Thursday, October 04, 2007

The Top 100 LPs of All Time?


What a great argument. What is garbage to one is priceless to another. This is a pretty solid list. One glaring discrepancy I would have is the lack of titles from The Moody Blues, the Doobie Brothers and "Security" by Peter Gabriel and "Born To Run" should have switched places.


Here is the competition and how it's judged.
In a world where record companies seem happy to sell consumers songs by the single via a low-resolution, non-surround sound download - AVRev.com wanted to point out the importance of the album concept. Inspired by the Sabermetric system used by Bill James in his baseball abstracts that attempt to make seemingly subjective elements more scientific in comparison - the AVRev.com staff compiled a set of categories to rate the Top 100 Rock Albums of all time.

We offer a link below for readers to download the same sheet to see how your favorites do. You can even post them on our forum and discuss them with other music and audio fans.The JudgesThe team of judges include: AVRev.com publisher Jerry Del Colliano Jr., AVRev.com Music Editor Charles Andrews, 5.1 music executive David Delgrosso, Xhifi's President Howard Schilling, Definitive Audio's Eric Ward, Bel Canto's President John Stronczer and record industry veteran and high-resolution enthusiast, Ted Cohen.
The Categories
Performance: (100 Points) Simply put, how well did the band or artist play on the record? Technical ability, soul and beyond.
Songs and Songwriting: (100 Points) How good are the songs on the record? Were they great originals, killer covers, reinterpretations that were better than the original? All would spike the score in this category.
Sound: (50 Points) - How good does the record sound? Did it ever get released in a high-resolution or surround sound format? If so, that would get a few extra points. Was the record a breakthrough record for recording techniques or does it just plain sound good on a CD? These are all factors in a high score for sound.
Production: (50 Points) - Great sound doesn’t always match with great production (think Wall of Sound from Phil Spector). Slick production, unique instrumentation, development of important "sounds" all factor into a high score in this category.
Staying Power: (50 Points) - To be a truly great album, the record needs to be as relevant today as it when it came out.
Concept/Continuity: (50 Points) - This is the X Factor category where albums that are great from the first note to the last get the highest grades. Think of The Police's Synchronicity and the stiff song "Mother" as an example of a great record with one bad track. Records that are great from top to bottom receive the best grades here.

Here is the link.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pink Floyd Dark Side. I cannot tell you how many of those and Zep IV albums that we wore out in the "old days" before CD's. Dark Side sounds as good today as it did from day one.

Anonymous said...

Surprised they included the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever. I don't really consider this an album in the purest definition since it is various artists. It is merely a compilation of songs. The "albumn concept" to me is how each song blends into the next, as the Pink Floyd albums (and the later Beatles rekeases) do. Didn't see any Supertramp on there either (except in honorable mention). I would have thought they would have trumped a soundtrack album. My two cents' worth ...

Brian Holland said...

This list looks like it was compiled by a bunch of crack smokers or 'Rolling Stone' critics (same thing). 'Electric Ladyland' at #3 all-time? Hell, that's not even the best Hendrix album of all-time! The Who doesn't even crack the Top 60? 'Who's Next' doesn't make the list at all, but the Beastie Boys do? Puh-leeze!

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