Consensus Top 350 Albums of All-Time: 45. Paul's Boutique – Beastie Boys (203 Viewers)

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Granted that other artists have more to come, but do the Beastie Boys (at least temporarily) hold the lead for the most albums in the countdown? It looks like they have had four show up so far. (And I’m just going by artist name for this question — I expect Clapton, Dylan, Neil Young, or a Beatle may have shown up most overall between the different acts.)

Hasn't Tool had all 5 drafted?

I see four for Tool too when I search on first page of the thread.

They've had all 5. I was partially responsible for 4 of them, Undertow had enough pull from others to get it in too.

Huh. I still only see four on the first page. Maybe one got skipped when Dr. O was putting the list on page one.

Let’s face it, Dr. O is a disaster.

It would be funny if he misspelled Tool after all the mistakes on submissions he had to deal with.

a tool cover band named toll?

 

[KarmaPolice]

we could still pair off but the question is if there are enough albums that people besides me have not heard

I'd be surprised if there were people who have heard all 70 of someone's albums, but it is possible.

 

[Mt. Man]

we could still pair off but the question is if there are enough albums that people besides me have not heard

Out of 350 (or even 70)? More than enough!
Speaking from personal experience, I've heard at least a song or two from almost all of these albums. But listened to in their entirety? Not even close. I imagine it's similar for most people.

 

[krista4]

Lukewarm take: Green Day is not a punk band. I will spend zero time defending this take, and also I should defer to rockaction on this anyway.

I do like Green Day just fine, but as a rock band, not a punk band. I guess at the beginning I would have considered them punk? But not for long, and they gravitated more into pop as time went by. Again, I have no evidence or desire to back this up.

I'm laughing because your post is funny and not because I disagree with what you've said. That said, I do disagree with what you said. I just . . . they're in the rockaction Punk Hundred so they have to be a punk band!

No, it's their connection to Gilman St. and the East Bay and their connection to Larry Livermore and Lookout! and Mike Dirnt played with Screeching Weasel and Tre Cool was in the Lookouts and . . . they've got tons of punk credibility. They sabotaged it, but you can't change your spots if you're a leopard from birth.

Green Day isn't a punk band the way the White Stripes aren't a garage rock band. Things start out one way and sometimes end up much bigger than anyone could have imagined .

That's a great way to put it.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Granted that other artists have more to come, but do the Beastie Boys (at least temporarily) hold the lead for the most albums in the countdown? It looks like they have had four show up so far. (And I’m just going by artist name for this question — I expect Clapton, Dylan, Neil Young, or a Beatle may have shown up most overall between the different acts.)

Neil has four so far: Harvest, Rust Never Sleeps, After the Gold Rush and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Plus one as a member of a band (CSNY's Deja Vu). Two others have shown up in the "random pairs" posts.

There are two other of his albums that I could conceive of appearing in the top 50 (I voted for one of them), Whether they will show up, I dunno. I think they would have had a better shot if OH had submitted a ballot.

 

[krista4]

We're listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain tonight, and OH says it's like if the Velvet Underground met the Beach Boys. Just an incredible sound.

 

[rockaction]

Now that I listen closer with a nitpicking critical ear, both Ad Rock and Mike D have a bit of a higher pictched delivery, correct? It's MCA that has a bit of a deeper voice?

You're totally right but Ad Rock is, like, so over-the-top that he's over the moon

You are right that it's Ad Rock that is the more frequent offender, but where I was going is I think because it's 2 in that range after a long bout of listening it wears on me slightly. Still LOVE many of the songs, but in the end I think they are more of a playlist group for me vs an album group.

That said, some of my favorite new to me songs were the few off Hot Sauce that were featured in the MAD31 countdown. I've watched the video for Make Some Noise so many times.

Oh, I get your point now. Yeah, they've got two nasally guys. I have trouble with it also—there are times that I'm just about to turn it off and I've just turned it on— but their production and music is so damn good. And Ad Rock is a very, very good emcee. Mike Diamond and MCA aren't really. Ad does some massively heavy lifting and always did. Plus, I was reading and watching something about them and somebody noted how absolutely awesome their timing and pacing of their sing/rapping was on the first album. And "Rhymin' & Stealin'" is a song that you actually have to be incredibly talented to carry that tune and they do somehow. MCA fits that track. He fits that album. He did not fit once they left the '80s but he was their spiritual leader and friend so what are they gonna do? It's not even a question what to do. He's just not a great emcee by that point.

Has there ever been a hip hop experiment where other rappers laid down vocals over that Paul's Boutique production?

I don't think so. Record labels and copyright law would really prevent that. The contract the Beasties had with Capitol would almost certainly prevent that. I can look up who owns the Beastie Boys' masters and publishing rights. They probably have some sort of split, I'd imagine, although the Beasties were one of the first to have a vanity label (Grand Royal). There are often clauses in contracts that prevent guest appearances and stuff like that.

What is strange is that those Dust Brothers beats were so “layered” (that’s how they are referred to) that the Bros. didn’t think they could be rapped over and were going to strip the layers away but the Beasties wanted them as-is and there you have Paul’s Boutique, which sounded strange and was such a flop that the President of Capitol Records’s boss fired him and did so because they were a “laughingstock” for the two-album, $3M deal they’d signed the Beasties to.

PS there were a lot of apparently down-low or low-key hip-hop artists who wouldn’t admit it (the Beasties were jokes at the time in that world) that were really jealous/mad bro about the Beasties’ album and especially that they got those beats and a strange admiration for using them like they did. That was in a few histories of the record I read today.

 

[krista4]

43. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (419 points)

@Uruk-Hai #1
@krista4 #1

Well there we go. Pip was shocked I didn't have a Beatles-related album at #1, but there's no record in the world that is as consistent top to bottom as this one. I'm honored to see that my musical buddy Uruk had it at #1, too.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

43. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (419 points)

@Uruk-Hai #1
@krista4 #1
@Eephus #6
@Atomic Punk #8
@landrys hat #14
@Pip's Invitation #14
@Yo Mama #40
@timschochet #65

Innervisions is the sixteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on August 3, 1973, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. A landmark recording of Wonder's "classic period", the album has been regarded as completing his transition from the "Little Stevie Wonder" known for romantic ballads into a more musically mature, conscious, and grown-up artist. On the album, Wonder continued to experiment with the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer system developed by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, and Innervisions became hugely influential on the future sound of commercial soul and black music.

This is an unbelievably strong, innovative and tuneful record. It was the Thriller of its day. The "big" songs from it are universally regarded as among the best of the era, but I am also partial to lesser-known tracks such as Too High and Golden Lady.

And now we have the answer to "what the heck topped Krista's list if it wasn't the Beatles?"

 

[rockaction]

Three ties for first today! Holy cow!

I wonder what the probability of doubling up the first-place vote three times is?

Seems like a probabilistic reach. Maybe a relevant piece of evidence if one were to argue for a canon, no?

 

[krista4]

Do we get two selections for two #1 votes? I think that's the rule now. I will take "Living for the City," of course.

 

[krista4]

43. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (419 points)

@Uruk-Hai #1
@krista4 #1
@Eephus #6
@Atomic Punk #8
@landrys hat #14
@Pip's Invitation #14
@Yo Mama #40
@timschochet #65

Innervisions is the sixteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on August 3, 1973, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. A landmark recording of Wonder's "classic period", the album has been regarded as completing his transition from the "Little Stevie Wonder" known for romantic ballads into a more musically mature, conscious, and grown-up artist. On the album, Wonder continued to experiment with the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer system developed by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, and Innervisions became hugely influential on the future sound of commercial soul and black music.

This is an unbelievably strong, innovative and tuneful record. It was the Thriller of its day. The "big" songs from it are universally regarded as among the best of the era, but I am also partial to lesser-known tracks such as Too High and Golden Lady.

And now we have the answer to "what the heck topped Krista's list if it wasn't the Beatles?"

Golden Lady might even be my second favorite on the whole album.

 

[Dennis Castro]

Call me the anti-music nerd's music nerd, but I have never understood, and never will understand, the need to classify music. Green Day is Green Day. Good sounds evolve over time. And I think most of there's are awesome and never tire listening to them.

Agreed. I am guilty of it at times, but I feel like many get too hung up on genres and whatnot. If it's good, who cares what genre it is?

Right. Is Going to California metal? Why is Eleanor Rigby rock and roll? Because the Beatles did it!

 

[Dennis Castro]

Clapton I don't know. I think Green Day is bigger now than he could have dreamed of being. That's just my opinion and he was definitely before my time.

Type "Clapton is" into Google and see what the autocomplete says.

Tried that. Got racist.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Those of us that like to organize our record bins need things in boxes.

Have you not heard of the alphabet? That's how our recordings are organized.