# Top ten favorite albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716 "2007-03-05T19:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/21 "2007-03-06T00:52:35Z")
1. Wooden Smoke - Mike Keneally 2. The Universe Will Provide - Mike Keneally and the Metropol Orkest 3. Lark’s Tongue in Aspic - King Crimson 4. Elements - Roger Glover 5. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield 6. Roxy & Elsewhere - Frank Zappa / Mothers 7. Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer 8. Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet 9. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 10. Foxtrot - Genesis ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/22 "2007-03-06T03:01:49Z")
1. **[Mary Margaret O’Hara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Margaret_O'Hara)_Miss America_** Drawing mostly from old soul music—and _old-soul_ music—Mary Margaret O’Hara invented an entirely new genre on _Miss America_. The inflections you note in her sublime, otherworldly vocals run variously from a young Ella Fitzgerald to Joni Mitchell to Yoko Ono. And her songwriting produces gems that have the feel of 70-year-old standards, alongside soulwrenching cries that might be collaborations between Kurt Weill and Gertrude Stein. Frequently noted as one of the most important overlooked masterpieces of all time. 2. **Jeff Buckley _Grace_** In 1994, Jeff Buckley crashed through the muddy wall of grunge noise with the voice of a god. He gave male vocalists permission to sing again, and gave bands like Radiohead and the Flaming Lips permission to become the bands they would one day become. (And paved the way, inevitably, for Jeff Buckley tribute bands like Coldplay.) I saw him live six times, we bonded over Mary Margaret and Diamanda, he drew a heart on my copy of _Grace_, and I cried and cried and cried when he died. 3. **Jane Siberry _When I Was a Boy_** The increasingly bizarre (she’d like to be called simply “Issa” and has renounced ownership of all things besides her guitar) but undeniably genius Jane Siberry changed the way I think of pop music with this song cycle about life and death and life; an abstract opera about the circular journey of a human soul. (And Too easily dismissed as a “pretty” singer, or—urgk—a folksinger (is an 11-minute epic song about the simple image of a white tent floating downstream on a raft a _folk song_?), she started out as a young Joni Mitchell acolyte, but quickly developed an entirely unique approach to the Pop idiom as _Art_. Simply the most artistically complex and complete artist ever to work in Pop, and _When I Was a Boy_ is her masterpiece. 4. **Kate Bush _The Dreamin_g** The percussive _rage_—sexual, personal, artistic, political—that this album pounds out took a firm hold on my 18-year-old soul and has never loosened its grip. There’s just not much I can say about this album; my thoughts about it keep getting derailed by the throbbing pulse it evokes in my mind. Probably the center of my musical universe: everything else exists in reference to _The Dreaming_. 5. **Eddi Reader _Mirmama_** Another singer too easily dismissed as “pretty,” though admittedly with some justification: almost everything else she’s ever done has been little more than blandly pretty. But this album, with almost as many different producers as tracks, is an astoundingly varied collection of textures and depths, and Eddi’s amazing ability to paint abstract emotions with the tones of her voice is the powerful thread that holds this album together as a whole work of art. 6. **Scott Walker _Sings Jacques Brel_** Though I like almost all of Walker’s albums—with the possible exception of the mostly bland _Scott 3_—this is the one I keep returning to. The melodramatic passion—no, _hysteria_—with which he performs these campily translated masterpieces of operatic pop just can’t fail to win you over, if you have a heart at all. This album just makes me giddy: Scott’s artistic and emotional commitment to the material, the soaring pathos of Brel’s magnificent melodies, combined with the slightly hamhanded translations of the Brill Building’s Mort (“Teenager in Love,” “Save the Last Dance for Me”) Shuman (how can you deny the loopy brilliance of “If I could be, for just one little hour,/ Cute, cute—in a stupid-ass way!”?) make an absolutely unique musical experience that will pull me out of any funk. (And yes I know it’s a compilation, which is bad, but the combination of Scott Walker and Jacques Brel creates a unique situation in which it is necessary to overlook such considerations. And yes, \*SW4 \*is brilliant. But while it’s certainly true that, as a singer, Jacques Brel was no Scott Walker, surely it’s equally true that as a songwriter, Scott Walker was no Jacques Brel.) 7. **Diamanda Galás _The Sporting Life_** Most people \*hate \*this album. But it appeals to nearly the same part of my psyche as the above album: utter commitment to the material, to the brink—heck, \*beyond \*the brink—of hysteria. That same part of my psyche that is fascinated by saints and martyrs, by Flannery O’Connor’s religious hysterics, by Joan of Arc. Now, before I wrote that last line, I never thought I’d compare Diamanda Galás’s unhinged, knife-wielding drag-queen persona, draped across the hood of John Paul Jones’ convertible on the album [cover](http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c72/Blind_Staggers/the-sporting-life.jpg), to Joan of Arc, but now that I have, I like it. Sanity is for cowards, either one might say. _The Sporting Life_ is a delirious celebration of psychosis, floating down the tarry river of John Paul Jones’ darkly bubbling basslines, and held aloft by Galás’s operatic ululations. It will hurt your brain; it may even make your eyes burn a little bit. But you’ll know you’re alive. (I’m sorry; I don’t have time to write anything about the remaining albums; I’ll try to get something pounded out later.) **8. Spiritualized _Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space_ 9. PJ Harvey _Dry_ 10. Ella Fitzgerald _Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert_ 10.1 Nobukazu Takemura _Child’s View_** (I couldn’t rank it above any of the other 10, but I couldn’t omit it from my list.) Not named, but albums that cycle in and out of this list over time (in alpha): **Beastie Boys _Ill Communication_ Marc Bolan _Acoustic Warrior_ David Bowie _Scary Monsters_ Danielle Dax _Dark Adapted Eye_ The Flaming Lips _Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots_ Marvin Gaye _Here My Dear_ Lauryn Hill _The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill_ Ingrid Karklins _Anima Mundi_ Magnetic Fields _69 Love Songs_ NIN _Broken_ Stina Nordenstam _Memories of a Color_ Portishead _Portishead_ Prince _Sign o’ the Times_ Queen _Sheer Heart Attack_ Ruby _Saltpeter_ Tricky _Maxinquaye_ XTC _English Settlement_** Odd things I’m thrilled to see mentioned in this thread: Big Star Shelleyan Orphan Poe The Microphones ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/23 "2007-03-06T18:09:54Z")
The Beatles: Rubber Soul Carole King: Tapestry Michael Jackson: Thriller Prince: Purple Rain Bonnie Raitt: Nick of Time Boston: Boston Delbert McClinton: Never Been Rocked Enough Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life Gerry Rafferty: City to City Donald Fagen: The Nightfly ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/24 "2007-03-06T18:41:05Z")
Kind of Blue – Miles Davis Aja – Steely Dan Time Out – Dave Brubeck Dizzy Gillespie on the French Riviera The Music From Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini Focus – Stan Getz The Allman Brothers Band Live at the Fillmore East The Nightfly – Donald Fagen Travels – The Pat Metheny Group Canyon – Paul Winter I’d much rather name my top 50 than my top 10. I know I’m leaving out some favorites this way. I’d just hate to have to toss all but 10! ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/25 "2007-03-06T18:53:51Z")
alphabetical order: Bjork - Debut Jeff Buckley - Grace Jazzanova - In Between Pat Metheny Group - First Circle Radiohead - Hail to the Thief Ursula Rucker - Silver or Lead Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska Steely Dan - Aja Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles Zero7 - Simple Things ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/26 "2007-03-06T18:57:31Z")
How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/27 "2007-03-06T19:03:29Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” 😃 [/QUOTE] That’s pretty much why I started the thread. 🙂 **VCO3** and **lissener** , thanks for the great writeups, very entertaining. In particular, I was moved to pick up my somewhat neglected copy of _Sunflower_ and give it another listen. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/28 "2007-03-06T19:05:39Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” [/QUOTE] The second one, mostly. Because, you know, I have _good_ taste in music, not like you people 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/29 "2007-03-06T19:05:58Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” 😃 [/QUOTE] I’ve been thinking “On another day that’s in my top ten!” and “Whoah, someone’s much older/younger than me!”. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/30 "2007-03-06T19:06:21Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” 😃 [/QUOTE] I can go with your comment maybe 50%. I did scan the lists others had up before I posted. I already had a few in mind that I was going to list no matter what, but was prompted to recall a few (maybe 3 or 4) by what others had said. At first I was tempted not to post at all because so many lists include stuff I have never heard nor would be remotely interested in listening to. But, hey, that’s why we have salt and pepper and Tabasco, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/31 "2007-03-06T19:16:48Z")
No particular order Counting Crows - August and Everything After Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet - The Juliet Letters Tom Waits - Blues Valentine Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas Nomeansno - The Worldhood Of The World As Such Black Sabbath - Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath Rollins Band - End Of Silence Bad Religion - Against The Grain Sugar - Copper Blue ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/32 "2007-03-06T21:00:14Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] How many people are doing the same thing I am…looking at other’s lists and saying to myself “I could hang with that person,” or “Dude, who listens to that crap?” 😃 [/QUOTE] How about a third option “Ive never heard half of these albums”. I was going to come up with my ten but not anymore you’d probably just laugh at me! ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/33 "2007-03-06T21:12:02Z")
[QUOTE=Delly] How about a third option “Ive never heard half of these albums”. I was going to come up with my ten but not anymore you’d probably just laugh at me! [/QUOTE] Hey man, my list included a Bush album. 😉 There is no shame here. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/34 "2007-03-06T23:17:13Z")
There are plenty in this list that I think are great. However, there are some that make me think “_That’s_ in your top ten? That (totally decent yet) totally unremarkable album? Really?” ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/35 "2007-03-07T00:20:24Z")
Bush… they sing Swallowed right? See I love that song, am definately not posting a list! In all seriousness though, I dont have a list of my top ten albums, I have albums I go back and listen to from time to time, but mostly its just modern stuff. To give you some indiciation of what I mean - my current favourite album is Infinity on High by Fall Out Boy. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/36 "2007-03-07T00:22:05Z")
Cheating, because I feel like it. In no particular order: **Top Ten Rock Albums:** [ul][li]_Abbey Road_ by The Beatles[/li][li]_Songs The Lord Taught Us_ by The Cramps[/li][li]_Rocket To Russia_ by The Ramones[/li][li]_Killing Joke (1980)_ by Killing Joke[/li][li]_Violent Femmes_ by The Violent Femmes[/li][li]_Psychocandy_ by Jesus and Mary Chain[/li][li]_Rain Dogs_ by Tom Waits[/li][li]_OK Computer_ by Radiohead[/li][li]_Blacklisted_ by Neko Case[/li][li]_The Soft Bulletin_ by The Flaming Lips[/ul] **Top Ten Jazz Albums:** [ul]_At Newport (1956)_ by Duke Ellington[/li][li]_At Newport (1957)_ by Dizzy Gillespie[/li][li]_Night Train_ by Oscar Peterson[/li][li]_Sex Mob Does Bond_ by Sex Mob[/li][li]_A Love Supreme_ by John Coltrane[/li][li]_Mingus Ah Um_ by Charles Mingus[/li][li]_Naked City_ by John Zorn[/li][li]_Sketches of Spain_ by Miles Davis[/li][li]_Song For My Father_ by Horace Silver Quintet[/li][li]_Jazz at Massey Hall_ by The Quintet[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/37 "2007-03-07T00:53:34Z")
Some of my favorites and this will change before I go to bed tonight… **Dead Can Dance** Toward the Within **Depeche Mode** Black Celebration **Anything Box** Worth **VNV Nation** Empires **Mesh** Who Watches Over Me? **Death Cab for Cutie** Transatlanticism **Delerium** Karma **Nine Inch Nails** Broken **Depeche Mode** Violator **The Postal Service** Give Up ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Wombats)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/38 "2007-03-07T01:25:39Z")
I’m going to have to agree that these aren’t easy to pick and could easily change but for me, now: Throwing Copper - Live Under the Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band Keeping it Together - Guster The Wait - Zox The Stranger - Billy Joel Bang Bang - Dispatch Sheer Heart Attack - Queen The Wanderer - O.A.R. Be Here Now - Oasis Automatic for the People - R.E.M. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/39 "2007-03-07T04:15:49Z")
In no particular order, here are my all-time favorites to date: Carole King – _Tapestry_ KISS – _Alive II_ Bill Wilson – _Traction In The Rain_ Webb Wilder – _Doo Dad_ Merle Haggard – \* Rainbow Stew - Live At Anaheim Stadium\* Michael McDermott – _Gethsemane_ Lisa Germano – _Happiness_ (the Capitol release, not the 4AD one) Metallica – _Master of Puppets_ Jimmy Buffet – _Feeding Frenzy_ Sonia Dada – _A Day At The Beach_ ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/40 "2007-03-07T05:45:10Z")
List likely to change next week, but… **Coil** – _Music to Play in the Dark vol. 2_ **Current 93** – _Thunder Perfect Mind_ **John Foxx** – _Metamatic_ **Lucisferrato** – _Ingermanland_ **Lunar Abyss Quartet** – _Cosmologamma_ **Nurse With Wound** – _Who Can I Turn to Stereo?_ **Psychic TV** – _Force the Hand of Chance_ **Renaldo & the Loaf** – _Songs for Swinging Larvae_ **The Residents** – _Demons Dance Alone_ **Reutoff** – _Three Withered Souls_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716.md?page=3)