Browse by Catagory:
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Abbey Road
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 139
The Beatles' last days as a band were as productive as any major pop phenomenon that was about to split. After recording the ragged-but-right Let It Be, the group held on for this ambitious effort, an album that was to become their best-selling. Though all four contribute to the first side's writing, John Lennon's hard-rocking, "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" make the strongest impression. A series of song fragments edited together in suite form dominates side two; its portentous, touching, official close ("Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"/"The End") is nicely undercut, in typical Beatles fashion, by Paul McCartney's cheeky "Her Majesty," which follows. --Rickey Wright |
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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sales rank: 114
\NBefore Sgt. Pepper, no one seriously thought of rock music as actual art. That all changed in 1967, though, when John, Paul, George and Ringo (with "A Little Help" from their friend, producer George Martin) created an undeniable work of art which remains, after 30-plus years, one of the most influential albums of all time. From Lennon's evocative word/sound pictures (the trippy "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," the carnival-like "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite") and McCartney's music hall-styled "When I'm 64," to Harrison's Eastern-leaning "Within You Without You," and the avant-garde mini-suite, "A Day in the Life," Sgt. Pepper was a milestone for both '60s music and popular culture. --Billy Altman |
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The Beatles (The White Album)
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 104
Better known as the "White Album," this was meant to be the record that brought them back to earth after three years of studio experimentation. Instead, it took them all over the place, continuing to burst the envelope of pop music. Lennon and McCartney were still at the height of their powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of rock's towering figures. But even McCartney could still rock, and the amazement on "Helter Skelter" was that he had vocal cords at the end. From Beach Boys knock-offs to reggae and to the unknown ("Revolution #9"), this has it all. Some records have legend written all over them; this is one. --Chris Nickson |
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Dark Side Of The Moon
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 149
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: PINK FLOYD
Title: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
Street Release Date: 07/07/1987
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POPDark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like "On the Run," "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital recording techniques. This is probably Pink Floyd's best-known work, and it's an excellent place to start if you're new to the band. --Genevieve Williams |
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Rubber Soul
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 173
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BEATLES
Title: RUBBER SOUL (BRITISH)
Street Release Date: 08/09/1988
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POPRank 'em how you like, Rubber Soul is an undeniable pivot point in the Fab Four's varied discography no matter where, or how, you first heard it. The album was softened up in its original 12-song American edition to jibe with the Dylan/Byrds folk-rock sound, as well as squeeze money from the Parlophone catalog. The 14-song U.K. edition--the version now available on compact disc--is a different, more dynamic, and ultimately more accomplished achievement. So many classics: "Drive My Car" and "Nowhere Man" (both omitted from the U.S. edition) merge the early combustible Beatifics to a burgeoning studio consciousness; "The Word" can be read as a pre-psych warning shot; the sitar-laden "Norwegian Wood" and the evocative "Girl" (the latter written on the last night of the sessions) stand as turning points in John Lennon's oeuvre. George finally emerges too, with the McGuinn-ish "If I Needed Someone." --Don Harrison |
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The Beatles 1
Release Date: 2000-11-14
Sales rank: 186
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BEATLES
Title: BEATLES 1
Street Release Date: 11/14/2000
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP Proving yet again their willingness to dice 'n' slice their burgeoning legacy into new--if not exactly fresh--product, the Fab Four Minus One have released this single-disc compendium of their No. 1 hits. Though obviously superfluous to the faithful (who may also find themselves quibbling over the precise definition of "No. 1 hit" and the exclusion of seeming contenders like "Please Please Me" and "Strawberry Fields"), newly arrived visitors from the Pleiades star cluster and other neophytes will find it a concise and generous (nearly 80 minutes) single-disc introduction to the band's career-spanning, unparalleled dominance of pop music in the 1960s. But beyond being a mere trophy case of commercial success (and it won't be hard to find critics who'll argue that these singles aren't even the band's best work), it's also a Cliff's Notes take on a remarkable seven-year run of musical evolution, one that stretches from the neo-skiffle of "Love Me Do" through a remarkable synthesis of R&B, rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley, gospel, country, and classical that still defies efforts to effectively deconstruct it. This is the pop monument equivalent of the '27 Yankees and '90s Bulls; it's every bit as obvious and dominating--and just as essential. --Jerry McCulley |
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Revolver [UK]
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 343
Japanese exclusive reissue of 1966 album. This Toshiba/EMI pressing features an OBI strip (different from the last Japanese pressings issued in 1990) & an insert with Japanese text & lyrics in Japanese & English. Manufactured & pressed in Japan. This album has been direct metal mastered from a digitally remastered original tape to give the best possible sound quality. 2004.Revolver wouldn't remain the Beatles' most ambitious LP for long, but many fans--including this one--remember it as their best. An object lesson in fitting great songwriting into experimental production and genre play, this is also a record whose influence extends far beyond mere they-was-the-greatest cheerleading. Putting McCartney's more traditionally melodic "Here, There and Everywhere" and "For No One" alongside Lennon's direct-hit sneering ("Dr. Robert") and dreamscapes ("I'm Only Sleeping," "Tomorrow Never Knows") and Harrison's peaking wit ("Taxman") was as conceptually brilliant as anything Sgt. Pepper attempted, and more subtly fulfilling. A must. --Rickey Wright |
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Love
Release Date: 2006-11-21
Sales rank: 329
Japanese pressing of the standard version of the album. Apple. 2006.It begins with a twittering of birdsong lifted from "Across the Universe." And once the triple-tracked a capella harmonies of "Because" enter, followed by snatches from "A Hard Day's Night" and "The End," leading into a fired-up "Get Back," it becomes obvious that this is far more than just another Beatles compilation. This is Love, conceived by the Fabs' former producer George Martin and son Giles as a stageshow soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil's Las Vegas spectacular of the same name, but appears to have taken on a life of its own. Whereas the Beatles' last release, 1, delivered the (over?) familiar hits in a nice, simple package, Love is a mélange of the familiar and obscure, all literally mixed together in one 78-minute audio collage which succeeds in reminding the listener just why the Beatles truly are, as Lennon put it, "toppermost of the poppermost." There's no new Beatles material per se, but the songs are all approached differently--some are cut together in a flawlessly mixed medley (check out "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You/Helter Skelter"), some reassemble different backing tracks and vocal performances to create new spins on old classics; but all the songs are revitalized considerably. Even in its weakest moments (which probably work better in the context of the show itself), Love is still a formidable prospect, and one has to admire Martin's willingness to go out on a limb with such a project. While purists may complain that the cut 'n' paste nature of the project is simply tampering with perfection, at the very least it'll make them reach for the originals and enjoy them all over again. For newcomers and everyone else, it makes a fine listen, both in its sonic clarity (the actual tracks are the best they've sounded on CD) and audacious nature. --Thom Allott More from the Fab Four
The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 | 
Revolver | 
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 
Anthology 1 | 
Anthology 2 | 
Anthology 3 | |
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Dark Side of the Moon 30th Anniversary Edition
Release Date: 2003-03-25
Sales rank: 253
The Super Audio CD (SACD) features two disc layers. One layer contains a standard version of the album that works on any CD player. The other layer includes high-resolution stereo and a 5.1 surround version of the recording that works on SACD-compatible DVD players and home theater systems. Both layers employ SACD's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) encoding process that samples the music 64 times faster than CD for unprecedented fidelity. Dark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like "On the Run," "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital recording techniques. This is probably Pink Floyd's best-known work, and it's an excellent place to start if you're new to the band. --Genevieve Williams |
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Let It Be
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 350
Sloppy in conception, and even sometimes in the playing, Let It Be often gets a bad rap. Unfairly, as it's often as charming, well written, and (oh yeah) rocking as the Beatles' "better" albums; it's also more outright fun than Abbey Road, the masterpiece it followed into the stores. With Lennon and McCartney working together on the perfect "I've Got a Feeling," "Two of Us," and "Dig a Pony," it's hard to believe these guys were about to implode. --Rickey Wright |
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