The moon and the stars were the gifts you gave

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#452 : Anthology - Diana Ross And The Supremes (1974)

In the heyday of Motown, the Supremes were their own hit factory, all glamour and heartbreak. Diana Ross and her girls ruled the radio with tunes from the Motown brain trust of Holland, Dozier, and Holland. The Supremes could blaze with confidence, as in “Come See About Me.” Or they could sound elegantly morose, as in “My World Is Empty Without You” and “Where Did Our Love Go?” But in “Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart,” when Miss Ross gulps, “There ain’t nothing I can do about it,” it’s a spine-tingling moment.

Another 50 track "best of" multiple album, further confused by having been released with 4 different track listings over a 25 year period.  I must admit to having done some cherry-picking whilst listening to it because otherwise I suspect Supreme overdosing may have occurred which would have affected my enjoyment.  The best tracks for me were the most well known (by me, anyway!) - "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Stop! In The Name Of Love",  "You Keep Me Hanging On" - but I suspect if I afforded this album multiple listens then other favourites would appear.

All I really feel the need to say here is that The Supremes were indeed supreme.  Their Wikipedia page contains more content than most - most of which I didn't know (including the fact that there have been 10 different Supremes over the year).  So, whilst I view this album as a bit of a cheat for this list and there's no danger of me listening to all of it, there are some simply outstanding tracks in there.

#451 : First Take - Roberta Flack (1969)

At the peak of psychedelic soul music, Roberta Flack debuted with a classy quietude and thoughtful grace, recording with jazz musicians and complex horn and string arrangements. Her record was widely admired, but it didn’t become popular until three years later, after her pained version of Ewan MacColl’s 1950s folk ballad, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” scored a love scene in Clint Eastwood’s movie Play Misty for Me, and the song spent six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

My only touchpoint for Roberta was "The First Time Ever..." so I was expecting more of the same - impressively downplayed melody sung delivered by a super smooth voice.  And whilst the voice is indeed super smooth, the music, whilst still mellow, is much jazzier than I was expecting with some classy bass going on - and I really liked it.  I listened to it very early on a dark, foggy December day and, for once, the music totally fitted the environment - I felt very cocooned by it.  All the tracks are class, with "The First Time Ever..." and "Compared To What" being highlights for me.

As a musical diversion, I decided to check out the Ewan MacColl (aka Kirsty's dad!) version from his 2015 Xmas album (released 28 years after he died, which is an odd choice - was anyone clamouring for it?).  I was quite looking forward to hearing his voice mangle it, but it's actually Peggy Seeger singing it and I'd have to say it's fine but suffers in comparison with Roberta's version.  To get some proper mangling, I had to listen to Johnny Cash's version (he's another one I just don't get) but I then cheered myself up with the George Michael version (I'm going to be disappointed if George doesn't turn up somewhere on this list).

Anyway - back to Roberta!  Unusually, her Wikipedia page is relatively unkind to her - the criticism seems to be that she lacks the grit required for her music to required as "proper soul".  "Customers also listened to" Aretha Franklin and I can see that she suffers in comparison when considered on pure "soul criteria" (whatever they might be), but I for one (based upon a single listen to one of of her albums) will leap to her defence - it's classy stuff.  Wikipedia also notes that she's the only solo artist to win the Grammy for the Record Of The Year in consecutive years - for "The First Time Ever..." and "Killing Me Softly..." in 1973/4.  So, it's a big "Yes" from me - I'll replay it if I ever feel the need for some music to give me a good hug.

#450 : Ram - Paul And Linda McCartney (1971)

In its day, Paul McCartney’s second post-Beatles album was widely disliked; John Lennon dismissed it as “muzak,” and Ringo Starr said the lack of good songs made him “sad.” In retrospect, it’s a modest, goofy, loose-limbed outing about domestic pleasures, full of eccentric, pastorale tunes like “Heart of the Country” and “Munkberry Moon Delight.” The loopy pastiche of whimsical song fragments “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” became Paul’s first post-Beatles Number One hit. “I was in a very free mood,” he said.

At my very first Glastonbury, I was "lucky" enough to see Paul McCartney (along with 100k others) and he played a surprising amount of what I would call, using the full extent of my incredible descriptive powers, "utter bilge".  And my concern, particularly upon reading the description above, was that this album would prove to be more of the same.  

And, for the most part, it is.  There are some relatively high points - I quite liked "Dear Boy" and "Too Many People" isn't dreadful, I guess, but the rest of it is quite frankly appalling.  Interestingly, it doesn't sound particularly dated, it just sounds rubbish (with terrible lyrics to boot) and I'm frankly amazed that "Uncle Albert" made it to number one in the US.  I don't believe for a minute that it would be on this list if anyone else had recorded it, I'm annoyed I wasted an hour of my life on it and I have absolutely no intention of listening to it ever again

So the winner is - Paul McCartney!  Nope - it's Roberta all the way, although The Supremes are also obviously great as well.  And with that, I'm 10% of the way through the list - if I continue at the current rate (which seems very unlikely) I'll bring the completion date forward from 3rd April 2022 to 4th May 2021!

#455-453 - Not a lot in common between this lot

#449-447 - Winning on style points