Five Decades, Five Hundred Albums At long last, it's complete, as promised. From 1960 through 2009, I've done my best to include what I think were the best albums released over the last five decades. Every genre is included. While I do not necessarily own each and every one of these albums, I have listened to all of them. A note here. Obviously there aren't nearly as many '60s albums, as there are '70s, '80s, '90s & '00s. In light of the fact that prior to 1967, the majority of LPs released were not up to par, I felt it only fair to include more entries from those four decades. I make no apologies for the order of preference - you are free to disagree. Nor will I make any apologies for not including certain albums that heretofore have been considered "classics" within the rock critic community; i.e. "The White Album", "Physical Graffiti", and "Dark Side of the Moon." The reader will also realize p...
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A Fond Farewell. It was February 1983. I was working in lower Manhattan and it was a Friday – payday, my favorite day. As I was want to do, I cashed my check and headed down to J&R Music World to pick up a few records. On my way I stopped at a news stand and noticed the cover of The Village Voice . There was a feature titled, “Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome.” I picked it up, turned to the feature column, and that was the first time I had ever read anything by Robert Christgau. It was the annual Pazz & Jop critics’ poll, and Christgau was the self-appointed “Dean” of the critics, writing about the past year in music. What I remember most about that column was how I couldn’t seem to put it down. The writing was mesmerizing. I had read other critics before – my current favorite had been Wayne Robbins of Newsday – but seldom had I seen such a socio-political take on what I had always perceived as basically an entertainment industry. Christgau wasn’t so much talking abo...