Mini Reviews of Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums: 480-471
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 490-481:
Rating: 6.5/10
Lyrically, this is refreshingly honest and vulnerable. Musically, it's a pretty straightforward country album, which is fine! Just not really my cup of tea.
Rating: 8/10
As much an icon as she was, I'm slightly ashamed to admit I hadn't listened to any Selena beyond the songs featured in the J-Lo movie. Having done so now, I totally get it! This was a blast from start to finish.
Rating: 8/10
I'll confess I don't know much Kinks, but this album definitely made me want to seek out more by them. This felt very 'post-Rubber Soul Beatles'-esque.
Rating: 5.5/10
I mentioned this in my review of Muddy Waters' Anthology: I like Blues, and this is good Blues. But I'm rarely interested in listening to an album full of it. This is a fine record, but one I doubt I'll return to.
Rating: 7/10
This was...something else. A lot of energy, and I was digging the psychedelic pop for a while, but I must say, the squealing vocals start to wear on you about midway through the album.
Rating: 8/10
The heydey of Sheryl Crow was somewhat before my time, but I'm familiar with her classics, a few of which feature on this very album. Very good listen, from start to finish.
Rating: 8/10
This is yet another album, not unlike The Kinks', that I had definitely never heard, but it sounded like I had before. The classic rock sound was familiar and enjoyable, and it was fun to hear the original source material for the That 70's Show theme on this album!
Rating: 6.5/10
I'll admit, a lot of it sounds similar stylistically, and after a while, DY's shout-rapping starts to grate on me. But it's extremely catchy and high-energy at least! And "Gasolina" still slaps.
Rating: 9/10
I think this is the first album on this ranking for which I can confidently say I had already listened to in entirety, but it had been a while, and I was all too happy to re-listen. I loved it even more than I remembered; SZA's honeyed vocals and vulnerable storytelling, complete with audio recordings from her mother combine to create an absolute classic of a debut album.
Rating: 7.5/10
I don't know where I got mixed up, but I swore Jefferson Airplane was the band that wrote "We Built This City." I've never been more delighted to be wrong. This Beatles-meets-Zeppelin album, the band's debut, was full of hits, including the iconic "Somebody To Love." It wasn't without its misses, too, but a very good album on the whole.
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