If you ask a lot of people what the Beatles’ best album is, most would probably say Seargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, or possibly The White Album. I think these are great albums, but nowhere as good as Abby Road. The tracks on Abby Road just fit together better, in my opinion, and the songs stand well on their own too (even the individual parts of the medly.)
Spin magazine declared OK Computer to be Radiohead’s best album, in fact the best rock album of the past 20 years. This is one of many topics where Spin and I disagree - I personally think The Bends is Radiohead’s best. I think the individual tracks on The Bends have more popular appeal than the songs on OK Computer, and the album hold together better as well. (And the best rock album of the past 20 years is in fact an American one, thankyouverymuch. But I’m not saying which one. )
I think Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is far, far better than The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon, even though Wish You Were Here didn’t do as well commercially. I enjoy listening to Billy Joel’s The Stranger more than I do his Greatest Hits albums, which sold far more copies. And so on.
The weird thing is, when I disagree with the general consensus, I really disagree with it. It’s no contest with me, this album is incredible, but this other more popular album is merely better-than-mediocre.
And that’s my opinion. The question I put to you is, what albums do you like better than the artist’s so-called “best”, and why?
Green Day: I love American Idiot way more than Dookie, which causes many people to believe that I’m not right in the head. U2: Boy is my favorite album, although the consensus “bests” *The Joshua Tree *and *Achtung Baby *are my numbers 2 and 3 repectively. Pink Floyd: While my favorites are *The Wall *and *DSotM *(in that order), my third favorite is A Momentary Lapse of Reason. awaits potential onslaught
Well, just to disagree with you, Wish You Were Here is great and all, but tracks 2 and 3 really pull it down. Consequently, Dark Side of the Moon is simply too good all the way through for it not to be their best. Even if the band enjoyed WYWH more.
Regarding Radiohead - I would say that from the fanbase side, Kid A is more popular than OK Computer, but I still slightly favor OK Computer. The Bends is beyond just great, but not quite at their peak either. imo
I agree on Floyd & Beatles.
“Wish You were Here” for Floyd, followed by Dark Side.
“Abbey Road” for the Beatles.
Led Zeppelin I prefer “Zeppelin” to Runes {but I love Runes, II, III and Physical Graffiti}
Yes is tricky, what is the consensus album? I would probably go with “Close to the Edge” for my choice.
**Mayo Speaks!, ** I love “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”. It was a great album and tour.
My favorite Led Zeppelin album is Presence.
My favorite Jam album is The Gift.
My favorite Green Day album is nimrod.
Also, frequently with new bands, you see a lot of critical love for the debut album, then accusations that the second album is lacklustre. For some reason, I almost invariably prefer the second album in these situations. See: The Stokes, the New Pornographers, the Shins, the Futureheads.
Uh… more commonly known as the Strokes. Also, my favorite Rolling Stones album is Some Girls.
My favorite Kinks album (and actually my favorite album of all time!) is The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, which is frequently named as their best. But aside from that, I love some of their usually-despised albums like Word of Mouth, Give the People What They Want, and Schoolboys in Disgrace and don’t care for some of their most popular work like Low Budget, Misfits, and Something Else by the Kinks.
The Offspring! Everyone thinks that either Smash is their best, or Americana. I don’t really like either of those ones, and I prefer their second album, Ignition, or their fourth album (or “sellout album” as some purists like to believe) Ixnay on the Hombre.
As for the Beatles, while I like Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, I prefer A Hard Day’s Night. I like the later stuff, but the earlier will always be my favorites.
Metallica - everyone loves the self-titled “Black Album,” and it’s what solidified their sound and name into popularity. I’m just a little more fond of Re-Load. And their earlier stuff, too.
Darn it, I was going to mention The Beatles. Pepper might not even be one of my top five Beatles albums. And as a Radiohead fan, I might be unusual in preferring Amnesiac to Kid A.
“Everyone loves the Black Album?” It was really popular, but my experience is that older Metallica fans hate it. If you were saying the Black Album beat out Master of Puppets as your favorite, that’d be more daring.
A hard days night? I really don’t get people who like the earliest stuff the best. Do you even like the late beatles then? Its totally different. Wouldnt it be better to find some music similar to the early Beatles?
Well, the best is Ride the Lightning. And reload is the second/third worst.
In my experience, most people say Abbey road, Revolver or Rubber soul. I agree with Abbey Road and revolver.
It seems to me that the general consensus among hardcore Beatles fans is that Sgt. Pepper’s is their most influential album, but that Revolver and Abbey Road are musically superior.
While any number of other records are usually considered their best, I think that Up is R.E.M.'s finest moment. For a band that’s always strived for innovation and wanted to break out of their genre (remember when “drive” was supposed to be a straight-up autoharp and banjo appalachian folk song?) but ultimately chickened out at the last second, Up was the one time that they actually had the guts to take the weird path and it totally paid off. Bill Berry’s leaving the band could have seen them just bringing in some young, hotshot session drummer and soldiering on with the sort of mediocre, sophisticated jangle-pop that they had settled into at that point, but they instead took the artsy path and made that weird record with all the farfisas and vibraphones and old synths and antique drum machines. And all of that’s just relish on the fact that those are some of Stipe’s most mature, honest, and fully realized songs.
hmm, Im a little embarressed to admit that I cannot really find a band where I don’t agree with the general consensus about what is their best album. The best example I can come up with is that I think Oasis - Definitely Maybe is their best album, but Im not sure if this is particularly unusual.
Whoa. Well if you’re willing to brave those slings and arrows, I feel I can at least admit that, while IV is my favorite, In Through the Out Door is #2, beating Physical Graffiitti by a significant margin.
Led Zeppelin - My favorite is also Presence and as **Cliffy **said, In Through The Out Door is number 2.
Pink Floyd - Definitely Animals. Meddle would be a close second.
Rush - I was going to say Hemispheres or Permanent Waves but **yBeayf **got me thinkin and now I can’t decide. Signals or Power Windows would be good choices. Rush is one of those bands (like the Beatles) who’s sound has changed so much over the years that it’s difficult to pick an overall best album.
The Beatles - Abbey Road
U2 - Boy is my favorite but I would pick Unforgettable Fire as my second.
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Yes - Relayer
I think The Yes Album or Fragile would be the consensus album for them.
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