Haven’t seen one of these threads in at least a couple days, so I thought I’d start a new one. Figured I’d break it up a bit and ask people to list their 10 favorite pop/rock/soul/hip hop albums (no jazz or classical, please - that seems like a separate thread, for some reason) of all time, as well as the top 10 (or whatever) box sets. Here are mine, in no real order (not necessarily what I consider the best albums, per se, but the ones I get the most enjoyment out of from repeated listens - for instance, I love both My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and The Velvet Underground and Nico, but those are more mood music than something I want to listen to over and over on a long trip, and great albums like Sign O’ The Times or It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, while I love them, don’t inspire me to bust them out whenever I want to listen to some music as much as they used to):
Albums
Gang Of Four - Entertainment!
The Clash - The Clash
Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising
The Beatles - Revolver
The Replacements - Let It Be
The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
The Housemartins - London 0, Hull 6
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
R.E.M. - Murmur
Marshall Crenshaw - Marshall Crenshaw
Note: My first 2 picks are as close to what I’d consider perfect albums as there are.
Box Sets
Various Artists - The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968
Various Artists - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968
Various Artists - Loud, Fast & Out Of Control
Billy Bragg - Volume 1
Various Artists - Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond
Otis Redding - Otis!
Various Artists - Anthology Of American Folk Music
Robyn Hitchcock - I Wanna Go Backwards
Various Artists - Beg, Scream & Shout!: The Big Ol’ Box Of 60s Soul
Various Artists - Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground
Descendents - Two Things At Once Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction - Tatooed Beat Messiah Goo Goo Dolls - Hold Me Up Rocky Horror Picture Show - Original Cast Recording Suicide Machines - Destruction by Definition Dramarama - Hi-Fi Sci-fi Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back Best Kissers In The World - Been There Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Huh…I just realized that two of those bands took their names from Bruce Springsteen lyrics…
Hmmm. I’ve never tried to list my top 10 albums before. This will change soon, I’m sure:
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth
AC/DC - Back in Black
Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
I don’t do box sets, but here are my top ten albums as of right now in no particular order. Ask me again tomorrow and the list will probably be different.
Lacrimosa, Lichtgestalt
Talking Heads, Fear of Music
Emperor, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Gorillaz, Demon Days
Portishead, Portishead
Týr, How Far to Asgaard
Ace of Base, Greatest Hits
Therion, Gothic Kabbalah
Ulver, Perdition City
Converge, Jane Doe
Here are 10 “Perfect” albums that I always enjoy listening to currently.
They’re in no real order, as I’m quite fluid in my likes- these 10 are just on my mind, and stand the test of time for me, and they’re cohesive ALBUMS and I consider all of them TOTALLY worthwhile to listen ALL the way through.
The Offspring- *Americana *(perhaps the closest thing to a perfect “cohesive” album for me) Not a huge fan of the band, but This album will ALWAYS be in my top 10. But it always surprises me that i include it.
AC/DC- Back in Black
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle - I love the SMB. Just Pure bliss especially the 30th aniversery version of this album. GO OUT AND BUY IT with the DVD if you’re a fan of SMB.
The Wu Tang Clan- Enter the 36 Chambers (BEST “perfect” Rap album in my book).
N.E.R.D- In Search Of… (A great mix of Rap and Rock… very underrated).
GZA -* Liquid Swords *(Another classic Rap album, best Solo album perhaps)
Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
NIN -Pretty Hate Machine -It’s just cohesive and it all blends together as one big song for me.
10 Albums: Pixies - Doolittle Cocteau Twins - Treasure Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes Shelleyan Orphan - Century Flower Dead Can Dance - Aion Dido - No Angel The Smiths - The Smiths My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything The Sisters of Mercy - First And Last And Always
By Box Sets, I’m including stuff I have that’s single-CD multi-album/singles compilations, as well as multi-album sets, which I do not have ten of anyway: Natalie Merchant - Trilogy (Motherland, Ophelia, Tigerlilly) 10,000 Maniacs - Trilogy (Blind Man’s Zoo, In My Tribe, Our Time In Eden)
**Jethro Tull **- Platinum (SA-only Best Of) Billy Bragg - Victim of Geography Bauhaus - Volume 1/ Volume 2 Tori Amos - Tales of a Librarian The Cure - Staring At The Sea The Swans - Various Failures The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong New Order - (the best of) New Order
I’m limiting myself to one album per band, otherwise it could be dominated with 2 or 3 per ban on here, and posting in alphabetical order since I’m not in the mood for ranking right now:
The Decemberists - Picaresque
Iron Maiden - Brave New World
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Pearl Jam - Yield
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
They Might Be Giants - Spine 2.0
Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants
The Who - Quadrophenia
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Off The Deep End
I don’t really do box sets either. Does The Complete Works of Bach (90 CD’s) count?
The only box set I’ve ever bought (and it’s the best!)
Jethro Tull 20 Years of
Top ten albums that I will always listen to straight through once started, else I feel I am doing a disservice to their awesomeness…
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon Love and Rockets Express Cibo Matto Sterotype A Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies Transvision Vamp Pop Art Belly Star Concrete Blonde Concrete Blonde Madness One Step Beyond Sonic Youth Goo Wonder Stuff Eight Legged Groove Machine
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief Jazzanova - In Between Zero7 - Simple Things Jeff Buckley - Grace Steely Dan - Aja Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska The Sweet Hereafter soundtrack Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Pat Metheny Group - The Way Up Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles
Want One - Rufus Wainwright
East Side Story - Squeeze
Lovesexy - Prince
Apple Venus - XTC
The White Album - The Beatles
Safe As Fuck - Goldie Lookin Chain
Goucho - Steely Dan
Dr Buzzard’s Original Savvanah Band - Eponymous
Yessongs - Yes
Hejira - Joni Mitchell
Only own 1 box set- Trojan Records Ska’d for Life.
12 Rods - Split Personalities
Bauhaus - Press Eject and Give Me the Tape
Black Keys - Rubber Factory
The Damned - Strawberries
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Nick Cave - The Boatman’s Call
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy and the Lash
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood
Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Ween - The Mollusk