1001 Albums Rated

Reviewing each album from every version of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die to determine if you actually must hear them before you die. Also the Random Collection Item guy.

[1001albumsrated]

#35: The Beatles - With The Beatles

Genre(s): Pop, Rock

This is the first Beatles album to make 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, but it certainly won't be the last.

We'll be talking about The Beatles at great length throughout this series, as they are heavily represented in 1001 Albums (7 albums from the band, plus an assortment of post-Beatles solo material from 3/4 of the band... I'm sure you can guess who didn't make the solo cut 😉). Every music critic has at least one hot Beatles take, so I'll go ahead and get all of mine out of the way up front in the interest of transparency:

- Their contributions to recording and studio technique vastly outstrip their contributions to music performance or composition.

- Everyone in the band is a sub-par instrumentalist and an excellent vocalist.

- The Beatles are much greater than the sum of their parts.

- Magical Mystery Tour probably isn't the best Beatles record, but it's by far my favorite.

- Most people either vastly overrate or vastly underrate The Beatles. They're not the best band of all time as their megafans would have you believe, and they're not the dreadfully boring teeny-bopper band their detractors like to paint them as.

I'm open to having my opinions changed by this project (not just on The Beatles, but in general), but I would be surprised if this revisit changes any of my Beatles takes on account of the sheer amount of Beatles exposure I've already had. Only time will tell I suppose.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the album. With The Beatles is their 2nd studio album, following the enormous success of their debut, Please Please Me only 8 months prior. Given the record-breaking performance of Please Please Me, EMI gave the band quite a bit more studio time to play with, and more creative control over the album (including the striking cover art). Whereas Please Please Me was a fast and dirty affair recorded mostly in one marathon session, With The Beatles was recorded over 7 sessions spanning 3 months, and it shows in their more aggressive use of overdubs and (comparatively) oddball arrangement choices. Please Please Me had more of a standard "band in a room" sound and recording approach, With The Beatles hints at the future avant-pop studio explorations we'll see from the band later in the decade (good examples of this are the hard cut back-and-forth vocal overlays on the chorus of It Won't Be Long and the oddly room-mic'd out-of-tune piano in Not A Second Time; these sounds may not blow your mind today, but good luck finding a track from the early 60s that sounds like either of those). It also features a number of original tunes, compared to the cover-heavy lineup of the debut. The quality of the original material varies, with some tracks showing more maturity than others; the core Beatles sound, to me, involves a use of chord progressions and instrumental layers not seen often in pop music at the time. We're starting to see those ideas creep out around the edges of the pop rock songwriting here, but they haven't quite coalesced into the true sound of The Beatles yet.

When you get down to it, With The Beatles is a gawky teenaged album in the band's discography. It's grown beyond the pop tunes of Please Please Me, but it hasn't reached the real history-making potential of the band yet. While the singing is excellent, as mentioned in my hot takes earlier, the musicianship on the instruments is lacking. This is a running theme in their career, but is much more noticeable early on. They're not quite sloppy, but there's a lack of understanding of dynamics; any music teacher will tell you that this is a hurdle for most young men, who often think technically impressive playing always involves playing as fast and hard as you can. I think many of the tracks on this album could be improved with a bit more dynamism and fluidity to the instrumental performances. Like with many other elements, you can hear improvements on this front on With The Beatles, but they're not all the way there yet.

With The Beatles presents an interesting look into a time of transformation for one of pop's biggest bands. But is it an album you MUST hear before you die? I'm going to say No. It's certainly a good album, but I don't think it's exceptional in the way some of the later Beatles catalog is. I think it is of immense interest and value to anyone taking a broader interest in the story and career of The Beatles, but I wouldn't rank it particularly highly in their catalog or the overall pop/rock lexicon. I think if you want to hear this era of the band, Please Please Me makes for a more informative listen. And if you want to hear the next era of the band... well, we'll come back to that next time we talk about The Beatles 😉.

Also, of moderate nerd interest: this album was unavailable in the US in its original form until the CD reissue. I won't get too into the weeds on Beatles collecting (a bottomless rabbit hole of a topic), but their early material got split among a number of records here in the states, With The Beatles included. It's much easier to get today than it was when the book was originally published in 2005. Also for the nerds: I listened to this in hi-res on Qobuz.

Next up, another artist who receives extensive coverage in 1001 Albums: Bob Dylan, with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan!

[1001albumsrated]

#34: Ray Price - Night Life (1963)

Genre(s): Country, Honky-Tonk

Night Life was the death knell of honky-tonk as it succumbed to the crossover pop sounds of the Nashville Sound. Ray Price was, at this point, a well-established name in the country-western scene. He had a Frank Sinatra sort of sound to him, so the crossover potential is obvious in hindsight. This approach was a massive success for Price, earning him the first of many #1 albums to come. But, we don't care about chart success round these parts, how's the music?

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm not typically a big fan of crossover pop country. But I do have to say, his backing band (the Cherokee Cowboys, a name I don't have the energy to address) is in top form. The iteration of the Cowboys on this LP features a young Willie Nelson on bass, the legendary pedal steel player and innovator Buddy Emmons, classic country pianist Floyd Cramer, and future outlaw star Johnny Paycheck on guitar. Buddy Emmons really carries this album for me. I'm usually pretty lukewarm on pedal steel, but Emmons really has a sound like no other. The rest of the band rises to the occasion as well. That being said, Price's delivery doesn't do anything for me. There's an air of schmaltz to it that is incredibly anti-country, which combined with the restrained arrangements just makes the whole thing fall flat for me.

If you're a diehard country fan I think you'll find plenty of material of interest here. These are some of the earliest recordings of a few of the big names in 70s country, and certainly found plenty of chart success. But I think for the average listener there is more interesting country music to be found elsewhere in the 60s. Ultimately it's not a terrible listen, but No, it's not one you MUST hear before you die.

Coming up next, a little band from the UK you may have heard a thing or two about: The Beatles, with their 2nd LP, With The Beatles!

[1001albumsrated]

#33: Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba (1962)

Genre(s): Bossa Nova, Samba, Jazz

Bossa nova gets a bad rap, but undeservedly so in my opinion. It, like so many great things, suffered from success (insert DJ Khaled album art here) and many cheap watered-down imitators. While it has a reputation as boring elevator music (how many times have you heard a muzak version of The Girl from Ipanema shoved into movie scenes of hotel lobbies?), the best examples of it are anything but. When done well, bossa nova has both a disaffected coolness and a quiet, smoldering intensity to it. Just because it's laid back doesn't mean it's limp-wristed. It's a tough balance to achieve, and many American artists have failed to capture it. This album, thankfully, is an exception to that.

While bossa nova's unique blend of samba and cool jazz was already starting to catch on in its home country of Brazil, Jazz Samba is the first album to present it to the US. The story goes that Charlie Byrd first heard bossa nova music while on tour in Brazil in 1961 and rushed home to make this album afterwards. While this could have easily been a gringo-ified version of the music (and many such versions would come once the style exploded in the states), Charlie and Stan both did a really exceptional job of mastering the style prior to recording. It helps that all tracks except Samba Dees Days were written by Brazilian composers (including the classic Jobim tune Desafinado, foreshadowing his future collaboration with Stan Getz on Getz/Gilberto; watch this space).

I alluded to it earlier, but as a musician I feel the need to mention it again: this music sounds deceptively simple, but is actually quite challenging to perform well. Any musician worth their salt can tell you that it's much, much harder to play softly or slowly well than it is to play faster or harder. To have a fluid, delicate touch with precision and impact is a big thing to ask. A lot of folks hopped on the bossa bandwagon thinking it would be an easy paycheck and found themselves lacking. The dexterity on display on this album is a testament to the extraordinary skill of the players.

Jazz Samba also, in case it wasn't clear, is a joy to listen to. There's a lot to love here. It's laid back, but complex and interesting. It's probably one of the most accessible jazz records in 1001 Albums, but don't let its accessibility fool you into thinking it doesn't have much to say.

Because it's not one I hear discussed much, I'd like to call out the closing track Bahia in particular as a highlight. The unison two bass ostinato throughout lends it a unique sound not often heard in jazz (or in general, really). It's a particularly cool effect in stereo when listening through headphones.

Anyways, Yes you MUST hear this before you die. I don't think the list needs to devote an extraordinary amount of space to bossa nova, but this one easily makes the cut.

Next up: grab yer cowboy hats, because we've got country crooner Ray Price with his album Night Life!

[1001albumsrated]

#32: Booker T. & the M.G.'s - Green Onions (1962)

Genre(s): RnB, Soul, Funk, Rock

This one's a pretty big deal. It's one of the rare non-jazz/non-classical instrumental albums to really do well and cause some impact. This group was the outlet for original material from members of Stax's house band, the Mar-Keys. As such, these guys have played on an impossible to quantify number of classic records (session musicians typically went uncredited in those days, despite often being a driving creative force behind the music). The title track was a big hit, which is a tough thing to achieve as an instrumental group in the pop sphere. And more importantly, it's a real fun listen.

One thing that sets Green Onions apart from a lot of instrumental music for me is the amount of structure and restraint shown across the album. For the most part the songs are songs first, rather than beds for jamming or improvisation. And while there are plenty of great solos to go around, the album spends a fair amount of time in verse/chorus mode, with the organ typically taking over "vocals". The solos always feel well-placed, intentional, and more than anything else lyrical. In fact, the fluidity of the playing on this album almost makes you forget that some of these tunes ever had vocals in the first place and weren't originally just written to be instrumentals. I Got a Woman is a highlight (and arguably the best track on the record), as is their version of Twist and Shout.

My only real complaint about this album (and get used to hearing this as we drift further into the 60s) is that most tracks end in fade-outs. While this can be a valid songwriting strategy in rare situations, 99% of the time it's just lazy songwriting. Choosing how to end a song is one of the hardest parts about writing one, and fade-outs are the ultimate cop out of the task. "Yeah man, let's just jam at the end and let the engineer figure out when to cut it off" or "Yeah let's just repeat the chorus some more, idk" are both lame non-choices. It feels more excusable on instrumental albums, but I'm going to hold them to task here anyways. Sometimes it's a situation where the band simply has more material than will fit on a single record and a few minutes need to be chopped, but again, a more adept songwriter will be aware of this limitation and know how to work around it.

Frankly it's a minor gripe in this case, but it's a personal pet peeve of mine so I had to at least soapbox a bit about it. Anyways, aside from that this album is excellent, and furthermore a very unique listen compared to most other albums of this era. This is an easy Yes for me on the MUST-o-meter.

I listened to this in hi-res on Qobuz, like most albums I don't own. I passed up a very nice audiophile pressing of this a while back, probably should have grabbed it, but oh well I suppose. Also, if you want to hear an excellent modern iteration on this sound, I highly recommend the album Baked, Broiled & Fried by Cookin' on 3 Burners (mostly instrumental aside from one or two guest vocalists, also features a killer version of Feel Good Inc).

Next time, we're dipping into the beginnings of bossa nova with Jazz Samba by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz!

[1001albumsrated]

#31: Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)

Genre(s): Pop, RnB, Country

Whether or not you MUST hear this is to be determined (y'know, later in this post), but this is certainly one of the strangest albums you'll ever hear in concept. What happens if you have an RnB singer do country standards with a pop orchestra? This odd beast, and its Volume II follow up LP.

I've complained endlessly about the schmaltzy string sections of the 50s and 60s so I'll cool my jets for the most part, but yeah the orchestration on this album is pretty abysmal. Ray's playing, however, is excellent. And the big orchestra at least feels a little more appropriate for these tunes, as the Nashville Sound was taking over country at the time and tended to stick to these more genteel orchestral sounds. Still, not into it.

As mentioned above, Ray is at the top of his game here. His playing and singing are excellent, and his soulful approach to these tunes really lends something special to the recording and serves the songs well. Musically it's about the furthest thing possible from country, but I think that's what makes it interesting. Stylistically it finds itself very much stuck in its time, but it still makes for a fun listen. It also represents a reasonably large breakthrough in musical race relations for the time. So far the grand cultural exchange had been fairly one sided, with white musicians making a lot of money playing black music. This is really one of the first times that an established black artist turned the dynamic on its head by playing white music.

So it's a bit of a strange listen, and it's certainly a significant one. But MUST you hear it before you die? I was on the fence about this one, but I'm leaning Yes. I would have really loved to hear this with a more traditional RnB/soul group backing Ray, but I think this still stands strong enough to merit inclusion in the strength of Ray's performances. And while I'm not sure it's an album that most folks will find themselves coming back to over and over, it's a good one to have heard at least once.

For the nerds: I listened to this one in hi-res on Qobuz. For all of the obvious effort and money that went into this recording, it still doesn't sound that great. But it gets the job done.

Coming up next: instrumental legends Booker T. & The M.G.'s with their classic album Green Onions!

[1001albumsrated]

#30: Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961)

Genre(s): Modal Jazz

This is one of those truly rare recordings that is just impossibly beautiful and impossibly ahead of its time. Sunday at the Village Vanguard is the culmination of everything Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian had worked together to create in the years following Bill's departure from Miles Davis' band following Kind of Blue. The musical synergy here is effortless, with the feel of players who have worked together for decades rather than a few years. Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian redefine the concept of what a jazz rhythm section is; gone are the walking bass lines and ride cymbal tapping, replaced by a more open, melodic approach that intertwines perfectly with Bill Evans' impressionistic approach to piano. The result is truly outstanding, with all three players operating at their peak.

Scott LaFaro, who would tragically die in a car accident 11 days after this recording, is the star of the show in many respects (if there can be such a thing on an album with such a strong collaborative spirit). He is, without a doubt, one of the best bassists of all time, and this is quite possibly his finest performance. Note that I didn't say jazz bassists, or upright bassists, just plain bassists. His approach and touch are unbeatable across the broad discipline of bass playing, and so unlike anything that came before and most things that came after. The cuts here were selected in particular to showcase his playing following his untimely passing (other selections from the same date can be heard on the also-excellent Waltz for Debby, or of course the 3CD complete sessions set).

That being said, let's not discount the contributions of Bill Evans and Paul Motian here. Bill is without a doubt one of the most elite jazz players of all time, with a style all his own. Paul Motian, much like Scott LaFaro did with bass, redefined the role of jazz drummer, moving the discipline away from simple timekeeping and towards a more dynamic, expressive style. Paul went on to have the widest-spanning career of anyone in the trip, spending a decade in Keith Jarrett's band during Jarrett's best years, and later in a great trio with modern jazz legends Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano.

The recording itself is also a thing to behold. It joins the upper echelon of great jazz recordings in small clubs. It really puts you in the room, with the clinks of glasses and light chatter throughout. The fidelity is top notch for the time as well.

The copy I listened to is the Keepnews Collection remaster on CD. I also have an earlier pre-remaster CD that I slightly prefer the sound of, but I find myself gravitating towards this copy more often on account of the more sensible tracklist layout (placing the alternate takes after the main album, whereas the earlier edition places alternate takes immediately after their respective album takes).

Anyways, I haven't exactly buried the lede here: this is one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, yes you MUST hear it before you die. This is one of the first albums I really got into when I was first getting into jazz, and it's just as great of a listen today as it was then. Go check it out ASANow.

Next time: Ray Charles is back with his genre-blending classic Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music!

[1001albumsrated]

#29: Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960 (1960)

Genre(s): Chicago Blues

It's hard to overstate the significance of this album. Muddy Waters' electrifying, raw approach to the blues on this album is almost singlehandedly responsible for the explosion of British hard rock to come later in the 60s. Like many black American artists of the era, he was taken much more seriously and treated with much more respect overseas. While Americans were screwing around with string sections and the "Nashville Sound", the Brits were reverently passing around copies of this album and preparing to change the face of rock music forever. This is not hyperbole; if you look at any interview of damn near any British rock musician from the 60s or 70s and ask them about their influences, Muddy Waters is always on the list, usually at the top. And for good reason: this album is HEAVY. You don't get Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath without this.

Not only is Live at Newport 1960 of immense historical significance, it's also just a damn good blues record. The energy is wild, both in the band and in the crowd. It's almost crazy to imagine that 19 years prior Muddy Waters was just some local guy, being recorded solo in his house in Mississippi by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress's Archive of American Folk Song. Blues hadn't changed that much (aside from adopting electric instruments as they became more widely available), but people were only just now wising up to the sounds that had permeated the American South for decades.

Anyways, this album is great. I'd have liked to have seen his 1964 album Folk Singer included in 1001 Albums as well. While lacking the bombastic electric energy of At Newport, it has a smoldering rawness that hits you in the chest with every beat. Folk Singer also, for the nerds out there, is (likely by accident, if we're being honest) one of the best-sounding early blues albums in terms of fidelity. I picked up the MFSL CD recently and WHEW what a listen.

Anyways, this album rules. Yes, you MUST hear it before you die. For the nerds: I listened in hi-res on Qobuz, sounds about as good as a 1960 live album will.

Next up: Bill Evans Trio's legendary live recording Sunday at the Village Vanguard!

[1001albumsrated]

#28: The Incredible Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack (1963)

Genre(s): Soul Jazz, Hard Bop

This album goes as hard as the crease in Jimmy's pants on the cover. Jimmy Smith is the undisputed king of organ-fueled bluesy soul jazz goodness, and Back at the Chicken Shack is one of his finest accomplishments (alongside The Sermon in competition for the number one spot, I'd argue). This is in no small part due to the excellent lineup on this album, with the legendary Stanley Turrentine on saxophone, and his frequent collaborators Donald Bailey and Kenny Burrell holding down the drums and guitar respectively (Kenny Burrell also had a great career as bandleader worth checking out, in addition to a number of high-profile sideman credits).

This sort of soul jazz organ combo became incredibly popular in the 60s, in no small part due to Jimmy Smith's prolific and consistently excellent output through the era. And when listening to Back at the Chicken Shack, it's hard to argue with its success; this album is a hell of a lot of fun. And not only is it a good time, it's a good time with substance. The whole band is on fire on this one, delivering memorable performances throughout. For those less musical-instrument-inclined, please note that there's no bassist on this album: Jimmy is playing the bass parts on his organ alongside his blazing lead and harmony parts. The organ is a dextrous instrument, and Jimmy clearly earns his Incredible title on this one.

Another thing tangential to the album that I'd like to praise Jimmy Smith on is his sheer consistency; despite how prolific he was (as evidenced here by this album, recorded in 1960 but not released until 1963 due to a glut of recordings) his albums are consistently high quality. I'm not particularly into the string section thing he got onto for a while, but that was what you had to do to make money back then and he even managed to do that well. Seriously, he was recording albums into the 2000s (until his death in '05) and I have yet to find one I don't like. Off the top of my head I can vouch for 1995's Damn! and 2000's Dot Com Blues as both being on par with much of his classic material. He didn't divert too far from his style, but this is one of those situations where I think that's the best move. Sometimes it's better to do one thing really well than to try and chase trends (see also: Iron Maiden, who have been putting out essentially the same album every few years for over 40 years now, and it's one I'm always happy to hear).

Anyways, I could go on for ages about Jimmy Smith's career, but let's move this thing along: MUST you hear Back at the Chicken Shack before you die? Absolutely. Go give it a spin. What a great album.

For the nerds: my copy of this album is a fairly standard mass market CD reissue of the 1987 CD master. The later CD remaster is fine, but really just louder without an appreciable improvement in sound quality. One of these days I'd like to hear one of the Analogue Productions audiophile reissues, but I've never run across any of their versions of this album in the wild.

Next up: blues legend Muddy Waters, Live At Newport 1960!

[1001albumsrated]

#27: The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers (1960)

Genre(s): Pop, Rock n Roll

Ok not trying to make it weird or anything, but is this a situation where I'm supposed to go down on both brothers at the drive-in, or is one of them a third wheel? Or am I bringing my partner for a double date type deal? If so which Everly do I get? Neither of these guys are really my type, but we do serious journalism here at 1001albumsrated and I refuse to back down from the hard questions.

Anyways, much like my hypothetical Schrödinger's drive-in date with either one or both brothers, this album fucking blows. This is absolutely dismal, lowest common denominator pop rock for children. If you're not a teenage girl in the 1960s you have no business listening to this. I think there are another 1001 albums I'd tell you to listen to before you die before I'd subject you to this Wonder Bread headass bullshit. The motherfuckers who put this on the charts back in the day are the same people who put raisins in the potato salad at the church potluck today. I refuse to give this any more consideration or discussion than I'd give any other Sesame Street-ass music (with the exception of that one song about 12, which is one of the hardest pieces of children's media ever created and completely obliterates at least half of the music I've listened to for this project to date, Everlys included). This one's a hard No on the MUST-o-meter.

Next up: a pleasant palate cleanser from the king of jazz organ superlatives himself, the Incredible Jimmy Smith with his legendary album Back at the Chicken Shack.

[1001albumsrated]

#26: Miriam Makeba - Miriam Makeba (1960)

Genre(s): Afropop, World

I don't want to sidebar on it too much, but let me start by saying that Miriam Makeba was a truly incredible person. Take some time and learn about her life, she did some impressive work and fearlessly stood up for black liberation both in South Africa and here in the states, often at great personal risk. It's tangential to the material on the album so I don't want to devote a lot of space to it, but it's significant enough that I'd be remiss to not mention it.

As for the album: the very, very abridged version of the story is that Miriam moved to the states from Johannesburg in the middle of apartheid and met Harry Belafonte, who mentored her and gave her an in to the music industry. In fact, his backing band plays throughout this album.

The tracklist is a mix of African folk songs and Western standards, and the sound is a similar combination. I'm not an expert on traditional African music by any means, but this is very sedate compared to the field recordings/etc I've heard of African music as performed in Africa by local musicians. This aesthetic was a very smart move on Miriam's part, as it surely was much more appealing to a Western audience than the "more authentic" versions of these songs would be, and as a result helped kickstart Western interest in "world music" (for the record, I've never liked the idea of bulk-batching all non-Western traditional music into one pseudo-genre; Japanese shakuhachi music has as little to do with Indian classical music or African folk songs as jazz does with heavy metal or European classical music. What a bullshit big business music industry concept it is to just throw it all under one card in the record store.)

That being said, I also find this "blended" sound much less appealing than the other African music I've heard from the era. Don't get me wrong, her singing is excellent. There's just something missing for me here. It's all a little too loungey. It's not a bad listen, but I find myself losing interest throughout and tuning it out a bit. I think this album possesses immense historical and cultural significance, but MUST you hear it before you die? I'm conflicted on this one, but I'm leaning towards No. I think if you have a personal interest in the history of African music it's essential, but I feel like there are better options out there that would be of more interest to the average listener. There's a wide assortment of comparatively-high-quality field recordings of traditional African music out there from the usual suspects (Smithsonian Folkways, JVC World Sounds, etc) if you want the real McCoy, and there are more interesting albums from later down the road that blend African music with Western sounds to greater effect in my opinion (Afreaka! by Demon Fuzz and Lazy Bones!! by Witch both come to mind, listed in order of exclamation, as well as the obvious picks like Fela Kuti or Songhoy Blues, both of whom I believe we'll hear later in the project).

Also, for the nerds, I listened to this one in hi-res on Qobuz. I've ran across the record before, but never could bring myself to drop the cash on it.

Next time, pull on up to the soda fountain and hit the drive-in with your gal with A Date With the Everly Brothers!

[1001albumsrated]

#25: Elvis Presley - Elvis Is Back! (1960)

Genre(s): Rock n Roll, Pop

He's back! I already said my piece on Elvis early on in this series with his self-titled debut, so I'm going to keep it short with this one.

What was he back from? The army! I imagine it's common knowledge, but Elvis very publicly was drafted and spent 2 years in active duty at the peak of his career. Despite the opportunity to join the Special Services as an entertainer, he opted to enlist as a regular soldier on a standard tour of duty. This was a brilliant move with the press, taking him from a figure who caused outrage in the 50s to a well-loved, warm-blooded American in the eyes of the public. He came back from deployment in West Germany to find that his fanbase was older and more conservative than it had been before, but still just as large or larger. However, his deployment also saw the traumatic death of his mother, and the beginning of his long history of prescription drug abuse that would eventually kill him.

After two years out of the game, Elvis was eager to get back to recording and develop a new sound. Elvis Is Back! finds him taking a poppier approach, more in line with the popular "Nashville sound" that would take over country music in the 60s. This sound suits him well, and feels a little more natural than his early rock n roll escapades. The band in particular is a highlight of this album for me. Boots Randolph (better known to most as The Yakkety Sax Guy, but in reality an all-star session player) is really on fire on this one. The tracklist is a little hit or miss, but the highlights are well worth it. I'd argue Elvis's version of Fever here is the best recording of his career (albeit frankly still a few rungs short of the Peggy Lee version).

I think there's an interesting alternate reality where Elvis could have pursued this sound further and done some interesting things with it. Instead he did a bunch of terrible movies for a decade, phoned in a bunch of soundtracks, quit performing live, burned out, started performing again 8 years later, and spiraled out over the next decade to eventually become the sad Mr. Las Vegas Revue man who would end up dead in the bathroom. I'm not a big Elvis fan, but he deserved better than what Colonel Tom gave him. Regardless, MUST you hear Elvis Is Back! before you die? I was on the fence with this one, but I'm leaning towards Yes purely on the strength of the band and the strength of Elvis's performance on Fever. I'd be hard pressed to give him two slots if I were writing the book, but I think there's a good enough argument here.

Next up: Miriam Makeba's self-titled debut!

[1001albumsrated]

#24: Joan Baez - Joan Baez (1960)

Genre(s): Folk, Traditional

It's hard to understate Joan Baez's influence on the music of the 60s. Her strong voice with its pure, warbling vibrato was highly (and frequently poorly) imitated by female vocalists throughout the 60s, both in folk and in rock. She also spearheaded the resurgence of interest in traditional music, one that would echo on into the 70s; in fact, not a single track on this album is a Joan Baez original, and it would be another decade (and 10 more albums) before she would go on to release her first few original tunes after making a career of playing traditional music and contemporary covers. Also of note is that this is one of the earlier mainstream recordings of House of the Rising Sun, predating the popular Animals version by 4 years (although certainly not the earliest, as Woody Guthrie had her beat by 19 years, and Lead Belly recorded it not long after him).

I'm a big sucker for these sorts of traditional tunes, particularly early European music. However, Joan's voice is an acquired taste; her vibrato, while very impressive on a technical level, is a little heavy-handed for me. But still, she was only 19 here, and could already sing circles around most other pop and folk singers. And I do think that her voice is emotionally expressive in a way that most who take that vocal approach fail to achieve. Her style is particularly effective on the rare occasions she sings in Spanish, as she does on the closing track here. I'll also note (as it's frequently ignored) that her guitar playing on this album is excellent. There's a great dexterity and fluidity to it, and it's quite a feat to sing and play guitar simultaneously at the level she does (note that, as the story goes, this album has little to no overdubs, and was recorded essentially in one take straight into two mics in the same way she'd perform live). As a musician, she's far, far above par in the world of folk, and above and beyond in popular music at large.

The tracklist here is an excellent collection of traditional tunes, spanning a variety of countries and styles. Joan handles them all adeptly. I won't speak too much to the songwriting as they're not her songs, but her arrangements are great and the songs have endured decades (and centuries!) for good reason.

But the real question is MUST you hear it before you die? I think so. Joan Baez certainly deserves a spot here somewhere, and of her albums this is probably my favorite. There's some great material on Diamonds and Rust, but I much prefer the stripped back instrumentation on her debut. She's an acquired taste, but a good one.

Next up: more Elvis! In fact, you could say that... Elvis Is Back!

I'll leave now.

Oh yeah, for the nerds: I listened to this one on Qobuz. Sounds about as good as it's going to.

[1001albumsrated]

#23: Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1959)

Genre(s): West Coast Jazz

"Hey there kid, wanna buy some ~odd time signatures~?"

That's the question Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond asked America in 1959, and against all odds the answer was a resounding yes. This may not sound like a recipe for commercial and critical success, but the numbers say otherwise: the lead single Take Five was the first jazz single ever to crest 1 million sales, and the album is certified double platinum today (making it one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time). In fact, and I have zero data to back this up beyond a strong gut feeling based on years of music retail experience, I suspect this is the best-selling album focused on odd time signatures of all time.

A brief, over-simplified explanation of time signatures for the non-theory inclined: time signatures are how you count the beats of the music. The bottom number is the type of beat you're counting as the underlying pulse of the music (ie quarter notes, eighth notes, etc), the top number is how many of those make a measure (typically one line of a verse, etc). So your standard dance beat (think Stayin' Alive, or Another One Bites The Dust) is 4/4, or four quarter note beats to a measure. Your standard waltz is 3/4, or three quarter notes to a beat (think Piano Man, or Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah). Most popular music is written in standard "simple" times, where the top number is equal to or less than the bottom, with the majority being a variant of 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4. "Odd time signatures" is a catch-all term for just about everything that doesn't fall into those traditional forms. For example, increasing the number of beats per measure beyond the count (like 5/4 or 9/8, both created by "tacking" an extra beat onto the measure) creates an unnaturally lopsided or rushed feel. These times take a fair amount of technical skill to play well, particularly for the rhythm section, often feeling like a foreign language to most players.

And I think that's what, to me, is most impressive about Time Out: everything here feels natural. A lot of bands tend to hit you over the head with odd time signatures, emphasizing the lilting sonic strangeness of them. On Time Out, a casual listener not versed in music theory and/or dance is unlikely to notice something is up, aside from the songs having a certain uniqueness to them. The odd time signatures aren't really the point in the way they are with a lot of "progressive" music (I say this as a HUGE prog rock dork, just to be clear), they're a natural extension of the melodic ideas of the song. Take Five doesn't feel like 4/4 with a beat tacked to the end, it feels like 5/4 and, more importantly, it feels like Take Five rather than a textbook exercise. Time Out doesn't feel like an album where they forced themselves to play outside the rhythmic norm, it feels like a great jazz album full of creative melodic and harmonic concepts that happened to also have some odd rhythms. What's particularly interesting to me is that that feeling is the opposite of the truth of how the album was composed: Dave Brubeck heard the traditional 9/8 aksak rhythm while on tour in Turkey and thought it would be a cool idea to make a whole album of odd time signatures. So while the time signatures did, in fact, come first, they still managed to write a set of truly organic sounding tunes within that constraint. That, to me, truly is testament to the quality of Brubeck and Desmond as songwriters, and the quality of the whole band as musicians.

There's also a lot here that echoes styles of the future. The approach to odd times obviously will become a big influence on prog rock down the road, but there's also an element of classical music in the compositions here that really coalesces in some of the prog bands of the 70s. Keith Emerson (of ELP fame, watch this space as we'll listen to some ELP later down the road in this series) in particular was a vocal fan of Brubeck, but I think the whole genre owes him a great debt.

All that being said, MUST you hear Time Out before you die? Absolutely. There's something universally captivating and iconic about these tunes, and the compositional and improvisational skills on display far exceed the time-based trappings of the album. Time Out is also highly accessible, and alongside Kind of Blue is essential beginning listening for anyone interested in plumbing the depths of jazz.

Also, for the nerds who care: my copy of this album is the first edition CD from 1984, which I prefer to the remaster (although the remaster is a perfectly fine listen in its own right). Don't pay goofy collector's prices for that thing though, it's easy enough to find at more normal used prices if you browse your local record store's bins often. Also of interest (and an easy tell for those looking to find one) is that the title is misprinted as Take Five on the spine rather than Time Out. Pretty neat!

Next up: the eponymous debut album from folk legend Joan Baez!

[1001albumsrated]

#22: Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959)

Genre(s): Country

I believe this is the first album in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die to be a meme (or at least I think it's the first, I'm painfully online but not exactly TikTok-pilled so someone 10-15 years younger can chime in if the kids are going wild over Ramblin' Jack Elliott or something). Regardless, it's funny to see this one come full circle. This album did serious numbers in its day (certified platinum!) and almost singlehandedly made Marty enough money to fund his NASCAR career, one he maintained for decades despite not being particularly successful as a racer. (As a complete aside, wouldn't it absolutely rule if celebrities did that today? Imagine if Drake paid his way into playing in the NBA or something and just sucked the whole time. Just a wild thing to conceive.)

Anyways, the album: this is the pop country of the time, and while a far cry sonically from Taylor Swift, et al, it remains very accessible and fairly far removed from the rougher edges of "authentic" country & Western music. Marty Robbins was no cowboy, having grown up in the suburbs of Phoenix in the 20s, but he did grow up around tales of the Wild West in a time when cowboys were superheroes. That being said, the inauthenticity doesn't offend me here. The songs are clearly fictional, pastoralized depictions of the West, but he sings them honestly. There is some great songwriting and storytelling to be had here as well; Big Iron is the obvious standout in retrospect (and, of course, the meme song), but El Paso was the lead single at the time and did serious numbers, running up both the pop and country charts.

By pure serendipity I bought a copy of this album on LP a few months before starting this project. My copy is a fairly unexceptional 70s repress, but this isn't exactly an audiophile recording so I didn't think it was worth my time and money to seek out an original. It's not an album I'm in the mood for all the time, but it's a fun listen and I'm happy to have a copy of it around.

Also, because somehow I made it this far without mentioning it, I like the graphic design of the cover a lot, despite its slight tackiness. It's simple, but the color is eye-catching, the photography has a nice motion to it, and the typesetting is simple but effective. I enjoy a complex design, but sometimes simple is iconic; it makes for something memorable here.

That brings us to the big question: MUST you hear Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs before you die? I think so. My patience for pop country (of any era) is very, very thin, and this is one of the few crossover albums I think is really worth the time. Country isn't really my "home field" so I won't soapbox too much on what did and didn't make the cut, but I know enough to know there are some odd exclusions in a similar vein to what's missing in jazz (as previously mentioned, Hank Williams is a particularly obvious missing link), so it's a little hard to stomach a crossover album being included with some core essentials missing. But in a vacuum I have no gripes about this being here, and I think from a historical perspective it's useful to see what did well in the mainstream, particularly when it has enough staying power to stand on its own two legs musically if you choose not to consider its commercial success. That's a lot of words to say check this one out; it's a lot of fun and you may find yourself liking it even if you're one of those awful "everything but rap and country" people.

Next up: another jazz classic, with Dave Brubeck's Time Out!

[1001albumsrated]

#21: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Genre(s): Modal Jazz

Of all 1001 albums in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Kind of Blue might be the most heavily written about, and likely one of the most talked about as well. If someone says "hey I'm curious about jazz but don't know where to start" (or, in 2024, googles a recc chart), this is unilaterally the starting point. Kind of Blue is the Rome that all jazz roads lead to (and from!). I wouldn't say it's my favorite jazz album, and you can argue endlessly on whether it's the best, but it's without a doubt the most centrally located. The tunes are highly accessible, but possess enormous theoretical depth and showcase exceptional technical prowess from the players. And while sales numbers are far from everything, Miles drove sports cars and dated models for a reason: Kind of Blue is RIAA certified 5x platinum as of 2019, making it the best-selling jazz album of all time by an enormous margin (beating the 2nd highest, Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters, 5 times over; no, I'm not going to count the fucking Kenny G Christmas album or whatever, we're talking real jazz here).

It's also a landmark in the explosion of modal jazz, turning previous hard bop and bebop styles on their heads. You can find more compelling music theory explanations of modal jazz elsewhere (I'm confident there's an Adam Neely video somewhere that does it justice), but the short version is that it moved the focus from a more traditional "this song is in a key, play chords from that key and solo over them in the same key" approach to a more open ended approach of playing with a focus on the mode rather than the key, allowing for a much wider tonal palette for improvisation and creating a wildly different sound (you can think of modes as a both a subset and a superset of keys; they essentially rearrange a key to change the root note it starts and ends on while maintaining the same collection of notes, which in practice can dramatically change the feel of the key and allows for modulation between keys to sound more enharmonic. This is a super simplified explanation, again, go learn about the theory if you want to know more).

To me, this album is an old friend. This is one of the first albums that really made jazz click for me. Like most non-jazz listeners, I felt at the time like the bulk of jazz I heard was either dreadful old man coffee shop music or the sound of toddlers causing a directionless racket in the studio. I remember being in my bedroom as a teenager, listening to low quality rips of these tracks in the early days of YouTube, mind blown at the sounds I was hearing. It was laid back, but still had a lot of motion and technicality, and was deeply evocative. Today, so many years later, I feel the same things I felt then. Kind of Blue is one of those very rare, special albums that simply doesn't wear out. I've heard it a million times and can anticipate every note, but it's still a joy to listen to every time.

The version I'm listening to today is the 2007 Japanese SACD (another fascinating element to Kind of Blue is how radically different the various versions of it out there sound, with different mixes often completely rearranging the soundstage). This edition is one of my favorites; it's still the more modern Mark Wilder mix and benefits from the higher degree of clarity his mix brings, but it has a warmer, more laid back feel to it than most of the other iterations of his mix on various other formats. My chief complaint on his Miles mixes in general has always been that they're overly bright, to the point of Miles' trumpet often sounding harsh, and this is one of the very rare versions of the KoB Wilder mix that feels more natural to me.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the quality of the personnel on this one: the sextet here is an extension of Miles' "First Great Quintet", featuring the dynamite rhythm section of Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers, with the impressionistic Bill Evans on piano (and his replacement Wynton Kelly on Freddie Freeloader, as Evans was mostly retired from the band at this point after burning out from the band's rigorous touring schedule), and the all-star sax section of John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. All of the players (with the exception of Cobb) were great bandleaders in their own right, and all were top-notch players. We'll see most (if not all) of these folks again on this list, with a few showing up later as bandleaders. This is one of the things that I've always found appealing about jazz: every week is a crossover episode. I'm forever discovering that a player I love played as a sideman on this other album, and the bandleader on that one used to play with this other guy, and so on in a web that seems to stretch out forever. Jazz is far from the only thing I listen to, but it's one of the easiest genres for me to get engrossed in on account of the constant interconnections between players (my obsession with Wikipedia and Discogs diving and biography reading doesn't help).

Also of historical interest is the fact that only a few weeks after recording the final KoB sessions, John Coltrane would return to the studio to record the legendary Giant Steps with his own band; this album, for reasons beyond any and all comprehension or semblance of good taste, has been excluded from 1001 Albums. It's laughable to omit both it and My Favorite Things, both of which are major touchstones in jazz (soloing over Giant Steps, referring to the song rather than the album here, is still a mountain that any serious jazz player will climb today during the process of mastering their instrument). And maybe it's my huge obsession with free and spiritual jazz talking here, but I think there's a strong argument for including at least one of Coltrane's freer post-A Love Supreme albums; his interplay with Pharoah Sanders is spectacular, as is the way he and his wife Alice lock in, and those albums would go on to inform all flavors of "out" jazz and experimental music to come (also, while I'm complaining, it's equally ridiculous to omit both Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane from the book as bandleaders, and doing so really shows the authors' collective ignorance when it comes to any jazz that cuts deeper than surface level).

Ok, I'm done griping about the list (for now). Anyways, Kind of Blue is one of the highest pinnacles of musical achievement, yes you MUST hear it before you die. If you somehow haven't heard it, log off and go listen. You'll thank me later.

Coming up next time: we pivot back to country with the legendary Marty Robbins album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (or, for the terminally online, the one with Big Iron on it 😉).

[1001albumsrated]

#20: Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

Genre(s): RnB, Pop, Soul

Remember what I just said about cheesy string sections in my last post? Can't wait til we're done with those. Anyways, here's Ray. I can't imagine anyone not knowing Ray Charles, but yeah it's Ray Charles, one of the most iconic voices in RnB and pop music. He broke racial and cultural barriers and enjoyed enormous mainstream success for decades. This album sees him entering fully into the world of traditional pop, performing mostly standards and classics, half with a big band and half with an orchestra, and to massive commercial success. Of historical note is that two of the arrangements were done by a young Quincy Jones (we'll talk plenty about him in future posts, watch this space).

I'm not into the arrangements across the board on this one. They're very much stuck in the 50s. The production leaves a bit to be desired too, despite the appearance of a high budget. Ray, however, is in top form here, both on vocals and the piano. And these renditions would go on to be definitive versions for many of the tunes on the album, mostly just on the merits of his performances. This leaves me in a bit of a strange spot... MUST you hear The Genius of Ray Charles before you die? I'm feeling a lukewarm Yes. I think there's some historical merit here, and he's certainly an iconic voice. I dunno, I'm just string-sectioned out man. If I were looking for space to fit in other albums on the list I would probably consider cutting this one (more Ray will be coming down the pipeline), but I'm not mad at its inclusion.

I listened in hi-res on Qobuz, although I'm not sure it helped bring much else out of the recording.

Next up, we've got a big one, one of the biggest in fact: Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis!

[1001albumsrated]

#19: Ella Fitzgerald w/ arrangements by Nelson Riddle - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Song Book (1958)

Genre(s): Jazz Vocals, Pop, Showtunes

There are a couple elephants in the room here, so let's just lay them out.

1: Ella Fitzgerald is one of the greatest vocalists of all time, no questions asked.

2: The Gershwin brothers are responsible for damn near every classic showtune of the era, many of which became pop and jazz standards, but they sure are the showtune-iest showtunes (they really wrote the book on composing for Broadway).

3: Nelson Riddle is the king of schmaltz, again, no questions asked.

4: A 3.5 hour box set of songs from different musicals is not a fucking album. I'm sorry, but it just isn't.

Those facts leave me conflicted. But let's add some opinions:

1: I hate musicals, any by extension showtunes. Take away my queer license, I don't care. Not a musicals guy, never have been, never will be, no not Hamilton or Rocky Horror or Repo or any other "offbeat" musical. I just don't like 'em. I enjoy a good play, just don't start singing in the middle of it and we're gucci.

2: Nelson Riddle is one of my least favorite arrangers, and this project has made me listen to more of his work in a short period of time than I've ever wanted to. If I hear another sentimental string crescendo I'm going to shit.

3: I love Ella Fitzgerald. Just a spectacular vocalist. Like I've said before, I don't listen to a lot of vocal jazz. But if I have to I'm always happy to hear her.

This all puts me in a strange place. I actually left the "yes/no" cell on my nerdy 1001 Albums spreadsheet blank for about a week while I percolated on this one. The influence of the Gershwins is undeniable, and I think Ella sings what I'd consider to be the definitive versions of these songs (at least while staying true to their original forms; there are plenty of jazzier instrumental versions of the standards here that I'd much rather hear). As previously stated, not a fan of the Riddler, but I think his style is authentic to the spirit of the original compositions so I can't be too mad at the choice to work with him.

On the other hand, what an absolute slog of a listen. I had to break this up over two sessions, both for logistical reasons and because 3.5 hours of this is just too fucking much. I don't feel like this qualifies as an album, not just because of length, but on account of the content. Don't get me wrong, there are some incredibly long albums I love (for example: the atmospheric black metal epic Shards of Silver Fade by Midnight Odyssey clocks in at almost 2.5 hours, and Matmos' 99 artist collaborative experimental electronic epic The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form clocks in right under 3 hours, or even Anthony Braxton's mind-obliterating 4 hour free jazz epic Quartet (New Haven) 2014), but I think the difference is that those are intended to be single, coherent experiences. This is, to me, more of a traditional box set compilation than an album. Even though these are new recordings recorded at the same sessions, I don't feel like I'm supposed to be listening all the way through. I was feeling positive but also like I'd had enough after 1 disc, and the next 3 really did me in. This, to me, is diedard material, much in the same vein as the various Miles Davis complete sessions box sets. I wouldn't tell someone "oh, my favorite Miles record is The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions", it's just asinine. I love it, but it's still not an album.

I've meandered here, so let's get to the point. Is Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Song Book an album you MUST hear before you die? I don't think it's an album, and even if you want to say it is, I don't think it stands on its own two legs enough to say anything but No to that question. I love Ella, and I think she has recorded plenty of great albums we could pick here, but I really don't see the need to listen to this unless you're a diehard Ella fan, a diehard theater kid (grown or otherwise), or a diehard jazz fan who wants to hear the best original versions of these classic tunes. I hate to say that, because I tend to take a historic lens to these sorts of things and I don't think you can understate the historical significance of these songs, but this just doesn't make the cut for me. It is, however, where I suspect many listeners' 1001 Albums journeys met their untimely demise. Great album art though, they nailed that.

For the nerds: I listened to this in hi-res on Qobuz. The track order there seems to vary from some of the other lists I've seen. Of note is that it puts the Ella-less instrumental cuts at the end where they belong instead of the beginning (or even better, maybe they could have stayed on the cutting room floor).

Next up: The Genius of Ray Charles by, you guessed it, Ray Charles!