pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

i like a lot of albums he produced though. so there is that. love that jennifer warnes album he did. stooges. lots of records.

academy in peril is pretty strange -- hard to tell what he was going for there (and why warners released it!). but i really like days of steam, king harry, a few other things there.

You know what album I really like that John Cale is on? The Tax Free album that Wally Tax made after The Outsiders broke up. 1970. Such a lovely album. Cale is on every track I think. Underrated album too. Lots of people have never heard it.

huh never even heard of that before!

me neither, checking it out now. richard davis, too!

I would swap out Dave "wheezy donkey" Van Ronk on Pitchfork's list for the Chicago Transit Authority album. I got a pristine first pressing of that at the store and HOLY SMOKES did it sound amazing. Unbelievable. From the Rotel to the Marantz to the Klipschs, I wish you guys could have heard it. John Cale never made an album as good as that one outside of VU.

The Tax Free album is pastoral deluxe. a wafting summer breeze. of weed. so pretty.

i think i like sally can't dance more than transformer tbh

ok now THAT is crazy talk

wow — i think sally can't dance is my least favorite lou reed album ever

(i almost made it through the first side of the Cale album...i dunno though, when you have robert wyatt and kevin ayers and peter hammill records out there in the world...)

haha, i love sally can't dance.

'Sister Ray' is, and always has been, an absolute waste of time.

Eno/Cale is my go-to post VU Cale project

we should probably just devote a whole thread to Challenging Opinions About The Velvet Underground + Their Solo Careers

i think i like sally can't dance more than transformer tbh

― marcos, Wednesday, August 23, 2017 1:35 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ok now THAT is crazy talk

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, August 23, 2017 1:36 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow — i think sally can't dance is my least favorite lou reed album ever

― tylerw, Wednesday, August 23, 2017 1:37 PM

SCD is fun! My last listen to Transformer was my first since 1999 or something.

something about the production and his vocals on it make me queasy.

lol transformer is the better album surely but some of those tunes i've heard so many times that i can't hear them any more. perfect day, satellite of love, perhaps even wild side. well maybe not wild side

Tax Free record sounds cool, though not hearing a lot of Cale influence here (think he's playing piano on this third song?)

hey was music from big pink on this list or was it only the s/t band album?

only the s/t

Tax Free record sounds cool, though not hearing a lot of Cale influence here (think he's playing piano on this third song?)

haha yeah this is nice but if Cale's on here I can't tell what he's doing

wow music from big pink would be on the shortlist for "what do I consider the best rock album of the 60s," that's a glaring omission

i think Cale mostly just plays viola on the Tax Free record. so, really, it's just a session gig. but he's on the whole thing and i like that album a lot so i thought i'd give him a ubiquitous hired gun shout-out.

idk I listened to at least half of that record before I had to go do something else and I didn't hear a note of viola. maybe it just wasn't audible on my shitty laptop speakers idk.

i've never listened online. the vinyl sounds beautiful but you have to find a really clean copy because its so quiet. i want a CD copy.

Can someone please explain Machine Gun by The Peter Brötzmann Octet to me?

i would also swap out randy newman on that list for any one of a dozen everly brothers albums. they were better singer/songwriters than randy and their albums are much more enjoyable. plus, their world historical value. their sound helped shape the sound of rock in the 60s.

I just realized there's no Incredible String Band - that's another one that would've been a shoe-in whenever the last time they did this list. (i might've missed it - still haven't seen a plaintext version).

Here ya go:

1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
2. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
3. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)
4. The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
5. Nina Simone - Wild Is the Wind (1966)
6. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966)
7. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (1963)
8. The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
9. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (1969)
10. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)
11. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
12. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)
13. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1968)
14. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
15. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! (1964)
16. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
17. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
18. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969)
19. Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (1969)
20. The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)
21. Nina Simone - Pastel Blues (1965)
22. The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go (1964)
23. Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul (1969)
24. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
25. Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! (1969)
26. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968)
27. The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
28. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
29. Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul (1968)
30. Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity (1964)
31. The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica (1964)
32. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)
33. Love - Forever Changes (1967)
34. Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
35. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968)
36. John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1960)
37. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (1969)
38. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
39. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (1967)
40. Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep – Mountain High (1966)
41. Terry Riley - In C (1968)
42. Nico - Chelsea Girl (1967)
43. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (1960)
44. Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg - Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (1969)
45. Scott Walker - Scott 4 (1969)
46. The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
47. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle (1968)
48. Can - Monster Movie (1969)
49. The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack (1965)
50. MC5 - Kick Out the Jams (1969)
51. Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes (1968)
52. Karen Dalton - It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going to Love You the Best (1969)
53. Pharoah Sanders - Karma (1969)
54. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969)
55. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
56. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
57. The Ornette Coleman Quartet - This Is Our Music (1961)
58. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (1968)
59. Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961)
60. Grateful Dead - Live/Dead (1969)
61. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)
62. Etta James - At Last! (1960)
63. Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry (1969)
64. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
65. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk (1967)
66. Buffy Sainte-Marie - Illuminations (1969)
67. Thelonious Monk - Solo Monk (1965)
68. Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends (1968)
69. The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967)
70. Leonard Cohen - Songs From a Room (1969)
71. Sam Cooke - Ain’t That Good News (1964)
72. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (1969)
73. Joni Mitchell - Clouds (1969)
74. John Fahey - The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (1965)
75. Toots and the Maytals - Sweet and Dandy (1969)
76. Steve Reich & Richard Maxfield & Pauline Oliveros - New Sounds in Electronic Music (Come Out / Night Music / I of IV) (1969)
77. Silver Apples - Silver Apples (1968)
78. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)
79. Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso (1968)
80. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte (1964)
81. The Band - The Band (1969)
82. Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (1965)
83. Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon (1967)
84. Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
85. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
86. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - United (1967)
87. Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra - Nancy & Lee (1968)
88. 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
89. The Temptations - Cloud Nine (1969)
90. Françoise Hardy - Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles (1962)
91. James Brown - Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud (1969)
92. Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1969)
93. Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle (1967)
94. Nina Simone - In Concert (1964)
95. The Doors - The Doors (1967)
96. Howlin’ Wolf - Howlin’ Wolf (1962)
97. Randy Newman - Randy Newman (1968)
98. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966)
99. Gilberto Gil - Gilberto Gil (1968)
100. Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (1965)
101. The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! (1966)
102. Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis (1969)
103. Stan Getz & João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (1964)
104. Patsy Cline - Sentimentally Yours (1962)
105. Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence (1966)
106. Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (1961)
107. Four Tops - Reach Out (1967)
108. Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963)
109. Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969)
110. The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World (1969)
111. Tom Zé - Grande Liquidação (1968)
112. The Paragons - On the Beach (1967)
113. Harry Partch - The World of Harry Partch (1969)
114. Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser (1966)
115. The Fugs - The Fugs First Album (1965)
116. Miles Davis - Nefertiti (1968)
117. Serge Gainsbourg - Initials B.B. (1968)
118. The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile (1967)
119. The Meters - The Meters (1969)
120. Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
121. Desmond Dekker and The Aces - Israelites (1969)
122. Mulatu Astatke - Afro-Latin Soul, Vol. 1 (1966)
123. Marvin Gaye - In the Groove (1968)
124. The Kinks - Something Else By the Kinks (1967)
125. Sonny Sharrock - Black Woman (1969)
126. Tammy Wynette - D-I-V-O-R-C-E (1968)
127. The Monks - Black Monk Time (1966)
128. John Coltrane - Live at Birdland (1964)
129. The United States of America - The United States of America (1968)
130. Various Artists - A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963)
131. Jimmy Cliff - Jimmy Cliff (1969)
132. The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)
133. Aretha Franklin - Aretha Now (1968)
134. Duke Ellington & Charles Mingus & Max Roach - Money Jungle (1963)
135. Fred Neil - Fred Neil (1966)
136. Roy Orbison - Crying (1962)
137. The Isley Brothers - It’s Our Thing (1969)
138. Sun Ra and His Arkestra - The Magic City (1966)
139. Stevie Wonder - For Once in My Life (1968)
140. Mary Lou Williams - Black Christ of the Andes (1964)
141. Shirley and Dolly Collins - Anthems in Eden (1969)
142. Frank Sinatra - September of My Years (1965)
143. Alexander “Skip” Spence - Oar (1969)
144. David Axelrod - Song of Innocence (1968)
145. Archie Shepp - Blasé (1969)
146. Jorge Ben - Samba Esquema Novo (1963)
147. Don Cherry - Eternal Rhythm (1969)
148. Roberta Flack - First Take (1969)
149. Son House - Father of Folk Blues (1965)
150. John Coltrane - Olé Coltrane (1961)
151. La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela - The Black Record (1969)
152. Jacques Brel - Ces Gens-là (1965)
153. Max Roach - We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite (1960)
154. The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You (1968)
155. Moondog - Moondog (1969)
156. Ornette Coleman Trio - Live at the “Golden Circle” Stockholm Vol. 1 (1965)
157. Merle Haggard - Mama Tried (1968)
158. Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio (1968)
159. Ray Barretto - Acid (1968)
160. Phil Ochs - I Ain’t Marching Anymore (1965)
161. White Noise - An Electric Storm (1969)
162. Dr. John - Gris-Gris (1968)
163. Big Brother & the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills (1968)
164. The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
165. Sonny Rollins - The Bridge (1962)
166. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)
167. The Impressions - Keep On Pushing (1964)
168. The Peter Brötzmann Octet - Machine Gun (1968)
169. The Sonics - Here Are the Sonics!!! (1965)
170. Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear (1967)
171. Various Artists - Golden Rain (1969)
172. Eddie Palmieri - Justicia (1969)
173. Duke Ellington - Far East Suite (1967)
174. Patty Waters - Sings (1965)
175. Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie - Ella and Basie! (1963)
176. Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt (1969)
177. Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles (1964)
178. Wendy Carlos - Switched-On Bach (1968)
179. Art Ensemble of Chicago - Message to Our Folks (1969)
180. Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966)
181. Lesley Gore - I’ll Cry If I Want To (1963)
182. The Soft Machine - The Soft Machine (1968)
183. Mickey Newbury - Looks Like Rain (1969)
184. BBC Radiophonic Workshop - BBC Radiophonic Music (1968)
185. Charles Mingus - Mingus Plays Piano (1963)
186. The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
187. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
188. Dave Van Ronk - Folksinger (1963)
189. The Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at “The Club” (1966)
190. Judy Collins - Wildflowers (1967)
191. Amon Düül II - Phallus Dei (1969)
192. Link Wray & the Wraymen - Link Wray & the Wraymen (1960)
193. The Beach Boys - Surfer Girl (1963)
194. Donald Byrd - A New Perspective (1964)
195. Nilsson - Aerial Ballet (1968)
196. Wanda Jackson - Rockin’ With Wanda (1960)
197. Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures (1966)
198. Andrew Hill - Point of Departure (1964)
199. Donovan - Sunshine Superman (1966)
200. Ennio Morricone - Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (1966)

thanks a lot, archcarrier! i appreciate it

I'm working my way through all the Jazz and Soul records I haven't heard. Fun times!

Kontakte making it in is cool

a little surprised that they bothered to acknowledge the Doors s/t but i'm glad they did

i would swap out that mingus piano record for the first small faces record or s.f. sorrow too. but that's just me.

(they already have two more mingus on there so he's repped...)

never heard that mingus piano record before i dig it

Thinking about the psychedelic music included...

There's maybe a tendency to favor records with some kind of edge. There's no real flower power. The Sonics and not the Seeds, etc.

'Sister Ray' is, and always has been, an absolute waste of time.

― he doesn't need to be racist about it though. (Austin), Wednesday, August 23, 2017 12:38 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Insane

ya

"never heard that mingus piano record before i dig it"

it's really good!

(I forgot the Donovan record they've got on there.)

Or a tendency to favor experimentalism in say Song Cycle and the United States of America over other psychedelic albums

(Academic experimentalism, more accurately)

Not that I don't like both of those albums, I do. But I also like the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

(I actually prefer the Strawberry Alarm Clock, but I am willing to chalk that up to personal preference. What I'm unwilling to chalk up to personal preference is the idea that Van Dyke Parks or the U.S.A. are in any really obvious way better.)

KLF, kinda bonkers

I hadn't listened to SF Sorrow in forever and I did a while back that record is such a psych classic, bonkers like Piper at the Gates of Dawn and (may I say IMHO) better songs

There's maybe a tendency to favor records with some kind of edge. There's no real flower power. The Sonics and not the Seeds, etc.

the Bee Gees get no respect

country entries also totally pedestrian/predictable apart from the Mickey Newbury

is that Lesley Gore album really that good? (not being sarcastic I only know her oldies radio hits)