The TEN GREATEST ALBUMS....ever....
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
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Andy is a drummer, producer and educator. He has toured the world with rock legend Robert Plant and played on classic prog albums by Frost and IQ.
As a drum clinician he has played with Terry Bozzio, Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman and Mike Portnoy.
He also teaches drums privately and at Kidderminster College
Your selection off of My Life In the Bush of Ghost is so astoundingly, jaw-droppingly correct, that I'm going to be impressed with you for the rest of my days. This is an extremely well considered list.
My favourite album, well said!
I don’t normally comment on CZcams but I have to say this was such a well thought out educational video. Going thru music chronology and choosing albums to talk about was a great idea. Realizing you like keeping videos around 30 minutes perhaps you would consider diving on deeper into each period of the albums you chose and expanding on each period. Great work and a superb video
Thanks Robert...You might want to start with my video on Louis Armstrong. It's favourite video of the 250 odd videos I have made...then check out my playlists and try my history of jazz series. It's a bit heavy going but that is the point of my channel...to go deeper!
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer gotcha .. new to your channel so I will search those out 👍
What a waste,how about popular music,music. I wasn’t around. Boring
Having never watched your channel, I expected just another in a myriad top 10 lists with the usual suspects. Thanks for such an intelligent, entertaining musical journey. It was a pleasure listening to someone who knows their subject so well.
Thats a nice comment there...thanks for that
Always love your musicological/historical take on the arc of western music, Andy. Delighted that the critical innovators on my list are highlighted here. I appreciate the subtle distinctions and the DEPTH. Just wonderful . . .
Thanks Jed
Brilliant work Andy, what a genius rabbit out of the hat moment was the "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" moment, Ive owned this album for 40 years and it hasn't aged a bit, truly revolutionary it really did lay the groundwork for all those genre's you mentioned beforehand ... Keep up the good work
Yours is an excellent list.
Here's my top 9 favorite albums (yes nine; read on to find out why not ten). My list is admittedly snooty 😂 but they are the albums I played the most.
10. Mule Variations - Tom Waits
The premier American songwriter and jazz singer. He transforms his tortured soul into songs about the lost, whiskey and bars.
9. Exodus - Bob Marley
The warrior took a break to enjoy the Natural Mystic. Still militant, but in a mellow lover kind of way. Bob died too early.
8. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Supremacy bordering on arrogance. But never clinical. A subtitle could've been "Catch Me If You Can".
7. Never Mind - Sex Pistols
Uncompromising words, chaotic playing, Rotten defiant vocals, a moment in history .. all conspiring to create a soundtrack for a perfect storm.
6. Remain in Light - Talking Heads
The album I played the most, so much so it cost me a relationship. I didn't even notice what happened until later 😅 Byrne & company mixed world music with Afro beats and artsy college lyrics to give birth to infectious crazy songs.
5. Exile on Main St. - Rolling Stones
The devil wrote it and a college dropout sang it.
4. Hejira - Joni Mitchell
Impeccable lyrics. Tarty songs. Styles from folk to jazz to blues. And guitar tunes to match the storytelling.
3. Veedon Fleece - Van Morrison
Unmatched vocal virtuosity, almost like Van was showing off his vocal gifts. The human voice as a musical instrument. Enjoy the wide-ranging vocals, the weird stories and uncanny lyrics.
2. Left blank coz nothing comes close to number 1. Gotta respect perfection.
1. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
The ultimate fusion album. It effortlessly mixes jazz, blues, Irish folks and English styling to produce strange songs that tell stranger stories and mysterious lyrics (really poems). What's amazing is that it was recorded "live" in a few days .. and when Van was in his early twenties!
Astral Weeks, OK. What about Nick Drake in that particular genre ?
Astral weeks just perfect
Astral Weeks? It's Ok. But..first? There are a lot of people that don't dven know this one exist.
Oddly enough, Mule Variations was the album that told me Tom.Waits had got old and the magic was gone and not coming back. Great closing track, but inspiration was thin on the ground. And it's been a slow death since.
@@geoffreywillars1032last great one was frank wild y imho. 6-7 near perfect LPs in a row
Great list, and superb analysis! You deserve a much wider audience. Thanks 🙌
Great educational video. It’s chronological well thought out. Must have been challenging to keep it to 30 minutes and 10 albums. Thank you. Keep up your great work 👍😎
What a great list. Maybe the best Top Ten greatest album list I've seen. I say this because your list is my list with one exception only. "Remain in Light" instead of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts."
It is so interesting to revisit older music and salute their innovation. You tube has many videos where some unknown guitarist does a perfect cover of a famous solo. Admirable as these performances are… they fail to capture the creativity of the performer who first pulled these sounds out of the ether
Amazing list, the best I’ve seen. When you were describing what the last one was gonna be, I was predicting Remain In Light, and I was surprised you didn’t go with Blonde on Blonde for the Dylan pick.
He's never even heard a Dylan album all the way through, yet he puts one in his all time top ten. He's full of shit.
Your videos are just incredibly well done, and I thank you for your insight. I once heard Keith Richards say he had lost the ability to listen to music for pure enjoyment, as he always found himself trying to pick apart what the musicians were playing. That seems tragic to me. What a blessing for you that you have not experienced a similar fate, and you are willing to share your knowledge and passion for music. Keep up the good work and thanks again!!
Keith Richards comes across a bit pretentious in interview. He is not a great guitar player. But he was lucky and did not put a foot wrong I suppose. But now he makes comments which really blow sunshine up his own arse.
So great !! What a review !! Love the choices..!! Amazing insight and description all around .. keep up the good work !! Thanks for expanding the listening list !!
Great video! I love the Bob Dylan commentary --FWIW I would have had to put Never Mind the Bollocks on there somewhere ...
Love your final pick on this video. And, apart from the album's place is music history, its significance and how it represents the zeitgeist-ness at the time, it is simply a belter of a listen. Made me happy when it appeared at your number 1 spot here.
Very good approach to a nearly impossible task. Eno - Byrne a surprise addition.
The biggest surprise was number 10. I expected to be disappointed. But I was very happy with Bush of Ghosts. I sensed its futuristic importance at the time and am pleased that you brought that up. I’m a new watcher and love your discussions of how the music we listen to is in your opinion the progeny of jazz. That view rings true.
Electric Ladyland is above extraordinary.
Having watched a few similar lists I warmed to this when you acknowledge how ridiculous such a task is. I also agreed that whist there is a lot of music I play much more frequently this list is both honest and insightful. Well done and thank you.
Yes...a silly task to undertake...I might do this annually with a different list everytime thereby gaining the views that such videos get and at the same time pointing out the futility of such a task. The real title should 'My first stab at coming up the ten greatest albums of all time'
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I like that title better... a chance for another pass down the line!
Your discussion reminded me of the film Moonage Daydream. There's this great sequence where Bowie talks about exhausting his on stage personas (Ziggy, Thin White Duke), hitting a creative dryspell and retiring to Berlin (where nobody knows him) with Brian Eno to "reinvent" songwriting by going into the studio cold each day with no preconceptions about song structure, melody, instrumentation, arrangements or recording. Just change things up each day and see what happens. That was the kind of thinking that really moved music forward.
This is a role that Brian Eno has played several times. The man's a genius!
Your videos are so informative and enjoyable at the same time - thank you so much
Glad you like them!
It is an Impossible mission from the point of last three. It was done with a surgical precision (it shows your organizational and summarizing skills including a good eye for details)...Maybe you can start mini serial of the greatest albums by genre/sub genre like soul, folk/folk rock, heavy metal, fusion, electronic, reggae, hard rock, funk, punk, new wave, blues, country, jazz, etc...
+1 for Revolver, it's the killer Beatles album
Magical Mystery Tour is the best Beatles album.
A few days ago, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss played in my little hometown, Huber, Heights, Ohio. They only played three Led Zeppelin covers, rootsy country rock style, but all three came from Led Zeppelin four, "rock 'n' roll," the "battle of evermore," and "when the Levee breaks."
Well just goes to show that a daft premise can lead to an insightful, and entertaining, analysis. Nice one!
Much appreciated!
Great video, Andy!
Those are all great choices!
Your the Professor of Music, I really enjoy your take on things, great video!
As far as important, impactful albums go, I would add Glenn Gould’s 1956 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, not just because it’s an incredible, innovative performance, but it had unprecedented sales numbers and popularity for a classical record at that time. Otherwise, really enjoyed your list explanations.
I consciously decided to keep classical music out of it...hence my chat about the relationship of popular music and recording at the start.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Fair enough. I will add that I think that Gould album did more to popularize classical at that time than any other in the genre; Gould was treated as a pop star in subsequent tours and media spots. But that’s perhaps a discussion for another list. Cheers.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Then why didn't say this at the beginning? Also one of the fundamental was from the opera or the opry. Classical and Blues the way you descibe is really brilliant, but I hope you recognized you know the first recording of classical is from the Auditorium Theater of 1893 of Verdi's Aida from Chicago. Did you ever hear the shellac recordings of Rosa Ponsell from 1921, or Enrico Carusso of 1919? You really pissed me off at first, but you really put on a great and knowlegdeble anaylisis afterward of history of rock and roll.
@@haihechina I thought my description of the innovations of recording and how that related to popular music explained where I was coming from. I nearly put on Carusos million selling recordings from the early part of the 20thC but I only had ten choices and I knew there was no country music on there, and no sould either...as I said, it's a silly task to undertake
As far as classical music having an influence on pop/rock, Switched on Bach by Carlos and Electronic Studies by Stockhausen have to be there, somewhere.
An impossible task Andy but I think you've nailed it as well as anyone could. My one observation would be as to whether Led Zeppelin really represent the key development of popular music from the blues and folk-based rock format to something which then forms the link to prog, jazz rock and jazz fusion. To my ears, Led Zep IV, as with the three albums that proceeded it, are still fundamentally blues/folk rock music, albeit being outstanding exemplars of that style, and I suspect that the prog/fusion foundation albums had already preceded it. Whether that foundation album would be Wired, The Yes Album or Court of the Crimson King, I'm not sure, but these all came before Led Zep VI and, to my mind, all were clearer portents of what was to follow.
Stairway to Heaven is a prog track, The odd timesignaturrs of Four Sticks points to that style. It represents what was called progressive rock and was once described in that category.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I don't disagree, but the albums I mentioned, and in particular The Yes Album and King Crimson were consistently prog across the whole album and were both a couple of years earlier than Led Zep IV. Whether the Led Zep is a "better" album or not is, of course, subjective and I'm trying to move beyond that. 🙂
@@richardsutton01 Step away from the prog...this list is the greatest albums ever...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Yes but .... your criteria number one was "influence and innovation etc" and when it comes to the influence and innovation foreshadowing prog/jazz fusion/jazz rock, then the prog leanings of Led Zep VI, which you specifically selected as representing an album "which sums up all the progressive music which comes out of rock and roll" , were already a couple of years behind that particular curve. But, as you say, "this list is silly" albeit enjoyable. 😉
@@richardsutton01 By progressive music I mean the extension of rock music after the sixties; Heavy Rock, Heavy Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Folk Rock, Funk, Studio Experimentation, Jazz Fusion, Prog, Blues Rock, Singer Songwriter etc...basically encapsulating the progressive sophistication of Rock in the early seventies. In 1969 Decca brought out a compilation album of progressive rock, in the true meaning of the word. Now of course the anal retentiveness of your average prog fan has completely inverted the meaning of progressive but here is the tracklisting off that album:
A1 -Touch Down At Circes Place
A2 -John Mayall Where Did I Belong?
A3 -Savoy Brown Train To Nowhere
A4 -Johnny Almond Voodoo Forest
A5 -East Of Eden Communion
B1 -Genesis In The Beginning
B2 -The Moody Blues Nights In White Satin
B3 -William R. Strickland Computer Lover
B4 -John Cameron Quartet Go Away, Come Back Another Day
B5 -Keef Hartley Band Not Foolish, Not Wise
I wanted an album that broadly encapsulated thais aspect of rock music in the seventies, and an album (Joni:Blue) which represented how advanced songwriting had got. I thought through this quite deeply and to represent the progressive elements it was either Led Zep IV or Darkside of the Moon. I decided that not only was IV broader, but also an even better album. and so that is why I chose it.
You should make a music history documentary for TV. You know your stuff and are good to listen to.
I would love to do that
He doesn't know shit.
Tv is dead. He ‘s better where he is now.
I must be a Really Hard Core Joni Mitchell fan, because on balance (and it IS a very close-run thing) I think Hejira is her peak, both musically and lyrically. 😊
By the way - your approach to creating the list Andy, is SO much more reasonable than the Rolling Stone and NME approaches. I'm going to have to subscribe!
Thanks for that :)
Agreed Blue is overrated.
It's difficult for me to differentiate most popular with the most influential with then my most favourite albums. You did a great job. I agreed with your list and the reasons you specified but would put Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home" as one of the greatest albums because of his clever lyricism on Subterranean Homesick Blues, Tambourine Man, It's Alright Ma' & Baby Blue.
I'm not a Dylan fan but this is a brilliant album for 1965.
This album (for me) inspired more diverse artists from Soul, Country, Folk, Rock and Pop to cover songs from this album than any other. You can hear Lennon, Lou Reed, Hendrix, The Yardbyrds switch their style of writing and phrases after this came out a tad more than Highway 61. (My opinion of course)
Maybe you could do a most influential albums even if they're not that good or famous? e.g. The Blues Breakers "Beano" album. Cheers Andy.
Nice take on it. Blue, since you’re talking about albums, Hits is just a label created best of collection. I probably would have gone with Darkside of the Moon over Zeppelin IV, but your logic is sound. IV capturers more, but DSTOM I think will remain timeless and is arguably a more perfect album. The lasting influence of either album is unquestionable.
Wunderbar Andy ! Excellent talk as always. The list is undeniably almost perfect.
I was with you in every step through Revolver. With the possible replacement of Elvis with Chuck Berry….this I think could go either way.
I love your picks of Led Zeppelin IV and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
It is easy to forget the importance of Led Zeppelin IV, but it really was a game changer.
I loved My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and was surprised to find so many people were influenced by it and more surprised that many people I’ve met know some of the tracks.
I played it last year at a party and a „techno“ friend recognized it, and was exuberant , giddy in his remembrance.
I know it is your subjective list and in that frame it is perfect.
But, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell ? Great song writers and poets for sure.
I love them both for their contributions to music and their unique take it.
I think at the time of Highway 61 people in America were moving away from buying 45‘s . Full length albums became the norm and Musicians had more freedom in that they had more space to fill.
I find Buffalo Springfield more important than Dylan.
I find Zappa‘s Freak Out! Much more ground breaking than almost anything back then.
Much more than Joni Mitchell (I do love her )
From Freak Out! through The Grand Wazoo opened so many doors, Frank was the foster parent to George Duke…Adrian Belew (without we have no Discipline) Terry Bosio, Vinnie,
Chester Thompson, and Steve Vai and Wakerman . I think Frank opened a door.
The most obvious omission is Jimi Hendrix.
Everyone else on this list opened a door, or left a window unlocked.
Jimi Hendrix kicked in the front of the house !!!
I’m sure it is a different experience for a Brit.
Jimi played for a couple years on the London scene.
We know Clapton and Beck said Jimi was out of tune,
Pete Townsend thinks Pete is the be all end all.
Love Jeff Beck but the rest ….
In America Hendrix was a Revolution.
Music could be divided by before and after Hendrix.
In America , we had Chet Atkins and Glen Campbell .
Then Hendrix you could say opened a door, I think it was more like
Jimi kicked the door off it’s hinges.
He was a cultural revolution.
No. 11 ….. Elegant Gypsy
This opened a back door to fusion and and traditional jazz for so many people.
I think if I had 11 places then it would be Are You Experienced in there.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Andy, you do have 11 places.
It’s your gig.
Thanks so much for your talks.
Our old album collections are very similar.
Is a treat for me to go down memory lane.
Thank you for ALL your lists. Music so necessary. I finally wrote down my fav (studio) ten list. From when I was formulating my tastes, in my prime years, and exploring, scouring record stores, and lots of FM listening. Also, taking up guitar in 71. Hearing sounds never heard before. Most are meat and potatoes rock and roll.
1. Electric Ladyland
2. Layla
3. Zep IV Zoso
4. Then Play On
5. Sticky Fingers
6. Who's Next
7. Argus
8. Love Devotion Surrender
9. Meddle
10. A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse
Lots of also rans, but it costs money to branch out and buy a release you've never heard before.
I think Then Play On and Sticky Fingers are both fabulous. Layla, a double album, is a bit repetitive but Bell Bottom Blues is one of my favorite songs.
I was huge into Eno and Talking Heads and acquired the Bush of Ghosts LP the day it was released. If you can put yourself in that moment in February 1981, it was in the midst of everything else, unlike anything else!
#1 very interesting. Never heard of it. 'Remain in Light' seems to do a lot of what you say about your #1, but preceded it by a year. Similarly innovative and ahead of its time. And look who produced it.
Eno's 1970s albums were more important and influential than MLIBOG. Full of shit this guy.
I love these lists and your perspective in particular.
I concur with many of your choices (not all! Lol).
If I were to make this list today, it would probably change by next week!
I enjoy hearing your take on things, but before watching this video I thought I'd rank what I think are the 10 most consequential albums of all time, starting with number 1:
1. Elvis Presley, by Elvis Presley
2. Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis
3. Highway 61, by Bob Dylan
4. A Love Supreme, by John Coltrane
5. Revolver, by the Beatles
6. Are You Experienced, by Jimi Hendrix
7. Music from Big Pink, by The Band
8. Bitches Brew, by Miles Davis
9. Catch a Fire, by the Wailers
10. Never Mind the Bollocks, by the Sex Pistols
All right, time to watch your video and probably get my mind changed.
Having listened to you many times here on yt, there was one selection that really stood out here for me: Never heard you mention Joni Mitchell even once in other more recent videos. The rest feels expected and logical... so I will bo listen to Blue now, thx.
Great list but here's a suggestion: chapter divisions. Seriously. A lot of people who would otherwise click off after a second or two would likely hang around if they had some minimal degree of control over how they received your spiel. Not taking the piss, seriously trying to help out. Love the channel.
What a great list. The only one I have not heard is the Brian Eno/David Byrne record. But I have the utmost respect for both those artists.
I enjoyed this just going this the years of recorded history.
Well wrought compilation. The Eno choice is especially inspired. Though I’d argue that despite the Berry lick that Parker is much more a phenom like Hendrix is a phenom, while Thelonius Monk would be a school like Robert Johnson is a school.
Even Eno would not agree that MLIBOG was that great or influential. His previous albums yes.
I really appreciate the different approach you take on here on the matter of this endless question of the greatest albums even though I of course would have chosen differently. Well done!
Brilliant list and education! Loved the choices! There were of course loops, synths and found sounds on Dark Side of the Moon, which if picked over Led Zep would free up another slot! or maybe two... ?! But I know I'm now bending the list to suit my will and haven't actually listened to the Byrne/Eno album - but I will now!!! XD
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great list, entertaining as usual. Don’t know the David Byrne - Brian Eno album, that was the real curve ball for me. Definitely it would be Blue by Joni Mitchell or Hejira.
Hejira...for sure.
A brave and fascinating list of albums, Andy. Choosing albums as the point of reference, as opposed to individual pieces of music, does create a somewhat artificial sense of what has been influential. For instance, to my ears Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring (1913) is the sound of the 20th Century; the barbarity, even eroticism, of those rhythms is where modern music begins. That piece of music created a storm. It was the angst-ridden, fuck-you rock 'n' roll of its time, and every leather jacket-wearing, guitar-wielding rocker that came after lives in Igor's shadow. Those tape manipulations that the Beatles, Byrne and Eno did would have not been possible without the pioneering work in the 1940s of musique concrete composers. Not enough fans of popular music understand the extent to which classical music has influenced popular music. Anyway, thanks for another stimulating video.
I must go against the grain, but that is what is great about personal taste. I do very much love Joni and Dylan, but my favorite songwriters of that era Bacharach and Jimmy Webb. I suppose I enjoy Bacharach and Webb because, even though they were obviously "pop" songwriters,they wrote popular songs with more compositional complexity, or perhaps sophistication. I have only come to appreciate Bacharach in the past 5 years as I have learned many of his pop songs as guitar chord melodies. Before this study, I didn't realize the subtle sophistication/chordal complexity underlying his seemingly simple, yet beautiful melodies. Obviously the same applies for Jimmy Webb. And, no, I still haven't figured out a good chord melody arrangement of "McArthur Park," apparently it takes a piano to give it a rich, full sound throughout all of its key changes.
What makes this list interesting is the chronological order. So you can really say the top recording events in music history, and argue the impact of each each.
Yes I'm really just drawing attention to some musical milestones, But I'm missing a few out too...
Your list ended with an album from 1981 …. Sooooo, your homework assignment is to compile the top albums of the last 40 years. I am really enjoying this channel. I have great respect for your opinions because you provide solid logic and history to the arguments. I was proud to to see that I have 7 of the albums from your list. ( 2 Joni Mitchell’s )
In the final spot I would've put Radiohead OK Computer. Much of your description of the Eno/Byrne album can apply to it as well. It's not my favorite but I thinks it's the best and most important record of the last 35 years.
Perhaps...Nevermind is a strong competitor though...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer i would argue Kid A is radioheads most important , ok computer is a pretty straight forward rock/prog album ... Kid A brings in the synths and digital influence .... but Eno/Byrne had done it already in 81 i suppose ...
People always talk about the musical innovations but i often feel the artistic ideas and concepts are just as important with things like post modernism, and punk independence making a huge impact on the music. Other things like the civil rights movement starting to appear in bebop and then soul music... these things are a huge factor in 20th century pop.
I enjoy these videos, it feels like you are organising my disparate thoughts on music, i have always been very interested in the influences of artists and how we got here from there ...
PS
if i made my 10 they would be very similar
The only album i feel many people overlook - probably because musically it is not anything ground breaking for the time it was released - is Ellingtons Masterpieces ... However it was recorded as an album in 1950 ... way before Kind of Blue ... most 33s had been collections of 78s - but this was a recording session where Ellington took advantage of the new tape recording machines brought back from WW2 and pushed by Bing Crosby... it gets overlooked as it was so ahead of its time it didnt really circulate as few people had the technology to play the new 12" 33s
Its an amazing album though and the sound quality of the LP is incredible
Excellent list! I would replace "Blue" with "Hejira" due to Jaco's mind blowing bass playing. I would add a few other jazz influenced albums: Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow", Radiohead's "In Rainbows", Pat Metheny Group's "Imaginary Day," and a couple of electronic albums that don't get enough attention: Janus Rasmussen's "Vin," and Rival Consoles "Now is." Thanks for posting your videos. I learn something on each one!
Great insights! I would add that early folk/country music was important for the evolution of the individual voice in popular music.
My favorite Joni Mitchell album is Court & Spark. Its just brilliant creatively and technically.
JM is unmatched.
Yes, but Blue is a landmark.
Agreed. Like it much better than Blue or any other JM album. The LP just sounds sooo good from start to finish, not a dull moment
Love your work, this was a great video! Ok but... time seems to have stopped for you in the early 80s even if this is your "personal" list. If this is a historical list of the most important/influential/greatest albums, then why not continue to the present? 10 is such an arbitrary number. Expanding on your list I'd argue for Kraftwerk Trans-Europe Exp.1977, MJ's Thriller 1982, Public Enemy It takes a Nation... 1988, Nirvana Nevermind 1991, Nas Illmatic 1994, Radiohead Ok Computer 1997, and either Kanye My Beautiful Dark...2010, OR Kendrick Lamar to Pimp a Butterfly 2015. None of these make it to my FAVORITE 10 or even 20 albums all time. But they are "objectively" important/influential/greatest. Arguably. Perhaps.
Great list man!!
wow, great list! I agree with most everything you said here, and in fact have some homework to do as I had not heard of the Eno album - I foolishly thought you would have picked OK Computer for the last spot! LZ4 is a great choice too, it really does have a little bit of every style, plus sounding like "itself". I would add a *spot for the "one to rule them all" - Yes Close to the Edge, but that's just me. Cheers!
Very good! Thank you!
"And we see how these two guys saw how music would be made in the future. How it would be made from loops, how it would be made from found sounds." ...."Revolver" anyone?
Brilliant work. Entertaining and educational. It would be great to have a Spotify list containing that music.
For an impossible task (picking ten albums out of EVERYTHING that has ever been recorded), it`s an excellent and concise list! Obviously fans of certain styles (Psychadelia, NWOBHM, Dance) and keyboard players and electronica fans will argue that it omits a lot of later recordings (no Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Chemical Brothers, no Rap, Hip-Hop, Techno, etc., pp...), but I can`t fault your arguments and, most importantly, it makes me curious to explore and re-visit albums I might have heard when I was younger but didn`t really understand at the time and am therefore not really familiar with. And that`s the most important thing, in my humble opinion!
As ever, thought-provoking and entertaining. Thanks, Andy. I would pick up just one point where I beg to differ. I am not convinced by Led Zeppelin 4 as, at more or less the same time, electronic music took a step into the limelight with Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra" album. I well remember John Peel saying that playing some of the music from this album garnered the biggest audience response his radio show had ever had. In terms of what happened to music subsequently, I think it would be difficult to argue that the three guys that constituted TD did not open doors and change not only how music could be made, but also what it would sound like for the next thirty or forty years. How many "ambient music" producers are there on CZcams? They all owe a debt to TD.
I think that they deserve a place in your history of innovative twentieth century popular music.
By the way, I look forward to seeing the next video, whatever the subject, and (referring to an earlier conversation) whether you are going to start up a music podcast. Lots of us out here waiting to hear it.
At some point this CZcams will hopefully grow big enough that I can really spend more time on it. And at that point I would love to do a weekly podcast available on my Patreon where I can actually play different music. That would be amazing. I hope it happens
I like this approach of looking at major currents or cultural streams in popular music and identifying the foundational albums that best sum up or instigate that entire sub-genre, whether classic era rock & roll, singer-songwriter, progressive, sampled/hip-hop, etc.
However, I think you would have a hard time convincing anyone that sees motown, rhythm & blues, soul, funk/disco as a continuous lineage that eventually becomes the broader phenomenon of hip hop as having as their foundational album My life in the Bush of Ghosts!
I think you replace My life in the Bush of Ghosts with Public Enemy's Nation of Millions (1988). That album merges so many archetypal things: the rap revolution of lyrical delivery, the found or sampled aesthetic of DJ'ing, the funky rhythms of the James Brown era, the radical social protest lyrics of countless albums, but then also this edgy in-your-face heavy-metal vibe that crosses over from the rock guitar god era.
One more thing: for that particular sub-genre you are holding Joni Mitchell up for, I think Tapestry is a more significant album than Blue. Not only is it a great album, I think it's still the biggest selling singer songwriter albums by a female ever.
It had to be Revolver.
Change was in the air and they made all the right choices.
Thanks for your fine work.
JT
Well - this is easy for me -
10) The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other - Van der Graaf Generator - 1970
09) H To He (Who Am The Only One) - Van der Graaf Generator - 1970
08) The Quiet Zone, The Pleasure Dome - Van der Graaf - 1977
07) Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night - Peter Hammill - 1972
06) In Camera - Peter Hammill - 1974
05) The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage - Peter Hammill - 1974
04) World Record - Van der Graaf Generator - 1976
03) Still Life - Van der Graaf Generator - 1976
02) Godbluff - Van der Graaf Generator - 1975
01) Pawn Hearts - Van der Graaf Generator - 1971
Not only are these the ten greatest prog albums - these are the ten greatest albums. Peter Hammill albums would also round out greatest album positions up to the number 20 position. After that other artists start to sprinkle in.
Love your list!!!👍
I think any objective list needs to have at least one VDGG album!!!
what about other genres.
@@paulcollins5586 Not important. 😉
Fair enough.
I'm not a huge fan of VdGG myself but I have no choice but to salute your commitment!
I think you you did a really great job on this!
I think all your choices have impeccable historical credentials and strong enduring aesthetic merit, so this is a very solid list. I liked how you discussed in depth your reasons for inclusion, and had the generosity to find room for artists and music that aren't particular favorites of yours, but whose importance you still recognize. Some semantic purists might quibble with citing posthumously collected recordings among works originally conceived and produced as LPs, along with perhaps a greatest hits compilation over a self-contained and cohesive original album, but no one could deny the centrality of these artists and recordings to the music you champion on your channel.
Incidentally, an internal poll conducted by 'Time' magazine in 1999 selected 'Exodus' by Bob Marley & the Wailers as the greatest album of the twentieth century (the runners-up were 'Kind of Blue' by Miles Davis and 'Are You Experienced' by the Jimi Hendrix Experience).
How can anyone think Exodus is the greatest album of all time??? bonkers...anyway...originally an 'Album' was a collection of an artists songs pulled together so I felt quite happy doing so...thanks for the great comment, glad you liked it
Very nice thank you.
Finally a properly musical list! Attitude o' gratitude, sir. Honorable mention maybe to those early Ravi Shankar albums? And Chuck Berry? Seriously excellent, though. Looking forward to your future musings on Stravinsky, Gong Kebyar, Nancarrow and Ligeti as the quartessential fab 4 of the last century. 🙃Aren't they?!! 🤔
My list, only brittish and american rock albums: 1 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (pink floyd) / 2 - Seargent Pepper (beatles)/ 3 - Abbley road (beatles)/ 4 - In the court of the crimson king (king crimson)/ 5 - Ok Computer - radioead (radiohead)/ 6 - The Dark side of the moon (pink floyd) / 7 - Pawn Hearts (van der graaf)/ 8 - The queen is dead (the smiths) /9 - London calling (the clash)/ 10 - The madcap laughs (Syd Barrett )... and : 11 - the velved underground and nico (velved underground) , 12 - Close to the Edge (yes), 13 - Tubular Bells (mike oldfield), led zepellin 4 (led zeppelin), 15 Nevermind (nirvana), 16 - The wall (Pink floyd), 17 - Exile main street (Rolling Stones), 18 - Desintegration (the cure), 19 - The Freewhelin (Bob Dylan), 20 - Disraely gears (cream) 21- Larks tongue in aspic (king crimson), 22 - Blue (Joni Mitchel) , 23 - Foxtrot (genesis), 24 - Mellan Collie and the infinite sadness (Smashing Pumpiks), 25 - Red (King Crimson), 26 - In the rainbow (radiohead), 27 - The Highway 61 revised (Bob Dylan), 28 - The doors of fire (The Strokes) , 29 - Revolver (Beatles), 30 . Is this it (The Strokes), 31 - The doors (the doors), 32 . AJA (Steely Dan) , 33 - Lonerism (Tame impala), 34 - Seling England Buy The Pound (Genesis), 35 - Embrionic (Flaming Lips)
36 - Led Zeppelin 1
im missing some important themes here. Not that i actually question you choices but somewhere they should be mentioned.
First of all: Leadbelly, arguably even more influential than Robert Johnson. Then there are some modern albums that also should have been mentioned although they would be difficult to fit in this list:
Queen, A Night At The Opera.
Peter Gabriel, So.
Paul Simon, Graceland.
All of them a bit beyond mainstream and certainly important for the development of popular music
Please argue why he is more influential? Night at the Opera...good, poppy prog album, Darkside of the Moon is monumental when put next to it...So is not Gabriel's most important album, just biggest selling, same goes for Graceland...Bridge Over Troubled Water would make this list before that one.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I came up with this thought some years ago when buying a cd box with leadbelly. When listening to it i started to realise how great of a influence he was with his song popping up everywhere where i least expected it. "Good night Irene" (Johnny Cash, Clapton, Springsteen, Tom Waits) "Were did you slepp last night"(Nirvana, Miley Cyrus), "Black Betty"(Ram Jam(i loved that one in my teens even if didn't knew the origins), Tom Jones) "Rock island line" (Johnny Cash, White stripes) "Cotton Fields" (Beach Boys, CCR, Harry Belafonte and countless others). "Midnight Special" (Van Morrison, CCR, Paul McCartney). "Gallows Pole/Gallis Pole(actuallly traditional but madeknows by hin)"(Led Zeppelin, Odetta, Kingston Trio, Grateful Dead).
Then Leadbellys recordings are reaching of a much broader genre range and are also much more widespread. In addition to his leadbelly mentored both Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Robert Johnson being a much more pure blues artist. Not to diminish his work or influence on that genre in any way but as greatness of influence goes, leadbelly is far ahead.
Apparently we differ a bit when choosing the perspective of viewing. I personally think that Peter Gabriels 4'th album is more interesting than So but i strongly believe that So had at least a magnitude more listenings than 4 (sales are about the same ratio). I certainly with that sales figures are not a good indication of quality but so many more people have heard and being touched by So. I find myself listening more to So although absolutely love "San jacinto" and "Rhythm of the heat" they do not pop up in my head as often
That four-faced Beatle-look on the cover is iconic, equivalent to Elvis's film-star glamour, the new hairstyles, everything. Nothing like it before or since. Timeless.
Holger Czukay was producing work like Eno Byrne back in the late 70's both with Can and solo.
So was Eno himself. Eno's 70s albums are far more influential than MLIBOG.
Top 3 greatest albums ever : The Dark side of the moon; Sgt Pepper´s; London Calling. Just an opinion.
Absolutely awesome list..very insightful and inspiring 34.06 minutes spent 👏 thanks man
Glad you enjoyed it!
Sgt Pepper
What’s going on
Close to the edge
Physical graffiti
Never mind the bollox
Unknown pleasure
Hounds of love
Reign in blood
Ten
Park life
My top ten in chronological order. Really appreciated your take on the best albums it will give me plenty to explore. Never really thought of any music being relevant before Elvis a great eye opener.
Led Zep IV ! Great choice
Your list is very credible. I think your last Eno/Byrne choice is a little obscure. I might consider Bowie's Low for innovation, and I think as a summation of the "classic rock" sound,the Stones Exile on Main Street could be considered,as there is clearly an Exile "sound". But great list overall!
For me 'exile' is the peak of rock music and can never be bettered.
Very good !
Great you included Mitchell - I must be a hardcore Joni fan as Hejira is the one for me where the musicality and lyrics become transcendent - also marks the watershed of her 'upward' trajectory as none of the subsequent albums succeed to this degree as albums, even if particular songs could still reach comparable peaks
Well, Andy‘s view on the 10 Best Albums….is always very interesting. I would have never thought on Brian Eno. something to think about.
I think Eno's influence on late 20th and modern music has only recently been realized.
Excellent video, thanks! Going by influence/impact is the only reasonable approach to such a list. Here's a few more candidates:
Frank Sinatra: the first pop star to face crowds of screaming/fainting "teen-agers" (a new invention of the 40s), also probably the first pop singer to see the potential of the than new LP as more than a simple collection of singles, with mottos for most of his early Capitol albums, he made concept albums before KoB. Frankie also took the inovations of Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday of singing "with" the mike to a new level, influencing everyone coming after him.
Hank Williams: Frank sang Tin Pan Alley tunes, Hank was the first real popular singer-songwriter as well as the role model for the "live hard - die young (preferably at 27)" ethos so important to pop mythology.
Duke Ellington: Jazz as art music before Parker and Bebop, and simply the 20th century's most important composer.
Bob Marley: The globalisation of pop was an inevitable consequence of technical and economical development. Of all the candidates symbolising this crucial development - Makeba, Jobim, Kuti - Marley is the one who became so much more than a singer, with his significance as a symbol of freedom and anti-colonialism by far outshining his music.
Shot out to Joni, the best ever the true GOAT, every record... Blue, Clouds, HEJIRA, Court and Spark, The hissing..., Travelogue, Nightride, Dog eat Dog, Don Juan's, Mingus, SHADOWS AND LIGHT..., etc, man... she's as important as Bird, Trane, or Stravinsky, no exageration intended. So cool to keep seing people praising her, because she deserves it and she's just so above everything, so beyond everyone... so deep, so profound yet so easy to get and understand... I would have put Jaco's debut also amongst those beatiful awesome albums, but... hehe it's quite a titanic task, tryin to reduce all music to 10 albums... it takes balls dude, it would've ended in cardiac arrest for me mannn!! Hehe cheers, great fun vid!
Don't forget Joni's live album 'Miles of Aisles'.
also For the Roses
For those that don't have time to listen, here is his top 5 best of all time:
Space Jazz - L Ron Hubbard
Love Beach -Emerson Lake and Palmer
Mediterranean Tales - Triumvirat
Krokus - Krokus
Let Me Know you - Stanley Clarke
Ha ha. !!
Great list. A few of my personal favourites. Kind Of Blue. Highway 61. Blue and My Life in The Bush Of Ghosts.
I approve your list. “IV” by Led Zeppelin was a surprising choice. And “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” the studio album by Brian Eno and David Byrne is another surprising choice. “Kind Of Blue” by Miles Davis is definitely one of the best, if not the best album of all time.
Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is their single greatest album, and Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock bands, so I would concur with its inclusion in a top ten. 'Kind of Blue' is perhaps the preeminent example of a jazz album that even those not otherwise into jazz usually appreciate.
I"m not surprised with Led Zeppelin IV being included.
THE best album from one if the best rock/blues bands ever.
what about jmi hendrix *electric ladyland*, guitarwork, studiowork, multiple styles and innovative for all rock and more music since...?!
Excellent list, I love how you used chronology in the ranking, which is so so so important in determining how great an album really is and how it influenced all that followed! Great job!
I would only disagree with 2 of your choices- Joni Mitchell is a great songwriter, but none of her single albums were that influential. After all, this is a best "album" list, not best body of work list. I think maybe you were trying to get a female on the list...if so, I would have picked Carole King Tapestry or any of Aretha Franklin's albums from the 60's like Aretha Now (speaking of Aretha, your list is also a bit light on R&B, I would have had Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye on the list). Lastly, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a great album, but it is very obscure and I don't think it really influenced many at the time. If you were looking for an Album from the 80's, I would have picked a different one (Nirvana or Michael Jackson).
In any event, great job! This is an almost impossible task, and your list is probably the best I have seen.
Oh mate, I've just got to the end of the video. You have given us a lecture on your take on the development of popular music, who you believe to be the most influential in that development and then scrabbled around for the best, most representative album or collections of hits/recordings for each. It was entertaining, I got to the end. I would select Kind of Blue as Davis's best album, and in my top 5 of all time, but is it his most influential? So criteria seem to be a bit confused. You should lay off criticising the NME, glass houses etc.
For the last album slot, was expecting Prince’s Sign O’The Times. Never heard this Eno/Byrne project. Will hafta check out. Thanks 🙏
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is not even close to Eno's best work. He only picked it as it's probably the only Eno album he's heard.
@@blackporscheroadster-yw8hb A bit harsh, wouldn’t you say? Not even Airport Music?
It's been a year, Andy, so you won't see this, but you are this 73 yr old American of Irish descent's favorite musical talker/lecturer. I mean that in both senses.
Personally I would include ' the rise and fall of Ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars' by David Bowie and ' the kick inside' by Kate Bush as records that gave pop artists license to be more adventurous in their writing and performing. At least it seemed to in my early years of listening, I remember how many people were saying ' what was that' the morning after hearing 'starman' and then a few years later'wuthering heights'. Just an opinion, thanks for the great videos Andy, makes you think a bit more.
Really good list and justification. Totally agree about MLITBOG by Byrne/Eno; it blew my mind when I bought it in 1981 - also very influential on the whole "world music" movement of the 80s and beyond (Gabriel etc).
Eno's own 1970s albums were much more influential than MLITBOG.
Very interesting choices. I'm not sure about My life In The Bush Of Ghosts being that influential. I see it more as a marker or a distillation of what was happening in the fringes of popular music, especially hip hop and rap and an application of the underground and avant-garde trends/explorations in a rock(?) format. But it's a great album, especially the two disc vinyl version with unreleased and rhythm tracks from the original sessions. It sounds fantastic and I can't argue too much as MLITBOG is undeniably a signpost. Freaking Eno for the win! Edit: subscribed.
I was with you from Louis to Zeppelin but “Bush of Ghosts” surprised me at first, then I heard your reasoning about it and although there maybe other albums as worthy I think Bush of Ghosts is a great choice for reasons I didn’t think of. Great video thanks
I always try and put at least one eyebrow raising choice in there
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Zep IV was a good call. Joni absolutely. I was thinking Bran Van 3000 “Glee” even though it doesn’t really qualify.
I know music and it is not a good choice. it is the choice of someone who doesn't know the electronica genre. Eno's previous albums would have been much more credible.
@@blackporscheroadster-yw8hb another green world. I wore that one out.
magnificent list so brilliantly explained
Great list. As I would expect.
Your choice of most important prog rock album-Led Zep leaves me bewildered, but will ponder for a while.
If singing and songwriting is the foundation stone of modern popular music, then the greatest album is the highly innovative, complex, soulful and seismically influential jazzy art pop masterpiece Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) by the New York prodigy Laura Nyro. The album "blew everybody's mind" (Todd Rundgren). Nyro "probably influenced more successful songwriters than anyone " (Elton John, 2007). Nyro's fan base ranged from Miles Davis to Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Barry Manilow, punk and avant garde and Paul Stanley who listens to her "incessantly". The recent pop mega hit Driver's Licence by Olivia Rodrigo is based on Nyro's You Don't Love Me When I Cry (1969). Wuthering Heights is informed by Nyro's Captain for Dark Mornings (1969). I know 7 tribute songs for Nyro, starting with Rundgren in 1970 and the recent hit Runner by Tennis which references 5 Nyro songs, particularly Beads of Sweat (1970) with Duanne Allman on lead guitar. Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is a concept tracking the journey from girlhood to womanhood, including the sex of the track The Confession which is where Donna Summer got the love to love phrase from. Nyro was ahead of the curve. She was informed by Debussy, opera, Coltrane, Davis, doo wop, Curtis Mayfield and politics and social issues. The review of Joni's Blue by NME notes the Nyro influence on it. Nyro is popular with rap and beat artists and has been sampled by Kanye, Madlib, J Dilla.
Narada Michael Walden said something similar to me too
that's why i would actually take joni off the list. Both or neither. Also prefer both to Dylan in my record cabinet. But Dylan is the enabler. Useless to think about whether one or the other would have taken the role of Dylan.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Its difficult to be objective about music and to measure it, but within a framework of criteria, a cogent argument can be made. In any case, its fun to debate and you always learn something. Cheers mate.
I spent the whole weekend "deciding" on the basis of the video criteria and came to the conclusion: Carole King with Tapestry (Probably a more correct choice would be Barbra Streisand) And all with the proviso that it is a list for Anglo-American domestic use.
But could Dylan have existed if there had been no Jimmy Durante ?@@narosgmbh5916
I respect your choices and you have sound reasoning for them, but I have to argue that, even though I'm not really a hip hop guy and don't listen to a lot of modern style R&B or "pop" , some choice should bridge that gap. Marvin Gaye? Michael Jackson? Stevie Wonder? Run DMC? Public Enemy? I understand the Eno/Byrne reasoning, but ultimately not enough people have actively listened to it to make it an over arching innovative influence in my opinion. But definitely a good list.
I don't know, I think 'For the Roses' is slightly more impressive. Something Else, by Cannonball Adderley is also a close great for me, when it comes to Kind of Blue. Took a while for Bush of Ghosts to catch on but it definitely did ultimately sweep. Very enjoyable channel. I'm binge watching.