Record Albums…Stacks And Stack Of Record Albums…
As a lover of music, I have returned to my roots and have started buying record albums again…new music, old music, music I already own in different formats…because there is just so much great music in history to enjoy!
It is impossible to give an exact number, but millions of albums have been released since 1960. While only about 5,000 new albums were released annually in the 1960s, the rise of streaming has led to hundreds of thousands of new titles annually today. Over 1.8 million “masters” were identified as available in one study, with Spotify receiving 50k-100k+ music uploads daily.
WOW – SO MUCH MUSIC!
The number of albums released per year peaked in 2016 with 5,783. Assuming 10 songs per album would therefore suggest 57,830 individual tracks were released that year, or 158 songs per day.
Who has time to think about all of them?
THIS GUY!
Meet Eric Berlin – a music lover as you will soon discover.
Her refers to himself as “a terminally online writer and pop culture nerd from Long Island, now living in Seattle with my wife and our dog, Jack. I produce digital products across media and tech by day, and Pop Thruster is where I get to unleash the madcap projects that take over my brain.“
He has shared some really fun posts with me before and when he sent me this one, I was hooked – you see, he has created a list of his ONE THOUSAND FAVORITE ALBUMS!
This is an AI generated photo of 1000 record albums: as you can see, none of these are real artists -but Eric’s sure are! I had to know what inspired him to undertake such a massive list – and here’s what he told me:
“During the winter of the first year COVID struck, I got pretty obsessed with Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums rankings. I started thinking, “Oh, I’d have this one higher, this one lower.” Or, “They picked that album but not this one?” That organically lead to my starting to do research just for kicks, and it was only nine months later that I started writing the #1,000 piece, which is for Agent Orange’s Living In Darkness.”
Here is the first entry in the list, and what Eric wrote about it:
#1,000: Agent Orange – Living in Darkness
It’s punk, it’s fast, it’s angry, it’s in no way “mainstream,” it’s raucous, and yet there’s a pulsing intelligence underlying the operation.
You see, Eric doesn’t go on and on for most of the albums, just a concise, informative look at why it resonates within…here’s another one:
#881: Laura Nyro – Eli and the Thirteenth Confession
I own this album for a reason I will explain soon, but why did Eric pick it?
“Typically, when I think about “singer songwriter” artists, I imagine an acoustic guitar, a quiet and mellow vibe, and introspective and emotional lyrics. Well, Laura Nyro and Eli and the Thirteenth Confession take that concept, throws it up in the air and says: let’s make a bombshell of a singer-songwriter album, loud, brash, and swanky, 1968-syle!“
This resonated with me because I am a huge fan of Toidd Rundgren, the iconic Singer/Songwriter behind such hits as “Hello It’s Me” and his goofy classic “Bang The Drum All Day”….it turn out that Laura was his favorite – here’s the story I told about it:
Eric’s choices are incredibly eclectic: you will discover so many artists you didn’t know, and that’s one of the most enjoyable parts of reading through it…I asked him if he tried to make the selections as broad as possible or if he found himself returning to favorites:
“I thought about this a lot. Like, “what are the rules for this thing?” I realized that I wanted to think as “expansively” as possible. As a solo project, this was my opportunity to showcase my own experience and my own life and take on the world through music.
So, I placed zero limits on the number of albums per artist or band. Spoiler that you’ll see lots of R.E.M. and Bob Dylan and Wu-Tang Clan, for example. And then additionally, if there were EPs or even mashups that I felt were best albums worthy, they were considered along with all the rest.”
On some selections, Eric spends more time diving into the album, like this one:
#676: Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
This was their masterpiece with a wild ending….first, here’s why Eric included it:
“For most of my adult life, if I had to sum up how I feel about Simon & Garfunkel as a musical act (duo? project? musical consortium?), I’d probably say I respect them more than I truly dig them.
However, in delving into Bridge Over Troubled Water, the respect remained but I found myself enjoying the material a lot more than I expected, if perhaps in different ways than your typical S&G fans.”
Now, I shared a story about this album, and it’s bit crazy!
It’s begin with this 60’s anti-war masterpiece: the novel “Catch-22”. What does the have to do with Simon & Garfunkel? Well, Garfunkel was cast in a role for the movie version, which was filming right before the recording sessions for the album were schedule to begin in New York:
Well…Art’s filming schedule ran late and he left Paul sitting alone with no one to record with!
That didn’t sit well, so he wrote this beautiful, reflective and very pointed song for the album: “The Only Living Boy In New York.”
It included the line: “Tom, get your plane ride on time…I know your part will be fine.”
You see, they were originally call “Tom & Jerry”!
Read my entire story about how this song – and movie – broke them up at the height of their success!
Back to his list I wondered what the biggest change was for him in putting this together – here’s what he told me:
“It’s an almost impossibly ambitious project for one person to take on (let alone someone with a day job and, in theory, a “life”). I knew that going in and while I took the project very seriously, I tried not to lose sight of the fact that it’s both a massive undertaking and endlessly subjective.”
Of course, we all have our favorite artists, and any list like this is designed to provoke a “why is this album that I love SO MUCH so low on the charts? Here’s some of the feedback he says he’s received:
“I think this depends on one’s taste in music. For example, one of my best friend’s kids are actively “mad” at me because there’s no Taylor Swift albums included in the best 1,000 albums ever. I respect Ms. Swift highly, but her music is just not for me on the whole, which is totally fine, Gen Alpha angst from my friend’s family aside! But overall, the project is meant to “provoke” conversations about music in the most positive kind of way. It’s a celebration of music, and I spent five years working on the best 1,000 albums ever as much to find out what other people like and how they think about music as it was to express my own opinions.“
So now, one last point to make, and it starts here:
#81: The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Considered by many to be rock’s greatest achievement, it landed at #81, while this Beatles effort was ranked much higher:
Here’s where the list gets even more compelling! The Beatles are, of course THE BEATLES, you you have to have more than just one album….but did you know that at #14, this is NOT the highest charting Beatles album, but as you know it was NOT “Sgt. Pepper’s”…what could it be?
And what is #1?
Well, I won’t spoil this monumental achievement by giving you the answers, because you will get a LOT of enjoyment finding your favorites, and seeing lots of great choices you never knew!
See Eric Berlin’s massively entertaining list of his favorite1,000 albums by clicking on his story here!
Eric does a terrific job in his massive article putting them into certain categories for you as well…for example: a category of albums worth checking out first, so you are guided to some you may not know…I love that!
Blur is on that list and let me tell you – not only a GREAT album but I love that cover!
Which brings me to this: sure the music is great but what about great album COVER ART?
This album cover by The Rolling Stones included a zipper that actually worked!
See an interesting list of some of the greatest album covers of all time – I disagreed with a few and you will too!
Bravo Eric, I had a great time going through your list – actually several times over many days – so much fun and very informative!
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Thanks so much for reading – and if you enjoy the story, please share on social media!,
Categories: 70's Music, Art, Books / Media, Classic Rock, Music, Obscure Music, Pop Culture, The Beatles, Todd Rundgren
johnrieber 
Wow, 1,000 albums listed is huge! A few years ago, I was asked what album I would keep if I could only have one to listen to. I didn’t really hesitate, and chose ‘Hunky Dory’ by David Bowie. Not one dud track on the entire album, and it floods my brain with memories of 1971, when I was 19 years old. Plus it contains the marvellous ‘Life On Mars’, the first ‘small pop- opera’ I can remember hearing.
Best wishes, Pete.
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