----------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 2001 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Bound for Sound Magazine http://www.boundforsound.com/reviews.htm#Rock%20Albums The 100 Greatest "Rock Albums" of all Time By MGD Over a year ago (June 2000) the idea of a "100" best of all time listing began to bounce around in my head like a ping-pong ball between two hard surfaces. I knew it had been done before, but in my mind, while many of the listings had been appropriate, a certain amount of political correctness had crept into the selection process. We had to do something different, the BFS top 100 listing would be based on one thing: the music, and no amount of politicking would push a recording up the ladder even one position. Another consideration was that this listing would be for "rock" albums. Not rock and roll, not Motown, not folk, not metal, not jazz, not rap, not the blues, not anything except good old fashioned "rock". Granted, excluding other closely related forms of music would keep some of the world's best loved favorites out of this listing. As a result, the likes of Miles Davis, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, Carole King, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Robert Johnson, Count Basie, on and on.... would not be included. Some wonderful performers would, by definition, be casualties of my desire to set parameters and limits on how far this listing could reach. And indeed, I thought the failure to set boundaries was the primary reason the recent listing on VH-1 was a complete failure. And fortunately so... After starting this project two Junes ago, my heart hit the floor when I heard that VH-1 was doing a Best of Rock listing wherein the top 100 rock recordings of all time would be listed. My thunder had been stolen I fretted. How could I come out with this listing after them and not appear to be anything other than a copy cat compiler? As it would happen, however, they did me a great favor by allowing people such as Britney Spears assist in the selection making process, and for the sake of political correctness included noteworthy performers such as Miles Davis and Aretha Franklin, who, as notable as they were, had nothing to do with rock. They have their own categories founded in the blues, jazz, folk and Motown. With classical and country, I hope to someday compile top 100 listings for all the major musical forms, but not here... this is rock. This listing is not a personal pick of my favorite recordings, or the personal favorites of anyone here at BFS. Artistically, I don't care for some of the recordings chosen for inclusion, but included they were, for I consider this effort to be historical in nature, even archival, and objective in that the recordings chosen were chosen for what they meant to the genre' as a whole during it's birth, growth and maturation. In other words, what we are doing here is to report, in a manner as fairly as possible, on the recordings that formed the music which came to be known as rock music. As stated above, you will not see listed here selections from what is known as heavy metal, death metal, black metal and rap. Not that people don't listen to those forms of expression, but as we were talking to people about the recordings to be included here, and obtaining various opinions, I felt that the content of the above were not right for inclusion. The dehumanizing subject matter that is a regular part of heavy metal and rap scene has no place here. And for that matter, rock recordings delving into the satanic or dark beliefs have not been included here either. If those things interest you, go elsewhere. So, how were these recordings chosen? Billboard charts for the last thirty, or so, years were scoured to determine the impact each recording had on the buying market. People in the industry, recording and playback, were consulted and asked for suggestions. Day long listening sessions were conducted to see how the music held up today. And for me, this latter aspect of the selection process was one of the most important. Did the music sound dated? If so, it dropped in rank, which would explain why some of the Beatles and Rolling Stones recordings slipped. As notable as their recordings were, they sound dated in comparison to the recordings listed in front of them. Music is timeless, and to be included here it had better sound that way. Impact. How much did a certain recording impact the music scene at the time it was released? Also considered here, was to what extent the recording reflected the climate of the times. For those reasons alone, Sergeant Pepper's has a place in the top twenty, whereas, if the only criteria were musical accomplishment, it would probably be much lower. Did any recording reflect the rebellious spirit of the young in the late sixties and early seventies more accurately than Woodstock? That's why it is here. Musical accomplishment. For obvious reasons this criteria was the most difficult to apply, while being the most fun to contemplate and debate. And yet, along with whether or not the music retained a contemporary feel to it, the ultra subjective notion of just how "accomplished" the music was ultimately determined where a recording ended up on the list. One thing that we tried not to do was allow one good song on an album mean de facto inclusion here just because of that one good song. Initially, I was expecting to include many more albums from the early sixties; Turtles, Boxtops, Hollies, Dave Clark Five... stuff like that. In going over those recordings though, two things emerged: By any standard, the music sounded dated, incredibly so. By my own criteria, that wasn't good, and could not be easily overcome. The other thing that bothered me about many of the early sixties recordings was the preponderance of many to have just one extremely fine song, and seven clunkers to go with it. In some instances, two or three worthy songs would surface, with the rest being so hoaky sounding that I couldn't force myself to include the album. After all, we are looking for consistently excellent results throughout the album... not just a song or two. Another consideration was whether it was thought that another band could have made the same album, and had it come out as good or better than the original band. For example, no one could have made "Dark Side of the Moon", with the same mood, art and expression as did Pink Floyd. Could anyone other than the Beatles pulled off "Sergeant Pepper"? But that's not always the case even with what are thought to be monumental works of music. Two Stones tunes for example. It is arguable, and I believe true, that Grand Funk's version of "Gimme Shelter" is the better of the two. The same for Leon Russel's version of "Jumping Jack Flash." And while those were actual instances of a superior remake, the thinking here was that if it seemed a band's performance in recording an album, as great as it may have been, could have been improved upon by someone else doing the same material, the original sunk. This aspect of consideration didn't really enter into the factoring until well into the list. Lastly, we did on some occasions stretch the envelope style wise where a performer was slightly something other than true rock, but still impacted the future of rock music. Joni Mitchell comes immediately to mind in this regard, as does Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Linda Ronstadt and Poco. They are here because they deserve to be even if they don't perfectly fit the mold as defined by the word "rock". This is the BFS list: 1. "Dark Side of the Moon", Pink Floyd 2. "The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East", The Allman Brothers Band 3. "Led Zeppelin I", Led Zeppelin 4. "Security", Peter Gabriel 5. "Tres Hombres", ZZ Top 6. "Abbey Road", The Beatles 7. "Led Zeppelin II", Led Zeppelin 8. "Revolver", The Beatles 9. "Exile On Main Street", The Rolling Stones 10. "Pet Sounds", The Beach Boys 11. "Close to the Edge", Yes 12. "The Yes Album", Yes 13. "Fragile", Yes 14. "Every Picture Tells a Story", Rod Stewart 15. "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", The Beatles 16. "Woodstock 1969", Various 17. "Abraxas", Santana 18. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", Elton John 19. "Tea For the Tillerman", Cat Stevens 20. "Deja Vu", Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 21. "Unplugged", Eric Clapton 22. "LA Woman", The Doors 23. "Crime of the Century", Supertramp 24. "Are You Experienced?", Jimi Hendrix 25. "ZoSo", Led Zeppelin 26. "Never Mind", Nirvanna 27. "Blonde on Blonde", Bob Dylan 28. "In the Court of the Crimson King", King Crimson 29. "Chicago Transit Authority", Chicago 30. "Hotel California", Eagles 31. "Who's Next", The Who 32. "Auqualung", Jethro Tull 33. "Machine Head", Deep Purple 34. "And Justice For All", Metallica 35. "The Wall", Pink Floyd 36. "Rumours", Fleetwood Mac 37. "American Beauty", The Grateful Dead 38. "Survival", Grand Funk Railroad 39. "Days of Future Past", Moody Blues 40. "Purple Rain", Prince 41. "Blind Faith", Blind Faith 42. "Layla, and Other Assorted Love Songs", Derek and the Dominos 43. "American Pie", Don McLean 44. "Hasten Down the Wind", Linda Ronstadt 45. "Blue", Joni Mitchell 46. "Love Over Gold", Dire Straits 47. "Book Ends", Simon & Garfunkle 48. "Back in Black", AC/DC 49. "Blood on the Tracks", Bob Dylan 50. "Selling England by the Pound", Genesis 51. "Chicago II", Chicago 52. "Katy Lied", Steely Dan 53. "Stand", Sly and the Family Stone 54. "The Kick Inside", Kate Bush 55. "Some Girls", The Rolling Stones 56. "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust", David Bowie 57. "Electric Ladyland", Jimi Hendrix 58. "John Barleycorn Must Die", Traffic 59. "Born to Run", Bruce Springsteen 60. "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", Red Hot Chili Peppers 61. "Appetite for Destruction", Guns and Roses 62. "Outlandos D’Amour", The Police 63. "In Color", Cheap Trick 64. "Madman Across the Water", Elton john 65. "Couldn’t Stand the Weather", Stevie Ray Vaughan 66. "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", Simon & Garfunkle 67. "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys", Traffic 68. "Tracy Chapman", Tracy Chapman 69. "Free For All", Michael Penn 70. "Between the Lines", Janis Ian 71. "Thick as a Brick", Jethro Tull 72. "Wish You Were Here", Pink Floyd 73. "Sweet Baby James", James Taylor 74. "Get Your Wings", Aerosmith 75. "School’s Out", Alice Cooper 76. "Tommy", The Who 77. "Part One", The Kinks 78. "The Captain and Me", The Doobie Brothers 79. "Joan Armatrading", Joan Armatrading 80. "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin Nerd", Lynard Skynard 81. "Superfly", Curtis Mayfield 82. "Ten", Pearl Jam 83. "OK Computer", Radiohead 84. "Three Friends", Gentle Giant 85. "Ambrosia", Ambrosia 86. "Gordian Knot", Gordian Knot 87. "Fun House", Iggy Pop and the Stooges 88. "Get Ready", Rare Earth 89. "A Night at the Opera", Queen 90. "Emerson Lake & Palmer", Emerson, Lake & Palmer 91. "Blow by Blow ", Jeff beck 92. "Lights Out", UFO 93. "Steppenwolf", Steppenwolf 94. "Illusions on a Double Dimple", Triumvirat 95. "Song for America", Kansas 96. "Carney", Leon Russel 97. "From the Inside", Poco 98. "All the Young Dudes", Mott the Hoople 99. "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus", Spirit 100. "Fashion Nugge Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com