Лучшие/Худшие... Есть мнение

Number 4
Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell
Meat Loaf, 1993

The first Bat Out of Hell record sold almost 40 million copies -- every track on it charted, at some point, as a single. The problem with Meat Loaf is that it goes bad fast unless you freeze it, which is just as true of the recording artist as it is for the meal. Taking a page from the Aerosmith playbook, after Bat Out Of Hell Meatloaf developed a nasty drug dependency, then lost his voice during the recording of his second record. Add that to his disappointing follow-up albums and most people figured Meat Loaf was well past his best-before date.

Back in action: Who knew that "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" would launch the Bat Out of Hell trilogy? Who knew it was a trilogy? Love him or hate him, you couldn’t ignore the fact the man dragged his career out of the deep freeze. His earlier success allowed him to continue to tour. Slowly and meticulously he built his fan base up again and sealed the deal with Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell. The album sold in excess of 15 million copies, and helped land the big man a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance in 1994.

Number 3
From Elvis in Memphis
Elvis Presley, 1969

OK, Elvis may never have actually left the building, but by the late '60s his office was no longer on the throne room for "The King of Rock 'n' Roll." After years of schlock films and equally cheesy soundtracks, the King’s hip shaking seemed painfully tame compared to the masses of the hippie and psychedelic set. Presley’s movies had the dubious glory of being considered a genre unto themselves, but the iconic singer hadn’t yet found a way to top his 1950’s success.

Back in action: The chance to escape from the big screen trap he’d set for himself came courtesy of the small screen. Namely a successful 1968 television special during which Elvis started to shed his big-screen persona with an off-the-cuff jam with former band mates D.J. Fontana and Scotty Moore. The vibe continued on From Elvis in Memphis, which featured a blend of country, soul and R&B that yielded hits like "In the Ghetto." Though it was the King’s 34th record, it was widely considered his personal best and one of the greatest albums of all time. Even B-sides like "Kentucky Rain" and Presley’s final hit, "Suspicious Minds" became massive and proved that "The King" still possessed one of the most singular voices in rock and roll.

Number 2
American Recordings
Johnny Cash, 1994

Another artist with a voice like no other and a career to match -- for over 50 years the "Man in Black" sold roughly 90 million albums. Lean times, personal tragedy and hard living fueled his writing, performances and private excesses. At the height of his career Johnny Cash hosted a popular television show that featured guest like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, and Kris Kristofferson. In 1972, Cash played the Nixon White House, opting to ignore the president’s personal song requests. By the mid-'70s though, his career was flagging, and by the mid-'80s Cash had succumbed to his addiction to painkillers, again. There were records and successful books, but Cash was dropped from Columbia records. He moved to another label, but didn’t live up to earlier glories until 1994.

Back in action: Few people would think that covering Danzig and Leonard Cohen on the same record to be a brilliant move, but it worked for Johnny Cash. After the success of Cash’s version of U2’s "The Wanderer," superstar producer Rick Rubin signed him to the American Recordings label and the two recorded a set of stripped-down covers and originals that showed fans, old and new, that Cash was far from done. It bought Cash another decade of success, a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album and a prominence as a cultural icon that rivaled his earlier success.

Number 1
Time Out of Mind
Bob Dylan, 1997

Dylan never went away. He’s one of the greatest songwriters and has the hardware on his mantle to prove it: Grammys, Golden Globes and Academy Awards among them. He’s performed with virtually every major artist of his time, has been nominated multiple times for the Nobel Prize for Literature and for 20 years Bob Dylan juggled musical styles and socio/political commentary with equal grace. Along the way he survived controversies for allegedly turning his back on the folk scene by going electric and betraying the counter-culture by embracing Christianity. Things started to get patchy in the 1980s -- though he was hardly out of fashion, he wrote less until he found new life as part of the Traveling Wilbury’s and ended the decade with some of his best work in years on Oh Mercy, produced by Daniel Lanois. The flash of inspiration didn’t help his next release, however, and Under the Red Sky tanked badly.

Back in action: For the seven years following Under the Red Sky, Dylan released no original material, only two albums of traditional folk songs. Time Out of Mind was his first platinum record since 1979. Not only was it considered one of his best by fans and critics, it brought the aging legend a new, younger audience, won him three Grammys and now shares a place with nine of his other records on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Records of all time.

Отсюда:
http://www.askmen.com/toys/top_10_250/295c_top_10_list.html

Некоторых из этого списка вообще не знаю, не то что слышал из их репертуара что-нибудь:)

2Кот Котофеич:
>Только что получил PPL Annual Report 2007
> http://www.ppluk.com/
>The UK's Favourites.
>This unique chart combines PPL's public performances data with UK airplay in order to determine which tracks were played the most in 2007. The twenty songs listed here can truly claim, therefore, to be the UK's favourites.

Я регулярно смотрю по спутнику канал The World Music, эта двадцатка будто прямо оттуда взята. Ознакомился со списком: ни одна из приведенной двадцатки композиций не только не является моей любимой, но и просто даже отдаленно не нравится. Да что там двадцатка: я проводил эксперимент и записывал на DVD эту передачу в течение 4-5 часов подряд, а потом выискивал хоть что-нибудь понравившееся. Увы, в большинстве случаев 1-2 вещи из сотни, а то и вообще ни одной. Мировая попса испортилась до невозможности.

2Кот Котофеич:
>Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of
>All-Time Intro for the Top 100:

А вот из этого списка 18 исполнителей мне ни о чем не говорят. А из оставшихся 82-х нравятся мне лишь 21. По сравнению с предыдущим списком, это довольно много. Классика все же.

2Кот Котофеич:
>Это тоже не моя музыка, но как-то честнее по
>сравнению со всевозможными результатами профильных (+ интересанты) опросов, Вы не находите?

PPL, как я понял, отслеживает уплату гонораров за airplay and public performances, т.е. за показ по ТВ, передачу по радио и концерты. Про концерты всё понятно, а вот передачи по радио и ТВ мне не представляются совсем уж честнымм способом определения популярности. Кто из исполнителей как договорился с этими электронными СМИ, кто сколько заплатил им за передачи, того и будут крутить 24 часа в сутки или только раз в месяц. С другой стороны, вычислять уровень популярности по продажам пластинок тоже неверно, в настоящее время всё больший вес приобретают интернет и СМИ, а не магазинные продажи. Короче, я просто не знаю, какой способ определения популярности самый точный. Может быть, все в комплексе?

2Кот Котофеич:
>Про "заплатил за передачи" касаемо Англии, я
>впервые о таком слышу. Понятно, что есть формат/неформат, но если последнее, то всегда найдётся подходящее СМИ.

А я и не имел в виду именно Англию. Я имел в виду сам принцип подсчета. В России, например, без основательной проплаты лишь в исключительных случаях какая-нибудь радиостанция будет делать промоушен кому бы то ни было. А уж на телевидении это удовольствие не всякому исполнителю вообще по карману. Зато если пробился, то высокий рейтинг, считай, уже обеспечен.

25 лучших сборников ("best of") от Rob O'Connor. На первом месте (сюрприз!) - "One".

------------------------------

The 25 Best "Best Of" Albums
Posted Wed May 7, 2008 4:02pm PDT by Rob O'Connor in List Of The Day

"Greatest Hits" collections are a tricky bunch. Some people never had a lot of hits and get to write their history as they see fit (Nirvana, Neil Young). Others had so many hits, the collections write themselves (Elvis Presley, The Eagles, Al Green, The Beatles). Besides, there are more than 25 deserving artists. I could've compiled 200 and Y! Music would've found me dying at the bottom of the hamster wheel whispering..."Golden Grass, Grass Roots...Otis Redding...Sam Cooke...Motorhead...Tom Waits...Placebo...Replacements..."

Then there are performers where you're better off just buying their actual studio albums. If you want more Meat Loaf, buy Bat Out Of Hell. If you like Bruce Springsteen, get Born To Run or Darkness On The Edge Of Town. The Sex Pistols only made one album and then a ton of ripoffs.

But you have to draw limits and to some degree attempt a little something called balance. And you have to have a little fun. Will Radiohead's new greatest hits album redefine the genre? Probably not. But it could serve as an introduction for people looking to be casually introduced. Which is what these collections do. For some, it's all you need. Unless you're obsessed or something.

The numbers are sometimes arbitrary. Everyone had to fit somewhere. Whether the greatness of Motown really should fall behind the Smiths and the Cure is probably reason to have my lights punched out, but I considered the number 19 to be luckier than 15 or 16, so there was a certain amount of superstition involved. Which reminds me that Stevie Wonder should've been on this list. But he isn't. But then neither is Hank Williams or Muddy Waters or Sheryl Crow or Randy Newman or The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band or the Jam...you get the idea...

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/37394/the-25-best-of-best-ofs

25) Nirvana--Nirvana: Kurt Cobain had a knack for a catchy tune, but he didn't have the intestinal fortitude to comfortably accept commercial success. He likened writing hits to some sort of existential compromise. Yet, he liked pop music, from the Beatles to Queen. Nirvana didn't make many albums. Three official studio albums, a b-sides collection and a couple of live things was all they made, so a "Greatest Hits" doesn't need to cover much ground. This makes a nice Cliff's Notes version of the band and makes an entire boxed set seem a little silly.

24) Greatest Hits--Eagles: One of the best-selling albums of all-time and probably the one album you break out if an alien lands on our planet and asks you to explain what it was like to listen to the radio in the 1970s. And it doesn't even contain "Hotel California," which made it onto the second volume. This is insidious music, crafted to perfection, devoid of soul but enriched by "hooks." You can't NOT sing along. You also may find yourself nodding off somewhere in the middle. But that was what the ‘70s were like. Not everyone woke up.

23) The Best Of Blondie--Blondie: Though Blondie came out of the CBGB's scene that birthed Patti Smith, Television, Ramones, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Talking Heads and the Tuff Darts, they were the only ones destined for the radio. The Ramones wanted the airwaves, but Blondie made the most sense on them. Besides, those other bands made great albums--well, not the Tuff Darts--while Blondie made great singles.

22) Back To Mono--Phil Spector & Various Artists: Long before becoming a Court TV regular, Phil Spector managed to make himself a star in a way that bass players have been envying ever since. Spector wasn't even in the band. He was the guy producing the records. He created the "Wall of Sound," which these days bands create with one guitar and a huge overdriven amplifier. But Spector had to be more inventive, so he pulled a musical variation of how many guys can you cram into a telephone booth in the recording studio and the result was an explosion of ‘60s girl groups like the Ronettes, who were admittedly much more appealing to look at than Spector--as anyone watching Court TV can attest.

21) Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy--The Who: The Who were grand conceptualists, owners of the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, but they were at their best with the junky old three-minute single. This early collection of youthful frustration and sexual tension is more fun than their later songs where Pete Townshend focuses on his alcoholism, his mid-life crisis and concepts no one can explain, especially Townshend himself.

20) The Kinks Kronikles--The Kinks: What makes this 2-LP collection so intriguing is how it avoids the songs you might expect. No "You Really Got Me" or "All Day and All of the Night" and lots of songs that would never make it to radio even if the radio station owner's last name was Davies. But in terms of the road less traveled, an alternate secret history, well, this is one long confusing garden path that leads to patches of poison ivy and long afternoons of tea along the English countryside.

19) The Motown Box--Various Artists: It's not just any label that can release a boxed set of their best acts and establish both group identity and label identity. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops all carved out their sound within the confines of a Detroit recording studio and the overhearing ears of Berry Gordy Jr. The label was a hit-making machine like Disney is today but loving and benevolent where now there is only the face of evil.

18) Chronicle Vol. 1--Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence Clearwater Revival had the distinction of scoring a string of #2 hit singles. Not #1. Someone else always hogged that spot for themselves. But Creedence did manage 19 hit singles that are collected here and make for a quick jolt through a past that was being imagined while it was being created. John Fogerty may be rock music's first genuine nostalgist. And for times he didn't even experience. The band, after all, were from San Francisco and not the Louisiana bayou swamps where mosquitoes would've eaten them alive.

17) Echoes--Pink Floyd: One doesn't associate Pink Floyd with the recording industry's hit-record making machine. This was a band who took the idea of leisure time to an extreme, to the point where they could be accused of loitering. And the band's sound shifted over the years, embracing the technological innovations that transformed the recording studio. Let's hear it for air conditioning! You don't always know what they're up to, but they sure are taking a long time doing it.

16) Staring At The Sea--The Cure: Another band with a visionary--Robert Smith, in this case--who liked to stretch out over full-length albums, but who was also quite proficient at writing the hit single when it was his need. The fact that this was considered "alternative rock" at the time (the '80s) proves the music industry had gone insane. What's alternative about well-written pop songs? But then this was back when having a Mohawk, a body piercing, a tattoo, or being a guy wearing eye make-up would get you endlessly harassed. There were no shows on TV featuring tattoo parlors back then. If you can believe it.