Ten Greatest Rock/Pop Albums Of All time

[Bricktop]

Because I said so, that's why...

[Bricktop]

10. Beggars Banquet - The Rolling Stones.

[Bricktop]

9. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Deja Vu.



Crosby, Stills and Nash had been performing for a while. Stephen Stills invited former Buffalo Springfield colleague Neil Young to join.



Despite the fact that this was really a compendium of individual efforts rather than a group performance, it worked brilliantly as a coherent and inspirational album. Then Neil Young said "Fuck you", and the concept collapsed and died. I think he was smart. They would never do another album as good as this.

[Bricktop]

8. Forever Changes - Love.



Light years ahead of its time, and sounding more English than American, Arthur Lee created a musical masterpiece that failed to gain the respect and recognition it deserved. After being dormant for many years, Lee was encouraged to reform his band and tour the album...over thirty years from its first release. Listen to "7 & 7 Is" and remember this was years before Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Hendrix stormed the world.

[Bricktop]

7. Close To The Edge - Yes.



Yes were the true initiators of Progressive Rock. Fusing symphonic melody and complex rhythms with rock like no other band, they created prog rocks masterwork. Floyd, ELP and a horde of others followed the trend, but Yes were the spearhead in showing that rock music need not be confined to 3 and half minutes of simple beats and vacuous lyrics. CTTE holds no peer in prog rock annals.

[Bricktop]

6.Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan.



In 1968 Dylan completed the transformation from folkie to rock with this album that changed everything. Joining his poetry with rock music seemed simple at the time, but before that, rock was seen as a bun ch of silly teen songs that no-one took seriously. Dylan turned pop/rock into art, and everyone, including the Beatles, followed. Suddenly, looking cute, cutting catchy tunes and singing about teen love wasn't enough.

[Bricktop]

5. Rubber Soul - The Beatles.



Whilst many rightly consider other Beatles albums as more important, Rubber Soul was the starting point for the Beatles to move from a much beloved pop band to a true musical tour de force. Previously, almost every track of Beatles albums were singles, or singles material. Rubber Soul contained songs that challenged the perception that pop was a narrow, teen focused blip on the musical landscape. Led by "Norwegian Wood" with strange abstract lyrics and "Nowhere Man", a biting observation of middle class England, Rubber Soul was the match that light the fuse.

[Bricktop]

4. Pearl - Janis Joplin.



Whilst female artists were starting to come out from behind boppy ditties and songs of unrequited love while looking cute and sexy, it took Janis Joplin to show that girls could rock with the best of the boys, and Pearl was as popular with males as females. Taken too soon, much like Jim Morrison, one can only what might have been had she kicked the habit. Pearl was just the beginning...and sadly, the end.

[Bricktop]

3. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd.



Dark Side Of The Moon was perhaps more important for what it was, rather than what it wasn't; it wasn't like any other ALBUM that came before. It signalled the completion of the transition of pop and rock from a medium for rebel teens immersed in a musical culture they could call their own into a musical form that rivalled any other. A complete musical masterpiece that defied any category, it said to the teens-turning-adults that their music has travelled with them, matured, and become timeless.

[Bricktop]

2. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys.



The American "Beatles" were rarely taken seriously in their early days; and really considered to be a surfie incarnation of Brit pop.



Pet Sounds still employed the famous harmonies and doo-wop backing vocals that typified Californian beach music, but the songs were more complex, melodic and just plain joyful. Try NOT tapping your toes to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", or being immersed in "God Only Knows".

[Bricktop]

1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles



You had to be there. The Beatles were single handedly leading modern music in their direction; what the Beatles played, everyone copied, mimicked or plagiarised. Their influence was totally pervasive and complete. America created "The Monkees" just to get in on the action. The Rolling Stones did a Beatles cover. But Rubber Soul, and then Revolver hinted at something different. Music was getting "serious". The simple 2 minute format, with standard R&B riffs and structure was changing. Perhaps the final track of "Revolver", "Tomorrow Never Knows" was a clue. Weird lyrics, studio sound effects, tapes played backwards...what was happening.



The answer came with Sgt Peppers. Pop music was dead. Long live rock. Music hall ditties, Indian sitar, psychedelia ("Lucy In The Sky" was banned by many radio stations for encouraging drug abuse), social commentary ("She's Leaving Home") and guitar rock...it was all contained in one, single, majestic album that forever changed music. Even the cover was a work of art. Queues formed in record shops. Notices were placed in papers telling people stocks had run out. Record shops were placing ads in papers, opn radio and TV "Sgt Peppers In Stock NOW". It sold in unprecedented quantities, and symbolised not only the arrival of pop music as the core of a generation, but inspired social and cultural changes that are felt even now.



The Greatest Rock Album Ever Recorded...

[Bricktop]

1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles



You had to be there. The Beatles were single handedly leading modern music in their direction; what the Beatles played, everyone copied, mimicked or plagiarised. Their influence was totally pervasive and complete. America created "The Monkees" just to get in on the action. The Rolling Stones did a Beatles cover. But Rubber Soul, and then Revolver hinted at something different. Music was getting "serious". The simple 2 minute format, with standard R&B riffs and structure was changing. Perhaps the final track of "Revolver", "Tomorrow Never Knows" was a clue. Weird lyrics, studio sound effects, tapes played backwards...what was happening.



The answer came with Sgt Peppers. Pop music was dead. Long live rock. Music hall ditties, Indian sitar, psychedelia ("Lucy In The Sky" was banned by many radio stations for encouraging drug abuse), social commentary ("She's Leaving Home") and guitar rock...it was all contained in one, single, majestic album that forever changed music. Even the cover was a work of art. Queues formed in record shops. Notices were placed in papers telling people stocks had run out. Record shops were placing ads in papers, opn radio and TV "Sgt Peppers In Stock NOW". It sold in unprecedented quantities, and symbolised not only the arrival of pop music as the core of a generation, but inspired social and cultural changes that are felt even now.



The Greatest Rock Album Ever Recorded...

[Anonymous]

Appetite for Destruction would make the list if it was top 50 rock albums of all time.

[Bricktop]

Appetite for Destruction would make the list if it was top 50 rock albums of all time.