I'm a sucker for lists. I love making lists of my own, and debating lists by others. So in a random internet search for albums of covers (to supplement the Espers post a couple days ago), I was mildly excited to find a website that featured dozens of lists for me to look over and think about.
I have no idea who compiled these lists (haven't got around to looking yet), but for the most part they're pretty predictable, although some of the picks are mind-boggling. For instance, they are apparently of the opinion that The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute is the third greatest album of this decade. Yes, over Radiohead's Kid A, over Brian Wilson's Smile, and over Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Hell, Frances the Mute is easily one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Not just in the 00's, I mean ever. And keep in mind I have a sister who's seven years younger than me who used to love Hanson and The Spice Girls.
Anyway, the one that surprised me the most that I've looked at so far was their list of greatest vocal performances. I was expecting the predictable, and got some of it ("Stairway to Heaven"? Check. "Bohemian Rhapsody"? Do you even need to ask?), but guess what was number 1. "Love Reign O'er Me" by The Who!
Ok, so The Who aren't exactly unknown, but that song isn't particularly one of the more famous ones. It was on one of their less popular albums (Quadrophenia, although "less popular" is a relative term with a monstrously popular band like The Who), and is easily less famous than probably a dozen Who songs that the average rock fan would have picked. Like "Bargain" ("the best I ever HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!") or "Won't Get Fooled Again," which may have the most famous rock scream ever. Or "Baba O'Riley," which is so recognizable by it's memorable vocal that most people still think it's called "Teenage Wasteland." Or they could have gone with the great Who harmonies and picked "Who Are You" or "I Can See for Miles," or sheer melodicism and rock power and gone with "Pinball Wizard" or "The Kids are Alright." But they dug deeper, and found the one song in the Who catalog that almost makes me put down Keith Moon's air drumsticks and pick up Roger Daltrey's air microphone.
There are other surprises on that list too. There are actually a lot of songs that I would have picked, not just songs that I would predict others would pick. Like "Grace" by Jeff Buckley (#8), or "Life on Mars" by David Bowie, which somehow beat out "Space Oddity" as the top Bowie song. And not only did "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys make the list at #14, it was properly attributed to Carl Wilson! Hallelujah! And "Exit Music (For a Film)" by Radiohead was buried pretty far down on the list, but the fact that it made it at all is impressive to me.
So that's that. There are other pleasant surprises that I've found, like The United States of America ranked as the #1 underrated rock album of all time, and Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything as the #5 greatest forgotten album, both of which I have discussed in this blog (here and here, respectively).
3 comments:
Good points. I think that "love" is a stronger vocal track than you appear to, but I agree that Roger has belted some out better. Funny you should trash list-making -- that's the last real entry I did on my "musings" blog before my vacation.
Take care,
d.a.
I didn't really mean to "trash" list-making at all, but I do contend that even the most entertaining and interesting of them are completely gratuitous. Not that that stops me from enjoying them!
Also I think you misunderstood me. I actually like "Love Reign O'er Me" a lot. I listed the others to show how easy it would have been to pick something more predictable. I was actually agreeing with its spot on the list. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Ahhh, my mistake--the unfortunate result of reading something too quickly when one is too tired after too much liquid refreshment and too little sleep!
-- d.a.
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