johnasmolin.bsky.social

#116 The Cure 'Disintegration' #RollingStoneTop500 Maybe not the most important Cure album but probably the best. Brings back memories of listening to this in the car driving with a girl from Caltech to the beach late at night. I ended up giving her the tape (but I made another from my CD).

'Pictures of You' reminds me of someone too, but when she broke my heart the first time she took the pictures with her too. I did get them back before the second time, but I never have the heart to look at them.

#115 Kendrick Lamar 'good kid, m.A.A.d. city' #RollingStoneTop500 This didn't do it for me. I get that it's autobiographical and probably moving, but it would take a lot of listens. And musically, I was just not feeling it.

#114 The Strokes 'Is This It' #RollingStoneTop500 I knew this not at all, but it's exactly the kind of alternative I like. I liked it a lot but can't say any of the tracks stuck with me. I did immediately clock the singer sounding like the Killers. The two bands apparently have a healthy rivalry.

#113 The Smiths 'The Queen is Dead' #RollingStoneTop500 Another one I own, I love this album. I've apparently been listening to it since it came out (though I thought it had been around a while). This was the first time I've listened to it since the actual dead of the queen I think.

I love the whole thing. It drags just a little by the middle of 'Never Had No One Ever' but then pulls you out of it with 'Cemetry Gates.' 'There is a Light That Never Goes Out' is one of my favorite songs period.

The line from 'I Know it's Over' "It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind" seem more relevant than ever. I hope Morrissey remembers them.

#112 Elton John 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' #RollingStoneTop500 This is a really great album. Starts of strong with 'Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding' and keeps going. 'Candle in the Wind' has been overplayed, but still. The riff from 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' is everywhere--

though it took me a while to place it. AI pointed me to 'Gloria' by Umberto Tozzi but popularized in the US by Laura Branigan. Anyway, I also love the title track. But I don't quite understand the love for 'Bennie and the Jets.'

#111 Janet Jackson 'Control' #RollingStoneTop500 I actually used to own this. I bought it on vinyl, probably because it was on sale at the end of the (first) vinyl era. Maybe I had heard 'Nasty' on the radio, which is a fantastic track. I also like 'Control' quite a bit. After that they blur into

an enjoyable pop listen. I probably mostly listened to the first side, and not too many times, but it holds up. (I stopped having a working turntable around 1990 and got rid of my last vinyl in 2011 when my father moved out of his house)

#110 Joni Mitchell 'Court and Spark' #RollingStoneTop500 I still don't care for Joni Mitchell but this is lighter and more tolerable than 'Blue.' I did like 'Raised on Robbery' and 'Twisted' which aren't her usual style. The former is kinda honky tonk country and the latter is just insanity at work.

#109 Lou Reed 'Transformer' #RollingStoneTop500 I didn't know many of these other than 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Perfect Day,' oh, and 'Satellite of Love.' 'Perfect Day' is perfect. 'Wild Side' was way ahead of its time (except for 'Lola,' which was a couple of years earlier. I especially liked

'Make Up.' 'New York Telephone Conversation' and 'Goodnight Ladies' seem like show tunes (not a bad thing in my book).

#108 Fiona Apple 'When the Pawn ...' #RollingStoneTop500 I always thought I'd like Fiona Apple while knowing nothing about her but her name. I figured she was some alternative vocalist, which isn't too far from the truth. These turn out to be modern takes on the Jazz standard with a bit of a 70s

feel once in a while. Timeless really, and very good. Nice to listen to but not mind-blowing. I especially liked 'A Mistake'.

#107 Television 'Marquee Moon' #RollingStoneTop500 I didn't know any of this but I think I would have liked it if I had known of it back in college. I like it now. I probably confused it with Taco because it starts with a 'T.' Hard to pin down the style. Is it pop? I will definitely come back to

this but I must say none of the tracks stuck in my mind afterwards. Favorite was 'Friction'--"My eyes are like telescopes. I see it all backwards, but who wants hope?"

#106 Hole 'Live Through This' #RollingStoneTop500 I really like this mix of punk and grunge. You can feel the Nirvana influence. I only kinda knew 'Miss World' and 'Doll Parts' but right from the start 'Violet' evoked 'Celebrity Skin' for me, though I needed a search to figure it out and couldn't

have told you any of these were Hole before that. Also, for some reason "Miss World' and 'Doll Parts' made me start humming 'I Feel Fine' by the Beatles. It's probably just how strrung out the phrase "I'm Miss World' goes like "I'm so glad, that she's my little girl." There needs to be a mashup.

#105 The Allman Brothers 'At Fillmore East' #RollingStoneTop500 I liked but don't love this. It's really good bluesy rock with great melody guitar, if that's what it's called. But there's a lot of it and it all starts to sound the same after a while. I've listened to more than the whole album since

there's a deluxe edition with extra tracks. I still haven't finished all the extras. I may relax my usual rule about hearing each song uninterrupted by phone calls or too much beeping from my car for the 30+ minute track that's still left.

Finished the whole thing. I think my favorite track is the last one: 'Drunken Hearted Boy'. I also should mention I don't think I knew even one of these songs.

#104 The Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't like this as much as the other Stones on the list so far even though some think it's their best. 'Brown Sugar' is a banger, and I like 'Dead Flowers' a lot. But despite knowing it, I don't love 'Wild Horses'.

#103 De La Soul 'Three Feet High and Rising' #RollingStoneTop500 I really enjoyed this. A whole different kind of hiphop--it's happy. I especially enjoyed 'Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)". Viva the D.A.I.S.Y. age!

#102 The Clash 'The Clash' #RollingStoneTop500 I really loved this one, even though I knew exactly none of the songs *(see below). Grabbed me from the first track 'Janie Jones'. What I hear is not so much the punk anger but a lot fo fun (Ramones are like that too). The release was very different in

the UK vs the US. RS was talking about the UK version I think but I liked it so much I tracked down the US version which has 6 different songs plus a bonus 7 incher. Loved them all. 'I Fought the Law' is one of the 6 so I knew that one. And there are many versions of 'White Riot' so I hope I got the

right one--the one I found has sirens on it. I so wish I had been cool enough to like and know about this 40 years ago. The Clash I did know I didn't love. Maybe 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' is bad, or maybe just overplayed. I guess I liked 'Rock the Casbsah' and 'London Calling'.

#101 Led Zeppelin 'Led Zeppelin' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't love this. There are some good tracks but I mostly like the ones that are straight-up blues not the Zeppelin schtick like 'You Shook Me' (a cover that influenced AC/DC) and "I Can't Quit You Baby'

#RollingStoneTop500 I made it through the top 100! Only took a year and a half. I'm really enjoying this project so far. I am surprised at some things that haven't made it yet. Where are any of my 80s college bands? No Smiths, no Cure? And in harder rock where are the Kinks? Queen? U2?

I don't even love U2 but really? And I've had expected much more Pink Floyd. Looking ahead, I see several of these show up in the next 25. Looking forward to them!

#100 The Band 'Music From Big Pink' #RollingStoneTop500 Big Pink is a house. I started off not liking the first few tracks but that may have just been my impatience to get 100 albums finished. After 'Caledonia Mission' I started getting really into it. I especially liked 'Long Black Veil' (a cover)

#99 Taylor Swift 'Red' #RollingStoneTop500 RS probably saved a lot of grief from the Swifties by this slipping in just inside the top 100. But this is a really good album. But what I noticed most is that her singles are much more juvenile than the rest of the album.

I'm sure I'm not the first to say so. '22' reminds too much of Rebecca Black's 'Friday' and 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' is catchy AF but the chorus is just annoying. But the other tracks dig deeper and are really great. I get it.

17 Sept

#98 Lucinda Williams 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road' #RollingStoneTop500 This is a great album and I agree with RS that there's not a bad song on it. It's hard to pick a favorite and I feel a bit wrong to choose 'Drunken Angel' but there you go.

17 Sept

This is alt-country rock and its presence raises (not begs!) the question of where is the other country? Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton?

#97 Metallica 'Master of Puppets' #RollingStoneTop500 I don't like this one. I mean, I see the skill involved in playing this, and I even get it--I do like lots of music that's loud and distorted and even angry--lots of punk is--but this is so dark and, to steal a word from RS, unrelenting.

I sort of liked parts of 'Welcome Home (Santitarium)' and 'Orion' where they slow down a bit.

#96 R.E.M. 'Automatic for the People' #RollingStoneTop500 Finally, so alternative rock in here. I don't think this is R.E.M's most important album and it's not their best in my book (or the best selling) but it has some of their best songs. I love 'Everybody Hurts' and 'Man on the Moon'.

'Man on the Moon' hits harder if you've seen the movie. Recommend.

#95 Drake 'Take Care' #RollingStoneTop500 This was OK but not fantastic. Very nice storytelling and sort of relatable, though he's a rich rapper so it's loose. Some of the songs are pretty, but I don't like the auto-tune. Either Drake just can't sing, or it's a style but it really dates it.

7 Sept

#94 The Stooges 'Fun House' #RollingStoneTop500 All these are new to me. This rocks hard. It's pre-punk more than pre-metal and so avoids the 'balls in vise' sound I dislike so much. All really strong songs, though I don't like how the sax is used (even though I love me some saxophone).

7 Sept

The last track 'L.A. Blues' is like punk free jazz, and is a bit of a mess.

6 Sept

#93 Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott 'Supa Dupa Fly' #RollingStoneTop500 This is listenable and even fun, but mostly not my thing. I did especially liked 'Izzy Izzy Ahh' and the sad 'Why You Hurt Me' about someone she knew turning tricks.

4 Sept

#92 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 'Axis: Bold as Love' #RollingStoneTop500 These are effortlessly cool, and make me feel cool listening to them. But none of this really stands out to me like the earlier Hendrix on this list.

4 Sept

#91 Bruce Springsteen 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' #RollingStoneTop500 A darker Springsteen but quite good. I only have ever heard 'Badlands' maybe. My favorite is 'Racing in the Street.' More piano ballady than I expected.

29 Aug

#90 Neil Young 'After the Gold Rush' #RollingStoneTop500 All these songs are very pretty to listen to, some quite moving. But no real standouts. And Young's voice is just not good.

28 Aug

#89 Erykah Badu 'Baduizm' #RollingStoneTop500 Now this is jazz singing I like (though Apple Music labels it as Soul/R&B). There's melody and great vocals. I don't think it was my favorite track but 'Apple Tree' keeps getting stuck in my head.