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Five Essential Albums

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skydivingninja:
Five essential progressive rock/metal albums:

1. In the Court of the Crimson King-King Crimson.  The album that pretty much started the wave of prog in the 70s and late 60s.  Zappa and Sgt. Pepper shook things up, King Crimson took that sort of experimentation and made it work (for the most part) on this album.

2. Dream Theater-Images & Words.  If not for the popularity of "Pull Me Under," I doubt prog's 90s revival would have had the same impact.  Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, and the Flower Kings all got record deals around 1992, and Dream Theater showed that prog could indeed become popular once more.  Now we have Mastodon, Coheed & Cambria, Muse, and so many others in the "mainstream" carrying the prog torch.

3. Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon.  There are two albums everyone owns.  One is Frampton Comes Alive, the other is Dark Side of the Moon.  This album cemented prog's popularity until disco came around, as well as opened doors to thousands of new fans willing to see beyond one incredible album.

4. Genesis-Selling England By The Pound.  Before Phil Collins started destroying rock music in the 80s, Genesis was led by Peter Gabriel, one of the few people the term "musical genius" could actually apply too.  After a few albums with the now-classic 5-man lineup, the band found all of their strengths in their masterpiece of the Gabriel-era.  There are countless "new-prog" bands that try and imitate the sounds you find on this album, but they just do not come close at all.

5. The Mars Volta-De-Loused in the Comatorium.  A tough choice.  I knew I had to have one album from this decade, which has only continued the 90s prog revival, but there were so many bands and albums to choose from.  Ultimately, I chose this one.  My favorite Volta album and while sometimes a bit too busy for my tastes, this band went out and did something very different from most other rock bands in the early 2000s.  Latin grooves, Crimson-like improv, mixed with trance and electronica, and you have one monster of an album.

@ mberan: Nice list!  Though I'd personally pick VH's self-titled over 1984 and put Born to Run by Springsteen in place of CSN&Y (still a great album though!).  I think I might post my own classic rock list later.

I Am Not Amused:
Five Essential Albums of Late 90s Indie Rock

The following albums may not be the 'best' indie albums, or even the best from their respective artists, but they all had a huge hand in determining the indie rock sound in late 1990s.



Modest Mouse: The Lonesome, Crowded West

On the whole, I prefer The Moon and Antaractica, but this was the album that announced Modest Mouse's arrival on the indie scene, and what a fucking arrival. Opener "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" distills the album perfectly in it's seven minutes, thrashing between emotions effortlessly.



Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret

Again, my favorite BtS album is not this, but rather the epic jams of Perfect From Now On. That being said, Keep It Like a Secret boiled down the strengths of both Built to Spill albums previous to it, with tracks that veered through guitar herois like Perfect and others of There is Nothing Wrong With Love's concise pop.



The Dismemberment Plan: Emergency & I

While previous albums ! and Is Terrified hinted at the D-Plan's ability to combine insane lyricism, bizarre song structures and fantastic hooks, they were fully realized on what was supposed to be their major label coming out party, Emergency & I.



Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One

With some of the great stuff they've put out this decade, it's can be hard to remember this album against their spectacular catalog. But this was how I was introduced to YLT and, from the opening bassline of proper album opener "Moby Octopad", this was already a classic indie album.



Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

While not as similar to the other releases in terms of sound, this release was just as important to the indie sound as any of the above. With some of the best internal rhyming on a record this side of Eminem, it was the poetry of Magnum's lyrics that helped them rise above their occassional inscrutability, and the delicacy of his arrangements that made them poignant.

KharBevNor:

--- Quote from: skydivingninja on 27 Aug 2009, 11:04 --- Now we have Mastodon, Coheed & Cambria, Muse, and so many others in the "mainstream" carrying the prog torch.

--- End quote ---


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Tom:
Cool beans

Tom:
For the record, I much prefer Dinosaur Jr.'s cover of "Show me the Way" to Frampton's original.

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