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.
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.
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.
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.