Rolling Stone's 500 "Greatest Albums" Part 8 Quiz

Answer: True

To classify the early Elvis Costello as punk rock - as some did - is to do him a disservice. As a songwriter, Costello was head and shoulders among many of his peers: his lyrics were sharp and intelligent and his rhythms were not to be found warning either.

"My Aim Is True" was his debut album and if you had been listening at that time to some of the punk rock pioneers, you might not have seen anything punk about it. Costello was an out and out pub rocker when he signed to Stiff Records, at that time the home of punk in the United Kingdom. Writing on punknews.org in 2011, Julie River opined "My Aim is True is not so much a punk album as it is a pub rock album with a punk rock influence."

Released in 1977, the album reached number 14 in the UK and number 32 on the Billboard 200. Of five singles released only "Watching The Detectives" made the charts: a UK number 15. (For what it is worth, this quiz author reckons that to be the least of the five singles, fine song that it is.)

Answer: Reach

The Four Tops were Motown at its best - even if "Reach Out" strayed from the formula. Released in 1967, the album included covers of songs by the Monkees and by Tim Hardin. "Reach Out I'll Be There" was a US number one on the Hot 100 and the album contained five other singles that reached the top 20.

The album reached number 11 on the Billboard 200 and was a number four in the UK.

Answer: Day

Hailing from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Hüsker Dü played what "Rolling Stone" magazine called "savagely emotional hardcore punk". Some compared the band to Nirvana, although there were others who said the what Nirvana did, Hüsker Dü had done earlier and better.

Between 1983 and 1986, the band released six albums. None reached the top 100 in the USA but "Flip Your Wig" topped the Indie Rock charts in the UK in 1986.

Answer: Call

"Call Me" was the sixth album from Al Green and was said to have caught the soul singer from Forrest City, Arkansas, at his peak. In 1973 it reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 album charts. The single "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" reached number 10 on the Hot 100. This was the second inclusion of Rev. Al Green on the "Rolling Stone" list, after the number 462 "Greatest Hits" album.

Answer: Lucinda

The third and self-titled album from the singer from Lake Charles, Louisiana, caught more attention than the first two. Mary Chapin Carpenter's cover of "Passionate Kisses" won a Grammy for Best Country Song in 1994. The album did not chart on first release but reached number 30 on the Billboard 200 on re-release in 2014..

Williams was noted as a perfectionist. Her 1998 album "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road" was the product of five years of work. Steve Earle, who played on the sessions, later said it was "the least amount of fun I've had working on a record".

Answer: Paul

The self-titled album was the first from Paul Simon after he broke from Art Garfunkel. "Rolling Stone" magazine called it "...a tour de force of song craft, virtuosic guitar picking, upper-register vocal dazzle and vivid storytelling...". It reached number four on the Billboard 200.

Paul Simon has been hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. He had a love for the music of Chuck Berry and admitted borrowing lyrical ideas from him. Simon moved to England after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. One performance of "A Church is Burning" on a BBC radio religious programme was said to have infuriated the station's bosses. (The BBC later banned "Kodachrome" because that was also the name of a type of photographic film.)

Answer: Odelay

Released in 1986, "Odelay" was Beck's fifth album. The Los Angeles native Beck David Campbell became noted for mixing his musical genres. "Odelay" was a solid performer: hitting number 18 on the Billboard 200; number 17 in the UK; and number 20 in Australia.

Answer: Beating

Yo La Tengo were originally the trio of husband and wife Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan and James McNew. In 1997, "Rolling Stone" magazine called "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One" "...indie rock at its most joyfully exploratory...". The album reached number 19 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Answer: Get

In 1973, "Let's Get It On" was a number two on the Billboard Top LPs chart and number one on the Soul LPs chart. While it contained just eight tracks, the album was hailed as "the very essence of Marvin Gaye as the sensualist" in one review. The title track was to be Gaye's biggest selling US single.

It was also one of three chart toppers on the Billboard Hot 100. This was the second album from Marvin Gaye on our countdown.

Answer: Arular

Mathangi Arulpragasam was born in London in 1975 but raised in Sri Lanka. By the start of the 21st Century she was uploading her songs to social media websites. Her genre has been described as "politically charged dance music". [Britannica]. "Arular" was the name her father used while fighting with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka's internecine troubles. During her career she has been nominated for an Oscar and won a Grammy.