# Albums That Still Amaze You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700 "2003-11-11T22:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/41 "2003-11-13T02:23:38Z")
Oooh, Cowboy Mouth. They put on the best show ever, I don’ t think their albums come anywhere close to doing em justice. ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/42 "2003-11-13T02:24:25Z")
Grant Lee Buffalo “Copperopolis” " “Mighty Joe Moon” Jeff Buckley “Grace” Nanci Griffith “Flyer” YES “Tormato” Smashing Pumpkins “Siamese Dream” Beck “Sea Change” Radiohead “The Bends” " “OK Computer” well, we’re an eclectic bunch aren’t we ? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/43 "2003-11-13T02:49:42Z")
Anything by **Traffic** or **Goose Creek Symphony**. For totally different mindset times you understand. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/44 "2003-11-13T03:02:54Z")
Talking Heads: '77 and Side 1 of Remain in Light King Crimson: Discipline; Thrak XTC: English Settlement; The Big Express; Oranges & Lemons; the Dukes material; Black Sea; Skylarking The The: Dusk; NakedSelf The dB’s: Repercussion; Like This The Smiths: Meat is Murder; A Hatful of Hollow The Golden Palominos: Blast of Silence; Pure Poi Dog Pondering: Liquid White Light [double-live LP] The Specials: The Specials The B-52’s: The B-52’s Jellyfish: Spilt Milk; Bellybutton The Pixies: Surfer Rosa Elvis Costello: Blood and Chocolate; Imperial Bedroom The Damned: The Light at the End of the Tunnel [Disc 1] George Harrison: All Things Must Pass David Bowie: Lodger Roxy Music: Roxy Music [their debut LP] Southern Culture On the Skids: Dirt Track Date The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin Madder Rose: Tragic Magic Candidate: Nuada [I’ve been listening to this since I bought it a year ago] “The Wicker Man” soundtrack “Blade Runner” soundtrack ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/45 "2003-11-13T03:05:02Z")
Damn you, **Scrivener**! I forgot _Bellybutton_! ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/46 "2003-11-13T03:28:05Z")
Another vote for: Tool - Aenima NIN - And All That Could Have Been (i’m especially partial to the second disc) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon I’d also like to add Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around. Truly a great final album by a musical legend. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/47 "2003-11-13T03:33:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maureen \* > \*\*oo, oo, oo, I cannot _believe_ I forgot that one!! Thanks, **Superdude**. My hero. \*\* No charge this time, lil lady. As Spider-Man said on an episode of _Family Guy_, after saving Peter, “everybody gets one.” ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/48 "2003-11-13T03:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*Of those, the one that surprised me for how well it has stood up as a complete album with its own unique sound is **Portishead** ’s “Dummy” - there really is nothing quite like it. \*\* I was also thinking of that one, similarly-named Doper. The way they made the album–entirely out of samples–is also pretty amazing. The other one I was thinking of was _A Taste of Complete Perspective_ by Elevator (known as Elevator Through in the US). After three albums and a few EPs of alternating between dope-addled garage rock, derivative psychedelia, and lousy junk that frankly should never have been recorded, Rick White’s solo project managed to tear off this multilayered, strangely affecting concept album. Another album that, like _Dummy_, really needs repeated listens to “get.” I suppose listening to it under heavy doses of drugs wouldn’t hurt either. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/49 "2003-11-13T04:03:17Z")
_The Wall_ - Pink Floyd _Odelay_ - Beck _Sea Change_ - Beck _Warren Zevon_ - Warren Zevon _Excitable Boy_ - Warren Zevon \*The Wind[/ii] - Warren Zevon _John Prine_ - John Prine _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_ - Wilco _Sgt. Pepper_ - The Beatles ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/50 "2003-11-13T05:34:51Z")
“Talking with the Taxman About Poetry” - Billy Bragg “Blood on the Tracks” - Bob Dylan “Tim” - The Replacements “Beggar’s Banquet” - Rolling Stones “J.D. Crowe and the New South” - self-titled “Handel’s Water Music” - conducted and violin by Yehudi Menuhin ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/51 "2003-11-13T06:15:40Z")
**Skillet38**! I was beginning to think I was the only person in the entire world who ever even HEARD of Tormato by Yes! That is definitely a favorite. Others I listen to endlessly and love again each time: Leo Kottke - One Guitar, No Vocals David Bowie - Young Americans Meat Loaf - Bad Attitude (not really his best work, but still my favorite) Paul Simon - Graceland Elton John - Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player The Who - Tommy Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, and The Wall Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls Queen - Day At The Races and Night At The Opera Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood Peter Gabriel - So ---
**Author:** ![Shana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Shana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shana)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/52 "2003-11-13T07:15:59Z")
The Smiths -Hatful of Hollow The Clash - London Calling, Give em Enough Rope The Cure - The Top Radiohead - OK Computer Turin Brakes - The Optimist LP PJ Harvey - Dry Doves - Lost Souls Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk The The - Soul Mining ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/53 "2003-11-13T11:35:38Z")
Funny this thread should come up; I just recently dug up my copy of **Emergency Broadcast Network** : Telecommunication Breakdown to hear one song, and ended up playing through the entire album again, wondering to myself, “Why did I ever stop listening to this record?” Then I realized that it’s because the album is so cool that after I’ve heard it I’m physically exhausted. In fact, I’ll change this a little to the records that I’ve owned for more than 2 years, and still make me feel spent after hearing them: **The The** : Dusk **The Pogues** : If I Should Fall From Grace With God (just the first 3 songs is enough to wear me out) **Poi Dog Pondering** : Volo Volo **Art of Noise** : In No Sense? Nonsense! **Soul Coughing** : El Oso ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/54 "2003-11-13T15:11:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skillet38 \* > **YES "Tormato"** :dubious: Are you kidding me? I love Yes, but _Tormato_ has to be their worst album ever! Well, IMHO, of course. I’m just highly surprised you single that one out. 🙂 Amazing albums: Rush - Moving Pictures (1981) Rush - Counterparts (1993) Tool - AEnema (as so many have already said, brilliant!) (1994) Dream Theater - Images and Words (1991) Camel - Dust and Dreams (1992) Yes - Relayer (1975) Dire Straits - Love over Gold (1982) Savatage - Streets (1989) Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988) The Tea Party - The Edges of Twilight (1997) Placebo - Without you I’m nothing (1998) Pink Floyd - Wish you were here, Final Cut, The Wall (various years) Marillion - Brave (1994) Marillion - Script for a Jester’s Tear (1983) I’ll stop now. 🙂 Forgive me if the dates are off by a year or so. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/55 "2003-11-13T16:29:33Z")
King Crimson, “In The Court of the Crimson King”. Maybe a bit obvious, but it still leaes me breathless. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Bee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Larry\_Bee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Bee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/56 "2003-11-13T16:58:38Z")
There has never been an album that sounded _anything_ like **Van Morrision’s** ‘Astral Weeks’, before or since. ---
**Author:** ![sgsos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@sgsos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sgsos)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/57 "2003-11-13T18:07:10Z")
Moody Blues - To Our Children’s Children’s Children (and all 6 of the other “core 7” albums) Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water Paul Simon - Graceland Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Pink Floyd - DSOTM ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/58 "2003-11-14T01:33:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\*The B-52’s: The B-52’s > > \*\* I second that. If all anyone knows of this band is Love Shack, then they’re missing out. This album is just amazing…from the stellar production to the nasty guitar sound, to the wacked out lyrics. “Hero Worship” is one of the greatest punk songs ever. A Couple More albums that I can’t believe I forgot to mention is: Devo-Q:Are We Not Men A:We Are Devo, Television-Marquee Moon, both New York Dolls studio albums Two albums that are still amazingly BAD (when in theory they should have been at least pretty good): The Chequered Past album and Steve Stevens and the Atomic Playboys. Ugh. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/59 "2003-11-14T02:54:45Z")
**Non-YES people feel free to skip** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*:dubious: > > Are you kidding me? I love Yes, but _Tormato_ has to be their worst album ever! Well, IMHO, of course. I’m just highly surprised you single that one out. 🙂 > > \*\* AHA, that’s why it’s the perfect litmus test for true YESfandom, because it is so wonderful that it’s just not that obvious how wonderful it is. It takes more than a modicum of devotion to perceive is all… Come on, Silent Wings of Freedom ! Lay Off the Whale ! Release, Release ! I’ll give you Circus of Heaven for the dustbin. IMHO there was something so over the top about the frenzy of Rick’s keyboard playing. Damn he kept Steve Howe on his toes trying to compete. Sprinkle in Jon’s inpenetrable mysticism and Chris’s usual brilliance, not to mention it was the last gasp of non-80s style drumming from Alan White, and you have to love it (well, you don’t, but I do) 🙂 Gates of Delerium it aint, but it’s a beautiful and beloved cluster fk in my book. btw, there are 4 outtakes from Tormato on the new box set. I haven’t heard them yet… cheerio 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700/60 "2003-11-14T11:24:55Z")
_The Dreaming_ (1982) and _Hounds of Love_ (1985) by Kate Bush. Just incredible stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-that-still-amaze-you/212700.md?page=4)