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The Album Anniversary Thread


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Fifty years ago today these two albums were released - Blonde on Blonde and Pet Sounds. Okay, let that sink in. Wow. Bob Dylan at his absolute effortless best and Brian Wilson's genius finally come to fruition. Imagine going down to the record store and buying these two gems uninitiated. And one would have already listened to the Rolling Stones' Aftermath with Freak Out! and Revolver on the horizon.

 

Blonde on Blonde is mesmerizing. I love the lyrical imagery. "Visions of Johanna" is probably my favorite Dylan song. Imagining what the lyrics are describing backed by that hypnotic beat and Dylan's vocal delivery is an experience I am grateful I can experience time and time again. It's an album filled with classics and should be classics. Brilliant, through and through.

 

Pet Sounds is a blueprint of what an artist can do with a recording studio. Brian Wilson took Phil Spector and George Martin a step further and helped start using the recording studio as a great big playground. It's an album that helped open doors that were never closed.

 

Anyway, let's discuss these great albums and any album with a significant anniversary on this thread. Let's open our years and minds.

 

Post away...

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50 years ago today The Mama's and The Papa's " Monday, Monday " was #1 in the Billboard Top 100 singles. I remember it. :codger:
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46 years ago today Live at Leeds was released. I remember having my mother drive me to EJ Korvettes in West Orange NJ so I could by the album.

 

To this day, it is still my favorite album.

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45 years ago today Paul & Linda McCartney released Ram.

 

Today many fans consider Ram McCartney's best solo album. Back in 1971 many critics considered it a turd. McCartney overreaching and simply echoing and exploiting his Beatles credentials. It's my personal favorite solo-McCartney album. It's a splendid group of songs that cover and explore practically all of McCartney's songwriting strengths. And don't forget the single released along with Ram - "Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why". It's a great slice of life ditty along with a ballsy blues rocker.

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Other notable releases on this date:

 

Rainbow - Rising (1976)

Jethro Tull - Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die (1976)

Patti Smith - Wave (1979)

Megadeth - Killing is My Business... and Business is Good! (1985)

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I have to admit Ram is a tough album for me as a big Beatles and McCartney fan -- the album sounds cobbled together and ragged. So I can see why critics coming off the high of Abbey Road would scratch their heads over this one. Looking back, it has wonderful moments: Uncle Albert, Too Many People, Heart of the Country, 3 Legs and Eat at Home. And the single, Another Day. Stone classics.

But then he takes great ideas - like Back Seat of My Car and Monkberry Moon Delight - and turns them into cutesy throwaways. I think he could've worked on it a bit more. But then maybe that was the point of his output at this time. McCartney was like that, as was Wild Life. I am not a big fan of those albums either. I don't know if it was a crisis of confidence after the break up of the Beatles or if he was simply spending too much time up on the farm isolated from the world, or if he was just trying to carve out a new sound and it wasn't gelling yet. I would rank Ram in the upper regions of his solo work solely based on the songs I mentioned, but it is uneven at best. Band on the Run, Red Rose Speedway, London Town, and Flaming Pie are all better, IMO.

 

As for Pet Sounds, that album has been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember because I inherited a copy out of my parents' record collection so I have always known that album, and as I got older and started reading about how great it was, it was hard to go back and separate the hype from what I just knew as a Beach Boys album that was a neat introspective little album unlike any others they did before it. I certainly still love it. Have to be in a frame of mind to listen. It is so deep. I tend to hit a few tracks most of the time, but not too long ago I sat with my turntable and spun the whole thing. It still resonates.

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David Bowie's Lodger was released 37 years ago on this date. It's the poppiest and probably the most accessible album of Bowie's Berlin trilogy. Even as the most accessible album it's still incredibly progressive and experimental. Great songs. Great hooks. Great Bowie.

 

 

 

 

(busy at work. not a lot of free time today)

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47 years ago today the Who released Tommy. Go listen to it right now!

 

If Tommy is not your thing, you can maybe listen to Kiss Dynasty, which was released 37 years ago today.

 

Or just listen to Elton John's Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, which was released 41 years ago today.

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