Ours Go To 11: Volume 1, My Desert Island Discs

With this post, I'm starting a new Seth Saith feature: the quick list.

Little or no introductory prose; just a list--that like Spinal Tap's amplifiers, "Go to 11"--with perhaps some brief exposition on my parameters.

Modeled after BBC Radio's longtime staple, Desert Island Discs--in which guests were allotted 8 musical recordings they would choose to take to a desert island--here are the 11 albums I would never want to be without.

I am allowing myself only one album per artist, studio recordings only. No live albums, greatest hits compilations, self-curated discs or Spotify playlists. If you want to play along, I will sanction hits collections for pioneers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc., who didn't typically produce cohesive albums, but merely collections of singles.

All genres may qualify. Not necessarily ranked in order of preference.

1. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
2. Led Zeppelin - IV
3. The Who - Who's Next
4. Nirvana - Nevermind
5. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
6. U2 - The Joshua Tree
7. R.E.M. - Reckoning
8. The Ramones - self-titled debut
9. AC/DC - Back in Black
10. John Coltrane - Giant Steps
11. Sunday in the Park with George - Original Broadway Cast Recording

Three saddest to leave behind: 
- The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
- The Jam - All Mod Cons
- The Clash - London Calling

The Best of 2014: My Favorite Rock Albums

I'm usually pretty cynical about year-end Best Albums lists.

Including my own.

Which isn't to question the integrity of anyone (except me) who puts together such lists.

I would assume that most reputable rock critics (if they still exist) and publications hear and revisit a much wider swath of albums than I do, and offer up their honest opinions about the ones they liked best.

But even in understanding that music is much more segmented these days, that rock--still my preferred genre--isn't the dominant pop style anymore and that pretty much everyone knows and likes some artists that others have never even heard of, all too often it seems Best Albums of (Year) lists are filled with many choices that appear far too arcane.

At least for my tastes and awareness.

In part, because--to me--for an album to really be considered great, it (and to a certain extent the artist) needs to have staying power. I realize that's kind of impossible for anyone to judge within the year of release, but when I see Best Of lists filled with unfamiliar artists, I can't help but wonder if said critic will really revisit those albums or acts in years to come.

Led Zeppelin III - My favorite album reissue of 2014

Thus, for better or worse, my tastes--and Best Albums selections--usually run to the tried & true, and are likely much more populist than those of most rock critics or publications.

Sure, I have several lesser-known personal favorites, and try to listen to what critics herald, so there will always be some selections others may see as esoteric.

But I know that a "decent" album by a favorite band will typically stay in my listening repertoire far longer, and provide more acute pleasure, than many a MetaCritic Top 10 year-end album by unfamiliar artists that time may likely soon forget.

Which makes 2014 all the more weird.

As the album as a commercial art form continues to devolve--though I would argue qualitatively as well, I really mean that fewer & fewer albums are being sold, especially as one can listen to almost anything for free on Spotify, and not necessarily in full--Rolling Stone honored some of my all-time favorite rock artists with top spots in its 50 Best Albums of 2014 list.

U2 ranked #1 with their free-via-the-Apple-tree Songs of Innocence. Bruce Springsteen was second with his collection of outtakes and covers, High Hopes. Foo Fighters came in at #12 with their recorded all-across-the-USA Sonic Highways. Weezer was #14 with yet another "return to form" in Everything Will Be Alright in the End. The Black Keys, whose last two albums I really liked, were ranked #3 by Rolling Stone for Turn Blue. And Taylor Swift, who I really have fancied as a first-rate pop songwriter, slotted in at #10 with 1989, by far the biggest selling album of 2014.

And I thoroughly disagree with any of these albums being close to the very best I heard in 2014.

Each of the above had their moments of professionalism, satisfaction and sometimes even brilliance, but none of them delighted me from beginning to end like a truly great album should.

And I really can't say many on my list below did either, where somewhat surprisingly a band I've never really liked before wound up at #2.

So before I get to my Top 10 and some Honorable (enough) Mentions, let me say that nothing on my list was really among my favorite dozen albums released in 2014.

By far, the music that excited and delighted me most on albums purchased since January 1 was found on the first five Led Zeppelin albums (re-released individually) and the first seven Bruce Springsteen albums (released as The Album Collection, Vol. 1).

With outstanding remastering, these albums--even in MP3 form, though I bought the CDs--sound better than they ever have. And they were phenomenal to begin with. I was particularly delighted to discover just how great Led Zeppelin III is, and of the Springsteen re-issues, listening to The River through good headphones is an absolute job.

Anyway, for those of you going, "Just give my your damn list already," well, here it is.

My Favorite Rock Albums of 2014

1. Bob Mould - Beauty and Ruin (Spotify link)
2. Interpol - El Pintor (Spotify link)
3. The Both (Spotify link)
(note: The Both = Aimee Mann + Ted Leo)
4. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye (Spotify link)
5. Ryan Adams - 1984 (Spotify link)
6. Johnny Marr - Playland (Spotify link)
7. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream (Spotify link) 
8. Robert Plant - Rainbow (not on Spotify)
9. AC/DC - Rock or Bust (not on Spotify)
10. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (Spotify link)

Honorable Mention
(in preference order)

Jackson Browne - Standing in the Breach (Spotify link)
Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes (Spotify link)
J Mascis - Tied to a Star (Spotify link)
The Last Internationale - We Will Reign (Spotify link)
Tokyo Police Club - Forcefield (Spotify link) 
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (Spotify link)

Tweedy - Sukierae (Spotify link)
U2 - Songs of Innocence (Spotify link) 
Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (Spotify link)
The Men - Tomorrow's Hits (Spotify link)

The Best Debut Albums in Rock History (as posted on Pinterest and inspired in part by Twitter)

Click the image above to see my Pinterest board of the Best Rock Debut Albums

This year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held last month in Cleveland and broadcast last night on HBO.

Inductees included Guns 'n Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beastie Boys. (You may wish to read this piece I wrote about Rock Hall omissions as well as one I'll soon post on the passing of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.)

Green Day did the honor of inducting Guns 'n Roses, who sounded great on "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" in spite of Axl Rose's silly decision to avoid the ceremony; Izzy Stradlin was also not present. In doing so, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong cited GNR's Appetite For Destruction as the best debut album ever.

Although I don't find the proclamation that outrageous, my friend Dave and I instantly started discussing other debuts that might outrank Appetite. Subsequently I noticed the topic being hashed about on Twitter (#GreatestDebutAlbum), led by a Billboard editor named Bill Werde.

This morning I posted several of my Best Rock Debut Album choices on a Pinterest board I created. I recently started using Pinterest to gain some awareness of it--you can see all the boards I've made to date--but I wish there was greater functionality beyond simply, as I understand it so far, pinning photos of things you like (or within a given topic) to an online bulletin board.

For instance, in this category I would have wanted to reorder and possibly rank the album cover images, but I can't. So even the photo above is fictitious. The debut albums that first came to mind are really at the bottom of my board, not the top.

But the Pinterest board now includes 52 of what I consider to be the best first albums in rock history. A full deck, so to speak, compiled with the help of Dave, Twitter and some lists I came across on NME, Rolling Stone and Amazon. 

For the most part, these represent my tastes, and thus are mostly in a classic and modern rock vein. The Twitter discussion included some wider-ranging nominations; I'm not suggesting these don't have merit but didn't want to include albums I've never really listened to, except in a few cases where I accept Dave's commendations.

Take a look and let me know what you might include, instead of or in addition to my choices.

Like with any sort of list I make, there were a number of mental gray areas. I didn't overlook, but consciously left off, debut albums from favorite artists such as Bruce Springsteen, U2, Nirvana, Radiohead, The Kinks and others because while they each had moments of greatness, the first releases from these acts were considerably lesser than what came later--and in many cases were not breakthrough albums. But though perhaps the same could be said about The Beatles' Please Please Me and The Jam's In The City, I deemed those worthy of inclusion.

While I ignored preceding EPs, I did mandate that only true debut albums be considered, not simply the first album that got an artist noticed. Elton John released an album before the great self-titled one; Green Day had two before Dookie; Jane's Addiction had a small-label, self-titled debut before Nothing's Shocking, etc. Personal favorites such as Smoking Popes and Ash also had albums before the first ones I came to know and love. (I used AllMusic.com and Wikipedia as my discography sources.)

In a similar vein, I didn't count solo debuts if the artist was previously in a substantive group. Thus no Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, etc. (plus, some of these legends released lesser solo albums before their first highly acclaimed one). I considered including Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, but this reasoning would seemingly disqualify it.

In considering the greatness of a debut album, it also gets a bit tricky as to whether one should merely weigh the merits of the record against all rock albums or more so consider how strongly it stands within the context of the artist's work.

For example, although The Clash as a group outranks both Van Halen and Guns 'n Roses on my list of all-time favorite artists, and The Clash is a fantastic debut, it's not my favorite Clash album--London Calling is. Yet Van Halen and Appetite for Destruction are clearly my favorite albums by two bands I love. I think they're more accomplished and definitive debuts, though not necessarily better albums than The Clash.

I'd also have a hard time arguing that The Doors isn't filled with stronger music beginning to end than Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville, but--and its timing in my life abets this--I think of the latter as a more audacious initial artistic statement. Odd as it sounds, I perceive a difference between "the best albums that happen to be debuts" and the "best debut albums." (I struggle with similar logic in considering Nirvana's Nevermind--not their debut, Bleach was--their sole representation among the 10 Best Albums of All-Time, even though I actually believe In Utero to be greater artistically.)

With all that said, while referencing you to the 52 Best Rock Debut Albums I've pinned on Pinterest, here are:

My 10 Favorite Debut Albums in Rock History

10. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
9. The Beatles - Please Please Me
8. R.E.M. - Murmur
7. Pearl Jam - Ten
6. The Clash - The Clash
5. Guns 'n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
4. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
3. Van Halen - Van Halen
2. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
1. The Ramones - The Ramones