Bands/Artists Whose Best Album Is Also Their Most Popular

[nec13]

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo? I think it's their most consistent record and Gram Parsons attracts a lot of people.

Is Sweetheart of the Rodeo their most popular album, though? I would think that Fifth Dimension and Mr. Tambourine Man are probably more well-known.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo? I think it's their most consistent record and Gram Parsons attracts a lot of people.

Is Sweetheart of the Rodeo their most popular album, though? I would think that Fifth Dimension and Mr. Tambourine Man are probably more well-known.

Surely Sweetheart meant the most in terms of the development of country rock. I feel like it has the biggest cult following. Are we defining popularity by mainstream success?

[daveB from Oakland]

Are we defining popularity by mainstream success?

Seems like that's what the thread creator (ryansartor) was going for.

[cavorting with nudists]

There isn't any way to check the sales figures on these things, is there?

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the Gram Parsons cult has pushed Sweetheart's sales over time beyond the first few classics, which were released when, comparatively speaking, not all that many people bought LP's.  My guess is that since 1970 or so, the biggest sellers by the original lineup have been greatest-hits compilations.  But this is all pure speculation.

Oh yeah, there's also the question of whether it's the best.  I love Sweetheart, but I'd take Mr. Tambourine Man if I could only keep one.

[Smelodies]

Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue," but maybe not so much for the compositions as the tone and note choices he makes on the trumpet. 

[dave from knoxville]

Do total sales equate to most popular? I will think of a music example, but thinking about movies, The Big Lebowski didn't sell many tickets, but I bet it's the Coens "most popular" film. Hmmm, the best-selling Beatles record is Sgt Pepper's, but I am willing to bet Abbey Road is more popular. Same with Springsteen; Born in the USA is the biggest seller, but Born to Run is all I ever hear regular people talk about.

I dunno.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon

Respectfully disagree. Animals.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Animals for Roger Waters Pink Floyd, yes, but it's all blown out of the water by anything Syd Barrett was on.
I'd add Lou Reed - Transformer.

Also, Love - Forever Changes, though I don't know that it was ever exactly huge.

[cavorting with nudists]

Do total sales equate to most popular? I will think of a music example, but thinking about movies, The Big Lebowski didn't sell many tickets, but I bet it's the Coens "most popular" film. Hmmm, the best-selling Beatles record is Sgt Pepper's, but I am willing to bet Abbey Road is more popular. Same with Springsteen; Born in the USA is the biggest seller, but Born to Run is all I ever hear regular people talk about.

I dunno.

Yeah, I don't either.  I know what you mean, but it seems like pinning it to sales figures is the only guard against pure impressions and guesswork.  Which might lead to someone making incorrect statements on the Internet, which as we all know would be a disaster of catastrophic proportions.

[dave from knoxville]

Do total sales equate to most popular? I will think of a music example, but thinking about movies, The Big Lebowski didn't sell many tickets, but I bet it's the Coens "most popular" film. Hmmm, the best-selling Beatles record is Sgt Pepper's, but I am willing to bet Abbey Road is more popular. Same with Springsteen; Born in the USA is the biggest seller, but Born to Run is all I ever hear regular people talk about.

I dunno.

That's the finest opinion I have ever heard.

Yeah, I don't either.  I know what you mean, but it seems like pinning it to sales figures is the only guard against pure impressions and guesswork.  Which might lead to someone making incorrect statements on the Internet, which as we all know would be a disaster of catastrophic proportions.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Also, I'd be hard-pressed to choose which of these was the best (and I don't know which was the most popular), but I'd add the four Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums that yielded the most classic rock radio standards: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Harvest, After The Gold Rush, and Rust Never Sleeps.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Animals for Roger Waters Pink Floyd, yes, but it's all blown out of the water by anything Syd Barrett was on.

I love Syd Barrett's solo albums but am not a fan of his stuff with [The?] Pink Floyd. I suspect it is an issue with me, because I know a lot of great people who love those early albums. It may be that I always had horrible cassette versions of them and that on the right sound system, I would get it.

[cavorting with nudists]

Also, I'd be hard-pressed to choose which of these was the best (and I don't know which was the most popular), but I'd add the four Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums that yielded the most classic rock radio standards: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Harvest, After The Gold Rush, and Rust Never Sleeps.

I believe Harvest is by far his best-selling album, or was for a long time. The story is that when Warner Brothers released it on CD--back in the days when it wasn't yet clear that every album ever made was going to be released on CD--he told them "OK, you've put my best-selling album on CD, now I want you to put my best album on CD"--by which he meant Tonight's the Night, of course.

[Smelodies]

Also, I'd be hard-pressed to choose which of these was the best (and I don't know which was the most popular), but I'd add the four Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums that yielded the most classic rock radio standards: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Harvest, After The Gold Rush, and Rust Never Sleeps.

I believe Harvest is by far his best-selling album, or was for a long time. The story is that when Warner Brothers released it on CD--back in the days when it wasn't yet clear that every album ever made was going to be released on CD--he told them "OK, you've put my best-selling album on CD, now I want you to put my best album on CD"--by which he meant Tonight's the Night, of course.

When's the first time you learned about CDs, assuming you're near my age group or older?  For me, it was in an ad in a 1983 Playboy.  Mike, if you're reading this, feel free to use that.

[buffcoat]

Boston - Boston - Boston