In 1999, SONY released what they called the “Soundtrack for the Century” (check out the entire list below). I happened on Rock: The Train Kept a Rollin’ and found it both interesting and frustrating. Are these songs the most representative of the Rock era? There’s a mix of well known songs and more obscure songs. After opening with a couple of Bob Dylan songs–“Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Mr. Tambourine Man”–the mood changes with The Yardbirds and Moby Grape.
So there’s a mix of well known songs like Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and Sly & The Family Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” with groups like Spirit. The song choices for well known groups are also odd. I would not regard “Albatross” by Fleetwood Mac as one of their Big Hits.
Are any of these songs part of your “Soundtrack for the Century”? GRADE: B+
Tracklist:
| 1-1 | Bob Dylan– | Subterranean Homesick Blues |
| 1-2 | The Byrds– | Mr. Tambourine Man |
| 1-3 | The Yardbirds– | Over Under Sideways Down |
| 1-4 | Moby Grape– | Omaha |
| 1-5 | Big Brother & The Holding Company With Janis Joplin– | Down On Me |
| 1-6 | Jeff Beck– | I Ain’t Superstitious |
| 1-7 | Fleetwood Mac– | Albatross |
| 1-8 | Spirit (8)– | I Got A Line On You |
| 1-9 | Sly & The Family Stone– | I Want To Take You Higher |
| 1-10 | Santana– | Black Magic Woman |
| 1-11 | Mott The Hoople– | All The Young Dudes |
| 1-12 | Iggy And The Stooges*– | Raw Power |
| 1-13 | The Edgar Winter Group– | Frankenstein |
| 1-14 | Bruce Springsteen– | Born To Run |
| 1-15 | Kansas (2)– | Carry On Wayward Son |
| 1-16 | Boston– | More Than A Feeling |
| 1-17 | Blue Öyster Cult– | (Don’t Fear) The Reaper |
| 1-18 | Aerosmith– | Walk This Way |
| 1-19 | Ted Nugent– | Cat Scratch Fever |
| 1-20 | Heart– | Barracuda |
| 1-21 | Cheap Trick– | Surrender |
| 2-1 | Meat Loaf With Ellen Foley– | Paradise By The Dashboard Light |
| 2-2 | Elvis Costello– | Pump It Up |
| 2-3 | The Clash– | London Calling |
| 2-4 | Judas Priest– | Breaking The Law |
| 2-5 | The Psychedelic Furs– | Pretty In Pink |
| 2-6 | Journey– | Don’t Stop Believin’ |
| 2-7 | Midnight Oil– | Beds Are Burning |
| 2-8 | Pink Floyd– | Learning To Fly |
| 2-9 | Living Colour– | Cult Of Personality |
| 2-10 | Ozzy Osbourne– | No More Tears |
| 2-11 | Soul Asylum (2)– | Runaway Train |
| 2-12 | Pearl Jam– | Black |
| 2-13 | Alice In Chains– | Would? |
| 2-14 | Rage Against The Machine– | Killing In The Name |
| 2-15 | Oasis (2)– | Wonderwall |
| 2-16 | Korn– | Got The Life |
| 2-17 | Bob Dylan– | Love Sick |
SONY MUSIC 100 YEARS: SOUNDTRACK FOR A CENTURY Series:
[CD 1] Pop Music: The Early Years 1890-1950, Disc 1
[CD 2] Pop Music: The Early Years 1890-1950, Disc 2
[CD 3] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 1
[CD 4] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 2
[CD 5] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 3
[CD 6] Sony Classical: Great Performances: 1903-1998, Disc 4
[CD 7] Jazz: The Definitive Performances, Disc 1
[CD 8] Jazz: The Definitive Performances, Disc 2
[CD 9] Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Disc 1
[CD 10] Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Disc 2
[CD 11] Country: The American Tradition, Disc 1
[CD 12] Country: The American Tradition, Disc 2
[CD 13] Movie Music: The Definitive Performances, Disc 1
[CD 14] Movie Music: The Definitive Performances, Disc 2
[CD 15] Broadway: The Great Original Cast Recordings, Disc 1
[CD 16] Broadway: The Great Original Cast Recordings, Disc 2
[CD 17] Pop Music: The Golden Era: 1951-1975, Disc 1
[CD 18] Pop Music: The Golden Era: 1951-1975, Disc 2
[CD 19] Rock: The Train Kept A Rollin’, Disc 1
[CD 20] Rock: The Train Kept A Rollin’, Disc 2
[CD 21] R&B: From Doo-Wop To Hip-Hop, Disc 1
[CD 22] R&B: From Doo-Wop To Hip-Hop, Disc 2
[CD 23] International Music: Sony Music Around The World, Disc 1
[CD 24] International Music: Sony Music Around The World, Disc 2
[CD 25] Pop Music: The Modern Era: 1976-1999, Disc 1
[CD 26] Pop Music: The Modern Era: 1976-1999, Disc 2
Albatross may not have been a big hit but it is a great instrumental. It’s the early and better Fleetwood Mac when it was led by the great guitarist Peter Green. And the Spirit song was a big hit..
This set starts off very well until we get to the likes of Kansas, Boston, Ted Nugent, Heart, Ozzy and Meat Loaf. A really odd selection by Pink Floyd. Much better than most of the compilations you review.
And you would have thought that since they called it The Train Kept A Rollin they would have least included a version of that song here. Preferably the Yardbirds. B+
Steve, you’re right about the puzzling choices for THE TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN’. I’m searching for the second ROCK set online now.
Any compilation album that includes Ted Nugent is not for me.
Jerry, a lot of people share your sentiment.
That was a big hit, Jerry.
Rick, I react to Ted Nugent the same way the Cap’n does to Tom Cruise.
Again, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason here—just whatever was available and they could get the rights to. If this truly were representative of the last four decades of rock, you’d have to include The Rolling Stones! I fail to see how “Mr. Tambourine Man” or “Pretty in Pink”—although I like both of those songs—qualify as rock, but we don’t have something from Mick & the boys.
Deb, you would think that SONY would have a bigger wallet to buy quality songs for SOUNDTRACK FOR THE CENTURY. But, perhaps not.
Sony had bought CBS Records. These were all Columbia, Epic and other CBS catalog items.
I agree, it’s a strange selection, a few known songs but the others?
Anyway in these days of online music who would buy a package like this?
Actually I know all the songs here. Even the Ones I hate.
And yes no Stones. Also no Beatles. Both do not tend to license their songs out for compilations. But also no The Who, Kinks, Tom Petty , Ramones, Talking Heads , U2, REM and on and on. You can’t include everyone.
Steve, you can’t include everyone, but The Who, Kinks, Tom Petty , Ramones, Talking Heads , U2, and REM are worthy of inclusion.
Right on.
But none of them were on CBS records.
Wolf, I guess you know the answer to that question…me.
And anyone else who wanted “classic rock” but preferred no DJ chatter or ads and still had a CD player in their car.
And like the CBS catalog in the ’70s and ’80s.
Just as a collection of songs it’s not bad, but its higher aspirations are questionable. First of all, shouldn’t it start with the Fifties? Sure, Elvis would be impossible to get, but how about some Buddy Holly or Chuck Berry or the Everly Brothers to replace crap like Meat Loaf and Ted Nugent. And sure, there’s no substitute for the Beatles and the Stones, but you’re not going to get them for a compilation. Still, as compilations go, it’s way better than average.
Michael, if you check out the other sets in the SONY series at the bottom of my post, you’ll see where Chuck Berry and Elvis and The Everly Brothers are probably included.
Out of my depth here so I will leave judgment to those more knowledgeable.
Patti, this SONY set has more questions than answers.
These particular tracks are from Sony labels, mostly Columbia and Epic, some from smaller labels that Sony acquired over the years. The collection is not a comprehensive history of rock, it’s a history of rock on Sony. As such, it’s quite a decent collection. Even though much of it is not to my taste, the Venn diagram of this and my taste shows a fair amount of overlap.
I was just reading — last night, so really “just reading” — on a reissue of a Miles Davis cd, a history of jazz on the Sony labels. Talking about early jazz, it mentioned the first people that Columbia recorded, and then said something like “And when we acquired such-and-such label, we also had *these* early jazzmen.” So I was primed to understand what’s going on here.
There isn’t much in the way of “deep cuts” here. Mostly you have one of the biggest hits available from each act. (Most of Fleetwood Mac is on Warner Bros. “Albatross” was indeed their first hit. They were touring America and returned home to find that it was on UK radio all the time. Probably their biggest hit in the Sony catalog. And as Steve said, it’s a great instrumental.)
Jeff, excellent analysis! Yes, this is more of a “Soundtrack of SONY” than a SOUNDTRACK FOR THE CENTURY. I’m going to look around for another sets in this series.
I bit the bullet. I found the whole package used for $100 so I ordered it. 26 cds and a 300-page book. Like Wolf, I prefer Atlantic, and Warner/Elektra — but there’s no denying the amount of history at Columbia.
It’s going to take me *forever* to listen to this, and there will be lots I won’t care for, but it should be fun.
Jeff, I’m on the bubble about buying the whole SONY Soundtrack for the Century. I saw that $100 deal and was tempted. You’ll have to keep us informed about your listening of the entire set. I agree: it should be fun! Congratulations on those 26 CDs and the 300 page book!
As you might guess, I started answering as I went along. Jeff’s pretty much got ti down. I imagine the Doo-Wop on the R&B collections is almost all from small labels sold to CBS before Sony acquired the recordings.labels.
CBS wasn’t much of a rock label, nor was Epic, till the mid ’60s.
No, not for me. There are no songs (maybe Mr. Tambourine Man) I would include on my Soundtrack of the Century, though there are some decent songs.
But I must admit to being surprised: I was sure today would feature the NFL Draft.
Jeff, I’ll probably post about the NFL Draft on Sunday after I can see how the process worked this year. Last year, everyone was drafting from their basements. Remember Belechick’s dog?
I like just about every song here, with very few exceptions. I have no idea what a soundtrack for the century even means, so forget that angle. If I had done this, there would have been a song by Steely Dan.
Rick, I totally agree with the inclusion of Steely Dan! I’m in the process of tracking down a couple more sets of this SONY series.
And I find Steely Dan mediocre. I like a handful of songs but I find their music cold and calculating.. No emotion comes through. And live very boring. They never moved the whole time or talked to the audience. when I saw them.
Never saw SD in concert except on video…will always have a soft spot for them for being the most jazz-based of early ’70s rock I would hear on the radio then.
If we’re talking about companies in this business my favourite of course is Atlantic, founded by the Ertegun brothers and later bought by Warner.
I find it a bit sad that all these companies were bought by the big players who are only interested in the money!
Wolf, in the TV series GENIUS: ARETHA FRANKLIN, Aretha’s producer, the legendary Jerry Wexler, tells Aretha he’s leaving Atlantic Records because the executives didn’t care about music, only money.
Of course, the same thing happened in publishing.
No comparison, Jerry! Nugent might be a gun nut but Cruise promotes a sick, deadly, slave-driving, monstrous cult that harms thousands of people every day! As for Nugent’s music, I wouldn’t know it if it bit me on the butt!
Sadly, Nugest does much the same, with a less rigorously organized cult.
or even Nugent…