The best Rolling Stones album is Sticky Fingers.
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Any list that puts the most overrated album of all time, Sgt. Pepper's, at #1, Pet Sounds at #2, and ranks London Calling ahead of Who's Next, Dark Side of the Moon, Beggar's Banquet, Led Zeppelin IV, OK Computer, Innervisions, Are You Experienced and We're Only in It for the Money, is a list that doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.
But that's a whole different topic.
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You guys have inspired me to listen to Beggar's Banquet.
Now if I can just find it....
Now if I can just find it....
You keep bringing up Rolling Stone Magazine like they are THE authority on music. I had a free subscription for a year and they kept sending it to me free for several years despite me not wanting it. It is more a political and tabloid rag than it is a music magazine.
A publication that has been dedicated to the coverage of rock music for over 40 years, employed some of the best music writers, and conducted some of the best music interviews ever? I mentioned it only twice, and only after stating that Exile was my own personal favorite (I also expressed, at great length, why it was my favorite, and in my own words I might add.) We could use another list if you like: Spin Magazine's Top 125 list only goes back 25 years, so we can't use that. The Virgin All-Time Top 1,000 list shows Exile at #35, which is not as high as #7, but it is still the highest rated Stones album of them all (Let it Bleed comes in at #40).
Any list that puts the most overrated album of all time, Sgt. Pepper's, at #1, Pet Sounds at #2, and ranks London Calling ahead of Who's Next, Dark Side of the Moon, Beggar's Banquet, Led Zeppelin IV, OK Computer, Innervisions, Are You Experienced and We're Only in It for the Money, is a list that doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.
But that's a whole different topic.
I am impressed! Except, so sorry to say, and I may be the only one who thinks this, and it may be just from overplay, but Dark Side of the Moon seems vastly over-rated to me.
Sarg. Peppers is one of those I would like to be able to listen to with fresh ears. It sure seemed amazing when it was released, which dates me I suppose. Again, have heard it too darn many times to have a fair opinion. I think when I heard the recent remixed version the bass seemed amazing, which I had not notice previously, and I am far from a Paul M fan.
I think folk sincerely, for lots of reasons, want London Calling to be a bit better than it really is.
Maybe the same thing with Pet Sounds. God Only Knows and Caroline No may be to me two of the best pieces of music ever laid down, and there are other good cuts. But there is some real noodling on that album. To be truly great album of all time, to me it has to be something like Who's Next. Every cut at least very, very good. In It for the Money Really Is a Great Album, isn't it.
I think Rolling Stones top 500 is not all that bad. I think they go around to outside critics to come up with those lists. I do not think the political and life style writers do the ratings. And RS probably is still about as good as it gets in the US for rock and roll coverage/criticism. On the other hand, Mojo and the other larger sized Brit mags blow RS cleanly out of the water. Mojo's lists are probably closer to what I really like. But, truly, I have to say that the RS list, looked at say 50 albums at a time going down the list, is not so, so bad.
And do not think this is a recent phenom with RS. If I recall when it first came out RS gave Self Portrait five stars! RS later, dishonestly, seems to have erased that from the archives!
I can see why to some folks Exile is a solid top ten album. I have no trouble with that. Not a top ten album for me, but still a great album. There is a continuity to it.
Anyone else think the original mix was better than the remix? And that the remix clarified something better left unclarified?
A well-written post.
You're not the only one; DSOTM is VERY over-rated.
I disagree on Pet Sounds, but I'm kinda biased!
I'll take the original Exile mix, please.
Any list that puts the most overrated album of all time, Sgt. Pepper's, at #1, Pet Sounds at #2, and ranks London Calling ahead of Who's Next, Dark Side of the Moon, Beggar's Banquet, Led Zeppelin IV, OK Computer, Innervisions, Are You Experienced and We're Only in It for the Money, is a list that doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.
But that's a whole different topic.
London Calling is one of the top 5 albums of all time without question.
Thanks! Hard to argue with Pet Sounds as many times as it has been ranked top five or better not only by critics but by "readers." Do you like and listen to every cut? For me the lyrics for something like Caroline No are just so perfect so evocative. For, say, I Was Just Not Made for These Times, not quite so perfect.
Yes, I do, though I've always felt that "Sloop John B." doesn't belong on there. That was Capitol Record's idea-it had been released as a single months before, and Brian didn't want it on the album. It's a great song, but it doesn't have that feeling of melancholia that the rest of the record has.
It took me awhile to really appreciate it, but once I did, I was hooked.
Brian Wilson had been slowly moving away from the Surf/Cars songs, into a deeper, more mature sound. Side two of The Beach Boys Today! clearly shows them heading in that direction. Mike Love, unfortunately, had no desire to go there. He made his displeasure known throughout recording, warning Brian " Don't f--- with the formula"( he was even worse during the SMiLE sessions!). Which is ironic, since one of his best-ever lead vocals (Here Today) is on this album. Capitol Records was taken aback too, wanting more of the old stuff. There wasn't a lot of promotion and sales were slow, which really hurt Brian, since he put so much heart and soul into making it.My wife got me The Pet Sounds Sessions box set when it came out, and it's definitely worth checking out. Tons of session highlights, instrumental-only tracks which will leave you speechless, vocals-only tracks which will leave you even more speechless, and the 1st true stereo mix of the record. Go find it, now!
(I know this a Stones album thread. Thanks for letting me get carried away.)
Yes, I do, though I've always felt that "Sloop John B." doesn't belong on there. That was Capitol Record's idea-it had been released as a single months before, and Brian didn't want it on the album. It's a great song, but it doesn't have that feeling of melancholia that the rest of the record has.
It took me awhile to really appreciate it, but once I did, I was hooked.
My wife got me The Pet Sounds Sessions box set when it came out, and it's definitely worth checking out. Tons of session highlights, instrumental-only tracks which will leave you speechless, vocals-only tracks which will leave you even more speechless, and the 1st true stereo mix of the record. Go find it, now!
(I know this a Stones album thread. Thanks for letting me get carried away.)
(I likewise appreciate the patience of the OP and others given that this is a Stones thread.
I would have said what you say about Sloop JB, and I had read/heard the same thing about Capitol. And I agree that it has a different tone altogether. But apparently someone has dug out Brian's own cut lists from very early on, before Capitol would have been at all involved, and Sloop JB is there from the very beginning. So this is interpretted to mean that it was always a part of Brian's vision for the album. I do think the background vocals on SJB are brilliant.
Good Vibrations was unfortunately cut because Brian just could not get it finished in time, and I think that is a big loss for the album.
I think I have heard most of the stuff from the PS Sessions box. Thanks for sharing with me why you like the album so much and that it is really the whole album. I think your ear for music is just better and more all encompassing than mine. ithink things like Caroline No are a long ways from just cars/surf--although those record are pretty good peieces of music too--and very cutting edge. But the album just loses me for major stretches. Reminds me, I suppose of some of the Zappa/Mothers stuff. That is, I love the Zappa stuff I love, but there is a ton of it that I personally just do not "get." Probably my failing!
Gentlemen, you have convinced me: the best Rolling Stones album ever is Pet Sounds, followed by London Calling, followed by the original mix of Exile On Main Street!
My $.02
1. Let it Bleed
2. Sticky Fingers
3. Some Girls
Other thoughts: There will never be another greatest hits album like Hot Rocks. Maybe it's just me, but I think Some Girls is their last really good album. Finally, I never understood why the critics love Exile so much. To me, there are at least 5 better RS albums
1. Let it Bleed
2. Sticky Fingers
3. Some Girls
Other thoughts: There will never be another greatest hits album like Hot Rocks. Maybe it's just me, but I think Some Girls is their last really good album. Finally, I never understood why the critics love Exile so much. To me, there are at least 5 better RS albums
again, sorry for the hijack!
I think Tattoo You is a really good album. I think Steel Wheels is an underrated album. But otherwise I think I would say no really good albums since Some Girls.
Steel Wheels sounds a little dated now with the 80s production, but I still think "Slipping Away" is the best ending of ANY Stones album, and my fave Keef vocal of all time.
Regardless of which Stones album is the "best", I think we can all agree that the 5 album run from Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers and finally Exile On Main Street has to be one of the most extraordinary string of albums put together in the annals of rock and roll, only rivaled, imo, by The Beatles' string of albums from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road (discounting Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine since they were more of a hodgepodge of songs put together for their respective films).
I'd agree to that if you added The Who's string from Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Sure, only four, albums, but there are six full records worth of songs in there!
I'd agree to that if you added The Who's string from Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Sure, only four, albums, but there are six full records worth of songs in there!
I agree with all, except, particularly based on the re-mixed versions, I think you could take the Beatles run back to Beatles '65, or at least back to Beatles VI, if you exclude the Help album. I realize the first two of that run were not so carefully put together as albums and there are issues of US versus Brit versions.
I'd agree if you had said another band other than the Beatles! 
