Domhnall
05-07-2007, 12:33 AM
Well, there's a top ten favourite band thread so why can't there be a top twenty favourite album thread? Especially since when you're thinking about favourite bands you have to factor in how much of their stuff you have heard how many good albums they've got, when does a large amount of good songs get more points than a few truly exceptional songs and so on and so forth. Yeah, basically this way it easier for me.
Also hopefully we can get some discussion on why their your favourite albums and then others could recommend you stuff with what your favourite albums are in mind (which makes recommending things a lot easier than just throwing a band into the music recommendation thread).
If you don't have a top twenty just put in as much as you can (but don't put in too much as then it can just become crazily long lists without a great deal of thought).
So, yes. My top twenty albums are..
20. http://grza.net/GIS/Simon%20and%20Garfunkel%20Bridge%20Over%20Troubled%20Water%201.jpg
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Such pretty sounds.....I don't really know how to actually describe this album. It's not because it's really odd or anything, because it isn't at all...But it's just...It's Bridge Over Troubled Water...Everyone knows that song..Everyone knows Cecilia....Well, I love this album and The Only Living Boy in New York is definately one of my favourite songs ever and The Boxer is a classic.
19. http://s.yottamusic.com/i/ara1.5nVQ/375x375
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Possibly the most modern album which is considered by many to be a classic album. Released in 2004 from that lovely modern musical land of Canada. The fact that it's a debut album makes the entire thing more impressive. Forget those Neon Bible hypers this is the Arcade Fire album. The entire things flows beautifully and it's also got some of the most beautiful songs I've heard ('Une année sans lumière', for example). Although it's also got big thumping songs which I can't imagine how thrilling it would be to see them perform live. Neighbourhood #3 must be an amazing experience. My favourite track is Rebellion (Lies). If you've heard of this album but have not heard it I strongly suggest you do and if you haven't heard of it I just want to ask you one thing 'Where have you been for the past three years?'
18. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009LVXT.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
A pop album from the American indie pop band The Shins from 2003. I love this album, the only reason it isn't higher on this list is because it's a bit too short but every track is a good one and most of them are fantastic. It's also got quite a large variety in songs, acoustic driven ones (Young Pilgrims), the floatey atmosphere ones (Those to Come) and proper stompers (So Says I, that song in concert is so much fun). The actual start is brilliant as well 'Clap clap clap clap clap clap "WOO!"'.
17. http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/michael_jordan/imgs/4/7/47f10f18.jpg
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
A straight-up folk album from the early 70s from Nick Drake. The entire album is just Nick Drake singing and playing his acoustic guitar (apart from a short piano piece in the opening title track which Nick Drake played). However whilst listening to the album the thought that it's too barren never comes into your head, even the instrumental doesn't come across as boring because Nick Drake was such a fantastic player of the acoustic guitar. The entire album is quite melancholy but whilst listening to it you just drift along with Nick and his gorgeous voice. Definately desveres to be in anyone's top twenty.
16. http://www.almostcool.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/cover04.jpg
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Well, some people hate this album. They call it pretentious or self-indulgent and I can accept that. They don't like Joanna Newsom's unusual singing style (the singing could easily pass as a pre-teen) and they may ignore the lyrics because of this. However I love this album. I loved it on the first listen bar one track, 'Monkey & Bear' but after a few listens I love that one as well. The album has Joanna with her harp and some orchestration and has fairytale0-esque lyrics (actually like a Shaklespeare play you understand the whole thing better if you sit there listening whilst having the words in your hand) in the background and there's only five songs (although the album is around 55 minutes in length). My favourite is definately 'Only Skin'. As it nears the end (around the 15th minute) it climaxes with a male singer joining in.
15. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000JHAU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
The only Scottish album in my top twenty (although Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub came close) goes to a band which has been voted the best Scottish band ever. There's not actually that much to say about this album. It's the best twee pop album I've heard and if you don't like twee pop I doubt this album has a fantastic chance of chaning your mind about the genre (although it does have a chance). My favourite tracks are Me and the Major (full of energy with fun(ny) lyrics) and Fox in the Snow whichr eally should be Scotland's alternative anthem instead of that Proclaimers song.
14. http://christianpatterson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/eggleston3_radio_city.jpg
Big Star - Radio City
Why oh why aren't Big Star fantastically famous?! They came out in the best decade for guys who refuse to listen to anything else (the 70s) and they're so incredibly talented, I mean 'Thirteen' has to be one of the sweetest songs ever (up there with 'God Only Knows' in my opinion). But alas, they are not. But! But their music is still around and the critical acclaim still lurks. Power pop which just about everyone I've gave a listen to have enjoyed. The best tracks on the album are the fast ones (the opening track is fantastic) but the slower numbers such as 'Way Out West' and 'Setptemer Gurls' is one of the classic singles that never was. I'd recommened this to anyone regardless of musical tastes.
13. http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Tips/PixiesDoolittle.jpg
Pixies - Doolittle
quiteLOUDquiet is the general consensus on the way you describe Pixies sound. Really, because that's the way it goes. It has some amazing tracks (Debaser, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Hey) and there isn't a single song which is bad. Sure there are songs that aren't necessary due to some of the short wee snippets you get but this is one of the sing-a-long albums there is. Of course by that I mean shout a long. Frank Black replaces any high notes with a yell. It's also my birthyear album (favourite album from the year I was born). Yay for 1989!
12. http://www.pergunnareriksson.se/images/Beatles_AbbeyroadB.jpg
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Come Together. What is it about that song which I love so, so much? It's so simple but it's genius! In fact this entire album is (genius that is, not simple). You've got your crazy pop stuff (Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Octopus's Garden), your stuff that actually means something (Because) and then one big ass medley at the end. Oh, and a little sign off (Her Majesty). There is not a single bad song on this album but hey, that's what The Beatles did.
11. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000373U.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Another sadly deceased brilliant acoustic guitar player but Elliott Smith came 25 years after Nick Drake. Either/Or isn't as immediate as the three albums which came after it and possibly it's less immediate than the two acoustic driven albums before it but if you keep listening and just laying there letting Elliott suck you in one day it just hits you: this album is a masterpiece. Melancholy is not the word to describe this album. There are no real happy lyrics here (except for the final track, Say Yes, but even then he is self depricating in his lyrics 'I'm damaged, bad at best') but it never seems like he's crying for attention or bemoaning his situation like all those emo bands about. His lyrics just tell a situation and are led along by his guitar playing (Angeles is a great example of Elliott's skill with a guitar) with some drums somewhere in the background. I feel bad not having this album in my top ten, actually. Between the Bars is just one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard and due to it's length, 2 minutes and 21 seconds, I find myself replaying it seven or eight times before I move onto the rest of the album. Definately recommened this to anyone who likes any sort of acoustic guitar driven music or emotive lyrics.
10. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005KAON.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance
Holy hell why aren't these guys the most famous band on the planet right now? They absolutely kick ass. This is, in my opinion, their best album (2001), and definately one of the finest mainly fast paced albums there is. Ever. Ted Leo is without a doubt one of the finest songwriters today (in both music and lyrics) and he's so underappreciated it makes me despair. If you like Green Day or Fall Out Boy or any of those bands like that you should really check out Ted Leo. Heck, everyone should. The real standout track of this album is Timorous Me. A song about relationships in which Ted enthusiastically sings about random people and his connections to them and then it climaxes in a pseudo Irish drumming and claps and totally rocks out.
9. http://a6.vox.com/6a00c2251fca358e1d00c2251f91eef219-500pi
Radiohead - OK Computer
Single figures! Although it's a double figure anniversary for OK Computer; it's been ten years since it was released. Frequently polled as the greatest album ever I don't even think it's Radiohead's best but by God is it an amazing album. Airbag is a fantastic opener and Paranoid Android is the modern day Bohemian Rapsody (except, you know, it's good). This album is filled with classic tracks (Karma Police, No Surprises) and I even enjoy the Stephen Hawking voice of Fitter Happier in which it's just the voice telling himself what he must do to be a better person as the piano in the background builds up and you realise the whole situation is just plain wrong. Ah, Radiohead. It's good to have a modern day band rightly considered to be one of the greatest ever.
8. http://static.flickr.com/26/88222455_79acc9da8b.jpg
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Another seventies album. Strangely it's a bit of a cross between pop and ambient...Yeah...I know how that sounds. But please, bear with me. The instrumentals are the sections which seem ambient (with Becalmed being a simply stunning song) whilst the voiced parts are more pop based. St. Elmo's Fire is a standout track wih some of the best guitar work I've heard. Then theres all the harmonies above that.
7. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000001FFJ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
1985, the year of the rain dog. I find it nearly impossible to describe this album for a very different reason than I do for Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's kinda like free-form jazz....Experimental blues....It's a little bit rough around the edges with a guy who sounds like he's been eating gravel all his life singing. I don't know if he's immensly famous in America and you know all this but from what I've gathered he isn't a superstar overhere (although he should be). This is generally considered to be his best album and I can see why. Perhaps it's a bit long and one sitting may be too much but that's hardly a complaint. It's a brillaint album with insanity, darkness and love going on all around.
6. http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/d/drake_nick~_fiveleave_101b.jpg
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
He's back but this time it's with his debut. This time there's far more instruments but they all come to deliver the same emotion as Pink Moon: melancholy. This album is beautiful. I listen to it and just sit there gob smacked about everything this album has to offer. The music is perfect and the lyrics are moving. He talks about pain but he doesn't used tired cliches. River Man uses the river man who takes you to the underworld to show his state of mind and Three Hours are both brilliant singles. There's the more jaunty and upbeat Man in a Shed to show a different side to this musican before the hauntingly prophetic Fruit Tree (read up about Nick Drake and then read the lyrics) before the soothing closer of Saturday Sun with it's mellow guitar and piano closing the album.
5. http://www.getthatsound.com/General%20Assets/Images/London-Calling-LP.jpg
The Clash - London Calling
This is possibly the most eclectic album on my entire list. It covers so many musical genres and pulls them all of succesfully. The Clash's third album from 1979 is their best and everytime I hear it I just get swept along. A great line from a review about this album is "And indeed Timmy is a little mother-f**ker for even questioning that this is not only the greatest punk album by a nose ring and a half but a contender for greatest pop, rock, reggae and jazz album too." Which is pretty much true (and whilst I don't know who Timmy is for questioning this album he is indeed a little...blighter).
4. http://www.notes.co.il/david/user/marquee%20moon.bmp
Television - Marquee Moon
Know the last thing about London Calling being the best punk album? Well, this is diffrent. This is art punk so it's perfectly fine for it to be higher on my list. This album is simply stunning. From the first few chords of See No Evil you know you're about to hear an album with absolutely fantastic guitraring and do you know what? That is what you hear! The album is a build up and a soothe down around the ten minute Marquee Moon but everything about this is brilliant. Whether it be Friction or Venus or Guiding Light. Love guitars? Get this album!
3. http://pserve.club.fr/whiteal.gif
The Beatles - The White Album
There's this idea that the White Album would have been better if it was compacted into one disc and some of the filler was taken out. To those who say that I respond with a hearty 'Pish posh!' Not that's there's much filler, mind. Even then the filler is incredibly enjoyable. With a double disc album it's hard to pick out particular highlights but Happiness is a Warm Gun is definately one of them as is the utterly fantastic Rocky Raccoon. This album is best heard from start to finish, both albums. Then preferably again and again and again as you realise why people love The Beatles so.
2. http://www.zero.co.nz/music/images/Radiohead%20-%20Kid%20A.jpg
Radiohead - Kid A
After the success of The Bends and OK Computer Thom Yorke went a bit crazy. Then he got his head together and made this masterpiece. The band didn't release any of the songs as singles because this is an album, not a bunch of singles in the same place. However saying that there are many songs which could have easily been singles (The National Anthem, for example with it's famous bass line). Some people say it's pretentious and, well, if this is what pretension is I want some more. The album has the most amazing climax with the last three songs Idioteque, Morning Bell and Motion Picture Soundtrack all in a row and just blowing the listener away. Of course I have to mention How to Disappear Completely as well. This album may be hard to get into and it may take multiple listens and leaving it on the shelf ofr a week or two befroe trying again but once you're in you'll never want to leave.
1. http://gardnerlinn.com/aeroplane.jpg
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
There's every reason why this albums hould not be my favourite. The singer (Jeff Mangum) can't sing, the acoustic guitar which accompanies most songs is never very complex (if you've been playing for a while you can probably match it quite easily) and it's a lo-fi album. But I love all of that. This is a simple man who pours his heart and soul into an album. His voice cracks with emotion as he reaches for high notes and the stream of conscious and dream like lyrics are just amazing. This album is all about the lyrics. They are just simply stunning. I sit listening to this album mouthing every single word and try to piece together what they may mean. There's a lot of Anne Frank in there and a lot of first sexual experiences and first loves and it all comes together. It's never complicated but it never has to be. The album sweeps you up with it and the entire thing links together, Two Headed Boy Pt. 2 (the alnum closer) has the same melody as Two Headed Boy Pt.1 but it is slowed down. Then as the album ends and Jeff Mangun sings out 'God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life' if anyone has a dry eye I can't understand how they manage it.
Also hopefully we can get some discussion on why their your favourite albums and then others could recommend you stuff with what your favourite albums are in mind (which makes recommending things a lot easier than just throwing a band into the music recommendation thread).
If you don't have a top twenty just put in as much as you can (but don't put in too much as then it can just become crazily long lists without a great deal of thought).
So, yes. My top twenty albums are..
20. http://grza.net/GIS/Simon%20and%20Garfunkel%20Bridge%20Over%20Troubled%20Water%201.jpg
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Such pretty sounds.....I don't really know how to actually describe this album. It's not because it's really odd or anything, because it isn't at all...But it's just...It's Bridge Over Troubled Water...Everyone knows that song..Everyone knows Cecilia....Well, I love this album and The Only Living Boy in New York is definately one of my favourite songs ever and The Boxer is a classic.
19. http://s.yottamusic.com/i/ara1.5nVQ/375x375
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Possibly the most modern album which is considered by many to be a classic album. Released in 2004 from that lovely modern musical land of Canada. The fact that it's a debut album makes the entire thing more impressive. Forget those Neon Bible hypers this is the Arcade Fire album. The entire things flows beautifully and it's also got some of the most beautiful songs I've heard ('Une année sans lumière', for example). Although it's also got big thumping songs which I can't imagine how thrilling it would be to see them perform live. Neighbourhood #3 must be an amazing experience. My favourite track is Rebellion (Lies). If you've heard of this album but have not heard it I strongly suggest you do and if you haven't heard of it I just want to ask you one thing 'Where have you been for the past three years?'
18. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009LVXT.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
A pop album from the American indie pop band The Shins from 2003. I love this album, the only reason it isn't higher on this list is because it's a bit too short but every track is a good one and most of them are fantastic. It's also got quite a large variety in songs, acoustic driven ones (Young Pilgrims), the floatey atmosphere ones (Those to Come) and proper stompers (So Says I, that song in concert is so much fun). The actual start is brilliant as well 'Clap clap clap clap clap clap "WOO!"'.
17. http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/michael_jordan/imgs/4/7/47f10f18.jpg
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
A straight-up folk album from the early 70s from Nick Drake. The entire album is just Nick Drake singing and playing his acoustic guitar (apart from a short piano piece in the opening title track which Nick Drake played). However whilst listening to the album the thought that it's too barren never comes into your head, even the instrumental doesn't come across as boring because Nick Drake was such a fantastic player of the acoustic guitar. The entire album is quite melancholy but whilst listening to it you just drift along with Nick and his gorgeous voice. Definately desveres to be in anyone's top twenty.
16. http://www.almostcool.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/cover04.jpg
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Well, some people hate this album. They call it pretentious or self-indulgent and I can accept that. They don't like Joanna Newsom's unusual singing style (the singing could easily pass as a pre-teen) and they may ignore the lyrics because of this. However I love this album. I loved it on the first listen bar one track, 'Monkey & Bear' but after a few listens I love that one as well. The album has Joanna with her harp and some orchestration and has fairytale0-esque lyrics (actually like a Shaklespeare play you understand the whole thing better if you sit there listening whilst having the words in your hand) in the background and there's only five songs (although the album is around 55 minutes in length). My favourite is definately 'Only Skin'. As it nears the end (around the 15th minute) it climaxes with a male singer joining in.
15. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000JHAU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
The only Scottish album in my top twenty (although Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub came close) goes to a band which has been voted the best Scottish band ever. There's not actually that much to say about this album. It's the best twee pop album I've heard and if you don't like twee pop I doubt this album has a fantastic chance of chaning your mind about the genre (although it does have a chance). My favourite tracks are Me and the Major (full of energy with fun(ny) lyrics) and Fox in the Snow whichr eally should be Scotland's alternative anthem instead of that Proclaimers song.
14. http://christianpatterson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/eggleston3_radio_city.jpg
Big Star - Radio City
Why oh why aren't Big Star fantastically famous?! They came out in the best decade for guys who refuse to listen to anything else (the 70s) and they're so incredibly talented, I mean 'Thirteen' has to be one of the sweetest songs ever (up there with 'God Only Knows' in my opinion). But alas, they are not. But! But their music is still around and the critical acclaim still lurks. Power pop which just about everyone I've gave a listen to have enjoyed. The best tracks on the album are the fast ones (the opening track is fantastic) but the slower numbers such as 'Way Out West' and 'Setptemer Gurls' is one of the classic singles that never was. I'd recommened this to anyone regardless of musical tastes.
13. http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Tips/PixiesDoolittle.jpg
Pixies - Doolittle
quiteLOUDquiet is the general consensus on the way you describe Pixies sound. Really, because that's the way it goes. It has some amazing tracks (Debaser, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Hey) and there isn't a single song which is bad. Sure there are songs that aren't necessary due to some of the short wee snippets you get but this is one of the sing-a-long albums there is. Of course by that I mean shout a long. Frank Black replaces any high notes with a yell. It's also my birthyear album (favourite album from the year I was born). Yay for 1989!
12. http://www.pergunnareriksson.se/images/Beatles_AbbeyroadB.jpg
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Come Together. What is it about that song which I love so, so much? It's so simple but it's genius! In fact this entire album is (genius that is, not simple). You've got your crazy pop stuff (Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Octopus's Garden), your stuff that actually means something (Because) and then one big ass medley at the end. Oh, and a little sign off (Her Majesty). There is not a single bad song on this album but hey, that's what The Beatles did.
11. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000373U.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Another sadly deceased brilliant acoustic guitar player but Elliott Smith came 25 years after Nick Drake. Either/Or isn't as immediate as the three albums which came after it and possibly it's less immediate than the two acoustic driven albums before it but if you keep listening and just laying there letting Elliott suck you in one day it just hits you: this album is a masterpiece. Melancholy is not the word to describe this album. There are no real happy lyrics here (except for the final track, Say Yes, but even then he is self depricating in his lyrics 'I'm damaged, bad at best') but it never seems like he's crying for attention or bemoaning his situation like all those emo bands about. His lyrics just tell a situation and are led along by his guitar playing (Angeles is a great example of Elliott's skill with a guitar) with some drums somewhere in the background. I feel bad not having this album in my top ten, actually. Between the Bars is just one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard and due to it's length, 2 minutes and 21 seconds, I find myself replaying it seven or eight times before I move onto the rest of the album. Definately recommened this to anyone who likes any sort of acoustic guitar driven music or emotive lyrics.
10. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005KAON.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance
Holy hell why aren't these guys the most famous band on the planet right now? They absolutely kick ass. This is, in my opinion, their best album (2001), and definately one of the finest mainly fast paced albums there is. Ever. Ted Leo is without a doubt one of the finest songwriters today (in both music and lyrics) and he's so underappreciated it makes me despair. If you like Green Day or Fall Out Boy or any of those bands like that you should really check out Ted Leo. Heck, everyone should. The real standout track of this album is Timorous Me. A song about relationships in which Ted enthusiastically sings about random people and his connections to them and then it climaxes in a pseudo Irish drumming and claps and totally rocks out.
9. http://a6.vox.com/6a00c2251fca358e1d00c2251f91eef219-500pi
Radiohead - OK Computer
Single figures! Although it's a double figure anniversary for OK Computer; it's been ten years since it was released. Frequently polled as the greatest album ever I don't even think it's Radiohead's best but by God is it an amazing album. Airbag is a fantastic opener and Paranoid Android is the modern day Bohemian Rapsody (except, you know, it's good). This album is filled with classic tracks (Karma Police, No Surprises) and I even enjoy the Stephen Hawking voice of Fitter Happier in which it's just the voice telling himself what he must do to be a better person as the piano in the background builds up and you realise the whole situation is just plain wrong. Ah, Radiohead. It's good to have a modern day band rightly considered to be one of the greatest ever.
8. http://static.flickr.com/26/88222455_79acc9da8b.jpg
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Another seventies album. Strangely it's a bit of a cross between pop and ambient...Yeah...I know how that sounds. But please, bear with me. The instrumentals are the sections which seem ambient (with Becalmed being a simply stunning song) whilst the voiced parts are more pop based. St. Elmo's Fire is a standout track wih some of the best guitar work I've heard. Then theres all the harmonies above that.
7. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000001FFJ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
1985, the year of the rain dog. I find it nearly impossible to describe this album for a very different reason than I do for Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's kinda like free-form jazz....Experimental blues....It's a little bit rough around the edges with a guy who sounds like he's been eating gravel all his life singing. I don't know if he's immensly famous in America and you know all this but from what I've gathered he isn't a superstar overhere (although he should be). This is generally considered to be his best album and I can see why. Perhaps it's a bit long and one sitting may be too much but that's hardly a complaint. It's a brillaint album with insanity, darkness and love going on all around.
6. http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/d/drake_nick~_fiveleave_101b.jpg
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
He's back but this time it's with his debut. This time there's far more instruments but they all come to deliver the same emotion as Pink Moon: melancholy. This album is beautiful. I listen to it and just sit there gob smacked about everything this album has to offer. The music is perfect and the lyrics are moving. He talks about pain but he doesn't used tired cliches. River Man uses the river man who takes you to the underworld to show his state of mind and Three Hours are both brilliant singles. There's the more jaunty and upbeat Man in a Shed to show a different side to this musican before the hauntingly prophetic Fruit Tree (read up about Nick Drake and then read the lyrics) before the soothing closer of Saturday Sun with it's mellow guitar and piano closing the album.
5. http://www.getthatsound.com/General%20Assets/Images/London-Calling-LP.jpg
The Clash - London Calling
This is possibly the most eclectic album on my entire list. It covers so many musical genres and pulls them all of succesfully. The Clash's third album from 1979 is their best and everytime I hear it I just get swept along. A great line from a review about this album is "And indeed Timmy is a little mother-f**ker for even questioning that this is not only the greatest punk album by a nose ring and a half but a contender for greatest pop, rock, reggae and jazz album too." Which is pretty much true (and whilst I don't know who Timmy is for questioning this album he is indeed a little...blighter).
4. http://www.notes.co.il/david/user/marquee%20moon.bmp
Television - Marquee Moon
Know the last thing about London Calling being the best punk album? Well, this is diffrent. This is art punk so it's perfectly fine for it to be higher on my list. This album is simply stunning. From the first few chords of See No Evil you know you're about to hear an album with absolutely fantastic guitraring and do you know what? That is what you hear! The album is a build up and a soothe down around the ten minute Marquee Moon but everything about this is brilliant. Whether it be Friction or Venus or Guiding Light. Love guitars? Get this album!
3. http://pserve.club.fr/whiteal.gif
The Beatles - The White Album
There's this idea that the White Album would have been better if it was compacted into one disc and some of the filler was taken out. To those who say that I respond with a hearty 'Pish posh!' Not that's there's much filler, mind. Even then the filler is incredibly enjoyable. With a double disc album it's hard to pick out particular highlights but Happiness is a Warm Gun is definately one of them as is the utterly fantastic Rocky Raccoon. This album is best heard from start to finish, both albums. Then preferably again and again and again as you realise why people love The Beatles so.
2. http://www.zero.co.nz/music/images/Radiohead%20-%20Kid%20A.jpg
Radiohead - Kid A
After the success of The Bends and OK Computer Thom Yorke went a bit crazy. Then he got his head together and made this masterpiece. The band didn't release any of the songs as singles because this is an album, not a bunch of singles in the same place. However saying that there are many songs which could have easily been singles (The National Anthem, for example with it's famous bass line). Some people say it's pretentious and, well, if this is what pretension is I want some more. The album has the most amazing climax with the last three songs Idioteque, Morning Bell and Motion Picture Soundtrack all in a row and just blowing the listener away. Of course I have to mention How to Disappear Completely as well. This album may be hard to get into and it may take multiple listens and leaving it on the shelf ofr a week or two befroe trying again but once you're in you'll never want to leave.
1. http://gardnerlinn.com/aeroplane.jpg
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
There's every reason why this albums hould not be my favourite. The singer (Jeff Mangum) can't sing, the acoustic guitar which accompanies most songs is never very complex (if you've been playing for a while you can probably match it quite easily) and it's a lo-fi album. But I love all of that. This is a simple man who pours his heart and soul into an album. His voice cracks with emotion as he reaches for high notes and the stream of conscious and dream like lyrics are just amazing. This album is all about the lyrics. They are just simply stunning. I sit listening to this album mouthing every single word and try to piece together what they may mean. There's a lot of Anne Frank in there and a lot of first sexual experiences and first loves and it all comes together. It's never complicated but it never has to be. The album sweeps you up with it and the entire thing links together, Two Headed Boy Pt. 2 (the alnum closer) has the same melody as Two Headed Boy Pt.1 but it is slowed down. Then as the album ends and Jeff Mangun sings out 'God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life' if anyone has a dry eye I can't understand how they manage it.