In their October 2020 issue, Rolling Stone Magazine released an updated version of their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time. The list is a tabulation of top 50 lists from over 300 artists, critics and music industry people.

I was recently gifted a pristine, glossy, hard copy of the magazine accompanied by an unopened, vinyl record of number 1 on the list – Marvin Gaye’s 1971 release, What’s Going On. The album, it was explained to me, was a limited edition copy produced from the original master tapes. I was treated to a brief lecture on the ins and outs of vinyl production and advised that my reasonably low print number (No. 003697) was an indicator of good quality.

Naturally, this exchange prompted a brief trip down the audiophile vinyl rabbit hole. A lot of people take this topic very seriously. (Source tapes? Good. Remastering? No. Virgin vinyl? Yes. Flimsy vinyl made of melted down old records with little bits of paper floating in it? No. Hot stamper? Yes!)

Ranking Scheme

Tough Listen

This was Fine

Not Bad, Actually

Kinda Catchy

Really Good

Rocked My Damn World

1950s

#332 Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley (1956) Debut album released when he was 21.

#227 Little Richard, Here’s Little Richard (1957) As with Elvis, above, this album also contains Tutti Frutti (Italian for All Fruits) which was first recorded in 1955. It is Little Richard’s song and the original lyrics referred to a homosexual man – they were revised.

#317 Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin (1958) Check.

#31 Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959) Spotify was launched in 2008. Taken together, on June 7, 2021 the 5 songs on this album have 237,238,590 plays.

380 Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um (1959)

#417 Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

#455 Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley (1959) Check.

#477 Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) Check.

1960s

#494 The Ronettes – Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes (1964) – Be My Baby and a lot of other songs that sound like be my baby. Reasonably fabulous.

#412 Smokey Robinson, Going to a Go-Go (1965)

#466 The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys Today! (1965) Check.

#448 Otis Redding, Dictionary of Soul (1966) – Check

#410 The Beach Boys, Wild Honey (1967)

#429 The Four Tops, Reach Out (1967)

#471 Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow (1967) I dunno.

#463 Laura Nyro, Eli and the 13th Confession (1968) Beautiful New York singer/song writer who died young of ovarian cancer. This was her most popular album.

#478 The Kinks, Something Else by the Kinks (1968) This was a loooong (and not particularly interesting) album that sounded like The Beatles. Not Lola.

#407 Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969)

#415 The Meters, Look-Ka Py Py (1969)

#451 Roberta Flack, First Take (1969) – Roberta Cleopatra Flack is goddam amazing.

#462 The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) Their debut album. So many people have been in this band. Burrito after burrito after burrito.

#488 The Stooges, The Stooges (1969) According to the wiki, it’s a “landmark proto-punk” release.

1970s

#413 Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory (1970)

#409 Grateful Dead, Workingman’s Dead (1970)

#25 Tapestry, Carole King (1971) – 1972 Album of the Year, 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame.

439 James Brown, Sex Machine (1970)

#440 Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter (1971)

#446 Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidananda (1971) –

#450 Linda McCartney and Paul McCartney, Ram (1971) – Check.

425 Paul Simon, Paul Simon (1972)

#445 Yes, Close to the Edge (1972) – not altogether unpleasant. 18 minute opening track heavy on the organ is a bit much. Those minutes are, according to the writers of the list, “the most majestic moment in the history of progressive rock.” Mmmm. Ok. It stressed everybody out just to make it and you can tell.

#454 Can, Ege Bamyasi (1972) West German experimental rock. Check.

#474 Big Star, #1 Record (1972) – Thirteen is lovely.

405 Various, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (1972)

422 Marvin Gaye, Let’s Get it On (1973)

#464 The Isley Brothers, 3+3 (1973) – So good.

427 Al Green, Call Me (1973)

#452 Diana Ross and the Supremes, Anthology (1974) 50 tracks. 2h 26m of Diana. Check.

#485 Richard & Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) Zzzzzzzz.

#476 Sparks, Kimono My House (1974) – Very glam.

#492 Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel (1974) – Tough listen.

#402 Fela Kuti and Africa 70, Expensive Shit (1975)

#456 Al Green, Greatest Hits (1975) Check.

420 Earth, Wind and Fire, That’s the Way of the World (1975)

#401 Blondie, Blondie (1977)

#498 Suicide – Suicide (1977) Thought around track 7, “Jeepers, this is pretty spooky.” My mean-self scolded my wide-eyed self, “Ya, it’s called Suicide, you idiot.” Track 3, Cheree, really sweet though.

430 Elvis Costello, My aim Is True (1977)

#499 Rufus & Chaka Khan – Ask Rufus (1977) Right before hitting record someone probably said, “Give it to us saucy, Chaka.” Chaka did. Songs not great, voice extraordinary

#468 The Rolling Stones, Some Girls (1978) Any excuse to listen to Beast of Burden is a good one.

#493 Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear (1978) Soulful lament on family law proceedings. “Anger”, “Is That Enough” and “You Can Leave but it’s Going to Cost You.” Emotional roller-coaster of marital breakdown PLUS the bewildering realities of matrimonial property proceedings. Apparently costs are a real shot to the heart: “What could I do / The judge said she got to keep on living / The way she accustomed to / She trying to break a man / I don’t understand / Somebody tell me please, tell me please / Why do I have to pay attorney fees (My baby’s) / Attorney fees (Ooh baby) / This is a joke / I need a smoke […].” And so on.

414 Chic, Risqué (1979)

1980s

#408 Motörhead, Ace of Spades (1980)

#443 David Bowie, Scary Monsters (1980) – Check.

#400 The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat (1981)

#487 Black Flag, Damaged (1981) What. Energy.

#378 Run-DMC, Run-D.M.C. (1984) – New school cool. Check Check.

#418 Dire Strates, Brothers in Arms (1985)

431 Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984)

428 Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising (1985)

#497 Various Artists – The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (1985) South African pop. Very exciting.

#404 Anita Baker, Rapture (1986)

435 Pet Shop Boys, Actually (1987)

426 Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams (1988)

#453 Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine (1989) 008 explains, “Pretty Hate Machine is a classic. A high water mark in verysadveryangryman music. Most insightful shit a 13 year old has ever heard.” Lyrics deliver: “Just when I thought everything was making sense / you took away all my self confidence / now all that I’ve been hearing must be true / I guess I’m not the only boy for you.” Haunting, devastating.

#492 Bonnie Raitt, Nick of Time (1989) This was her 10th album. Seems things weren’t going well personally or professionally but she achieved sobriety in AA, recorded this album and it was a hit.

1990s

#457 Sineade O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990) Check.

437 Primal Scream, Screamadelica (1991)

#495 Boys to Men – II (1991) -I had this CD.

#489 Back to Mono, Phil Spector (1991) – The Crystals’ He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss). Between this and Linda Ronstadt, it’s a bit much.

#482 The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992) FUN.

434 Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

#479 Selena, Amor Prohibido (1994)

#481 Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister (1996) Possibly the least sinister thing anyone has ever done.

#416 The Roots, Things Fall Apart (1999)

#424 Beck, Odelay (1996) – Check.

#475 Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow (1996) – Hard to Make a Stand indeed.

#436 2Pac, All Eyez on Me (1996) This aged really well all things considered.

423 Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (1997)

#496 Shakira – Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998) Translation: “Where are the Thieves?” Great album. Very exciting.

#469 Manu Chao, Clandestino (1998) Great. Language is no barrier though my pathetic grasp of French is an irritation. It’s the 67th greatest French rock album of all time (according to French Rolling Stone).

#406 Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs (1999)

2000s

#403 Ghostface Killah, Supreme Clientele (2000)

#411 Bob Dylan, Love and Theft (2001)

#483 Muddy Waters, The Anthology (2001) 50 tracks. So. Much. Blues.

#449 The White Stripes, Elephant (2003) – Honestly, a let down. Not as great as I remembered.

#465 King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years (2003) The You Tube comments on this are sweet. It’s special to a lot of people.

432 Usher, Confessions (2004)

#473 Daddy Yankee, Barrio Fino (2004) Gasolina!!

#500 Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004) My 2004 self adores this. So many good songs, so many called Neighborhood. Wonderful.

421 M.I.A., Arular (2005)

#444 Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine (2005) – Check.

#486 John Mayer, Continuum (2006) – His 3rd studio album, apparently sold over 300k copies in its first week. Weird.

433 LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (2007)

#441 Britney Spears, Blackout (2007) Listening to the lyrics ruined this.

#461 Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Zzzzzzz.

#459 Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day (2009) Good album. Didn’t recognize him on Westworld.

#467 Maxwell, BLACKsummers’night (2009) Not feeling this but reading the Wiki has convinced me to give it another go.

2010s

419 Eric Church, Chief (2011)

#484 Lady Gaga, Born This Way (2011) Her second album. The Edge of Glory (favourite song on it) features Clarence Clemons from the E Street Band. He suffered a stroke and died days after shooting the music video. He plays on the steps of a New York-style street looking cool as Gaga dances. What a way to go.

#458 Jason Isbell, Southeastern (2013) What a little gem this was.

#442 The Weeknd, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

#480 Miranda Lambert, The Weight of These Wings (2016) – Heavy wings, check.

#460 Lorde, Melodrama (2017) Ok, I see why there was a fuss.

#472 SZA, Ctrl (2017) – Real treat.

#447 Bad Bunny, X 100pre (2018) Summer songs a plenty.

#493 Harry Styles, Fine Line (2019) This is fine.

2020s