I realize it's quasi-sacrilegious to not fawn over every single moment on Pet Sounds, but before the tomatoes and cabbage start raining down on me (metaphorically) at least let me get a head start.
I've never been a huge Beach Boys fan, mostly because all of their hits have the same structure and upbeat nature. One of my girlfriend's favorite CDs is the 'Sounds of Summer' Beach Boys compilation and it has a really personal connection between her, her childhood, and her grandfather. While that's all well and good, I would rather walk across a glass covered floor while ethnically ambiguous terrorists try to murder me.
It's 30 tracks that all run together that I don't think I could actually make my way all the way through it. She always insists on playing it on car trips and every time, without fail, I lose all sense of motor control and end up swerving into oncoming highway traffic and causing several multi-car accidents. Then we put on Permanent Waves.
Where was I? Oh right, I've never been a huge Beach Boys fan. They constantly competed with early Beatles, and Pet Sounds was a response to Rubber Soul (or Revolver, I don't remember). And while Pet Sounds is a great album, it's never really clicked fully with me. I don't know what it is, but I just can't see it as the über album that should be placed above all other albums.
However, something did click for me the first time I listened to Surf's Up. This does not sound like a Beach Boys' record at all. The light and fun nature of their music is hardly found on this record, the lyrics are either decidedly pointed commentary or ambiguous, and the vocals were more akin to dirges or choir arrangements than exultations of life, the beach, and licentious women.
What really enthralled me was the immense beauty of this album. The intimate idiosyncrasies of each song blow me away, and I often find myself in a daze listening to this album, so it's not ideal for driving. Specific songs include Don't Go Near the Water, Long Promised Road, Disney Girls, and the last 3 tracks. All of these songs exude an etherial beauty that puts me at a loss for words. I wish I could put the last minute of the title track on an endless loop and just live my life with that wondrous harmony following me around wherever I go.
I'm fairly sure I was recommended this album from this very website, and I couldn't be happier. What I found was an extremely under-appreciated album that is brimming with pure musical bliss. Please, ignore the compilations and go straight to the source.
Back in college, I was walking with some bros to the neighborhood record store, and we began discussing our love of the Beatles. The discussion quickly turned to their solo work, and someone posed the question: what is the best album from a Beatles member? There were three of us, and, surprisingly, we gave three different answers: All Things Must Pass, The Plastic Ono Band, and RAM. Nobody chose a Ringo album.
A spirited debate ensued, tempers flared, minds were not changed, punches were thrown, authorities were called, charges were filed, court dates were missed, warrants were put out, identities were changed, plastic surgery was undergone, persons relocated across the country, and this subject has not been addressed since.
Here are my official stances on my comrades' choices of best solo Beatles album:
All Things Must Pass: I must admit, it's close between this and RAM for best solo Beatles album. Ranked 121 as of this posting, ATMP is a masterpiece from an underrated musical icon, and the first Beatles album to have wild success. The fact that it's a triple LP adds to it's standing, since it's hard enough to keep a listener engaged across one disc, let alone three. It does drag a little towards the end, but once again, there's three discs, and it doesn't fall that much, but enough to fall below RAM. It is kind of incredible that he sat on some of these tracks while still with the Beatles. Perhaps John and Paul should've let George write more. And let Ringo write and sing less.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: Full disclosure, I've only listened to this album twice, so I don't really have a full opinion on this album. I do, however have an opinion of John Lennon, and that opinion is this: John Lennon is a hypocritical asshole. He was a woman-abusing monster, a self-centered and self-righteous prick who chose to preach peace, love, happiness, and sharing the wealth, when he was an unloving brutal and selfish man. He wished that he would be assassinated, to die as a martyr and give himself a mythic standing, so that his legacy that may last forever. Well, he got his wish, and now a bunch of college students have poster of him standing with his arms crossed with those stupid sunglasses. Now, most of this hate is just directed at him because I don't like his music, or Yoko Ono. In summary, I don't like John Lennon's personality or his music.
Okay, back to RAM.
RAM is such a delightful album because you can hear the joy and love that was put into it. You can hear (relatively) recently wed Paul and Linda bonding over their love of creating music and composing, and it makes me genuinely happy listening to this album. Paul's voice is oh so soothing as usual, and his songs are peak solo McCartney it's incredible to think that this is only his second solo album. From top to bottom, this album is consistently amazing. The McCartney's crafted a homemade album that sounds like it was produced in the best studios with the best musicians that money could buy. Listen to the end of Back Seat of My Car to fully grasp what I mean. This album is McCartney continuing to stretch his legs post-breakup employing tricks he picked up with those other three guys, and the result is a lush album that enthralls the listener with outstanding arrangements, fantastic production, lovely lyrics, and an undeniable feeling of fun and pure joy not found in many records*.
RAM has received higher acclaim in recent years, and it's only a wonder why it wasn't lauded any sooner. So please, sit back and relax, and let Sir Paul McCartney sooth your soul with his lovely music and velvety voice.
*John Lennon made zero fun records. I should know, I've listened to two of his albums. _________________ Don't get work up over my posts. I'm an idiot.
Rantings on my Top 100 My podcast
Last edited by jdenny2018 on 02/17/2019 22:31; edited 2 times in total
I'll have a full breakdown of the list later, but for now, let's wrap this whole thing up.
As I have previously mentioned, my love for the Beatles has been a slow-burning love. I would decry their overplayed hits as overrated (I still think Hey Jude is overrated) and I never gave any of their albums a chance. That changed when I bought Sgt. Pepper on CD on a whim. I mean, it's universally accepted as (one of) the greatest albums ever, it has to be at least DECENT. After listening and deciding it wasn't that bad, I asked a friend to give me a flash drive of all the Beatles albums.
*Stephen A Smith voice* Howevah!
I only asked for the albums Revolver and beyond. Despite my ignorance, I knew that their most widely acclaimed part of their catalog was post-Sgt Pepper, and I knew Revolver was really good too. Everything else could be lost forever and I wouldn't have cared.
Slowly, as I listened more and more, I grew to love them more and more. The real turning point was when I listened to Rubber Soul for the second time, and actually found it was amazing. Rubber Soul opened the door to the Beatles catalog that I had previously deemed "worthless dreck" and "less than zero" and "music that terrorists listen to". It's kind of astonishing to think how ignorant I was about something that I really didn't know anything about, and the way I spoke about it in such an entitled and pretentious manner just made me sound like an asshole. Props to be for admitting how wrong I used to be.
Help! is the only early Beatles album I really love. Please Please Me and everything else up to this point is good, but it's hard to deny that this is where the Beatles really start to mature and develop into the musical geniuses we all know and love them as. The arrangements are improving, their writing is improving, and they're becoming more ambitious. After all, a string quartet on a pop song in 1965 was way outside the norm. They did all of this consciously, as they felt that an artist should be constantly developing and evolving their music. Well lucky us, because some of the greatest music ever came from this desire of change.
Before I begin, I'd like to thank all of you lovely readers. If I hadn't received any feedback early on, I probably would've run out of steam around 17 and would've never come back to this website again. I'm so glad there's a (small) community of people wanting to read my idiotic musings on my favorite albums ever. Anyway, here are a few observations I made along the way.
1. I need to listen to more Hip-Hop.
This one is kind of a no brainer, as I only had 3 (I think) albums on my list. This is mostly due to the fact that I didn't start listening to Hip-Hop until College, and I had built up 18 years of listening to Classic rock, so it took a while to have any of it sink in. I do like a good amount, but not a lot is favorite album ever status. Regardless, I still need to listen to more and expand my genre knowledge.
2. I need to listen to more music outside the 70s.
Once again, more expansion required. 51 albums from a single decade is excessive to say the least. I'll be updating my list soon, and this should hopefully help this and the previous point.
3. I clearly think I'm funnier than you people do.
Honestly, I'm pretty funny. At least my mom says so, and she wouldn't lie to me like that. But seriously, some of the shit I've written on this thread is hilarious, but nobody has ever mentioned a thing about how funny I am. My dissertation on why I hate the Beach Boys 'Sounds of Summer' compilation had me rolling on the floor. Regardless, somebody tell me if my humor is asinine and unfunny, because if so, I'll stop trying.
4. I wish there was a way to link to specific entries.
This would totally make it easier to share specific posts with people. And please tell me if this feature already exists, I'm not too savvy on this website.
5. My use of gifs is unparalleled.
I used the following gif in one of my posts and it made complete sense in the context of the post.
Once again, I'm fucking hilarious.
6. I owe this website a lot.
I've been on this website for less than a year, and I've received dozens of fantastic recommendations, had countless respectful debates (except one where someone claimed that I couldn't express disdain towards Bob Dylan because I haven't accomplished as much as him) and become more musically diverse. It's continued my musical exploration, and kept my desire for new music fresh and always interesting.
That's all I can think of right now, but there are countless more things I've learned. Thanks to all of you for encouraging me along the way. I'll be updating my list shortly, and I'll add to this thread to the new additions and whatever moved up the most.
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