So, let's say you had to introduce someone who had no knowledge of music whatsoever to music that you felt represented the highest level of quality or achievement in that art form. Not necessarily personal favorites, but what you feel are the best (which may or may not be the same; Sgt. Pepper isn't my personal favorite Beatles CD, but I would probably rank it as their best). I would want to give that person CDs that represent the best in different genres of music, so my 5 would be: 1. Beethoven's 9th symphony. 2. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. 3. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. 4. Bob Marley's Exodus. 5. Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger. Whew. Very difficult.
pink floyd - the wall outkast - atliens mozart - anything will do elliott smith - either/or interpol - turn on the bright lights
Pink Floyd-Animals Radiohead-Ok Computer Some sort of Queen Greatest hits compilation Nirvana-Nevermind Arcade Fire-Funeral
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smile is better than pet sounds! trying not to go w/ my true top 5 and follow OP's template... beatles - revolver rolling stones - exile on main street dylan - highway 61 revisited michael jackson - thriller my bloody valentine - loveless if i could create a 'greatest hits' album for 5 artists it would be buddy holly, bob wills & texas playboys, prince, beatles and the cure.
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Beatles - Revolver (the 60s) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (70s) Metallica - Master of Puppets (80s) Soundgarden - Superunknown (90s) White Stripes - Elephant (00s)
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Igor Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (I'm thinking of an old Naxos CD I had, in particular) Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 Minutemen - Double Nickles on the Dime Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um ...I'd keep re-writing this list until the sun came up if I didn't have to go drink some booze right now.
There is no Beach Boys album called Smile. The closest Beach Boys album is the dissected and remixed turd that was released as "Smiley Smile". Brian Wilson released a solo album in 2004 called "Smile", but the Beach Boys never did. And in my opinion, Pet Sounds is better than either of those. Pet Sounds has some of that experimentation but at the same time is still a really tight, focused studio album. The Smile fragments of the original album that could have been are very interesting, but in some respects really out in left field. Perhaps the "Smile" that existed briefly in Brian Wilson's mind in the 1960's was better, but that was at best a fleeting and long gone thing.
