Swedish progressive rock band Moon Safari, are one of my favourite modern (i.e. post the 1970s peak) bands.
They play in a very melodic, symphonic rock sound (think a combination of early 70s Genesis and Yes) with excellent five part harmony singing.
Their live album, The Gettysburg Address, makes my Desert Island Top 200 list.
Moon Safari Releases & My Ratings
This band is very consistent and here are my ratings (10 brilliant, 9 excellent, 8 very good). Although several of the album titles are in Swedish, the lyrics are in English.
2005 Studio – A Doorway to Summer = 8
2008 Studio – Blomljud (it means Flower Sound) = 8
2010 Studio – Lover’s End = 8 2012 Live – The Gettysburg Address = 9
2013 Studio – Himlabacken Vol. 1 (it means Heaven Hill) = 8
2013 Studio EP – Lover’s End Pt. III = 8
2014 Live – Live In Mexico = 8
I suspect these ratings will rise as I get to know these recordings better.
Hear Moon Safari samples at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
What Others Say About Moon Safari
I consider ProgArchives.com as the definitive website for progressive rock. Here are their ratings (19 March 2021) from their Moon Safari page:
A Doorway to Summer = 3.58
Blomljud = 4.13
Lover’s End = 3.86
The Gettysburg Address = 4.55
Himlabacken Vol. 1 = 3.92
Lover’s End Pt. III EP = 4.73
Live In Mexico = 4.02
I’m puzzled as to why the rating is so low for A Doorway to Summer. I don’t see it as inferior in any way.
The critics at AllMusic haven’t rated the albums, but their Moon Safari page shows user ratings that are all in the 4 to 5 star levels, with Blomljud, The Gettysburg Address and Live In Mexico all shown as 5 stars on 19 March 2021.
On YouTube
The Notes Reviews channel is very good for progressive rock and it has several videos about Moon Safari, starting with the worst to best:
Interestingly, the reviewer favours the early studio albums and places them in this order:
A Doorway to Summer
Blomljud (this is a double CD and CD1 is his favourite)
Lover’s End
Himlabacken Vol. 1
Personally, I think it’s really hard to decide on an order because they are all so good and have similar qualities.
He’s also produced more detailed review videos for his two favourite albums:
A Doorway to Summer
Blomljud
Final Thoughts
If you like classy, symphonic progressive rock, I don’t think you can go wrong with Moon Safari.
My favourite is still their first live album, The Gettysburg Address, but if you prefer studio albums, I’d start at the beginning with A Doorway to Summer and then work forwards in time.
If you are a fan of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, you need to hear this EP from a great new band called Magnolia Boulevard.
Sadly TTB have been quiet this year but this does very nicely, thank you.
The Songs On New Illusion
There are just four songs on it:
Ride 3:20
Lovin’ Me 5:01
Smooth Sailin’ 5:21
Sister 4:23
The band only has five members so it’s smaller sound that TTB without the backing singers, brass section etc but the singer, Maggie Noelle sounds extraordinarily similar to Susan Tedeschi, the lucky woman because Tedeschi is a terrific blues/soul/rock singer. She also plays rhythm guitar.
The Derek Trucks of the band is Gregg Erwin and whilst I won’t claim he’s as good as Derek, because I don’t have the expertise to assess them fairly, I really like what he does. Completing the band are John Roberts on bass, Ryan Allen on keyboards and Todd Copeland playing the drums.
This is a tough time for new bands who probably thrive on live performances. I really hope this band are working on their first full length album, because I’m buying it without any hesitation.
What are the best blues and blues rock albums released in 2020?
Below you will find a poll where I ask you to vote for up to TEN of your favourite albums from 2020. Please help others to find the best blues albums and let them guide you to albums that you haven’t yet heard.
My Favourites
If I’m asking you to recommend albums, it’s only fair that I tell which blues albums have made the biggest impression on me from 2020.
I have a weakness for female blues singers so you’ll see more albums by women in my list and probably more in the poll than you’d normally expect.
I rate out of 10 with 10 = brilliant (an all-time top 100 album), 9 = excellent (top 250 to 300 album), 8 = very good, 7 = good, 6 = pretty good. I’m also reluctant to give 9s and 10s out until they have stood the test of time. I like albums when I first buy or hear them but too often they don’t leave a lasting impression. The last 9s I have for blues albums are the 2019 albums by Elles Bailey and Whalia and the last 10 is Let Me Get By from the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Here are my thoughts so far for blues albums released in 2020
Blackbird & Crow – Ailm8/10
A folk blues hybrid from this Irish pair. In a world where blues can have a generic sound, this is lovely and different.
Crystal Shawanda – Church House Blues 8/10
A new artist to me but this won’t be the last album I buy of hers now that she’s converted from country to blues. A native American from Canada with a terrific, husky voice.
Joe Louis Walker – Blues Comin’ On 8/10
One of those artists I’ve meant to investigate before but there’s something about this that tipped me over the edge to try it through my streaming service and it was so good, I just had to own it.
Larkin Poe – Self Made Man 8/10
A well publicised band in the music press, but they live up to the hype.
Robert Jon & The Wreck – Last Light On The Highway 8/10
I don’t understand why this fine Southern rock band aren’t much better known. Their music has the big hooks needed to be a crossover hit.
The title track is a two-parter.
Vanessa Collier – Heart On the Line 8/10
Vanessa has only released four albums but it speaks highly that I rate my third favourite of hers as high as 8/10. She is one of the female blues singers I’m turning to most often. I’m probably biased because I love the saxophone but this album has quite a wide range of styles including funk and soul.
Whitney Shay – Stand Up! 8/10
Powerful rhythm and blues by this singer from Texas. I’m very taken with her previous album, A Woman Rules The World.
The Best Blues & Blues Rock Albums In 2020
Here is the poll for studio albums. I’ll probably start another poll for live albums.
Please vote.
I’d love it if you leave a comment with details of explaining why you love certain albums or perhaps giving ratings for albums. Personally I use a rating out of 10.
Leave a comment to tell me about great blues albums I’ve missed. It’s inevitable that I’ll miss something and it’s probably really obvious to you.
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More Details About The Albums Selected
Bear with me on this. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to load all the album covers and links.
Rock & Blues Muse – “Every moment of Believe is to be savored and proves without a doubt that Albert Cummings belongs among the biggest names in blues music today.”
Review at Rock And Blues Muse – “For any blues/roots fan, Blues Bash with Duke Robillard & Friends is something to treasure, a journey into another world that will carry you effortlessly across an ocean of soulful sounds.”
4 Star Review at AllMusic.com – “James is just idiosyncratic and genuinely talented enough to avoid pastiche, as he effortlessly amalgamates Southern blues, country, folk, pop, and jazz.”
Review at Blues Rock Review – “With Below Sea Level, Eric Johanson draws the perfect blueprint for avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump by simply being more creative and doing everything better.”
Review at Blues Rock Review – “The wild chemistry between Neals and guitarist Joe Louis Walker is what makes her Black Crow Moan such a thriving, thrilling biosphere of an album.”
Review at Blues Blast Magazine – “If you’re a fan of modern blues-rock, this one’s definitely for you.”
Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite – 100 Years of Blues
Here are links to other people’s of the best albums of 2020.
I’ll probably have pages for more specialised genre-specific selections.
Rolling Stone – Best Albums of 2020
50 albums are listed in order and the top 5 are:
5 Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
4 Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
3 Bad Bunny – YHLQMDLG
2 Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
1 Taylor Swift – Folklore
I was surprised to see Springsteen’s “Letter To You” as high as #12. It’s good but it’s nowhere near his classics from the 1970s.
This has excellent descriptions of the albums nominated
The top 5 are:
5. Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
4. Sault – Untitled (Rise)
3. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
2. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
1. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Others I thought sounded interesting are:
47. Lianne La Havas: Lianne La Havas
42. HAIM: Women in Music Pt. III
34. Bonny Light Horseman: Bonny Light Horseman
12. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Reunions
9. Adrianne Lenker: songs
Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Róisín Murphy – Róisín Machine
Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Rina Sawayama – Sawayama
Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink
Taylor Swift – Folklore
5: UKAEA – Energy Is Forever
4: Lyra Pramuk – Fountain
3: Special Interest – The Passion Of
2: The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
1: Hey Colossus – Dances/Curses
5. Eternal Atake, Lil Uzi Vert
4. Gaslighter, The Chicks
3. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple
2. Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle
1. Folklore, Taylor Swift
His catalogue is very extensive. Unlike many of his peers, not only has Morrison continued to record, he’s continued to create beautiful music.
There are some obvious classics that appear on the various best albums ever lists – Astral Weeks, Moondance (both terrific) – my favourite studio album of all time in Saint Dominic’s Preview and some less well known stunners.
Catch him on a good night and he’s a brilliant live performer too, as shown by the exceptional It’s Too Late To Stop Now and A Night In San Francisco.
What’s On This Page
My personal ratings
Readers Polls for the best studio and live albums by Van Morrison
Van Morrison on the Steve Hoffman forum
Van Morrison on AllMusic.com
Van Morrison on Setlist.fm
Essential Albums at Rolling Stone Magazine
Readers Views From BestEverAlbums
Books On Van Morrison
My Ratings For The Studio Albums By Van Morrison
10 = an absolute classic, 9 is an excellent album, 1 is abysmal. Any 6 and above is well worth hearing. Any album rated at 10 is in bold.
A great conundrum is how a notorious moody, grumpy man can create such extraordinary beauty so consistently. I’m just extremely grateful that he has as I can’t imagine my life without Van Morrison’s music. If I was forced to choose 20 albums to take to a desert album, 5 of them would probably be by Van Morrison. That’s how important he is to me and I love many other artists.
Blowin’ Your Mind! (1967) – 7 – this has been released in other forms too Astral Weeks (1968) – 10 Moondance (1970) – 10
His Band and the Street Choir (1970) – 8
Tupelo Honey (1971) – 8 Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972) – 10
Hard Nose the Highway (1973) – 7
Veedon Fleece (1974) – 9 (it’s taken me 40 years to appreciate this one)
A Period of Transition (1977) – 6
Wavelength (1978) – 6 Into the Music (1979) – 10 Common One (1980) – 10
Beautiful Vision (1982) – 9
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983) – 8
A Sense of Wonder (1985) No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986) – 10
Poetic Champions Compose (1987) – 9
Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains, 1988) – 6
Avalon Sunset (1989) – 9
Enlightenment (1990) – 8
Hymns to the Silence (1991) – 9
Too Long in Exile (1993) – 8
Days Like This (1995)
How Long Has This Been Going On (1995)
Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
The Healing Game (1997)
Back on Top (1999)
You Win Again (2000)
Down the Road (2002)
What’s Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
Magic Time (2005)
Pay the Devil (2006)
Keep It Simple (2008)
Born to Sing: No Plan B (2012)
Duets: Re-working the Catalogue (2015)
Keep Me Singing (2016)
Roll with the Punches (2017)
Versatile (2017)
You’re Driving Me Crazy (2018)
The Prophet Speaks (2018)
Three Chords & the Truth (2019)
I have some go-to albums that I play regularly or, in the case of Astral Weeks and Moondance played many times when I was younger but I’m going to have to give others a detailed listen before rating them. Don’t expect to see many ratings of 5 or lower.
The official live albums are:
It’s Too Late to Stop Now – 10
Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast – 9 A Night in San Francisco – 10
The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast 1998 – 5
Live at Austin City Limits Festival
Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl – 9 (probably 10 if they add the extra songs performed at the concert) It’s Too Late to Stop Now vols 2, 3 & 4 – 10
Readers Polls For The Best Albums By Van Morrison Recorded In The Studio and Live In Concert
What are the Best Studio Albums By Van Morrison
This is a new poll (March 2020) but the live poll has many more people taking part. I’ve asked you to identify your six favourite albums. Since I have since I’m rating at 10/10, it saved me from having to make a difficult decision.
If you’re a fan, you might like to give him some extra votes as he’s not dominating these polls.
Van Morrison On The Steve Hoffman Forum
The Steve Hoffman forum is a great place where there is often excellent discussions of music. There are some exceptional items on Van Morrison. Very highly recommended reading although I’ve felt too intimidated to take part in the discussions.
Van Morrison Album by Album Discussion: Part 1 (1968-1977) (Link)
This series of threads looking at the Van Morrison albums has some excellent reading although it i hard to navigate if you want the low-down on a particular album you’re planning to listen to.
This is the classic period for Van Morrison as many people turned off after 1974 (Veedon Fleece) when he had a three year break. Sadly that included me for many, many years. I thought that he didn’t do anything as good as this early period but I was very WRONG.
Here are the top 5 from the poll:
Moondance
Astral Weeks (this lost out by 2 votes)
Veedon Fleece
It’s Too Late To Stop Now
Into The Music
As great as these are, it’s beyond me how the absolutely brilliant Saint Dominic’s Preview is only ranked at #6.
I love A Night In San Francisco but the general consensus is that there is a slight drop in quality in this decade. Plenty of great songs but perhaps no absolute classic, must-have album.
Members were asked to jot down their top 5 albums. Plenty of love for the 1968 (Astral Weeks) to 1974 (Veedon Fleece) period but plenty of attention is given to later albums too. The nice thing about these lists are that it can help you find albums you’ll love, for instance if you didn’t like the introspective Astral Weeks but loved the more commercial R&B of Moondance (or vice versa).
With more time on my hands than I expected because of the coronavirus lockdown, I went through and counted the individual recommendations, which gives you an album ranking.
Moondance (86 recommendations)
Astral Weeks (80)
Saint Dominic’s Preview (68)
Veedon Fleece (68)
Into the Music (40)
Tupelo Honey (36)
His Band And The Street Choir (29)
It’s Too Late to Stop Now (24) plus three extra for the 3 CD version
Common One (19)
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (16)
Hard Nose the Highway (13)
Beautiful Vision (12)
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (12)
Poetic Champions Compose (12)
Avalon Sunset (9)
Hymns To The Silence (9)
Enlightenment (8)
The Healing Game (8)
Wavelength (6)
Back On Top (5)
Irish Heartbeat (4)
Blowin’ your Mind! (3)
Magic Time (3)
A Period Of Transition (3)
Down the Road (2)
Keep It Simple (2)
Keep Me Singing (2)
The Philosopher’s Stone (2)
T.B. Sheets (2)
What’s Wrong with this Picture? (2)
Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1)
Born to Sing: No Plan B (1)
Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1)
A Night in San Francisco (1)
Roll with the Punches (1)
A Sense of wonder (1)As you can see, most of the albums have received some love and there are a few recommendations for albums by Them too although neither of the studio albums or compilations are receiving repeated selections.
I have a few thoughts.
You can see the domination of that golden period between 1968 (Astral Weeks) and 1974 (Veedon Fleece). There is little doubt that Van Morrison produced a string of outstanding albums in these years, with Hard Nose The Highway generally seen as the weakest but what we see here may be part of the self-perpetuating myth.
If you’re told the best period is in the early years and you only feel you need three or four albums, you probably don’t feel much urge to venture out into his later catalogue. I know I fell into this category and was only buying the live albums from later years to give me his “best tracks”.
I now see this as a mistake and Into The Music has done very well to jump ahead of Tupelo Honey and His Band And Street Choir. My other two later 10/10 albums, Common One and No Guru, No Teacher, No Method trailed in behind those two albums from 1970 and ’71. I think they’d do better if more people had heard them.
While the predictable classic albums – Moondance and Astral Weeks – came out on top, you can see that there isn’t a big drop-off once you get passed those two and the slop is quite gradual as you go right down the list. The joint 15th most popular albums (Avalon Sunset and Hymns To The Silence) still received 9 top-5 recommendations.
Van Morrison on AllMusic.com
AllMusic.com is probably the go-to website for many people to investigate an artist. Certainly it’s one I consult regularly although I do get frustrated when the star rating and review aren’t consistent in their praise or criticism.
The 5 star rated albums by the critics are (as at 30 march 2020):
Astral Weeks
Moondance
At 4.5 stars are:
His Band And Street Choir
Tupelo Honey
Saint Dominic’s Preview
It’s Too Late To Stop Now
Veedon Fleece
Into The Music
Irish Heartbeat
Readers are also given a chance to rate the albums and their 5 star selections are:
Astral Weeks
Moondance
It’s Too Late To Stop Now
Just behind at 4.5 stars are:
His Band And Street Choir
Tupelo Honey
Saint Dominic’s Preview
Veedon Fleece
Into The Music
No Guru. No Method, No Teacher
Poetic Champions Compose
Irish Heartbeat
Hymns To the Silence
A Night In San Francisco
The Healing Game
Astral Weeks: Live At The Hollywood Bowl
Roll With The Punches
The Prophet Speaks
Three Chords And The Truth
I’m very surprised Comnon One hasn’t received more support to push it up from the 4 star reader rating.
Van Morrison on Setlist.fm
Setlist.fm is an excellent website that records the concert dates and setlists of the performances.
Very usefully it summarises the information it collects to produce statistics for the artist’s career and individual years and tours. It relies on user support to record the setlists so there is a bias towards the last few decades rather than the 1960s and ’70s.
The 10 songs it believes Van Morrison plays in concert are (as at 30 March 2020):
Moondance
Gloria
Brown Eyed Girl
Help Me (this is a cover of a Sonny Boy Williamson song that first appeared on It’s Too Late To Stop Now)
Have I Told You Lately (from Avalon Sunset)
Precious Time (from Back On Top)
Days Like This (album title track)
Cleaning Windows (Beautiful Vision)
Bright Side Of The Road (Into The Music)
Jackie Wilson Said (Saint Dominic’s Preview)
These seem to be fairly popular choices aimed at the general public and the more casual fan.
Some of the more longer, stream-of-consciousness tracks are played fairly regularly with summertime In England at #12, In The Garden at #17, And The Healing has Begun at #32, Cyprus Avenue at #95, Madame George at #109 and the amazing Listen To The Lion at #116. I’m sure that if we had more setlists from the 70s and 80s, these would be pushed much higher. Morrison has refused to get stuck in the past, unlike many of his peers.
Astral Weeks
Moondance
Saint Dominic’s Preview
It’s Too Late To Stop Now
Veedon Fleece
with further listening recommended for:
Into The Music
Blowin’ Your Mind!
Tupelo Honey
The Healing Game
Again little love for Common One. This is strange.
Readers Votes From BestEverAlbums.com
If you love lists, then you’ll find this website fascinating as it’s compiled from readers posting their favourite albums of all-time.
Their Top 5 albums are:
Astral Weeks
Moondance
Veedon Fleece
Saint Dominic’s Preview
Into The Music
My other 10/10 albums are rated as:
It’s Too Late To Stop Now at #7
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher at #9
Common One at #11
A Night In San Francisco at #24
It’s Too Late To Stop Vols 2, 3 & 4 at 33
Books On Van Morrison
I’m much more drawn to books about van’s music than his life and squabbles with the music industry or other musicians.
Van Morrison 20 Best Albums: A Guide by Mark Holmes
This kindle book is excellent and a bargain at 99p at Amazon.co.uk.
Mark’s top albums are:
Veedon Fleece
Astral Weeks
Saint Dominic’s Preview
Common One
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Into The Music
No wonder I like it, his top six includes five of my 10/10 albums with Moondance down at #8.
He writes with great enthusiasm about his favourite albums and he always makes me want to listen to the album to see if I agree with his comments. Further own the list, he’s not shy about being critical, even though he loves Van Morrison.
It also includes a top 50 songs which I’ve compiled as a musical tour across the albums.
The Words And Music of Van Morrison by Erik Hage
This is a more thoughtful, less passionate analysis of Van Morrison’s music. As I was reading it, I was learning a lot about how the music evolved but it doesn’t encourage me to listen in the same way as the above book.
As a book it is very good but I feel that it is expensive for what’s here.
Conclusions
Where should you start?
If you’re interested in standard R&B/soul than Moondance is perfect but if you feel more like something quite and introspective, then head for Astral Weeks. I don’t feel that there’s another album like it by anyone, not just by Van Morrison.
I still stand by my 10/10 recommendations which also include:
Saint Dominic’s Preview – my all-time favourite studio album
Into The Music – another great starting place
Common One – rapidly moving up my list of favourites, perhaps now at #2
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Many others love Veedon Fleece which is a good albums with some excellent songs but I am a bit mystified by the amount of recommendations it gets.
If you have visited the blog before, you will have noticed two things:
The change in title from Best Live Albums to Best Live & Studio Albums. .
I haven’t been posting and updating. That’s partly because of time and also because the floodgates have opened with these radio broadcast based releases that squeeze through the copyright laws. Some are fantastic in performance and sound quality but too many are shabby. I hate wasting my time listening and writing about something that isn’t good enough.
I’ve come to realise that I’ve painted myself into a bit of a corner by purely focusing on live albums.
It was never my intention to listen to live albums 95% of the time but that’s what happened. For a long time, I was updating you on the live albums I was listening to each month, partly so you could see my favourites in action and partly to help my website maintain links to pages.
I still love live albums and they will often be my “go to album” for an artist when I’m in the mood.
But there are other artists who refuse to release a great live album, even when I’m sure they are capable or who release fine live albums but at the wrong time.
I’ve long recognised the vital link between great studio albums and great live albums. Take The Rolling Stones for an example, it’s no coincidence that the fantastic Brussels Affair 1973 comes after the terrific set of studio albums in Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street. Goats Head Soup isn’t too shabby either and is widely underrated.
When an artist or group is hot, they are usually hot in the studio and live in concert as confidence flows from one to the other.
In my reconfiguration of the website, I’m planning to provide some comprehensive guides to major artists backed up with the readers polls and resources from other music enthusiasts. I still want to help you to maximise your listening pleasure by guiding you to the “best” and that has to go beyond my own favourites.
With my Christmas money back in 1975, I bought The Who Live At Leeds and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon to double my album collection. A good friend of mine was given The Who By Numbers for the same Christmas. Shortly afterwards I bought Who’s Next and Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy. Another friend bought A Nice Pair, bringing together A Quick One and The Who Sell Out.
The Who were my favourite band back then and have continued to be one of my favourite bands ever since.
The Who: A Guide To Buying & Listening To This Great Band
What To Find On This Page
My Album Ratings
The Readers Poll
My Favourite YouTube Channels
The Who On The Steve Hoffman website
BestEverAlbums.com
AllMusic.com
Final Conclusions
Studio Albums By The Who – My Ratings Out Of 10 (10 is an outstanding classic, 1 abyssmal)
My Generation / The Who Sings My Generation (US) – 7
A Quick One – 6
The Who Sell Out – 8
Tommy -7 Who’s Next – 10 Quadrophenia – 10 The Who by Numbers – 10
Who Are You – 8
Face Dances – 5
It’s Hard – 7
Endless Wire – 6
Who – 7 (provisional but could be edged up)
Live At Leeds is ranked at #3 (March 8, 2020), some distance behin #1 Made In Japan by Deep Purple but not far behind #2, Styrangers In The Night by UFO. Both are great albums.
I see classic rock as quite commercial and I feel Live At Leeds is too raucous and, of course, it doesn’t include the well known anthems from Who’s Next and onward.
I entered Join Together and Quadrophenia Live which are attracting moderate interest. I think Join Together is excellent and it has a different sound because of the use of the horns, even though it’s been accused of the Who does Las Vegas.
What My Favourite YouTube Channels & Videos Have To Say About The Who
Pete Pardo at the Sea of Tranquility (link to channel)
Watch the video but Pete’s top three are:
Who’s Next
Tommy
Quadrophenia
Adam At Rock Record Reviews (much less well known but quality reviews) (link to channel)
A quirkier set of choices with The Who Sell Out as her #1 but our favourites are usually those that connect with us most emotionally. I gave it a rating of 8/10 which means I think it’s very good and I’d hate to be without it but it’s rarely one that starts off my bout of listening to The Who.
The Who On The Steve Hoffman Website
This is a great forum for real music enthusiasts although I find it a bit intimidating. These people know what they’re talking about.
The same top 3 with Tommy just missing out. My Generation, A Quick One, The Who By Numbers and Who Are You all received 30 or more votes.
What Was the Last Great Who Album? (link)
Another poll with Quadrophenia coming top by a long way but Who Are You and The Who By Numbers were second and third.
BestEverAlbums.com
This is a website for people who love lists since it’s a website where people put in their lists of favourite albums and songs and out pop rankings of bands, albums, songs across the years and decades.
You can spend a lot of time on besteveralbums.com (link to The Who’s page) but here are the top 5 albums by The Who (as at March 8, 2020)
Who’s Next (ranked #36 overal)
Quadrophenia
Tommy
The Who Sell Out
My Generation
AllMusic.com
An easy to go place to get album reviews, even if there is maddening inconsistency between the reviews and review ratings.
The official reviews 5 star albums (at March 8, 2020) are:
My Generation
The Who Sell Out
Live At Leeds
Who’s Next
Quadrophenia
As for the readers, they have fewer 5 star albums based on the average ratings.
Live At Leeds
Who’s Next
Final Conclusions – The Best Albums By The Who
The beauty of streaming services is that you can hear these albums for yourself very easily – or if you don’t stream, pop to Amazon or iTunes and hear the samples.
But where should you start?
The broad consensus is that Who’s Next is their greatest creation. Two of these songs – Won’t Get Fooled Again and Baba O’Riley are CSI theme tunes so you probably know them, even if you don;t know The Who. They are also likely to regularly appear on classic rock radio shows along with Behind Blues Eyes (also from Who’s Next), Pinball Wizard (from Tommy) and Who Are You (from the album of the same name.)
The next place to go is Quadrophenia although I think it would be tempting to work through the albums chronologically so that you can see how the band has developed. The albums were consistently strong up to and including Who Are You.
As for live albums, Live At Leeds is an absolute classic but we don’t (yet) have that classic live album of the band at their peak featuring plenty of songs from Who’s Next of Quadrophenia. Blues To The Bush is excellent but it’s really hard to track down and it’s from 1999 and features Ringo’s son Zak Starkey on drums.
Do you ever wish you knew more about Paul McCartney’s career after he left The Beatles?
If so, I have found the answer on the excellent Steve Hoffman forum, a place for music enthusiasts. I’ve found it a bit intimating to join but it’s a great place to read.
If you look at Amazon or iTunes, you’ll see a lot of live recordings by bands and it’s now hard to distinguish between:
Official live albums approved and released by the artist and their record company.
Third party recordings where royalties are paid to the artists for performance and songwriting. (I’m thinking of the BBC and Rockpalast recordings here).
Grey market live recordings which are legal in Europe because of the copyright laws only protect music for 25 years unless it’s been officially released. (I’m not a legal expert but this is my understanding).
I thought it would be interesting to produce a post that summarises what I recommend as the best ONE live album per group or artist.
This covers rock, pop, blues, soul & funk, reggae, folk, country and jazz.
This is going to be controversial in places and will involve some hard choices. Other times, the answer is pretty obvious because a group has released an absolute classic that stands head and shoulders above anything else they’ve done.
Sometimes I’ve gone with my personal opinion when I have strong views on the merits of albums, other times, I’ve bowed to the wisdom shown in my readers polls.
In nearly all occasions, the band or artist will have more than one live album to consider but occasionally, there is just one that I think is much to important to ignore. For example, if I take two personal favourites of mine The Cate Brothers Live isn’t included but Wings Over America will be. I’ll do my best to explain why.
I’ve numbered the albums so that I can keep changing the title of the article but the albums are listed in alphabetical order of the artist or band. To save confusion over whether Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band should be under S for Springsteen or B for Bruce, or the Steve Miller Band should be under S or M, I’ve opted to go with the first name featured, unless it is The… so The Who are under W.
I don’t think it’s spoiling the surprise if I say that many of the choices come from the 1970s, the decade where live albums became an essential part of the catalogue.
I was adding the albums too slowly so I’ve started listing them and will come back later to add in explanations for the choice and album covers. Please bear with me.
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