Uncut Magazine 200 Greatest Albums of All Time

[Emily]

I lifted this from the Hoffman forum. The list is in this month's uncut.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/uncut-magazine-200-greatest-albums-of-all-time.489538/#post-13548985
They're really liking the David Bowie over there at Uncut.
I'll just put the top 20 here (and number 135):
1. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - 1966
 2. The Beatles - Revolver - 1966
 3. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks - 1968
 4. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico - 1967
 5. The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album) - 1968
 6. Love - Forever Changes - 1967
 7. Bob Dylan - Blond On Blond - 1966
 8. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - 1986
 9. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited - 1965
 10. Television - Marquee Moon - 1977
 11. David Bowie - Hunky Dory - 1971
 12. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust - 1972
 13. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - 1971
 14. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue - 1959
 15. The Beatles - Rubber Soul - 1965
 16. The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street - 1972
 17. The Band - The Band - 1969
 18. Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks - 1975
 19. David Bowie - Low - 1977
 20. Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express - 1977
......
135. The Beach Boys - Surfs Up - 1971

[KDS]

Nice to see two Beach Boys albums on the list. 

Although the list is a little too broad for my taste. 

[The Shift]

Excellent start to PS's 50th anniversary!  I quite like that album too…

[phirnis]

I don't expect the likes of Friends or LY to be there even though they're personal favorites. But at the very least I'd expect to see Today somewhere in any top 200. Surf's Up being included is great, though, it's a classic.

[KDS]

I don't expect the likes of Friends or LY to be there even though they're personal favorites. But at the very least I'd expect to see Today somewhere in any top 200. Surf's Up being included is great, though, it's a classic.

Very true. 

Looking at the full list.  I could easily compile a list of Top 200 Albums not in the Top 200 Uncut Albums. 

[Shady]

At the very least Today and Sunflower should be ranked high also

Still, beach boys at #1 is a sweet victory

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I think the Surfer Girl lp deserves more props. How many albums in 63 or before were as good as this one was?

[Alan Smith]

Where the hell is Sgt Pepper's? Has it been retconned out of the current revisionist pop zeitgeist or given a special exemption status?

[KDS]

I think the Surfer Girl lp deserves more props. How many albums in 63 or before were as good as this one was?

Good point.  

IMO, The Beatles Please Please Me is the only LP I can think of off the top of my head that came before it.  

[Wrightfan]

Just realized there's a pretty big non-Beach Boys related omission (odessey and oracle by the Zombies.)

Love seeing Surf's Up there. I think the album is even more relevant now than it was than.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Where the hell is Sgt Pepper's? Has it been retconned out of the current revisionist pop zeitgeist or given a special exemption status?

#21

[phirnis]

Omitting Odessey and Oracle is downright weird. Like Pet Sounds, that record totally transcends the 60s pop genre even though it does sound very hippy/late 60s.

[joshferrell]

on page 6 someone calls Pet Sounds "Corny and dated"   Whatever,,,,He must have never listened to it and think it's a Surfing album...

[Emily]

on page 6 someone calls Pet Sounds "Corny and dated"   Whatever,,,,He must have never listened to it and think it's a Surfing album...

I think people who are really steeped in blues-based rock might have that initial reaction to the soaring and chiming in Pet Sounds. For some listeners to appreciate it they have to stop and shake their heads clear and really give it an open, fresh, baggage-free hearing.

Eta: most rock is blues-based but you know what I mean, right?

[Pretty Funky]

Of course we scorn polls here so 'Pet Sounds' at number one is complete bs right?........


Seriously though, well done!

[JK]

Omitting Odessey and Oracle is downright weird. Like Pet Sounds, that record totally transcends the 60s pop genre even though it does sound very hippy/late 60s.

Perhaps they're sticklers for spelling over there. Otherwise it makes no sense at all. O&O to me is a curious combination of naive and sophisticated (hard to explain, really). I love it. :=)

I'm not a major fan of Pepper but I must admit to being shocked not to see it in the top twenty. The rest looks pretty good.

One album whose constant high rating grates on me a bit is Forever Changes. Side one of Da Capo is far superior, in my jaded opinion.

[The Shift]

Each to his own.

My own top ten would include Pet Sounds, Sunflower, Tres Hombres, Lamb Lies Down, LZIV, Who's Next, Prairie Wind, One World, Songs from the Wood and Superwombling. This week…

[Ian]

I'd add the kinks something else, the stones let it bleed, beach boys sunflower and today, van Morrison veedon fleece, Elvis Presley from Elvis in Memphis, Elvis Costello get happy, jerry lee Lewis live at the star club, Beatles hard day's night, Phil Spector Christmas album, ramones first, etc

[JK]

Omitting Odessey and Oracle is downright weird.

Perhaps they're sticklers for spelling over there.

I take that back, if nos. 85, 95, 108 and 161 are anything to go by...

[Moon Dawg]

Where the hell is Sgt Pepper's? Has it been retconned out of the current revisionist pop zeitgeist or given a special exemption status?

  Off the list for good?

[sea of tunes]

1. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - 1966

They got #1 right. That's what matters most.

[Emdeeh]

I'm very glad to see Surf's Up getting some props. I have never understood why Van Morrison's Astral Weeks gets precedence over Moondance, tho.

[Smilin Ed H]

There are  lots I disagree with, but not the number one choice - and it's way more rooted in reason than similar Rolling Stone lists...  Good to see Paddy McAloon on there too.

[Moon Dawg]

  It's a good list, perhaps a bit more "old school" than what we've seen from other sources of late.


  A bit weak on founding fathers - did I miss both Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley? Granted, singles took precedence then, but both ST LOUIS TO LIVERPOOL (1964) and FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS (1969) are worthy.

  Is PET SOUNDS really #1? I don't know, but it's nice to see at the top. SURF'S UP is a Beach Boys LP that will remain strangely relevant, especially in years to come when "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again" is added to its rightful place on the album.

  Jokes aside, #21 for PEPPER is respectful but not overly reverent.

[Bicyclerider]

Most of the top twenty seem to be albums that were groundbreaking in some way - but not necessarily the "best" album by the artists.  I agree with Ian that Moondance was a better album than Astral Weeks, and I think White Light/White Heat was better than the VU's debut although perhaps less "influential."  Pepper at 21 is clearly from the revisionist school (or reappraisal school) of music criticism - in most polls from years past Pepper was always in the top 5.  Definitely missing Kinks (Village Green, Face to Face, Somethin Else - ONE of those should be in the top 20), and Miles Davis is like comparing apples to oranges, definitely out of place.  Exile on Main St has been elevated way beyond its proper station in my opinion - Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers are better.

Pet Sounds has become something of a knee jerk reaction in many top ten lists - yes it's great, but if it is so great then why do albums from the Beach Boys as good or at least almost as good - Today, Sunflower, Surf's Up, Friends - not even make the top 100?  It's like the critics feel they have to give a high ranking to Pet Sounds because of all the acclaim, but the critics don't really understand or like or are familiar with the Beach Boys total body of work.