Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Nearly 30,000 albums are released by artists in the U.S. each year. The chart-toppers for 2006, so far, include albums by Mary J. Blige, Daniel Powter, and James Blunt. But do these albums have staying power? Will anyone remember them five, ten, twenty years from now?
If you had to create a list of the best albums or songs of all time, what and who would you include?
Listen to Taylor and Dave talk about their favorite albums.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Taylor: Is there any album that, you know, you can’t live without, Dave?
Dave: You know, that’s tough, because there are so many good albums that I don’t know what I couldn’t live without. I really like The Counting Crows’ first album August and Everything After.
Taylor: Excellent!
Dave: It’s a great album.
Taylor: Excellent.
Dave: Everything after that, some good songs, but not as good.
Taylor: Yeah.
Dave: But then, I don’t know, what else? The classics: The Wall.
Taylor: Mm hm. Not my favorite Pink Floyd, it’s not what I would choose, but I’m an Animals guy myself, you know. Animals is just a terrific album. I couldn’t, well, I could probably live without Animals. It’s not a must-have.
Dave: What would you put as a must-have?
Taylor: Ah, my number one must-have is an album by a band called Tortoise, called TNT.
Dave: Okay.
Taylor: And it’s all instrumental, jazzy, psychedelic jams of, ooh, it’s an amazing piece of work.
Dave: What about anything more mainstream?
Taylor: More mainstream?
Dave: Like Dylan.
Taylor: Oh yeah, yeah, Bob Dylan.
Dave: But one album? Like, I would feel I’d have to take a bunch of his songs and burn them onto a cd and then call it my “essential collection.”
Taylor: If I had to choose one Bob Dylan album though, and knowing that I could never listen to another one again, it’d be Blood on the Tracks.
Dave: Great album, great album.
Taylor: I wouldn’t have to think about it.
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Discussion
A few years ago Rolling Stone released a list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A lot of people criticized the list because it focuses mostly on American musicians, and because a lot of the music comes from the 1960s and 1970s, the heyday of classic rock.
The Top Ten Greatest Albums, according to Rolling Stone are:
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
3. Revolver, The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul, The Beatles
6. What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye
7. Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones
8. London Calling, The Clash
9. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
10. The Beatles (The White Album), The Beatles
If you had to choose the greatest albums of all time, what would you include in your list?
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