For my first blog, I will not be exactly what I intended to cover in this blog, but just bare with me and in the following weeks I will blog about what I said I would. Even though I plan on doing weekly CD reviews and/or concert reviews, this week will be an off week (As far as new album releases go, I would of had to choose between a new Ted Nugent album or a Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Live Album #25), and I will cover my top ten albums of all time, to give you a taste of my musical tastes. So a drum roll please,
and here are my top ten albums of all time (with selected reviews), in order of the year of their release:
After the release of the critically acclaimed Beggar's Banquet in 1968, many people wondered if the Rolling Stones could follow with another successful album. Boy, did they ever. Many music critics claim that Let It Bleed is one of the most defining Rock-n-Roll albums of all time. I couldn't agree more. Not a single track on the album misses a beat. The Album starts out with the Vietnam protest song "Gimme Shelter", and ends beautifully with the hit single "You Can't Always Get What You Want".
For those who only know Dylan for his multi-platinum best-selling albums Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited have probably never came across Desire. The album's first track is the controversial hit-song "Hurricane", about the imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. There are multiple story telling songs on the album, including "Hurricane", "Isis", and "Joey". The entire album was recorded with amazing musicians from Dylan's critically acclaimed Rolling Thunder Review tour.
Automatic for the People is R.E.M.'s eight and most original album they have ever written. The album as a whole was an attempt to shy away from pop-filled albums such as Green and Out of Time. This effort is obvious in songs such as "Drive", the classical piano ballad "Night Swimming", and the deeply moving "Everybody Hurts".
Radiohead was unsure of how good their follow-up album to The Bends was going to be. I believe that OK Computer is the defining albumg of Radiohead's career. The album includes two of their most well-known songs "Paranoid Android" and "Karma Police", but also the beautiful lullaby composition of "No Suprises".
For those of you in the know in the Folk-rock music scene probably know Jackie Greene for his first two acoustic-driven albums. American Myth is absolutely blows away anything he accomplished on his first album. Writing the parts for and playing almost every instrument on the album, Greene goes electric, and produces an amazing wall of sound on almost every track, to accompany his Dylan-esque lyrics that he is known for.
For those of you keeping track at home, I played the Big Ten Conference card and included 11 albums. It was extremely difficult for me to name exactly 10 albums, (which I didn't even do), that I thought were the best of all time, so below I'll give out a handful of honorable mentions:
