Mini Reviews of Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums: 470-461
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 470-461:
Rating: 7/10
This felt like quintessential 90s rap through and through. I don't know that there are any individual tracks I'll return to-- other than the classic "Back That Azz Up," of course --but this was a really fun listen as a whole album.
Rating: 9/10
Part reggae and ska, part soft rock, this was probably my favorite new discovery thus far in this listening series. It goes to show the power and universal language of music: though I didn't track most of the lyrics in this album from the multilingual French-Spanish artist, I loved listening to each and every track.
Rating: 7/10
Believe it or not, this was the first Rolling Stones album I've ever listened to in entirety; my upbringing was much more Beatles than Stones. This was a decent record, but I can see why it is the lowest-ranked of (presumably) several other Stones albums to make the list. The opener "Miss You" is one of their biggest songs, and still slaps, but most other tracks are fairly forgettable, and some (the title track among them, as well as "Far Away Eyes") have not aged well at all.
Rating: 7.5/10
This was nothing groundbreaking, musically; there were definitely signs of modernity that speak to this being a 2009 R&B album rather than an 80s R&B album, but it was still pretty much a classic R&B album. That said, a totally pleasant listen from start to finish.
Rating: 7/10
This is still very much early Beach Boys, before they fully unleashed Brian Wilson's musical genius and more profound lyricism. But amidst all the surfboard crooning, there are early signs of the greatness to come, and this album was nothing if not a vibe.
Rating: 7.5/10
This was a perfectly solid album. No individual tracks really stood out above the rest, but the entire album from the legendary Nigerian singer was a really smooth, energetic listen.
Rating: 9/10
It was probably for the best that I listened to this album for the first time in the Summer, because this music is just good vibes through and through. Not every track can match the classic level of "That Lady" or "Summer Breeze," but this is a terrific record, start to finish.
Rating: 4/10
Not gonna lie, this one didn't do it for me. Lyrically, I'm sure there is some depth and vulnerability there, but I was too distracted by the cacophony of Nyro's wild and brash vocals with the whiplash-inducing alternating jazzy tempos to take note.
Rating: 6/10
This is a nice little Western/country folk rock album from a band that had one of the all-time great names. But though I'm a sucker for a slide guitar, the weepy lyrics and mournful crooning wears thin pretty quickly.
Rating: 8/10
The debut album from Bon Iver was a forerunner for his future status as an indie icon, and arguably touched off the wave of indie-folk in the mainstream that lasted from the late aughts into the early 2010s. It's music for a certain mood, to be sure, but if you're in a melancholy mood, songs like "Skinny Love," "For Emma," and "Re: Stacks" ring especially beautiful.
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