# Their "best" isn't your favorite album...so what is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223 "2006-07-12T19:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gene\_Frenkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gene\_Frenkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gene_Frenkle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/41 "2006-07-13T16:22:01Z")
Agree with **Small Clanger** - critics usually rate The Royal Scam pretty lowly in the Steely Dan oeuvre, but I thinks it’s their best. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/42 "2006-07-13T16:56:17Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] 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. [/QUOTE] I like Up a lot myself, however my favorite REM album is Out of Time. I like almost all their albums though. Peter Buck is possibly my favorite guitarist. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/43 "2006-07-15T05:43:17Z")
[QUOTE=wm–] _13_ by Blur. I don’t even like _Parklife_. [/QUOTE] I think that history will find that _13_ was the band’s finest moment. The songs are just tremendous, and while I prefer Damon and Graham just knocking out killer pop hooks (_The Great Escape_ is my personal favorite), there’s a maturity to those songs that just takes Blur straight out of “britpop” territory and into the pantheon. _1992_ and _No distance left to run_ might be the two best songs that guy’s ever written; they’re just tremendous. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/44 "2006-07-15T05:59:50Z")
I’ll buy into the Zeppelin debate - I’ll take _Houses of the Holy_ over anything and _III_ next. On the subject of the so-called classics - _Band of Gypsies_ beats out \*Electric Landlady \* in my Hendrix catalouge, _Highway 61 Revisited_ beats \*Blonde on Blonde \* in my book and and, hmmm, “_Beach Boys Today_” or _"Friends_" beats out _Pet Sounds_. mm ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/45 "2006-07-15T06:00:12Z")
Another one for Rush - While _2112_ is the album that really got everybody’s attention, and _Moving Pictures_ is the one that put them over the top, I’m really partial to _Permanent Waves_ (the album that got me into them in the first place), _Roll The Bones_ (the album that got me _back_ into them after I had gone in a different direction musically for a few years) and _Counterparts_ (the album where Lifeson went back to playing _lead_ guitar _G_) ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/46 "2006-07-15T06:12:53Z")
I find I usually don’t agree with the general consensus when it comes to my favorite artists’ best albums: Belle and Sebastian - The recognized “best” is _If You’re Feeling Sinister_, but my personal favorite is _The Boy With The Arab Strap_ - famously rated just [0.8](http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15372/Belle_and_Sebastian_The_Boy_with_the_Arab_Strap) by the folks at Pitchfork. Though, come to think of it, maybe that’s a recommendation in itself. The Pixies - _Doolittle_ is the one always cited as the best, but I think it has some not-so-great songs on it. I prefer _Surfer Rosa_ or the _Come On Pilgrim_ EP/minialbum, both of which are beginning-to-end terrific. Pulp - I won’t argue that _Different Class_ isn’t a classic, but _His’n’Hers_ is the one I rate a little bit higher. It sounds a bit fresher and more energetic, and it has some killer songs on it, including my favorite Pulp song, “Do You Remember the First Time?” Talking Heads - Most people say _Remain in Light_, but I’ve always preferred their first three albums, in particular _More Songs About Buildings And Food_, which is probably their most overlooked album (at least pre-_True Stories_). Teenage Fanclub - _Songs From Northern Britain_ is one of the great pop albums ever recorded. I don’t even care much for _Bandwagonesque_ (which beat Nirvana’s _Nevermind_ amongst others in _Spin_’s year-end list). Galaxie 500 - All three of their studio albums are stellar, but most people focus attention on _On Fire_. I prefer _Today_, though. X - I like _Wild Gift_ better than _Los Angeles_ or _Under the Big Black Sun_ (though I love both of those to pieces as well). The Magnetic Fields - Although _69 Love Songs_ may have it beat several times over in regards to number of great tracks, I think _Get Lost_ is the more pleasant listening experience. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/47 "2006-07-15T09:50:00Z")
I don’t know what the consensus would be for any of these bands, so I’ll just list some favorites and leave it for you to decide if it’s counter to the marketplace. ('Cause I’m intellectually lazy like that.) For Santana I find myself listening to _Caravanserai_ more often than anything else. (Although _Welcome_ and _Lotus_ deserve honorable mentions.) I like _Frampton Comes Alive II_ better than the original, but that’s probably just because it’s different from the one I’ve heard a billion times. I listen to Deep Purple’s _Purpendicular_ more than anything else, probably for the same reason. (Although it may be Steve Morse.) Has anyone done the Dead? I bounce back and forth between _Terrapin Station_ and _Wake Of The Flood_. (But, then I’m not really that big a Grateful Dead fan, anyway.) _Waiting For Columbus_ probably is the most popular Little Feat album, but I still like it best. (But get the Anniversary Edition for “Day at the Dog Races”). I like the Marshall Tucker Band’s _Together Forever_. I doubt that’s their best seller. _Bombs and Butterflies_ by Widespread Panic is a sentimental favorite. Are they well-known enough to be considered in this thread? I like _Live at the Fillmore_ by Derek and the Dominoes, unless it’s considered more of a Clapton album. (Maybe even then. I’ll have to think about it.) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/48 "2006-07-15T16:30:57Z")
I was going to make some argument for my favorite **Sting** solo album, but I have no idea what general consensus would be on that. My personal favorite\* is _Ten Summoner’s Tales_, which is tied for 1st overall with _The Dream Of The Blue Turtles_ and _Brand New Day_ in terms of sales volume in the US. _…Nothing Like The Sun_ would probably be a close second for me, and _Brand New Day_ third. \*I did not factor in compilation albums. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/49 "2006-07-15T16:50:02Z")
This is a like a pop music thread for old fogies; I love it. Zappa was mentioned. While Hot Rats is IMO his best album, and the only one to win any kind of official accolade, consensus would probably lean toward either Joe’s Garage or Apostrphe(')/Overnite Sensation. Personally, Sheik Yerbouti is my least favorite record from that era; I like Them or Us much better. A darkhorse candidate for best album would by Roxy & Elsewhere. (Zappa is tough for this thread, though, with over 50 records total and a bare minimum of a dozen phenomenal ones.) [QUOTE=DfrntBreign] Has anyone done the Dead? I bounce back and forth between _Terrapin Station_ and _Wake Of The Flood_. (But, then I’m not really that big a Grateful Dead fan, anyway.) [/QUOTE] Blasphemer! Nobody mentioned the Dead likely because only a Philistine would listen to anything found in a store, even if it were from a live performance. The albums with titles wouldn’t even crack the top 100 choices; likely the true answers would sound like: “Second set of the Halloween show in '79.” But if I were _forced_ to pick a professional release, I’d go with Europe '72. For Pink Floyd, consensus has to be Dark Side of the Moon, enjoying 14 million consecutive weeks on the Billboard charts. My personal favorites would probably be A Nice Pair. (Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets.) For The Who, they did so much “mix 'n match” on their albums that I don’t identify any songs with any albums. I swear, they seemed to release a “best of” every year, and even “new” albums always seemed to have at least 3 repeat tracks from previous records. The best compilation release is hands down The Story of The Who, with 25 tracks. As for original material, I’m torn between Live at Leeds, Who Are You, (a great pairing for a cassette tape if ever there was one,) and some of the earlier stuff. (Whatever the albums were that had A Quick One While He’s Away, Whiskey Man, Silas Tingy, etc…) ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/50 "2006-07-15T16:55:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lisa-go-Blind] Talking Heads - Most people say _Remain in Light_, but I’ve always preferred their first three albums, in particular _More Songs About Buildings And Food_, which is probably their most overlooked album (at least pre-_True Stories_). [/QUOTE] That’s funny. I was going to assume that most people would say _Speaking In Tongues_, and I was going to say I prefer _Remain in Light_. My favorite Who album is _Quadrophenia_. I think _Moondance_ is probably Van Morrison’s most popular album, and I like it, but my favorite is _His Band and Street Choir_ I love Jimi, and I think _Band of Gypsies_ is my favorite. I see from this thread that I’m not the only one, but it is certainly a minority opinion in general. My favorite Kinks album is _Arthur_. I have no idea what their most popular album is. _Lola_? My favorite Santana album is _Santana III_. Abraxas is probably the #1 choice for most listeners. ---
**Author:** ![Waldo\_Jeffers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Waldo\_Jeffers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waldo_Jeffers)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/51 "2006-07-15T21:43:52Z")
[QUOTE=Lisa-go-Blind] The Pixies - _Doolittle_ is the one always cited as the best, but I think it has some not-so-great songs on it. I prefer _Surfer Rosa_ or the _Come On Pilgrim_ EP/minialbum, both of which are beginning-to-end terrific. … Talking Heads - Most people say _Remain in Light_, but I’ve always preferred their first three albums, in particular _More Songs About Buildings And Food_, which is probably their most overlooked album (at least pre-_True Stories_). [/QUOTE] I completely agree with both of these. I would also add that I prefer Sonic Youth’s albums with Jim O’Rourke as a full band member to Sister or Daydream Nation. For a 20 year old band with such a long discography, they still manage to put out some pretty creative music. And finally, if I’m choosing a Fleetwood Mac album, it’s got to be Tusk, not Rumours. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/52 "2006-07-16T18:31:10Z")
I think the general consensus is that Graham Parker’s _Squeezing Out Sparks_ is his best album, but if I had to choose one, it would be _Howlin’ Wind_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/53 "2006-07-16T18:41:57Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] Blasphemer! Nobody mentioned the Dead likely because only a Philistine would listen to anything found in a store, even if it were from a live performance. The albums with titles wouldn’t even crack the top 100 choices; likely the true answers would sound like: “Second set of the Halloween show in '79.” But if I were _forced_ to pick a professional release, I’d go with Europe '72. [/QUOTE] Piffle. The _true_ Deadhead has run _completely_ around the block, listened to every conceivable bootlegged live show and demo, and is back to spinning _Aoxomoxoa, Steal Your Face,_ and _In the Dark_. The top-level cognoscenti now listen only to _Shakedown Street_. And just the cuts “France” and “Serengetti.” ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223/54 "2006-07-16T18:50:23Z")
Beatles - _Abbey Road_ by a mile (just got a copy on vinyl!), followed by the White Album, _Revolver_, and then probably _Sgt. Pepper_. Zeppelin - my favorite is _II_. Floyd - I have a soft spot for _Animals_, but if I had never heard DSotM and heard it for the first time, I’d have to put it on top. U2 - I prefer _Achtung Baby_ to _The Joshua Tree_, though not by much. My big disagreement is in my reaction to their 90s direction. It is usually taken as undisputed that the band lots its way with _Zooropa_ and _Pop_, and returned to form with _All You Can’t Leave Behind_. I thought it was a big step down from those two previous albums, and I liked that they were doing something different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-best-isnt-your-favorite-album-so-what-is/364223.md?page=2)