this thread is complicated

for some, an "ultimate album" must feature an excellent production with at least 4 or 5 kick-ass

HIT singles, and 5-6 strong album tracks, and "deep"/ambitious lyrics...

I think that's why some people dismiss WGO as "overrated", because the only clear mega-hit was the title-track...

same with Sgt.Pepper's; it's ironic that their best/ultimate album "only" has like 2-3 real hits...hell, Pepper's wasn't even featured on Beatles 1...

JoeTyler said:

this thread is complicated

for some, an "ultimate album" must feature an excellent production with at least 4 or 5 kick-ass

HIT singles, and 5-6 strong album tracks, and "deep"/ambitious lyrics...

I think that's why some people dismiss WGO as "overrated", because the only clear mega-hit was the title-track...

I don't follow this logic at all. The album only has 9 tracks. All 3 singles released were huge hits: #1 R&B and top-10 [2, 4, 9] pop.

same with Sgt.Pepper's; it's ironic that their best/ultimate album "only" has like 2-3 real hits...hell, Pepper's wasn't even featured on Beatles 1...

None of the songs were eligible for 1 because none of them were released as singles. "All You Need Is Love" and "Hello Goodbye" were the (non-album) singles during the SPLHCB era.

JoeTyler said:

this thread is complicated

for some, an "ultimate album" must feature an excellent production with at least 4 or 5 kick-ass

HIT singles, and 5-6 strong album tracks, and "deep"/ambitious lyrics...

I think that's why some people dismiss WGO as "overrated", because the only clear mega-hit was the title-track...

same with Sgt.Pepper's; it's ironic that their best/ultimate album "only" has like 2-3 real hits...hell, Pepper's wasn't even featured on Beatles 1...

Sgt. Pepper's didn't have three straight number-ones like What's Going On did. Plus like Alexde said, WGO had only nine tracks, Sgt. Pepper's had more and their track listing seemed real bloated to me.

I was talkin' retrospectively, lol

I meant that some folks who weren't around by 1971 perhaps put on the record on their player expecting 9 hits...

I still hear people talkin' about the title-track and Mercy Mercy, but not about the rest of the album, one guy even told me that the album is not catchy at all, too moody, dark, and repetitive; to each to their own , but I can somehow "understand" their complaints: WGO isn't a catchy/easy album...

but hey, don't get me wrong! WGO is my fav MG album, and my fav 1971 album...followed very closely by Sticky Fingers, lol

JoeTyler said:

I was talkin' retrospectively, lol

I meant that some folks who weren't around by 1971 perhaps put on the record on their player expecting 9 hits...

I still hear people talkin' about the title-track and Mercy Mercy, but not about the rest of the album, one guy even told me that the album is not catchy at all, too moody, dark, and repetitive; to each to their own , but I can somehow "understand" their complaints: WGO isn't a catchy/easy album...

but hey, don't get me wrong! WGO is my fav MG album, and my fav 1971 album...followed very closely by Sticky Fingers, lol

That's because some listeners are fickle or probably the album went so deep as far as talking about issues. I can see something like "Inner City Blues" making people real upset because everyone has those type problems ("natural, fact is, oh honey, that I can't pay my, taxes") so I can see why people would think it was too much.

Hi.

I haven't read through the rest of this thread. That's not really necessary.

'What's Going On' is a masterpiece.

Love,

Splank