Push pause on "The Best Songs You Ain't Never Heard," and press play on "The Top 60 Albums list. Why now? Because with the Top 200 list, I waited until HondoJoe finished his list before I began mine, and I think the list lost a bit of Oomph to it at the end because it had been over five years since the whole project started. So this time, I'm going to join in the list-making at the same time. Hopefully, this way the entire sharing of the lists will get done on a timetable that won't stretch out until I hit my 60s, which it very well could if I waited to work on it until after HondoJoe finishes his.
With that in mind, here comes my Top 60 Albums--kind of. As with my Top 200 list, it won't include any Billy Joel albums because if I did include them, they'd all be at the top of the list. And yes, that would include his classical piano album. That's because my love of Billy Joel is not rational. (You may be correct. I may be insane.) And piling all of his albums at the top of the list would be, well, rather predictable and boring and anti-climactic. And dammit! I want to be climactic!
As with the Top 200 list, my selection criteria won't be the same as HondoJoe's. That's not because I think HondoJoe's criteria are not good. They are EXCELLENT criteria, and I am keen to read each HondoJoe entry on the list because of them. But having read the first 8 on the list, I realize that I think about my album selections in a different way, so I'm going to need to use different criteria to reflect my thoughts on them. But here are a few criteria that limit what will and won't appear on this list.
1. No "Greatest Hits" albums. Yes, I think they're fun to listen to, but they don't have that special something that the album's had that they originally appeared on. Half the fun of listening to an album is enjoying the non-hit songs that help to give the album its special character. Greatest Hit albums are basically shameless cash grabs--not a holistic work of artistic expression. And that's one of the reasons why I really hated that Billy Joel released new songs on his Greatest Hits albums. I wanted those on a full album, dammit! (Apparently, I want to say dammit a lot right now. So, dammit! I will!)
2. No movie soundtracks that consist of a collection of different artists singing songs that are featured in the movie. Now, I will include movie soundtracks if they're by one artist or band and have that holistic album feel to them. But I won't include albums like the soundtrack to "Cocktail," even though it does have some good songs on it that I'm fond of because we had that tape when I first got married, and I have good memories of that time. However, those kind of movie soundtracks are too much like "Greatest Hits" albums--they lack that certain special something...dammit!
3. No holiday albums. I really like the Peanut's songs on the album for "A Charlie Brown Christmas," but I decided that I wasn't going to include Christmas albums because they're the kind of thing you listen to during the season, but then you don't listen to them the rest of the year because, well, it just feels wrong. I mean, when was the last time you listened to Christmas music in March? So I'm only going to include albums that I'll listen to the whole year round.
And that's it. Everything else if fair game. Now prepare yourself for Captain Nardo's Top 60 Albums. Dammit!
Yes!!! I am excited for this! But, I feel I should clear up a couple of things. First of all, I completely agree with your three numbered points, and feel like an oaf for not making these same points when I started my Top 60. "Best of" and "Greatest Hits" albums definitely have their place, but it's not on a list like this. Collections of songs from other albums can't really rival the flow of an actual album. (There is one notable exception on my list, and I think you can guess which album it is.) ("The Best of Alan Parsons Project" and "Wings Greatest," along with the Blue and Red Beatles Greatest Hits albums would have gotten serious consideration for my list if I was of a different mind.) As far as soundtracks and holiday albums go, I never really thought of anything from these two categories as being worthy of my list. (Maybe the "Footloose" soundtrack, for sentimental reasons, but that's about it.)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the lack of Billy Joel albums on your list, I'll give you points for consistency, but also call you out on your bullpoop. Are you trying to tell me you think "Cold Spring Harbor" is better than "Breakfast In America?" Or anything by Atilla tops "Dark Side of the Moon?" Is "Storm Front" really a higher musical achievement than "Thriller?" I think you're full of beans, good sir! But, I'm willing to concede your point, and look forward to learning about your 60 favorite non-Billy albums. (I do reserve the right to call you out to list your favorite Billy Joel albums IN ORDER at some point in the future.)(I will do the same, at the appropriate time on my list.)
That said, I've got my feet on the ground and I'm ready to reach for the stars! Let your list take flight!