Alex Ross on the greatest pop album ever made and his guilty pleasure

From Conversations with Tyler, episode 105:

COWEN: What’s the best Dylan album? Is it Bringing it All Back Home, Blood on the Tracks? The much later work?

ROSS: Blood on the Tracks. No question, Blood on the Tracks, yeah. But the original version, not the Minnesota remix. The original New York sessions without the big band — that’s the greatest pop album ever made, in my opinion.

COWEN: What is it in music that you are embarrassed by liking?

ROSS: People ask me that, and I don’t have guilty pleasures. I feel that it buys into this idea that there’s some exalted level of genius and then this embarrassing realm down below. But to honestly answer your question, I do like certain Oasis songs — that’s slightly embarrassing. [laughs] “Champagne Supernova” I like.

Nice discussion, with many interesting bits, as usual. Tyler Cowen is an excellent interviewer.