I like all of her albums (except The Kick Inside, which just sounds totally cheesy to me), but Hounds of Love is (in my view) the only good that’s great all the way through - The Dreaming and The Sensual World vacillate between second and third for me.
So many great albums to choose from. I set myself the guidelines that I’d only choose one from any given artist/group (I could fill almost the whole list with Genesis and Springsteen, if I was in the right mood), and to leave out any albums with tracks I can’t stand, even if the rest of the album is a work of art.
Anyway, in random order:
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
Springsteen - Born To Run
Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Paul Simon - Graceland
U2 - Actung Baby
Joe Jackson - Night and Day
Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol I
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Tori Amos - Under the Pink
. . . as with most people, this list is subject to change at a moment’s notice, blah blah blah . . .
I’m wondering if anyone else was surprised by their own lists? There are three groups (The Band, Beatles, and The Who) who I was sure would be on here, but while I love all of those groups (The Band being solidly in my “top 3 favorite groups evar” list), none of them have whole albums that truly captivate me the whole way through (other than possibly Revolver, but it didn’t quite make this list).
This was also fun as I went through my CD collection and got reminded of some great/favorite albums that I used to listen to a lot and am going to toss back into rotation.
I listened to this a couple of times shortly after it came out and it didn’t grab me, but I’ve seen it on a lot of lists like this one lately, so maybe I should give it another spin.
As for my 10, in chronological order:
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (1985)
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs (1987)
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988)
The Connells - Fun and Games (1989)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
Bright Eyes - Lifted (2002)
British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power (2003)
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (2005)
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (2009)
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (2010)
Just missed the top 10: Life’s Rich Pageant by REM (1986) and Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby (1987).
Definitely. Like you with your list, I’m surprised the Who didn’t make mine (Who’s Next would have been the closest contender). I’m also a big fan of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who have a prodigious output, but there’s nothing I would have put above the ten (12, actually) that I listed. Not at the moment, anyway.
This is my favourite list other than my own – cool.
Ignore.
- The Extremist - Joe Satriani
- Exit Planet Dust - The Chemical Brothers
- Empire - Queensÿrche
- Stadium Arcadium: Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin
- The Wall - Pink Floyd
- Operation: Mindcrime - Queensrÿche
- October Rust - Type O Negative
- Master of Puppets - Metallica
- Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
WIlco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Harry Connick, Jr - When Harry Met Sally soundtrack
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Old 97’s - Alive & Wired
Barenaked Ladies - Maybe You Should Drive
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Eels - With Strings (Live at Town Hall)
Well as with so many people these are really mostly random excerpts from the top 100. I tried to add just a bit of diversity, but I quickly got bogged down trying to decide one from another, so just shrugged on the last several. In no particular order:
-
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony - Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic. I’m not a HUGE classical guy, probably have stuff from maybe a dozen composers at most. But as cliched a choice as this is, this album ALWAYS gets my heart pumping. One of my favorite road albums for driving around impressive natural features ( Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelley, etc. ).
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This Year’s Model - Elvis Costello. Could have easily been Armed Forces or Blood and Chocolate. I don’t really have a favorite artist, but if I did Costello would be the slight favorite to take the title.
-
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads. Definitive. My favorite of the Heads of the studio albums would be Remain in Light.
-
Surfer Rosa - Pixies. Doolittle is probably the stronger album overall, but this was my first one and I still have the greater affection for it.
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A Love Supreme - John Coltrane. My all-time favorite jazz piece is actually Coltrane’s Afro-Blues, but as a short album this is darn near perfect, despite my own lack of spirituality;).
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London Calling - The Clash. The finest studio double-album ever released IMHO. There is scarcely any dross here, unlike the slightly bloated Sandinista.
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Time Tough: Anthology - Toots and the Maytals. An anthology is kind of cheating, but there are NO bad tracks here. Compulsively listenable.
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Murder Ballads - Nick Cave. Almost a place-keeper for Nick Cave in general, but this one is iconic and it does what it does extremely well.
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It’s Too Late to Stop Now - Van Morrison. Similar to the TH album album above. Morrison at the top of his game from what was IMO his most productive period in the 1970’s. If I went with a studio album it would probably be Astral Weeks or Band and Street Choir.
-
Soup of the Century - 3 Mustaphas 3. Kind of my introduction to world music. Again maybe not their best ( but maybe it is ), but superb any way you slice it.
Looking at the above after pasting it I now want to change a few and add in more genres. But, eh, fuck it :D. Good enough for government work.
And that explains the username… (and a great album, as well)
Here’s my list from 1999-ish. It used to be published on my website.
- “disintegration” by the cure
- “ten” by pearl jam
- “aenima” by tool
- “seal” by **seal **(his first eponymous album)
- “a storm in heaven” by the verve
- “undertow” by tool
- “ok computer” by radiohead
- “low end theory” by a tribe called quest
- “songs from the big chair” by tears for fears
- “angel dust” by faith no more
I don’t really agree with that list any more. Let’s give this a shot (new stuff in italics):
- “disintegration” by the cure
- “ten” by pearl jam
- “undertow” by tool
- “ok computer” by radiohead
- “seal” by **seal **(his first eponymous album)
- “songs from the big chair” by tears for fears
- “a storm in heaven” by the verve
8. “100th window” by massive attack
9. “el cielo” by dredg
*10. “the big roar” by the joy formidable *
Hard to kick some of those oldies out in favor of newer stuff. The Joshua Tree and something by Mike Patton deserve spots, but my more recent crushes win the day. Musical tastes are transitory, after all.
For me, any one of their three albums from that '75-'77 time period (Face the Music, A New World Record, Out of the Blue) could have easily made my list.
I’d give the edge to “It Takes a Nation of Millions…” due to some of the weirder stuff on 2nd half of “Fear”.
My to 3 rap albums are:
“Low End Theory” by A Tribe Called Quest
“It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” by P.E.
“Paid in Full” by Eric B & Rakim
I guess that’s ancient school these days.
With most of the disclaimers you all have already added to your lists, along with the idea that these are the albums that I think are objectively the greatest; they’re just the albums I like the most:
the Cure--------------------------Disintegration
Miles Davis-----------------------Kind of Blue
Pink Floyd------------------------The Wall
The Allman Brothers Band----The Fillmore Concerts
Siouxsie and the Banshees—A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
U2---------------------------------(either)The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby
They Might Be Giants----------Flood
Talking Heads-------------------Stop Making Sense
Warren Zevon-------------------(either) Excitable Boy or Warren Zevon
the Smiths-----------------------The Queen is Dead
So many bands I only know through “best ofs”: the Stones, Zeppelin, the Beatles, Bowie, the Police. And I prefer the best ofs in the cases of: Alabama 3; Chuck Prophet; Zevon, really; the Smiths.
Fun series of post and responses to read.
In no particular order:
“Fully Completely” and “Day for Night,” The Tragically Hip
“Vitalogy,” Pearl Jam
“Us,” Peter Gabriel
“Synchronicity,” The Police
“The Joshua Tree,” U2
“Ill Communication,” The Beastie Boys
“Full Moon Fever,” Tom Petty
“Gordon,” Barenaked Ladies
“Automatic for the People,” REM
Just missing the cut: “Graceland” by Paul Simon; “Thriller” by Michael Jackson; basically any Led Zeppelin LP; Traveling Wilburys, Vol. I; Sgt. Petter’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; “So” by Gabriel; “Born in the USA”, Springsteen; “Ten” by Pearl Jam; “Out of Time” by REM; “1984” by Van Halen.
It was great to see Girls Aloud on your list! None of their albums are perfect to me but they’re still one of my favourite groups, with so, so many great singles.
From other Dopers’ lists in the thread. Put 'em on a roulette wheel and spin. Any of these could populate my top ten list:
Revolver - The Beatles
Beatles - Abbey Road
The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles - The White Album
Carole King - Tapestry
Canyon – Paul Winter Consort
Cure for Pain - Morphine
Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die
Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
Who: Tommy
Procol Harum – A Salty Dog
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Bookends - Simon and Garfunkel
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (et.al.)… Will the circle be Unbroken
Blue: Joni Mitchell
Neil Young – Harvest (not to mention After the Goldrush and Everybody Knows this is Nowhere!)
Al Stewart, Year of the Cat
The Doors - The Doors
Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Court & Spark - Joni Mitchell
Melissa Manchester-----Home to Myself
Greg Brown-The Poet Game
Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Yes - The Yes Album
Cosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)
Get Away from Me – Nellie McKay
Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Warren Zevon-------------------(either) Excitable Boy or Warren Zevon
The Wall by Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin’s 4th
Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
Quadrophrenia
Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Metaphysical Graffiti by the Dead Milkmen.
Flowers of Romance by PiL
Lust for Life by Iggy Pop
Random Victor Jara collection
Random Leadbelly collection.
Swans - Children of God
Angels of Light - We Are Him
The Birthday Party - Prayers On Fire
The Pixies - Doolittle
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - I See A Darkness
Slint - Spiderland
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Tom Waits - Bone Machine
And bedgrudgingly, Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Nothing wrong with that, rap’s gone pretty far downhill since the deaths of Eazy-E/Biggie/Tupac.
Both Fear and It Takes a Nation of Millions were classics, but I tend to like Fear more because it had a funkier sound and more complex production. There were several great tracks on Apocalypse '91 as well, but as a whole it wasn’t as good as Fear.