(# 595) The Beach
Boys – Pet Sounds (1966)
About 15-20 years ago, one would have tempered the acclaim for
this album with a statement along the lines that if best ever polls were
limited only to albums released by American acts, this and some of the classic
Dylan albums would slug it out for the honour of being number 1. Today there is no further need to do so as
Pet Sounds has increasingly captured the number one spot or just falls
short. A mere look at the Wikipedia
entry for the album also reveals the extent to which this album is now
regarded. It’s all the more incredible
for an album that was essentially a Brian Wilson solo album, played largely by
session musicians and for which the efforts of the remaining Beach Boys was
essentially limited to providing vocals and the album cover shoot. Clearly influenced by The Beatles Revolver,
this album is the home to some of the most enduring songs in the rock cannon –
Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Sloop John B, God Only Knows, I Just Wasn’t Made For These
Times and Caroline No. If one things hurts this album, it was Wilson’s
inexplicable decision to keep Good Vibrations off the album; anyone, like me, that
attended the shows where Wilson played this album in sequence, knows just how
beautifully it topped off the whole thing.
(# 596) Miles Davis –
Kind Of Blue (1959)
This album has received many accolades including that of the
best selling album in the history of jazz. Sales usually don’t factor into judgements as
to the subjective merit of an album but it seems to be a factor in its
inclusion. (That is of course provided
the compliers of the poll have not excluded it owing to it being a jazz album.)
For me, the album has been so
overplayed, that it’s easy to take it for granted; I mean how many times have
you been to a dinner party and your hosts have put this on as background music? Opening cut Say What! – a brilliant piece of
jazz and probably the genre’s most recognisable tune – has been flogged to
death in movie scenes or commercials where something smooth of sophisticated is
required. But it’s not the only triumph on the album; Blue In Green is a
magnificently languid piece and All Blues harks back to some of the musical
cues in Say What! But, it falls a long
way short of even qualifying as my favourite Miles Davis album, preferring his
Quintet releases (especially Workin’) and his gritty electric works such as Bitches Brew, A Tribute To Jack Johnson, On The
Corner as well as the live albums from that era.
(# 597) Jimi Hendrix
Experience – Are You Experienced (1967)
I remember once reading a review that concluded that the
only thing missing from the album is the question mark on the title. I beg to differ, as attested to the bonus
tracks on my Experience Hendrix edition that reminds you that, although this
was the debut album, singles and tracks as strong as Hey Joe, Stone Free,
Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary were excluded. Despite that, this is astonishing album that
still contained some of the tracks that revolutionised the way the electric guitar
was played, heard and perceived. These
include tacks such as Foxy Lady, Manic Depression, Fire and the evocative instrumental
Third Stone From The Sun. But topping
off all of these is the title track, superb combination of hard rock, blues, psychedelica
and Beatles influences.
(# 598) The Rolling
Stones – Exile On Main Street (1972)
This album is very much like Pet Sounds in that its
popularity and critical approval continues to improve so that today it seems
unchallenged as the best album released by the Stone. A sprawling double album of the type that I
usually enjoy greatly, for many years the only thing that prevented my
enjoyment of it was the horribly thin sound of the production. (It’s also got Tumbling Dice on it which is
by some margin the Stones mega hit I like least.) There was no doubt that the
songs were there but whenever I listened to it I would always get frustrated
how certain details got lost in the mix, especially the brass sections work on
Rocks Off and Keith Richards best ever vocal track, Happy, when they really should have been front and
centre. Today was the very first time I
allowed myself to listen to the 2010 remastered version and, to these ears, it’s
one of the remastering jobs that’s made an appreciable improvement to the
recording whilst keeping the elements of what made it great in the first place.
Noticeably, the guitar lines of Keith and Mick Taylor can be untangled and
there is now a warmth to the tracks that was definitely missing. Rip This Joint and All Down The Line are now
much more powerful more in keeping with their live sound from the era whilst
more delicate fare such as Sweet Virginia, Shine A Light and Soul Survivor are
now much more nuanced. Perhaps the big
three of Let It Bleed, Beggar’s Banquet and Sticky Fingers have a competitor.
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