In a past life, Fresh and the Qualifier used to get paid to write about music. For years they toiled through a tag-team article called Counterbalance, going head to head, hashing out the relative merits of new releases for the local Chicken Dinner Newspaper. But that was a long time ago - before the economy crashed, sending their frivolous Arts & Entertainment section down in flames.
After wandering in the wilderness, lost and directionless, Fresh and the Qualifier have returned to take on their most challenging assignment: the Greatest Albums of All-Time. Do these critics' darlings hold up, or are they just hyped up?
We'll find out and we're starting with the granddaddy of them all, the Beach Boys' 1966 LP Pet Sounds.
Qualifier: OK, Fresh, here are the rules: We go to Acclaimedmusic.net, a site started by a Swedish statistician to finally bring some order to the often capricious world of rock criticism. He compiles every professionally done list he can get his hands on into a giant supercomputer the size of my kitchen, and the end result is the Top 3000 albums of all time. You and I are going to go through them one by one until we're either done or they close down the Internet. You ready?
Fresh: I'm ready. But quite frankly, I'm really surprised that the number one album of all time is the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. I know the list fluctuates from time to time but I would have thought the top spot would have gone to the Beatles. Are we in the midst of a Beatles backlash?
After wandering in the wilderness, lost and directionless, Fresh and the Qualifier have returned to take on their most challenging assignment: the Greatest Albums of All-Time. Do these critics' darlings hold up, or are they just hyped up?
We'll find out and we're starting with the granddaddy of them all, the Beach Boys' 1966 LP Pet Sounds.
Qualifier: OK, Fresh, here are the rules: We go to Acclaimedmusic.net, a site started by a Swedish statistician to finally bring some order to the often capricious world of rock criticism. He compiles every professionally done list he can get his hands on into a giant supercomputer the size of my kitchen, and the end result is the Top 3000 albums of all time. You and I are going to go through them one by one until we're either done or they close down the Internet. You ready?Fresh: I'm ready. But quite frankly, I'm really surprised that the number one album of all time is the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. I know the list fluctuates from time to time but I would have thought the top spot would have gone to the Beatles. Are we in the midst of a Beatles backlash?
Continue reading Counterbalance: Pet Sounds.
Time to think about lists. The year and the decade are drawing to a close. So not only do we need to think in terms of the last 365 days, but also the last 3,650 days. 
