I cited DSOTM out of genuine reverence and affection, not to use it as a target to rip down. Love it, genuinely considered it for the top slot, but the more I think about it, the more distant a second place it becomes, the more I consider promoting other possible candidates to #2 spot.
Age is meaningless; Pepper's is 43 years old too.....and then some.
So the studio production techniques so integral to both albums, (and used in far wider variety, to fuller effect on S P's, imho) were still in their infancy when Pepper's recorded; Perhaps in some cases being developed right there, for other artists to use years later, when they showed up at Abbey Road.
Success in the charts is always a tricky yardstick. It may be very true, or very false to say either: "Success in the charts comes as the natural result of quality" or "true quality always brings inevitable success in the charts".
Chart success generally = unit sales, so ongoing chart success generally means (well justified) continuing interest. If it were merely in the short term, I would tease and say "only 'cuz nothing else worth a damn came out that month"
But clearly 741 weeks is a major achievement, a meaningful statistic. My initial reaction was "Really.....only 741? I thought it was even more than that!" But by the way, I am lead to believe that DS spent a whopping one week on the top of those charts......that's one week more than 99.9% of all other music produced, but still. One can get truly lost (in a good way) looking at the history of the Billboard charts, but come away thinking "you gotta' be putting me on" quite a lot.
Without question, ongoing appeal through the generations is of critical importance, but another tricky yardstick. IMO, neither album truly sounds as fresh or relevant as they must have when first released, but that's an impossible standard, so who cares? Everything else moves forward, art has a production date. (1982's)
Tron seems quite dated, by today's standards. As does "
The Wizard of Oz", a comedy routine by Groucho Marx, or the tiny little Eiffel tower. Landmark treasures with enduring appeal, all. Love them none the less for their age, perhaps even cherish the lines around her eyes as you grow old together. But ongoing relevance isn't necessarily a badge of honor, in fact it's just "entry level dues" when applying for a position as "best".
To my ear, Shakespeare sounds quite dated, yet somehow it endures.
Like any great art, the individual tracks on DS are explorations of simple, fundamental human ideas, and that's why they retain their relevance over time. But where Dark Side fails for me, is in the relatively shallow exploration of those ideas. I find the lyrics heavy handed and obvious, more literal than metaphoric. Great song writing can be, and often is quite simple. Writing which aspires to "best" seldom is. It must be open to countless playful interpretations, over countless generations, regardless of cultural shifts.
Time......I think I get it, please stop hitting me over the head with it. We all lose our youth. We all eventually die. We all are born, live, then stop existing, while the rest carry on. It moves relentlessly in one direction only, has no real existence or substance, is the fourth dimension, is the only thing that will never cease to be,(Whoah, far out, man!). On and on, I get it. Truly great writing requires a Shakespeare......Or perhaps a Dylan?
At this point I'm practically begging others to join in and show me why
both my candidates are nearly rubbish, and force me to consider something I hadn't previously........It's fun!
but my vote is for Joanna Newsom's Ys.
