It is that time of year again. Time for the WXPN greatest countdown. Some of you may remember that last year they did the 2020 best songs of all time, with Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen the ultimate winner. This year it’s the 2021 greatest albums. Let the debates begin.
I came of age in the heyday of the album. In the 1970’s you couldn’t make a playlist across artists, or shuffle through multiple discs. Skipping a song meant getting up, lifting the needle, and the putting it back down again on the next track, usually with an accompanying screech that told you another scratch was coming. Needless to say, it didn’t happen very often. You just accepted that there were going to be tracks on most albums you had to put up with. (i.e., Maxwell’s Silver Hammer).
It is why finding an album that was outstanding first song to last was a revelation. There is something satisfying about a side 2 deep cut that you like better than the “hits” (like “Chest Fever” of The Band’s “Music From the Big Pink” album). It is even better if the album had no hits and you feel like you are in on something that the radio listening world was missing. (Radio was just awful in the 70’s, unless you liked to listen to the same song over and over again).
An album is also a better measure of an artist’s worth. Many musicians can come up with a good song now and then. “Come on Eileen” is a great rocker, but do you really want to listen to a full Dexys Midnight Runners’ album? It takes real talent to put together 10 to 14 songs worth listening to, let alone sustain that across multiple albums. Pink Floyd, with the four albums from “Dark Side of the Moon” through “The Wall”, pulled it off, but few have been able to do so.
The trouble is that appreciating an album takes commitment. You have to listen to it over and over. Many tracks sound good first time through, but wear quickly. I am sad to say that I haven’t taken the plunge all that often for many years, so my list is dated. I know that there are outstanding albums coming out annually (St. Vincent’s, “Masseduction” (No. 711), and Father John Misty’s “I Love You Honeybear” (No. 824) are some of the more recent that come to mind), but I hear few of them all the way through.
It is almost surprising that artists today bother with albums the way music is consumed now. Streaming that allows playlists, and shuffling begs for most of an artist’s output to be ignored. And yet, musicians keep putting out quality material (My son would point you to Phoebe Bridgers last two albums, Nos. 536 and 551). My guess is that much of it does not get the listens it deserves.
Looking at the WXPN responses, I am not the only one to be stuck in the 70’s. The list, especially at its higher reaches, is scattered with albums from the 2000’s, but earlier years predominate, with the 1970’s having 150 albums more than the next nearest decade (the 1990’s). Just as telling, almost half of the top 100 come from the 1970’s, with only 3 issued in 2000’s, as well as 8 of the top 10 (the only two holdouts being Beatles albums).
I know that a lot of that has to do with demographics. There are way too many old people like me voting and not enough younger listeners. Plus, the WXPN audience is mainly white, which definitely skews the list (nice to see To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar in there at 137). Yet, I do think the list reflects the change in how music is being consumed, for better or worse.
I submitted my top ten list some time, ago and am not fully sure I remember what I sent in. However, to the best of my recollection it was as follows (in no particular order).
- George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (No. 62)
- The Beatles – The White Album (No. 35, down from No. 6 when they last did this in 2005)
- John Coltrane – Giant Steps (No. 274. A Love Supreme came in at No. 68)
- Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (No. 22. Top Jazz album)
- Steely Dan – Aja (No. 19)
- Pat Metheny Group – Still Life (Talking) (No. 804)
- Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks (No.7)
- Pink Floyd – Wish You were Here (No. 40)
- Bob Marley and the Wailers – Exodus (No. 107) (Thanks Dan W.)
- David Bowie – Blackstar (No. 1562)
The WXPN Top 10 were:
- The Beatles – Abbey Road (also No. 1 in 2005)
- Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
- Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
- The Beatles – Sargeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life (up from No. 54)
- The Clash – London Calling
- Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
- Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (up from No. 36)
- Joni Mitchell – Blue
- Carole King – Tapestry
Again, all of this has no meaning, but it is still fun. I wonder what XPN will do next year?
I pretty much love your list, Tom, but I would add Joni Mitchell Court and Spark and of course Carol King, and maybe Bookends.
The thing about listening to albums is that I recall the songs as one, continuous track, with no breaks. I really like that. Even when technology made it possible, I never skipped songs.
I still listen to albums that way, and, in fact, it is one of the nice side effects of cooking. I have revisited more albums in the last year than I had in the 10 prior. It’s was interesting to me that Joni’s Blue album was listed above Court and Spark, which I always thought of as her masterpiece. I did go back and listen again to Blue and it is a great album, but Court and Spark will always be my favorite of hers. That being said, it was nice to see her and Carole King move into the top 10.