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Favorite Albums


Guest Odine
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Title says it all. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by the music they enjoy, so I wanna find out some of your favorite albums. There is no minimum or maximum, and you don't have to justify why but again you can if you want. But I wanna know of albums that shaped you as a person, had a huge impact on your life regardless of when you heard them in context to their release. This doesn't have to be ALL of your favorite albums or you entire record collection however.

 

Mine:

 

Sex Pistols 'never mind the bollox here's...' Because Steve Jones was the reason I picked up the guitar.

 

Wire "Pink Flag" I would argue these guys could e one of the most underrated and best punk bands ever. Their songs are far superior to that of the Pistols, Clash, or Ramones IMO. Though I love those bands as well, this album blew me away and changed the way I thought of punk rock.

 

The Beatles "abbey road" and "magical mystery tour". The former for being so bangin', and the latter for being such a ****ing cool, tripped out groove ride. Both albums opened my eyes to the Beatles awesomeness.

 

Sleep "Dopesmoker" or the re release as "Jerusalem". This opened my eyes to how good stoner/metal/doom can be. I listened to it on headphones a lot during my trip to Norway and I gotta say it suited the environment more than what I'd get from their native black metal. So crushingly huge and slow and epic, it felt like a conversation with Norse deities. Dramatic as hell. And it's a 1 hour and 1/2 long song.

 

Mazzy Star "among my swan" because it's so pretty, and their most dynamic work.

 

Wu Tang Clan "36 chambers of death". Opened my eyes to hip hop, as I was a late bloomer with that genre.

 

Nirvana "bleach". Again, one of the first reasons I picked up a guitar. It was hard to avoid and not love this band and album.

 

Årabrot "solar anus". sparse sounding, sludgy, Norwegian noise-rock/metal. Produced by Steve albini. this album nearly blew my head off when I heard it in 2011 or whenever... If anyone enjoys early Melvin's, songs about the bible and pornography I suggest you get this album.

 

The Congos "heart of the Congos". When I first moved to London reggae and dub was my soundtrack. NOTHING beats a hot London summer blasting reggae or dub really loud. And this was my GO TO album.

 

The Stooges "the stooges". Just cause it's brilliant, and I listen to it nearly every day at work. It's a ****ing gem of an album. And it makes me want to jump around like a maniac, and dive off and/or into things.. Like furniture or people. GEnius.

 

 

So... Think that'll do. Probably went on a bit, but you lot get the drift.. What do you got?

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We already have a best album thread, but since this is for favorite albums...

  • The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds, 1966. It kills me how overused and abused so many tracks from this album have become, but I still adore it; it's really not their fault.
  • Black Sabbath: Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, 1973. I love pretty much everything by Sabbath up through their first outing with Dio, but SBS serves as the best collection and culmination of their hard rock, stoner, experimental, and instrumental tendencies.
  • Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare, 1975. Always makes me happy! So very, very happy!
  • Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life, 1976. Insanely long (two albums and an EP), and not a single throwaway track. Covers pretty much everything from romance to social issues to nightmares to fantasies, all with clever arrangements and super tight performances.
  • Van Halen: Fair Warning, 1981. "So This Is Love?" notwithstanding, who knew Van Halen was capable of such a mean, grungy album? Bank robberies, prom-queens-gone-porn-star, possible alien abductions? Sing more about that kinda stuff, plz.
  • Prince/Prince & the Revolution: Purple Rain, 1984. 43:50, and not a dull note to be found. Funk, rock, pop, and a hell of a lot of skill and integrity (he wanted to become a superstar, so it's OK). Can't think of another album as loved by critics and the listening public that actually meets (and exceeds) the hype as well as this.
  • Metallica: Master of Puppets, 1986. The best convergence of Metallica's thrash and technical tendencies. Also, every song ****ing rules. Rules.
  • Frank Black: Teenager of the Year, 1992. Not nearly as influential as his Pixies stuff, but just a super cohesive album with his best songwriting. My username at Nightly is based off of this album's opening track.
  • Polvo: Today's Active Lifestyles, 1993. One of the world's greatest guitar/noise albums ever... only the songs are amazing, too. Love love love listening to it from front to back. It'll change you, man!
  • Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: Pig Lib, 2003. Couldn't download this when it came out, and was so eager it became the last CD I ever bought. Just a solid-all-around album, and great to listen to all the way through (including the extras). Definitely lived up to my expectations.
  • Ween: Quebec, 2003. It's gonna be a long night! The most disjointed album ever that I can still listen to in order, all the way through at least three times in a row.

If it's newer than 10 years, I haven't had enough time to be sure it's a "forever album."

 

-----

 

Also: pretty much everything The Kinks did while exiled from touring in the U.S. is amazing, and I wanted to include something... but I'd have to put their 1967-1970 output onto a compilation and leave a few bleah tracks out to listen to it all the way through. Bob Mould is kinda the same way -- always love individual tracks, not always sold on the "experience."

 

:eek:

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I also think Wham!'s Make it Big (1984) is pretty freakin' sweet from start to finish, but didn't include it, cuz I thought it might be viewed as a troll or joke response. It's a long-time guilty pleasure, though.

 

Ohhhh lord ... you can have it. I think that's just about my least favorite recording ever.

 

 

Led Zeppelin IV - For reasons both personal and general. This album was there for me in some pretty dark times, and its highlights - Stairway to heaven and (especially) Battle of Evermore - perhaps my absolute all time favorite song, stand as anthems of perseverance and triumph.

 

Judas Priest "Sad Wings of Destiny" - The Priest at their absolute best, and Rainbow's "Rising" - Probably the best thing Blackmore OR Dio were ever involved with. Both these albums are the pinnacle of hard rock's emergence from its psychidelic roots and into what metal would become, capturing the best of both worlds in both instances. When either of these albums are playing, the world stops as far as I'm concerned, and they're played all the way through and given the reverence they deserve.

 

Metallica "Kill 'Em All" - Neither Metallica nor Megadeth would come near this perfect blend of precision and fury ever again. Neither would any other metal band, come to think of it. The quintessential metal album - often imitated, never duplicated. Ride the Lightning, on the other hand, was why I started listening to metal.

 

Number of the Beast and Piece of Mind. Maiden's all time best.

 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. It's hard to narrow it down with the Beatles, and find myself listening more to self made compilations of material from the 65-70 time frame, but these two have always stood out as far as original studio releases go.

 

The Clash "Combat Rock" - forget London Calling, (which I love dearly, but listened to WAY too much of once upon a time) I think this is where the Clash finally succeed in crafting an album with the kinds of varied song structures that they do without a single lame, filler track. The only thing of theirs I play all the way through.

 

Blue Oyster Cult "Spectres" - How can you argue with something that starts with Godzilla and ends with Nosferatu. Another great album that diversifies structure and style while staying solid all the way through. Secret Treaties is also a superb work light years ahead of its time.

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When I was 12-13, albums were a big deal. The switch from AM hits on the radio being the only thing that mattered to the over-taking of the FM band from Classical Music was complete and the stereo capabilities of the FM band were totally exploited. Tracking entire albums as a feature on late-night radio began and the concept album was the norm. That's something that's not a given any longer, so my favorite albums are all concepts or at least, cohesive as a collection of songs.

 

Old faves:

Pink Floyd/DSotM-insanity in pretty music.

Bowie/Ziggy Stardust-how can you NOT love a cross-dressing glam alien who rocks?

Who/Tommy-it's a Townsend rock opera, so...

Cars/Cars-rock/pop music perfection

 

Just plain good music:

The Proclaimers/Sunshine in Leith (so many bigger albums came out in mid 1988 that I think this got buried. If you like "500 Miles", this is an untapped gem)

Boxing Ghandis/self-titled debut . A tiny blip in AAA rotation with " If You Love Me, Why Am I Dying?" but the album is solid and consistent. If you like lite neo-funk, this is for you.

 

I don't have enough time now for more-maybe later.

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David Bowie - Station to Station. (Big surprise, eh?)

Bleak, strange, ten minute start with monotone noise in the background, something almost reminding of soul music somewhere, something else that sounds like Krautrock, incomprehensible lyrics but apparantly a slim pale aristocrat is throwing darts in lover´s eyes which must be painful. Guitars that sound like just about everything except guitars. And still hummable, memorable and catchy. And that´s just the opening track. Add That Voice, with his best performance ever, slightly robotic, sneering, arrogant and still with a touch of vulnerability. Nothing else sounds like "Station to station" and nothing ever will.

 

As for a bunch of others:

 

Kurgan, "Secret treaties" has the upper hand on "Spectres" in my book. C´mon, just naming a track "Harvester of eyes" gives a bonus point. The sinister-but-pretty harmonies (and disturbing lyrics) are BÖC:s best on this. And then there´s that lonely piano going straight from "Flaming telepaths" to "Astronomy", one of the great spine chilling moments of music! Only way to improve it would be if "The last days of May" had been on this album as well.

 

Priest - Sin after sin.

I change Priest fave day to day. It´s "Stained class" most of the time really. But "Sin after sin" is so damn varied, from their one succesful ballad ("Last rose of summer" to the sheer speed-metal-before-speed-metal of "Dissident aggressor" Not to mention the singing of course. Sacrifice to vice or die by the hand of the Sin-NAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

 

Alice Cooper - Killer

The title says it all. No? K then, perfect mix of short-and-snappy rock songs like "Under my wheels" and "Be my lover" shifting to weird, creepy stuff like "Halo of flies" and "Dead babies". Both the hit-Alice and the creep-Alice on one record. "Dwight Fry" oughtta be on it to be perfect though...

 

New Model Army - Ghost of Cain

Or "Thunder and consolation"? Nah, I think "Ghost of Cain" this week. The Clash´s smarter, angrier kid brothers railing against just about everything in the whole world. Except vigilates, they get their homage in "The hunt": "We can spend our whole lives waiting for some justice to be done--- unless we make our own". Every time me and my mate Ralph get drunk we end up shouting "51st state" while staggering down the street. Cuz "we´re WASPs, yeah, proud American sons, we know how to clean our teeth and how to strip down a gun..." Justin Sullivan´s lyrics never bit harder or were delivered with more venom than on this album.

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Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams - Gold

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

Jeff Buckley - Grace

Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten

Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

Michael Jackson - Bad

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Radiohead - The Bends

Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

The Replacements - Let it Be

Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

Prince - Purple Rain

Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows

Butch Walker - I LIked it Better When You Had No Heart

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Led Zepplin - III

Aerosmith - Aerosmith

The Who - Who's Next

Pulp - Different Class

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Jay -Z - The Black Album

Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP

Kanye West - The College Dropout

Dr. Dre - The Chronic

NWA - Straight Outta Compton

Lou Reed - Transformer

Pearl Jam - Ten

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

 

To name but a few.

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The Beatles: Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Peppers, Abbey Road

Bob Dylan: Brining it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde

Beach Boys: Pet Sounds

The Doors: The Doors

Guns N Roses: Appetite for Destruction

Beastie Boys: License to Ill, Paul's Botique

Weezer: The Blue Album

Billy Joel: The Stranger

Kid Rock: Devil Without a Cause

Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP

 

That's just the top off my head.

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Okay. So I went to school in the late 80s so you are probably going to laugh and laugh at me.

 

I love me some or otherwise known as my I can listen to the whole album without skipping a song:

 

U2 - Joshua Tree. Maybe because it was all the rage and the biggest thing ever at the time I was in high school and they were from across the ocean that I consider them part of my generations "Rolling Stones". They were the only mainstream 80s players I didn't dismissively go, "FEH" to and I can still listen to the full album without coloring my face red and musically it was pretty damn good. And I rejected a lot of 80s stars like Michael Jackson and Duran Duran outright.

 

REM - Automatic for the People. - I lived in GA for about ten years of my life and was right down the road from Athens. I have seen many a REM concert and love them. I can listen to almost the whole album. One song is starting to grate a little but I can usually tune it out. "Try not to breathe" will be played at my funeral.

 

Erasure - The Innocents - I can sing "River Deep - Mountain HIIIIIIIIIIGH" to this day and love the whole silly album. Frivolous David Bowie like concerts put on by the guys were also a big sell and awesome to go to see. Still worth the money for a ticket. Which is another reason why I love this album because I can remember my youthful transgressions of going to those concerts.

 

I will think of more but that is what I have in the car right now.

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Kurgan, "Secret treaties" has the upper hand on "Spectres" in my book. C´mon, just naming a track "Harvester of eyes" gives a bonus point. The sinister-but-pretty harmonies (and disturbing lyrics) are BÖC:s best on this. And then there´s that lonely piano going straight from "Flaming telepaths" to "Astronomy", one of the great spine chilling moments of music! Only way to improve it would be if "The last days of May" had been on this album as well.

 

A strong case could be made. In some respects I think of Secret Treaties as being the slightly little brother of Rising and Sad Wings mentioned above. All three of these albums were light years ahead of their time, and would lay the foundations for what metal would become, without becoming themselves trapped by the conventions of genre metal, since that really didn't exist so much back then. Still and all though, Spectres just sticks with me more. I don't think anything by B.O.C quite matches Golden Age of Leather or I love the Night.

 

New Model Army - Ghost of Cain

Or "Thunder and consolation"? Nah, I think "Ghost of Cain" this week. The Clash´s smarter, angrier kid brothers railing against just about everything in the whole world. Except vigilates, they get their homage in "The hunt": "We can spend our whole lives waiting for some justice to be done--- unless we make our own". Every time me and my mate Ralph get drunk we end up shouting "51st state" while staggering down the street. Cuz "we´re WASPs, yeah, proud American sons, we know how to clean our teeth and how to strip down a gun..." Justin Sullivan´s lyrics never bit harder or were delivered with more venom than on this album.

 

Wow - you sure brought back some memories with this one. I remember listening to this back in '89, saw them live on their Thunder and Consolation tour. I had a bunch of it on cassette and never did replace it once I finally dragged my musical format out of the dark ages. Guess I'll just have to get over to YouTube then ...

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"Rising" is one of my top albums as well. Always in the top ten, sometimes in the five. Only thing keeping it out of the very top is a couple of pretty lackluster songs on the A side of the LP. (Yeah, I´m old.) "Do you close your eyes" is the real miss, out of place thematically as well. The B side basically created half of the metal bands we know today. From Helloween to Dream Theater basically everything can be traced back here.

 

"Sad wings" and the two follow-ups "Sin after sin" and "Stained class" created the other half. Heck, "Dissident aggressor" alone created thrash metal and speed metal at once! And no "The ripp-AAAAAAAAH" would mean no Iron Maiden as we know it.

 

BÖC were always too out there to get many followers and still today remain a unique band at their best. Unfortunately, I´ve only seen the recent lineups because I´m not THAT old. Alan Lanier RIP, his piano andk eyboard playing was such a big part of the beautiful but sinister setting of their earliest and best days. Post "Fire of unknown origin" there´s not much to talk about. A song here and there though... "Black blade" (K, I´m partial for being a huge Elric fan), "Harvest moon" and "The old gods return" are highlight.

 

All credit to Sabbath, but in my opinion they were never a metal band until Dio joined and metal was already there. Dark yes, sinister, hell yes, heavy, oh yeah, but not aggressive or fast, that came with Priest. A case could be made for Purple, especially "Burn", though.

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Attempting to keep the list reasonable, I'll say...

 

New Model Army - 'Thunder and Consolation'

I do dearly love 'Cain', but there are other NMA albums I love just as much (notably 'Hopeless Causes'). However, T & C is just simply a notch higher for me. Too strong a playlist, including two of my top 10 faves ("Vagabonds" & "Green & Grey"). The album rises even higher if you count the double-disc reissue, which includes classic tracks like "White Coats", "The Charge", and "Higher Wall" (yet another on my top 10).

 

Judas Priest - 'Unleashed in the East'

Yes, the early albums have some great, great tracks - and many of the best ones are here in ever better versions!

 

Richard Thompson - 'Amnesia' and 'Mirror Blue'

I really can't choose between these two albums. Luckily, I don't have to! If you aren't familiar with RT, do yourself a favor and fix that ASAP.

 

Rush - '2112' and 'Signals'

While it absolutely pains me to leave off 'Moving Pictures', I am trying to keep this list somewhat short, and at the end of the day, these two very different albums are the Rush albums I could least do without.

 

Steve Vai - 'Flex-Able'

I've spent too many hours listening to this album for it not to be on the list. From the kick ass grooves of "Viv Woman" and "Attitude Song", to the quirky Zappa-ness of "Little Green Men', and the raw emotion of "Junkie" - all done with jaw-dropping guitar playing - Vai (nor any of his contemporaries) never topped this album, in my mind.

 

fIREHOSE - 'Flyin' the Flannel'

An awesome band, full of awesome musicians, they never got the recognition they deserved (outside of a play or two on 120 Minutes). This will always be one of favorite albums to listen to while driving remotely long distances. Makes the time go much quicker.

 

Soul Asylum - 'Hang Time'

The perfect point in their career between the wild, unfocused garage rock they started at and the too-damn-polished sound they evolved into. Our love for this album was so great, that my friends and I spontaneously made a 200 mile round trip to go see them on this tour when we heard they were playing that day in our state, but would not be playing our city. It was well worth it.

 

Sugar - 'Copper Blue'

Of all the great albums Bob Mould has been a part of, this is his best. Every time I listen to it is a cathartic experience. 'Nuff said.

 

 

I'm sure I'll kick myself later for forgetting something, but I did promise myself I'd keep it down to ten albums. :shrug:

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Attempting to keep the list reasonable, I'll say...

 

New Model Army - 'Thunder and Consolation'

I do dearly love 'Cain', but there are other NMA albums I love just as much (notably 'Hopeless Causes'). However, T & C is just simply a notch higher for me. Too strong a playlist, including two of my top 10 faves ("Vagabonds" & "Green & Grey"). The album rises even higher if you count the double-disc reissue, which includes classic tracks like "White Coats", "The Charge", and "Higher Wall" (yet another on my top 10).

 

Judas Priest - 'Unleashed in the East'

Yes, the early albums have some great, great tracks - and many of the best ones are here in ever better versions!

 

 

I stick to some rule from my teens that live albums don´t count. Though the word it´s not all that much live anyway.

 

There are so many versions of T&C that I´ve lost count... "White coats" and "The charge" were on the original cd but not on the original lp, vinylists had to buy those and a third track that I´ve forgotten as a separate EP. Those two are incredible songs, as is the quiet menace of "Family life". And I haven´t even mentioned "I love the world" yet. It´s neck to neck with Cain as far as I´m concerned. Cain might be a bit more even, probably for being the shorter album, but T&C is more varied.

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Hey, like I said, even without the bonus tracks, T&C is still head and shoulders above the rest in my book. And as for Unleashed - I don't play by your rules! :p

 

(And according to Rob, only his vocals were redone. Everything else is the original live recording. I don't get too caught up in all that, personally - I just want to hear a great album. And that's what I get every time I put that one on!)

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I own, at most, nine music albums. Not even enough for a Top 10 list!

 

Here they is :

 

Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart

20th Century Masters : The Millennium Edition : The Velvet Underground

Joy Zipper by Joy Zipper

Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (does it count? I think it's just a single with one other song on there maybe)

Out of the Sky, Into The Sea by The Lilas

Young Liars by TV On The Radio

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes by TV On The Radio

Funk'N'Stein The Band by Funk'N'Stein

Mitz by The Apples

 

These are, by default, my favourite albums.

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Hey, like I said, even without the bonus tracks, T&C is still head and shoulders above the rest in my book. And as for Unleashed - I don't play by your rules! :p

 

(And according to Rob, only his vocals were redone. Everything else is the original live recording. I don't get too caught up in all that, personally - I just want to hear a great album. And that's what I get every time I put that one on!)

No but I do, so that was basically explaining why Unleashed wasn´t on my list since I agree. (Compilations are out as well, but I rarely listen to those anyway, somehow they don´t give the same vibe as a whole album or a whole gig.

 

With you on the overdubs thing, almost all official live albums have them in various degrees. The worst one must be on "Alive II" with the inclusion of "Tomorrow and tonight" as a live track. They never, ever played that song live, not one single time...

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  • 2 weeks later...

They did play "Hard luck woman" a few times on the RnR over-tour. Sounded awful though so I´d say it´s a semi-live recording like a soundcheck with Peter´s vocals overdubbed in the studio, on about 150 bootlegs from the old days I still haven´t heard him sing a single song except "Black diamond" well live. And maybe "Hooligan", it´s supposed to sound raw. Wonder why that didn´t make it onto Alive II instead of the never-played TaT?

 

"Tomorrow and tonight" is most likely "live in the studio" with audience noice over it. Doesn´t sound like Ace on the solo, especially not live (i e half dead drunk) Ace... probably Bob Kulick just like four of the five studio tracks.

 

Btw, have you seen the new vids from the KISS Kruise? "The Oath" live! And it kicks ass. Love Paul´s deadpan intro: "This is just for you... cuz you´re the only ones who bought the album. Best thing I´ve heard from the current lineup!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Elder has always held a special place in my heart. It really had the raw ingredients to be a classic album, if not for the drugs & ego that won out over better judgement in some places (like Paul's use of falsetto in this otherwise driving, kick-ass song). This was pretty cool to see/hear, though - thanks for the share! :thumbsup:

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