The New First Grade

A colleague gave me this article to read from Newsweek. I have been processing it over the weekend and still feel nervous about it. You can see why after reading the article at Newsweek. Here are some things I read that I had to reread to make sure I was reading them correctly.

Like many of his friends, Robert Cloud, a president of an engineering company in suburban Chicago, had the Ivy League in mind when he enrolled his sons, ages 5 and 8, in a weekly after-school tutoring program. "To get into a good school, you need to have good grades," he says.
(I can speak to this, I can tell you for sure that when I was 5 there was no way I was thinking about what college I was going to go to- I went to an ivy league school.All I can say, is shame on this parent for putting such enormous pressure on their first grader- If you are parent and you are thinking along these lines, please rethink. Remember, it really doesn't matter where you go- but what you do when you get there.)

"In wealthier communities, where parents can afford an extra year of day care or preschool, they are holding their kids out of kindergarten a year—a practice known in sports circles as red-shirting—so their kids can get a jump on the competition."
What?

So many more things I can sya about this article. I do agree that first graders are really being pushed alot harder and faster than first graders in the past.

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Well at least I now know what the most overrated album of all time sounds like.

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I could take a pass on this album. It has its lyrical moments, but I just don't care for this Dylan sound at all. Give me Blood on the Tracks.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The greatest album ever made, it is much more than just the restrained talent of Marvin Gaye exploding out at the chance for free expression. The longtime Motown session musicians (James Jamerson, Eli Fountain, Joe Messina and the rest of the Funk Brothers) as well as other lyricists (like Obie Benson of the Four Tops who wrote the song "What's Going On") felt this freedom along with Gaye and the album spills over with all of their restrained raw talent. This adds another dimension to the greatness of this album. Without it's release and success in 1971, fought for by Gaye who refused to make any more recordings before being given a chance to release the single "What's Going On," who knows if we would have ever had many of the other items that soon followed like Innervisions by Stevie Wonder.

"What's Going On" would act as a spark to the idea of creating a concept album about a soldier returning from war to come home to a changing world and with a changed perspective and vision of the world around him. This song alone is one of the greatest singles ever written and produced, and to use it as a starting point for an entire album would be very difficult. But the sound and voice that exists in this song lives throughout the album as it explores the environment, drug abuse, inner city poverty, etc. in a way that is timeless. In the end that is what makes this album so amazing. The lyrics are so tightly constructed and written in a manner that is so timeless they are still just as strong today as they were 35 years ago.

You can't talk about this album without pointing out that Gaye's voice and his performances of the songs are flawless. The music constructed around him is also flawless an odd mix of r&b/funk/jazz that was and is like nothing else. In a sense this was a very experimental album, but one that was put together by a group of extremely talented and mature artists who were extremely focused on making this the greatest album they had ever been a part of. With that kind of focus and talent the album was sure to be a success.

If you have never heard this album, it is a must. It is the greatest album ever made.

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. (Top 500 Countdown Update)

What a different sound. I would say this is The Rolling Stones reinventing themselves. Opening up their sound a bit more and moving away from the heavy grungy rock of their past. Problem is I like their heavy grungy rock sound and am not as crazy about what they are doing on this album. For an experimental/transitional album the sound is already very consistent and the album is fairly tight. It's the emotion that is missing as their seems to be a lot of weight put into the production, but not as much into the guts of the album. This is the fall of most transitional albums. In the end it's an OK album, but certainly not their best.

The Clash - London Calling (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Hmm, I don't get it. It's number 8 on the Rolling Stone countdown and I wouldn't put it in the top 500 at all. I just don't get The Clash and again I'm thinking I must be missing something but don't get what it is that I'm missing. There are a few good songs with catchy beats. One thing I like so much about Big Audio Dynamite's first album is that it has a finished sound, where much of this album seems thrown together and unfinished. Personally I would skip it.

Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a group of solid songs, with good melodies and lyrics, but honestly I don't like the sound. Music isn't just about melodies and lyrics it is also about performances and this is lacking something for me, especially Dylan's.

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (Top 500 Countdown Update)

In the end it is so simple why this is labeled as the greatest jazz album on the list, melodies. Davis creates fantastic melodies that generate songs full of hooks as he and Coltrane play around with the ideas. One thing that is amazing is that this album was a one shot, unrehearsed recording of the songs as Davis laid them out for the guys before the recording started. It's hard for me to believe that anyone is that talented let alone six guys together, but here it is. Though the album is free thought, the songs aren't long and as I said before the melodies are infectious, pure genius. It may sound corny but if you only want to own one jazz album, this is the album to get.

By the way if you want to own two jazz albums get one that is not this list Dave Brubeck's Time Out. As hard as it is to believe it came out the same year as Kind of Blue and Giant Steps another album on the top 500 countdown.

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album represents the dawning of the age of experimental. The nifty thing is that it does it with some great pop songs like "There She Goes Again" and "Femme Fatale." In fact this album is full of good hooks while musically it is all over the map. If you've never heard the album it is worth a listen at some point just to get a feel for where so much came from to follow, but remember it is very experimental and so even the good hooks are surrounded by odd music and in some cases out there lyrics or subjects. This then leads to an album where you have a wonderfully simple rock love song like "I'll Be Your Mirror" and the noise experiment "Heroine" which is about what you would guess.

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (Top 500 Countdown Update)

If a Martian landed and came up to me and asked, "What is this rock & roll I hear so much about," I would put on this album. Drums, bass, guitar, good pop hooks, lyrics all over the map but easy to sing, cool production, blues, psychedelia, hard rock, it is all here on this album. The album is so seamless. It is exactly what you want out of a great album. It has no bad songs, it is experimental, it all fits together, and it is very pop heavy. Any song on here could be a single, except for "Third Stone From the Sun", and yet it has more depth than albums like Born in the USA or Rumours.

Listening to this album in full for the first time in close to 20 years I'm struck by how much energy carries through the entire album. "Purple Haze" would be a hard song for most albums to follow, but here it seems to happen with ease as each song just jumps off the plastic.

"Third Stone" is the only part of the album I have a problem with. Oddly for experimental jazz/rock it still works on this album because it has such a seductive melody that runs throughout. I just think it's a bit long, the other songs all being about half it's length. It disrupts the flow a bit, that is of course until "Foxey Lady" starts up and then you're right back.

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's hard not to like this album that exposes so well the talent of Dylan. The set of songs are extremely strong and the production is wonderfully tight blending a soft almost acoustic sound that brings out the emotion of the lyrics perfectly. This is the key to the record, because the lyrics are the key to Dylan. Although he performs wonderfully on this album, the strength lies in the words and the music here really bring the lyrics and accentuate them perfectly. Dylan shows great maturity in his singing on this record slowing down his presentation and actually performing the songs instead of just running of the words.

Nirvana - Nevermind (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's funny but this album really makes me hate how people are. This is a brilliant fusion of punk/rock/metal/pop and yet Nirvana felt bad because of their success. Felt bad that all their indi crowd thought they had sold out their sound. I really hate people. I thought the idea of going into rock was to produce music, your music and have it go out there and touch people, find a mass audience. The indi crows by the way are the same people who are angry that literary criticism exits and yet they are the record critics and the ones who would tear down someone like Nirvana once they find success. Why? Because Nirvana found success, and they found it without compromising their sound. They found it because they had more talent than the people who wanted to tear them down. I really can't stand the Yo La Tangos of the world. Too cool for everyone else and if you don't get it you're a loser. I'm just getting more angry with every word so I'll leave it at that.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's amazing how much Springsteen matured as a songwriter and producer from his first to his third album. Given the two previous albums Born to Run comes out of nowhere with a sound and lyric that seem completely new and fresh. He was 25 years old when this album came out and it reflects his age. Musically he's matured with a tighter more complex sound to the songs and lyrically he's matured with stronger emotional songs struggling with getting older and being trapped in youth and still feeling youthful. But the emotions of the album are still so raw that it gives the songs a life that Springsteen could never tap again, simply because he will never be 25 again. Born in the USA is technically a better album, but emotionally it can't even come close to this album and that's what makes this one of the best albums ever recorded.

This is also the only weakness to the album. It is stuck in time in a sense. If you see Rebel Without a Cause at age 30 it will not have the same effect as it would have if you had seen it at 16. The same for this album. The emotions are so raw that if you aren't still at the point in your life where you can make that connection it is hard to fully appreciate the album. I would also think a problem might be that it is so gender specific. Not that a 25 year old woman couldn't enjoy the album, but it looks at the world through a very male centered perspective. I would love it if a woman could write an album to match this that would explore the lives of the women the voice in this album is singing to and about.

But just at The Catcher in the Rye is considered one of the great American novels, this is surely one of the great American albums.

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album is full of good songs, countless songs that went on to be top 10 singles, but there is something missing on this album. I don't feel that any of the songs stand up to the best songs on Off the Wall and that shouldn't be. This album definitely builds on the sound that was discovered on Off the Wall and Jackson is a much stronger singer, but the types of songs they went after I don't think work as well for Jackson. The songs as a batch are much stronger, but I think "Human Nature" is the only one that really taps into Jackson's strength as a singer. Jackson wanted to be a strong funk/rock singer, three of the four songs he wrote, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean" are hard funk/rock songs but that mix just doesn't work for me.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (Top 500 Countdown Update)

From Music of My Mind to Talking Book Stevie Wonder grew his new voice and new sound finally exploding with the brilliant album Innervisions. It stands above the other two for its consistency and incorporation of everything that he was experimenting with on those two albums. This album has a great blend of songs that all fit tightly together to make a wonderful album. There isn't a bad song on the album or a bad moment.

It's a brilliant album and one that Wonder would never be able to match. Like U2 he would have to begin experimenting with different sounds, different types of songs, but never again reach a moment that would come close to this. This album is a great reason why studio albums are much better than a collection, greatest hits, anthology whatever. These songs are so tightly woven together it is a feeling that is lost once the songs are removed from their home, and in the end that is what makes this album and others like it so good. It is so well structured, so well thought out that you are left realizing the artist could have done no better than what they did.

James Brown - Live At the Apollo 1962 (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Didn't care for this one at all. For live albums I'd get BB King's Live At the Regal or Otis Redding's Live In Europe.

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album is chock full of very good songs "The Chain," "Dreams," "Never Going Back Again," "Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way," and "You Make Loving Fun" are all songs I've heard on the radio over the years. The other songs on the album aren't bad and so the album really never misses a beat with good solid pop music. The oddity of the album is that there are three main writers Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, and Stevie Nicks each having their own sound. This gives the album an almost greatest hits feel to it since there is no consistency in sound from one song to the next. Funny but you can tell who wrote what song without knowing much at all about Fleetwood Mac. I think this is a shame because my favorite song on the album "The Chain" is the only one that gives multiple writing credits and has the most complex mix of sounds that work very well. It's hard to think of these hits songs being any better than what they were, but who knows.

U2 - The Joshua Tree (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album started to build with War as U2 found a good clean clangy melodic sound that framed Bono's aggressive and emotional lyrics and singing. It developed further with The Unforgettable Fire as they started to bring more depth and polish to the music and as Bono's lyrics began to develop deeper meanings and more maturity. From those two albums came this. A perfect blend of all the things they had been working with before. The aggression and passion of War, but with a more mature voice, a much more mature sound that adds even more depth than The Unforgettable Fire but still manages to better expose the clangy unrelenting melodies that lie underneath. It is by far the strongest set of songs U2 ever brought to an album and the best vocal work Bono had done up to that point. The last two songs are the weakest point of the album, which hurts since it's better to close strong, but it is still a solid album.

As happens to any group that reaches this sort of climax U2 was left with no room to grow with this sound and would choose to reinvent their sound later, but this album still represents U2 at their best and is the reason they became superstars.

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Best collection of Dylan songs I've heard so far on this countdown and also a good sound. I like the turn to electric. It also has the feel of a transitional album and so at times it drags and gets a bit lost in itself the music and lyrics not working well together.

The Who - Who's Next (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Well if you have never listened to The Who or want to own one Who record for your collection this is the record for you. The songs were never sharper and consistent. The sound was never more balanced and melodic. This is a brilliant record never missing a beat.

Personally I prefer my music to be a bit more emotional, sappy, romantic and so this album is missing a bit for me on that note, but for pure rock music this is one of the best ever made. Heavy drums, amazing bass work, great guitar rifts, and powerful singing make this album jump to life from opening to ending.

Joni Mitchell - Blue (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Skip it.

The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (Top 500 Countdown Update)

If you have never listened to a Stones album, or if you want to own one to have in your collection this is the album to get. It is the most consistent album they ever made balancing their sound out better than any other. It is also a good album. The opening to "Gimme Shelter" pulls you into the album and it never really lets up finishing with "You Can't Always Get What You Want." In between these two wide open songs are very gritty blues/country/pop songs that are wonderful to listen to when in the right mood.

The Ramones - The Ramones (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Too much the same song over and over again. It's OK, but after a bit I just wanted some variation, anything.

The Band - Music from Big Pink (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's OK but this album doesn't do much for me.

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this album. It also has the feel of the kind of album that could grow on you. It's an interesting sound that consistently fits around nice pop melodies and good beats.

Carole King - Tapestry (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's an album like this that makes me realize how amazing an album like Born in the USA is. The three opening songs on this album are incredible. There are other great songs on this album, but for a pop album it struggles at times to keep the momentum going. It is so incredibly hard to put down 12 really tightly constructed songs and never slip. Don't get me wrong this is a very good album, but it does have moments where it feels like it's struggling along.

Love - Forever Changes (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I'm not sure I get this one. There aren't any real standout songs and there isn't a very good pop sense to the album. The Byrds may drive me crazy by going overboard all the time, but their songs have good pop sensibility and good beats.

The Doors - The Doors (Top 500 Countdown Update)

So much attention goes to Jim Morrison that people seem to overlook the great supporting cast he had in Densmore, Krieger, and Manzareck. Like any great group that has a larger than life front man like U2, REM, The Smiths, etc. it takes a solid group of musicians to make a success. You want this showperson to be able to write what they want, sing how they want, and support that with catchy melodies, strong beats, etc. This is something The Doors pulled off brilliantly on this album whether it meant playing blues, psychedelia, pop/rock, or jazz.

Another thing that people tend to overlook about The Doors is they were really good at writing pop songs. On this album throw out "Alabama Song" and "The End" and every other song could have been released as a single. I think part of why this gets overlooked is again the larger than life persona that Morrison took on which tended to overshadow the band or their music after a time.

This album is The Doors at their best and tightest. Throw out "Alabama Song" and you may have the greatest rock album of all time.

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It is hard to find better sounding rock music than what you'll find on this album. That being said the songs are lyrically weak and the sound though beautiful is dreary and moody but oddly lacking in emotion. If you want to hear post Syd Barrett Floyd then this is the album to try out. You won't find anything of theirs more structured than this.

Patti Smith - Horses (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I've heard of Patti Smith my entire adult life and so it was interesting to finally listen to her. It's a pretty good album, worth listening to, but nothing to write home about now like it would have been in 1975.

The Band - The Band (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album doesn't do anything for me.

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The energy on this album is great, but I'm not a big fan of unstructured jazz and would prefer something that actually revolves around a melody instead of being free thought. Years ago I was part of a move in the University of Kentucky English department to bring back a journal that had existed years before. As part of the process to get material for publication we sent out an open call for poetry. None of the poetry submitted that I read was structured to meter, rhyme, or message. It was all abstract language with no metering or structure to the thoughts. Now if you are a genius like Allen Ginsberg you can potentially pull this off, but for the majority of us we can't. I would say the same for free jazz like what is constructed on this album. If you are a genius like Coltrane you can pull it off, but only if you are very very special. Personally I still don't think it is at the same level as other work of his that is more structured, just like I don't believe Ginsberg is in the same league as Robert Frost.

Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album really picks it up on the middle part of the album with the front and back ends being fairly weak. This sounds like a transitional album, an experimental album at times the songs seem to get lost, not sure where exactly they are going. The moments when it works you can see the potential of what is to come and it is wonderful. This album would be followed two years later by Fear of a Black Planet, the greatest rap album ever made. For Fear they take their experimental sounds from A Nation and perfect it, wrapping that sound with brilliant pop raps and beats like De La Soul and BDP, extending their lyrics vastly on Fear, like BDP and N.W.A., and bringing up the noise and power, like the Beastie Boys, that this album is missing which helps to solidify the sound. If you want to hear a pretty good album and know what lead up to the greatest rap album of all time check this one out.

The Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The first side of this album is fantastic with "Statesboro Blues," "Done Somebody Wrong," and "Stormy Monday." From there it is all a bit downhill for me as I don't care much for long jam songs. Side two is made up of one song, side three is made up of two, and side four one. Musically these guys are very good, but I miss the nice structures and musical expressions found on that first side. If you enjoy the Grateful Dead live or Cream live, then you should enjoy this as well.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The album seems a bit disjointed and though the big songs off of the album are very good, the rest of the songs seem tossed in and don't really fit with the album. It's odd since their two previous albums seem so structured, but this was the groups final album so who knows what problems they were beginning to run into while recording it. It's probably worth having just for the big hit songs, but you can also get those on a greatest hits, except maybe for "The Only Living Boy In New York" which is a good song.

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (Top 500 Countdown Update)

There is a certain ease with which Hendrix seems to produce his music. The cover of "All Along the Watchtower" is a great example of this. It seems so natural and simple and is so wonderfully complex it is truly amazing. This album is still very heavily experimental though one can hear a coherent new sound starting to emerge. Hendrix has a natural gift for throwing out pop melodies that shine through on even odd songs like "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)." Sad to say he would never release another studio album and so we would never see what direction he hoped to take this new found sound. In bits and pieces this is a fun album to listen to, but only in bits and pieces.

Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album has such a raw unfinished sound it's interesting to listen to. It of course is ground breaking because of what it represents and is a good album, but in the end it is a bit too raw for me. His second album apparently has a much better structure and sound and I'll have to check it out. I think this is worth listening to simply because I've heard almost none of the songs on this album and it's good to hear this early rock stuff, but curiosity is about the only interest I have. Weird interesting version of "Blue Moon" which makes me realize how stupid I am for never thinking of Elvis as experimental.

Stevie Wonder - Songs In the Key Of Life (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Like every double album this one can be a bit long winded at times. The overall sound of the album is wonderful, but it is paced and can easily slip into the background. In other words a good album to do homework by.

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I'll be the first to admit I'm hitting total burnout on the Stones. But part of the problem is that they sound the same, the same, the same. Out of 10 songs they will have 2 or 3 that really standout as fresh pop/blues/country/whatever rock songs. No doubt these songs are exceptionally good rock songs like on this album you get "Sympathy For the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man" but only 2 to 3 per album is a bit thin. The rest of the songs aren't bad, but they are the same grungy/r&b/blues/country/rock and seem to be thrown together in about 5 minutes of preparation. The standout songs standout because they have a nice melody, interesting rhythms and good lyrics. They sound fresh and well constructed. Not to keen on this album as you can tell.

Guns 'N Roses - Appetite For Destruction (Top 500 Countdown Update)

"Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child O'Mine" are standouts on this hard rock album and are really the only good parts of this album. I never liked the song "Paradise City" and now hearing it years later I still don't. Besides the two songs mentioned as standouts the rest of the album seems thrown together hard rock, with heavy guitars, good beats and a harsh vocals, but nothing that really catches me as being all that special. The thing I learned in reading up on this album is that this band was really a one hit wonder which I can't say I knew. They did release a two album follow up but apparently it was a very experimental affair and didn't really do that well. From there the band fell apart, Nirvana came along and they disappeared. The odd thing I remember about this album in particular "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child O'Mine" is that everyone I knew liked these songs no matter if they were into alternative or mainstream music at the time. If the pop sensibility and emotion and anger of these two songs could have been captured throughout then I would say you've got a great album, as it is it is just OK.

U2 - Achtung Baby (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a good album but it seems to be a bit lost and dragging at times. I think with "One" U2 showed an ability to do a straight rock/pop song and that more pop oriented feel floats in and out the rest of the album, like on the song "Mysterious Ways." All in all it isn't a very consistent album and is definitely transitional in nature a mix of a newer harder sounding pop to the old anthemic sound of Joshua Tree.

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album has such a dark and dreary sound to it I'm not so sure a pretty, sunny Friday is the best time to evaluate it. It would be much better on a dark and lonely Tuesday night, but what are you gonna do. It's a good album with some really good music. The batch of songs isn't as strong as some other stuff I've hear by the Stones, but it's a solid album.

Billy Joel - The Stranger (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a strong album with a lot of good songs, but there is something about the sound that seems a bit too tight, too scripted which leaves the emotion lacking at times. Still it is a solid album with a good pop sense and consistency. Who doesn't like "Just the Way You Are?"

Michael Jackson - Off the Wall (Top 500 Countdown Update)

"Off the Wall," "Rock With You," and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" are three of the best funk/disco pop songs ever made. These alone make this a good album, but the rest of the album doesn't quite hold up. Side two of the album is slower and these songs, especially the ballads just don't stand up to the level of the three earlier mentioned songs. Jackson is a good singer and sounds good on songs like "She's Out Of My Life," but he's not a crooner and is not able to carry the emotional weight on these songs.

Curtis Mayfield - Superfly (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a wonderful funky r&b album that feels inner city bluesy and dirty. The sound gets a bit flat at times, partly because the sound is so consistent from one song to the next. But if you are in the right mood and you like the sound it is a wonderful experience. I recommend a cool Saturday afternoon with the sun coming in through the windows while you're getting ready for a night out. It will get you ready for a funky moody night on the dark and dirty town.

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush (Top 500 Countdown Update)

My biggest problem with Neil Young is listening to him sing. He also writes very oddly structured songs that often don't follow any kind of pop structure to give the songs a capturing melody. This all leads to me not being a very big fan and wondering why so many people are. This album is a bit slow, but is probably his best work that I've heard so far. "Southern Man" is a great song.

Prince - Purple Rain (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I never knew that some of the songs on this album were actually recorded live, like "I Would Die 4 U," "Baby I'm a Star," and "Purple Rain." That in itself is incredible since the performances are so tight and this was a newly formed band that Prince had put together just for this recording and the movie to go with it. Though I think the last two songs drag a bit they fit perfectly into the movie.

Another odd thing about this album is that it seems to have come from nowhere. There was certainly no sign of this ability in Prince's previous records and perhaps joining up with a real band helped to expand his sound and his reach. He would never again put together an album so tightly structured around pop melodies, but here he seems to have done it with such ease every song having its own weird pop sound.

I actually think this is one of the best rock albums ever made. On one album he is able to incorporate components of psychedelia, funk, rock, r&b, electronica and he makes it all work together to create a very tightly structured concept album. It is extremely hard to create a concept album, but to then make it a pop/experimental album and have every song be exceptionally good is almost impossible.

Otis Redding - Otis Blue (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is the best of his studio albums I have heard, but it doesn't compare to Live In Europe. In the studio Redding just sounds somewhat contained compared to how he sounds on stage with a band that is just as tight as it is on this album. Personally I would get Sam Cooke's studio stuff over Redding's, but the Live In Europe album is fantastic.

The Clash - The Clash (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The most intriguing song on the album to me is "Police and Thieves" because it is experimenting with a unique sound that seems to have some real potential. The rest of the album seems to be in the same ballpark as The Ramones to me, but not as well constructed. It has the feel of a first album with a lot of room for growth.

Neil Young - Harvest (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is the most consistent Young album I've heard on this countdown. That doesn't mean I love it, but it is much better than the other stuff I've heard. It has quite a few really catchy songs, but all in all it drags a bit for me and drifts around at times.

Paul Simon - Graceland (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I think I was the only person in 1986 who didn't like this album. The sound for some reason doesn't appeal to me and none of the songs really grab me like a lot of Simons other stuff. He does an excellent job of blending the mbaqanga sound into a pop format and I'll give him credit for that, but the songs seem flat and stale to me and just doesn't seem as true as his earlier work.

Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is an unstructured, thrown together, experimental album. It has its moments but for the most part it sounds very transitional. As an album it really doesn't work and was probably put out in a hurry to follow on the heels of his successful first album.

Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The arrangements again are very tight and it's a good record. However, her strength is not slow sultry songs but songs where she can be expressive and attack in bursts of energy. "I Never Loved a Man" is a great example of this. It is a slow song, but her presentation is aggressive and distant which works really well for her. "Don't Let Me Lose This Dream" has a sexy paced feel to it, that just doesn't work as well for Aretha. There are a few songs on this record that don't work that well for Aretha.

Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul (Top 500 Countdown Update)

There isn't a missed beat on this album. It's fun to hear her arrangements of songs like "Groovin" and "People Get Ready" which are uniquely Aretha. Then you throw in big songs like "Chain of Fools" and "Natural Woman" along with funky songs like "Niki Hoekey" and you have a great album. I must confess I'm not a huge Aretha fan, but this is a very good album.

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (Top 500 Countdown Update)

The amazing thing about this album is that every song on it could have been released as a single. But it's not just a random collection of well crafted singles, these songs all blend together to examine the life of 30 something men struggling with love, jobs, government, etc. Every song has wonderful pop hooks and brilliant lyrics. Even simple pop songs like "Dancing In the Dark" and "Cover Me" are so well crafted that they can't be dismissed as just silly pop tunes. Their lyrics are simple but straightforward and backed with brilliantly balanced music.

There is nothing bad that I can say about this album. It climaxes work that Springsteen started following Born to Run. The darker lyrics, the heavier rock sound, the moody edgy singing, all those elements that were developing over the three previous albums are here and they are perfectly blended and balanced. For an artist to create a great album (Born to Run) is almost impossible, but to do it a 2nd time and 10 years later is a statement to Springsteen's genius.

Pink Floyd - The Wall (Top 500 Countdown Update)

At some point when listening to this album I just start to hate it (back in college I had some friends who listened to this album none stop for like a month). The music is wonderful throughout the album, but the story and the songs struggle at times and just tend to wear me down. Though there are many good singles on this album, blended together they get a bit tiring and are very overbearing. It is an album that I will certainly never own and won't be listening to all the way through again in my life if I can keep from it.

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (Top 500 Countdown Update)

It's a good album, but not one that I will be listening to again anytime soon. It is very depressing. The performance is good but there are much better live albums out there. Of course I don't know that I've ever heard an upbeat Cash song, so maybe that's just his style. Anyhow it's a good but tough listen.

Stevie Wonder - Talking Book (Top 500 Countdown Update)

"You Are the Sunshine" and "Superstition" are great songs, but the other songs don't seem as tightly woven, they seem to get a bit lost in exactly what they want to be. Where Music of My Mind was slow this album is alive and vibrant. I still think the sound is a bit experimental occasionally coming together like on "Superstition" to create a concise song, but the rest of the album seems to be a bit confused and lost. This album is a step up from Music of My Mind, but I believe there is still room to grow and better develop this sound that is obviously growing over these albums.

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Except for "Jamaica Jerk-Off" this is a very solid album. Every song has a catchy melody, good lyrics, and a focused musical approach that creates good consistency across this double album. As with many albums the songs that were released as singles stand far above the other songs like "Bennie and the Jets," but the rest of the album is still very strong and fun to listen to.

Prince - Sign 'O' the Times (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Well if you've been reading my reviews then you can probably guess where I'm going to come down on this album. It has too much. Strip out the extra and you probably have Prince's best work, but as it stands there is too much and the excellent tracks get lost at times among subpar work. The genius of the album is how Prince is able to write very good songs for a variety of different genres. "The Cross" is rock, "Starfish and Coffee" is electric pop, "Slow Love" is r&b, "Housequake" is funk, etc. On top of everything throw in a live song, "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" which leaves you wanting more of that and you have an amazingly mixed up album. In the end it is a bit too mixed up for me, but it is still a wonderful album.

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Albums like this are for other musicians and not for the public. Unless you are really really really into music and understand the complexities of everything that is going on this music can have no appeal. There is no structured melody or form, it is simply a jumble of sounds arranged together in a strange yet experimental way. I'm assuming then that this is on the list not because anyone can actually sit through it, but because it was so influential.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River (Top 500 Countdown Update)

What an odd band. From 1968-1970 CCR put out six albums. Three albums in 1969 including Green River. No doubt this is a reflection of John Fogerty's genius since he wrote almost every original song they recorded for these albums, but it is also a reflection of the genius of the band behind Fogerty since he was never able to produce hits solo the way he had with the band. What I don't get is why they recorded six albums instead of three. There are definitely throw away songs on all of these albums and so if you tightened the six albums down to three they would be chock full of tightly woven brilliance. These guys must have been living in the recording studio when they weren't performing live. It would have also been fun to see them experiment with their sound a bit, but how could they have had any time to experiment. I like this album just like I enjoyed the other CCR albums on this countdown, but there is nothing that makes this album stand out above the others for me.

The Who - Tommy (Top 500 Countdown Update)

There are brief moments on this album where I actually get interested, but they are far and few between. All in all it is for me slow and painful to listen to.

Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Though Dylan's lyrics and music will mature greatly, this is an album full of solid material. Both lyrics and music have a very youthful and raw feel to them, but it is a fun album to listen to with some really good hooks on songs like "Don't Think Twice" and "Girl From the North Country." You can see on this album his ability to write love songs, goofy folk songs, and harsh political songs. All of this will flush out better on later albums, but to see the roots of it all is fun.

Sly & The Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album is brilliant in so many ways, but is so incredibly dreary and dark sounding it is hard to decide whether I like it or not. Even the songs that seem upbeat have an odd moody feel to them. But lets face it you can take this album and understand where groups like A Tribe Called Quest got the idea for their sound from. These dark, funky, moody beats and melodies with political and social lyrics are something that many will copy later on, but I have to say there is an odd edge to this album that I don't know that anyone else will ever be able to capture. The allmusic.com review talks about Sly sinking into drug abuse and what not and that playing a big part in the sound of the album. My problem with that is that he will follow this album up with Fresh which has a much cleaner and approachable sound. In fact Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On and Fresh all sound similar but different. I suppose this album could be seen as transitional going from the spiritual upbeat feel of Stand! to the darker cleaner funk sound of Fresh. But it seems to me it is better to let all three albums stand on their own as these albums represent the pinnacle of Sly's work.

Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This album definitely taps into Sinatra's strength which is singing slow, moody, expressive songs. It is a good album. But 11 years later he would record September of My Years which I believe is a much better album, Sinatra's best. In fact he does one song on each of these albums "Last Night When We Were Young" and I think from this song you can see the differences and why September is a better album. Sinatra has an incredibly expressive voice doing these slow ballads and one of the geniuses of September is that the arrangements keep the music sitting back and allow Sinatra's voice to set the mood, the pace, the emotion. If you listen to the two versions you'll find that the arrangement on In the Wee Small Hours allows the instruments to intrude on the wonderfully emotional performance instead of acting as a spotlight. In the Wee Small Hours is a strong album and certainly fun to listen to when you are feeling down and out, but I would skip it and buy September of My Years.

Cream - Fresh Cream (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Hmm, not sure I get this one being on the list. It's a sloppy, very sloppy sounding first recording. Their sound, that will blossom on Disraeli Gears, is there in parts, but hasn't really even begun to flower yet.

John Coltrane - Giant Steps (Top 500 Countdown Update)

See this is when I feel really out of it. I don't know enough about the history of jazz, or jazz in general to fully appreciate this album. This of course means all I can do is listen to the album and base everything on what I think of the sound, etc. As far as that goes it's a good sounding record, but it doesn't really have any got you moments that a lot of jazz albums have. There aren't any real songs that stand out in my mind, it seems more like free form poetry and in this case there just aren't any real grab you lines.

James Taylor - Sweet Baby James (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a very solid album. There isn't a weak song, even his rendition of "Oh, Susannah" is nice and different. He blends folk/blues, folk/rock, folk/country together seamlessly from one track to the next. The trick here is whether or not you like the sound of James Taylor. It always comes down to what you like in the end and for me Taylor is always lacking a little something. Compare this album to Tracy Chapman's first album or Nebraska by Springsteen and I don't think there is any question that their albums are stronger because they tap into a level of emotion that just seems to be missing with Taylor. He always sounds a bit too clean and too easy for me.

The Ramones - Rocket to Russia (Top 500 Countdown Update)

What can you say bad about the album. Every song on it is good, I mean really good. It's 14 short tightly produced songs that speed their way from beginning to end. At the same time this is my problem with the album. It is almost like listening to the same song over and over again. If you like the sound then you're in luck because it is non stop and it never hiccups. If you don't like the sound then don't even bother with the album.

David Bowie - Hunky Dory (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I'm learning that I'm not a big David Bowie fan. This album has a very stripped down and clean sound that works well for the songs, but the songs have an odd edge to them that I don't like. "Changes" stands out as a great song and there are plenty of good songs, but all in all the album held no real interest for me.

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is definitely a transitional album. The Stones first album of all original material they seem to be struggling to figure out what their sound should be. "Paint It Black" and "Under My Thumb" stand out as very original sounding tracks, but the rest of the album seems lost somewhere in their past.

The Velvet Underground - Loaded (Top 500 Countdown Update)

I wish I had a better understanding of why The Velvet Underground is so well respected and thought to have had such a huge influence on rock music, but I don't. This album just sort of sits there to me. It is so stripped down and sounds so bare it falls a bit flat.

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Another concept album this one really starts out great. It is wonderful folk/jazz/pop that just jumps off the stereo with a wonderful liveliness. This is most evident in the hit song "Help Me." The steam starts to run out on the second side finishing off with a very weak song "Twisted" that doesn't seem to fit on the album at all.

Cream - Disraeli Gears (Top 500 Countdown Update)

Despite the fact that there are two throw away songs on this album, "Blue Condition" and "Mother's Lament" this is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" are simply fantastic songs. These songs are everything you want from all the experimentation of blues, psychedelia, and rock. The album as a whole is very tightly woven with short crisp songs that all have good pop hooks and this wonderful pounding mixture of blues and psychedelia. If I could pick one album to represent the rock sound of the 60's it would be this album. This album will give a lot of credit to Eric Clapton for his wonderful guitar work, but Ginger Baker is fantastic on this album with his odd jazz drumming driving every song. Jack Bruce is also flawless on this album balancing out Baker's rambling drums with Clapton's heavy blues guitar. For this one moment in time these guys balanced a very odd mix of sounds perfectly. In case you didn't get the message I really think this is a great album. If they had left off "Mother's Lament" and found a replacement for "Blue Condition" which just doesn't seem to fit with every other song on the album, this would possibly be the greatest album of all time.

The Who - The Who Sells Out (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a good album, but the sound doesn't do a lot for me. The songs are consistently good, but it seems a bit raw or immature.

The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads (Top 500 Countdown Update)

This is a solid album from the Stones. There aren't really any throw away songs and there are 6 original songs on this album, their most up to this point, and they are definitely the best songs on the album. When you listen to this album, the bands 5th, it's hard to imagine they are going to get any better at this clangy R&B/blues stuff they do without branching their sound out further. One sign of what is to come is "Play With Fire" a stripped down original song that is much more rock based than R&B and has a dark, sinister feel to it. Of the early Stones stuff I've heard this album is by far the best.