I simply can’t bear to write anything about war or Trump today, though doubtlessly something related will pop up when I write the news for tomorrow’s Hili post. But until then I want to keep it lighthearted. The Great Duck Egress still weighs heavy on me.
It’s sad that I discovered Rick Beato so late in my life, as I generally share his taste in music, though I remain largely stuck in music of the Sixties through the early Seventies, while he’s much more open to newer music. However, his education and ear make him a great educator, and since I’ve watched his videos I’ve become a lot more attentive in listening to music, especially in understanding what makes my favorite songs my favorite songs. His analyses of “what makes this song great” are my favorites.
In this video Beato lists what he sees at the top 40 “greatest sounding albums of all time,” and by that he means that all the songs on the album are good—but not only good but that sound good. In other words, I think he’s choosing albums that show musicality throughout—that stimulate both the ear and the emotions.
I confess that I don’t know about a third of the albums he mentions, and I don’t share his opinion about many of the ones I do know. Below I’ve put the 12 albums that I have heard and which I think deserve consideration for the list. But many better albums are missing. For example, he gives the Beatles’ “Revolver” an honorable mention, but wouldn’t any of the Beatles albums after “Rubber Soul” be better music than Sufjean Stevens or Seal, good as they are? Apparently Mr Beato wants a variety of artists.
Note that the albums I list are not identical to the songs that Beato plays to exemplify the album, but, as he says, “Any of the songs from these albums are phenomenally great songs.” I am not sure I agree, though I do agree that his exemplar songs are great.
I list below the albums that I both know of and agree are excellent albums, but I would not say they belong on a list of best-sounding albums. Where is Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”? And Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” and “For the Roses” are, to me, at least as “musical” as “Court and Spark.” “Aja” is a dubious choice for Steely Dan; I prefer “Can’t Buy a Thrill” or especially “Katy Lied.” But of course if you included the Beatles or others of that quality, the list would be heavily weighted with just a few artists.
My opinions are of course subjective, and everyone will see omissions on Beato’s list, or inclusions that don’t merit mention. That said, here is where I agree with Beato: these albnums are great as wholes—but not the best albums of all time, not by a long shot.
#35: Bonnie Raitt, “Luck of the Draw”
#32: Tears for Fears, “Song from the Big Chair”.
#29 Sufjean Stevens, “Jacksonville”
#28 Sarah McLaughlin, “Fumbling towards Ecstasy”
#27 Chicago, “Greatest Hits”
#16 The Rolling Stones, “Let it Bleed”
#9 Seal, Seal
Here’s where I started agreeing more with Beato:
#6 The Beach Boys,”Pet Sounds”
#4 Steely Dan, “Aja”
#3 Stevie Wonder “Songs in the Key of Life”
#2 Joni Mitchell, “Court and Spark”
#1 John Coltrane, Jonny Hartman “John Coltane and Johnny Hartman”, which Beato describes as “Probably the most beautifully recorded record ever. “
Honorable Mention (there are several): one is the Beatles “Revolver”
I was delighted to see Coltrane and Hartman nab the top spot, and it’s one of my favorite jazz albums. To me, it is the greatest jazz album of modern times (by that I mean albums released after 1955). But Coltrane/Hartman is jazz, not rock, pop, or folk like the others, and I’m not sure why Beato put it on the list. If you’re going to include jazz in the list of all-time best albums, well, you’re playing a whole new ballgame.
The entire Coltrane/Hartman album in its original incarnation is on YouTube, and I’ve put it below so you can have the pleasure of listening to it. It’s only 31 minutes long, so you have time to hear it today. It’s the album I would give people who weren’t familiar with jazz to ease them into the genre, and I gave it to several women I fancied as a nuptial gift: the musical equivalent of a spider proffering to his swain a silk-wrapped fly.
Anyway, here’s Beato’s list. Don’t confuse his exemplar songs with the quality of the album itself; Beato is touting the album but selling it with a snippet of one of its songs.
Here’s the entire Coltrane/Hartman album. Coltrane is at his best, not too out there to put off newbies, but soft and ballad-y. Most of all his renditions blend perfectly with the smoky voice of Johnny Hartman, an underrated singer. (Hartman died at 60 of lung cancer, and I’m sure his voice reflected many cigarettes.)
I think the main qualifier here is “best sounding.” This speaks more to production quality and how the album was recorded. “Aja” is often cited as excellently produced, almost in a groundbreaking way. The issue isn’t whether the songs here are as good as on other Steely Dan albums, but how it sounds. Likewise, “Court and Spark,” while a great album, is not held in the same reverence as Blue from a songwriting perspective.
His criterion seems to be unclear: he says that any of the songs from these albums are “phenomenally great songs”. Is it recording quality or song quality. I have no idea.
He says, “These are not just great records, they are great-sounding records.” So how much weight does he give to song quality versus recording quality? I don’t know, but, as with the Beatles, I’ll put song quality above recording quality, especially when the song quality isn’t that great.
I will have to watch. It does seem to me that he is striving for a range so that the same artists are not repeated. I am not a judge of entire albums, but surely something could be argued for Dylan, Billie Holiday, Sinatra, and so forth.
Note that it’s a list of the “Greatest Sounding Albums,” not the “Greatest Albums.” There’s a significant distinction between the two: “Greatest” is often in part due to non-sonic qualities, such as historical influence.
Thus, a response to “How could he pick that as one of the greatest albums?” is “He didn’t.”
And, of course, can there be anything more personally subjective and undefinable than “greatest sound”? I question if the phrase “greatest sound” even makes any logical sense,
He makes no distinction between “greatest” and “greatest sounding”. I explain that in the post.
Looking forward to watching this! If Neil Young’s Harvest is not there, Beato is missing a great sounding record—an audiophile classic. I’ve spent forty years as an audio hobbyist—seeking out the best equipment I could afford, subscribing to the two most respected audiophile magazines (for decades), and even designing and building my own audio amplifiers in search of the holy grail of lifelike sound. There are lots of clunkers in terms of sound quality, but there are many truly excellent-sounding recordings out there across all genres.
Some audiophiles ascribe to the view, known as Holt’s law after Stereophile Magazine-founder J. Gordon Holt—that the best music suffers by being the worst recorded, and vice-versa. It’s funny, and it’s not generally true, but I can cite a good example. Bill Evans’s amazing Waltz for Debbie—a notably fantastic piece of music—has been remastered dozens of times: onto CD, SACD, HDCD, 24-bit 48 kHz, 24-bit 96 kHz (etc.), 180 gm vinyl, 200 gm vinyl, by multiple recording engineers working at multiple studios, all from the same original studio tape, but none, not one, has successfully removed the obtrusive tape hiss that sullied the original recording. At least not yet.
Last week I heard a live recording of the Bill Evans Trio playing Waltz For Debby and … you gotta hear it … and – after a little checking – I think it is either of the takes on :
The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961
Riverside
2005
… I mean, … I guess if you know you know, but it’s so lively, dynamic, fresh, and almost like perpetual motion – I could listen to them just keep going for an hour it’s so good! They’re just like [index fingers hooked together].
I THINK the tempo is a tad faster than the studio – and IMHO perfect.
Rolling Stones: Let it Bleed is great, and while I know many others will give the top nod to Exile, with a few preferring Beggars Banquet, I probably have given Sticky Fingers far more turns on the table. That anesthetizing sound of Moonlight Mile resonates. Speaking of numbing affect . . .
Pink Floyd: Dark Side? Duh! Truth be told, I prefer The Final Cut as an album.
Peter Gabriel: The So album is tickling my collegiate memories, but I think I prefer Peter Gabriel 3. Never mind. I long ago stopped choosing and simply put on the 1990 compilation Shaking the Tree.
Last album I listened to straight through was …. I heard one cut and said “ooo wow I gotta hear the whole thing” …
Maybe :
Kenny Werner and Dave Holland The Art of Conversation. The cut was In Walked Bud.
… this list’s guideline seems to exclude recordings like e.g. classical 10+-CD sets or massive works like Wagner… it’d be interesting to venture out like that … compare recording tech with musicianship …
E.g. old recordings of Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, vs. modern recordings.
OK. I watched the video at the gym and am now 700 calories cooler (lost heat energy of broken molecular bonds) and 0.2 pounds lighter.
Good set of great sounding recordings. Of the ones that I know, I would definitely agree with a Bonnie Raitt’s “Luck of the Draw” and Steely Dan’s “Aja.” I do like the music on “Can’t Buy a Thrill” (which has “Reelin’ in the Years”) better than Asa, but I think that it’s Aja that gets the nod from the audiophile crowd. I also agree that most everything performed by Keith Jarrett is amazing, particularly his solo piano works.
Beato mentioned Itzhak Perlman playing violin in a soundtrack. You’d be amazed at Perlman’s versatility. To sample some of that—and to hear amazing sound quality to boot—listen to “Side by Side” by Itzhak Perlman and (Jazz legend) Oscar Peterson.
I have my own list of critical listening favorites—an eclectic collection of songs (or albums) that I simply love and that also check all the audiophile boxes. Don’t forget Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection,” which employed special production techniques (called QSound) to create an almost immersive soundscape. Thirty years after, it’s still a fantastic (double) record.
I’m surprised at how few have responded to far to this post. I would expect a list of best songs to be Coynesian click bait—much as the beloved “Spot the doohicky” series.
Music is so subjective that I find such lists uninteresting. They just reflect a given person’s musical taste after all. Nevertheless I’ve enjoyed the few Beato clips I’ve watched over the years. But I find Daily Doug more interesting as he idoes an in-depth analysis of whatever rock music track or album he is covering on a given day – often accompanied by a doobie and/or a glass of bourbon.
Can’t Buy a Thrill is my favourite Steely Dan album, especially Do It Again. Probably represents where I was and what I was doing at the time.
Loved the Coltrane, thank you
My three greatest albums are #1 Boston’s self-titled first album, #2 Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, and #3 Led Zep’s fourth (untitled) album, so I agree with Rick on 2 out of 3. I can’t understand, however, how BIA was left off his list.
Johnny Hartman and Coltrane, YES! It’s been our ‘love song’ these 50+ years.
I didn’t even know of the Coltrane album, thanks for posting! I agree about Blue and For the Roses (Mitchell), I prefer both to Court and Spark by a lot. Maybe the latter has more interesting harmonies? Also, Blue is with minimalist instrumentation and has no particular “sound” to it, while Court and Spark clearly does.
Being a hopeless audiophile who has spent (amount redacted) on equipment, I do have a few favourite LPs, CDs and SACDs for assessment purposes. These are well-recorded, great sounding albums, and it’s a bonus that I love the music.
Blue, Joni Mitchell, Steve Hoffman remastered LP
So Far, CSN&Y
Spanish Train & Other Stories, Chris de Burgh
Unhalfbricking, Fairport Convention
Tea for the Tillerman, Cat Stevens, Island ‘pink label’ release (beware others)
Solitude Standing, Suzanne Vega
Mid-level audiophile of many decades here. My fave test track is cut #2 – “Caught a Touch of Your Love” from the Grammy-winning Diane Schuur & The Count Basie Orchestra album:
[https://www.discogs.com/release/751245-Diane-Schuur-The-Count-Basie-Orchestra-Diane-Schuur-And-The-Count-Basie-Orchestra] You can get a near-mint copy for under $7.00.
Huge orchestra recorded really well in a huge room. Bassist Lynn Seaton hits a low note a couple of times that used to make my whole house resonate on my old (sadly-demised) system. I’ve become a low bass snob, I’m afraid, especially since my upper register hearing has suffered. Way too many expensive speakers these days can not do that note justice.
Love the Fairport recommendation! If you are a fan, the “Semi-Detached Mock Tudor” album by Richard Thompson (with Danny Thompson and his exquisitely-growling upright bass) is a superb, really well-recorded, and rarely-mentioned live album. RT’s two guitar solos on “Hard on Me” are, imho, among his best ever.
Danny’s gone now, just Jacqui left of the original Pentangle. I’ve been exploring the UK folk of the early sixties, Anne Briggs, the Watersons, Davey Graham, John (and Beverley) Martyn, & Shirley Collins. I have been slowly working my way through RT’s post-Fairport ouevre, so I’ll give that one a try.
I bet you would enjoy this analysis of Nick Drake’s “River Man” by a young musician who just discovered him and was astonished:
Beverley Martyn died a month ago: https://archive.ph/KxmQM
Given Rick’s profession and passion I think he is heavily biased by the production qualities of the records rather than the song qualities. Though I suspect he didn’t choose any records that had songs he didn’t like despite having fantastic production qualities.
I haven’t watched the video yet but certainly will. I’m curious if Jagged Little Pill is on it, and any Grunge albums. Beato really likes Grunge.
That John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman album is indeed fantastic. Both song quality-wise and production-wise. A great sounding album.