But does it sound as good as the cover art looks?

Wait, so Kiss WASN'T a joke? Damn.

I'm intrigued by Scott Walker, he seems more appreciated overseas. I first read about him in Q or NME and the only human being who's ever mentioned him to me, unprovoked, was a friend from Germany. Haven't gotten around to listening though.

As for Sail Away, I think I voted for that, but if I did it would've been low on the list. Seriously dude, the title track's classic, but the rest is uneven: some other good songs and some smug shit that's a bad sign of things to come.

What do you mean, that it placed so low, or that it made the top 300?

#290.



John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

Year: 1966

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #5 (year), #71 (decade), #330 (all-time)

AMG Says: "One can hear the very direct influence of Buddy Guy and a handful of other American bluesmen in the playing. And lest anyone forget the rest of the quartet: future pop-rock superstar John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint provide a rock-hard rhythm section, and Mayall's organ playing, vocalizing, and second guitar are all of a piece with Clapton's work. His guitar naturally dominates most of this record, and he can also be heard taking his first lead vocal, but McVie and Flint are just as intense and give the tracks an extra level of steel-strung tension and power, none of which have diminished across four decades."

Ranked Highest By: TerryKath'sBrain (#11)

Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

sniff...sniff...... I'm surprised it didn't finish higher since it had two top 30 votes.

People need to schooled! VDP is a great musician, composer, lyricist (he wrote most of the lyrics for Brian Wilson's SMiLE), producer, music collector, radio DJ and just a nice guy. I remember when he had a radio show on KPCC-FM, Pasadena, and he would break into song or strum his ukulele between tracks. "I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" never sounded so good.

#289.



Tommy James & the Shondells - Crimson & Clover

Year: 1968

US Chart Position: #8

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Crimson & Clover" (#1 US), "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (#2), "Do Something to Me" (#38)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "Even the most dedicated hack gets lucky, however, and Tommy James was lucky more often than most. "Crimson & Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion" retain a campy appeal ages after the '60s, and if the filler on the album is even sillier now than it was then ("Hello, banana, I am a tangerine," indeed!), it's no less fun."

Ranked Highest By: Slackmo (#23)

Amazon Link



no it didn't

I would have put it higher, but those arrangements really weigh it down.

#288.



Janis Joplin - Pearl

Year: 1971

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Me and Bobby McGee" (#1), "Cry Baby" (#42), "Get it While You Can" (#78)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #12 (year), #71 (decade), #187 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Janis Joplin's second masterpiece (after Cheap Thrills), Pearl was designed as a showcase for her powerhouse vocals, stripping down the arrangements that had often previously cluttered her music or threatened to drown her out. Thanks also to a more consistent set of songs, the results are magnificent -- given room to breathe, Joplin's trademark rasp conveys an aching, desperate passion on funked-up, bluesy rockers, ballads both dramatic and tender, and her signature song, the posthumous number one hit "Me and Bobby McGee.""

Ranked Highest By: Jmmrsn (#27)

Amazon Link

what do you mean? i've said it before, Randy Newman's Sail Away is a perfect album in its own way.

#287.



Faust - Faust

Year: 1971

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "The impact of Faust cannot be overstated; their debut album was truly a revolutionary step forward in the progress of "rock music". It was pressed on clear vinyl, packaged in a clear sleeve, with a clear plastic lyric insert. The black X-ray of a fist on the cover graphically illustrates the hard core music contained in the grooves, an amalgamation of electronics, rock, tape edits, acoustic guitars, musique concrete, and industrial angst. The level of imagination is staggering, the concept is totally unique and it's fun to listen to as well."

Ranked Highest By: Simulated Stereo (#27)

Amazon Link

#286.



Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day

Year: 1970

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #64 (year), #544 (decade), #1999 (all-time)

AMG Says: "About five years after briefly surfacing as part of Andrew Loog Oldham's stable, Vashti -- now billing herself with her full name, Vashti Bunyan -- made her only album. A folkier and more serious-minded effort than her initial mid-'60s recordings, it is a pleasing yet overly dainty slice of British rock-tinged folk, produced by Joe Boyd. "

Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#12)

Amazon Link





#285.



Junior Wells - Hoodoo Man Blues

Year: 1965

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #13 (year), #113 (decade), #562 (all-time)

AMG Says: "One of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s, and one of the first to fully document the smoky ambience of a night at a West side nightspot in the superior acoustics of a recording studio."

Ranked Highest By: Whichonespink (#13)

Amazon Link

Ok, an 11 and a 57.




I don't know. In a way I think Beck's Sea Change and this record are sister records in a way.

#284.



Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard

Year: 1974

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #3

Charting Singles: "I Shot the Sheriff" (#1 US, #9 UK), "Willie and the Hand Jive" (#26 US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #10 (year), #126 (decade), #350 (all-time)

AMG Says: With its relaxed, friendly atmosphere and strong bluesy roots, 461 Ocean Boulevard set the template for Clapton's '70s albums. Though he tried hard to make an album exactly like it, he never quite managed to replicate its charms.

Ranked Highest By: Tracy Jacks (#22)

Amazon Link

Weasel! I didn't really need a reality check re: how much I was looking forward to the results of this one...so thanks for a very pleasant surprise following a significant letdown

As I recall, yes. But it's been years & years since I heard it.

#283.



Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

Year: 1970

US Chart Position: #63

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Animal Zoo" (#97 US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #37 (year), #275 (decade), #848 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Although this has the reputation of being their most far-out album, it actually contains the most disciplined songwriting and playing of the original lineup, cutting back on some of the drifting and offering some of their more melodic tunes. The lilting "Nature's Way" was the most endearing FM standard on the album, which also included some of Spirit's best songs in "Animal Zoo" and "Mr. Skin.""

Ranked Highest By: Rob Gordon (#41)

Amazon Link





#282.



Bob Marley - Natty Dread

Year: 1974

US Chart Position: #92 Pop, #44 R&B

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking #1 (year), #48 (decade), #212 (all-time)

AMG Says: "In addition to the lyrical strengths, the music itself is full of emotion and playfulness, with the players locked into a solid groove on each number. Considering that popular rock music was entering the somnambulant disco era as Natty Dread was released, the lyrical and musical potency is especially striking. Marley was taking on discrimination, greed, poverty, and hopelessness while simultaneously rallying the troops as no other musical performer was attempting to do in the mid-'70s."

Ranked Highest By: Nic (#26)

Amazon Link

#281.



The United States of America - The United States of America

Year: 1968

US Chart Position: #181

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #40 (year), #249 (decade), #1523 (all-time)

AMG Says: "one of the legendary pure psychedelic space records. Some of the harder-rocking tunes have a fun house recklessness that recalls aspects of early Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground at their freakiest; the sedate, exquisitely orchestrated ballads, especially "Cloud Song" and the wonderfully titled "Love Song for the Dead Che," are among the best relics of dreamy psychedelia. Occasionally things get too excessive and self-conscious, and the attempts at comedy are a bit flat, but otherwise this is a near classic."

Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#3)





#280.



Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido

Year: 1972

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #14

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "There's a harder feel to the songs all the way through, with the guitar and drums coming to the forefront ahead of Dik and Mik's "generators" and "hot electronics." Doremi is the inaugural album for drummer Simon King, and with guitarist Dave Anderson and percussion man Terry Ollis now departed, Hawkwind still manages to muster up a firm intergalactic space-metal atmosphere...only with a more rugged thrust."

Ranked Highest By: Avatar_Ackbar (#15)

Amazon Link

#279.



Procol Harum - A Salty Dog

Year: 1969

US Chart Position: #27

UK Chart Position: #27

Charting Singles: "A Salty Dog" (#44 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #34 (year), #142 (decade), #826 (all-time)

AMG Says: "This album, the group's third, was where they showed just how far their talents extended across the musical landscape, from blues to R&B to classical rock. In contrast to their hastily recorded debut, or its successor, done to stretch their performance and composition range, A Salty Dog was recorded in a reasonable amount of time, giving the band a chance to fully develop their ideas."

Ranked Highest By: Coolrock (#33)

Amazon Link

What a shit cover.

#278.



Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - Apostrophe

Year: 1974

US Chart Position: #10

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" (#86 US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #61 (year), #602 (decade), #2233 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Apostrophe has the narrative feel of a concept album, but aside from its willful absurdity, the concept is difficult to decipher; even so, that doesn't detract from its entertainment value."

Ranked Highest By: TerryKath'sBrain (#18)

Amazon Link

#277.



Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend

Year: 1971

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "Baby Huey's only album, released after his untimely death, is titled The Living Legend with good reason. He was legendary in his appearance, a 400-pound man with a penchant for flamboyant clothing and crowned by a woolly Afro, a look that is best illustrated by one of several rare photos included in the Water Records edition that shows our man in a wide-lapeled polka-dot shirt with a lime-green jacket. Beyond his unusual appearance, though, he was graced with a stunning, fierce voice on par with Otis Redding and Howard Tate, wailing and howling one moment and oddly tender and sentimental the next."

Ranked Highest By: Ted Falconi (#28)

Amazn Link

AMG has either no sense of irony, no sense of humor, or both.

#276.



Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Year: 1973

US Chart Position: #3

UK Chart Position: #1

Charting Singles: "Tubular Bells" (#7 US, #31 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #11 (year), #103 (decade), #283 (all-time)

AMG Says: "The most interesting and overwhelming aspect of this album is the fact that so many sounds are conjured up yet none go unnoticed, allowing the listener a gradual submergence into each unique portion of the music. Tubular Bells is a divine excursion into the realm of new age music."

Ranked Highest By: Agrimorfee (#14)

Amazon Link

Your mother sews socks that smell.

could someone ysi this, please?

#275.



Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

Year: 1968

US Chart Position: #11

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Summertime Blues" (#14 US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #53 (year), #344 (decade), #2045 (all-time)

AMG Says: "The album is an underappreciated classic with "Rock Me Baby" leaning more toward Ten Years After than Steppenwolf, without Alvin Lee's technical expertise. Guitar that quivers and roars with a heavy dependence on rhythm à la the Who, Blue Cheer knows that attitude is as important as musicianship in rock, and they exploit that virtue for all it is worth here."

Ranked Highest By: Babill O'Riley (#48)

Amazon Link

I too voted for the Newman LP....I do hope you've listened to it before knocking it....

I have listened to it. I find him ridiculously boring. His musical skill and songwriting ability has never struck a chord with me. Not to mention his voice. But that's just me. My comment earlier was merely said just to wrinkle some feathers, that's all. That's all out of my system now.

Might be practical to start a new thread, I suspect a lot of requests like this are gonna be flying around and mucking up the countdown and subsiquent commentary.

Scott 4 and the USA -- so low!

And A Salty Dog is a fine album with a great cover! Yarr!

I'm not sure a YSI thread is really a good idea. We'll only end creating a thread with 100's of classic albums that attract moochers to the board.

Procol Harem make me want to stab out my ears. If Whiter Shade of Pale is in the top 50 of the singles list I will send some anthrax over.

The title track of A Salty Dog is bliss. Though you probably need to have a soft spot for prog.

well there's always the current ysi thread.

I bet you have never even heard Salty Dog.

i haven't heard most of the albums listed so far.

i wish there were YSI's, but i'm not gonna beg.

How about the person who voted the particular album the highest YSI's their favorite song from said record? For example, Montana would YSI Astronomy Domine from Pink Floyd's Piper? What do you think? This would be great for me, I already haven't heard alot of these records, and I would like a sample.

works for me....though I think that Mitchell and Dr. Bill should make the call.......

I think that's a good idead , but it's up to Bill. This is his service. I'd like to see a"10 pack", in which everyone YSI's their favorite song from their top ten on the list.




Is Mitchell helping with this list?

What is the deal with people here and YSIs? Just get on a filesharing service or a torrent. You can get all the classic rock albums you want more efficiently without attracting any more vultures to this board.

Too low. Should be hovering around the Led Zep and Sabbath debuts.

And below the Beefheart debut.


In my experience, YSI tends to offer a faster download speed than, say, slsk.

not true....torrents surprisingly are missing quite a few.....
...and it also adds to the club like atmosphere we got goin' here...you know...sharing amongst friends....

Yeah but you have to click through all the links. Time spent queing is more important than time spent actually downloading.


...and dozens of people you don't know who just lurk in the shadows to grab stuff out of your hands.

I dunno. If I download something on YSI, I click maybe twice. No biggie.


Well that's certainly true! SOMB has a 'room' anyway...

I think the paranoia is setting in buddy.

Call me crazy but I dig the first Kiss record; Strutter, Firehouse, Cold Gin, Deuce, Black Diamond are all simple but great songs. You wanted the best...you got the best!

my ratio is sinking fast.

take it easy on us oldsters, raj. I mean some of us have just gotten comfortable with ysi's and continue to mail cd's to each other somewhat frequently. I think much of it has to do more with lifestyle than anything else. It's just not in us oldster's blood to change the way we do things without some consternation and blood letting. YSI's are not too much of a change from our usual business. We just have to take one item we have on our computer and upload it to a specific website. No need to learn any new technology; no need to register with a website, no need to do anything beyond our usual activities and then upload the item we want.

It's quite possible that the filesharing services or torrents you mention are just as easy, but having never even tried it, I have no idea. If it IS equally easy, maybe someone can actually show us oldsters how it's done and then you might see some changes in attitudes on this.

Are these so-called oldsters 70? I think if you're capable of posting to a message board, you should be capable of using slsk or other file-sharing networks

That being said, YSIs make a ton of sense here, as it gives everyone an easy way to download the same thing at once. If we keep the YSIs in this thread, the number of leechers will be significantly minimized, since the thread isn't titled "GET YOUR YSI HERE" like some other threads

It's not that we're not "capable". It's that we don't want to mess it. In many cases, we don't use our computers the same way you guys do. It's just a lifestyle thing. I can't hang out on AIM because I have a family that shares one computer. (well my wife has a laptop for work as well) I honestly don't know how soulseek works. I think I tried to find it once and failed. I'm not saying it's difficult. I'm just saying I don't care enough about it to put in the effort to learn about it. If someone puts an album up here that I'm interested in, I'll try and download it. I don't have the time or inclination to hang out somewhere and search for stuff I want.

I suspect if I were to go onto soulseek and download 50 albums, at least half would go unlistened to. I've downloaded many ysi's that I've listened to once, some not listened to at all. It's not the way I listen to music - on my computer. I dunno. That's just me. I still prefer mailing cds to downloading.

And one more thing. Why do we need GDB's permission to do ysi's? He's running this thread and the poll in general. If anybody wants to get something else going as a complement to this thread, GDB doesn't have to be involved, nor do I suspect it would bother him that someone else took the initiative to get it going. Not that I'm starting it. I will try to ysi a couple of tracks from Saint Dominic's Preview though. What a great album!