In an attempt to broaden my musical horizons, I have embarked on a journey to listen to the greatest albums released over the last 70 years. I have scoured the internet for best of lists and reviews to compile a comprehensive list of around 430 albums that are considered some of the best and most influential albums of all time.
It should be noted, this list has a strong North American bias and does not include many non-English international albums. Those albums deserve a list of their own. I’ve also made a concerted effort to limit the number of albums from the same artist, with some notable exceptions.
I will work my way through the list in chronological order starting in 1954 and ending in 2019. Each Friday I’ll chronicle my thoughts on the albums I listened to that week and give them a letter grade. Check out last week’s albums here. As I listen to each album, I will pick and choose my favourite songs and add them to a Spotify playlist.
This week’s albums are:
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Ray Charles
Released: 1962
Grade: A-
I enjoyed both of the Ray Charles albums that I listened to. However, I think he is an artist that doesn’t have one unbelievable album but rather a series of really solid albums and his greatest hits are distributed equally among his whole discography.
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Green Onions
Booker T. & the M.G.’s
Released: 1962
Grade: A+
The vibes on this album are impeccable. The organ sound is iconic and we’ll probably hear it a lot more as we get into the rest of the 60s. This is a mellow type of blues that feels more like a band jamming than anything else. This has to be one of the best albums to listen to on a long drive. Booker T and the M.G.’s don’t get the respect they deserve, amazing band. I’m definitely going to check out their album covering Abbey Road.
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The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Released: 1963
Grade: A-
One of the most recognizable voices of all time, also one of the best lyricists. This album is what most people think of when they think of Bob Dylan. The first half of the album is really great with several memorable songs but the second half of the album dips just a little bit. The songs start to all sound the same and the lyrics start getting just a bit over indulgent but regardless, I still really liked the album in general.
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Please Please Me
The Beatles
Released: 1963
Grade: B+
This album has two or three of the best pop songs The Beatles ever released but at the same time, there are a bunch of unmemorable and pretty generic love songs that aren’t the highest quality. Overall, I liked the album, but you can tell the band is still in a developmental phase here. However, “Twist and Shout” may be my favourite Beatles song ever. Also, there is a lot more harmonica in this album than I thought there was, just a random thought.
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Live At the Apollo
James Brown
Released: 1963
Grade: B
I liked it, didn’t love it. This is James Brown in his early years, before he would fully develop into the explosive band leader that we all know and love from the 1970s. The album has just a few too many crooner songs for my liking and live albums are really really difficult to get right in general.
