15 Greatest Rock and Roll Albums of All Time
#13 The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground
You'd be hard-pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground & Nico. Glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes a debt to this set.
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15:
Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
According to Hendrix: "Purple Haze had nothing to do with drugs. Purple Haze' was all about a dream I had that I was walking under the sea."
14:
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Abbey Road entered the British album chart at no. 1 in October 1969 and stayed there for seventeen of its 81 weeks in the chart. In the US, it spent eleven weeks at #1 during its chart stay of 83 weeks.
13:
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground
You'd be hard-pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground & Nico. Glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes a debt to this set.
12:
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Kind of Blue, released more than 50 years ago, is a unique thing in music or any other creative realm: a huge hit and the tip of a revolution. Everyone likes Kind of Blue. It's cool, romantic, melancholic, and gorgeously melodic.
11:
The Sun Sessions - Elvis Presley
This is the Elvis that I love the most; before he was crowned "King", before he was on the silver screen, before sweaty jumpsuits. This is when the owner of Sun Studios, Sam Phillips, heard Elvis' demo some songs, signed him, and just by chance decided to press record when his band was rehearsing at the studio that day. It's his first recordings ever.
10:
The Beatles - The Beatles
Every song on this double album an entire world unto itself. This means the record is all over the place and a singularly gripping musical experience.
9:
Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan
Notable for inserting Dylan’s brand of blues rock with a more eclectic sound and even more surreal lyrics.
8:
London Calling - The Clash
Recorded in 1979 in London, wrenched by surging unemployment and drug addiction, and released in America in January 1980, the dawn of an uncertain decade, London Calling is nineteen songs of apocalypse fueled by an unbending faith in rock & roll to beat back the darkness.
7:
Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones
Still inspired by the Sticky Fingers sessions in Muscle Shoals, Exile on Main Street found the Rolling Stones sounding more like a Southern fried juke-joint band than ever before. Exile on Main Street was recorded in a basement and much of it sounds as if it was recorded live at a gospel revival. The result is a swampy, exhilarating lump of euphoria.
6:
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
It came after Gaye’s success with soulful ballads, but before his transition to dramatic funk. It spoke to a counterculture lost somewhere between Woodstock and Watergate.
5:
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
While the Beatles still stuck to love songs on Rubber Soul, the lyrics are a leap in thoughtfulness, maturity, and complex ambiguities. Musically, too, it was a leap forward, with intricate folk-rock arrangements that reflected the increasing influence of Dylan and the Byrds.
4:
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Released in 1965, Highway 61 Revisited is regarded as one of Bob Dylan’s finest albums. With its cryptic images and rollicking arrangement, its title song is rich with symbolism.
3:
Revolver - The Beatles
Revolver paved the way for The Beatles' extensive experimentation on Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is often considered to be the group's finest body of work, and showed all four members of The Beatles working together, equally, at their creative peak.
2:
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound.
1:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and has since been recognised as one of the most important albums in the history of popular music, including songs such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life". Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, Sgt. Pepper saw the band developing the production techniques of their previous album, Revolver.
