When Gram Parsons was on, he was really, really good. My favorites on this album are "Hot Burrito #1" and "Sin City" (of which Dwight Yoakam does a great cover version). Side note--I visited Parsons' hometown, Waycross, Georgia, several years ago--not a whole lot there. You can see why he was anxious to get out.

I like Big Star, but I'm not CRAZY about them like some people are. I feel like they're one of those bands that's a bit overrated now because they were underrated at the time. This would be heresy to some of my friends, but I'm actually kind of partial to Alex Chilton's former band, The Box Tops. That said, "Ballad of El Goodo" is one of my favorite songs, and I do like the album overall.

So I'm a huge ELO fan, BUT . . . I don't think this is one of their best albums. The curse of the double album--too much weaker material watering down the good stuff. "Turn to Stone" is a great opener, and "Sweet Is the Night" is probably the best ELO song that never became a hit, and there are some other good moments, but the two albums preceding this one--El Dorado and A New World Record--are both better front to back. I hope El Dorado is also included in "1001 Albums," because if it ain't it should be.

If you'd asked me when I was about twenty-one, I'd probably have said this was my favorite album ever. I wouldn't go that far now, but I could still listen to "Down by the River/Cowgirl in the Sand" all day long--they're two of the most distinctive songs I can think of by any songwriter/musician. No one could have made this album other than Neil Young, which is why, like all Neil Young albums, it contains a couple of duds ("Round and Round" and "Requiem") . . . but the rest of it is stellar.

Ha! Nic, you want to just copy and paste?