Rolling Stone's 500 "Greatest Albums" Part 27 Quiz

Answer: Square

Recorded at the Harlem Square Club in Miami and released in 1985, this was the second live LP from Sam Cooke. After listening to the tapes, RCA decided this was not the Sam Cooke they wanted to promote and the recording was dropped for 20 years.

Was that a good decision? - for fans of Cooke certainly not. Reviewing a book by Colin Fleming on the session, the British booksellers Waterstones said the album "...stands alongside Otis Redding's 'Live in Europe' and James Brown's 'Live at the Apollo', as one of the finest live soul albums ever made." ['Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 - 33 1/3' was scheduled for publication in September 2021. ]

Answer: Minded

In 1987, "Criminal Minded" was the debut album from New York City hip-hop outfit Boogie Down Productions. It reached number 73 on the Billboard R&B/Hop Hop Albums chart. The band released five studio albums in all, to modest success.

It was said that BDP laid the groundwork for what would become gangsta rap. The initial duo were MC KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock but released only just album before the murder of La Rock at the age of 25. They had been joined by D-Nice, and after the murder, KRS-One and D-Nice and others continued to perform.

Answer: Europe

Another place in our countdown for the German meisters of electro-music, Kraftwerk. In 1977, "Trans Europe Express" was their sixth album and while the reviews were good, the sales were not.

This was "...an extraordinary mixture of enchanting, accessible pop and precisely realized concept and composition", Tim Sommer later wrote in "The Observer". He classified Kraftwerk as "the second most influential band of all time". That is quite a claim but, no, he did not elaborate on his number one.

Answer: Stranger

The concept album "Rd Headed Stranger" became one of Willie Nelson's biggest hits and was all the better for the artistic control he was able to exert in a new recording contract. The album topped the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the single "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" was a crossover hit on the pop and country charts.

Answer: Discovery

In 2001, "Discovery" was the second album from the faceless French electro-music duo Daft Punk. It became a top ten hit across the world. Ed Power wrote in the "Independent" newspaper: "'Discovery' sweeps the listener away to a world of its own devising."

Answer: Black

What commonly became known as "Metallica (The Black Album)" was the fifth LP from the Los Angeles heavy metalists and was released in 1991. It was to be a chart topper in Australia,Canada, the UK and the USA.

This was, in the words of Sid Smith writing for 'BBC Music', "an album bursting at the seams with alternative ideas", even if he noted that the fans accused Metallica of selling out.

Answer: Reality

The Brummie heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath released "Master Of Reality" in 1971 as their third album. It reached number five in the UK and number eight in the USA. In a "Rolling Stone" readers' poll in 2013, "Master of Reality" was ranked fourth of ten Black Sabbath albums.

Answer: Earthquakes

In 1992, Tori Amos released "Little earthquakes" as her first solo LP. It reached the top 20 in Australia and the UK and number 54 on the Billboard 200.

Robert Maril in "Rolling Stone" wrote this was a "...beautifully edgy debut [that] was filled with confessional, piano-driven tracks exploring the complexities of finding one's voice and throwing off the shackles of religion that helped set the stage for the explosion of women songwriters in the 1990s."

Answer: Steps

Released in February 1960, "Giant Steps" was the fifth LP from John Coltrane and his first as band leader for a new record label. Writing in "Jazz Journal", Derek Ansell called this "...one of the acknowledged masterworks of jazz".

Answer: Torpedoes

Tom Petty had "...a voice like Dylan's in tune","Rolling Stone" asserted over "Damn The Torpedoes". The 1979 album "gave bright jangling Sixties rock a sheen that made pretty much everything else on AOR radio seem lumpy and stiff".

This was the third album from the combo and reached number two on the Billboard 200. In a 2017 obituary of Tom Petty, Adam Sweeting wrote in the "Guardian" that his: "...concise, melodic songwriting, fashioned from a blend of rock, pop, blues, country and psychedelia, found the perfect vehicle in the Heartbreakers, an unflashy but effortlessly accomplished ensemble capable of spanning numerous musical styles with ease."