Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/

The Fabs represented well in the '60s!

Bill

Thanks for the link Bill!

This is funny considering at the time, Time gave Abbey Road a mediocre review.

35 years on, who cares what they say.

"This is funny considering at the time, Time gave Abbey Road a mediocre review."


Glenn, I'd guess in 35 years some of "us" are working at Time now! Obviously their taste has improved!

Bill

Hey Glenn,
Time gave Abbey Road a good review. I have it in front of me now, from October 3, 1969. They call it "the best thing The Beatles have done since Sgt. Pepper...". "...a cheerful coherence...", "Rarely has John played better guitar than on I Want You...", "Rarely have Bassist Paul and Drummer Ringo achieved more cohesive yet flexible rhythm..."

There wasn't really anything mediorcre about it.

Hey Bill, thanks. I was going by what Spitzer said in his book, the one that came out last year. He sites several mediocre to poor reviews of Abbey Road. I thought one of them was from Time. But I must have got it wrong.

And yes, Bill M, you're right.

I know this is the Beatles part of the forum, but what amazes me about the list is the lack of "Dark Side of the Moon," which I think is the best selling LP of all time (also recorded at Abbey Road!). Pretty sure it also set the Billboard record as well for weeks on the chart.

I know what you mean, David ... I thought that I'd see The Who's landmark album Who's Next? on the list, as it set the stage for all the synthesizer-based music in the following decade and a half.

Dark side ranks 19th on the best selling lps list (strangely enough, it wasn't nearly as popular outside the US as it was here. Even weirder is the fact that the Wall is #3 on the list, an album I had no inclination to buy at the time and which some of my most rabid Floyd fan friends have failed to buy on CD, though they've bought most of the rest of their stuff on CD.)

The other weird thing is the only Beatles studio album to crack the top ten only at the #9 position, the White Album.

Wall spent something like 15 years on the charts, and still sells about 4000 copies a week.

Wish I had written just one song on it!

'Time Out of Mind' over 'Love and Theft', eh?

BZZZT.

So according to this list, REM's two best albums are "Document" and "Out of Time." Really, "Out of Time" is better than "Murmur" and "Automatic for the People"? No way.

Also, according to this list, the best album from Talking Heads is "Stop Making Sense." Maybe the reviewers didn't listen to their first 5 albums.

And someone named "DJ Shadow" made an album greater than anything ever done by The Byrds, or Tom Petty, or Yes, or Pink Floyd, or Van Halen, or the Smiths, or Elvis Costello. The same for the "Notorious BIG."

Yeesh.

Once again, don't get all upset over these lists.

First, they're completely subjective, even if they purport not to be.

Second, such lists invite debate, which can be fun, and educational in some cases, but it's not worth strapping on the rifle and ammo and taking out some poor editor.

Third, such lists are "lazy", as anyone can cobble together a list, throw in a few comments, and presto...an article.

Fourth, most likely, none of us would have the same list if we all compiled ours. See point #1.

Fifth - it's freakin' Time Magazine!!! Who cares what they think. Even if it was completely over-the-hill Rolling Stone magazine...who cares!!!!

(though Brad, when it comes to the Talking Heads, I think Fear of Music or Remain In Light is their peak, so I gotta agree with you...as for R.E.M. - Document is the album I think hasn't aged all that well. I much prefer Reckoning, or Automatic for the People).

These lists are done by fat, middle-aged white guys who still think it's 1972*

(*yes, at this stage in my life, I could be considered a fat, middle-aged white guy...but I still think it's 1979).

How can you even consider a *best of* or *anthology* or *essential hits* one of the top albums when it's a bunch of albums on one. Not a very fair selection process. Collections should not even be considered. Comparing an album done in one year to a best of collection taken off of a number of albums spread over a number of years, is flawed at the outset. Pink Floyd's Dark Side is without a doubt MIA. Where's Jethro Tull, the Moody Blues and Yes? I agree with Mick. It's all somebody's opinion. The only difference is someone got paid for theirs. For the record... I'm not fat but I am a middle-aged white guy... and I still think it's 1969!

How/why these were left off a list of "influential" albums is completely baffling to me.....