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Dave McQuillen's Best Rock Albums of All Time By David McQuillen
Here's my votes for the 20 best rock albums ever produced, at least as I saw it on June 9th, 2009
- 1
The Velvet Underground1967Rock music, Experimental rock, Psychedelic rock, Avant-garde, Dream pop, Art rock, Garage rock, Protopunk, Avant-garde music More“ Biggest Conceptual Single Leap Rock n' Roll every took. Also the most cinematic and best sequenced album in rock history. „ - 2
Van MorrisonClassical music, Folk music, Rock music, Folk rock, Rhythm and blues, Jazz, Blues More“ The most timeless album in Rock history, probably because it's hardly even rock. „ - 3
The Jimi Hendrix Experience1967Rock music, Hard rock, Heavy metal, Blues-rock, Funk-rock, Psychedelic rock, Acid rock More“ If Nico was Rock's biggest conceptual leap, this was unquestionably it's biggest single instrumental leap. „ - 4
Bob Dylan1965Rock music, Folk rock, Blues-rock“ Many Dylan's to choose from, but this one to me is the obvious first choice...though over forty-years old, it's still his best produced album, and contains his two greatest songs in Like a Rolling Stone and Desolation Row. „ - 5
Radiohead1997Alternative rock, Electronic music, Britpop, Experimental rock, Art rock, New Prog More“ The Greatest "Head-tripping/Sci Fi/Spacey" album ever...so sophisticated in it's use of non-musical effects...Dark Side's efforts seems like the clumsy, blatantly obvious fumblings of a horny, adolescent teenager in comparison...and Dark Side is great. „ -
- 6
The Beatles1966Rock music, Hard rock, Pop rock, Psychedelic rock“ Personally, I prefer Rubber Soul as a front-to-back listen because of it's greater intangibles, but this is without question the strongest and most consistently successful set of songs they ever set down on a single disc...just one 180 degree turn triumph after another. „ - 7 U21987Alternative rock, Rock music, Folk rock, Blues-rock, Roots rock, Southern rock More“ Many will think this too high, but I find it to be the most emotionally compelling arena rock album ever put on vinyl. „
- 8 LoveFolk rock, Psychedelic rock, Baroque pop, Spanish rock“ Along with Exile on Main Street, the ultimate greater than the sum of it's parts album...an inscrutable and unduplicatable classic. „
- 9 The Beatles1965Rock music, Pop rock, Folk rock, Pop music“ Their most timeless and charming release. „
- 10 The Clash1979Rock music, Pop music, Rockabilly, Post-punk, Punk rock, Jazz, Funk, Rock and roll, Reggae, Ska, Ska punk, Reggae fusion More“ One of two albums from punk artists in the top twenty, and both share one thing in common, a mature rejection of punk's musical limitations. I call this one the "Bridge" album, because it seems every other song on this album transmutes into something twice as great as where it started at the two minute mark. Like Sleater-Kinney's The Woods, the sound of a band discovering where it's always belonged by rejecting the sound to which it was born. „
- 11 The Rolling Stones1972Folk music, Rock music, Blues-rock, Rhythm and blues, Soul music, Roots rock, Rock and roll, Country rock, Gospel music, Blue-eyed soul, Boogie-woogie More“ Far from their strongest collection of songs, but as I stated with Forever Changes, this one is so much more than the sum of its parts. A gritty, grungy, classic...and probably their most compelling vocal album ever. „
- 12 The Velvet Underground1968Avant-garde, Experimental rock, Noise rock, Protopunk, Art rock“ One of the most abrasive and fascinating albums rock has ever produced...Everyone talks up Sister Ray, but it's the slasher maelstrom that precedes it, I Heard Her Call My Name, that is the albums signature and greatest moment. The best feedback guitar solo of all time. „
- 13 The Stone Roses1989Alternative rock, Dance music, Alternative dance, Indie rock, Madchester, Baggy More“ Insanely slick revivalist psychedelic pop, reborn as dance rock...one of the most unheralded guitar performances in rock n' roll history. „
- 14 Public Enemy1988Hip hop music, East Coast hip hop, Hardcore hip hop, Political hip hop“ To this day remains the highest achievement in Rap. „
- 15 Bruce Springsteen1975Rock music“ The best album from Rock's greatest second generation traditionalist. „
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- 16 Led Zeppelin1971Hard rock, Heavy metal, Folk rock, Blues-rock“ Early Heavy Metal's high point...hasn't aged as well as their first three, but remains the most versatile and ambitious of the band's initial four albums. „
- 17 Pink Floyd1973Hard rock, Progressive rock, Electronic music, Experimental rock, Psychedelic rock, Art rock, Space rock, Concept album More“ Saw Waters do this last year at Coachella...for all it's innovations, what truly sets it apart is it's ever changing but never boring flow. „
- 18 The Who1971Rock music, Hard rock, Progressive rock“ As Classic as Classic Rock gets. „
- 19 Marvin Gaye1971Psychedelic soul, Rhythm and blues, Soul music“ My vote for the greatest groove album of all time. „
- 20 Sleater-Kinney2005Punk rock, Indie rock, Emo, Psychedelic rock“ Warmly embraced but also somewhat ignored by critics, probably in large part because it's such a throwback to the late sixties pyschedelic sound...but in my mind there was no great musical or conceptual release in the 2000s...every note, every word, even the cover and disc art and the mix open themselves up to five or six layers of interweaving subtextual interpretation, most of them intentionally plotted by the band.Oh, and it's opening seven tracks may be the most perfectly constructed adrenline rush in rock n' roll history. „
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