Joke Of The Day

[Roger Ryan]

Actually, the Rolling Stone Record Guide (1978 Edition) gave VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY five stars (highest rating). I believe that rating remained consistent through the subsequent editions.

HOWEVER, the various RS Record Guides are notorious for changing the ratings from edition to edition based on supposed "critical reevaluations". In that 1978 guide, SURF'S UP received a five-star rating whereas PET SOUNDS was given three stars! I believe SUNFLOWER somehow got a two-star rating. Anyway, by the 90s, Rolling Stone grudgingly gave PET SOUNDS five stars while noting that it may or may not be Brian's masterpiece (RS considered TODAY & SUMMER DAYS... better). Oh yeah, the SUNFLOWER/SURF'S UP two-fer was reduced to three stars (I guess the mediocrity of SUNFLOWER dragged down the brilliance of SURF'S UP  ).

[DonnyL]

that's exactly what i'm talking about

i know there is one RS book somewhere that ranks the Kinks' SOMETHING ELSE higher than VILLAGE GREEN (90s?)

[the captain]

I don't think there's any shame in that, either. Something Else is also a brilliant album. Seems a bit like complaining that somebody said Rubber Soul is better than Sgt. Pepper, or Smile material is better than Pet Sounds. As with many great bands, there are probably 3-5 Kinks albums that could easily be ranked atop their catalogue, and Something Else is one of them.

[Mr. Wilson]

JEEZ..ill make it more weird.. Theres is no way i could compile a list without breaking the styles of music down... I couldnt mix Jazz ..Blues ..Country..Pop..And rock + all its other divisions..On one list..I couldnt mix..jeff beck ..Larry carlton..Miles davis..with albert Collins ..BB King..Beach Boys..Kinks Who..garth Brooks..Alan Jackson...ETC ETC..... Id have a list for every style of music.. 10 desert Island disks for each style of music...LOL...!!!!

[donald]

Is it my computer or is this site slow?


Anyhow, comment is I agree with previous poster that there are so many different KINDS of music how could you possibly lump them all together in a list?

Who would you leave out?    I usually have a current favorite that gets a lot of play.  Something I have rediscovered for the 2nd or 3rd time....................such as one of the aforementioned Kinks albums.

Oddly enough, I have a copy of the original vinyl release of Best of Mary Wells on my turntable right now and it has been played several times over the past few weeks.  I hadn't listend to that in years but right now it is my current favorite Motown album....bar none.   And I have become bored with recent Dylan releases...played them too much.  But I have Highway 61 in the cd player in my car and have listened to it all weekcoming to work.

Point is, my top 100 varies all of the time and even my most favorite albums of my life sometimes fall off the list for a while.

Same with my favorite foods.   I currently have a major jones for asparagus.    But I'm sure I'll soon regain my preference for peas and carrots.  Sometimes I want a candy bar and sometimes pretzels.

I'll bet the Rolling Stone staff that compiles these lists would come up with different llineups every six months if given a blank slate and no reminder of previous lists.

Question.  Do record companies and music publishers buy their way onto these lists?

[DonnyL]

i'm certainly not complaining that SOMETHING ELSE is higher than VILLAGE GREEN, just making the point that what's better or worse changing to suit the tastes of RS, the masses, etc.  for the record, I love both albums

[phirnis]

Question.  Do record companies and music publishers buy their way onto these lists?

I'd guess they don't even have to.

[Surfer Joe]

In fairness to the RS Record Guide from 1978 (the red cover?), that book was probably the reason I walked to the record store as a kid and bought Village Green. It made me curious.  At the same time, I understood how flawed it was because of the lunacy of their Pet Sounds rating (was it really three stars? SHEESH!)

So if I read correctly, they had their future all-time greatest album and the runner-up both at three stars. Even as a kid I laughed at those two head-up-the-backside reviews.

I still remember a lot of the ratings, including five stars each for All Summer Long and Summer Days, both of which I had from early childhood, but it was a bit confusing because a lot of the Capitol truncated versions, sold as budget-priced LP two-fers, were also retitled at that time (and hideously re-covered). So Summer Days was California Girls (shrink-wrapped with All Summer Long, which therefore had its back cover on the front- and both in matching red). Today! was Dance, Dance, Dance- I think- packaged with Shut Down Volume II as Fun, Fun Fun.  Oddest of all, I had a truncated pressing of The Beach Boys In Concert (no "Johnny B. Goode, no "Wanderer") with a freaky cover parodying the iconic carrying-the-surfboard image and the title "Wow! Great Party!".

Endless Summer got five, needless to say.  Spirit Of America got four, I think- criminal if correct.

But I digress...again.

Back to the Kinks, I think they gave the prestigious five stars to Something Else, Kinks-Size, Face To Face, VGPS, and Lola Vs. Powerman, all hard to argue with. Four to Arthur, three (?) to Preservation Act 1...they had their instances of being grossly full of it, but they put me on to some really great stuff and got my curiosity going in a good way.

They called 15 Big Ones, I think it was, a"study of a worm on a hook"- an interesting phrase that I'm still trying to figure out three decades later.

Speaking of which, apologies to Luther, after rereading this thread.  I had misread a phrase as "I despise their talent", which just cracked me up for some reason.  He actually wrote "I despise them despite their talent."