Blurrhead listens to the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time"

Originally Posted by 8bit

You have good taste, Mr. Blurrhead.

Spanks you, 8bit.



494. She's So Unusual - Cyndi Lauper (1983)

This album is so unusual. No really. This album seemed to me like a mixed bag of the 80's. You got your 80's ballads (Time After Time, All Through The Night) You got your upbeat 80's pop songs (She Bop, Yeah Yeah.) Well...damn, I'm going to stop calling things "80's". This album has a little bit of everything, but the lyrics are a little unoriginal. I could compare it to a lot of artists today, but none of the songs were sexual or provocative, so it's hard for me to compare it to Lady Gaga or Britney Spears, especially since they sound nothing alike. Although, my point was that I was criticizing all three for poor lyrocs.

Despite this, there were some reasonably good songs on this album: Time After Time, All Through The Night, Money Changes Everything. It wasn't bad by any means, it just shows that I wasn't missing anything special. Nothing really caught my eye and I heard half the songs on the radio before. Overall, this album was alright. I'd take it over a lot of modern day pop music but I can't give it that much credit. Oh well.

I support this thread. It's pretty fantastic. Sucks that you have to wait for the top 10 to really acquaint yourself with the best stuff the Beatles ever did, though.

You have to wait so long for Soundgarden's album. D:

Originally Posted by Alex

You have to wait so long for Soundgarden's album. D:

It'll be worth it. You're right though. I calculated a bit and estimated that the earliest I'll probably be to get to that album is next August.

I'm gonna try listening to no.493 tonight. I have the whole dorm room to myself.

493. That's the Way of the World - Earth, Wind & Fire (1975)

Well, listening to this album made me feel like I was in...Austin Powers land. Maybe it's because the first track was breifly used in Goldmember, but it did have a nice 70's groovy feel. Some of the songs were too long. It would stretch on for a few minutes how love is the way to go, baby and what could've been nicer as a 3-minute song ended up being like 5-6 minutes.

On the plus side of that, there were only eight songs, so it was a rather enjoyable 40 minutes. One song that I liked in particular was "Africano". It's purely instrumental. (although I think some band members chant in the song, I think they just do that as the beat.) It starts out with a flutey Dave Matthews feel and becomes the disco sound of EWF. In short, this album had it's flaws, as most albums do, but it was enjoyable in it's own sense, especially to someone who just started listening to them.

492. Vitalogy - Pearl Jam (1994)

Hey, guess what? I actually own this CD, and have listened to it multiple times. This puts some bias into this review. I haven't listened to it for a good two years, but I listened to it anyway, just for you guys.

I always thought this album was fantastic. As a Pearl Jam fan, I always found this album to be the most unique and stuck out. Everything is so experimental and some songs are so distorted. One song even goes far enough to use voices of schizophrenic/mental people throughout the whole song with nothing but drums and bass in the background.

This album was always a mystery to me though. It's definitely the black sheep of the Pearl Jam discography, with songs like "Bugs", "Pry, To" and "Stupid Mop", but what made them decide to make a dark CD like Vitalogy? I guess it's just the musical genious that is Pearl Jam.

PS: Immortality is one of my favorite songs ever.

491. All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople (1972)

Well, I'm officially 1/50 of the way done with my journey, not that I should really be tracking THAT. Today, I listened to All The Young Dudes by Mott The Hoople.

I didn't have many expectations from this album. I had never heard of Mott the Hoople before, and I think I know why: they are just like a bunch of other classic rock bands that I've heard before. I heard AC/DC on this album, I heard Bad Company on this album. Hell, even a little bit of Van Halen. This was really nothing signifigant to me, the music was a total recollection of what classic rock meant to me. Well, it wasn't a bad album.

At least two of the songs were covers. Sweet Jane was a cover of a Velvet Underground song and All The Young Dudes was a cover of a David Bowie song, which they did a fairly well job of covering if you ask me. Sure, the song stuck out like a sore thumb because they took some time to sound closer to Bowie rather than Bad Company, but it was nice and graceful overall. Really, I start to wonder why I never heard Mott the Hoople before, and I'm starting to think that when you paint a picture of the music from this era, that they aren't one of the core bands you'd consider revolutionary. This album was good and all, but honestly, it's stuff that you can find anywhere if you dig deep enough.

^"All the Young Dudes" is actually a Mott the Hopple song, but it was written for them as a gift by David Bowie, to try to convince them not to break up. It's not actually a cover, but there is a reason it is often mistaken as such, because it is basically a David Bowie song.

Bowie has his own version of it, but the first recording of it was done by Mott the Hopple, so it is still considered to be a Mott the Hopple song.

I've gotta find that Velvet Underground cover. :O

Originally Posted by nolan

^"All the Young Dudes" is actually a Mott the Hopple song, but it was written for them as a gift by David Bowie, to try to convince them not to break up. It's not actually a cover, but there is a reason it is often mistaken as such, because it is basically a David Bowie song.

Bowie has his own version of it, but the first recording of it was done by Mott the Hopple, so it is still considered to be a Mott the Hopple song.

Really? Haha, could've fooled me. They did a good job mimicing it. Everything about that song says: David Bowie. The lyrics, the composition, the music style. I personally like Bowie better though. I wish he wrote more songs for them.

I really need to get on this. At the rate I'm going, I might finish college before I finish this list.



490. Entertainment! - Gang of Four (1979)

This was pretty interesting. I thought I'd do something different and take a look at the history behind the album, perhaps doing so would make me understand the lyrics a little better. And I've realized that this album is VERY political.

I mean, I'm sure most early post-punk bands are, but since I'm experiencing it firsthand, it's new to me. It deals with, from what it looks like: racial intolerance and other civil issues, it even takes a stab at war, which is actually where the title of this album came from. "War is entertainment." Yes. Yes, indeed. Very fitting. I feel like maybe I didn't catch on to the ques of this album because either: A. It was made 30 years ago and society is different now or B. I've never heard it before. Either way, it was hard for me to take feeling and consideration into this album. However, I do praise GoF for making this. It's pretty sweet and it's nice listening to some music that inspired our generation of "punk" - if you want to call it that.

489. Guitar Town - Steve Earle (1986)

Well, my first country album. oh joy, I hate country. Not with a burning passion or anything, but I find it really boring and let me tell you, this album....is REALLY boring. It doesn't tickle my fancy. But, I sucked it up and listened to Guitar Town and its lyrics, and it was a nice surprise, but it's not getting me into listening to country at all.

The album is pretty bland and what you'd expect, but there are a few positive outlooks I'll put onto this album: There are a few songs that have a sort of Sprignsteen feel, as in they sound like Springsteen songs with a heavy country influence, which made it a little more enjoyable. Also, the lyrics in some of these songs are meaningful, so it's not just country nonsense that I hear on my grandpa's radio, I found "Little Rock N Roller" to be a nice touch, a song that Earle wrote about his son and how he never sees him and how his career has gotten into the way of being a father. A nice touch, but it didn't cut the cake for me, this album isn't in my tastes, but hey, I expect at least a few album to be like this.

Originally Posted by Blurrhead

I really need to get on this. At the rate I'm going, I might finish college before I finish this list.



490. Entertainment! - Gang of Four (1979)

YES.

This was pretty interesting. I thought I'd do something different and take a look at the history behind the album, perhaps doing so would make me understand the lyrics a little better. And I've realized that this album is VERY political.

I mean, I'm sure most early post-punk bands are, but since I'm experiencing it firsthand, it's new to me. It deals with, from what it looks like: racial intolerance and other civil issues, it even takes a stab at war, which is actually where the title of this album came from. "War is entertainment." Yes. Yes, indeed. Very fitting. I feel like maybe I didn't catch on to the ques of this album because either: A. It was made 30 years ago and society is different now or B. I've never heard it before. Either way, it was hard for me to take feeling and consideration into this album. However, I do praise GoF for making this. It's pretty sweet and it's nice listening to some music that inspired our generation of "punk" - if you want to call it that.

They're a pretty political band in general. Their name, Gang of Four, comes from the name of the informal ruling power under Mao after the Cultural Revolution in China.

Originally Posted by Blurrhead

Well, my first country album. oh joy, I hate country. Not with a burning passion or anything, but I find it really boring

Really.

Give this a listen. Specifically, the song 'Holie Roller'.

Also this:



And...

Listen to 'The Way of Damnation'.

^I totally missed that post. Thanks, I'll definitely look into those before moving further.

In the meantime, I listened to another album.



488. Voodoo - D'Angelo (2000)


Hey! What do you know! An album made this decade, oh boy. I wonder what it sounds like. Sounds like...elevator music with an R&B touch. Well, I'm probably off with that statement, but they both have the same effect on me. D'Angelo has a great way with lyrics, but the way he sings really doesn't do him any justice. In fact...he kind of sounds like a girl.

With that aside, this album is pretty long. By far, the longest on the list so far. (I'm pretty certain that no.487 is longer though.) Most of the songs drag on, usually they're, like, one or two minutes too long, but I rest my case. I don't know what D'Angelo was aiming for here, but it certainly wasn't anything exciting or innovative. I'm pretty sure he just made an album doing what he loves doing, singing what he loves to sing. This album would never be picked up by today's standards, but if D'Angelo can make this album this decade and get picked up by a "top 500 albums list", despite the controversy this list has caused the forum, then well done.

Well, I guess I should comment on the lyrics...they're hard to follow. They're mostly just sexual or something related, but you can't really understand the lyrics unless you look them up online, which is what I did.

487. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins (1995)

This album is fantastic. One of my favorites of all time. To me, I was a little upset it was ranked so low. I think it at least deserved the top 400. Anyway, what I love most about this album is it's atmosphere. The varying sounds of different songs put the album into an atmosphere where anything could happen. A very modest and sincere album that, at the same time, has a few songs that are not so modest.

There are two discs. I feel like the first disc is more of a vintage-Pumpkins sound, full with melody and spirit, while the second album is a little more experimental, con 1979 and the songs at the end. They're pretty much the same sound, but the second disc is a little darker. Overall, the two fuse together to make a great record focused around the circle of life. Some of the lyrics are a little...interesting. (Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage.)? It makes up for it in musical quality and atmosphere though. I reccomend this album to anybody.

486. Maggot Brain - Funkadelic (1971)

This is definitely one of the most interesting albums I've ever listened to. It has such a distinct 70's sound except it's much more raw and innovative. No two tracks are alike, there's something a little different about all of them, which makes this album actually a little more fun. If I had to choose one word to describe this album, I'd say crazy. It's pretty insane, maybe not by yesteryear's standards, but it's definitely unlike anything I've ever heard.

Funkadelic do a good job digging into different genres to make this album great. I felt some serious Jimi Hendrix influences, which was pretty nice. I really can't say much about this album. Although I've been trying to focus more on the lyrics, I'm pretty convinced that it's the overall sound that makes this album so unique.

This is an interesting idea. I think it'd be awesome if you keep it up all the way to the top - it'll take forever, but you'll be so much more culturally enlightened by the end!

I looked through the list and noticed there are a lot of good jazz albums scattered through it, too. I'm interested to see your takes on Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. They'll be very weird to you, and they probably won't be enjoyable to someone who has listened to music largely from his own generation, but there's no question that they're classic albums and maybe by the time you reach them you'll have developed an appreciation for all sorts of different music.

Good luck with your journey.

Oh, also, don't feel bad that they rated Mellon Collie so "low" on the list, think of it from the opposite direction - they rated it as the 487th best album of all time. Out of all of the hundreds of thousands of music albums out there, one of your favorites stands at the very top alongside other greats. Think of it that way.

I guess this kinda works for this topic...

I listened to Nevermind, by Nirvana last night. How is it in the top 20 albums of all time? I mean, I've listened to Superunknown,by Soundgarden, and Ten, by Pearl Jam... and they're classics. Almost flawless. Not one bad song on either.

Then we get Nevermind, which is just a filler album. Like seriously.

Originally Posted by Alex

I guess this kinda works for this topic...

I listened to Nevermind, by Nirvana last night. How is it in the top 20 albums of all time? I mean, I've listened to Superunknown,by Soundgarden, and Ten, by Pearl Jam... and they're classics. Almost flawless. Not one bad song on either.

Then we get Nevermind, which is just a filler album. Like seriously.

Please explain to me how its just a filler album. Personally, I think of Superunknown to be a bit weak and Ten is defiantly not Pearl Jam's best work. And while Nirvana isn't the best band out there, they get a lot more ♥♥♥♥ than they deserve.

Oh, also, don't feel bad that they rated Mellon Collie so "low" on the list, think of it from the opposite direction - they rated it as the 487th best album of all time. Out of all of the hundreds of thousands of music albums out there, one of your favorites stands at the very top alongside other greats. Think of it that way.

Lmao. That's actually a pretty good way to put it. Especially if you compare it to all the 90's albums on there, it looks pretty great.



485. All Time Greatest Hits - Loretta Lynn (2002)

Why is this album here? I don't get it, this shouldn't count. I like doing this idea for the good reasons, but it just seems a little...unfair. Especially since this album was made in 2002 and contains a bunch of songs from the 60's and the 70's. That's the one issue I have with this list, I counted and there's at least 15 compiliation albums. Seems a little odd because I really doubt this album had any cultural impact in 2002.

To be fair, it was okay. Listening to music at 2AM kind of makes you focus more and sets all distractions aside. The songs were nice, simple and short, and I could see how Loretta Lynn could've been an influental artist altogether, but for having this album on the list...there was NO point. It's a good collection from songs from a good singer, but they probably would've been better off just putting one of her originals in its place.