The Essential Music Library project is an attempt to get the many musical minds of the SDMB to sit down and discuss what works are absolutely necessary for a well-stocked musical library. There will be roughly 20 threads detailing a variety of genres so that we can get the depth that would be missing from a single-threaded discussion and the breadth necessary to cover what’s out there.
This thread’s topic is pop. Anything ever recorded is fair game–don’t just stick to the Beatles and on.
Hot August Night - Neil Diamond Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack - BeeGees and others What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John My Name Is Barbra - Barbra Streisand
By the way, I absolutely loathe two of the albums listed above. But they are essential to a complete collection.
The thing is - what is pop?
There’s good pop by good artists (Squeeze - Tempted), and there’s good pop by One Hit Wonders (Edison Lighthouse, Lipps Inc.) Finding solid Pop albums is very very hard, as many of the very best songs are from OHW. Anyway, for very good Pop Albums, I nominate (and I’ll have to include some Greatest Hits compilations, as including the original albums would add too much dreck):
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Prince - 1999
Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits: The Record
ABBA - The singles: The first Ten Years
The beach Boys - there are too many compilations, pick a good’un.
Carpenters - The Singles
Phil Spector - Back to Mono
The Supremes must have a place here, but there are too many crappy compilations - make your own.
Frank Sinatra - Come fly with me
Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swinging Lovers (or good compilations from the Capitol years and the Reprise years, there are excellent, but pricey box sets out.)
Every woman I’ve ever known has worn out at least two copies of Carole King’s Tapestry.
I tend to dislike “pop” music, but I think you have to include something by Genesis, Fleetwood Mac (Rumours, maybe?) and Sting.
Off the top of my head.
For the pure joy of “pop” and everything that much maligned term represents, there’s nothing better than a decent Dusty Springfield best-of. She was just superb and so cruelly underrated.
Constructing an “Essential Music Library” is a terrific project, but I’m disappointed with the way it’s been undertaken thus far, to the point where I’m reluctant to post any more recommendations until what I see as a fundamental organizational problem gets straightened out. Frankly, the way the OPer is only gradually unveiling his categories is steadily pissing me off.
What I want to see is a list of forthcoming EML thread topics from the OPer before he solicits any more musical recommendations. A while back, I posted a crapload of early-80’s suggestions to the “Alternative Rock” thread, not realizing that a new thread for Post-Punk/New Wave would soon cover those same bases. Had I known that, I would have held off for the more appopriate rubric…
I’m sure that as soon as I post a recommendation for, say, Blur’s Parklife, there’ll be the announcement of a new Essential Music Library thread on “Brit-Pop”. :rolleyes: :mad:
And while I’m on a tear, it’s worth mentioning that the term “Pop” is ridiculously over-broad – so much so that it signifies nothing in a precise historical context. “Pop” encompasses everything from 60’s girl bands (like The Chiffons) to the Japanese girl bands of the 90’s (like Shonen Knife), to just cite the range and extent of the international “girl band” phenomenon. A lot of what’s already been suggested as “pop” could more narrowly be classifiable as 70’s Singer-Songwriters, Classic Soul, Post-Motown R&B, etc.
So, how about it? Are you going to show us your cards now, or are you going to continue to let us fall over our own feet guesstimating the eventual parameters of your precious music categories?
Where’s David Bowie? His early 70s albums seem to be regarded as massively influential on subsequent pop music; Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust etc. He’s one of the architects, maybe you have already got him covered him in an earlier rock category?
Green Day - Dookie
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
*NSYNC - No Strings Attached
ELO - The Essential Electric Light Orchestra
Chicago - The Very Best Of: Only the Beginning
“Pop” is such a nebulous, all-encompassing term that there’s bound to be substantial overlap between this and some of the other genres (such as rock). An attempt to define “pop” or its precise relationship to “rock” would probably derail this thread (plus I think it’s been discussed before around these parts). I’ll just suggest to anyone planning to post here that, if anything clearly and obviously belongs in one of the other “Essential Music Library” threads, it not be mentioned here too.
And if ultrafilter or someone else is feeling really ambitious, they could go back later and sort through all these threads and maybe move some around so that all the suggestions appear in the thread in which they most belong.
I can think of nothing to add right now, but I endorse many of the selections already mentioned. I notice there are a lot of compilations listed, which makes sense, since pop in general is more oriented towards singles than albums. I hope some people who know what they’re talking about will come along and make sure the first half of the 20th century is adequately represented.
Billy Joel - The Stranger, River of Dreams, and pretty much his entire library. (I see Billy already was mentioned in the Rock thread, but he’s right in the mainstream of pop, while showing that ‘pop’ doesn’t have to mean ‘infantile.’)
John Mellencamp - Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee for starters.