286. Mott the Hoople | Mott (1973)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. All the Way from Memphis
2. Whizz Kid
3. Hymn for the Dudes
4. Honaloochie Boogie
5. Violence
6. Drivin’ Sister
7. Ballad of Mott the Hoople
8. I’m a Cadillac / El Camino Dolo Roso
9. I Wish I Was Your Mother

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Note: The album cover on the left is from the original UK release and the album on the right is from the original US release.

Mott is an enhanced album. The music is hard rock, but it really seems to evoke glam rock in many ways, rather than hard rock. Whizz Kid could have easily been a Bowie song, and so couldn't Hymn for the Dudes. That's the reason for saying it's enhanced, if one is to believe that hard rock is more accepted than glam rock. This album also follows a rock and roll line. In face, in places it's reminiscent of Rod Stewart's recent works.

I like this album, but it's a bit boring. There's no doubt that the songs are have good melodies and riffs, but it's they are missing the carefreeness and ignorance of the glam bands, as if they are respectable adults. I do think this album is worth listening to. It might deserve being on the 1001 Albums list simply because this album almost seems like the template for hard rock bands to come in about a decade, but I won't go that far.

All the songs are decent enough. The stand outs are All the Way from Memphis, Whizz Kid, Violence, I’m a Cadillac / El Camino Dolo Roso and I Wish I Was Your Mother.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

271. Lynyrd Skynyrd | (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) (1973)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. I Ain't the One
2. Tuesday's Gone
3. Gimme Three Steps
4. Simple Man
5. Things Goin' On
6. Mississippi Kid
7. Poison Whiskey
8. Free Bird

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(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) is a sincere album. The music is Southern rock; although, I'm not sure what that means. British bands have been defining blues-inspired rock since the late 1960s and that's what everyone who played blues rock tried to emulate. Then in the early 1970s American bands defined their own brand of blues-inspired rock. A defining difference is American blues rock incorporates elements of country music, including lyrical references. I think that's what makes Lynryd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers different from, say, Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones.

There's a real down-to-earth feeling I get with this album. The lyrics and song themes seem more personal, immediate and relevant. The music also seem straightforward and uncluttered or unburdened.  I think, most importantly, the music just sounds fresh and the lyrics unpretentious.

This album is pretty darn good. Although, there are quite a few long songs, the album moves quite briskly. The album never becomes tedious. Certainly, it's worth listening to and I would recommend it to anyone looking to build a serious album collection, but I don't think it needs to be on the 1001 Albums list. It isn't stylistically different from what the Allman Brothers have been doing.

All the songs are excellent. The stand-outs are: I Ain't the One, Tuesday's Gone, Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, Things Goin' On, Mississippi Kid, Poison Whiskey and Free Bird. Yep, once again, that's all of them!

★★★★★★★★★★

265. Alice Cooper | School's Out (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. School's Out
2. Luney Tune
3. Gutter Cat Vs. the Jets
4. Street Fight
5. Blue Turk
6. My Stars
7. Public Animal #9
8. Alma Mater
9. Grande Finale

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School's Out is a daring album. The music is hard rock. And more! With the West Side Story elements in Gutter Cat Vs. the Jets and in Grande Finale, this is hard rock-cum-musical. Although, the story is elusive. There's also a sampling of nightclub music with Blue Turk.

With the mix of styles, I'm not sure who the audience is that Alice Cooper is trying to reach—Theater-going types who think they're missing out on essential rowdiness and mischief or young, blue-collar, beer-drinking men who realize they lack refinement? 

I think this is an entertaining album. And it's also likeable. Unfortunately, I don't think it succeeds in whatever it was meant to achieve.  It doesn't fail because of the concept; it fails because it's incoherent. So, it's worth listening to at least once, and it does improve the more times it's listened to. However, I don't think it deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list. If the concept had been clearer it certainly could've been a timeless classic.

All the songs are excellent. The stand-outs are: School's Out, Luney Tune, Blue Turk, My Stars, Public Animal #9 and Grande Finale.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

249. Deep Purple | Made In Japan (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Highway Star
2. Child in Time
3. Smoke on the Water
4. The Mule
5. Strange Kind of Woman
6. Lazy
7. Space Truckin'

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Made In Japan is a lively album. The music is hard rock. It's a live album recorded in Japan. Four songs come from Machine Head and one comes from In Rock which are two albums already featured on the 1001 Albums list. For the live performances, the band extends the songs with guitar solos and jams.

Deep Purple sound louder, faster and fuller on a live recording than on a studio recording.

This is an outstanding album, even though its length despite so few songs can test your endurance. It's definitely worth listening to and is probably a better substitute for buying the three studio albums which the songs come from. I'm not sure it needs to be on the 1001 Albums. That it's such a good live performance and a model for future hard rock and heavy metal bands to emulate are two reasons for including it.

All of the songs quite good. The stand outs are Highway Star, Child in Time, Smoke on the Water, Strange Kind of Woman and Space Truckin'.

★★★★★★★★★★

248. Slade | Slayed? (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. How D'You Ride
2. The Whole World's Goin' Crazee
3. Look at Last Nite
4. I Won't Let It 'Appen Agen
5. Move Over
6. Gudbuy T'Jane
7. Gudbuy Gudbuy
8. Mama Weer All Crazee Now
9. I Don' Mind
10. Let the Good Times Roll

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Slayed? is a coarse album. The music is rock—drums, guitar, bass and vocals. And these guys make the most of it. They've got stadium-stomping anthemic beats and a singer who does a great banshee imitation. What else does there need to be?

They should be classified as blues rock, too. Check out I Don' Mind and they do a great cover of Janis Joplin's Move Over.

This is rock and roll in the same tradition and spirit as the early pre-Beatles rock and rollers and contemporaries like Rod Stewart. This is pure fun, probably a bit more lowbrow and mindless than the others, but those descriptors are not meant as insults. This is rock and roll arguably at its purest and best.

The album is an unexpected breath of fresh air. It's simple, loud and fun. Glam rock is surprisingly the genre that's doing the most to keep rock and roll pure. This album was meant for the 1001 Albums list since it's really a thinly-veiled list of the top rock albums anyway.

All of the songs are great. The stand outs are How D'You Ride, The Whole World's Goin' Crazee, Look at Last Night, Move Over, Gudbuy T'Jane and I Don' Mind.

★★★★★★★★★★

242. Deep Purple | Machine Head (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Highway Star
2. Maybe I'm a Leo
3. Pictures of Home
4. Never Before
5. Smoke on the Water
6. Lazy
7. Space Truckin'

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Machine Head is a toothless album. The music is hard rock. Each song is filled with guitar solos, riffs, grooves and hooks.

While there may not be much bite to this album, that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable or interesting. However, where Black Sabbath is dark and brooding and Led Zeppelin is aggressive and bombastic, Deep Purple is fun and easygoing. It's kind and gentle heavy metal.

The album is good, but it needs to rock harder and faster to make it all convincing. It's worth listening to because it's clearly an influential album for future hard rock and heavy metal bands. However, I don't think it needs to be on the 1001 Albums list.

All the songs on this album are quite good. The stand outs are Highway Star, Never Before, Smoke on the Water, Lazy, and Space Truckin'.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

231. Funkadelic | Maggot Brain (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Maggot Brain
2. Can You Get to That
3. Hit It and Quit It
4. You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks
5. Super Stupid
6. Back in Our Minds
7. Wars of Armageddon

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Maggot Brain is a keen album. The music is funk. The opening song revisits the psychedelic rock era with a ten-minute long solo that would make Hendrix's jaw drop. The rest of the album has a hard rock and prog rock sensibility. The difference is in this is more intense and less showing off. The groove is pounding in the foreground and the guitar is just solos in the background throughout many of the songs.

I like this album. It is fun and weird. It's worth listening to. It's a new direction black artists are taking music. It's more dynamic than hard rock and heavy metal and less pedantic than progressive rock. I do think it deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list. (Unfortunately, this direction won't get very far, but so many possibilites were there. It does actually re-appear in the 1980s.)

All the songs are excellent. I think Maggot Brain, Hit It and Quit It, Super Stupid and Wars of Armageddon are the stand outs.

★★★★★★★★★☆

227. Rod Stewart | Every Picture Tells a Story (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Every Picture Tells a Story
2. Seems Like a Long Time
3. That's All Right
4. Tomorrow Is a Long Time
5. Henry
6. Maggie May
7. Mandolin Wind
8. (I Know) I'm Losing You
9. Reason to Believe

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Every Picture Tells a Story is a rowdy album. The music is rock and roll. There are other styles, but its heart never strays from rock and roll.

This album is no nonsense. There isn't a vapid, vacuous or insipid song on it. There is no flash or showing off. That's the idealized kind of rock and roll realized primarily by Rod Stewart and the Who and sometimes by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

I think this is a great album. It's not a great as Gasoline Alley, but it's worth listening to and worth owning, just for (I Know) I'm Losing You. It probably shouldn't belong on the 1001 Albums list. It's too similar in style and quality to Gasoline Alley. But then again, if not this, then what?

All the songs sound great. Every Picture Tells a Story, Seems Like a Long Time, That's All Right, Maggie May, (I Know) I'm Losing You and Reason to Believe are the real stand outs. 

★★★★★★★★★★

225. Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Black Dog
2. Rock and Roll
3. The Battle of Evermore
4. Stairway to Heaven
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Four Sticks
7. Going to California
8. When the Levee Breaks

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Note: There is no official title to Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album. Atlantic Records, Led Zeppelin's record label, often used the titles, The Fourth Album and Four Symbols to catalogue it. Other names that have been used are Led Zeppelin IV and Runes. Members of Led Zeppelin have referred to it as The Fourth Album and Led Zeppelin IV.

Led Zeppelin IV is an masterful album. The music is hard rock. Led Zeppelin has gotten even further away from their blues rock style. This album blends folk rock with hard rock which would suggest that the music is tempered, but it's not. This is one of the heaviest rock albums to date. This lyrics give this album a mystical and transcendent aura.

This is a relentless album.  Nowhere on this album is there a down period to recoup. The album just comes charging out of the gate with Black Dog and Rock and Roll which are two of the heaviest songs ever recorded. The album slows down but keeps charging ahead with The Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven which feature the folkier side of the album. The album regains speed with Misty Mountain Hop and then goes into overdrive with Four Sticks which is not very different from the two opening songs. Going to California is another folkie song which slows down the pace just to prepare for the final burst of energy that comes from When the Levee Breaks.

Led Zeppelin has always had a timeless quality to their albums, this album especially. Logically, there is no reason why Led Zeppelin should have sounded any different from the English blues rock bands from the mid-to-late 1960s. A lot of great music came from that group, but none of them transcended their moment in time. Led Zeppelin did and I've always wondered why, as I'm sure many others have. I think this album reveals why. It's not the musicians or songs or group dynamics; it's Jimmy Page's album production. Jimmy Page is a master producer and it's his genius as producer for why Led Zeppelin transcends their moment in time.

This is a phenomenal album. It should be listened to and it belongs in every serious collection. This album deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list because of its timeless quality and also because it just extends the hard rock boundary so far that in some ways hard rock hasn't yet reached the boundary again.

Every song is brilliant. I would list them all as stand outs, but I would rather instead point out that When the Levee Breaks is the best song on the album. And I will never tire of listening to Stairway to Heaven. The final section will always make it worthwhile.

★★★★★★★★★★

211. The Who | Who's Next (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Baba O'Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't for Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song Is Over
6. Getting in Tune
7. Going Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won't Get Fooled Again

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Who's Next is a balanced album. The music is rock. The band sounds really confident. They play and sing with strong intent. Nothing is witheld. Everything is in balance to. Drums, guitar, keyboards, bass and vocals all can be heard clearly.

I don't always focus on lyrics because half the time I can't figure out what is being said and then when I can understand I have no idea what it means. This album is different. Everything is clear as day and quite sensible. The lyrics appeal perfectly to the Who's audience: young working class men. And they neither condescend to them nor make light of their troubles. 

I think this is one of the few rock albums that gets the music, the lyrics and the energy right. It's a fun and witty and makes you want to tap your foot or pump your fist in the air. I don't think this is a groundbreaking album, but finally someone got the formula right. This is the best rock album up to now and I'll go out on a limb to say no rock album will top it.

Every song on this album is fantastic.

★★★★★★★★★★

205. Jethro Tull | Aqualung (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Aqualung
2. Cross-Eyed Mary
3. Cheap Day Return
4. Mother Goose
5. Wond'ring Aloud
6. Up to Me
7. My God
8. Hymn 43
9. Slipstream
10. Locomotive Breath
11. Wind-Up

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Aqualung is a thought-provoking album. The music is progressive rock. It's a mix of aggressive riff-based songs and beautiful, contemplative melodies. The flute plays a main role in many of the songs which seems to be a first for a rock album.

The lyrics are interesting. They seem to be a mix of social and religious commentary. Some seem to be honest and forthright, others scathing, vicious and snide. I don't find the lyrics to be very deep, but I really like the mental imagery they paint when I'm listening.

This is a really good album. It's actually one of my favorites, but I has trouble being cohesive. The first half of the album seems to be somewhat linked thematically and the second half is as well. There have been claims that this album is a concept album. Ian Anderson denies that it is. I never even considered it to be one.

I think it's an album worth listening to. I'm mixed about it being on the 1001 Albums list. It's listed as a progressive rock album. I disagree with that designation. I think it's nothing more than hard rock. But, if it were actually a progressive rock album, then it should be on the list.

All of the songs are good and there are a ton of stand outs: Aqualung, Cross-Eyed Mary, Mother Goose, Up to Me, My God, Hymn 43 and Locomotive Breath.

★★★★★★★★★☆

200. The Stooges | Fun House (1970)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Down on the Street
2. Loose
3. T.V. Eye
4. Dirt
5. 1970
6. Fun House
7. L.A. Blues

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Fun House is a ferocious album. The music is hard rock. The drums create a loud, repetitive and pulsating sound while the bass creates a meandering groove. The guitar wails away on top of it all, while Iggy Pop growls, screams, howls and coughs.

This is an amazing album—one of the best I've ever heard.  It's loud, aggressive and relentless and sounds great. (The problem with many proto-punk albums is the sound quality is poor. That's not the case here.)

The opening song is really intense and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Each subsequent song latches on the intensity of the previous one and never lets go. Listening to this album is quite an experience.

I'm quite surprised this album isn't more popular. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are known for their power. This album matches anything those three bands were doing at the time and takes it a step further. While those bands were always very conservative in their style and expression, this album is nothing but unbridled aggression and testosterone. I guess why they are considered proto-punk.

This album is definitely worth listening to and it's a must-have for serious collectors. It also certainly deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list. It's certainly an eye-opening preview of punk music.

All the songs are impressive. The ones I really liked are: Down on the Street, Loose, T.V. Eye, Dirt, 1970, Fun House and L. A. Blues. Yeah, that's right, that's all of them. 

★★★★★★★★★★

188. Deep Purple | Deep Purple In Rock (1970)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Speed King
2. Bloodsucker
3. Child in Time
4. Flight of the Rat
5. Into the Fire
6. Living Wreck
7. Hard Lovin' Man

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Deep Purple In Rock is a hyperactive album. The music is heavy metal. Deep Purple's brand of heavy demonstrates a third kind of heavy metal emerging in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Black Sabbath has their own distinct brand which is slow, brooding and works off a groove. Led Zeppelin's brand is riff-based and thunderous. Deep Purple is also loud but, what makes them distinct is the extremely fast guitar playing and their music flirts with prog rock; in some ways, it's just hard rock on speed.

I do think Deep Purple's heavy metal is the least interesting of the three. They do rock and the speed is blazing, but it seems very detached and clinical. It could be the singer. Ozzy and Robert Plant are charismatic, but Ian Gillan doesn't come off being as charismatic. If it's not that then it could either be the lyrics or the production.

I do think this album is worth listening to and it certainly does deserve being on the 1001 Albums list. And while it might be an album to rock out to now and then, Sabbath and Zeppelin seem more desirable.

Most of the songs are quite good. The stand outs are: Speed King, Child in Time, Into the Fire and Hard Lovin' Man.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

187. Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin III (1970)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Immigrant Song
2. Friends
3. Celebration Day
4. Since I've Been Loving You
5. Out on the Tiles
6. Gallows Pole
7. Tangerine
8. That's the Way
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
10. Hats Off to (Roy) Harper

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Led Zeppelin III is an exquisite album. The music is hard rock with many songs having an folkie (English folk) thread running through them. There are two straight up blues rock songs, an indication of their own song writing maturity.

This album works well on two levels. First, every song is dynamic. Each instrument is busy doing something at all times on each song. While it can sound complex, it's disciplined and not overwhelming. Second, the production quality is outstanding. It's not like there haven't been other talented and capable producers and audio engineers, but for Jimmy Page, the production is like another instrument. He really treats it as an art. (There's no doubt it's a big reason why Led Zeppelin sounds fresh decades later.)

This is a phenomenal and underrated album. It doesn't seem to rock as hard as Led Zeppelin II, but it does; it just has fewer riffs. This album is definitely worth listening to and owning. It certainly belongs on the 1001 Albums list.

Every song on this album is outstanding. Every single one is exciting and entertaining. My favorites are Immigrant Song, Since I've Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles and Gallows Pole. The one song that I've come to be more fond of recently is Hats Off to (Roy) Harper. It's a really strong adaptation of a blues song into rock song, without it becoming a blues rock song.

★★★★★★★★★★

172. The Stooges | The Stooges (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. 1969
2. I Wanna Be Your Dog
3. We Will Fall
4. No Fun
5. Real Cool Time
6. Ann
7. Not Right
8. Little Doll

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The Stooges is a raw album. The music is rock, but it's stripped down and simpler. The production is quite straightforward; put four musicians in a studio, record them playing and then cut an album. There are heavy, rocking songs, but there are a couple that are slow and droning. There's some good guitar fuzz on Little Doll. 

This album is certainly more reminiscent of the Sonics or the Monks, than, say, Led Zeppelin or the Beatles, both musically and lyrically. Musically, the album has its moments, but the songs are uneven. We Will Fall is the main problem. It's nothing like the other songs, it's smack dab in the middle of the album and it's uninteresting. The lyrics are just downright awful.

Despite We Will Fall, this album is interesting an shows that the Stooges have potential and that rock is also moving in another direction—a direction much different than the direction prog rock is going. Of course, appreciation for this kind of music will have to wait another few years.

This album might be worth listening to, but it's certainly not essential. There's a lot to like about this album. There's some interesting things going on musically, but it doesn't excite me.

I Wanna Be Your Dog is the best song on the album. Other stand outs are: 1969, No Fun, Real Cool Time and Little Doll.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

162. Chicago | The Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Introduction
2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
3. Beginnings
4. Questions 67 and 68
5. Listen
6. Poem 58
7. Free Form Guitar
8. South California Purples
9. I'm a Man
10. Prologue (August 29, 1968)
11. Someday (August 29, 1968)
12. Liberation

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The Chicago Transit Authority is a lively album. The songs are catchy and full of horns. Despite the horns, there are some heavy songs and some wild, extended guitar solos.

Having horns in a band is always tricky. Jazz horn players are talented and serious musicians and it reflects in the music. The problem is that jazz isn't always accessible to the mainstream listener. So it's a danger to include horns in more accessible music like rock and roll. To people who know real horn playing, it may sound inauthentic or amateurish. This album doesn't suffer from that problem, but it's a bad influence on future bands and musicians who want to do the horn thing.

I usually associate Peter Cetera's cheesy pop music career with Chicago. With this album it's unfair. This is a solid hard rocking album. There's nothing cheesy or mainstream about the music. In fact, it was a ballsy move to release a debut album as a double. It's only problem is being a double. The album is too long because the songs are too long. They should have stuck with the jazz and hard rock labels and abandoned the progressive label.

All the songs are quite good, but Liberation becomes tiresome being that it's the last song on a double album and it's the longest song, running to almost fifteen minutes in length. The stand outs are Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, Beginnings, Listen, Poem 58, South California Purples and I'm a Man.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

158. MC5 | Kick Out the Jams (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Ramblin' Rose
2. Kick Out the Jams
3. Come Together
4. Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)
5. Borderline
6. Motor City Is Burning
7. I Want You Right Now
8. Starship

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Kick Out the Jams is a wild album. The songs are loud and full of raw energy, the band is crude and obnoxious, and that's how it seems it's meant to be.

The music is completely anti-psychedelic although it still retains early rock and roll roots. This album certainly interprets the rebelliousness of rock and roll in a more serious and frightening way.

It's hard to say whether the MC5 are innovators of a new kind of music—they are on this 1001 Albums list of course. The Sonics and The Black Monks are mild compared to the MC5. However, the MC5 certainly are a portent of things to come.

I do like this album. It has a lot of energy and heart and soul, but there isn't much to it. Whereas all the psychedelic music might or might not be associated with college kids, this music is not. It is without a doubt music for the working class or the high school dropout.

The songs lack variety and there's only one speed—loud, fast and distorted. The more distinct songs are: Kick Out the Jams, Rock Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa), Motor City Is Burning and Starship.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

157. Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin II (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Whole Lotta Love
2. What Is and What Should Never Be
3. The Lemon Song
4. Thank You
5. Heartbreaker
6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)
7. Ramble On
8. Moby Dick
9. Bring It On Home

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Led Zeppelin II is a thundering album—even the quiet songs are loud. From this album onward, rock and roll gets louder and heavier. John Bonham hits the drums not as if he's trying to play them, but as if he's trying to destroy them. Jimmy Page has also decided to turn his guitar up to eleven and Robert Plant is finding his wail.

Don't be deceived, though. This isn't a noisy album. John Paul Jones lays down the most lyrical bass lines so far and Jimmy Page has decided to play more riffs on one album than found in total on all the albums on the list so far.

Another really nice thing about this album is the variety of songs. Although they are blues-based, they all sound quite different from each other, yet complement each other quite well.

This album is essential for any serious collector. There's no need to list the stand out songs since they are all extraordinarily great. Most bands would be hard pressed to come up with just one of these, never mind nine of them.

★★★★★★★★★★

155. Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me
4. Dazed and Confused
5. Your Time Is Gonna Come
6. Black Mountain Side
7. Communication Breakdown
8. I Can't Quit You Baby
9. How Many More Times

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Led Zeppelin is a timeless album. This songs are heavy blues-based rock and roll. It's some of the most loudest and heaviest sounding music up to this point of the 1001 Albums list.

There's an intangible quality about both Led Zeppelin, the album, and Led Zeppelin, the band. Like, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin seems to transcend their contemporaries. However, where the Beatles were mostly way ahead of their time, Led Zeppelin was not;  they transcend by creating a mood, an atmosphere, an attitude, an aura that makes the music timeless and mysterious.

How does this transcendence emerge?

John Bonham and John Paul Jones are another reason. No one hits the drums harder than John Bonham does or hits as many drums at once. Well, Keith Moon might, but Keith Moon is a wasteful and erratic drummer. John Bonham was very conservative and utilized fills smartly. John Paul Jones is also someone who played his instrument smartly and conservatively. Together, they form a rhythm section like no other.

Robert Plant sings classic blues lines which themselves are eternal and he sings lyrics that are abstract enough and non-contemporary that they can transcend. It would have been curious if Rod Stewart had been the singer rather than Robert Plant. Rod Stewart is just as good, if not better, and has a similar style.

Jimmy Page isn't the most technical, talented or graceful guitarist, but he played what was necessary and nothing more. Jimmy Page was a smart producer. The album is serious and gets to the point immediately. It also stays focused and doesn't stray from it's purpose: which is heavy blues rock. There's nothing extraneous on the album. There's no idle banter, no pointless introductions, and no songs that were half-baked.

Also, the music sounds very compact almost to the point of being claustrophobic. Jimmy knew how to record the instruments. John Bonham is a great drummer, but the drums are recorded just the right way to enhance their power. The music doesn't sound like it was even recorded in a studio. Rather, it emerged from the infinite deep of space.

I don't know if that's how or whether it's all just a bullshit explanation. But, I've thought about it for a long time and that's all I have.

Needless to say, I love this album. I think it's an essential album in any serious album collection. There's not a bad song. It's hard to list any stand outs. I don't believe any stand out more than any other, but certainly Good Times, Bad Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown and How Many More Times are the most likely candidates.

★★★★★★★★★★

149. The Rolling Stones | Let It Bleed (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Gimme Shelter
2. Love in Vain
3. Country Honk
4. Live with Me
5. Let It Bleed
6. Midnight Rambler
7. You Got the Silver
8. Monkey Man
9. You Can't Always Get What You Want

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Let It Bleed is an insensitive album. Or is it a dehumanizing album? No matter, the themes aren't at all positive. Sexual relationships are impersonal, demeaning and violent—Country Honk, Live With Me and Gimme Shelter. Non-sexual relationships are the same—You Can't Always Get What You Want, Monkey Man and Midnight Rambler. Aside from that, the music is quite good. It's the best Rolling Stones album so far.

The only problem I had with it, is that I don't get that album feeling when I listen to this album. It seems like a collection of songs. That's the way all Rolling Stones albums have felt. It just seems they go in to the studio, write a bunch of songs, and put them on the album without care to how they are ordered or how they relate to each other. Despite indicating there are themes on this album, I don't think that was intentional at all. This isn't a big problem, but I think their albums could have been better if they were more focused.

This is a nice collection of great songs, but not a great album, so I don't see why it's on the 1001 Albums list. The stand out songs are Gimme Shelter, Love in Vain, Country Honk (I like this version of Honky Tonk Women better), Let It Bleed, Midnight Rambler and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

★★★★★★★★☆☆