I love watching your videos, Andy. We are same generation and you create this pleasant homey atmosphere, so I feel almost like talking with one of my music-buff mates. Lovely Birmingham accent, too. 👍 Thanks! annnd cheers! 😆
What I enjoyed about this - besides his unbridled enthusiasm and incredible breadth of musical styles, is that this isn’t a “greatest albums of all time” list, because if that were the case I would disagree with a lot of them. But, he makes a compelling case for an album’s importance on music in general, and probably rock music in particular. Very well done. Thank you!
I totally agree. The focus on "importance" rather than "greatness" makes this an interesting video and, like you, I have to admit that Andy does make very solid reasonings for the rankings. Good job.
I wasted an hour slogging through Rolling Stone's 500 greatest blah blah blah. It did brighten my day though, I had several genuine laughs out loud. And of all the 'rock' albums ever made, they chose 'Let's Get It On' by Marvin Gaye as #1, lololololol
Amen Brother! Just give me the list! I've never known anybody so in love with hearing their self ramble on, and then have the audacity to ask for money!
The time they are announced, but there is often introduction, and description before these times. 6:16 #10: Paid in Full by Eric B and Reqium 10:03 #9: The Velvet Underground and Nico 13: 53 #8: Kind of Blue by Mile Davis 19:30 #7: Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk 26:19 #6: Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath 28:40 #5: Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention, and 31:47 #4: Revolver by the Beatles. 33:58 #3: King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson 37:57 #2: Free Wheeling by Bob Dylan 42:59 #1: In the Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra
I’ve never said “Hmmm, interesting”, so many times before when hearing a ranking choice, lol. So, I don’t necessarily agree with this list, but it’s refreshing to hear a unique take and I honestly learned a lot just from the couple videos I’ve watched so far. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
These were so well-reasoned choices. Well done! If you think of Can as dark and doomy then you probably haven’t listened to any of their albums aside from Tago Mago. Give them another listen, and make sure to check out Ege Bamyasi and Future Days.
I find them more weird, artsy intellectual than dark. Although if I had to listen to Can for days straight, I might go insane. Early Neu! I wouldn't consider dark either.
Hello Andy, discovered your channel a few weeks ago , now I'm watching a video of yours almost daily! I appreciate your take on the music and your ability to look at the context, the bigger picture, the evolution of things and your subjectivity (is that a word? I am from Italy, in case, sorry). The second thing I wanted to say: I never heard you mention the band Beggars Opera, they are as british prog as it gets. Do you know them? I think they are great on their first albums. (But of course, maybe you mentioned them already in earlier, in that case, just ignore this part of my comment).
The prog movement of the 1970s, bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes and King Crimson exploited the album format to the full. Love your list, especially the number one. Subscribed.
Thank you for pulling together at least a few of the threads that have been aimlessly drifting through my mind for over 50 years. Until now, I sensed no purpose in clarification. Yes, until now. Liked and subbed.
hey, I know a lot about music. My mother already collected funk and soul LPs. I'm also a funk, soul, jazz, Afrobeat and hiphop fan. But you also teach me a lot about other styles, as you listen to and collect music in an extremely diverse way. I'm glad I discovered you here. Thank you and good luck in everything you do.
I love the story of how Kraftwerk were inspired by The Beach Boys in that their music took you straight to Southern California, Kraftwerk's made you picture industrial Europe
@Andy Edwards, I cannot disagree with any of your choices...all fantastic. It took me a minute, but when thinking of albums that revolutionized the format (versus revolutionary albums), Jethro Tull's 'Thick As A Brick' from 1972 comes to mind. It was a single/continuous composition with only a single break (to flip the vinyl). I don't know if it is the first of its kind, but if it is, I think that album would at least deserve an honorable mention/addition to your list. Cheers, Brent
Very well argued Andy. There's a lot of knowledge here and a real understanding of why the vinyl album was so important. You've picked some real classics here to illustrate your points. Interesting that you picked the Sabbath debut. I agree, it's their most important album for the reasons you gave. I think I'd also add debuts by Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix; A Hard Day's Night instead of Revolver; and DSOTM. There should be a bit more jazz in there too and perhaps even some easy listening or a soundtrack album from the '50s to complete your story. Many thanks for a great video.
The early Beatles albums get short shrift because of the amazing growth and studio prowess of the Beatles and George Martin / Geoff Emerick's impact, post touring years. But the UK release of A Hard Day's Night not only reveals the group at the top of their Rock game, but is a masterpiece driven by LENNON. It is really John's (one hell of an) album! A wonderful DISCOVERY moment for anyone who's not delved into the early Beatles catalogue.
One thing that made the LP the format that ruled the world was the cover art. The aim was to make the album look like what the music sounded like. By looking at the jacket you could enter a door into the world the music described. Then there were the liner notes. The scholarship and/or criticism let you know why you should buy the record, and what to listen for. With CDs the notes were reduced to microscopic size and you needed a magnifying glass to read them.
My god Andy you nailed it on this one! 1000% agree with your synopsys of the album in general. Not only the emersive album art, song titles sometimes story lines but band member names, producers, engineers and studio names were recognized and remembered! ❤
Most people don't realize what a tectonic shift that Remain In Light indeed WAS... Basically it was the Prototype for the method in which all albums would be later created. Only at the time it was fantastically difficult. Nowadays you have loop based recordings on nearly every single project. Loops are pretty much the way we record now and way we produce and construct songs. At the time, though, we didn't have digital recordings or hard drives or things that could be looped in a convenient way. But this guy Brian Eno, Had been working with tape loops for many years. And when he started recording his music and basically he was not a musician, His art form was to play the recording studio via his collection of tape loops. And he was able to do things using the new SMPTE based recorders, That allowed him to create all of these different loops with different times but still keep them a synchronized together.... And then be able to fade them up as required in this song... All the things that we do in take for granted these days, doing so at a painstaking pace loop by loop, all assembled together running off the same time code. If you were to listen to the stereo difference, Which you can find on youtube, Stereo differences will show you that there are several generations of loops that are contributing to the overall atmosphere of the recording... It seems as though there is a 1000 things going on. But really there's only a couple of loops... All of them were assembled and mixed as a track and then usually lead vocals were cut live over them.. The song once in a lifetime, The chorus vocals were looped over and over to get that sound... And even parts of the lead vocals were looped after the fact... It was a massive bunch of tape that made that song possible and interestingly the The great rhythms and loops of base and Afro-Cuban style. Rhythms were very much danceable and it was a hit in the dance clubs in europe. People got down to it! Later on, the digital era became a reality and loop based recording. Came back with a vengeance and now it's kind of a blight on most recordings... Loops are not done with the greatest of care or with the highest quality of instruments. It just seems to be a bunch of computer based crap. What Eno Did was to take actual tracks of music played by professional bands and musicians and loop those in the large analog recording studios.... That was the magic of his work. And even though it was lute based, it was about a hundred times more difficult than regular production at that time.... What takes people a fraction of the time to record an album these days, Took many more times back then.
@MusicOverMyHead that's correct. But they didn't build actual songs around them. The mellotron is akin to a sampler and is played. But the other instances that they used loops were only for incidental noises and not actual parts of the musical foundation.. For the benefit of mister kite, Add snipped up a bunch of random pieces of calliope music, But if you heard the loops of calliope, It would not resemble music with a rhythm. And in tomorrow never knows, They used loops, but they were just random noises that they made in their home was before they came into the studio.
@@seansweeney3532 In "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) the use of loops is quite foundatory to convey what Lennon had in his head - it could never have been achieved with normal musical instruments at the time. Also, "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc (1975) with groundbreaking use of hundreds of vocal loops to create a large, flowing, wordless choir.
@louise_rose good examples, but the use of loops was not absolute, as in "loop-based" recording. That's what Eno really founded. In which all parts of a song are loops. The technology that eno used was practically around back then, But they didn't have the ability to sync up multiple machines as Eno did, Using the larger studios that would use the SMPTE time code to stripe a channel of tape and link/sync multiple large analog multi-tracks. That is what we're seeing with the early experiments by Eno. With 10cc... they had vocal drones in notes and vowel sounds arranged almost like a sampled choir, and played like a virtual keyboard... and in tomorrow, It's not necessarily foundational to the music, honestly. If that were the case, it would be a more deliberate process and not as random. The way the tapes were laid down was quite at random and The end result was serendipitous and not deliberate.
I'm still not using commercially available loops. It's just more fun creating your own and play with them, I found out long time ago. 😉So I'm not anti-loop. Playing with a loop can bring the track to another level. Or not. Creative freedom is yours to exploit. 👍
This is a very important point, recorded music is a very modern thing. Music is not. Our reception of music and it's significance has altered significantly. I wish there were more podcasts looking at the cultural significance of music, it's physics (rhythm, melody, harmony), the medium (instrumentation), it's performance (improvised, memorised or written, and the genealogy of written music) and the cultural implications of when and where music is received.
To be specific, vinyl record albums (especially those that you could open up and peruse, like a photo album) are culturally significant because they represent a way for everybody, including non-musicians, to participate in the music. The record album invites you to sit cross-legged on the floor reading the liner notes while listening to a side of a disc. A typical ritual would be to listen to an exciting new release together with friends. The cardboard album jacket served multiple uses. It might be suitable for display on the wall. When I was in college, the jacket, propped up at an angle, often was used to separate seeds from cannabis (back when that was a necessary procedure). Long live the vinyl LP!
1966 was definitely an important year for Rock. Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, Byrd's Fifth Dimension, Stones Aftermath, Fresh Cream, Kinks Face To Face, the Who A Quick One in addition to Revolver & Freak Out! Also the year Hendrix recorded and released the 'Hey Joe' single in England. So much going on...
Here's the list: 10. Paid In Full by Eric B. and Rakeem 1986 6:15 9. Velvet Underground with Niko 1967 10:02 8. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis 1959 13:53 7. Trans European Express by Kraftwerk 1977 19:30 6. Black Sabbath 1969 25:10 5. Freak Out by Frank Zappa 1966 27:58 4. Revolver by The Beatles 1966 31:45 3. King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson 1961 33:15 2. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan 1963 37:58 1. In the Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra 1955 40:35
Thanks for this. I actually agree with your criteria and your list!!! Even though I haven’t heard all of these records I look forward to diving deeper.
I remember older kids at school carrying the first Led Zep album around. I queued at the record shop after school to get Tales Of Topographic Oceans on the day of release. I was 15. I'm nostalgic for the vinyl album covers but not the medium itself. It was too delicate and to get the best from vinyl you need to spend a bit of money on decent kit, mainly a good turntable and cartridge. These cheap turntables with USB to "digitize" your collection DO NOT cut it. CD is much more robust and while the sound was a bit harsh in the early days as engineers/producers etc worked out how to get the best out of it, it matured. Also you can get much more music on a single CD and on a money-for-value basis I'm disappointed if there isn't more than 60 minutes of music on there! That said, I stick my headphones on for some listening and I'm probably asleep after 30 minutes!! (I am 66).
We'd get along real well! I'm 60 years mold and tried line hell to get back into vinyl. I sold over 1000 albums, all in terrific condition, all absolutely feature the very greatest metal, rock, blues, soul, pop and country music ever produced (my music taste is unchallenged! Haha!) for literally pennies, due to being so excited about the invention of the compact disc! I torture myself thinking about what a stupid move that was, especially looking at the outrageous price of vinyl nowadays. A few yrs. ago, I picked up a technics turntable for $120.00 and started purchasing mostly used records, only buying new albums from my favs like Zeppelin, Beatles, AC/DC, Rush and Neil Young. What a disappointment my turntable was, the sound wasnt that great and it was only later that I realized you must have a pretty expensive turntable and cartridge to get the most out of vinyl sonics. I also didn't like having to get up to flip the record over and had some skipping problems with used records as well. Still debating whether to obtain a high end turntable, as record prices are a joke! For now, I'm sticking with my beloved cd's. Vinyl just isn't user friendly. Lastly, I get used cd's, which almost always play perfectly, for dirt cheap, especially with people turning their used cd's in, due to the prevalence of streaming. Really dug your post and while missing the art work in larger form, cd's are still where it's at for me! Peace.
@@treff9226 The sky is the limit concerning spending on turntables. A good starting point is Rega. All their turntables get good ratings from the reviewers. Talking of CD's, I remember buying Yes's Going For The One on CD. It was awful, wat too bright and harsh on the ears as if the faders were pushed up to 11!! The remastered version is better. While I still buy CD's I download a lot now (paid for). But only in lossless format such as FLAC. MP3 is not good enough.
Loved this list. I’d only add that The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was only the first of a stream of SIX albums by Dylan that changed music for decades to come.
@@Larkinchance silhouetted by the sea/circled by the circus sands/with all memory and fate/driven deep beneath the waves/let me forget about today until tomorrow
You don't hear Country Joe and the Fish singing about Vietnam anymore, but Dylan's "Masters of War" is still relevant because it is timeless. Poetry re-emerged through music during this period.. but atm, it has vanished This is why we cling to Dylan's lyrics@@michaelmcintyre4690
Thank goodness you include Freak Out. I was into FZ and Trout Mask from the beginning. Can and Amon Duul were brilliant and for me Kraftwerk were too pop, but also listening to the Beetles and Coltrane, Miles, lightning Hopkins, The Bonzos. Very interesting list - never liked Dylan or Sinatra so can’t disagree with you. Excellent!
When I saw ‘Wee Small Hours’ on this list I thought an album that takes on that concept, for the 80s, is Joe Jackson’s ‘Night and Day’. ‘Stepping Out’ on the album’s night side paints the picture of an 80s night out on the lash in the bright lights, to me. Not really a concept album as such but a nod to Sinatra’s night. See what you think.
10 out of a possible 10 and I have only made it to #6! Frank Zappa as the godfather of The Beatles, et.al? I have listened to at least 150 videos by youtube music afficianados in the last two weeks and this surpasses any of them in terms of detached historiography although your passion comes through brilliantly. I love what you said about Black Sabbath. OMG you just took me back 50 years!
More for entertainment value, here's my recommendation for an upcoming video: Blindfolded, you walk up to your wall of albums and pull out random samples and just elucidate on whatever comes to mind. It's historic significance (if any), production excellence (or not), musicianship, artwork, when you acquired it, personal story... Do 5 or 10 random sample selections. Entertainment assured.
Anyone who does a top 10 that is as eclectic as this should be taken seriously as a muso. I might even listen to the rap album. Glad you mentioned Robert Palmer along with Clapton. Check out Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks-great blues band. Andy Warhol is a classic album. John Cale, the violinist in the band, was a prodigy who actually broadcast on radio playing when a child. Freak Out- I’m definitely going to listen to that. Always enjoyed what little Zappa I have heard. I’m impressed at how early it is. Agree with your comments about Kraftwerk that they are central to a lot of modern music genres. More familiar with John Coltrane than I am with Miles Davis so I will be checking him out also. Black Sabbath’s first album was very different from other heavy bands which drew more from the blues. They also played more ominously slowly. Although never a true fan, I think they are massively important. Revolver is my favourite album of all time. Dr Robert is their last ‘beat’ recording. Robert Johnson really is as important as everyone thinks. Think of Elmore James’ ‘Dust My Broom’ and the staple- ‘Crossroads’. Grew up listening to Sinatra- my mum was a fan. Wee Wee Hours has been described as the first concept album- peerless. If it were me, I would have put Five Live Yardbirds in there. For a band to release a live album as its debut, is astonishing. The album itself benefits as much from its weaknesses as it does its absolute exuberance Thank You
I really appreciate how you stay true to the “most important” idea, even to the point of recognizing albums that influenced musical trends you DON’T like, and how you also didn’t ignore albums that even normies are aware of (kind of blue, etc).
I don't like the Dylan album, or The Velvet Underground album (well I like Venus in Furs) and I can take or leave the Eric B and Rakim album. People who think we cannot at least try to be objective about art have not thought about it enough
you know what objective means right? your taste is entirely influenced by your feelings and opinions, if you had no feelings and opinions you would be unconscious @@AndyEdwardsDrummer
@@marthawilson7994 definition: Normie is a slang for a “normal person,” especially someone seen to have conventional, mainstream tastes, interests, viewpoints, etc.....and the reason why I think their viewpoint COULD be inferior is what I am trying to deal with on this channel. And my argument fundamentally would be because their viewpoint does not balance hedonism and perfectionism.
Albums I might add for their influence; Pet Sounds-Beach Boys Highway 61 Revisited-Bob Dylan In the Court of the Crimson King-King Crimson Bitches Brew-Miles Davis Another Green World-Brian Eno Pink Flag-Wire Low-David Bowie Never mind-Nirvana
brilliantly interesting list, slightly surprised Pepper isn't no 1 but hey, as the list progressed i was thinking about a quiet album in my rack, and wondered if it might appear, The wee small hours !! By Frank ! cheers
Great stuff. Would love to have a few pints and and share a joint and listen to, and talk about, music with this bloke. I don’t know if “the message of Ledbelly and Woody Guthrie is a mixture of the spiritual and the profane” is an original assertion but I’m gonna quote Andy Edwards on it. I think that the insight/assertion defines all powerful modern popular music (i.e., folk, blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, progressive, reggae, heavy metal, gangsta rap, funk, soul, country, etc). I would have wanted to include a Hank Williams album and Never Mind the Bullocks somewhere in the list but there were only 10 slots so may not have fit. Well done: expertly put together and passionately and convincingly articulated. Liked and Sub’d today👍🏽
Very well explained in it's background. Can' understand, why people often just listen to music and show no interests, how it was created (depending on personal matters of the creators, the possibilites of recording it, the scene around them and most important, the background of the actually Zeitgeist, that set it's influence... - maybe it is my ADHS, that keeps me interessted in all that..)
Can't argue with any of that, your knowledge and reasoning is spot on Andy. So I'll take the liberty of making it a Top 11 and add "Fresh Cream", for introducing the idea of being seriously good musicians in the pop scene to the mass pop audience, thereby creating the rock audience, kickstarting prog whilst writing great pop like "I Feel Free", being the musical blueprint for Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and frankly, the 70's.
Taking even more liberty and adding #12: 'Innervisions' by Stevie Wonder, which marks his transition from child prodigy to a socially-conscious, experimental artiste, and #13: 'What's Going On?' by Marvin Gaye, a masterpiece. And because I'm being indulgent (apologies!) I'll add at #14: 'Since I Left You' by The Avalanches, one of the most ground-breaking plunderphonic records of all time 🙂
A very fine selection of important classics! My own list aligns on: Kind of Blue, Black Sabbath and Revolver. A couple other albums I think could be considered as inclusions/ honourable mentions are: King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King (a landmark in Prog); and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Andy probably didn't wish to double up on artists here). There certainly are some intriguing selections in Andy's list and as such I now have more homework to do! And when I say intrigued, I am particularly interested in the choice of Frank Sinatra! My Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD Sixth Edition excludes Frank. Jazz purism / elitism at work perhaps!
The trick with Miles (and Black Sabbath) is that he essentially created I think five different styles of jazz. The question then becomes, how many held up as albums. BS founded or close to founding at as many variants of metal. Doom, thrash, groove, Stoner, politics/protest, black, etc. Plus they added folk, jazz, and via Charles Bradley cover "Changes," a bit of soul.
@@johncampbell756 Agreed. The common denominator being that multiple top notch artists joined the ranks of both Miles Davis' various group configurations throughout the 50's and through to the late 80's, and likewise, Black Sabbath's various Marks following the initial Ozzy-era (included among its ranks: Dio, Vinnie Appice, Ian Gillan, Bev Bevan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Bob Daisley, Cozy Powell, Tony Martin, Neil Murray, et al). All those artists brought their skills and influences with them which helped shape different metal sounds, and which touched on other genres. Another band (and some of its offshoots such as Rainbow and Whitesnake) which was also influential in similar ways (owing to multiple line-up changes) was Deep Purple (psychedelic rock; early progressive rock; hard rock; speed metal; neo-classical; and funk-rock to slight a degree; etc......AND, because of their penchant in a live setting to go on long extended jams and soloing.....almost a "Jazz on Steroids" approach).
@@garyh.238 Barro g any group that never had a lineup change and none of the members ever played in any other bands, almost any rock band (and some rap artists) can do a six degrees of separation. To either Black Sabbath or Deep Purple.
@@johncampbell756 Agreed....such an overlap between those 2 bands....like dual hubs with their various spokes going out in multiple directions and linking to other artists and genres.
@@garyh.238 I have the original nexus, Born Again on vinyl, because someone left it on the subway seat next to my dad. He brought it hoe, "You want this?"The one previous time he asked about a band, I said no because I didn't like 50s Doo Wop. "Do you like The Pretenders?" I was an idiot.
Can’t deny the historical gravity of Wee Small Hours, though Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely was his favorite. (Just like I’d lean more towards Uncle Meat, etc.) Great stuff, as always, Andy.
I'm fairly new to the channel. I must say, the more of your videos I watch, the more I realize how little I actually know... beyond my own, narrow tastes. I am disappointed that Tommy didn't make the list. Afterall, it was the ultimate concept album at the time. The term 'rock opera' was invented just to describe it. Now, if I was running the world, my list would look something like: The Who Sell Out, Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who's Next and Quadrophenia... with a few others tossed in there like... Revolver. 😁
Extremely interesting presentation. I needed to adjust my perspective as you moved to 7, 6 and so on. I understand better now that these albums were both great and ground breaking in approach. Each being the beginning of something different. Thank you!
Bowie's "Low" would have merited to be on the list I think - many 1980s and 90s bands owe an incalculable debt to the sounds and musical concepts of that album (U2 being an obvious example). And it was a very bold departure from what anyone had heard before.
Dear Andy, I am going to cheat. The most important album for me was actually a specific piece of vinyl owned by Higham Lane School in Nuneaton (about 1970, 1971 ish) The music teacher put on a record of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. He highlighted the 11 beat section and I thought…. “My goodness, anything is possible”. For me, I have never experienced a more important musical moment. Keep up the good work.
First let me say how much I love your videos. Right. Having said that, when I was in college in the late 80s/Early 90s I joined a music exchange club on campus. Once a week we would gather and trade cassette copies we made of our favorite albums. At the time I was almost exclusively a metalhead. At our first meet I traded tapes of Judas Priest's "Sad Wings of Destiny" and Alice Cooper's "Killer" with a guy who gave me "Kind of Blue" and Zappa's "We're Only in it for the Money" in return. Both albums absolutely floored me. They left me questioning everything I thought I knew about what music could be, and they literally changed my life. I can't tell you how many copies of both albums I've worn out in the ensuing decades.
Hi Andy, this is off-topic but I just wanted to thank you for turning me on to the cardiacs. I meant to tell you this awhile back... But yeah, I love 'em!
Me and my brothers had access to an awesome technics aa+ system with Revoks and Thorens decks. you need two cause one tune must transition into the other... we would each pick an album 3 of us in turn until we had 12 laid out on an old chinese rug. We would admire the art, we knew who played what, the year of release, the producer, the special mentions and acknowledgements. We listened through huge B&W speakers and smoked dope ... My favourite memories man! It was an event!
Really grooved in this one Andy! And sadly it underscores the sadness in my soul that is the demise of the music industry. While we know there was an ugliness underneath as part of it, the grandeur that came out will not be seen in mass again. And I think with lack of albums comes lack of live venues. So now we have no bands playing live. Tik tok just isnt it.
This is a great video and I love the historical perspective that you take. If I was going to include any other album it would be The Clash, London Calling because of the variety of genres that it contains and its subsequent influence, but it comes later than most of the stuff on here, so no big deal. Well done, a very satisfying Saturday morning listen.
Some fine, thought-provoking choices. And the mention of Amon Duull, one of the German bands that influenced the heavy rock side of modern prog music. But your picks range far and wide, and bear little relation to your list of the most important bands of all time. Interesting! Of course, in this list you allow individual artists, whereas the other list is confined to bands. It certainly makes me want to listen to 'In the Wee Small Hours' from one of the greatest civil rights activists of the period. I am still entirely hooked on albums. I know that streaming has taken us back to singles, but the constructed album is a beautiful thing.
Yea, you are spot on about the album format.... also, we got sold on the idea of losing all that glorious artwork! The package of an album or double album was fabulous.
Off topic but I've never seen you mention The Smashing Pumpkins. In my opinion they could be considered a prog band and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is one of the greatest prog albums and albums in general of all time. Would be interested to hear your perspective on the band. Worth relistening to Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie if you haven't considered it seriously before.
Great list! Everyone on it gets the warm and thoughtful tribute he deserves, and I appreciate especially your homage to hip-hop, Kraftwerk and Black Sab/Birmingham! Wonder who I would need to push out in order to bring in some of the early stuff of The Wailers produced by Lee Scratch Perry, seems odd to me that the groundreaking influence of these two albums and jamaican music in general on the future of popular music so rarely makes it in the picture. Everyone is entitled to his blind spot, maybe yours is on reggae...
In addition to the spinny thing on LZIII…. The lyrics and cutouts in Sgt Pepper The 4 photos and poster in the White Album The working zipper on Sticky Fingers The interior drawing in the inner fold of Eat a Peach The front photo of Peter Frampton on Frampton Comes Alive The photo of Earth Wind and Fire on That’s the Way of the World The inner gate fold of Blow Your Face Out. Can’t get that in a download or stream!
and the newspaper in Thick as a Brick, also Faust had an all black album with black papers inside, and the colored vinyls not sure which was first _ I remember some Elvis Costello with colored discs.
Agree with Black Sabbath, Krafwerk and Beatles Revolver, Stranglers should get an honoury mention for the first commercially successful post punk Album Black and White.
Thought about this too. TMR seems to be so ahead of its time we still don’t know its overall influence. It still holds immense power of possibility for music to come! Imho of course. I just discovered TMR and feel it’s some of the greatest art committed to tape! Fast & Bulbous.
lovely list, i've enjoyed all these albums a lot over the years. As for your comment about Black Sabbath and nobody else that follows that sound... I think The Melvins channel that same spirit at times. Depends what album you listen to though.
Thank you for your well researched and interestingly presented piece. As you say, it’s largely around personal preference when it comes to favorite artist / album. You however present many facts which I was not aware of which I found informative and very interesting. Thank you 🙏
Totally agree with your points about ideal album length- the sound quality, the aesthetics etc. I would merely add that if you could fit the whole thing on one side of a C90, you were laughing:)
Thoroughly enjoyed your take on this. You mentioned some albums having a side 2 that is the antithesis of side 1. That make me think of Stanley Clarke's eponymous album with an electric fusion side 1 and an acoustic side 2. And side 2 wasn't today's type of "unplugged" as Clarke played virtuoso stand-up bass on side 2 in contrast to his Alembic electric bass on side 1. Kind Of Blue was a favorite of Duane Allman of the blues-rock band The Allman Brother's band and it influenced his jazz-flavored motifs. I would have included Roxy Music's Avalon in the top 10. In addition to incredible music, that album literally influenced the studio engineering and the production of nearly every recording since. I would also be tempted to include Siroco by Paco de Lucia in the top 10 as it's been called the best-sounding flamenco guitar album ever and it was groundbreaking in the flamenco style.
Brilliant as usual! Excellent closing. I always skipped Sinatra as old timer and never thought about him from such perspective. My list of lps to buy grows every time I watch you! Have a break, talk about King Crimson or Mahavishnu. I have at least most of their early works.))
I was wondering which Kraftwerk album you would choose, as without a doubt, Kraftwerk would appear on any top ten list of influential albums. Personally it would have been a coin toss between Radioactivity and Computer World
Mr Andy Edwards, thank you for you intelligence and approach - your list is wise and I really made me think!!! Now I need to look into some of the material and listen and learn!! Will follow and be educated in have a chance to discover songs/abums and groups. Thank you much appreciated.
Elvis Presly, love him or hate him he introduced a huge part of the world to artists such as Big Momma Thorton, Cuck Berry,Lloyd Price, Gospel musi., R&B, country, rockabilly.........
Elvis is a rare example of someone who was commercially successful and profoundly influential. Artists as varied as Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and John Lennon, to name a few
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I love watching your videos, Andy. We are same generation and you create this pleasant homey atmosphere, so I feel almost like talking with one of my music-buff mates. Lovely Birmingham accent, too. 👍 Thanks! annnd cheers! 😆
What I enjoyed about this - besides his unbridled enthusiasm and incredible breadth of musical styles, is that this isn’t a “greatest albums of all time” list, because if that were the case I would disagree with a lot of them. But, he makes a compelling case for an album’s importance on music in general, and probably rock music in particular. Very well done. Thank you!
I totally agree. The focus on "importance" rather than "greatness" makes this an interesting video and, like you, I have to admit that Andy does make very solid reasonings for the rankings. Good job.
I wasted an hour slogging through Rolling Stone's 500 greatest blah blah blah. It did brighten my day though, I had several genuine laughs out loud. And of all the 'rock' albums ever made, they chose 'Let's Get It On' by Marvin Gaye as #1, lololololol
I can hear the Monte Python cast yelling, " GET ON WITH IT!"
What tf is Monte Python?
@@skinovtheperineum1208 It's the mountain in the Amazon. 😆
Amen Brother! Just give me the list! I've never known anybody so in love with hearing their self ramble on, and then have the audacity to ask for money!
@@skinovtheperineum1208Google it!🏴
@@williamchapman7860 Move on then. A simple mantra that will help you get through life, ‘don’t be a dick’.
The time they are announced, but there is often introduction, and description before these times.
6:16 #10: Paid in Full by Eric B and Reqium
10:03 #9: The Velvet Underground and Nico
13: 53 #8: Kind of Blue by Mile Davis
19:30 #7: Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk
26:19 #6: Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
28:40 #5: Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention, and
31:47 #4: Revolver by the Beatles.
33:58 #3: King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson
37:57 #2: Free Wheeling by Bob Dylan
42:59 #1: In the Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra
Rakim
13:53
thank you very much very helpful
I’ve never said “Hmmm, interesting”, so many times before when hearing a ranking choice, lol.
So, I don’t necessarily agree with this list, but it’s refreshing to hear a unique take and I honestly learned a lot just from the couple videos I’ve watched so far. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
If you were truly serious you would go to eleven.
13 !!!!!
😂
And using the the importantnometer.
I see what you did there 😉🤣
Why don't you just 10 the best, and leave it there?
These were so well-reasoned choices. Well done!
If you think of Can as dark and doomy then you probably haven’t listened to any of their albums aside from Tago Mago. Give them another listen, and make sure to check out Ege Bamyasi and Future Days.
I find them more weird, artsy intellectual than dark. Although if I had to listen to Can for days straight, I might go insane. Early Neu! I wouldn't consider dark either.
Hello Andy, discovered your channel a few weeks ago , now I'm watching a video of yours almost daily! I appreciate your take on the music and your ability to look at the context, the bigger picture, the evolution of things and your subjectivity (is that a word? I am from Italy, in case, sorry).
The second thing I wanted to say: I never heard you mention the band Beggars Opera, they are as british prog as it gets. Do you know them? I think they are great on their first albums. (But of course, maybe you mentioned them already in earlier, in that case, just ignore this part of my comment).
So much knowledge. You make great arguments for your picks. Well done.
The prog movement of the 1970s, bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes and King Crimson exploited the album format to the full. Love your list, especially the number one. Subscribed.
Absolutely fascinating. I am grateful for you sharing your perspective. Bravo.
My pleasure!
I can’t listen to “Unknown Pleasures” anymore, but I’m surprised you left it out. Huge influence. Tony Wilson practically created indy.
I am impressed with your eclectic knowledge of multiple music genres and their timelines. You are a true "aficionado."
Thank you kindly!
Thank you for pulling together at least a few of the threads that have been aimlessly drifting through my mind for over 50 years. Until now, I sensed no purpose in clarification. Yes, until now. Liked and subbed.
hey, I know a lot about music. My mother already collected funk and soul LPs. I'm also a funk, soul, jazz, Afrobeat and hiphop fan. But you also teach me a lot about other styles, as you listen to and collect music in an extremely diverse way. I'm glad I discovered you here. Thank you and good luck in everything you do.
I love the story of how Kraftwerk were inspired by The Beach Boys in that their music took you straight to Southern California, Kraftwerk's made you picture industrial Europe
Sub'ed and liked. The effort, scholarship, knowledge, and thoughtful approach is appreciated.
@Andy Edwards,
I cannot disagree with any of your choices...all fantastic. It took me a minute, but when thinking of albums that revolutionized the format (versus revolutionary albums), Jethro Tull's 'Thick As A Brick' from 1972 comes to mind. It was a single/continuous composition with only a single break (to flip the vinyl). I don't know if it is the first of its kind, but if it is, I think that album would at least deserve an honorable mention/addition to your list.
Cheers,
Brent
I concur - still listen to it - more than I should - it's like a warm coat.
I love your comprehensive musical knowledge and cultural analysis. It's like a university-level music history lesson.
So glad I came across your video. A true historian. Learned so much.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very well argued Andy. There's a lot of knowledge here and a real understanding of why the vinyl album was so important. You've picked some real classics here to illustrate your points. Interesting that you picked the Sabbath debut. I agree, it's their most important album for the reasons you gave. I think I'd also add debuts by Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix; A Hard Day's Night instead of Revolver; and DSOTM. There should be a bit more jazz in there too and perhaps even some easy listening or a soundtrack album from the '50s to complete your story. Many thanks for a great video.
The early Beatles albums get short shrift because of the amazing growth and studio prowess of the Beatles and George Martin / Geoff Emerick's impact, post touring years. But the UK release of A Hard Day's Night not only reveals the group at the top of their Rock game, but is a masterpiece driven by LENNON. It is really John's (one hell of an) album! A wonderful DISCOVERY moment for anyone who's not delved into the early Beatles catalogue.
One thing that made the LP the format that ruled the world was the cover art. The aim was to make the album look like what the music sounded like. By looking at the jacket you could enter a door into the world the music described. Then there were the liner notes. The scholarship and/or criticism let you know why you should buy the record, and what to listen for. With CDs the notes were reduced to microscopic size and you needed a magnifying glass to read them.
Eclectic list! All worth a listen for an immersion in experiencing the roots of popular music innovations.
I love this channel. It's deepening my love of mid 20th century music.
Thank's for that Opening Explanation on albums! Thank's for excellent program!
My god Andy you nailed it on this one! 1000% agree with your synopsys of the album in general. Not only the emersive album art, song titles sometimes story lines but band member names, producers, engineers and studio names were recognized and remembered! ❤
Andy you’re amazing
I’m sitting in a hospital since
Christmas
And your vid’s have really preserved my mental state
Thank you
Stay strong man! You're doing so well.
Ambitious list. I’m looking forward to this one!
Most people don't realize what a tectonic shift that Remain In Light indeed WAS... Basically it was the Prototype for the method in which all albums would be later created. Only at the time it was fantastically difficult. Nowadays you have loop based recordings on nearly every single project. Loops are pretty much the way we record now and way we produce and construct songs. At the time, though, we didn't have digital recordings or hard drives or things that could be looped in a convenient way. But this guy Brian Eno, Had been working with tape loops for many years. And when he started recording his music and basically he was not a musician, His art form was to play the recording studio via his collection of tape loops. And he was able to do things using the new SMPTE based recorders, That allowed him to create all of these different loops with different times but still keep them a synchronized together.... And then be able to fade them up as required in this song... All the things that we do in take for granted these days, doing so at a painstaking pace loop by loop, all assembled together running off the same time code. If you were to listen to the stereo difference, Which you can find on youtube, Stereo differences will show you that there are several generations of loops that are contributing to the overall atmosphere of the recording... It seems as though there is a 1000 things going on. But really there's only a couple of loops... All of them were assembled and mixed as a track and then usually lead vocals were cut live over them.. The song once in a lifetime, The chorus vocals were looped over and over to get that sound... And even parts of the lead vocals were looped after the fact... It was a massive bunch of tape that made that song possible and interestingly the The great rhythms and loops of base and Afro-Cuban style. Rhythms were very much danceable and it was a hit in the dance clubs in europe. People got down to it! Later on, the digital era became a reality and loop based recording. Came back with a vengeance and now it's kind of a blight on most recordings... Loops are not done with the greatest of care or with the highest quality of instruments. It just seems to be a bunch of computer based crap. What Eno Did was to take actual tracks of music played by professional bands and musicians and loop those in the large analog recording studios.... That was the magic of his work. And even though it was lute based, it was about a hundred times more difficult than regular production at that time.... What takes people a fraction of the time to record an album these days, Took many more times back then.
The Beatles used loops. The mellotron was also based on loops.
@MusicOverMyHead that's correct. But they didn't build actual songs around them. The mellotron is akin to a sampler and is played. But the other instances that they used loops were only for incidental noises and not actual parts of the musical foundation.. For the benefit of mister kite, Add snipped up a bunch of random pieces of calliope music, But if you heard the loops of calliope, It would not resemble music with a rhythm. And in tomorrow never knows, They used loops, but they were just random noises that they made in their home was before they came into the studio.
@@seansweeney3532 In "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) the use of loops is quite foundatory to convey what Lennon had in his head - it could never have been achieved with normal musical instruments at the time. Also, "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc (1975) with groundbreaking use of hundreds of vocal loops to create a large, flowing, wordless choir.
@louise_rose good examples, but the use of loops was not absolute, as in "loop-based" recording. That's what Eno really founded. In which all parts of a song are loops. The technology that eno used was practically around back then, But they didn't have the ability to sync up multiple machines as Eno did, Using the larger studios that would use the SMPTE time code to stripe a channel of tape and link/sync multiple large analog multi-tracks. That is what we're seeing with the early experiments by Eno. With 10cc... they had vocal drones in notes and vowel sounds arranged almost like a sampled choir, and played like a virtual keyboard... and in tomorrow, It's not necessarily foundational to the music, honestly. If that were the case, it would be a more deliberate process and not as random. The way the tapes were laid down was quite at random and The end result was serendipitous and not deliberate.
I'm still not using commercially available loops. It's just more fun creating your own and play with them, I found out long time ago. 😉So I'm not anti-loop. Playing with a loop can bring the track to another level. Or not. Creative freedom is yours to exploit. 👍
I love the way the more Andy gets excited / enthused , the more he runs his fingers through his hair !
I love how unpretentious, passionate, and knowledgeable your presentation is. Well done!👍
Yes, vinyl record albums are truly examples of "the medium is the message."
This is a very important point, recorded music is a very modern thing. Music is not. Our reception of music and it's significance has altered significantly. I wish there were more podcasts looking at the cultural significance of music, it's physics (rhythm, melody, harmony), the medium (instrumentation), it's performance (improvised, memorised or written, and the genealogy of written music) and the cultural implications of when and where music is received.
To be specific, vinyl record albums (especially those that you could open up and peruse, like a photo album) are culturally significant because they represent a way for everybody, including non-musicians, to participate in the music. The record album invites you to sit cross-legged on the floor reading the liner notes while listening to a side of a disc. A typical ritual would be to listen to an exciting new release together with friends. The cardboard album jacket served multiple uses. It might be suitable for display on the wall. When I was in college, the jacket, propped up at an angle, often was used to separate seeds from cannabis (back when that was a necessary procedure). Long live the vinyl LP!
Vinyl is garbage. Get over it.
Miles had several conceptual albums , in a silent way , sketches of Spain , Bitches Brew . He always pushed things forward
In a broad sense, all albums are conceptual insofar as the tracks are organized to produce certain sequential effects and moods.
On The Corner somehow combined funk, psychedelic rock, jazz, world music, and Karlheinz Stockhausen-inspired composition.
1966 was definitely an important year for Rock. Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, Byrd's Fifth Dimension, Stones Aftermath, Fresh Cream, Kinks Face To Face, the Who A Quick One in addition to Revolver & Freak Out! Also the year Hendrix recorded and released the 'Hey Joe' single in England. So much going on...
2024 is going to top it!!
Yeah, I'll get my coat... 😥
from about 1965 until 1979 (give or take a year). every single year was "an important year for rock".
@@donkeyshot8472 I mean important to the development of rock from pop as Andy stated in the video
@@donkeyshot8472 I'm guessing 1979 was the year you left college, and started a job as an insurance assessor.
Here's the list:
10. Paid In Full by Eric B. and Rakeem 1986 6:15
9. Velvet Underground with Niko 1967 10:02
8. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis 1959 13:53
7. Trans European Express by Kraftwerk 1977 19:30
6. Black Sabbath 1969 25:10
5. Freak Out by Frank Zappa 1966 27:58
4. Revolver by The Beatles 1966 31:45
3. King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson 1961 33:15
2. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan 1963 37:58
1. In the Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra 1955 40:35
Interesting...none of these are in my top 50.
The Robert Johnson album is in my top ten. None of the others would be in my top 50 either.@@davestevens4193
Thanks for listing them for reference.
Thank you for the short cut!
@@davestevens4193 If Revolver is not in your top 50, get your ears checked.
When you list Freakout you became the most important voice of all thanks chum great postX
Andy, I effing love you!! If I could afford it, I would ask you to play in my scrappy little band
Thanks for this. I actually agree with your criteria and your list!!! Even though I haven’t heard all of these records I look forward to diving deeper.
I remember older kids at school carrying the first Led Zep album around. I queued at the record shop after school to get Tales Of Topographic Oceans on the day of release. I was 15. I'm nostalgic for the vinyl album covers but not the medium itself. It was too delicate and to get the best from vinyl you need to spend a bit of money on decent kit, mainly a good turntable and cartridge. These cheap turntables with USB to "digitize" your collection DO NOT cut it. CD is much more robust and while the sound was a bit harsh in the early days as engineers/producers etc worked out how to get the best out of it, it matured. Also you can get much more music on a single CD and on a money-for-value basis I'm disappointed if there isn't more than 60 minutes of music on there! That said, I stick my headphones on for some listening and I'm probably asleep after 30 minutes!! (I am 66).
We'd get along real well! I'm 60 years mold and tried line hell to get back into vinyl. I sold over 1000 albums, all in terrific condition, all absolutely feature the very greatest metal, rock, blues, soul, pop and country music ever produced (my music taste is unchallenged! Haha!) for literally pennies, due to being so excited about the invention of the compact disc! I torture myself thinking about what a stupid move that was, especially looking at the outrageous price of vinyl nowadays. A few yrs. ago, I picked up a technics turntable for $120.00 and started purchasing mostly used records, only buying new albums from my favs like Zeppelin, Beatles, AC/DC, Rush and Neil Young. What a disappointment my turntable was, the sound wasnt that great and it was only later that I realized you must have a pretty expensive turntable and cartridge to get the most out of vinyl sonics. I also didn't like having to get up to flip the record over and had some skipping problems with used records as well. Still debating whether to obtain a high end turntable, as record prices are a joke! For now, I'm sticking with my beloved cd's. Vinyl just isn't user friendly. Lastly, I get used cd's, which almost always play perfectly, for dirt cheap, especially with people turning their used cd's in, due to the prevalence of streaming. Really dug your post and while missing the art work in larger form, cd's are still where it's at for me! Peace.
@@treff9226 The sky is the limit concerning spending on turntables. A good starting point is Rega. All their turntables get good ratings from the reviewers. Talking of CD's, I remember buying Yes's Going For The One on CD. It was awful, wat too bright and harsh on the ears as if the faders were pushed up to 11!! The remastered version is better. While I still buy CD's I download a lot now (paid for). But only in lossless format such as FLAC. MP3 is not good enough.
Me too😄
Loved this list. I’d only add that The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was only the first of a stream of SIX albums by Dylan that changed music for decades to come.
just dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
@@Larkinchance silhouetted by the sea/circled by the circus sands/with all memory and fate/driven deep beneath the waves/let me forget about today until tomorrow
You don't hear Country Joe and the Fish singing about Vietnam anymore, but Dylan's "Masters of War" is still relevant because it is timeless.
Poetry re-emerged through music during this period.. but atm, it has vanished This is why we cling to Dylan's lyrics@@michaelmcintyre4690
Thank goodness you include Freak Out. I was into FZ and Trout Mask from the beginning. Can and Amon Duul were brilliant and for me Kraftwerk were too pop, but also listening to the Beetles and Coltrane, Miles, lightning Hopkins, The Bonzos. Very interesting list - never liked Dylan or Sinatra so can’t disagree with you. Excellent!
When I saw ‘Wee Small Hours’ on this list I thought an album that takes on that concept, for the 80s, is Joe Jackson’s ‘Night and Day’. ‘Stepping Out’ on the album’s night side paints the picture of an 80s night out on the lash in the bright lights, to me. Not really a concept album as such but a nod to Sinatra’s night. See what you think.
10 out of a possible 10 and I have only made it to #6! Frank Zappa as the godfather of The Beatles, et.al? I have listened to at least 150 videos by youtube music afficianados in the last two weeks and this surpasses any of them in terms of detached historiography although your passion comes through brilliantly. I love what you said about Black Sabbath. OMG you just took me back 50 years!
New sub! I like your eclecticism, and challenge to my prejudices!
More for entertainment value, here's my recommendation for an upcoming video: Blindfolded, you walk up to your wall of albums and pull out random samples and just elucidate on whatever comes to mind. It's historic significance (if any), production excellence (or not), musicianship, artwork, when you acquired it, personal story... Do 5 or 10 random sample selections. Entertainment assured.
Anyone who does a top 10 that is as eclectic as this should be taken seriously as a muso. I might even listen to the rap album. Glad you mentioned Robert Palmer along with Clapton. Check out Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks-great blues band.
Andy Warhol is a classic album. John Cale, the violinist in the band, was a prodigy who actually broadcast on radio playing when a child.
Freak Out- I’m definitely going to listen to that. Always enjoyed what little Zappa I have heard. I’m impressed at how early it is.
Agree with your comments about Kraftwerk that they are central to a lot of modern music genres.
More familiar with John Coltrane than I am with Miles Davis so I will be checking him out also.
Black Sabbath’s first album was very different from other heavy bands which drew more from the blues. They also played more ominously slowly. Although never a true fan, I think they are massively important.
Revolver is my favourite album of all time. Dr Robert is their last ‘beat’ recording.
Robert Johnson really is as important as everyone thinks. Think of Elmore James’ ‘Dust My Broom’ and the staple- ‘Crossroads’.
Grew up listening to Sinatra- my mum was a fan. Wee Wee Hours has been described as the first concept album- peerless.
If it were me, I would have put Five Live Yardbirds in there. For a band to release a live album as its debut, is astonishing. The album itself benefits as much from its weaknesses as it does its absolute exuberance
Thank You
I really appreciate how you stay true to the “most important” idea, even to the point of recognizing albums that influenced musical trends you DON’T like, and how you also didn’t ignore albums that even normies are aware of (kind of blue, etc).
I don't like the Dylan album, or The Velvet Underground album (well I like Venus in Furs) and I can take or leave the Eric B and Rakim album. People who think we cannot at least try to be objective about art have not thought about it enough
Define "normies", and why they're inferior. And to whom...besides you.
you know what objective means right? your taste is entirely influenced by your feelings and opinions, if you had no feelings and opinions you would be unconscious @@AndyEdwardsDrummer
@@olluxi definition: (of a person or their judgement) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.
@@marthawilson7994 definition: Normie is a slang for a “normal person,” especially someone seen to have conventional, mainstream tastes, interests, viewpoints, etc.....and the reason why I think their viewpoint COULD be inferior is what I am trying to deal with on this channel. And my argument fundamentally would be because their viewpoint does not balance hedonism and perfectionism.
Albums I might add for their influence;
Pet Sounds-Beach Boys
Highway 61 Revisited-Bob Dylan
In the Court of the Crimson King-King Crimson
Bitches Brew-Miles Davis
Another Green World-Brian Eno
Pink Flag-Wire
Low-David Bowie
Never mind-Nirvana
brilliantly interesting list, slightly surprised Pepper isn't no 1 but hey, as the list progressed i was thinking about a quiet album in my rack, and wondered if it might appear, The wee small hours !! By Frank ! cheers
Great stuff. Would love to have a few pints and and share a joint and listen to, and talk about, music with this bloke. I don’t know if “the message of Ledbelly and Woody Guthrie is a mixture of the spiritual and the profane” is an original assertion but I’m gonna quote Andy Edwards on it. I think that the insight/assertion defines all powerful modern popular music (i.e., folk, blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, progressive, reggae, heavy metal, gangsta rap, funk, soul, country, etc). I would have wanted to include a Hank Williams album and Never Mind the Bullocks somewhere in the list but there were only 10 slots so may not have fit. Well done: expertly put together and passionately and convincingly articulated. Liked and Sub’d today👍🏽
Oh! One more that needs to be on the list: Michael Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.
Very well explained in it's background. Can' understand, why people often just listen to music and show no interests, how it was created (depending on personal matters of the creators, the possibilites of recording it, the scene around them and most important, the background of the actually Zeitgeist, that set it's influence... - maybe it is my ADHS, that keeps me interessted in all that..)
Can't argue with any of that, your knowledge and reasoning is spot on Andy. So I'll take the liberty of making it a Top 11 and add "Fresh Cream", for introducing the idea of being seriously good musicians in the pop scene to the mass pop audience, thereby creating the rock audience, kickstarting prog whilst writing great pop like "I Feel Free", being the musical blueprint for Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and frankly, the 70's.
Taking even more liberty and adding #12: 'Innervisions' by Stevie Wonder, which marks his transition from child prodigy to a socially-conscious, experimental artiste, and #13: 'What's Going On?' by Marvin Gaye, a masterpiece. And because I'm being indulgent (apologies!) I'll add at #14: 'Since I Left You' by The Avalanches, one of the most ground-breaking plunderphonic records of all time 🙂
Really interesting, thank you.
A very fine selection of important classics! My own list aligns on: Kind of Blue, Black Sabbath and Revolver. A couple other albums I think could be considered as inclusions/ honourable mentions are: King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King (a landmark in Prog); and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Andy probably didn't wish to double up on artists here). There certainly are some intriguing selections in Andy's list and as such I now have more homework to do! And when I say intrigued, I am particularly interested in the choice of Frank Sinatra! My Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD Sixth Edition excludes Frank. Jazz purism / elitism at work perhaps!
The trick with Miles (and Black Sabbath) is that he essentially created I think five different styles of jazz. The question then becomes, how many held up as albums. BS founded or close to founding at as many variants of metal. Doom, thrash, groove, Stoner, politics/protest, black, etc. Plus they added folk, jazz, and via Charles Bradley cover "Changes," a bit of soul.
@@johncampbell756 Agreed. The common denominator being that multiple top notch artists joined the ranks of both Miles Davis' various group configurations throughout the 50's and through to the late 80's, and likewise, Black Sabbath's various Marks following the initial Ozzy-era (included among its ranks: Dio, Vinnie Appice, Ian Gillan, Bev Bevan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Bob Daisley, Cozy Powell, Tony Martin, Neil Murray, et al). All those artists brought their skills and influences with them which helped shape different metal sounds, and which touched on other genres. Another band (and some of its offshoots such as Rainbow and Whitesnake) which was also influential in similar ways (owing to multiple line-up changes) was Deep Purple (psychedelic rock; early progressive rock; hard rock; speed metal; neo-classical; and funk-rock to slight a degree; etc......AND, because of their penchant in a live setting to go on long extended jams and soloing.....almost a "Jazz on Steroids" approach).
@@garyh.238 Barro g any group that never had a lineup change and none of the members ever played in any other bands, almost any rock band (and some rap artists) can do a six degrees of separation. To either Black Sabbath or Deep Purple.
@@johncampbell756 Agreed....such an overlap between those 2 bands....like dual hubs with their various spokes going out in multiple directions and linking to other artists and genres.
@@garyh.238 I have the original nexus, Born Again on vinyl, because someone left it on the subway seat next to my dad. He brought it hoe, "You want this?"The one previous time he asked about a band, I said no because I didn't like 50s Doo Wop. "Do you like The Pretenders?" I was an idiot.
It's raining on Monday morning in Wales and I'm humming "Mood Indigo" to myself. I salute your No1 choice, sir!
Can’t deny the historical gravity of Wee Small Hours, though Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely was his favorite. (Just like I’d lean more towards Uncle Meat, etc.) Great stuff, as always, Andy.
This was like going to a college class. Fantastic.
I'm fairly new to the channel. I must say, the more of your videos I watch, the more I realize how little I actually know... beyond my own, narrow tastes.
I am disappointed that Tommy didn't make the list. Afterall, it was the ultimate concept album at the time. The term 'rock opera' was invented just to describe it. Now, if I was running the world, my list would look something like: The Who Sell Out, Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who's Next and Quadrophenia... with a few others tossed in there like... Revolver. 😁
Extremely interesting presentation. I needed to adjust my perspective as you moved to 7, 6 and so on.
I understand better now that these albums were both great and ground breaking in approach. Each being the beginning of something different.
Thank you!
Bowie's "Low" would have merited to be on the list I think - many 1980s and 90s bands owe an incalculable debt to the sounds and musical concepts of that album (U2 being an obvious example). And it was a very bold departure from what anyone had heard before.
Dear Andy,
I am going to cheat. The most important album for me was actually a specific piece of vinyl owned by Higham Lane School in Nuneaton (about 1970, 1971 ish)
The music teacher put on a record of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. He highlighted the 11 beat section and I thought…. “My goodness, anything is possible”.
For me, I have never experienced a more important musical moment.
Keep up the good work.
Awesome music!
had a similar experience. I was in jr. high 1972? had a recording of ros on everest (cheap record label) superb performance.
Europe Endless was the track. Spot on with your Kraftwerk album choice.
First let me say how much I love your videos.
Right. Having said that, when I was in college in the late 80s/Early 90s I joined a music exchange club on campus. Once a week we would gather and trade cassette copies we made of our favorite albums. At the time I was almost exclusively a metalhead. At our first meet I traded tapes of Judas Priest's "Sad Wings of Destiny" and Alice Cooper's "Killer" with a guy who gave me "Kind of Blue" and Zappa's "We're Only in it for the Money" in return.
Both albums absolutely floored me. They left me questioning everything I thought I knew about what music could be, and they literally changed my life.
I can't tell you how many copies of both albums I've worn out in the ensuing decades.
Your channel is great. Binging all week.
Andy, I know I keep saying this but you are amazing.
Hi Andy, this is off-topic but I just wanted to thank you for turning me on to the cardiacs. I meant to tell you this awhile back... But yeah, I love 'em!
People are getting turned onto them all the time! The greatest unfamous band in history
With out a doubt the most informative entertainment and enjoyable discussion of "the album" with a personal emotional perspective. Well done
Me and my brothers had access to an awesome technics aa+ system with Revoks and Thorens decks. you need two cause one tune must transition into the other... we would each pick an album 3 of us in turn until we had 12 laid out on an old chinese rug. We would admire the art, we knew who played what, the year of release, the producer, the special mentions and acknowledgements. We listened through huge B&W speakers and smoked dope ... My favourite memories man! It was an event!
Really grooved in this one Andy! And sadly it underscores the sadness in my soul that is the demise of the music industry. While we know there was an ugliness underneath as part of it, the grandeur that came out will not be seen in mass again. And I think with lack of albums comes lack of live venues. So now we have no bands playing live. Tik tok just isnt it.
This is a great video and I love the historical perspective that you take. If I was going to include any other album it would be The Clash, London Calling because of the variety of genres that it contains and its subsequent influence, but it comes later than most of the stuff on here, so no big deal. Well done, a very satisfying Saturday morning listen.
love your intellectual lectures.....thank you
Glad you like them!
Some fine, thought-provoking choices. And the mention of Amon Duull, one of the German bands that influenced the heavy rock side of modern prog music.
But your picks range far and wide, and bear little relation to your list of the most important bands of all time. Interesting! Of course, in this list you allow individual artists, whereas the other list is confined to bands.
It certainly makes me want to listen to 'In the Wee Small Hours' from one of the greatest civil rights activists of the period.
I am still entirely hooked on albums. I know that streaming has taken us back to singles, but the constructed album is a beautiful thing.
Ahhh, 'These Days' by Nico. Just beautiful
Yea, you are spot on about the album format.... also, we got sold on the idea of losing all that glorious artwork! The package of an album or double album was fabulous.
Excellent as usual, even better to be frank.
Off topic but I've never seen you mention The Smashing Pumpkins. In my opinion they could be considered a prog band and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is one of the greatest prog albums and albums in general of all time. Would be interested to hear your perspective on the band. Worth relistening to Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie if you haven't considered it seriously before.
There can be no doubt, Billy Corgan is a musical wizard! I'm more of a Siamese Dream fan, but Mellon Collie is brilliant as well!
An absolutely stellar accomplishment, featuring a stunning list of important music. Very enjoyable.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great list! Everyone on it gets the warm and thoughtful tribute he deserves, and I appreciate especially your homage to hip-hop, Kraftwerk and Black Sab/Birmingham! Wonder who I would need to push out in order to bring in some of the early stuff of The Wailers produced by Lee Scratch Perry, seems odd to me that the groundreaking influence of these two albums and jamaican music in general on the future of popular music so rarely makes it in the picture. Everyone is entitled to his blind spot, maybe yours is on reggae...
As a Coltrane Home volunteer if you ever visit the States I can hook you up on a personal tour of the room where he wrote A Love Supreme..
In addition to the spinny thing on LZIII….
The lyrics and cutouts in Sgt Pepper
The 4 photos and poster in the White Album
The working zipper on Sticky Fingers
The interior drawing in the inner fold of Eat a Peach
The front photo of Peter Frampton on Frampton Comes Alive
The photo of Earth Wind and Fire on That’s the Way of the World
The inner gate fold of Blow Your Face Out.
Can’t get that in a download or stream!
and the newspaper in Thick as a Brick, also Faust had an all black album with black papers inside, and the colored vinyls not sure which was first _ I remember some Elvis Costello with colored discs.
And fold out desk alice cooper schools out. Or fold out wallet and money alice cooper billion dollar babies
Agree with Black Sabbath, Krafwerk and Beatles Revolver, Stranglers should get an honoury mention for the first commercially successful post punk Album Black and White.
Why is this Andy so smart. It’s like a free college course
Life long musician, quite enjoyed this. Thank You for sharing. New Sub😊🎼
used and listened albums...adore this stuff!!
Kind of Blue was my pop's favorite album. Of course that he heard Miles play those jams before they went on that album was special.
Enjoyed this Andy ...thanks. Three wee words though that would have been in my top 10 ...Trout Mask Replica. Cheers from a new subscriber
Glad you enjoyed it
Thought about this too.
TMR seems to be so ahead of its time we still don’t know its overall influence.
It still holds immense power of possibility for music to come! Imho of course.
I just discovered TMR and feel it’s some of the greatest art committed to tape! Fast & Bulbous.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummerWhen are you gunna get to Van Morrison? Astral Weeks?
Keep up the good work.
lovely list, i've enjoyed all these albums a lot over the years. As for your comment about Black Sabbath and nobody else that follows that sound... I think The Melvins channel that same spirit at times. Depends what album you listen to though.
Thank you for your well researched and interestingly presented piece.
As you say, it’s largely around personal preference when it comes to favorite artist / album.
You however present many facts which I was not aware of which I found informative and very interesting.
Thank you 🙏
Totally agree with your points about ideal album length- the sound quality, the aesthetics etc. I would merely add that if you could fit the whole thing on one side of a C90, you were laughing:)
Another really interesting vid, mate 👏👏👏
This may be your best video. Very well thought out and elucidated excellently. Really enjoyed this.
Wow, thank you!
Seconded.
Great call on Paid in Full. Greatest MC of all time.
One of my top ten opinions in music history. 👍
Thoroughly enjoyed your take on this.
You mentioned some albums having a side 2 that is the antithesis of side 1. That make me think of Stanley Clarke's eponymous album with an electric fusion side 1 and an acoustic side 2. And side 2 wasn't today's type of "unplugged" as Clarke played virtuoso stand-up bass on side 2 in contrast to his Alembic electric bass on side 1.
Kind Of Blue was a favorite of Duane Allman of the blues-rock band The Allman Brother's band and it influenced his jazz-flavored motifs.
I would have included Roxy Music's Avalon in the top 10. In addition to incredible music, that album literally influenced the studio engineering and the production of nearly every recording since.
I would also be tempted to include Siroco by Paco de Lucia in the top 10 as it's been called the best-sounding flamenco guitar album ever and it was groundbreaking in the flamenco style.
Great find, found your zappa/guitarist a day or two ago, subbed.
Brilliant as usual! Excellent closing. I always skipped Sinatra as old timer and never thought about him from such perspective. My list of lps to buy grows every time I watch you! Have a break, talk about King Crimson or Mahavishnu. I have at least most of their early works.))
Nothing like a double album to clean the seeds from out weed.
I was wondering which Kraftwerk album you would choose, as without a doubt, Kraftwerk would appear on any top ten list of influential albums. Personally it would have been a coin toss between Radioactivity and Computer World
Good work Andrew
Mr Andy Edwards, thank you for you intelligence and approach - your list is wise and I really made me think!!! Now I need to look into some of the material and listen and learn!! Will follow and be educated in have a chance to discover songs/abums and groups. Thank you much appreciated.
Most impressive and convincing Andy, especially so since, apart from the list, your dialogue appears unscripted. I look forward to your next.
Elvis Presly, love him or hate him he introduced a huge part of the world to artists such as Big Momma Thorton, Cuck Berry,Lloyd Price, Gospel musi., R&B, country, rockabilly.........
Elvis is a rare example of someone who was commercially successful and profoundly influential. Artists as varied as Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and John Lennon, to name a few