40% 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, 200 albums in - have I learned anything new?  I think the previous criticisms I made are still all true but I think this set of 100 albums has been better (as it should be, one could argue - but I'm not sure I'd considered it a certainty) although we did had some bad 4-5 album runs that had me questioning my sanity.   "Too male, too old" is still a valid criticism, although we did get a good run-out with the ladies towards the end and they put up a strong (and welcome) showing.  "Too much Janet Jackson (ie some)" would also be a criticism I'd level at this section.  There were also a lot less albums I'd never heard of this time around which I guess is to be expected but it does reduce the chances of turning up an unknown gem.  And there were more Greatest Hits albums in this section which I found very disappointing - hopefully this trend will reverse next time around.

I'm still loving the Wikipedia side alleys I find myself drawn down - it's easy to get lost on that site and find yourself reading about the weirdest things from random record sizes to LGBT rights in New York.  The infinite patience and knowledge of contributors never fails to astound me - the internet would be a far worse place without Wikipedia (and, obviously, I've never responded to a single one of their endless requests for money to support it)  

A vague selection of random opinions and statistics about the albums in this section

Best 10 - 400-301

10 this time around because I couldn't whittle it down to 5, so that's a good sign. 6 albums I actually own and 4 first time listens which feels like a decent mix to me.  And a 50/50 male-female split - what an equal opportunity listener I am (although I'm not as racially diverse as I could be!)

Beauty And The Beat - The Go-Gos
Kaleidoscope - Kelis
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
Dookie - Green Day
The Slim Shady LP - Eminem
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Time (The Revelator) - Gillian Welch
El Mal Querer - Rosalia
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey
Just As I Am - Bill Withers

Best new tracks uncovered for me were "This Town" by The Go-Gos and "September Gurls" by Big Star

Worst 6 - 400-301

The Raincoats - The Raincoats
Something/Anything? - Todd Rundgren
Hot Buttered Soul - Isaac Hayes
Gris-Gris - Dr John
Kick Out The Jams - MC5
Sandinista! - The Clash

I wanted to make this "worst 5" but I just couldn't decide exactly which one of these was slightly less dreadful than the other 5...

Albums that I enjoyed most from initially low expectations

Rocket To Russia - Ramones
(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Germfree Adolescents - X-Ray Spex

Albums that involve Brian Eno in some way

More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads
For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music
Another Green World - Brian Eno
Here Come The Warm Jets - Brian Eno

(it felt like a lot more, but there were none in the previous 100 - so I'm hoping we don't have 8 in the next section.)

Number of greatest hits albums

7 - up from 4 last time.  And the presence of ABBA's Definitive Collection was both a joy and a disappointment - especially since it's the only ABBA on the list.

"Special" mention

The "special" mention for music this time around goes to "In Every Dream Home A Heartache", Roxy Music's love song to an inflatable sex doll.  But it would be rude not to mention "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication” (Parliament) and "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" (Isaac Hayes) as well for their terrible titles.

100 albums ago, I was worried about the number of Neil Young, Beach Boys, Beatles and Rolling Stone albums - there were 4 and two halves (Brian Wilson & George Harrison) in this section and I fear things are going to get worse, although I have to say I didn't hate most of them as much as I was worried about (although Neil isn't exactly endearing himself to me).  I feel like should do an "old white dude" ratio, but that feels like a lot of work!

I must also admit to having had a sneaky look at the next 50 albums and I'd have to say it's looking like a good batch so stick with me for the ride!  And thank you to everyone for reading and for your comments.

#304-301 - very disappointing use of a greatest hits album
#300-298 - an interesting mix

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