These ten albums continues my listening to some of the overlapping artists on the two lists, with some interesting additions (Raekwon, a different Merle Haggard album, Manu Chao). So as we come close to finishing up the overlapping albums, here are Rolling Stone's 480-471 greatest albums of all time:
480. Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
I don't think I've ever heard a Wu-Tang Clan song I didn't enjoy. Something about the flow of its members, mixed with the production, mostly by RZA, works perfectly for me. However as solo artists, there are some of the members that I am very familiar with (RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard), and those I know very little about, (GZA, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Raekwon). Therefore it's good for me that Raekwon's solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... features Ghostface on almost every track, who is my favorite Wu member. Of course, since this is a Wu-affiliated album, you have the references to samurai culture, especially through RZA's production, but there's another level that I wasn't expecting. The album deals with the idea of coming up in the world through illegal means, yet hoping one day to succeed without breaking the law. It's a theme that permeates the entire release and the intro "Striving For Perfection", which plays out like a conversation between Raekwon and Ghostface about their desires and what they want in life is deeper than you hear in most hip-hop albums. There's a determination to the album that brilliantly works through every track. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in that same vein discusses the lifestyle of someone who has succeeded in that path, from drinking Cristal to the audio clips from Scarface. It's a powerful album of trying to succeed by any means necessary and a great introduction to a member of the Wu-Tang Clan I needed to hear more from.
Suggested Track: "Criminology"
479. Funkadelic-Maggot Brain
What I originally said:
On one of my few drives from Virginia to Georgia, I was listening to an edition of NPR's "All Songs Considered" with the category of something along the lines of songs that remind you of summer. The song "Maggot Brain" from Funkadelic was mentioned as the listener said that she used to drive around at night, windows down, blasting the song. At this suggestion, I followed along, and man, what a great idea. This ten-minute guitar solo intro the album is somewhat a misrepresentation of the fun that comes later on the album. The next song, "Can Your Get To That" is fun enough that Sleigh Bells decided to use it on their song "Rill Rill", which I had no idea before. The album is filled with great, fun songs, but book ended by two songs that couldn't be more different. While "Maggot Brain" is a solemn, almost heartbreaking mood, the album builds in anticipation to the complete clusterfuck of insanity that is "Wars of Armageddon." Anything goes on the final track, but at that point, nothing is a surprise anymore so it completely works.
What I say now:
I was a little bit worried about checking out "Maggot Brain" a second time, since I loved it so much the first time, I didn't want multiple listenings to ruin the originality of coming to the album with fresh ears. Gladly, "Maggot Brain" only grows more compelling the more I explore it. It's one that I keep coming back to every week or so, listening to at least a few tracks. It's one of my favorite discoveries from my first attempt at the list and every time I go to buy new vinyl, I always look for "Maggot Brain". What a phenomenal and funky album.
Suggested Track: "Maggot Brain"
478. Loretta Lynn-All Time Greatest Hits
What I originally said:
I first fell in love with the awesomeness of Loretta Lynn with her brilliant comeback album Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White and was one of the most surprisingly badass albums I've probably ever heard. To be honest though, I really had no context for Lynn beyond knowledge that "Coal Miner's Daughter", the song and the film, were from and about her. Thankfully All Time Greatest Hits fills me in on the blank spots. Lynn paints her career as a woman who won't take shit from anyone, except possibly the man she loves, and the song titles pretty much point this out. She threatens to kick the ass of the woman trying to steal her man ("You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man), "Fist City"), yet even when her man is too drunk ("Don't Come Home A Drinkin'") or has left her alone with an abundance of children to take care of ("One's On the Way"), she stays with the man, even if he does her wrong. With "One's On the Way", I also found it interesting that Lynn plays a woman who realizes the world is changing, but for her things aren't ever going to be any different when she sings:
"The girls in New York City, they all march for woman's lib, and Better Homes and Gardens shows the modern way to live, and the pill may change the world tomorrow. But meanwhile here in Topeka, the flies are a buzzin' the dog is a barkin' and the floor needs a scrubbin', one needs a spankin' and one needs a huggin, Lord one's on the way."
This duality to Lynn is what makes her such an interesting character in the country genre, regardless of how true her songs may be, and after decades in the music industry, she still had great stories and unique viewpoints that make her worth paying attention to.
What I say now:
There's so much to All Time Greatest Hits, that even though I felt like I got a lot out of it the first time, it definitely requires a second listen. There are so many brilliant stories in each two-minute song, that it's easy to miss details. There's such a forward thinking to Lynn that I missed the first time that still resonates today, such as woman dressing slutty in an attempt to attract men at clubs or the idea that men can sleep around, but if a woman tries to have some fun, she's basically called out on it. This idea of differences between the sexes is quite interesting to me, especially in country music. One of the thinkgs that I don't like about contemporary female country artists is that every song feels like it is about finding love or losing love. Now Lynn also has a lot of that, but there's also much deeper messages here.
Not only does Lynn sing about love and the loss of that love, but she also talks of being cheated on, getting divorced, and having to deal with children while the man goes out. Lynn seems heartbroken through a majority of the album, but when you get to the last song "I Can't Feel You Anymore," it almost sounds like Lynn has learned and grown from her experiences and now is ready to move forward, a new woman. I really enjoy All Time Greatest Hits and is certainly going to be the country album to try to top.
Suggested Track: "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man with Conway Twitty"
477. Merle Haggard-Down Every Road
When I saw Merle Haggard in close to the same spot he was in the original list, I just thought "oh, it must be Branded Man again." I was wrong. I listened to Branded Man again and my enjoyment of the album increased. But then I realized I had listened to the wrong album. Turns out, Rolling Stone decided that instead of the handful of songs that comprised Branded Man, that album would be replaced by Down Every Road, a four-disc, almost five hour long, 100 song retrospective of Haggard's life. The first album is a great collection of some of Haggard's best, reminiscent of Branded Man's material, but continuing through the next three albums, I felt, well, haggard. As far as being exhaustive, focus on exhaust, it meets this goal, as we see all of Haggard's musical career. But you can have too much of a good thing. Five hours of Haggard is a lot and by the end of listening to it (I split it up over three days), I was more sick of Haggard than a fan, like I was when I began. I do like Haggard and Down Every Road can work well in bite size pieces, but altogether, it's a bit much.
Suggested Track: "Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive"
476. The Notorious B.I.G.-Life After Death
What I said then:
While I never purchased Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as a child, I was able to purchase Life After Death. The only catch was I purchased a single-disc, edited version of the album. This bastardized version either left off entire tracks or edited them heavily. In fact my first "Parental Advisory" albums I purchased during my pop-ppunk phase, with artists like Blink-182, Sum 41 and The All-American Rejects, where "dirty" language only added to the teen angst. But I digress. Even with this half-sized album, The Notorious B.I.G., along with Jay-Z, quickly became my favorite rappers, even to the point where I never really had any appreciation for 2Pac, almost out of East Coast respect. The 90s MTV rap explostion brought me not only to love the hip-hop of the time, but also led me to love directors like Spike Jonze pre-Being John Malkovich.
Life After Death was released shortly after B.I.G.'s death, but at that age, all I knew was that he was now dead and that it was part of the East Coast/West Coast rap feuds. While historical context does make Life After Death to an extent bittersweet, it is a phenomenal goodbye. I think when an artist dies at such a young age, as Christopher Wallace did at the age of 24, it is easy to believe that they are only so beloved because they weren't able to have the usual arc of long-lasting artists, wherein there is a rise to popularity and the supposedly inevitable fall. But Life After Death and Ready to Die are enough to prove that he truly was one of the most important rappers of all time before his demise.
But now to Life After Death, B.I.G. is able to make himself still seem threatening eve, well, after death. With artists guest-starring like R. Kelly, Mase, Lil' Kim and Faith Evans, it's a much better eulogy than the then Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You." It's almost impossible to talk about Sean Combs back then without talking about his love for Wallace, and it's clearly evident here. Combs lovingly produces the album, full with great samples that made Combs such a powerhouse in the 90s.
Life After Death is an incredible second album and a suiting goodbye to one of hip-hop's most influential artists.
What I say now:
The first time around, I gave my glowing admiration for Life After Death and listening to it again has lessened it just a little. Life After Death is extremely exhaustive, almost like Sean Combs wanted this album to never end. Would Life After Death been more effective as two separate albums? Probably not, but the 105 minutes can feel like a bit much at times.
Life After Death is still a fine send-off to one of the most influential rappers of all time, and Life After Death does burst with plenty of other artists that were popular at the time in the 90s. It's fascinating to hear Jay-Z, R. Kelly and Puff Daddy performing with B.I.G. one last time, and amusing to hear then-popular acts like Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony and Mase appearing once again. But all in all, Life After Death is a great eulogy to one of the hip-hop greats, even if the funeral does seem to go on forever sometimes.
Suggested Track: "Hypnotize"
475. Elvis Costello and the Attractions-Armed Forces
What I said then:
I think I like Elvis Costello for the same reasons that I like St. Vincent. Both are artists reminiscent of something that we've seen before. While St. Vincent may seem like a perfectly normal singer-songwriter, her music is beautiful, but with a tinge of darkness that makes her almost eerie. Elvis Costello's music is almost like an homage to earlier days, 50s rock n' roll and Buddy Holly. But Costello also has that darkness. Armed Forces has anger and darker issues at its core, while still a fun album if you want to simply take it as catchy tunes. I've always appreciated Elvis Costello, which probably also stems from my love of Saturday Night Live and his impromptu "Radio, Radio" performance, and I'm excited to hear more from Costello on this list, an almost certaintly.
What I say now:
When I listened to Armed Forces the first time, I feel like I didn't give the album it's due. I have bought Armed Forces on vinyl since listening to it last, so I put it on and gave it a second chance and was so glad I did. Costello performs like 50s artists before him, but with a darker side that I loved. His music is enjoyable but has a depth that I didn't hear on my first go-around. Costello has always had one of my favorite voices in music and Armed Forces features some of his best songs to utilize that. I'm excited about the future Costello albums, that from what I understand are pretty high up on the list. Hopefully with those, I won't need to listen more than once to appreciate them.
Suggested Track: "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding"
474. Manu Chao-Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
One of the biggest surprises of albums added to the list was Proxima Estacion: Esperanza. I knew Rolling Stone loved the album after seeing it on their top albums of the 2000s list, but was one of the only albums on the list that I wasn't aware of. The biggest reason why I wasn't familiar with the album is mostly because little of Manu Chao's album is in English. I don't have a problem with music that is non-English. Sigur Ros is probably one of my favorite bands ever and Boris' Akuma No Uta is a powerful album I keep going back to. But with those artists, the difference is that the music itself has the power to move, regardless of the lyrics I can't understand. Now Proxima Estacion: Esperanze is a very fun album, and if I was dancing to it rather than listening to it at a coffee shop, I'm sure I would enjoy it more. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, I just feel like something here might have been lost in translation.
Suggested Track: "Me Gustas Tu"
473. The Smiths-The Smiths
What I said then:
Like all people my age, we find out we like The Smiths then realize the closest thing we will get to new material is solo work from Morrissey. The weird thing is, I don't really like Morrissey solo, but with The Smiths, I think he is great. For those who don't know, The Smiths are constantly stuck in a perpetual state of heartbreak. While this could be obnoxious with a lesser band (cough Dashboard Confessional cough), it's endearing with The Smiths. It's a shame that they are essentially the band to influence a thousand mediocre-to-bad emo bands. Their first album, the self-titled The Smiths is a good introduction to the band, almost like a mission statement as to who they are and what their style will be. I personally like where The Smiths go from here more, and from what I can tell Rolling Stone agrees. The Smiths isn't so much a disappointment as it does excite me for where the band goes from here, before their destruction in only a few short years.
What I say now:
Like I've said, The Smiths is a great introduction to a band which we will hear all of their studio albums on this list. i'm glad that this is the lowest of The Smiths' albums and I'm excited to hear more from them, because I am hoping this is their least impressive album. The Smiths is exactly what I expected to hear from The Smiths, which isn't a criticism, but I am looking forward to hear the evolution of the band. Like I've said, I'm just more excited to hear what the future of this band holds through their other albums.
Suggested Track: "This Charming Man"
472. George Michael-Faith
What I said then:
At this point in his career, George Michael is better known for his tabloid stories than his music. Like Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper before him on this list, I was quite wary about the artist I heard nonstop on the radio growing up. I know many of the songs from Faith through constant replays onTop 40 radio in the early 90s. I've never been anti-George Michael, but I've never gone out of my way to give him a fair chance. Faith is Michael after Wham! and trying to be taken more seriously, the 80s equivalent of Justin Timberlake's Justified album. Like Justified, it is quite a surprise. The tone is drastically different of his previous works and the songs are not surprisingly catchy. "Faith" hasn't been destroyed, even after the terrible Limp Bizkit rap-rock interpretation and even the nine-minute plus track "I Want Your Sex" doesn't overstay its welcome. With many of these artists that were at the peak of their popularity in the eighties, I have been pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
What I say now:
Faith starts off incredibly well, with three of Michael's biggest songs, "Faith", "Father Figure" and "I Want Your Sex." The rest of the album is still pretty poppy, but man can it get weird. Faith goes in all sorts of unexpected directions. Did I mention that "I Want Your Sex" is over nine minutes long?! And what the hell is up with the song "Monkey"? That song seems kind of odd listening nowadays, especially after his scandals. Michael does slow it down and change things quite often on Faith, but I found it to be a more rewarding album this second time around. It's crazy, but it's a good crazy.
Suggested Track: "Father Figure"
471. Richard and Linda Thompson-I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
What I said then:
Husband and wife duo Richard and Linda Thompson are the first artists on this list I can truly say I know nothing about and had no preconceived ideas about. The combination of Richard and Linda works well, each taking turns on varying songs, but the album at times sounds a bit too Renaissance Fair-y for my tastes. It is an album that sounds like you expect an album from the seventies to sound like, if that makes any sense. But Richard's guitar makes this album an interesting listen, especially on tracks like "The Cavalry Cross" that showcases the best of the twosome.
What I say now:
Last time I critiqued this album, I was way too hard on it. I can see a bit of the Renaissance Fair quality I attributed to I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, but this time around, it doesn't bother me at all. If anything it reminds me of some acoustic based artists I really enjoy like Andrew Bird or Anais Mitchell. I was quite worried about listening to this album a second time, but I was completely wrong the first time, proving once again that some of these albums need another chance from me.
Suggested Track: "The Calvary Cross"
Here are my personal rankings for the albums I've listened to so far (original rankings in parenthesis):
1. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (493)
2. The White Stripes-White Blood Cells (497)
3. Funkadelic-Maggot Brain (479)
4. D'Angelo-Voodoo (481)
5. The Stone Roses-The Stone Roses (498)
6. MGMT-Oracular Spectacular (494)
7. B.B. King-Live in Cook County Jail (499)
8. The Notorious B.I.G.-Life After Death (476)
9. Outkast-Aquemini (500)
10. Gang of Four-Entertainment! (483)
11. Loretta Lynn-All Time Greatest Hits (478)
12. Kiss-Destroyer (489)
13. Elvis Costello and the Attractions-Armed Forces (475)
14. Cyndi Lauper-She's So Unusual (487)
15. Steve Earle-Guitar Town (482)
16. Earth, Wind & Fire-That's the Way of the World (486)
17. George Michael-Faith (472)
18. Raekwon-Only Built For Cuban Linx... (480)
19. The Smiths-The Smiths (473)
20. Eurythmics-Touch (492)
21. Richard and Linda Thompson-I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (471)
22. Husker Du-New Day Rising (488)
23. Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes (484)
24. Pearl Jam-Vitalogy (485)
25. Merle Haggard-Down Every Road (477)
26. Bonnie Raitt-Give It Up (495)
27. Albert King-Born Under a Bad Sign (491)
28. Manu Chao-Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (474)
29. Boz Scaggs-Boz Scaggs (496)
30. ZZ Top-La Grange (490)
Highest newly added album: The Notorious B.I.G.-Life After Death (476) at #8
Lowest newly added album: Manu Chao-Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (474) at #28
Also, if you'd like to follow along, check out the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums list on Spotify.
Check back soon for albums 470-461.
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