The Best 25 albums ever (until you ask me again tomorrow).
1. The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
2. The Beatles - Abbey Road
3. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
4. Radiohead - OK Computer
5. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
6. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
7. REM - Automatic For the People
8. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
9. Joy Division - Closer
10. Morrissey - Viva Hate
11. Pink Floyd - The Wall
12. The Beatles - The White Album
13. The Clash - London Calling
14. Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
15. Violent Femmes - 3
16. Nirvana - Nevermind
17. Michael Jackson - Thriller
18. Dead Can Dance - Into The Labyrinth
19. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
20. Psychedelic Furs - Book of Days
21. The Chameleons - The Script of the Bridge
22. Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
23. The Smiths - Meat is Murder
24. Pink Floyd - Animals
25. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Bah, this is impossible. I just thought of 5-10 other albums that should be on this list. No Cure? No Leonard Cohen? No Queen Is Dead? Bob Marley? Gregory Isaacs? Doors? Hmm. Maybe I'll do another top 25 albums list tomorrow and every single one will be different.
Meantime, you could post some of your favorite albums (not in list form or anything). Greatest hits and live albums don't count, or there would be Eagles, Paul Simon, and a whole lot more here. But if you feel like it, list a few of your favorite all-time albums! It'll be fun to see what we all come up with.
What a brave thing to do! I argue incessantly with myself on this subject and will enjoy the sheer torture of trying to put together any kind of list. Meanwhile however, a beautiful day awaits and English coutryside must be traipsed through by two middle aged nutters and a small, equally eccentric boy. Laters....
ReplyDeleteAaargghhhh!! I hate you so much right now! Don't make me choose, Mister. Pleeeeeeeze don't make me do it! Twenty just isn't enough. If it was twenty five or thirty even, I'd be a lot less angst ridden. Do you realise I probably won't sleep tonight for musical negligence guilt trips?
ReplyDeleteHowever, here goes - and I may change my mind in about two hours from now. In no particular order because that would be the cruelest torture:
1. Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
2. Joni Mitchell - Blue
3. Bob Dylan - Desire
4. Cream - Disraeli Gears
5. Led Zepellin - III
6. Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
7. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon.
8. The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed.
9. The Who - Who's Next
10. The Allman brothers Blues Band - Brothers and Sisters
11. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
12. David Bowie- Aladdin Sane
13. Iggy pop - Lust for Life
14. U2- The Joshua tree
15. Elvis Costello- This Year's Model
16. Red Hot Chili peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
17. Nirvana - Nevermind
18. Radiohead - The Bends
19. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
20. Primal Sceam - Screamadelica
Just look what you made me do! *Sob*
It WAS 25, not 20, you dingbat. Plus I explicitly said you needn't make an entire list, just a few of your faves. But look what happens to inattendant students.
ReplyDelete"Unruly girls, who will not settle down, they must be taken in hand! A crack on the head is what you get for NOT ASKING! And a crack on the head, is what you get FOR ASKING!"
-Barbarism Begins At Home, The Smiths
BTW, I have 14 of your 20 albums! That must mean you have good taste :P
Thanks, though, seriously - and great list! And as music is one piece that helps define who we are, these 'silly' exercises do serve a purpose IMO. Anyone else?
Oh yeah, and no sobbing here! Buck up and show me that stiff upper lip, young lady! That's better.
ReplyDeleteI'm inconsistent as to which duplicates I've chosen to exclude. Meta knows I'm with him on the Smiths/Morrissey front, but he knows I share his affection for Closer as well, and I still put it on my list. Ah well, logical consistency be damned!
ReplyDeleteIn no particular order:
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
Closer
Joy Division
Loaded; Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground
Pet Sounds (Yeah, I really DO like it)
The Beach Boys
Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan
Kind of Blue
Miles Davis
Are You Experienced?
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
This Year's Model
Elvis Costello
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
New York; Berlin; Transformer
Lou Reed
Murder Ballads (something so delicious about it...)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
F'n brilliant. Good show, mate.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe I forgot Paul's Boutique, Velvets & Nico, Kind of Blue, The Bends, Aladdin Sane, all of Nick Cave's work (practically), and yeah, Pet Sounds, which is a great album even if it's not #2 to Sgt Pepper's like all the "in" crowd seem to maintain (IMO).
This needed to be a Top 100, I can already feel it. Damn lists...
Oh Damn. It was 25 wasn't it? What an idiot. This may give you some indication of the kind of stress that I've been under for the past couple of days.
ReplyDeleteHere are five more then:
The Doors- L.A. Woman
Sheryl Crow- Tuesday Night Club
Snow Patrol - Final Straw
Macy Gray - On How Life Is
Deep Purple - Who Do we Think we Are?
And I will change my mind several times a month depending on my mood. It is interesting to see some of the similarities though isn't it?
And see what happens when you read someone elses' list? Jonathan, I so very nearly included Lou Reed, Transformer as well. In fact I will. Just for the hell of it!
Nice to see everyone getting along so famously. Music brings the world together. Now we just need empath and disillusionist to get their respective butts on here.
ReplyDeleteAlright, I've decided not to do repeats (Closer, Viva Hate, et al) and to skip the more standard Top 10 type stuff (Dark Side, Abbey Road, etc). What follows is less of a Top 35 and more a list of current/recent favorites. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteSouper Trouper
ABBA
Funeral
The Arcade Fire
Sea Change
Beck
Welcome to the Cruel World
Ben Harper
Dazzling Stranger (Anthology)
Bert Jansch
Wonder Boys (Soundtrack)
Various Artists
I See a Darkness
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Another Day on Earth
Brian Eno
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Bright Eyes
Euphoria Morning
Chris Cornell
Bloodflowers
The Cure
Nether Lands
Dan Fogelberg
Low
David Bowie
Dead Bees on a Cake
David Sylvian
Violator
Depeche Mode
Gravity Pulls
Echobelly
From a Basement on the Hill
Elliott Smith
MCMXC A.D.
Enigma
Marvin the Album
Frente!
Streetcore
Joe Strummer
Sun Ship
John Coltrane
Catalpa
Jolie Holland
Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Mezzanine
Massive Attack
Play
Moby
The Night
Morphine
Broken
Nine Inch Nails
Without You I'm Nothing
Placebo
Rum Sodomy & the Lash
The Pogues
Scott
Scott Walker
Sounds of Silence
Simon & Garfunkel
Peepshow
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Some Girls Wander By Mistake
Sisters of Mercy
This Timeless Turning
Sky Cries Mary
Dusk
The The
Excellent!!!
ReplyDeleteI knew there were such obvious ones I was overlooking. Plus your more experimental / jazz side always intrigues me and pulls me in directions I might not otherwise go.
Elliot Smith! Massive Attack! Morphine! Damn, where was my mind?
Try this one: Regina Spektor. Anyone heard her / like her? She's got a great soprano and plays a staccato piano... and kinda cute.
Oh yeah, and I add all the albums in my post "MORE ALBUMS" just a little above this one. Boo yah.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, that list is almost more encyclopedic than topical. I love all the albums, but not all are on any recent play brigades. Some are just there for completeness, a disease I have.
I'll add the Soundgarden album that has "Black Hole Sun" on it right now, too.
empath informs me that she will likely add to our soiree tomorrow night...
ReplyDelete...
ReplyDelete...
and so we wait for empath...
Yeah! Hmm... Maybe I should call her.
ReplyDeleteEmpath will be gracing us with her presence tomorrow night rather than tonight, as she's just had a 2.5 hour drive in stop-and-go traffic and is not in an optimal music mood.
ReplyDeleteError 404 - Empath not found.
Here are 13 of my favorite albums:
ReplyDeleteBob Seger ~ Against the Wind
Eric Clapton ~ Unplugged
Cliff Richard ~ I'm No Hero
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young ~ Deja Vu
Dan Fogelberg ~ Innocent Age
Jackson Browne ~ Running on Empty
Michael Franks ~ Art of Tea
Norah Jones ~ Come Away with Me
Fleetwood Mac ~ Rumours
Mary Chapin Carpenter ~ Stones in the Road
Les Miserables ~ Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ~ Facing Future
Tolkien Ensemble ~ An Evening in Rivendell
Great ones!!! Not much overlap either. We're gonna have a big database of good music here pretty soon.
ReplyDeleteHere's a brain-fart that should have made the initial list:
ReplyDeleteJeff Buckley - Grace
And here's another really good album to throw on the pile:
Miles Davis - Bitch's Brew
Lastly, anything by Hector Zazou is worth checking out.