#1 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) by The Beatles
I decided to jump around. I have been moving up from the bottom of the list, but I'm going to try and liven things up by moving towards the top of the list, for this one at least. I also knew that I didn't want Rolling Stone's NUMBER ONE to be the last one that I did, because it's not going to be my NUMBER ONE. I thought it would seem anti-climactic if I went all this way and then before the last one the list was just the same as it was the week before.
This continued reception to this album is a little confusing to me. I mean, there's three really good songs on here, but if I were to combine this album, and say, Abbey Road into one single disc, I'm not so sure that all three of those songs would even make it. Same with The White Album, Revolver, and Rubber Soul. And these are just Beatles albums.
I wrote a little bit about how I feel this is a transition album for the band here, but maybe I can expand. You can hear tinges of George Harrison's western music influences in this album, and you can hear a little bit of that sound, perhaps drug-influenced, that would further define the albums that came after this one in their discography, and these sounds creeping in aren't as seamless as they could have been (as we can see by just looking at their next albums and/or solo albums).
The three songs I was talking about as the best on the album are "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "With a Little Help From My Friends," and "A Day in the Life." Yeah, these three songs are better than the best songs on a lot of the albums on this list so far, but the worst songs on here, songs that sound like a teenage boy who's brown-nosing way to hard trying to impress his prom date's parents like "Lovely Rita," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", are much worse than the worst songs on most of these albums. It also has a reprise, which I always find frustrating on albums because they are usually of no substance and can't find a way to stand on their own well enough to really warrant taking up another track. I would point to "Enterlude" and "Exitlude" on The Killers' Sam's Town as a good use of something like this, but definitely not "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and it's reprise. It's just filler.
In my intro, I talked a little bit about Jim DeRogatis' book, and how the opening essay is all about this essay. I would never want it to seem like I'm just piggy-backing off of someone else's opinion. I actually found the book because of my dislike for this album, and years ago I was cruising the interwebs for someone else who had similar opinions and could articulate them even better. What I'm saying is, read his essay.
1. "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963) by Bob Dylan
2. "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" (1973) by Bruce Springsteen
3. "All Things Must Pass" (1970) by George Harrison
4. "Tapestry" (1971) by Carole King
5. "Document" (1987) by REM
6. "Tea for the Tillerman" (1970) by Cat Stevens
7. "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road" (1998) by Lucinda Williams
8. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" (1974) by Richard and Linda Thompson
9. "Number One Record" (1972) by Big Star
10. "Bookends" (1968) by Simon and Garfunkel
11. "Elton John" (1970) by Elton John
12. "The Bends" (1995) by Radiohead
13. "Armed Forces" (1979) by Elvis Costello and The Attractions
14. "Stop Making Sense" (1984) by The Talking Heads
15. "Honky Chateau" (1972) by Elton John
16. "Tunnel of Love" (1987) by Bruce Springsteen
17. "Green River" (1969) by Creedance Clearwater Revival
18. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) by The Beatles
19. "Burnin'" (1973) by The Wailers
20. "The Rolling Stones Now!" (1965) by The Rolling Stones
21. "Born Under A Bad Sign" (1967) by Albert King
22. "Heaven Up Here" (1981) by Echo and the Bunnymen
23. "The Slim Shady LP" (1999) by Eminem
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