20% of the way there!
Pausing to catch my breath on my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...
So, 100 albums in and what have I learned? The list has been more varied than I expected - I'd still argue it suffers from "too male, too old" syndrome but it certainly wouldn't be fair to accuse it of "too white" syndrome. I'm not convinced that too many of the albums so far are really all that "great" but most of them have been either pretty good or can argue for their place on influence. However, I should also point out that some of them have been utterly abhorrent. The mix of genres has been better than I was expecting so far, but it doesn't feel especially well balanced - eg dance music feels woefully under-represented so far (maybe that will change, but I doubt it) I'm also still going to argue that there's no place on this list for "greatest hits" albums/boxsets but I do accept the situation is blurred for some of the earlier artists who were very influential but didn't release albums (eg Muddy Waters)
Am I enjoying it? A qualified "yes" - some of the albums I've not previously been aware of have been a joy to discover and have really made it all worthwhile. I also feel it's been a good musical education in making me listen to stuff I would otherwise have avoided. However, some of the albums are a massive drag and I hate myself for not giving up on them - whilst I can't claim I've never done this, it's been rare. I'd also say that bad albums do have the upside that I have to think of new ways to be rude about them. I think the most disappointing albums are those where I know I like some of the stuff the artist done, but the album in question is "trying something new" and the critics have obviously felt they need to applaud such behaviour - whereas the artist in question should actually have been sent to their room to think about what they've done.
I've also enjoyed the "background reading" and it's been interesting how well documented some albums are - and how poorly documented others are. Some of the diversions I've taking in Wikipedia have been fascinating as well - who knew a glass harmonica could be so interesting? December has been doubly challenging given I'm attempting two lists (I've been doing 5 albums a day!) but there were days when I really needed to listen to newer music, so it's helped give some balance. I'm glad I'm doing multiple albums a day though - the initial target end date of mid 2022 was just a bit too daunting!
A vague selection of my opinions about the albums so far
Best 5
Three albums I actually own, one I was aware of and one completely new - with a special mention for "Elephant" on Southeastern which is probably my favourite new track I discovered.
If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow
Southeastern - Jason Isbell
Screamadelica - Primal Scream
Arular - M.I.A
Worst 5
Of these, I can possibly forgive Black Flag because so many people claim them as an influence - but it's still a VERY BAD album. I'd also say Hüsker Dü were very lucky I decided to go with "worst 5".
The Stooges - The Stooges
Damaged - Black Flag
Ege Bamyasi - Can
Ram - Paul And Linda McCartney
Wild Honey - The Beach Boys
Best new discoveries
All US artists - all very pleasing discoveries.
Man On The Moon:The End Of The Day - Kid Cudi
Southeastern - Jason Isbell
Chief - Eric Church
Albums that I enjoyed most from initially low expectations
Mostly a mixture of musical snobbery and ignorance on my part - but I really didn't think I liked Bon Iver's album and was really pleased to be corrected.
Fine Line - Harry Styles
BLACKSummer'sNight - Maxwell
For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
Cosmo's Factory - Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Special" mention
"Frankie Teardrop" from Suicide's album really is a very disturbing track indeed and I will not be listening to it again.
Going forwards it will be interesting to see if the ratio of albums I feel as being worthy of being called "great" improves - I suspect this isn't going to happen for some time yet, but we'll see. I'm also somewhat disturbed by the number of Neil Young albums to come (and I have a suspicion The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles would also fall into that category, but I may be spared).
Thank you to everyone for reading and for your comments.
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