Favorite Albums
 

I'm surprised nobody started this topic yet (maybe they did). It's kind of similar to ChickShhh's "Recommendable Albums," but this is more focused to your top music albums of all time. Doesn't matter if it's your top 5, top 10, whatever.

I'll try this the best I can to write my own, but it's so hard to choose one album over another. You all know how it goes. This is just my current line-up:

1) Radiohead - Amnesiac
2) Tokyo Jihen - Adult
3) The Beatles - Abbey Road
4) The Newsboys - Love Liberty Disco
5) Muse - Origin of Symmetry

6) Paul McCartney - Red Rose Speedway
7) Shiina Ringo - Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana
8) Muse - Absolution
9) Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip
10) Matchbox 20 - More Than You Think You Are

11) The Newsboys - Thrive
12) Meg and Dia - Something Real
13) Kaela Kimura - Kaela
14) Paul McCartney - Ram
15) Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie

16) The Beatles - Rubber Soul
17) The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
18) Kaela Kimura - Circle
19) Aya - Senjou no Hana
20) Miki Fujimoto - Miki1



Yeah, that's 20 now albums.. I really couldn't narrow it down too well. If that's too many, just pretend that I put my top 5 on there and then ignore the others. But then I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting. Oh wells.



Edit: That's my final 20. If I edit it anymore, I'll just replace existing albums instead of adding more to the end.

Red Rose Speedway over Rubber Soul (and Ram, KZK, SS)?? Of all the Paul albums, you realize...

As per usual I shall segregate The Beatles from the mere mortals.

Top 10
1) Oasis - (What's The Story?) Morning Glory
2) Beth Orton - Trailer Park
3) Shiina Ringo - Kalk Zamen Kuri no Hana
4) Shiina Ringo - Muzai Moratorium
5) Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness
6) The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon
7) Oasis - Definitely Maybe
8) Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
9) Jamiroquai - Synkronized
10) New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed too...

(eeh, I'm not really sure I'm happy with this, I'll modify this tonight probly)

Top 5 Beatles albums:
1) The Beatles (White Album)
2) Rubber Soul
3) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4) Beatles For Sale
5) With The Beatles

Haha, yeeeah, I'm not sure if that's exactly the order I'd keep them in. But I do love Red Rose Speedway. Aside from When the Night (which is alright) and Loup (nothing special), I'm infatuated with the album as a whole. That's not counting the bonus tracks on the new edition, though. They're okay, but not worthy of being included in the experience.

Aaaand I think I'm going to add some more albums for a grand total of 20. I added 'Senjou no Hana' by Aya, 'Get Behind Me Satan' by The White Stripes, 'Circle' by Kaela Kimura, and 'More Than You Think You Are' by Matchbox 20. And now I'm done changing my mind. :-B

I'm not putting these in any specific order cuz you know...

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Queen - Queen II
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Acidman - and world
The Strokes - Room on Fire
Dio - Holy Diver
Luna Sea - Style
Luna Sea - Mother
Luna Sea - Lunacy
Shiina Ringo - Muzai Moratorium
Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

I'm loving the variety of musical tastes on these forums. :)

1. Björk—Vespertine
2. Joanna Newsom—Ys
3. Kate Bush—Hounds of Love
4. Radiohead—Kid A
5. Shiina Ringo—Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana

6. Joanna Newsom—The Milk-Eyed Mender
7. Björk—Homogenic
8. Erykah Badu—Mama's Gun
9. Tokyo Jihen—Adult
10. Värttinä—Kokko

11. Me'shell Ndegeocello—Bitter
12. Tom Waits—Alice
13. Sleater-Kinney—The Hot Rock
14. Feist—The Reminder
15. Tokyo Jihen—Kyoiku

16. The Knife—Silent Shout
17. Gamelan Sekar Tunjung—The Works of K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat
18. Fennesz—Endless Summer
19. Kate Bush— Aerial
20. Shiina Ringo—Shouso Strip

1. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. Shiina Ringo - Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana
4. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
5. Bjork - Homogenic
6. Metallica - Master of Puppets
7. Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
8. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
9. Joni Mitchell - Blue
10. NOFX - Pump Up The Volume

I purposely didn't use an artist more than once, else the number of artists would have been rather short.

Lots of good stuff in these lists (I assume :whacko: ). I need to listen to the Plastic Ono Band's album. I always hear that it was really good, but I was never a big fan of Lennon's post-Beatles stuff, so I'm taking forever to find it. I suppose you'd recommend it, Whispermon, being that it's on your top albums list? :wakka: :wakka: :wakka: :wakka: :wakka: :wakka:

Brian Eno - On Land
Klaus Schulze - Mirage
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic
Yes - Close to the Edge
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
Gong - You
Pierre Moerlens Gong - Time Is the Key
Area - Maledetti
Rush - Exit Stage .. Left
Vangelis - Opera Sauvage
Chick Corea - Return to Forever
Pat Metheny Group - Travels
Dead Can Dance - Aion
Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.2
Samla Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitatet
Magma - Live

RADIOHEAD - KID A
Radiohead - Hail to the thief
Radiohead - Amnesia
Mogwai - Mr. Beast
Mogwai - Young Team
Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon
Sigur Ros - ( )
Smoke City - Flying Away
Lily Chou-Chou - 呼吸
DJ Krush - 深層
Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within
Current 93 - Softblack Star
Portishead - PNYC
Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare
Coldplay - X & Y
Daftpunk - Discovery
Interpol - Antic
JOY DIVISION - CLOSER
Shiina Ringo - KZK
Black Box Recorder - England Made Me

If I read this, I feel son inexperienced in music. I never listened to

- The Beatles
- Coldplay
- Oasis
- Radiohead
- Muse
- Pink Floyd

Well, only some single songs. Beatles would still be the most, I think all in all about 10 songs (And everything included in Yellow Submarine, I love that flick^^). The rest, 0 songs (Oh wait, I heard Creep).
There are so much other well known bands I never listened to, I just took those from this thread, It would be even more if there were more post I guess^^
I was never a big fan of actual music, because everything I heard at friends and in radio/tv was so :wakka::wakka: until I heard Ringo

Yes, I'd recommend it. It is very dark and honest though. I don't think there's a particularly happy song on the album. 'Mother' is the stand out track. Possibly the most emotional song Lennon's ever written.

I'd say that Radiohead and Pink Floyd are probably the most unusual of that list. I love Radiohead, but I was never able to get into Pink Floyd too much. Creep is actually probably one of my least favorites of Radiohead's songs. It's hard to recommend music from this band because they've changed so much, but I'll give it a try if you're interested. I actually prefer their newer, odder albums, though each of their older ones have a lot that I really like too.

And if you're interested in listening to some Beatles, Muse, or even Coldplay (to some degree), just talk to me or another member who likes these bands -- there are several of us. ;)


RADIOHEAD

Normal songs:

Street Spirit [Fade Out] (earlier song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrZTNhW44-o

Karma Police (mid-point of their continuing career)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LeLAELIxKY



Stranger songs:

Idioteque (newish, but not quite) -- not the real version of the song, but close enough and good nonetheless
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyrQOhKkV8I

How to Disappear Completely -- this song is beautiful, but I think it's probably an acquired taste like a lot of Radiohead's music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZq_jeYsbTs

Like Spinning Plates -- *see above description :whacko: *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQBDsNiCCNM


I'm not sure if those were the best examples to give, but they're a few songs that I (and most Radiohead fans, it seems) really like.

Sorry for the double post, but I didn't want to jumble that all together. I kind of like albums that make you feel a little sad (not emo, mind you :P ). Amnesiac makes me feel a bit melancholy, which is one of the reasons why I love it so. I've heard about Mother.. I didn't realize it was on that album. Now I really want to hear it.

Yeah, I love Amnesiac and I think you picked pretty good selections to introduce somebody. Especially How to disappear completely. That's Thom Yorke's favourite Radiohead song. I'd add the recommendation of these, which are a good accesable starting point:

Fake Plastic Tree's - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-F5L1S7LKU

and

Just (Best music video ever, and it shows that they can ROCK) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5X7HKxpiQA

Have you heard Like Spinning Plates live, Fluffie? I love it so much more. Also, if you like The Clock of Yorke's solo album... listen to this live rendition. It gives me goosebumps! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huXb6lLLy10

KID A - Everything in its right place, National Anthem, Optimistic
Morning bell in Kid A version is cool.

Amnesia - Pyramid Song, You and whose army and Knives out.

Don't you guys into Hail to the thief? :blink: I like a lot song in this album.

Fluffie: did you watched the Pink Floyd or Roger Waters the live of "Dark side of the moon" ?

I love Hail to the Thief, but I thought there were already a good amount of recommendations already. Plus I think there are better 'first timer songs' on other albums.

And I don't think Hail to the Thief has a select few stand out songs in comparison to other albums. While it does have stand out songs for me, the album seems to be completely different for everybody. For example my friend adores 'There There' and Thom said it's one of the best songs they've written, yet I think it's the weakest single they've ever produced. I adore 2+2=5 and Sit Down, Stand Up seems to get quite mixed reactions. I love it.

Yeah, 'Like Spinning Plates' is masterful when he plays it on the piano. And I have Yorke's solo album, but I haven't listened to it enough to know all the songs yet. I did like that video of The Clock though. Thanks for that, mon. :D


I actually like Morning Bell Amnesiac more than Kid A's, but that version is really good too. Does anyone ever listen to 'Treefingers'? I'm kind of upset with that song, though I'm sure there's someone out there who enjoys it.

And ohhh yeah, I definitely like Hail to the Thief. 2+2=5, Sail to the Moon, Go to Sleep, We Suck Young Blood, There There, I Will, A Punchup at a Wedding, Myxomatosis, and A Wolf at the Door (though I'm not fond of the cursing in it) are all awesome songs. "I Will" is one of my favorite songs ever because of its haunting sound, its simplicity, and the fact that I can somewhat sing along to it. Little babies' eyes, eyes, eyes, eyessss...

But negatory, I've never seen Dark Side of the Moon. That's an album too, right? I listened to The Wall, but I thought it was kind of hard to stick with. I'm willing to try them out again if you recommend some stuff though.

One of my house mates calls me Whispermon now lol. This thread has made me listen to Hail to the Thief actually. I've decided one day when it's raining, I want to blast Sit Down, Stand Up and then when it kicks in and "The Rain Drops!" repeats 47 times I want to run into the street and dance around shouting the lyrics like a made caveman might dance around a fire with a stick. Radiohead has that type of influence on me :P. I love the way Thom dances on stage... it might not look cool, or make much sense but you can tell he is just letting the music take control and flowing with it.

yea all your choice is almost the same, expecially there there, go to sleep, we suck young blood, I will.

Dark Side of the Moon is the most important album in the century, i watched Roger Waters playing the whole album in the concert at Hong Kong, until now it's the best concert in my life, strongly recommend you to buy a dvd which played by him or nowaday PINK FLOYD.

Hahaha, that's awesome. Your mission: Get everyone you know to call you Whispermon.. And then a couple months after it's caught on, add the condition that every time they call you that, they have to give you five dollars.

But chyeah, Hail to the Thief is kind of hard to get into at first, like some of their other albums, but it's cool that you started listening to it again. :P

Now, the rain dance idea is a swell one. I might actually do that too if I get the chance, though my mom would get mad if I blasted music that loud. She can't stand Radiohead because of their awesomeness.

And Thom certainly does look cool when he dances! :lol:



Alrighty, I'll give that a try. Thanks for the recommendation, vayer! By the way, I like the new avatar :P

Ringo - Shouso strippu (MM deserves it too, but)
Katatonia - Discouraged ones (this probably really ties with Shouso strippu)
Opeth - Morningrise (I used to have this album on repeat. It made me stay overnight (not go home) a few times at work some years ago.)
Rotting christ - A dead poem (name - Greek band, don't blame me)
Edge of sanity - Crimson (well, it's a 40 minute track'd single, but...)

Necro'd!

The reason for this is actually a good one: if you posted in this thread before, try quoting your old post and see if your list has changed at all. It may be interesting.

Well, I can tell you that Asobi Seksu's Citrus album jumped onto my list. Probably even to the very top. Sure the album sags a tiny bit between Red Sea and Exotic Animal Paradise, but I can't think of a more solid album from beginning to end.

Hey, I like those two tracks the most!

^ I meant the songs in between them: Goodbye, Lions and Tigers, and Nefi+Girly. Those three songs are just very good instead of great or mindblowing.

Necro time.

There are a few ways I can approach this. I can approach from the artistic masterpiece side, but if I consider an album particularly ground breaking, that doesn't mean I listen to it a lot. Plus I have some compilations that I love that this would ignore. I can approach it from the number of plays side, but that ignores some albums I really like but I don't play much. So I decided to approach it from the "comfort foods" side. You know, those albums that I might not listen to a whole lot but I always find myself going back to. Plus like comfort foods, it's not until you're sitting down and eating that you fully realize how much you craved it.

Here are some of my comfort food albums in no order--not all old, some quite recent, but all good. (I'm also leaving out SR/TJ.)

Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
Beatles - Revolver
Brilliant Green - Terra 2001
Pillows - My Foot
Fujifabric - Fujifabric
Madness - Wonderful
Maná - Amar es Combatir
Yaida Hitomi - Daiya-monde
Puffy - Solo Solo
Cocco - Zansaian
Lily Allen - Allright, Still
John Lennon - Mind Games
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Zero 7 - Simple Things
Putumayo Presents: South Pacific Islands
Putumayo Presents: Turkish Groove
Jimmy Cliff (and others) - The Harder They Come soundtrack

01. the brilliant green - Los Angeles
02. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
03. Sakanaction - Shinshiro
04. The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
05. NICHIKA - NICHIKA
06. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
07. Chara - CAROL
08. Vampire Weekend - Contra
09. the brilliant green - THE WINTER ALBUM
10. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

The first two are the only ones that haven't moved from their spots since I first heard them. Los Angeles has been my favorite album since 2005, while Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut cemented itself at the number two slot about a month after its release. The rest aren't really in order and are likely to change every couple of months (ie: there isn't even a Top 20 for Neon Bible to be in anymore).

always surprised when someone puts Neon Bible ahead of Funeral.

I can't help it. I hate "Une année sans lumière". =[

Lists are fun!

1. The Smiths - Meat is Murder
2. Shiina Ringo - Muzai Moratorium
3. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
4. Malice Mizer - Voyage
5. Chiyo Okumura - Coquettish Bomb

6. Jaurim - Yeoin
7. The Supremes - Gold
8. Namie Amuro - 181920
9. Momoe Yamaguchi - Phoenix Densetsu
10. The Phantom of the Opera - Original Cast Recording

11. Depeche Mode - Violator
12. LUNA SEA - Image
13. Faye Wong - Jang Ai
14. Perfume - GAME
15. Radiohead - OK Computer

16. Joy Division - The Best Of
17. Alizee - Psychédélices
18. Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVEppears
19. Mozart - Requiem (Specifically this recording)
20. Baby V.O.X - Boyish Story

I'm sure I forgot something, but that's a good overview at least. Only one album per artist, or else all of The Smiths and Ringo's album would be there. And I have a couple of best of albums in there, but I treat those ones more like I would a regular album than not so I count them. ^^;

Here are some of my favorite albums. Just the first 20 I thought of.

XTC - Skylarking
Steely Dan - Aja
Brian Eno - Before and After Science
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Peter Gabriel - So
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
YMO - Technodelic
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Devo - Are We Not Men?
Cocco -Zansaian
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Puffy - Nice
David Byrne and Brian Eno - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Pizzicato Five - Bossa Nova 2001
Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
King Crimson - Discipline
Vangelis - China
David Bowie - Heroes
Bill Nelson - The Love That Whirls

at the moment:

Scarlet's Walk - Tori Amos



this album is to credit for imparting me with an understanding and love for a land I had never taken an interest in. As an American we can get so caught up with what it means to be an American, as a social and political creature, and we talk about this land, America, as being only 300 years old, but when you start to talk about the land, and the inherent spirit in this place we all live but take for granted, it is taken into another realm entirely. I've always loved Native American culture and tradition, but this album was something entirely different, it was the history of the land we call America presented in sonic form and told through the story of a fictional character named Scarlet. It is such a difficult work to digest, I admittedly liked it least out of all her works when it was released (which is ironic given that A Sorta Fairytale, the lead-in single, was a radio success and what caught my attention in the first place). However, once I really started to think about the music, the lyrics, the story, and I read the accompanying A Scarlet Story (which explains the story of Scarlet as she travels through all 50 states), it started to unfold for me. So many of the songs on this album are so devastatingly beautiful, it just hard to resist.

top picks: A Sorta Fairytale, Your Cloud, I Can't See New York, Taxi Ride, Pancake, Virginia, Gold Dust.

My stupid List
 

Call it a compulsion. I have compiled and ranked a list of my twenty favorite albums. Many argue the futility in such an exercise. “Why do you need rank things you already like? Just enjoy them equally!” It isn’t so much that X has to be better than or inferior to Y and for some reason I need to know this. Tastes change and feelings towards things like music change and maybe I like to see these changes, these relations, and consider what they mean. If they do mean anything, that is. For my three middle-school years, every week I would compile a “top 10” list of my favorite songs of that week and play the 10 songs in order in my room, making an impromptu show for myself to both direct and enjoy. This was religion. As eluded, only part of the fun was blasting the music from my stereo. I would keep all the weekly lists in a white binder, where the real fun lived. With this data, I would go and tabulate how long certain songs were on the list, how fast they ascended and fell, how long they occupied the top spot. Perhaps simply out of this programming is why I enjoy list-making in general. But I believe it’s deeper than that. I believe by doing this exercise I can to learn more about my tastes, the music, and ultimately myself.


It’s entertaining to write and read scathing opinions of music you hate, but I would truly rather talk about music I like. It’s more difficult, sure, to coherently express the good qualities of something as subjective as music, how it makes you feel, and do it in a way that piques discussion. “I like it cause it’s good,” a common sentiment, doesn’t cut the mustard on any level. Isn’t this why people post on music discussion forums at some core, to talk about things they like? This is what I aim to do. With my freshly tabulated top twenty (that is by no means definitive,) I am going to try my very best to write something entertaining, thoughtful and something hopefully stir up some discussion to cue you to think and talk about your music in a similar manner and join in on the fun! Nothing says fun like deliberation, meditation, and examination right?


Obviously, to cull a list of twenty, I kicked around considerably more than twenty albums. I went ahead and ordered in excess of twenty, for the sake of fun, and for the relationships between some top twenty albums to non twenty albums which were quite interesting. I decided I would also include discussions for a few of the albums that I ranked above my personal top twenty, but only as a supplement to the twenty, our main focus.


Additionally, my approach is to not just to drop a full list and annotate it with some thoughts. I plan to present a, hopefully, well thought out article for each entry in an order governed only by what I deem interesting.



With that said, I hope you enjoy my first post in this series and hope I can see this through!

=============
#20 and #21: The King of Limbs and Shouso Strip
#16: The Aeroplane Flies High
#17 and #11: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
#19 and #18: Doolittle and First Band on the Moon
#14: Pinkerton
#15 and #13: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Sappukei
#12: Funeral
#8: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
#10 and #4: Trailer Park and Central Reservation
#7: Nevermind
#6: Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana
#5: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
#9: Bitte Orca
#3: (What's the Story?) Morning Glory
#1: The Beatles
#2: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

My stupid List (What makes an album?)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 4986
My ordering criteria are as unorthodox as they are personal. This is a personal list, I have a special connection, history, and feelings towards these records and that factors greatly. But it’s not the sole variable. Something has to be said of overall composition and focus; quality. A person may like The Backstreet Boys a whole lot, but saying “I Want it that Way” is better than something like Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on those grounds is pretty heinous (and what’s the likelihood anyone would want to read this guy’s opinions?) So this list is grounded on the soupy foundation of personal preference and artistic quality. Attributes balanced and adjusted on a case-by-case basis by me and my whims as an accurate portrayal of the concept we call opinion.

The schism between the numbers 20 and 21 is apparent inherently in this situation, but I had no idea how deep until it came to deciding what was in the top twenty and what was out. The gap between 20 and 21 not only encompassed the difference between artistic quality and personal preference, but the ideas of accessibility, artistic goal, and art itself.

The choice was between Shiina Ringo’s sophomore effort, Shouso Strip, and Radiohead’s newest, The King of Limbs. The juxtaposition was delicious. At the time, the former sounded most like the latter, which was apparently a big influence. Arriving at these two albums was quite the conundrum.

Historically, if you asked me to select between Shouso Strip and Shiina Ringo’s debut Muzai Moratorium, I would have picked the debut (their first album was always better, no?) Too in my selection process Muzai Moratorium (earning its honorable mention here) was floating near a late-teen placement until I forced myself to actually think about the album. It’s a stellar album and a strong debut. It is easily her most accessible work and has strong hooks. I’ve always viewed it and Shouso Strip as sister albums, separated by mere months and sharing common origins. But perhaps I foolishly never bothered to consider what was truly separating these works. Muzai is the squeals of an optimistic girl chomping at the bit to make a record and succeed, if rebellious by Japanese societal standards. Shouso Strip is the stroke of a woman determined to steer her career, and perhaps the musical scene, somewhere deliberate and challenging.

Shouso Strip is definitely a denser record on cursory glance. Noise, beeps, and samples abound. These are not empty adornments to disguise shallow songs; her songs grew more complex and meaningful than her arrangements. No longer does she muse about her idols, where she’s grown up, and how she makes music. She had learned a lot in those mere months. She looks past herself and addresses femininity, and objects to just what the hell it means. We get an album of varied music with differing sensibilities all earnestly handled and possessed by Shiina the auteur. Few other albums will you find such differing representative singles as Shouso Strip. What it lacks in accessibility, it gains in monster hooks to ensnare you so you hear what she has to say.

I too would have chosen The Bends as my Radiohead album of choice in previous years. Accessible and familiar are what essentially defines that album as the band veered farther and farther from there since. On the other end of the spectrum is Kid A. While The Bends is an awesome collection of songs, and Kid A is remarkable experimental commercial feat. I always felt both lacked something I could take away with. The King of Limbs was a true surprise to me as I gauged it across albums I’m far more familiar with, and possibly better understand. Album after album I eliminated and the King remained. How could it be that as “Street Spirit” faded out, I kept coming back to “The Separator”? It must be the new album smell!
I truly think what separates it from other Radiohead albums in my eyes is the journey. The journey from “Bloom” to the album’s close is what sticks to me. For an album that incorporates so many studio tricks and digital effects, how it evokes such imagery of nature and being lost in strange woods is fascinating…and eery. The limited track selection is a huge asset I this regard. Unity. Each track has elements of standard pop songs mixed with experimental ambience to keep you off kilter every step of the way and by the end of it, my feelings are less “I got through it!” (like Kid A) and more “I want to go again!”


In spite of some scary arty farty words used to describe the album, The King of Limbs is probably the easiest to digest Radiohead since The Bends and Ok Computer.

So what does this mean? Instead of two albums I’m very comfortable and familiar with, I found myself choosing between two albums I’ve only just begun to appreciate fully. And what’s more, I was certain there’s no album I hadn’t already placed that I would choose above them. How did I decide The King of Limbs make the cut over Shouso Strip?

Shouso Strip has some mega tracks, but The King of Limbs is a sum of the parts affair. The King of Limbs feels like a story, whereas Shouso Strip feels like a manifesto (and they probably both are!) Shiina Ringo is still looking for her peace at the end of Shouso Strip whereas Radiohead has found and given us closure, even if their lyrics tell us otherwise. From my perspective, it’s easy as hell to ask a question, to challenge authority. It is much more compelling when you can actually make sense of things and draw a conclusion. Radiohead’s album gives me this feeling, and it’s catchy to boot. Even if it lacks the heft and gigantic hits that Shouso Strip offers, The King of Limbs yields such an immersive world to explore.

So what does this mean? Maybe as I’ve gotten older, an album is a bit less about what good songs are on there and how the overall tone of the album. The songs still should be good. But even if “Kyogensho” is a better song than “Bloom,” then that’s not necessarily a score for Shouso Strip if Bloom is a better introduction for its album. A favorite album for me is no longer what has the bitchingest singles nor is it one I’ve spent more time with. I guess that’s growing up. So much has been addressed in only the selection for the final spot! Hopefully, there is something to be taken out of this article, and hasn’t just devolved into a re-review of these albums. Good albums are always worth revisiting.

Thanks for reading!

Personally I thought King of Limbs was great. But I'm over it now. Till I get my vinyls :-p

1. Yapoos- Daitenshi no you ni
2. Shiina Ringo- Haters gonna hate A.K.A. Sanmon Gossip
3. Faith No More- King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime
4. Tim Buckley- Starsailor
5. Bjork- Vespertine
6. Tool- Lateralus
7. Opeth- Still Life
9. Pixies- Surfer Rosa
10. PJ Harvey- Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
11. Shiina Ringo- Kalk Zamen Kuro no Hana (who doesnt have this on their list)
12. Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
13. Jun Togawa- Tamahime Sama
14. Tori Amos- Scarlet's Walk
15. Pernice Brothers- Discover a Lovelier You
16. The Shins- Chutes Too Narrow
17. Belle and Sebastian- Fold Your Arms Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
18. Radiohead- Amnesiac
19. Metallica- ...And Justice For All
20. Tokyo Jihen- Adult

That's prob not the order but yeah

My stupid List (More is more)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)

Lol I have this boxset and totally forgot about it. I used to listened to it a lot when I was younger I guess. Adore is still my fave SP album, it's a pity that people often shrug it off. But yeah, then came Zwan which was just wtf when it came to song choices (I think you mentioned that on another thread). So yeah *getting out Airplane Flies High now* Thankyou for the reminder.

Shortlist:
Apostrophe(') - Frank Zappa
Advance to the Fall - Galneryus
Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar - Paul Gilbert
Since I Left You - The Avalanches
Shouso Strip - Shiina Ringo (yay, typical answer)
Cellscape - Melt-Banana
Passion and Warfare - Steve Vai
2112 - Rush
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? - Megadeth
Crime Slunk Scene - Buckethead

My stupid List (Ampersands & Ampersands)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)



There’s always going to be somethings you are never going to quite understand. No matter how much research, you might not ever be able to relate. In early 1994, I was just seven years old. The world was big. On Saturday Night Live and what I’ve gleaned from the news was that a figure skater got clubbed in the knee and wouldn’t be able to ice skate. I thought it was pretty funny honestly, not that I had any stake in such topics. I remember being at my grandma’s house late one night. I changed the tv channel from the news to MTV. Maybe I’d see that new Nirvana video again! (Nirvana whom I was already a fan of by this point.) They may or may not have shown “Heart-shaped Box” that night, but the two videos I vividly remember seeing were “She Don’t Use Jelly” by The Flaming Lips and “No Rain” by Blind Melon. I was unaware of the song names, but the melodies stuck with me for years before I realized how relevant they were. The imagery stuck with me of course, a guy with bright orange hair (how cool!) singing about Vaseline and toast for some reason and another longer hair guy with no shirt singing about a girl in a bumblebee suit. What made this evening a real breakthrough for me, other than being mildly prophetic, was that this was the first time I made the connection that these songs, these images, were what a lot of people older than me liked and related to.

Around this time, Beavis and Butthead was the big thing and I’m sure I was watching around then. On Nickelodeon was another show I’d understand a lot better when I was older as well, The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Why I’m referencing these shows along with Pavement’s sophomore album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and The Flaming Lips’ mainstream breakthrough Transmissions from the Satellite Heart is that these shows served as my window in to the culture that fostered these albums: the early 90’s slacker culture. I was oblivious to what “mainstream” was as a concept then, I had a good grasp that there were people doing the opposite of what was normal and these shows and these bands were part of that.

Pavement is not a band I have mentioned much in this article yet, though it is supposed to be half about them! Maybe it’s understood. Pavement is the grand daddy of slacker rock. “Oh no, its another one of these...These guys need to try harder” is what Beavis & Butthead lobbed at the band, steeped in irony. In comparison with Pavement’s debut Slanted & Enchanted, the band DID try harder, at least when it comes to classic song structures. When it comes to comparing Slanted and Enchanted and Crooked Rain, it is a hair splitting affair that I’m not going to go into. Someone once said the only difference in which one you like better is which one you happened to hear first. I’ll leave it at that.

In a way, Pavement is also commenting on the music scene. They do it directly in “Cut your Hair” and “Range Life” but even in the production on the album. They didn’t retread the lo-fi sound from their debut. Kurt Cobain may have resisted (at least reportedly) sounding too accessible, but I’m sure Steven Malkmus saw it as an opporitunity to show Pavement wasn’t a one-trick pony. They could be a band that sounded as good as the bands they grew up listening to and still sound like the band that put out Slanted & Enchanted. In a way the album is a sign post of 90’s music itself. Noise rock in “Hit the Plane Down,” textural shoe gazing in “Newark Wilder,” sentimental pop rock with “Gold Soundz,” the angst in “Stop Breathing” and the alt-boom quickly approaching at the time of “Unfair.” I’ve tried hard to not seem too “Pitchfork” when talking about Pavement, but how do I hear the flannel and smell the early 90’s automobiles when I listen to Gold Soundz??

“I know a guy who sucks!” mocked Beavis about the Flaming Lips. Transmissions from the Satellite Heart is less of a newspaper of the day like Crooked Rain, but more of a diary -- a snapshot of those revelling in slacker-dom. No song sounds more so than the album’s closer, “Slow Nerve Action.” The songs evoke images of broke kids, out of school, working at the Quick Stop, doing the stupidest stuff on earth. Hell, it’s like they were singing about me 18 years in the future! Like Malkmus, Wayne Coyne always had his melodies. Maybe Coyne had to work more at it, but this is the first album where the song writing really shines. Or maybe because it’s the first time they had more than one real musician in the band. This is also where they drop their “You don’t have to be good, you just have to be loud” mantra. When they let up on their volume knobs, they allow the true charm of the album shine through. I like to think of this as their “Okie” album with songs like “Chewin the Apple of your Eye,” “Plastic Jesus,” “Superhumans” and “When yer Twenty Two.”

These albums both feature “songey” songs, but played through each band’s warped slacker, counter-culture temperament. One scoffs at conformity and the other...just likes things strange for the fun of it. I enjoy and admire the slacker era. Maybe it wasn’t even a very big movement! I was just a kid at the time and observed a few cool dudes who were into it and as I grew that mystique grew. I feel like these two albums were actually owned by my non-existant older brother and they somehow snuck in to my collection. I enjoy them simply as albums, but they also represent a mode, a fashion, I only ever viewed from the outside. Never totally understanding, but always admiring.

Man, my list would look so different now to what I wrote 4 years ago. Hopefully it'll have changed yet again in 4 years time. Maybe I'll try writing a top 20 list soon. I am enjoying your series so far Jihad. King of Limbs is an unexpected but admirable choice.

My stupid List (Go ahead and step on me)
 

My stupid List (the tragedy of Pinkerton)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)

Attachment 5089
Is there a more tragic album in rock and roll history than that of Weezer’s 1996 sophomore effort Pinkerton? An album created after the collapse of an even more ambitious record attempt. An album created after the social ostracization of front-man Rivers Cuomo brought on by serious leg surgery during the band’s meteoric rise, as well as his entrance into Harvard. An album dubbed the second worst album of 1996 by Rolling Stone. An album that only gained notoriety during a long hiatus for the band. An album that since, Cuomo has either desperately tried to recreate or settle on posthumously cashing in on. An album that now has garnered so much praise that today it’s almost considered passé to mention in a “best album” discussion. At the risk of being trite, such woe is the subject of my #14 album.

I’ve spun Pinkerton from time to time ever since I discovered “Getchoo” randomly during the Napster days. I even included “El Scorcho” in a video I made for video tech class. I don’t think I ever made a real connection with the album until one of my last semesters in college, though. At that time my trusty Creative Nomad mp3 player went kaputs. I felt like I was thrown back into the stone age, using CD-Rs -- like I was a high-schooler again! First world problems. Each morning before I went off to school I would burn a CD for the day. Usually I would put two mix-and-matched half-albums on a disc to emulate the feeling of selection. At that time I was cycling through Sgt. Pepper’s, Ida Maria’s Fortress Round my Heart, and The Flaming Lips’ At War with the Mystics. I’m not sure when Pinkerton entered the rotation, but I remember waiting outside my Government class as the second half of Pinkerton came on. While I waited for the class to open, I would usually listen to my tunes as I kept tabs on the fellow strangers in class, figuring out their stories. Two such subjects were two asian girls. I never paid much attention to them until one morning, we filtered in to class, I saw them walking in together. Holding hands.


I practically pumped my fists when I saw this. They were a couple! How adorable! I then began to eye them more to pick apart their story (and god willing, maybe see a little girl-girl action!) There was the tall one who dressed in boys clothes and wore a boys haircut. I noticed how she always tried goad on the other, shorter, girlier one. She seemed a little less enamored, always with the look of bother. It looked as much as the tall one wanted to get close, the short one wanted to pull away (at least in public I assumed.) Perhaps this was just a phase for her, at the other’s expense. I don’t know the answers to any of the questions I had about these two girls, but as the second half of Pinkerton spun in my CD player, all the anxiety and loneliness felt by Rivers Cuomo was channeled to me via this misunderstood tall asian girl.

Now if you think my story is creepy, wait until you get a load of “Across the Sea,” the center-piece of my #14 album. Rivers (or, the subject of the song, if you will) is even more isolated in college. Only the thought of a girl oversees that sent him a fan letter is the closest sense of relationship he has at this time, we can imagine. The song makes you feel kind of icky even, hearing how he “sniffs and licks” the envelope of a letter he seems to carry around as he fantasizes about the girl touching herself. We the audience feel so ashamed to be hearing such things; we take it out on Rivers for writing such lyrics. Really, we feel ashamed because we have all felt so low at one time or another. The dark times we desperately try to cover in dirt and run away from. We want to separate from that side of ourselves, so at first reaction, we take it out on Rivers Cuomo for reminding us. It takes guts to write from such a low state and record it with your friends and then publish it to the world; you gotta give him props for evoking such an irrational emotion.

The rest of the album isn’t much of a pick-me-up either: more isolation, more abusive relationships, insecurity, and frustration. It is filled with tragic image after image until the final creaks of “Butterfly” finally cease. The only thing remotely optimistic is “The Good Life” wherein Rivers declares he “wants to get back.” This wasn’t the follow-up people were looking for after Weezer’s debut music videos seemed to showcase them as a nerdy novelty. (Not that the music always backed up this image.) However, similar to The Cardigans, Weezer did a good job keeping the music’s energy up when the subject matter was low.

The album was released, and it bombed. With the music coming from such a dark place, I can only imagine the emotional fallout for Cuomo. According to the linear notes in his (superb) Alone series, he reveals he painted black over all the windows, and covered them with insulation when necessary, during his “post-Pinkerton” era. As horrible as this all sounds, doesn’t every artist want to have a Pinkerton to their name. It doesn’t matter what people think, I just want to put my bare heart out there (and ideally, foster a cult following until its no longer fashionable.) Who doesn’t want this?

Everybody, until the fall out.

Rivers himself distanced from Pinkerton when Weezer reformed. It took him a while to warm back up to the album that the world was rediscovering. Can you blame him either? As allued, we’ve all been to our own Pinkertons, and we rarely ever want to revisit. Towards the end of that college semester, I noticed the two girls didn’t sit together in class anymore (at least for a week of classes.) Maybe that tall girl was going through her own Pinkerton. I like to think she has left there, found another girl that’s maybe more open to PDA. While he probably isn’t interested in creating another one, Rivers Cuomo certainly left his Pinkerton. I’ve left mine (I think!)It’s nice to think that, after a certain time, the only Pinkerton a person will have to think about is this album, and with a positive feeling.

I respect this so much. I just watched The Borrower Arrietty and made a full Studio Ghibli ranking 15 minutes after watching, to the criticism of my friend. You put my argument into words better than I could.

Anyway, my own list (one album per artist):

1. Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
2. Shiina Ringo - Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana
3. AIR - Love 2
4. Gustav Holst - The Planets, Op. 32
5. Tokyo Jihen - Adult
6. Rush - Hemispheres
7. ALI PROJECT - Poison
8. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Changes
9. Fanny Fink - Mr. Romance
10. Zero 7 - The Garden
11. YMCK - Family Genesis
12. Frank Zappa - The Grand Wazoo
13. Gotan Project - Lunático
14. PE'Z - I WANT YOU
15. Santana - Abraxas
16. Roller Coaster - 일상다반사
17. Camille Saint-Saëns - Les Carnaval des Animaux
18. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Self-Titled
19. Humming Urban Stereo - Baby Love
20. She & Him - Volume Two

This week, anyway :P

My stupid List (glad this one's over)
 

As we progress in the dissection of my list, the relationship between be and the remaining thirteen is going to invariably become more personal. Frankly, it will likely become about me growing up, but I’ll try my best to keep this from becoming an extended pat on the back. The next two albums up for discussion provide the appropriate view on the dichotomy that reflects the mercurial, icky, feeling of growing up.

Emotion is what typifies my #15 and 13 albums. Hot and cold; restless and calm; aggressive and passive: these are the usual reasons I opt to get reacquainted with these albums and they’ve both served me well in my most precarious of times.

There’s been no shortage of times when a person is frustrated, anxious, and sometimes outright mad. Though it is an album I’ve spun since high school, during my time in college at Austin is when I most dug into Number Girl’s crown jewel, Sappukei, #13 on my list. Nothing accompanied trekking through throng’s of UT’s finest engineers and party animals-alike finer than Mukai Shutoku shredding his throat on Zegen vs. Undercover. Such was my anti-social approach to college; your mileage my vary.

I admit, I have put off this entry, and delayed for rewrites many a-time, for the reason that Sappukei is a difficult album to research. As a westerner, there’s not much intel to accompany this record that is available to me. I don’t know what Mukai sings about on Sappukei, but he doesn’t particularly sound content on the record. His pained screeches resonated with the screams I sometimes wished release. The restlessness in Kentarou’s bass mirrored the restlessness in my own legs, intensified with the building momentum of Number Girl’s guitars.

As Sappukei crashes in, after the customary count-in, and the chugging guitars set up Mukai’s surprisingly melodic lyric -- you already know what’s in store. After this album, Mukai would further experiment with his sound, but it’s on Sappukei that we get the great balance between raw-western influenced energy and off-putting experimentation. This album isn’t all aggression. Underscoring the Pixie-esque quiet-loud juxtaposition is a grooviness that sucks you in. The verse in Zegen vs. Undercover for instance, if you add just a bit more chorus into the guitar mix, you would have quite a psychedelic song. “Urban Guitar Sayonara” is probably the hardest song to digest, but cements how much Number Girl had grown from their previous albums. No shrieking, no thick guitar apart from the bass, and the rare appearance of piano and what I assume to be a saxophone played by someone new to the instrument. This track was used to promote the album specifically. “Tattoo-ari”, the album’s pivotal track, is one of the finest pump-up songs there is, climaxing with one of my all-time favorite guitar solos.

The harsh moments on this album excite and raise your blood pressure. The more understated moments keep rolling and hold on to that built up energy so that when the band’s next explosion hits your blood pressure rises up even more -- without busting anything. This is why Sappukei makes the perfect pick-me-up album, great for those angsty college years. This kind of music is great when you have a plan to fight that world that’s fighting against you. But what about those times when you don’t have a plan? When you feel lost or when all that pressure has built up to be too much and you need to decompress, that is when you need a record like my #15 record.

Shockingly there is a sliver thin thread between my #15 and 13 albums, besides their emotional juxtaposition. Likely part of the reason Sappukei sounds so refined has equal parts due to Mukai Shutoku and producer Dave Friddman -- then most famous for working with The Flaming Lips on their 1999 landmark Soft Bulletin. Mere months after Sappukei wrapped, he would reconvene with the Lips for their follow-up, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

Soft Bulletin is the critical darling, and I’ve given it plenty of spins, but Yoshimi, without fail, is the album I more often turn to. In Austin again, it was my first time in a year driving by myself, and the first time I had traversed an area of the town not in a walking radius. Darkness had fallen quicker than I had anticipated and I was apparently trekking through the hilliest patch of road in Texas. I come by a deer. I slow. It takes a gander at me, as I pause to give it time to make up its mind. I decide the coast is clear so I inch forward. On cue, the moron deer jumps in front of my car. I hit the brakes and avoid wrecking my car right off the bat. My next immediate move is to shut Liam Gallagher up on my stereo and queue up “Fight Test” and the proceeding record to ease my nerves as I carve through the dark to my bed.

That’s far from the lone time I’ve turned to Yoshimi, even while driving. Those moments aren’t the only ones that listening to the album is applicable, but those specifically help really comprehend and appreciate tracks like “In the Mourning of Magicians,” “All we Have is Now” and the mega “Do You Realize??” Even if you are not in the market for something profound, there’s plenty that’s straight up catchy. The title track is the perfect gate-way drug to songs like “Are you a Hypnotist?” and “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” -- and from there, the rest of the Lip’s catalog.

Wayne Coyne has said it was his intention to make Yoshimi a happy album to contrast Soft Bulletin’s depressing sound. Maybe my wires are crossed, but I usually listen to Soft Bulletin when I’m happy and Yoshimi when I’m sad. I suppose it does make me chuckle to step back and notice I’m listening to sad music to enhance my sadness seemingly. Music is a hefty security blanket that universally everyone turns to. Far more effective than a book or movie to enhance whatever you’re feeling. Yoshimi and Sappukei are some of my most worn security blankets and hold rightful places in my list of 20 favorite albums.

My stupid List (oh-oh! oooh ohhh oh oh oooh oh! Oh oh oh oh oooohhh oh!)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5245
Not every album clicks at once. Amongst overwhelming critical and popular acclaim, you are some times left wondering what is wrong with you. What am I not hearing? Why don’t I get it? Sometimes you have to make a concentrated effort in the hopes of earning some sort of reward. Arcade Fire came during a time when I found the music scene confusing and blurry. Burned by the 2001 “rock revival” band’s lackluster follow-ups (for whatever reason, I skipped Elephant. I don’t know. I didn’t believe the press,) I grew weary of bands that came out of nowhere with a hurricane of hype.

When I first heard the Arcade Fire buzz, I queued up a song with slight hope. I don’t remember where I started nor do I remember my criticisms (too mellow? Possibly. Not straightforward enough? Probably.) I passed for close to eight years, until their 2010 album The Suburbs topped every end of year list on the internet, and 2004’s Funeral on top of every best of decade list. Yes, Funeral is a relatively recent addition to my music library. As woefully behind on the times I may be, isn’t it better to be late than to miss a great party? It was however, a party I would still have much trouble to get in to.

“Wake Up!” was the lone song I found immediately accessible, and even then that got plenty of priming from satellite radio and watching the Where the Wild Things Are trailer every single weekend for a year at the movies. I struggled mightily to put the rest of the album in to in the right frame of mind. I did not get it. But I was determined. So determined it became the only album I would play in my car for a month. After starting and restarting the album copious amounts of times, I began to finally see the urgent story in “Tunnels” play through in my head. Ah hah! But I still failed to grasp the album as a whole.

My breakthrough came when I first heard “In the Backseat,” the album’s closer. I usually got frustrated around “Haiti” or wanted to loop back to “Tunnels” after “Wake Up” or whatever poor excuse there was, but I apparently never managed to hear the final track. As the chorus opened up to its operatics and crashed to its coda, the record suddenly made sense! I failed to embrace the “opera” part of Arcade Fire’s rock-opera approach and missed just how unique it was. Sometimes you have to hear the story’s end to know understand the story.
Suddenly, I got it.

Except “Power Out.” Many claim this to be the most accessible song on the record, but I found the syncopation of the melody, mirrored by the main guitar riff, to be quite awkward. For a while, “Power Out” was my designated skip. That January, San Antonio had a hard freeze overnight that left much of the city without electricity the morning after. As I set out to trek to my mother’s house on the lightless/lawless streets that morning, it mused the song might be the comically perfect soundtrack for this particular drive. As cars drove with abandon, turning left whenever they felt; the anarchy in the song meshed. “I went out in to the night, I went out to pick a fight with anyone” as a car was within inches of my driver-side door as I wagged my finger.

Funeral is a record of the pangs of growing up. From the yearning to run off from home and carve your life in the earth, to the inevitable heart ache that wishes it was of a child safely ensconced in its bedroom. I frequently read of Funeral’s somberness, and I never agree. Sure, there’s plenty of melancholy is palpable, but the album has always read as the celebration of overcoming such dejection. Requisite indie band reference to the poor dog sent in to space, be damned: this is a happy album!

A complaint often levied at Arcade Fire is that their songs sound the same, they have one song, “the Arcade Fire song.” They do have a very unique sound, but on Funeral we certainly get to hear that sound applied to very different constructs. The island groove of “Haiti” the arena anthems “Rebellion (Lies)” and “Power Out” and epics “Wake up” and “Tunnels,” and the bolero-esque “Crown of Love” preceded by the near lullaby of “7 Kettles.” Funeral is certainly short of any mournful hymns.

I’m glad I made the effort with Funeral. Afterwards I could tackle The Suburbs and Neon Bible, either of which could maybe grow their way into my Top 20. But neither influenced the way I approach an album like Funeral had. Not every album that “everyone else” is into is going to turn out like my #12 album, but there’s times when you know it’s you, the listener, that’s mishearing things. It is worth sticking it out those times.

---------
This wraps up the “bottom 10” of my Top 20 albums. Thank you for sticking with me so far, and I hope this is at least 10% interesting, and 90% a reminder of some really good music. Henceforth we will be in my top 10 favorite albums. Albums that I have listened to for a good chunk of my life and, for better or worse, defined my temperament towards music entirely. For those that know me well, there may be less surprises, but hopefully no less interesting how my feelings for them have developed and changed. I’m on the edge of my seat if you aren’t!

Thanks for the list, Jihad. It's really awesome that you're taking the time to talk about all of these albums when most people would just post a list and call it a day. I love hearing your thoughts on them and you've also really opened a window to music I otherwise wouldn't have checked out. Keep up the fantastic work! I look forward to reading the rest!

My stupid List (I have reservations)
 

My stupid List (You probably never never heard of it.)
 

Attachment 5277

#10 and #4: Trailer Park and Central Reservation

It wasn’t even two years since that night I bought First Band on the Moon, but my musical sphere had grown exponentially since. Less and less of the music videos shown during the normal hours were appealing to me, and MTV was gradually ceding to the TRL generation -- which offered nothing to me. Sometime in late summer ‘98 I had discovered MTV’s 120 Minutes, a block at midnight Sunday (turning Monday) where they evidently hid all the good music. I would religiously stay up to watch; even if I was lucky to catch more than four videos before succumbing to sleep. One thing was clear, my musical ear was skewing further from Top 40 and more alternative and underground. It must have been the first Sunday of 1999 where 120 Minutes held one of the most memorable episodes ever. They were doing a recap of the best “120 Minutes” videos of 1998. I’ll never forget the first three videos they played, all which still hold a special place in my heart. The first video floored me, “All You Good, Good People” by Embrace, I was already proclaiming it my favorite song ever after one play. Soon after they played “Get Myself Arrested” by Gomez, another awesome song I was excited about! The song they played in between the two I thought was pretty okay too. It was a nice song called “Stolen Car” by some lady named Beth Orton.

Napster was waiting on the other side of 1999, so 30 second samples from CD Now was all I had to pacify myself until I could get ahold of the real CDs. I went to a mom and pop CD shop that focused on imported cds looking for these three CDs. To my dismay, not even they had Embrace’s Good Will Out, which of course appealed to me most. I approached the owner and asked if they had the cd “in the back” (the fabled area where stores keep exactly what you are looking for.) The man said they didn’t carry the record, but he could order it for me. I agreed. He asked if there were any other CDs I was looking for. Thinking that the Gomez album would be equally elusive, I asked if he could also order the Beth Orton album -- which I also could not find in his store that day. He took a quick look at his books, charged into “the back” and returned with a sealed copy of Central Reservation.

Central Reservation was not my m.o. at this time. My current infatuation was with big, heavy rock akin to Oasis’ Be Here Now, hence why the Embrace video appealed to me so much. But I was a big fan of “Stolen Car” and something about the idea that Beth Orton was unknown to everyone around appealed to me. (Proto-hipster alert?) I approached the CD with an open mind and came out amazed. Mostly amazed that I dug it so much. It was unexplainable (at the time.) I liked my loud guitars, arena sing-alongs, and distortion pedals. Why did this electronica folkie (with just a touch of jazz rhythm) click with me so much? To be honest, it still astounds me. I just like that folk sound, especially with a female singer. It was different from just about every CD in my collection up to that point and it was one of the fewer I enjoyed end to end.

That spring I would track down Beth Orton’s debutTrailer Park and together my #’s 10 and 4 albums would create the soundtrack for that year. Practically sister albums, I find it difficult to chose one above the other. Trailer Park is definitely the more social album. Filled with jangly acoustic songs akin to what you might hear at a hip coffee shop or around the college campus. There is also a higher concentration of electronic based songs. In fact Trailer Park continuously plays with your expectations. It starts with “She Cries Your Name,” guitar based with an increasing number of electro embellishments. The next song, “Tangent,” is full on, no denying, trip-hop. This is followed by the most mournfully acoustic song on the record. If the rest of the album is deceivingly optimistic (like the superb “How Far” and “Sugar Boy”) the moody jewel “Touch me with Your Love” reminds you of the slow burning heart of the album.

Central Reservation is the more introspective album. Paired down are the full-blown electronic songs. In Trailer Park, I feel Beth Orton is showing you around town. You’re walking, seeing the sights, taking in the experience. Central Reservation Beth Orton invites you inside her house. There’s less to do, but you are taking in the things that make her who she is. The family photos, that dusty chair in the living room, the stories she tells of people and events passed. Central Reservation is a much more simply produced album, but that much more complex album. There’s less diversity in terms of “happy/sad” “fast/slow” “electric/acoustic” but tonally and point of view is what makes up the breadth of the album. Trailer Park is the ebb and flow of Beth Orton: performer and Central Reservation is the drifting thoughts, like when attempting to sleep, of Beth Orton: the person.

That year, I pimped and promoted my Beth Orton CDs to anyone that might be in earshot. I received consistent raised eyebrows -- not too surprising in a world where Britney Spears, Nsync, and Eminem were beginning to dominate. It was still disheartening. I was enjoying Beth Orton more and more with each listen, and had no one relate to. (Okay, this hasn’t particularly changed over the years.)

My day would come, though. It was now December of 1999. I browsed Amazon.com and saw they had a list of the 100 best albums of the year -- the first of what would become a tradition for me to peruse. The big album that year was Santana’s “Supernatural.” It was everywhere and everyone was proclaiming it’s greatness at all times. As the page loaded, I mused to myself that “It would be cool if it is someone like Beth Orton had the #1 album, instead of Supernatural.” I sat there stunned when it loaded. As if psychic: #2: Santana - Supernatural. #1: Beth Orton - Central Reservation.

I pumped my fist. I was filled with vindication -- critical validation. The taste was delicious. I liked something that no one else l knew liked. What did they know? My favorite album was deemed the album of the year! It is a dragon I chase to this day. Beth Orton’s first two records are hugely important for me. They represent one of my first forays into non-radio-top 40 music, and my growth as a listener.

(Oh yeah! What felt like months later [no idea how long it took] I would receive the Embrace album I had forgotten about. My excitement renewed when I received it finally, but predictably, I no longer found “All you Good, Good People” to be my favorite song ever. Oh well.)

My stupid List (Something in the Way)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5311

My stupid List (Wonder, Vulgar, Eccentric)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5314
In the airy quiet that follows the opening clatter in my number 6 favorite album, you already know Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is going to be an interesting listen. It takes all of 36 seconds for the heavy drums and fuzzed bass to crash through the orchestration of the album opener “Shuukyou” before you just might sit up in your chair. And at the 1 minute mark, when the orchestra overwhelms the track once more, you can’t but wonder where else Shiina Ringo’s third album can go; how an artist can stuff this mammoth at the front of an album.

The opening suite of the record transitions into “Doppleganger,” a pop song fitted with loops, drum machines paired with this album’s characteristic blown out drums, synths, and three year old samples from Shiina Ringo’s previous work, Shouso Strip. The song ramps up the tempo without compromising its off-kilter atmosphere by introducing some pitch shifted doubled vocals to substitute a choir. The album flow is given a hard shove by the bass bend intro of “Meisai.” Violin, bass, and guitar swirl and battle around the vocals, inevitably leading the song to implode into chaos leaving nothing left but for the artist to light a cigarette to bridge to the aching “Odaiji ni.” The fourth track swells with a solo piano and Ms. Ringo’s vocals screeching over little but the obfuscated sounds of a TV, as if the entire track was recorded by one left at home with only a television companion. Much of the album is said to have been recorded in the different rooms of Shiina Ringo’s house, this may be close to the truth.

In this series, I may not have often gone into such in-depth, and sensational, description of the arrangements and compositions for these 20 albums. That is because there are few albums that can compare to “KZK.” Most albums up to now have been fairly straightforward in what to expect sonically, even Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. This album is equal parts Dark Side of the Moon, Vespretine, and Chopin.

The television whispers transition into the lavishly orchestrated, pop-executed “Yattsuke Shigoto.” The song, a re-working of a song recorded a few years prior, is contrasted by it’s neighbor, “Kuki,” it too a song re-worked numbers of time. “Kuki,” along with the opening and closing tracks, is the tentpole of the entire record. Shifting from beautiful and sincere to intense and earnest, fully orchestrated at it’s beginning and finishing with a traditional rock 4-piece, “Kuki” is an epic.

I go into such details not because I enjoy talking so pretentiously about these tracks, but because this is how I listen to this record. I pick out each instrument, each non-instrument, and imagine how it was recorded, why it was recorded, who was the performer, what other “instruments” were considered and/or recorded in it’s place. The creation of this record mystifies me. What I spend much of my time pondering is the songs unadorned. The arrangements sound so central to each song’s composition, I always wonder where the seed of the songs are. A making of diary or something similar is something I would buy ten copies of.

The late-album suite features a number of unusual forms and arrangements. “Torikoshi Kurou” starts with a breath of levity following the previous track with some scat vocals used as the primary beat throughout the whole song. The track also features a roulette wheel of guest instruments. “Okonomi de” is a personal favorite, a smoky lounge act that features what is either a stressed violin or a nasaled screech that pierces through the middle of the track like an ambulance siren. Track 9, “Ishiki,” is probably the most straightforward ambling rock groove on the album -- if not for the woodwind and accompanying middle 8 breakdown. The penultimate track on the album is also unassuming. Upon closer look, “Poltergeist” is a very entertaining acid-trip waltz, constantly it teases and teeters between a good trip and a bad trip. Not overt in presentation, behind the plush strings is a constantly swirling, herky-jerk, pitched synth cascading up and down the scale at nauseating intervals. Never do I feel too confortable or calm listening closely. There is a just a peak at the end of a jaunty acoustic that teases a finale that couldn’t be farther removed from the few happy notes we just barely hear.

The closer resonates with “Shuukyou,” and “Kuki,” as mentioned before. The song title, “Souretsu,” translates to “funeral,” so you can guess what is in store. The many eastern instruments that adorn the track paint the picture that the song itself is floating down a proverbial River Styx (even without the translation.) As chaotic and powerful as Brian Wilson’s “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow,” and as unsettling and heavy as The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” The moment at 3:47 when the organs of some sort of afterlife ring in is one of the most ear opening moments in music that I’ve heard. Just in case you hadn’t had your fill of anarchy on the record, Shiina Ringo pushes up the master volume fader to 11 as the track reaches it’s coda. -- That is, deafening silence. -- The fracas the song expectantly descends into is hard cuts to silence at the 44:44 mark of the album’s run time. It is a coda I cannot help but chuckle at every time, as if to say, “you got me again.”

Shiina Ringo has described this album as unchecked ego (or something to that effect.) Unchecked ego very rarely leads to work like Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. I find there has to be a second ingredient in order to yield this type of album: confidence. I’ve heard reports and interviews that argue the contrary, but tell me that a track like “Meisai” or “Souretsu” is something pulled off by someone that doesn’t believe they have complete mastery over their medium.

Each track’s composition is impressive, the composition of the album as a whole is a marvel; how each track lends to the next. There is no doubt in my mind that Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is one of the best albums of the 2000’s. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to earn the attention it deserves. In the west it is seen as an unknown record in a weird language no one understands, and even in Japan the album allegedly didn’t sell as well as hoped -- often the case for such progressive, experimental material as this. The price of admission may be fairly high for some audiences, but it is worthy ride. It is an album that deserves to be seated next to the Is This it’s, the Elephant’s, the Funeral’s, and the Stankonia’s of it’s day.

Ok here we go! One album per artist, and no particular order, although I can say for sure KSK is my number 1 90% of the time. The rest is just too close to call!

Shiina Ringo KSK
NUMBER GIRL Shibuya ROCKTRANSFORMED Joutai
Happy End Kazemachi Roman
The Blue Hearts The Blue Hearts
Radiohead In Rainbows
Muse Origin of Symmetry
The Beatles Rubber soul
Nas Illmatic
Supercar Three Out Change
Pink Floyd Dark side of the Moon
Tom Waits Rain Dogs
Kanye West My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Rin Toshite Shigure Inspiration is DEAD
Quruli Team Rock
Miles Davis Kind of Blue

Btw really nice posts Tokyo Jihad! Some really nice reads, maybe when I have some more time I will also specify my choices a little better :)

My stupid List (Nature kids, i-they don't have no function)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
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In 1994, a subtle move caused a seismic shift in the trend of popular music. The headline act for the ’94 Lollapalooza festival was set to be Nirvana – easily the biggest and most revered band on the scene. However, due to personnel issues that spring, Nirvana had to back out. The organizers had to promote another act as the headliner, but this decision proved to be more symbolic than it seemed at the time. This wasn’t just about Lollapalooza – this was Nirvana, the band whose album knocked off Michael Jackson on Billboard, the band that subverted rock and killed the hair band, the band that defied commercial expectations even at the great expense that it proved to be. Nirvana had abdicated it’s thrown, and now Lollapalooza was unwittingly dubbing an heir. They turned to the next act on the bill, and one of the hottest acts at the time, the Smashing Pumpkins.

The band was riding the wave of their sophomore smash, Siamese Dream, on the backs of big singles like “Today,” and “Disarm.” While Smashing Pumpkins was an acceptable alternative for Lollapalooza organizers, it didn’t sit as well with other acts on the bill. Kim Deal of The Breeders (and the Pixies,) in particular was irritated at the idea; she understood the symbolism and didn’t like it one bit. See, even then, Billy Corgan and the rest of the Pumpkins had a reputation. Questions of artistic integrity particularly swirled around the band; accusations of being sell outs were frequent. Many of the acts on the tour, who belonged to the subsection of grunge and underground music that were evolving into what would soon be dubbed “alternative,” were happy to make music affront to serving popular commercial appeal (including Nirvana.) The Pumpkins, who with “Today” had just experienced commercial success, made no qualms with seeking more. Ever the prideful Billy Corgan also wanted to prove his detractors wrong if he could while he was at it. As he stomped around aloof at the festival, he got to work.

For what my two cents are worth, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a perfect record. It is huge: 2 discs, 28 songs, 2 solid hours, and don’t forget its companion piece The Aeroplane Flies High! It touches so many emotional states; every song is noteworthy and pulls you in a different direction. It is a huge album that launched the band into the stratosphere. Mellon Collie, the Smashing Pumpkins were the biggest rock band around – to visualize: after Siamese Dream the band was featured on Beavis & Butthead, after Mellon Collie the band was featured on The Simpsons. The Simpsons! (Homer even later referred to it as “the time I toured with the Smashing Pumpkins!”) Masterful songwriting, an ambitious and inclusive soundscape, critical recognition, and a huge bump in reputation, as well as a transcendent sound that passes the test of time are my metrics for a perfect album. Mellon Collie passes each handily (and only one other album on this list do I consider perfect, maybe two, but we’ll get to that later.)

The album was a bit above me when it debuted in late ’95, but I was very aware of it and the Smashing Pumpkins – even if I didn’t realize it. The name “Smashing Pumpkins,” “Today” and the video with the ice cream van and the man in the dress, all the Mellon Collie singles, and the iconic album art for Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie I was all very aware of, but for a good long while I had absolutely no idea that they were all related, let alone the product of one band. Needless to say it blew my mind when I found out. I picked up my copy of Mellon Collie in 8th grade, which would have made me 13 or 14. This is the appropriate age to experience this album. In fact, I think that in 9th grade high school orientation they should issue every student a copy. At that age, the Billy Corgan we hear on this record is speaking to directly to you. You are at that age where your angry and anxious at everything and lines like, “love is suicide,” “God is empty just like me,” “suffer my desire for you” and even a more advanced line like “speak to me in a language I can hear” precisely explicate what is deepest in your soul. (And then you grow up, realize these lines are overly hyperbolic and silly, but still secretly dig it.)

Mellon Collie may not be as personal a record as its predecessor, but I always felt that was because Billy Corgan was trying to channel something greater than his self. Soon after the album’s release he shaved his head and with his trademark Zero shirt (his “superhero costume”) looked as other worldly as you could find. Bolstered by his previous success, he approached the situation with almost fanatical confidence and wrote the album from the point of view as a kind of pied piper for all the misguided “fresh faced youths,” -- a rally cry of denouncement, rage, disgust, but also jubilation, excitement, and common weakness and failings. We don’t learn so much about Mr. Corgan so much as we do about yourself. Everyone can identify the moments in their life that “Zero,” “Here is no Why,” “In the Arms of Sleep” and even “XYU” or “Tales of a Scorched Earth” represent.

Mellon Collie is such an admirably bold statement. Every song has its place and serves a purpose on the album. While it’s not a particularly difficult album, my ear did need some experience to really adore some of the songs that I might have glossed over in high school. For instance, there will be times I just queue up “Cupid de Locke,” “Take me Down,” “We Only Come out at Night,” and “Farewell and Goodnight.”

This list is inevitably going to tell a mini-narrative of 90’s music simply because I’m just a 90’s guy. If Nevermind was act one, then Mellon Collie was act two (and act three…we’ll get to later.) Mellon Collie was the nudging of the grunge/alternative aesthetic back into the arenas and back into the commercial handlers that could never get a grip on Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Sonic Youth. Soon acts like Bush and Garbage would put an even shinier and sweeter coat on angst, and Live and even the Foo Fighters would spin grunge into a sound even your dad could like. The Pumpkin’s fellow lollapalooza contemporaries were at least a little right in their apprehension.

What I take away from Mellon Collie every time I hear it is what great feats someone can accomplish with some (or a lot) of self-assurance, and at least a little help. Unlike Siamese Dream, James Iha and D’arcy play on the songs so this more than any was a collective accomplishment. It’s an album that sounds like someone trying to conquer the world and emboldens me the listener that I could do it too. A lot of great albums sound imposing and otherworldly. Shiina Ringo’s Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana for example, is great in many similar ways to Mellon Collie, but not at any point do I feel “a person like me created this, and so can I.” The work is too intimidating. Mellon Collie sounds like a very small group of people, playing instruments that I’m mostly familiar with, and a voice that I understand (ignoring language barriers.) This album constantly inspires me to pick up a guitar and try my hand at it. I think that is one of the better qualities a piece of art can have. A perfect album.

TJ, I'm hesitant to say how much I've enjoyed your annotated list because then you'd probably stop posting them. But I'll say it anyway.

Interesting to know your 90's concentration. My high school years were the late 80's and I was seriously into music then. Once I got into college, movies took over, and with few exceptions (Ringo, Eminem), my music sensibility is still stuck in the 80's. I mourned Michael Jackson way more than Kurt Cobain.

Nice to have pictures / album covers too.

The 90s were the best decade for music, hands down...

edit@Jihad (and deadgrandma?): What's your favourite track on Doolittle...? I had this thing for Number 13 Baby and its ending for quite a while. And so I suppose do Deerhunter because Desire Lines sounds just like it.

Mr. Grieves is da bomb

Mr Grieves

70's Eno

No One Receiving

Julie With

My stupid List (The arbitrary life)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5339


By late 2009, I was a long way from the comfortable rut I had for much the first decade of the new century. I was out of school, I had met my future fiancé (as of the time of this writing), and became adept at cooking my own meals (as in, not using a microwave.) With all these extra duties there was little opportunity for music listening. My musical sphere was as small as it had been in those ten years. Most of the bands I was into, 90’s holdovers, were putting out music that was decidedly “passed their prime.” I was no longer DJ-ing on the radio, and by that time the mainstream long since left me on the banks. About the only time I could “get my freak on” was in 3-5 song bursts in the car. (Is “get your freak on” still a thing?) I was ready for something new – and I had a fail proof plan. My hallowed tomes, the December “best of year” lists were trickling out, and it was only a matter of time for me to strike gold. One December night, I sat down to crawl through the lists, determined to find something to listen to, something new.

2009 was an interesting year for music. The de-facto big release that year was Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. I didn’t know too much about Animal Collective at the time, but I was fairly sure I wasn’t up to that level yet. On Pitchfork’s end of year list, behind MPP at number 2, was an album that had also caught my eye on Amazon’s list, The Dirty Projector’s Bitte Orca. It was time to dig deeper. I queued up the first track, “Cannibal Resource.” I sat there stunned.

What was I hearing? The song was amazing! It was schizophrenic, but everything stayed on the track. It was different from almost every other kind of music I listened to, but still had a tasty, crunchy guitar riff, like ones I was ever fond of. David Longstreth and the two backup singers each seemingly try to drown the other out. It was delicious. I turn next to the catchy single “Stillness is the Move” and following “Two Doves,” two contrasting songs each fronted by backup singers Amber Coffman and Angel Deeradorian. As I soared on the pair of tracks, I charged into the rest of the album…and into a wall.

Bitte Orca became the soundtrack of my 2010. The songs and sounds were present at every corner of that year because I would not let it go. I couldn’t dig every track, and for a long time I would listen for the three aforementioned tracks, but each pass I made I was picking up little tiny hooks from the rest of the songs and couldn’t quite put it away. The herky-jerky guitar refrain in “The Bride,” the circular pattern in “No Intention,” the noisy break down in “Useful Chamber,” and the noisier bridge that follows; yes, the album was slowly, very slowly revealing itself to me.
Slowly I understood the David Longstreth approach to music making. The maddening thing was that there were verses and choruses, which always seem to be the first things to go in music that’s left of center, but how each segment was constructed, how each instrument “worked” was spastic and almost hyperactive. One bar to the next, his guitar would jump from one serviceable hook the next, almost disregarding if the syncopations matched. The drums, the singing, both switch from hot to cold at the stop of a dime.

Up to that point, the most experimental record in my possession was The Soft Bulletin, which is structurally crazy-straightforward in comparison; most of my go-to music was still plainly Oasis or The Beatles. Bitte Orca was a huge leap for me. The album intrigued me, mystified me so, that when I finally could wrap my feeble mind around it I felt that I had conquered it. As it was the first “challenging” album I consumed, I wanted to conquer more. Bitte Orca opened a whole new world of possibilities for me. Soon, I’d give Arcade Fire another shot, and Embryonic. I’d listen to that Neutral Milk Hotel album I’d heard so much about; Animal Collective and Merriweather Post Pavilion no longer seemed so imposing (though, it still was when I got to it.) I was even ready try the Kanye album that was topping all the 2010 best of lists. None of these albums, and experiences, would I have approached without conquering Bitte Orca.

The truth is, I don’t know how much of an impact Bitte Orca really had on the world at large. For one, we’re still pretty close to its release; but even so likely not much of one, not with the likes of Merriweather Post anyway. It did launch The Dirty Projectors definitively to “indie stars” status and most people agree that it is a very good album. But in the world of my own, it is huge; it is a sign post album. In my head there is a “Before Bitte Orca” timeline and an “After Bitte Orca” timeline. Each segment is warranted, I don’t regret spending more time listening to straightforward records like The Man Who or Maybe you’ve Been Brainwashed too… (both of which are still awesome records) rather than listening to things like F#A# infinity or Endtroducing… But one also doesn’t normally start on the harder levels, and Bitte Orca was my gatekeeper that opened up the next level of my “musical journey.” All these new exciting musical possibilities have caused me to carve out more time in my adult schedule for them, even if my car is still my favorite venue for grooving to Bitte Orca.

My stupid List (Mad for it)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5340

My stupid List (Good night, everybody, everywhere. Good night.)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)

After some consideration, we’re going to just skip talking about #2. Besides after the ecstasy of writing two thousand words on my favorite band, and album that was my favorite for so long last time, I just couldn’t wait. How important is second place anyway? How could I wait to talk about my favoritest band, and most conclusively favorite album? (Spoilers: both of which are The Beatles.) After talking about Oasis, where else can you go but The Beatles? And not just The Beatles, but The Beatles! The Beatles by The Beatles, the huge 1968 double album! (Okay, I’ll stop having fun, The White Album.) Nevermind was the bedrock of my musical world, but The White Album was the earth and the soil. The single album that shaped my musical taste and no matter how “far out” I thought my musical journey had become, the album I could always return to and find the roots of what I was listening to. A truly transcendent album, my favorite.


One Friday night when I was in the third grade, I became very sick. High fever, very tired; nothing serious but it was one of the worst I had felt. I was in bed, falling asleep, and my mom was in the room watching over me and watching ABC’s broadcast of The Beatles Anthology. I didn’t know who The Beatles were. I knew they were an old band my parent’s liked. I didn’t know any of their music (or knew I knew.) I felt no obligation to watching and was too weak to persuade my mom to change the channel so I went to a hearty golden slumber. Fast forward a week, I vividly remember being in class working on a project. All the while with the song “Twist & Shout” incessantly played in my head. I went home and told my mom of this revelation. “Of course you do,” she replied, “everyone likes that song!” From there skyrocketed my fascination and fandom with The Beatles.


The White album was the very last Beatles album I would buy (along with Let it Be.) I waited for so long because for a long time I didn’t really understand what it was. For some reason I was under the idea that it was a CD of Beatle interviews “Back in the USSR”, “Dear Prudence” didn’t sound like song titles to me. Plus, it just looked different from any other CD in the store. Once I was certain there was music to be had, it was my number one priority. The White album was a smack in the ear drum on my first listen. Though Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper, and Revolver were all under my belt by this point, it was The White Album that shocked me. (Plus maybe I listened to Abbey Road and Peppers too early.) The White album rocked hard. I was most surprised at how contemporary it sounded to me at the time. You could have told me it was a new release. For a kid who was teased by Metallica and Green Day loving know-nothings that my favorite bands were for old people or idiots that killed themselves (referencing Kurt Cobain) a song like “Helter Sketler” or “Everybody’s got something to Hide…” was a big deal. I would play these songs for my friends and then smugly supplement “…would you believe that’s The Beatles?” (Though, when I got to high school and everyone else discovered The Beatles, I smugged harder.)


There is so much more to The White Album than hard rock, as I’m sure you’d know. Not a song was lost on me either. Folk songs, parlor songs, personal ballads, western narratives, experimental music; it was all over the place. It never dawned on me to question why a cute baroque pop song about a dog (“Martha my Dear”) would follow a structurally experimental rock song (“Happiness is a Warm Gun”.) It never dawned on me that a song like “Wild Honey Pie” or the more egregious “Revolution 9” might not be appreciated by everyone. Sure, I’m not going to lie and say that at 9 years old I would get excited to listen to Revolution 9 and I never ever skipped it, but I would occasionally listen through it and never thought it shouldn’t have been there. It was weird, long song; big deal! Even at 9, I knew it was a kick-ass lead into “Good Night.” And isn’t the piano chime after “Take this brother, may it serve you well” a drop better than many a dub-step song? (However, I am glad we were spared the full “What’s the New Mary Jane?”) No, it wouldn’t be better if it was shorter; best album they made.


What I like about The White Album is that it is unapologetic for what it is. It isn’t like Abbey Road that had lots of ideas, ironed into a smooth shiny sleeve; nor is it completely formless. I like to think of it like a good pancake batter, it is all one thing and cohesive, but it still has plenty of lumps. As I mentioned above, The White Album is the nexus of all music I listen to. If I am listening to Beth Orton, I can point to “Blackbird” or “Julia;” The Flaming Lips, “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road” or “Savoy Truffle;” Dirty Projectors have bits of “Wild Honey Pie” and traces of “Everybody’s got something to Hide…” and “Yer Blues.” I consider The White Album the first alternative album, and I’m sure I’m not alone on this. What was The White Album an alternative too you ask? It was an alternative to Sgt. Peppers and the myriad of albums that followed its lead (your Satanic Majestys and your Village Greens, not to imply they were all bad.)



Now I reference The Beatles were revolting a bit against their own creation, which leads to the elephant in the room when talking about The Beatles and their White Album. In every single book or documentary about The Beatles there will be a line to the effect of: “An album by four solo artists”, “the beginning of the end of The Beatles” or “the album that drove them apart.” After years of research, years, I can soundly say: that’s bull crap. Well, okay, it’s also not entirely wrong: Ringo quit, George Martin quit, Yoko was around, and Paul was often recording songs on his own. Hearing outtakes of the session though, there is still plenty of wild lines and joking around and plenty of tracks where the full band played together. What I don’t buy is the illusion that the four Beatles recorded in isolation and begrudgingly pretending to be a band. Even if Paul recorded Mother Nature’s Son on his own, and George tapped Eric Clapton to play on Gently Weeps, and no other Beatle really touched Revolution 9 besides John, the equalizer is that every song was presented to the rest of the band. Each Beatle still had to please the audience of the other three (plus George Martin) which is why this album isn’t as hum-drum as an actual solo Beatle record. Even if each Beatle had more control over his own song, there’s no underestimating the influence of the Beatles as an institution.


The White Album is the ultimate in my head. The songs are all great in different ways, it has the band experimenting in many different ways with different song forms, and…and…it’s just cool! Even the band looks their most badass here. All my life I have wanted, what I call, “Long white album hair.” The White Album features the band at their most untouchable, yet also their most precarious. It is arguably their most personal record (along with Rubber Soul) and their most artistic. For all of it lumpiness and choices some may question, it is hard to imagine a work to be ay prouder of.
When deciding my list’s top 10, top 5, I secluded a top 3, with Morning Glory and The White Album among them. As previously stated, Morning Glory had long been my advertised favorite, but now it seemed far too narrow. My collection was growing by the week and I was consciously pushing myself farther and farther out of my old comfort zones of Alt-rock. With these new discoveries, it made me appreciate just how expansive The White Album was – and how relevant and contemporary it still remained; even far removed from my elementary days. This is my “island” album. Even though I can’t honestly say I still find new things in the album (short of the mono version) there is still so much to chew on and appreciate. The poster from the LP hangs in my bedroom, unmoved since I was little; such are my feelings to the music itself.



You may think picking The Beatles as my number one is a push. I can’t help but feel that this album best sums up my identity most (at least as far as musical taste goes.) And really, with a list that contains Number Girl, The Cardigans, Oasis, and Wilco – doesn’t the White Album make sense? As I close my list here at number one, I look back and wonder how suitable an end this really is. I adore the White Album, but that was very early on in my life. And I didn’t even finish talking about the 90’s! No no, we still have work to do. Though The White Album is my most favored, next time we’re going to talk about a truly perfect record.

My stupid List (Potatoes, mountain tops, and Anne Frank)
 

(My stupid list's introduction here)
Attachment 5345

Neutral Milk Hotel, we really have reached the end of this now haven’t we? The cult album whose popularity and reverence have swollen to meme-ic proportions. Where do I begin, apart from recounting how I built a tower tumbling through the trees? When making my list, where In the Aeroplane over the Sea was going to land was at the top of my mind. How was this album going to measure up alongside albums I grew up with? Alongside a top 10 that has seen little disruption since whenever I last decided to do this. It quickly seemed to belong in the top 10. I decided I’d rather listen to it over Nevermind, over high production albums like Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I did the eliminations until I was faced between it, The Beatles, and Oasis. I was a bit surprised it was up there with two bands I am absolutely devoted to, where my adoration for Jeff Mangum is merely respectful. I chose The Beatles among the three, but I still had to decide on #2. The simplification of my thought process on deciding between Aeroplane and Morning Glory can best be shown by comparing my two favorite tracks of each: the title track “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” and “Wonderwall.” Both are ballads sung in declaration of love to a girl; a love that screams life or death for both subjects. However, as sweeping as Wonderwall may be, Aeroplane enchantingly fills your head with such vivid, aged, tragic, beautiful visuals. The trumpet, the singing saw, and even Mangum’s nasal voice play like scratched and lost film. Anyone who listens is sure to pick out one lyric in this song (or at least, album) that sticks profoundly with them (mine being: “Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all.”)

As I compared the two, I found Aeroplane to be a very (very) mature (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory. All the songs are rather approachable, once coming to terms with the vocals, and even poppy. Just as Oasis fans pack arenas to sing along to “Champagne Supernova” for the hundredth time, so do Neutral Milk Hotel fans in slightly smaller venues. I know not a single person that can control themselves from singing either album start to finish. There are even two instrumentals on each album, along with an epic closer! Of course, once looking past surface, we find many things the Gallagher’s wouldn’t dare touch, but I found the many comparisons between the two very interesting. Comparisons I’m sure neither fan base would admit to their selves.

I wish I could say I was “leet” enough to have had this CD since the millennia, but alas I am a relatively late arrival to its party. I have been aware of this album since then though, I just never put all the pieces together. Since ’99, I had seen the iconic cover in many year-end lists and decade-end lists. However I wasn’t inquisitive enough to read and assumed the album was much older than it was and thought the cover art belonged to a band like Stone Temple Pilots or Blind Melon (hah!) As the decade went on, in a fashion to put Pinkerton to shame, fervor over the album grew and grew on the internet until I had to investigate.

This is one of those albums I don’t think I would have “gotten” before I cracked Bitte Orca. And still not every song revealed itself as readily as the title track or rolling opener “King of Carrot Flowers part 1.” Before I knew it though, it became the only thing I listened to for a month, or was how I felt. The entire album is just a fascinating to listen through, just for the sounds. It all sounds as if it was recorded in the 1910’s behind a circus, but with a fuzzed-out electric bass in the background. Jeff Mangum just pours his heart into the microphone, sometimes singing way out of his range. But the more his voice cracks and tears, the more you believe in the farcical yarns he spins. I think every album on this list is worth a spin of your time, but there are a few that I think are really “must-listens” and this is one of them. Even if it takes a few listens to really crack, I think it’s time worth investing.
The album has elevated from its underground roots to be an album so revered that some people interpret it as a joke. For one thing, the album nearly single handedly set the stage for the next decade of (indie, underground) music. A lot like how Nevermind had set the stage at the start of the 90’s. In fact it was the on the ashes of Nevermind’s platform that Aeroplane was built.

By the late 90’s, the kids that truly embraced Nevermind, and had bought into Mellon Collie had grown up. They were rats who has outgrown their cages and traded them for cubicles for in which to rage. The new kids that inherited that delicious 90’s tapestry…really weren’t of the same mold. In truth these “kids” were my peers; kids my own age. However, this crop of kids misconstrued what it meant to rage like “a rat in a cage” and what Nirvana’s “Rape Me” was really about. Kids wanted something angy-er-er, so up shot bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot. On the other side of the coin, the more presentable counter-points were becoming bankable again. Demographics shifted younger once more and Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and yes my Spice Girls ushered in the era of bubblegum. I’d argue Justin Timberlake probably had more in common with Kurt Cobain than Jonathan Davis did, but clearly the punk ethics that leveled the airwaves in the early 90’s, banked with in the mid 90’s, had sold out. I recall by 1999, good music was becoming more and more difficult to find. No surprise this when I resorted to unearthing CDs like Central Reservation and other obscure acts (for America.) In my introduction to this list, I mentioned that I used to do a weekly top 10 countdown of my favorite songs. 97 and 98 were my butter years doing this. By 1999 though, my top 10’s were becoming less engaging due to me finding less and less music I fancied through the traditional means. I remember one late list including two Oasis songs, two Radiohead songs and something like three Smashing Pumpkins where prior I had enjoyed ten very different selections. But also I was turning more and more to enjoying full albums rather than just individual songs. By summer 2000, I stopped doing these lists entirely.

I was finding less and less through traditional means, implying there were less traditional means available by then. Christmas ’98 I reserved a gift that changed the game. A Diamond Rio PMP300, one of the first portable mp3 players and introduced me to the MP3 and the idea of “free songs on the internet.” A year later came Napster that would fully re-open the music discovery faucets. The mp3 (and Napster) of course helped listeners caught in the mainstream find more underground acts. Though it wasn’t immediately that I discovered it, but the 90’s punk-ethics infused alternative music that I devoured earlier was still alive and evolving underground. For the most part, Jeff Mangum had unwittingly planted the seeds there.

If Kurt Cobain had brought the underground to the fore, with its anti-commercial message and tough to monetize sound, Jeff Mangum returned it to where it came from. In the Aeroplane over the Sea was as revitalizing for the scene as Nevermind was for popular music, breathing life into the sector that had been suffocated by me-too acts, bloated and beached ones, and imposters. “Holland, 1945” didn’t set the world on fire like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” but it did slowly burn. Neutral Milk Hotel begat acts like Arcade Fire, Joanna Newsom, The Microphones, and Deerhunter: arguably a more presentable legacy.

Aeroplane is perfect in a different way than Mellon Collie is. In Mellon Collie, the songs fill each other’s cracks to complete a full experience. For instance “Tales of a Scorched Earth” might not be a song you would regularly queue up, but in between “1979” and “Thru the Eyes of Ruby” you really dig the sequence. For Aeroplane, each song lends itself to the next. While Mellon Collie is an epic of grand proportions and sheer magnitude, Aeroplane is an epic in miniature. While each song doesn’t specifically lead to the rest, even ones advertised as “part 2” they all fit together perfectly to paint a full picture. A picture that is even greater than the sum of its parts.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a wonderful record to talk about. It has an old timey sound, yet was extremely forward thinking. Very traditional, but with odd production choices and instrumentation. It’s heart-warming and blunt and tragic, and other arty-farty conundrums. A true 10. I truly feel that my journey through music thus far was leading to this milestone of a record. It has the simplicity of an album like Morning Glory, the challenge of Funeral or Bitte Orca, the rebellious spirit of Doolittle or Nevermind, and the soul-bearing of Central Reservation or, yes, even First Band on the Moon. It may not top the list, but it is a work it likely took the body of this list to truly appreciate. I am sure this album will help me crack into other great albums I’ll soon love as much, hopefully.

We’re at the conclusion! Gosh! Almost a year after sorting this list and reflecting on these twenty (-one) records, I am quite pleased with the results. While I have listened to much new music since then, I feel this list is still a good advertisement of my feelings. Sure there’s a few choices I still second guess (Transmission from the Satellite Heart over Clouds Taste Metallic) but I think I made choices I’m comfortable with. Thank you all very much for reading my list and these essays! I hope you enjoyed them and inspired you to revisit some of your favorites and evaluate just what it is that you like about them so much. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there is as much tapestry to enjoy that isn’t heard in the notes that greatly amplifies what you do hear. I’d love to hear what albums you enjoy, and why! This list is solid enough to last me a while, but may we all meet again when I get that itch to list. Or more preferably, when you do!

Yay! I'm done! I finished! Thank you everyone for putting up with these posts and more or less suffocating this thread for a year. Thank you to everyone who complimented this "project." I'm glad you enjoyed it and hope eveyone can find something to enjoy.

To extremely late answer your question So_cold: My three favorite tracks are probably Tame, Mr. Grieves, and Silver. But I might also be skirting more "obvious songs."

Someone else's turn now!

Jihad, I think you need a music/etc discussion blog. haha :)

Sentiment echoed. I've enjoyed your list.

Thanks a lot for the effort and dedication, Jihad. I'm most likely to check all these albums up, sooner or later.

If you want, you can expand this list with "special mentions". I don't want it to end so abruptely on a top ten list.

(Please begin with Dark Side of the Moon.)

Agreed. Intimidatingly exceptional.

I would subscribe to Jihad's Justin.tv channel if he did a weekly music show. I would also consider doing a podcast with him.

In the Aeroplane over the Sea is one of my favorites too!

But really, Jihad should be paid for these reviews.

If that is how you feel, please consider donating to EMF! :lol:

VERY GOOD POINT. I think I will do it today or soon.

That would be pretty amazing.

Oh you poor sod from 5 years ago. There was much the discover for you


#1 The Wall by Pink Floyd
What an epic. How can one man make a double album where EVERY song is above average to nearly perfect? What did he have to give the devil for that? Is one soul enough, or did he have to promise his firstborn?

#2 Meddle by Pink Floyd
This album contains Echoes.
That is the best song every written on this planet, and my opinion on that hasn't changed in 3 years. It simply goes beyond anything, looks back, and wheeps.

#3 Close to the Edge by Yes
3 songs. Clearly enough for one ablum if it's Close to the Edge, You and I, and Siberian Khatru.

#4 Scheherazade and Other Stories by Renaissance
Although it does not contain the best songs from this band, it is clearly the album with he highest average quality. Magical.

#5 Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by YOU KNOW WHO
There is just something about this album that makes everything fit together. It is all I love about the Beatles (-Eleanor Rigby)

Yeah, so my respect for pretty much all music made after 1980 had decreased rapidly. How come nothing has come close for over 30 years?

I think it's more that post 80-s music hasn't had as much time to appreciate just yet. ;)

There is plenty of great music such as ∆, !!!, Lil B, Brad Sucks, Bull of Heaven, The Dead Kenny Gs, Clap Your Hand And Say Yeah, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, and The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do by Fiona Apple.

I am pretty firm in my belief that The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is the greatest album in existence. I've never heard anything more powerful in my life.

Joanna Newsom's Ys was another transcendent experience for me. It's really unique and special and a modern classic, and fuck anyone who doesn't like her voice. Seriously.

I think the universally acclaimed rock album I enjoy the most is probably Dolittle. It is just the perfect mixture of fun and crazy and weird and catchy. Not many other rock classics really do much for me. I do enjoy Radiohead, but I think I like their more recent, less rocky stuff more; Kid A is probably the album of theirs that deserves most to endure, in my opinion. When I heard National Anthem for the first time, I was like, "yeah, I think I really like what these guys are doing here, this is something different and cool."

I really love Sufjan Stevens, but I don't think he's quite made a masterpiece yet. He's come sooo close! If he could somehow mix Illinois with Age of Adz, he would truly have one of the greatest albums ever. As it is, he's kind of my ultimate comfort musician, and definitely one of the best musicians alive; people who dismiss him as a generic indie artist are way off the mark. Anyway I can't say any particular Sufjan album is one of my favorites, but his body of work as a whole is up there.

Other albums I've really enjoyed include Tom Waits's Bone Machine (I think it's his best? Gah, can't decide), Boredoms' Vision Creation Newsun, Can's Future Days, and . . . probably some others that I can't think of right now.

When I received new speakers, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is what I used to break them in.

Anything by AKB48. This looks like a box of chocolate.

Man, if I redid this now it would be dominated by Boris albums... they're all so awesome.

I don't know where Mahou Ga would fit, but it'd be on there.

Tamahime Sama would be up higher. Much higher. Like number 1.

Monoliths and Dimensions would make it into the top 10 too. Same with The Coming Ones.


Always interesting going back and reading the opinions everyone had a few years back. Do you still agree with your own list, Jihad? Still think TKOL is a more worthy album than SS?

Super excited to finally share this!

Attachment 6082
I finally collected my 21 favorite albums. (As of 2012) :D
As far as I can tell, Sappukei was not issued on vinyl. The Aeroplane Flies High was, but is more expensive than I care for. And the box is so cool as it is. Been a long time since I've taken a collection picture.

Sappukei was the last one I got.

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain is the one I bought almost entirely so I could take this picture.

First Band on the Moon was that I spent the longest time to track down. That, Central Reservation, and KZK are the ones I'm most excited to own on vinyl.

The White album is the one I owned first.

KZK or Mellon Collie were the most expensive buys.

The White album is the one I have the most copies of (original CD pressing, 68 US apple stereo pressing, 2009 stereo remaster cd, 2009 mono cd remaster, 2009 vinyl remaster (pictured), 2018 remix vinyl, 2019 super deluxe cd/Blu-ray) (The next would be Central Reservation, 99 US cd, 99 Aus cd with bonus track, 99 vinyl (pictured))

As much as I love spinning records, and love Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, listening on record is not the ideal way to experience. Every three songs you have to flip the record. Forget it. I really think the way to do Mellon Collie is to start, and have what feels like one hundred songs rush by until you have to switch discs for one hundred more.

The Nevermind and Pinkerton pressings are the super deluxe reissues. Unlike most reissues, these include the bonus tracks on wax - which is amazing. Best way to do Pinkerton.

Don't remember buying Shouso Strip.


Only 5 are still unopened in original plastic.


Records my wife recognized: The Flaming Lips, the baby, the blue and red one, and the Pineapple Under the Sea.


I don't think I did a good enough job thanking you all, years ago, for the kind words about that series I did. Sincerely, thank you all. As far as I care, this is still my "official" list that I reference to my wife and kid. (And they think its just charming.) But it is soon time to do this again. I've looked forward to it since I finished the last one.
Poor King of Limbs. I think about that every now and then. I get it. I get my thought process. I agree. But I also don't agree. TKOL is almost definitely not going to be in my top 20 next time :lol:
Is King of Limbs better or not than Shouso Strip? I thought so then anyway. I'd have to go back and revisit TKOL, honestly. But I would definitely say its not better than Ok Computer, or Bends, or Kid A, or Pool Shaped Moon.

Quality! Love a bit of Central Reservation. I had my own hit list of albums to hunt down as well starting in 2016. Pretty much got there the other day give or take one or two. My favorites are ever-expanding so I doubt I'll ever feel the job is done. The fact most of them are Japanese and ancient makes the search long and ridiculously expensive! :( I think all in for the records and associated deputy costs I'm £7,000+ down these past two years.


I saw you just obtained Sappukei! Did you go for the recent reissue or grab the OG? I got lucky a year and a bit ago and managed to grab all four OG records mint from the same Japanese seller for about £70 apiece. Still need to get the Wei?/Samurai 7", but there's no rush.


Record collecting can be a right old frustration at times and playing them and keeping it all in order is a hassle, but I love it. Really rewarding when you secure something you've been after for a good old while. :hmph:


If I was putting a top 21 together these days I think only KZK would make it from the Ringo canon. I think Oomori has eclipsed all her other releases at this stage and she'd have more representation in the line-up. Tamahime-sama would eclipse them all.:D Oasis-wise as I see WTSMG in your setup, would only include Definitely Maybe. I think it still holds up in it's entirety to this day whereas Morning Glory has quite a few skippables and badly dated tracks. It's a good list overall tho and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a good addition!


Have you tried out Haru Nemuri yet? I think that'd be a good addition to your collection.






That's the IKEA storage shelves, right? How are they holding up? I'm after a robust set of shelves myself, but I'm skeptical of their ability to hold the weight of the many 100's of records I'd need on them. They seem to be the only game in town so I'm holding off for the time being.

Pavement is crap though, Never Mind is a major crock save for "Breed".

@Bongo, I'm pretty sure my Sappukei is a 2000 issue. Not a reissue. I suppose now I should get the other 3 since they're all pretty great :lol:


I probably share your opinion on Shiina/KZK. Though SS is so good, and I still feel is underrated. Wish I could say I was as high on Oomori. But, I stopped staying current with her after Sennou. Maybe I'll fix that soon, see if anything's changed.


I've got a Creation press of Definitely Maybe, but I also want to get the 180G reissue. Morning Glory is and it sounds phenomenal. (I also have SOTSOG!) I'll probably get Be Here Now one of these days, and I also really want the last one. The Masterplan would be legit, but last I checked it was kinda pricey.


I'm pretty sure ITAOS is issued to any white boy millennial starting a record collection. :lol: I have the box with all his/their stuff. I want to spin it, but I'm also purposefully not listening to Neutral Milk Hotel too much. My son is really into music and I hope one day he listens to Aeroplane Over the Sea. But you can only listen to it for the first time once, so I'm trying to save that for him.



I was late to the Haru Nemuri party, despite DG's earnest and timely invitation. I like her stuff!


Yeah, they're the ikea shelves. They're sturdy as hell! I definitely recommend. I have around 100 records i guess and its not going anywhere. I have my TV on top too. I bought a 2x4 one as well for video game and computer storage as well.



What records are you excited to own?

There's quite a few. One that I'm quite pleased with is an original press of Kan Mikami's Hiraku Yume Nado Aru Janashi. I love that record and to have a copy that looks factory fresh when it's coming on 50 years old is amazing. Similarly with Kaoru Akimoto's Cologne LP. You never see it in any condition and again I have it mint. Nobuyasu Okabayashi's The World of Nobuyasu Okabayashi which is another 50 year older and pristine makes me happy. :) I have so many from the 70's and 80's in pristine order it's unreal. I paid enough and waited long enough, but it's worth it when you finally take possession of them.


Quite a few modern-ish releases seem hard to come by as well. I had to wait over a year and pay about £100 for NakamuraEmi's Nipponno Onnawo Utau Best and was rewarded with a completely flawless example which was also the worst pressing I've ever heard!:P You can't win 'em all !!


The other week I took delivery of a mint example of Ging Nang Boys' Kimi to Boku no Dai-san-ji Sekai Taisen-teki Ren'ai Kakumei which was a long time coming and cost £200+. I nearly won it 18 months ago and was beaten by a few 100 Yen. I thought I'd never see another perfect copy again. :( You just need to stay at it and persevere. They WILL come back at some stage!


Recent notables? The vinyl issue of Jun Togawa's Togawa Fiction, Ryo Fukui's Scenery, Perfect Blue OST, Reiko Kudo's Rice Field Silently Riping in the Night and The Stalin's Mushi for having the best cover art in the world! Shinobi with a revolver? What's not to love!:D Picked up the recent Toki Asako records and the Clammbon reissue as well. There's ALWAYS something.:whacko:

What I've been playing most recently was the reissue of echobelly's On.Absolutely perfect Britpop record.A great pressing as well. I'll have to pick Beth Orton's Central Reservation up as well for myself. I just tend to focus on the Japanese releases as they're the harder to obtain.