Buy Now
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(more) »rank: 117by: The Beatles
: :\N essential recording:Before Sgt. Pepper, no one seriously thought of rock music as actual art. That all changed in 1967, though, when John, Paul, George and Ringo (with 'A Little Help' from their friend, producer George Martin) created an undeniable work of art which remains, after 30-plus years, one of the most influential albums of all time. From Lennon's evocative word/sound pictures (the trippy 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,' the carnival-like 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite') and McCartney's music hall-styled 'When I'm 64,' to Harrison's Eastern-leaning 'Within You Without You,' ...
Buy Now
Abbey Road
(more) »rank: 149by: The Beatles
: essential recording:The Beatles' last days as a band were as productive as any major pop phenomenon that was about to split. After recording the ragged-but-right Let It Be, the group held on for this ambitious effort, an album that was to become their best-selling. Though all four contribute to the first side's writing, John Lennon's hard-rocking, 'Come Together' and 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' make the strongest impression. A series of song fragments edited together in suite form dominates side two; its portentous, touching, official close ('Golden Slumbers'/'Carry That Weight'/'The End') is nicely ...
Buy Now
The Beatles (The White Album)
(more) »rank: 110by: The Beatles
: essential recording:Better known as the 'White Album,' this was meant to be the record that brought them back to earth after three years of studio experimentation. Instead, it took them all over the place, continuing to burst the envelope of pop music. Lennon and McCartney were still at the height of their powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of rock's towering figures. But even McCartney could still rock, and the amazement on 'Helter Skelter' was that he had vocal cords at the end. From Beach Boys knock-offs to reggae and to the ...
Buy Now
Dark Side Of The Moon
(more) »rank: 165by: Pink Floyd
: :No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: PINK FLOYDTitle: DARK SIDE OF THE MOONStreet Release Date: 07/07/1987DomesticGenre: ROCK/POP essential recording:Dark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like 'On the Run,' 'Time' and especially 'Money' (with sampled sounds of clinking coins ...
Buy Now
Complete Studio Recordings
(more) »rank: 667by: Led Zeppelin
: :No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: LED ZEPPELINTitle: COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGSStreet Release Date: 09/28/1993DomesticGenre: ROCK/POP :As Basil Bunting wrote about Ezra Pound's Cantos, 'There are the Alps... you will have to go a long way round/if you want to avoid them.' Led Zeppelin's work is the central fact of 1970s rock & roll; in its loving homage to and shameless piracy from the blues, its glorious and wretched excess, its transformation of hippie and folk-rock graces into a foundation-shaking kaboom, and its offhanded myth-making, the band turned everything caught in its wake ...
Buy Now
Rubber Soul
(more) »rank: 189by: The Beatles
: :No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: BEATLESTitle: RUBBER SOUL (BRITISH)Street Release Date: 08/09/1988DomesticGenre: ROCK/POP essential recording:Rank 'em how you like, Rubber Soul is an undeniable pivot point in the Fab Four's varied discography no matter where, or how, you first heard it. The album was softened up in its original 12-song American edition to jibe with the Dylan/Byrds folk-rock sound, as well as squeeze money from the Parlophone catalog. The 14-song U.K. edition--the version now available on compact disc--is a different, more dynamic, and ultimately more accomplished achievement. So many classics: ...
Buy Now
The Beatles 1
(more) »rank: 218by: The Beatles
: :No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: BEATLESTitle: BEATLES 1Street Release Date: 11/14/2000DomesticGenre: ROCK/POP essential recording: Proving yet again their willingness to dice 'n' slice their burgeoning legacy into new--if not exactly fresh--product, the Fab Four Minus One have released this single-disc compendium of their No. 1 hits. Though obviously superfluous to the faithful (who may also find themselves quibbling over the precise definition of 'No. 1 hit' and the exclusion of seeming contenders like 'Please Please Me' and 'Strawberry Fields'), newly arrived visitors from the Pleiades star cluster and other neophytes ...
Buy Now
The Who: The Ultimate Collection
(more) »rank: 280by: The Who
: :\N :The Who's mighty catalog of beautiful, poignant, and often silly pop songs bashed out with Cassius Clay finesse has suffered in the past at the hands of multiple, butcher-shop best-ofs and horrible packaging. But this thrilling band--undeniably one of ye classicke rocke's greatest--gets the career-spanning entry-point compilation it deserves with the double-disc Ultimate Collection. The songs included here are no-brainers, for the most part--if they aren't huge hits like 'My Generation,' 'I Can See for Miles,' or 'Baba O'Riley,' they're long-standing fan favorites such as 'Boris the Spider,' 'Pure and Easy,' and 'Squeeze ...
Buy Now
Wish You Were Here
(more) »rank: 374by: Pink Floyd
: Essential Recording:Wish You Were Here is a song cycle dedicated to Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett, who'd flamed out years before: two grimly funny songs about the evils of the music business ('By the way, which one's Pink?'), and two long, touching ones about the band's vanished friend. The real star of the show, though, is the production: sparkling, convoluted, designed to sound deeply oh-wow under the influence--and pretty great sober too--with David Gilmour getting lots of space for his most lyrical guitar playing ever. And, though the album is big and ambitious, ...
Buy Now
The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered)
(more) »rank: 266by: Pink Floyd
: Essential Recording:The Wall is less a collection of songs than a single work, which is sometimes frustrating; the plot lacks enough coherence to hold the snippets of music together. However, there are occasional flashes of brilliance on what ranks as Pink Floyd's most ambitious project. Most of these come from the fully developed songs, which have become classics in their own right. 'Hey You,' 'Mother,' and especially 'Comfortably Numb' are subtle, incredible pieces of music. Though complex, they move at a relaxed pace, allowing the listener to absorb them slowly; this kind of pacing ...
