuana use, and other elements of Notorious B.I.G.'s environment. He rapped about these topics in "clear, sparse terms, allowing the lyrics to hit the first time you hear them".[15] The album contains a loose concept starting out with an intro that details his birth, his early childhood, his adolescence and his life at the point of the album's release.[17] Songs on the album range from homicide narratives ("Warning") to braggadocios battle raps ("The What," "Unbelievable"). "Things Done Changed" deals with how life in the ghetto has changed since B.I.G.'s childhood.[citation needed] "One More Chance" as recited by B.I.G largely centers around the rapper's sexual prowess.[19] "Juicy" is a "rags-to-riches chronicle".[citation needed] The title for "Big Poppa" is based on one of The Notorious B.I.G.'s many nicknames.[citation needed] The final song was "Suicidal Thoughts", a song where The Notorious B.I.G. contemplates and finally commits suicide.

Critical Reception
AllMusic 5/5
Blender 5/5
Christgau's Consumer Guide A−
HipHopDX 5/5
Pitchfork 10/10
Q 3/5
Rolling Stone 4/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5
The Source 4.5/5
Uncut 4/5

Audience Reception
89/100 from 2,028 users, #6 for 1994, #82 overall - AlbumOfTheYear
9.3/10 from 1,562 users - AllMusic
4.3/5 from 2,238 users, #6 for 1994 - Musicboard
4.04/5 from 18,474 users, #5 for 1994, #139 overall - RateYourMusic

 

Ready To Die All those different 'bitches' he sang about, yet Mr B.I.G. forgot the most important one: Karma. Now that's a real 'bitch'. The album? Vile.

 

When the moon is in the Pizza Hut and KFC aligns with Starbucks...