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It's Certainly A Thrill: 'Sgt. Pepper' Is Best Album (Better than the White Album?!)
usa today ^ | 11-17-03

Posted on 11/17/2003 2:21:38 PM PST by steppenwolffe

To everyone's complete lack of surprise, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has been anointed the best album ever in a new Rolling Stone poll.

The Beatles' consecrated 1967 classic tops ''The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,'' a collector's issue on stands Friday. Though typically the odds-on favorite for such rankings, Sgt. Pepper wasn't a slam-dunk.

''There was a horse race,'' says Rolling Stone music editor Joe Levy. ''Early on, any number of albums in the top 10 were in the lead. The final result is no shock, but there's a reason for that. The Beatles, after all, were the most important and innovative rock group in the world. And Sgt. Pepper arguably set the tone for what an album could be.''

The Beatles have four albums in the top 10. Predictably, the list is weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock. The top solo female is Joni Mitchell, whose 1971 Blue is No. 30.

The newest entry is this year's Elephant by the White Stripes, landing at No. 390. The most current disc in the top 20 is Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough, Nevermind. Recent albums by Coldplay and The Strokes also made the cut, as did all three Eminem releases and a wide range of hip-hop.

''A classic record proves itself over time,'' Levy says, ''so it's gratifying and surprising to see so many newer records on the list, considering they're competing against such beloved and titanic records as Rubber Soul and Dusty in Memphis.''

Rolling Stone asked musicians, critics, historians and key industry figures to rank their 50 favorites. The 273 participants included Beck, U2's The Edge, Jackson Browne, Art Garfunkel, Missy Elliott and members of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Linkin Park and The Doors. The Ernst & Young accounting firm devised a point system to weight votes for 1,600 submitted titles.

Voters were invited to identify favorites from any period or genre, allowing a smattering of country (Johnny Cash), jazz (Miles Davis) and seminal blues (Howlin' Wolf). The list also accommodates greatest hits collections and live recordings; four James Brown picks include two sets of hits and Live at the Apollo (1963). Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, The Drifters and Loretta Lynn, who flourished during the era of 45s, are represented only by hits compilations.

''Artists whose best works were singles are not going to be well represented,'' Levy notes. For example, he adds, ''Disco is under-represented because it's a singles-driven genre.''


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: music
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To: MarkL
It's startling to note that Sgt Pepper was recorded in a 4 track studio. And what was on the album absolutely shocked the hell out of everyone at the time.

It was also the first albumn to contain songs that could not be performed live when at the time performing live was the money maker and singles were used as promos for the performances. Oh, and albumns were thought of as simply collections of previously released singles. It simply changed the direction of popular music towards a more studio-based sound. Everything that came after owed something to them.

181 posted on 11/17/2003 5:12:17 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Fresh Wind
VH-1...

Greatest rock n roll song: Satisfaction

Greatest group: Beatles

Greatest Album: by the Beatles (can't remember which one)
182 posted on 11/17/2003 5:12:59 PM PST by theelephantway
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To: Alberta's Child
Rumor also has it that John Lennon died a broken and dispirited man, because he was always haunted by the fact that after hearing Procul Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale" he realized that the best song he had ever heard was written by someone else.

I thought he died a broken and dispirited man because he was always haunted by the fact that he married Yoko Ono.

183 posted on 11/17/2003 5:14:21 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: steppenwolffe
My vote for greatest album ever:


184 posted on 11/17/2003 5:17:18 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Skooz
That was when the Stones started writing their own songs and began to drift away from their blues roots and more into the rock n roll mainstream.

The Stones came into their own with Beggars' Banquet (1968). Their previous release (Her Satanic Majesty's Request) was an attempt to copy the feel and style of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper, but failed miserably ...and embarrassingly. But Beggars' was pure Stones, and set off a run of incredible albums that were the essence of R&R --- Let it Bleed, Get Your Ya Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St. They've never come close to re-capturing the magic from that ('68 - '72) era.

185 posted on 11/17/2003 5:18:45 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: FNG
Gotta be "Frampton Comes Alive"....I wore out 3 eight-tracks of that one!
186 posted on 11/17/2003 5:19:00 PM PST by LisaMalia (Buckeye Fan since birth!!)
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To: Fresh Wind
Wasn't that VH-1 that declared Satisfaction the greatest rock song ever?

Yes....and I wasn't a bit surprised.

In fact, they should have phrased the question..... "Other than "Satisfaction", what's the greatest Rock and Roll song?"

187 posted on 11/17/2003 5:19:00 PM PST by eddie willers
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To: FreedomCalls
Mon, I love that record. .....Jah love it.
188 posted on 11/17/2003 5:19:33 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: FreedomCalls
My vote for greatest album ever:


189 posted on 11/17/2003 5:21:01 PM PST by Skooz (We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live.)
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To: steppenwolffe
Well, I'll get flamed but i think Sgt. Pepper is a pretty good choice in a field with a *lot* of great music. Musically, it may not be the best of the best, but IMHO it launched the hippies (at least in the popular culture) all by its lonesome, and musically, it affected everyone. The Stones Beggar's Banquet is spoof of it, for example, but any serious group had to go acid to be taken seriously after Sgt Pepper. It set the stage for the whole Rock era.

I find Rubber Soul pretty revolutionary as well, but SPLHCB is probably the album that personally brings me the fondest memories of the era, and i still love to listen to it, while the songs on Dark Side of the Moon just get me depressed reminding me about how another 10 years have slipped away...(but i still really dig the songs and the group! particularly UmmaGumma!!)

Musically, i tend to prefer Zep and Pink Floyd over the Beatles but not everyone out there liked these groups folks, everybody liked/likes the Beatles...

just for the record my choice of the best album ever is Blind Faith

190 posted on 11/17/2003 5:21:12 PM PST by chilepepper (The map is not the territory -- Alfred Korzybski)
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To: Skooz
Have a Cigar, my friend.
191 posted on 11/17/2003 5:22:07 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: steppenwolffe
Huntz Hall!
192 posted on 11/17/2003 5:22:14 PM PST by bvw
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To: Mr. Mojo
They've never come close to re-capturing the magic from that ('68 - '72) era.

The Mick Taylor era. What a great guitar player.

193 posted on 11/17/2003 5:22:31 PM PST by Skooz (We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live.)
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To: FreedomCalls
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there's been talk that Bob Marley actually smoked pot.
194 posted on 11/17/2003 5:23:36 PM PST by Imal (Did you know that Socrates taught that the best way to teach others is to ask questions?)
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To: chilepepper
just for the record my choice of the best album ever is Blind Faith

Just wanted to bring up "Disraeli Gears"...another great one.

195 posted on 11/17/2003 5:24:37 PM PST by eddie willers
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To: Mr. Mojo
Bob Marley

I was at his concert at the Fox Theater in Atlanta in 1980! Best concert I have ever been to as well. I even went to the record signing he had at the Turtle Records store in Hapeville the night before. I remember he was much shorter than I had imagined. He was laughing and carrying someone's baby on his shoulders as I came in. I was too broke to buy an album, and therefore I didn't get his autograph, but it was delightful just being there with him.

196 posted on 11/17/2003 5:24:58 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Mr. Mojo
Gilmour's long, soulful solo at the beginning of "Shine On... " is as good as modern music gets.
197 posted on 11/17/2003 5:25:05 PM PST by Skooz (We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live.)
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To: eddie willers
I would say "Sympathy for the Devil" was the best Stones song...just something about it....
198 posted on 11/17/2003 5:25:56 PM PST by LisaMalia (Buckeye Fan since birth!!)
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To: Skooz
Taylor wasn't in the band yet when Beggars was released, and he didn't play much on Bleed, but he sure was featured prominently on Sticky and Exile. ....As you said, a terrific guitar player. But he never quite fit in personality-wise with the rest of the band. The intense spotlight kinda freaked him out, from the accounts I've read.
199 posted on 11/17/2003 5:26:15 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Imal
No mon, dose weer jus' hand-rolled cigarettes, mon.


200 posted on 11/17/2003 5:28:15 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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