Yeah, so this article was posted two years ago, but I just ran across it, so I feel like throwing down a few comments here and there...Four Beatles albums in the top ten? I agree that they were a phenomenal group, hands down the finest ever to make rock and roll, but I think Sgt. Pepper's is overrated - same with The White Album. Revolver and Rubber Soul are both better albums.
Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited are deserving of the top ten. The latter continued the shocking departure for Dylan from his folk roots, the former is just a knockout - with "Visions of Johanna" being one of Dylan's finest songs.
Stupidly, I've never heard Exile on Main Street all the way through. And I don't even know that I could tell you which songs are on the album. I probably should give it a listen at some point, particularly since I love Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair so much.
#13 - Velvet Underground and Nico deserves to be higher. I'd honestly put it above The White Album but I don't know what else I'd move downward to replace it.
I don't get #17 Nevermind. I've listened to it a couple of times, and I just don't get it. Pearl Jam were the bigger band. Maybe it's a blind spot of mine, but I just didn't and still don't get the whole Nirvana thing.
The Great Twenty-Eight by Chuck Berry shows a real difference in how things were released from then to now. A modern greatest hits album wouldn't be considered for this list, but for many of the older artists represented here, they didn't put out what we consider traditional albums. They didn't step into the studio and record a cohesive dozen songs to be put out all at once. They stopped into and out of studios to record singles that their record labels might or might not ever release all together as an album
#40 - Forever Changes by Love. Who? What? Huh? First appearance of a band that I've never heard of with an album that's not ever mildly familiar to me.
Legend by Marley at #46 is the album that I most closely associate with spring afternoons at Wabash. We had a big house stereo system that somebody would invariably drag out onto the balcony or front porch and blast music all day long - either weekdays or weekends. And it seemed that at some point during every day, Legend would get a turn or two through the rotation. Great album. Probably the single view of reggae for 90+% of America.
A Love Supreme shows up with only three tracks and a feeling of drifting in and back, through and through the same music over and over again. It's a phenomenal album and deserving of its place. Reminds me of #19 Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. Both were very spiritual, both albums circled back on themselves beautifully, both are timeless.
Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart is another that I'm not familiar with. About the only thing I know about it is that it's associated with Frank Zappa.
I love U2. They're one of my favorite bands, and Joshua Tree deserves it's place in the top 20, but Achtung Baby is one that more critics loved than I ever did.
I'd switch Led Zeppelin at #29 for Led Zeppelin IV or II down at #66 and #75. The band's debut is great, no doubt, but they got better later.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the only Elton John album that I've ever owned. I got rid of it because I didn't listen to it often, but it's a near-perfect pop album. A double album without any filler. Phenomenal. Just not my tastes.
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