| First posted 1/8/2021. |
 | Dave’s Music Database:Top Albums of 2017 |
Based on a combination of year-end lists and overall status in Dave’s Music Database, these are the top 25 albums of 2017:
Resources and Related Links:
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DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Sunday, December 31, 2017
2017: Top 25 Albums
Pop Vortex: The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time
 | Pop Vortex:The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time |
Here’s what the website (PopVortex.com) says about this list: “There have been plenty list available that rank the top 100 greatest albums of all time. What makes this list different is that it compiles and aggregates data from other best of lists, including both critics lists such as Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums books and fan polls such as Q magazine’s 100 Greatest Albums Ever poll. The goal of this list to find not only the greatest albums of all time but also the most influential and culturally significant albums as well, so in addition to just the opinions of critics and fans to compile the list other metrics where used as well such as Billboard chart statistics, RIAA sales figures and several others to help determine the final rankings of the best albums.” “In all 236 different albums were eligible for the list of greatest albums…and they span from the earliest days of rock in the 1950s through today, covering many different genres and styles of music. In the end these are the must have albums that every serious music fan should have in their vinyl, CD or mp3 collection.” While the website claims the chart is not meant to be static, there’s no indication it has ever been updated. There’s also no indication when the list was first published although there are links on the page to “year-end lists” which don’t go past 2017. Check out other publications and organizations’ best-of album lists here. 
1. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
11. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
21. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
31. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
41. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
51. Van Morrison Moondance (1970)
61. Michael Jackson Off the Wall (1979)
71. Aretha Franklin Lady Soul (1968)
81. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
91. The Band Music from Big Pink (1968)
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 10/5/2024. |
Top 50 Songs of 2017
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| Dave’s Music Database:Top 50 Songs of 2017 |
These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from year-end lists. Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here.
DMDB Top 1%:
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 12/26/2021; last updated 1/17/2023. |
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Phil Spector: Top 50 Songs
/Young-Phil-Spector_1372156i-58b8c42d3df78c353c1f08f0.jpg) | Phil SpectorTop 50 Songs |
Phil Spector was born December 26, 1939 in the Bronx, New York. He is best known as a record producer who developed what has been called “the Wall of Sound,” an approach to producing a dense orchestral asthetic within studio recordings. His personal life was troubled by a history with gun violence and in 2003 he was convicted of second degree murder. In honor of his birthday, here are his 50 biggest hits as a writer and/or producer: Click here to see other best-of lists from performers and here to see other best-of lists from songwriters and/or producers. |
Awards: 
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Top 50 SongsDave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. 2. The Beatles “Let It Be” (1970) 3. The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (1964) 4. The Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody” (1965) 5. George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” (1970) 6. The Ronettes “Be My Baby” (1963) 7. Ike & Tina Turner “River Deep, Mountain High” (1966) 8. The Crystals “Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” (1963) 9. John Lennon “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” (1970) 10. The Dixie Cups “Chapel of Love” (1964)
11. The Crystals “He’s a Rebel” (1962)
21. John Lennon “Mother” (1970)
31. The Crystals “There’s No Other Like My Baby” (1961)
41. George Harrison “Bangla-Desh” (1971) Resources and Related Links:
First posted 12/26/2017; updated 7/19/2021. |
Saturday, December 23, 2017
December 23, 1806: Beethoven's Violin Concerto premiered
Last updated August 27, 2018.
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Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61Ludwig van Beethoven (composer)Composed: 1806 First Performed: December 23, 1806 Sales: -- Peak: -- |
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Quotable: “one of the most important works of the violin concerto repertoire” – Wikipedia |
Average Duration: 43:30
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Review: Beethoven composed his Violin Concerto for colleague Franz Clement who debuted the work at a benefit concert at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on December 23, 1806. Beethoven reportedly finished the solo part so late Clement had to sight-read part of the performance. The premiere was not well received, sending the sending the work into decades of obscurity. In 1844, 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim revived the piece alongside the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. It has since become one of the best-known violin concertos. WK The concerto was written at the height of Beethoven’s creative, so-called “second” period, representing one of his crowning achievements in his exploration of the concerto. WK “At over 25 minutes in length, the first movement is notable as one of the most extended in any of Beethoven’s works, including the symphonies.” MR “The second movement takes a place among the most serene music Beethoven ever produced.” MR Possibly as a result of the concerto’s initially poor reception, Beethoven revised it for piano and orchestra. He crafted a “lengthy, somewhat bombastic first movement cadenza which features the orchestra’s timpanist along with the solo pianist. This and the cadenzas for the other movements were later arranged for the violin (and timpani).” WK Review Source(s):
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Ed Sheeran hit #1 with "Perfect"
 | PerfectEd Sheeran with Beyoncé |
Writer(s): Ed Sheeran (see lyrics here) Released: September 26, 2017 First Charted: March 25, 2017 Peak: 16 US, 19 BA, 18 DG, 11 ST, 12 RR, 122 AC, 19 A40, 16 UK, 16 CN, 18 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 21.4 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 4807.0 video, 2548.03 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:“Perfect” first hit the charts in March 2017 when Ed Sheeran’s third studio album, Divide (÷) was released. All sixteen of the album’s tracks debuted in the top 20 in the UK and Sheeran occupied nine of the top 10 slots that week, with “Perfect” coming in at #4. WK In the U.S., ten of the album’s songs debuted on the charts with “Perfect” launching at #37. WK Six months later it was officially released as a single and in December an acoustic duet version with Beyoncé was released. The latter pushed the song to #1 on the pop charts in the U.S. The song also topped the charts in the UK and nineteen other countries. WK The song became Sheeran’s third to spend more than a year on the Billboard Hot 100, following “Shape of You” and “Thinking Out Loud.” He was the first solo artist to do so with three separate singles. SF “Perfect” was the first Sheeran wrote for his third album, was a romantic ballad about his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn. He initially met her in school and then then reconnected when she was working in New York. He said the lyrical inspiration came from a visit to fellow singer James Blunt’s house in Ibiza, where they listened to the music of rapper Future, WK specifically “March Madness.” SF After he wrote it, he sent it to Cherry in New York, but didn’t get to see her reaction to the song. SF He told Zane Lowe in an interview that he wanted to outdo previous ballad “Thinking Out Loud” because “I know that song was going to define me.” WK As a final wish of his grandmother, Sheeran collaborated with his brother Matthew, who provided string orchestration on the song. WK The full orchestration was used in a third version of the song, known as “Perfect Symphony,” which featured Andrea Bocelli. Parts of the instrumentation were used in the original version. WK The video was directed by Jason Koenig, who also helmed Sheeran’s chart-topping “Shape of You.” It was filmed at an Austrian ski resort and depicted Sheeran and actress Zoey Deutch on a ski trip, dancing in the snow, and ending up in a cabin together. MTV UK’s Ross McNeilage called the video a “Christmas dream.” WK It wasn’t actually a Christmas song or video, but the snow gave it a wintery theme. Resources:Related Links:
Last updated 7/25/2023. |
Friday, December 22, 2017
December 22, 1808: Beethoven premiered his 6th symphony
Last updated August 28, 2018.
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Symphony No. 6 in F major (Pastorale), Op. 68Ludwig van Beethoven (composer)Composed: 1806-1808 First Performed: December 22, 1808 Sales: -- Peak: -- |
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Quotable: -- |
Average Duration: 41:33
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Review: “For roughly 175 years, the music appreciation racket has told us that Beethoven composed symphonies in contrasting odd-even pairs after 1803, none more startling than the heaven-storming Fifth and bucolic Sixth. Originally, however, he assigned the designation of ‘No. 5’ to the Pastoral for their shared debut on surely the most historic night in Western music, December 22, 1808. Beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the unheated Theater an der Wien, he premiered both symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, ‘Choral’ Fantasy, ‘Ah! perfido!’ (a concert aria from 1796), and introduced a Viennese audience to excerpts from the C major Mass, an Esterházy commission of 1807 that Prince Nicolaus II disliked when he heard it.” RD “Beethoven began making specific notes for a ‘Sinfonia pastorale’ in 1806, but didn’t complete the work until 1808, in the village of Heiligenstadt northwest of Vienna. If this had been an unlikely hatchery in 1807 for the fist-brandishing Fifth Symphony, it perfectly suited – as he noted in his sketchbook – ‘recollections of country life...more the expression of feeling than of painting’ in his ensuing woodwind-drenched symphony (although violins get first crack at nine of its 12 significant themes).” RD “Cheerful impressions wakened by arrival in the country’ (Allegro ma non troppo, in F major, 2/4) is the first movement. It is in sonata form, pretty much by the book, with violins introducing all themes. The second-movement Scene by the brook (Andante molto moto, in B flat major and 12/8 time) is a Sonata structure again, but more relaxed, with a limpid main theme for violins and a bassoon sub-theme. In the coda, the flute impersonates a nightingale, the oboe a quail, and the clarinet a cuckoo.” RD “The third movement, Merry gathering of country folk (Allegro, 3/4 time, F major), is an expanded song-and-trio, with a 2/4 section in ‘tempo d’Allegro’ that creates the effect of an ABCABCA structure, leading without pause to the fourth movement, Thunderstorm; tempest (Allegro; F minor, 4/4). From the first raindrop to last, this is purely depictive music.” RD “It is followed by a 10-bar chorale that segues the final Shepherd’s song; glad and grateful tidings after the storm (Allegretto; F major, 6/8), a sonata-rondo, whose C-section some have called a development section. The fun includes a sly parody of amateur musicians before the long, progressively tranquil coda that ends with a pianistic gesture: two fortissimo chords.” RD Review Source(s):
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