As I listen to Sgt. Pepper, I must note that today is the today the record was released in the UK. The 40th anniversary of the US release is tomorrow (June 2). There will be multiple tributes throughout the weekend, including an all-star live re-recording on BBC2.
Incidentally, it seems not everybody was thrilled with The Police's opening show. Specifically - drummer Stewart Copeland. It's refreshingly funny. He, by the way, is the one who I heard refer to the lead singer of his band as "Stingo" and the name stuck with me. Read his take on the concert here.
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't invite your input on Sgt. Pepper and what you think is the greatest album ever. That's the beauty, as always - there's no right answer. I'm not asking for your favorite album (I've already told you which Beatles album is my favorite, and I'm quite honest when I say that Huey Lewis and the News's Sports is my all-time favorite). I'm asking for an unbiased take on what album is the best - whether you like it or not.
Here is Rolling Stone's take on their top 20 (go to the link to see the rest of their...gulp!...500)
1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
3. Revolver, The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul, The Beatles
6. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
7. Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones
8. London Calling, The Clash
9. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
10. The Beatles ("The White Album"), The Beatles
11. The Sun Sessions, Elvis Presley
12. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
13. Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground
14. Abbey Road, The Beatles
15. Are You Experienced?, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
16. Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan
17. Nevermind, Nirvana
18. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
19. Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
20. Thriller, Michael Jackson
Kind of hard to argue with it, but I'll try. I think both War (#221) and Boy (#411)are the two best U2 albums, yet they are ranked far below The Joshua Tree (25), Achtung Baby (62), and All That You Can't Leave Behind (139). As usual, this is all symbolic of nothing, except that I sometimes have no life and love to dig into this stuff.
Besides it beats arguing about A-Rod screaming into some infielders ear. Despite the idea of sportsmanship, there's also gamesmanship, as with the infamous ball slap in the 2004 ALCS. It wouldn't matter if it wasn't A-Rod. Ugh...I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it.
Oh well, rock on!
2 comments:
Rob
I've spent some time in Barnes & Noble checking out this book and unless my eyes deceive me, Frank Sinatra does not come in until 100! That's one of the reasons I don't take lists too seriously. Also, I love Joni Mitchell, but her Blue album is not the 30th best ever!
I don't take lists seriously but I love reading them and talking about them.
I wonder if we saw two different lists because I double-checked Rolling Stone's online one and there was Frank's "In The Wee Small Hours" at #100. Agreed on Joni Mitchell by the way.
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