Mini Reviews of Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums: 460-451
Back in September of 2020, Rolling Stone did something rather audacious and released out to the world a ranking of, in their estimation, the Top 500 albums ever made. By any musician, any band, anywhere.
It's a mammoth undertaking, of course, and one that is never going to be without controversy, dispute, and backlash. But Rolling Stone has to have known that by now, as this is actually their third go-round with this; the original "Greatest 500" was released to much furor in 2003, and then an updated list came in 2012. What sets this ranking apart is it's not just Rolling Stone contributors; this time, they sought input from some of the biggest artists and producers on the scene, to essentially make this ranking more of an aggregation of what are generally considered the greatest albums, than just a compilation ranking by the staff of one entertainment outlet, I suppose.
Anyways! I was always aware of this list, but at the outset of 2022, being ever the musichead, ever the listophile, I made a plan to complete what some might argue is just as audacious an undertaking: I want to listen to all 500, regardless of my familiarity (or lack thereof) with a particular album, regardless of my feelings towards its artist. I'm going to listen to all 500, in order. And I'm going to share my thoughts on them, but because there are literally hundreds of albums to get through, I pledge to keep said thoughts to a sentence or two.
I recognize this is going to take me ages. It's a marathon, not a sprint! Hell, maybe the next edition of the "500 Greatest Albums" will be out before I finish this one. But regardless of whether you will take this epic journey with me, I hope you will check in on me from time-to-time, to gauge how I feel about what Rolling Stone deemed the 491st-best album of all time.
In case you need the link to reference the source material:
And in case you missed my previous entries, here were my rundowns on:
Here are my thoughts on numbers 460-451:
Rating: 8/10
I certainly was familiar with this one, Lorde's biggest and most-acclaimed work to date. To those who know me, I've made no secret of the fact that I think this album is inferior to her debut record Pure Heroine (hot take alert!!!!), so I will be sad if this is the only Lorde entry on this ranking. That said, this is still a stellar pop album, full of memorable songs both high-tempo and achingly slow.
Rating: 8/10
A throwback to my high school days! I'm a bit surprised this one made the ranking, let alone being slotted above many of the albums it bested; as sonically pleasing and impressive thematically as Man On The Moon is, Kid Cudi's... unique singing voice, shall we say, and occasionally weak lyricism make this record pretty uneven as a whole. Still, its highs are still phenomenal, and there's no underplaying the impact Cudi's debut made on the Rap industry and trajectory of the genre.
Rating: 7.5/10
After hearing his name for a number of years, I finally was introduced to Jaosn Isbell through his 2020 album Reunions, which crashed my Top 10 of the year! Musically, I thought this record of his from 2013 was a little less interesting, but thematically and lyrically, it's every bit as good as what we have come to expect from the folk-country artist.
Rating: 8.5/10
This was actually my introduction to the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) Irish alt-rock singer. And yet, her voice was instantly recognizable. It's not the kind of thing I'll put on any old day, but lyrically this album hit hard, and I loved the musical variety, with everything from Prince to traditional Gaelic folk inspiring the sound.
Rating: 9.5/10
For the record, I think it's sort of cheating to include compilation albums in general, let alone a greatest hits album. But I don't make the rules, and unsurprisingly, this smooth 10-song tracklist is nothing short of fabulous, from start to finish.
Rating: 7/10
This is just classic Blues rock. It's not something I'm going to return to readily, but I'm not gonna speak ill of the great Bo Diddley.
Rating: 6.5/10
The best part about this listen was that today I learned Kanye West's "Drunk and Hot Girls" is a sample of a Can song. But no, this was a cool and funky listen from the experimental German rockers, albeit a bit too experimental for me at times. I can certainly see why it was pioneering.
Rating: 7.5/10
NIN's style and Trent Reznor's vocals aren't generally my cup of tea, but there's no denying the quality of this production. And I have to say, maybe it was just because I was listening at the tail-end of a horrible workday, but I was digging the energy.
Rating: 6/10
Diana Ross and The Supremes are obviously iconic, and this album includes literally all their hits, but I still have real qualms with its placement in Rolling Stone's ranking. As mentioned above, it feels like cheating to include compilation/greatest hits albums, and what's more, unlike in the case of Al Green's, Anthology didn't even really function well as a standalone album. It's way too overstuffed with filler; its tracklist could have been pared in half, and the quality of the album would not suffer.
Rating: 9/10
This is a fairly one-note album, and thus I would venture to call it more of a "mood album." But if you're in the mood for soulful, smooth, jazzy music with hard-hitting lyrics, then it can really slap. Roberta's voice is unforgettable; it's not hard to see why she was so revered in her heyday.
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