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[I Am Not Amused]

So I compile and recompile this list every once in awhile, when I'm feeling up to the sometimes monumental task. This time it took me a little over two weeks to compile the list itself and write down all my reasonings. Since I am bored and this is a music forum, I shall post it here for your insulting pleasure.

Without further ado..

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My Top 25 Albums Of All Time

Number Twenty-Five is The Postal Service's Give Up
Why? Because sure, it's been namedropped on the O.C. Sure, snippets are used for MTV commercials or programs all the freaking time. None of that changes the fact that Jimmy Tamberello's beats and programming here are gorgeous and flawless, from the keyboard drone that opens the album to the dense, Aphex Twin-esque beats and soundscapes that close it. Oh yeah, there's that Ben Gibbard guy, too, who sings beautifully on top of it all with a poignancy and honesty that you'll never find in Orange County.
Favorite Tracks: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," "This Place Is A Prison," "Brand New Colony"

Number Twenty-Four is Green Day's American Idiot
Why? Because it show's Billy Joe Armstrong's coming of age, by weaving a 57 minute tale of personality changes, found and lost love, and reluctant acceptance. Do you remember this band's previous opus? It had two songs about masturbation on it! This shows the band in full control of their sound, with a perfectly clear vision of what they want out of an album. There are so many affecting moments on this album, and it's so strong and consistent throughout the whole album. It's hard to believe this band went from "Longview" to this, but they did. And it's utterly brilliant.
Favorite Tracks: "Jesus of Suburbia," "Letterbomb," "Whatsername"

Number Twenty-Three is Radiohead's The Bends
Why? Because it shows that Radiohead were once upon a time a rock band and a damn good one at that. Not to discredit their later achievement (they'll show up twice more on this list) but The Bends will always be special and unique in Radiohead's collection. Before they became obsessed with keyboards, electronics and the Warp Records catalouge, they used their three guitar attack in a brilliant, beautiful way. Many people will always remember "Fake Plastic Trees" but for me, it's more about the eastern style guitars with the cathartic freakout in "My Iron Lung" or the initial moments of "Just" that make this album. While Radiohead would move on and be better, they showed the world that they would be just as amazing as a straight ahead rock band.
Favorite Tracks: "Just," "My Iron Lung," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"

Number Twenty-Two is Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Why? Because it is a stark, open and honest portrayal of Jeff Tweedy and his life at the time. Forget the delays. Forget the stories. Forget the movie, and please just listen to the record. Disjointed, beautiful, sullen and interior. It's like looking in on someone's private journal and feeling distinctly touched at being allowed to do so. After listening, you feel strangely haunted, as if Tweedy's cigarette stained voice will follow you into your dreams.
Favorite Tracks: "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," "Radio Cure," "Pot Kettle Black"

Number Twenty-One is Built To Spill's There Is Nothing Wrong With Love
Why? Because of guitar heroics, weird vocal harmonies, lyrics about everything from elementary school romances to stepfathers who look like David Bowie, hooks coming at you every fifteen seconds. This album has everything a great pop record should, so much so that you don't even feel silly singing about 'popping off three times a week.' Doug Martsch managed to throw just about every topic in life into sharp relief, taking things seriously while still having a wry sense of humor about it.
Favorite Tracks: "Car," "Fling," "Stab"

Number Twenty is The Arcade Fire's Funeral
Why? Because it is a passionate, intense experience. Win Butler howls and caterwauls, Regine Chassagne flirts with Bjork and Mary Hansen of Stereolab with her vocal stylings. Every song is an anthem, a call to arms, a coming of age all rolled into one. Strings and bells sit comfortably with angry, buzzing guitars and driven rhythm sections. Hidden amongst the energetic brilliance are quiet, reflective tracks that throw the rest of the album into stark contrast. An album to make your voice hoarse, to take you through the entire emotional gauntlet and make you feel at home.
Favorite Tracks: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)," "Wake Up"

Number Nineteen is The Notwist's Neon Golden
Why? Because it is subdued, beautiful and affecting. The mood is immediatly set by plucked violin strings, but the insturmentation and beauty of the entire work comes at you from all directions. One can never really tell what's going to happen next, but it's easy to tell that it's going to be delicate, hushed and gorgeous. Markus Acher's tenor is soft, fragile and the German evident in his voice just makes the English seem all the more beautiful.
Favorite Tracks: "One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand," "One With The Freaks," "Consequence"

Number Eighteen is Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On
Why? Because, after being signed to a major label, most bands cut back on the experimentation. Strip away some of the more unpalatable aspects of their music. It would have been incredibly easy for Built To Spill to do this. There were an Avril Lavigne production team away from being pop darlings. What did they do instead? They made dense, guitar crafted symphonies, bordering on shoegaze at times. Still they kept their pop sensibilities and their songwriting craft intact, and ended up making the best album of their careers.
Favorite Tracks:  "I Would Hurt A Fly," "Velvet Waltz," "Untrustable, Pt. 2"

Number Seventeen is Modest Mouse's Building Nothing Out Of Something
Why? Because, despite the fact that this album is a b-sides and rarities compilation, it still managed to be a coherant and truly Modest Mouse album. "Neverending Math Equation," "Interstate 8," and "A Life Of Arctic Sounds" are still live staples and are better than some album tracks. Modest Mouse always had a penchant for epic tracks ("The Stars Are Projectors," "Trucker's Atlas") but none were as catchy and as able to hold their length as "Other People's Lives." The reason this album is so good is because, though it could have been a throw-away, scattershot recording, they made it into another brilliant Modest Mouse album.
Favorite Tracks: "Neverending Math Equation," "Interstate 8," "A Life Of Arctic Sounds"

Number Sixteen is Boom Bip and Doseone's Circle
Why? Because it is the single most confounding, confusing, difficult album I've ever heard in my entire life. Entirely unlike anything I've heard before or since, this album takes snippets from just about every type of music imaginable and combines them all into a startling cohesive masterpiece. Over this, Doseone raps, speaks, sings and narrates in jarring, broken mirror poetry. His voice, somewhere between Eminem and a nerdy AP English student, matches perfectly with the patchwork production. It took me about six or seven listens to be able to sit through this entire album as a whole. But once I did, I knew I would never forget a single moment of it.
Favorite Tracks: "Dead Man's Teal," "Questions Over Coffee," "The Birdcatcher's Return"

Number Fifteen is Modest Mouse's Lonesome Crowded West
Why? Because of the sheer visceral quality of watching Modest Mouse mature as a band. More coherant and mature than their debut album (which appears later in this list) it showed Modest Mouse gaining musical ideas and gaining confidence in their abilities. "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" and "Heart Cooks Brain" with a one-two punch of classic Mouse - frenetic energy and quiet contemplation, but both are more ambitious, and better concieved than any songs on their predecessor. Overall the album is a wonderful statement of Modest Mouse's ability to experiment and grow as musicians.
Favorite Tracks: "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," "Heart Cooks Brain," "Trailer Trash"

Number Fourteen is The Wrens' Meadowlands
Why? Because it showed me a whole different side of life. Tackling relationships, love and life from a completely different perspective than I was used to, the Wrens did it with the patience and honesty that only comes from age. Whether it be tackling infidelity, letting love slip through your fingers, or the thrill of your life that only comes with being on stage and performing, the Wrens did it all without hiding behind metaphors or their music. They put it all forward, for everyone to see. It makes me hope I'll be able to do the same when I'm forty-something.
Favorite Tracks: "Happy," "She Sends Kisses," "Ex-Girl Collection"

Number Thirteen is Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream
Why? Because of Billy Corgan, while never more anal retentive than on this album, was also never more genius. He recorded most of the guitars, including the bass, all by himself in the studio. While some might take this, along with his obvious pretentiousness, as a sign of doom for this album, it actually produced the Pumpkins' most amazing album of their careers. The album was an excersive in duality, both honest and self-decieving, both angry and resigned. It somehow managed to portray every human emotion, all in 13 all-too-short songs.
Favorite Tracks: "Disarm," "Soma," "Mayonaise"

Number Twelve is The Dismemberment Plan's Emergency & I
Why? Because it can make me feel everything I've ever felt in my entire life in its twelve too short tracks of pure genius. Between manic, crazed blasts of pure energy like "Girl O'Clock" or "I Love A Magician," amazing reflective tracks like "The Jitters" and "Spider In The Snow," and beautifully constructed tunes like "What Do You Want Me To Say?" and "The City," this album encapsulates what indie rock is all about, and does so in a way that touches my heart every single time I listen.
Favorite Tracks: "What Do You Want Me To Say?," "Gyroscope," "The City"

Number Eleven is Elliott Smith's XO
Why? Because, while not as brutally telling as his two albums previous (which show up later in this list), it was a beautiful, majestic retelling of Elliott's music. Taking George Harrison inspired melodies and insturmentation and adding them to his close-to-the-bone lyrics and his ghostly whisper of a voice, Elliott simaltaneously brought us closer and pushed us farther away. His lyrics were still as honest as ever, but the insturmentation distracted us from listening at times, and just allowed us to bask in the glory of its melodies.
Favorite Tracks: "Waltz #2 (XO)," "Pitselah," "I Didn't Understand"

Number Ten is Modest Mouse's This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About
Why? Because it is the story of a band just having so much fucking fun making music. Taking apart their infulences and recombining them in a type of indie rock that was distinctly unique to Modest Mouse, they screamed, sang and lisped songs about the cities that were encroaching their homelands, and the people they encountered during this suburban sprawl. While later albums would show them reigning themselves in to a tigther sound, this barely contained little ball of rage and sadness is the perfect catharsis for any rage or sadness that may be in your life.
Favorite Tracks: "Beach Side Property," "Ohio," "Space Travel Is Boring"

Number Nine is At The Drive-In's In/Casino/Out
Why? Because of every time I am disenchanted. Whenever I feel like I can see exactly how the world around me is working, and I don't like the vision, I put on this record. It somehow both throws this vision into sharp focus and relieves me from it as well. From the anthmatic cries from "Napoleon Solo" to the Bowie-esque piano driven "Hourglass," this album tackles ideas from friends dying to who knows what in their thesarus required lyrics. Somehow, the music makes you not care one damn wit about what 'syntax error' means, and transforms it to the most important sentiment in the world.
Favorite Tracks: "Hulahoop Wounds," "Lopsided," "Transatlantic Foe"

Number Eight is Elliott Smith's Elliott Smith
Why? Because if you ever have wondered what a ghost sounds like, you'd know by listening to this album. Hushed, quiet and haunting, Elliott's delicate guitar pieces sit quietly beneath his diary entries about drugs, alcohol and personal relationships. You can almost hear his resigned sighs as he turns once again to drugs in "The White Lady Loves You More," you can almost hear his heart breaking on "The Biggest Lie." It was these not quite auditory sounds that made Elliott so touching, they were the way he touched the hearts of everyone who listened.
Favorite Tracks: "Needle In The Hay," "Clementine," "The Biggest Lie"

Number Seven is Weezer's Weezer (Blue Album)
Why? Because it is the catchiest album of all time. Disagree? Pull out your copy - I know you have one, or at least had one, no matter who you are or were - and listen to it. Hah! You still remember all the words, don't you? How could you forget? From the opening cry of "My Name Is Jonas," to the final sighing of "Only In Dreams," you can still recall every single world. Just look at you, trying to pass yourself off as the new indie. It's okay, just submit. I did. You'll feel a whole lot better.
Favorite Tracks: "No One Else," "Say It Ain't So," "In The Garage"

Number Six is Elliott Smith's Either/Or
Why? Because it is Elliott's definitive statement. The poetry of his self-titled album had settled into brutal honesty and unforgiving character sketches, of others and of himself. The insturmentation wasn't anywhere near the grandiose string sections and piano pieces of XO, but still was beginning to move away from simple acoustic guitar meanderings. Sonically, it sounds like Elliott is caught in the middle of his too musical extremes, but it works the best somehow. Maybe because it always seemed like Elliot was caught in the middle when you listened to him, never knowing which direction he was being pulled in.
Favorite Tracks: "Between The Bars," "Angeles," "Say Yes"

Number Five is Radiohead's OK Computer
Why? Because it shows a band that knows what it wanted to do and knew exactly how to do it. Being tired of confined by the label of guitar rock, Radiohead created this album as a way of breaking out of that shell. It still had it's moments of guitar heroics (see: "Paranoid Android") but also had it's moments of perfectly sculpted atmospherics ("Let Down") and brilliant songcrafting ("Exit Music (For A Film)"). It was the sound of a band tired of what they had already done as well as they possibly could, and finding a way to move on. In the wake of their attempt, they left an utterly brilliant album that no other band in transition could have accomplished.
Favorite Tracks: "Paranoid Android," "Exit Music (For A Film)," "Lucky"

Number Four is ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's Source Tags & Codes
Why? Because it is the ultimate in catharsis. I know that I have thrown that term around a lot here in this list, but if you want an album that will purge you of all the frustrations of daily living, than this is it. Try to deny the manic-depressive screams of "Homage," try to be unmoved by the longing of "How Near, How Far." Whenever I feel frustrated, I put this on at full volume and thrash just about everything that is unbreakable in reach. All of this culminates in the message of hope in the final title track: "I don't know what in this world is trying to save me/But I can feel its hand and it's guiding me in sign"
Favorite Tracks: "Homage," "Days Of Being Wild," "Source Tags & Codes"

Number Three is Everclear's So Much For The Afterglow
Why? Because it is quite possibly the most perfect pop record I have ever heard. I know that this pick will certainly get a lot of indie kids riled up, surprised or confused. But I just can't help it. Art Alexakis throws out some of the most honest, brightest lyrics without even really trying on this album. It's the sound of a band absolutely comfortable with themselves, absolutely convinced that they are making something great. While nothing on this disc is as infectiously catchy as "Santa Monica," everything on this disc is tighter, more fleshed out and just plain better than anything off of their previous effort. Crucify me if you must, indie kids, but when you do I'll just be singing "This is a song about Susan..."
Favorite Tracks: "Everything To Everyone," "Amphetamine," "Sunflowers"

Number Two is Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica
Why? Because of the very first time I heard it. I remember listening to this album for the very first time, in my computer room in the summer of 2001. Every single song, every single second of every single song, was instantly etched into my head and into my heart from then on out. It was amazing. It was as if Isaac Brock and company had made this record just to speak with me. As if it was telling the story of my life, and not Brock's. Broken into three sections, an opening section of classic Modest Mouse, a spacey, desolate second movement that breaks your heart every time you listen, and a experimental, frenetic tail end, it sounded like a person on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Confused, lonely, convinced that "Everything that keeps me together is fallin' apart," Isaac Brock took off the philosophical gas station attendant cap for the first time and made something wholly beautiful. Every time I listen, I find something new to marvel at. And of course, in true Modest Mouse fashion, the only way to end an album this contemplative and restrained is with a burst of manic energy and frustration. The closing scream summing up everything the past 16 tracks said in just a second and a half.
Favorite Tracks: "Paper Thin Walls," "Life Like Weeds," "What People Are Made Of"

Number One is Radiohead's Kid A
Why? Because it made me into the music fan I am today. Before this album, I was your typical, uninformed high school kid. I liked my radio rock, and even the occassional pop song, if it struck my fancy. I bought this album on a whim, having heard it mentioned by someone, though not knowing anything about Radiohead, or of what this album was supposed to be like. I took one listen. And I was utterly blown away. From the humming keyboard drones of "Everything In Its Right Place," I knew I had just stepped over a line that I could never go back across, especially because everything I was hearing sounded so natural, so right. It was beautiful, to quote A Clockwork Orange, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousosity made flesh. Just as classical music sounded to Alex's ears, Kid A made it's way into my brain synapses and made a home there, expanding and growing until it changed me into the musician I am today. Fifty plus minutes of absolute perfection, I can hardly wait until I play it again. In fact, you know what, maybe I should put it on right now.
Favorite Tracks: "Everything In Its Right Place," "How To Disappear Completely," "Idioteque"

[Banana_Hammock]

I love making lists... But making a top 25 was a real challenge...

Here is a quick and dirty one from me:

25   Led Zeppelin    - II
24   The Flaming Lips   - Yoshimi Battles the pink robots
23   The Jam     - All Mod Cons
22   Nick Drake   - Five Leaves Left
21   Yo La Tengo   - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
20   Nirvana   - Nevermind
19   Pavement   - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18   The Shins   - Chutes Too Narrow
17   Sentridoh   - Free Sentridoh Songs From Loobiecore
16   The Beatles   - White Album
15   Led Zeppelin    - IV
14   Sex Pistols   - Never mind the Bollocks
13   The Decemberists   - Her Majesty
12   Elliot Smith   - Elliot Smith
11   Sebadoh   - Bakesale
10   Grant Lee Buffalo   - Fuzzy
9   Arcade Fire   - Funeral
8   The Clash   - London Calling
7   Marvin Gaye   - Lets Get it On
6   The Apples In Stereo   - The Discovery of a world inside the Moone
5   Iron & Wine   - Our Endless Numbered Days
4   Neutral Milk Hotel   - In The Aeroplane over The Sea
3   Nick Drake   - Pink Moon
2   Velvet Underground   - The Velvet Underground & Nico
1   The Who   - Who's Next

[ASturge]

I liked yours Banana Hamock, well, apart from the Nirvana

good call with NMH and Decemberists

[Banana_Hammock]

I liked yours Banana Hamock, well, apart from the Nirvana

good call with NMH and Decemberists

I wasn't quite sure about that one myself, but I thought they maybe deserved a mentioning... I used to love them when I was younger, I don't as much anymore since my knowledge of music increased at least a bit (partly thanks to this site )

Only NMH and the Decemberists ?

[muffy]

Mine changes on a weekly basis, when I keep finding new and old stuff that maes me go 'OMG this is the best thing I've ever heard!' in a lame fashion, but for now:

Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors
Radiohead - OK Computer
Mansun - Six (don't laugh, I like them, damnit, and this was good)
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Tilly and the Wall - Wild Like Children
Willy Mason - Where the Humans Eat
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
Easyworld - Better Ways to Self Destruct
Pixies - Doolittle
2manyDjs - as heard on Radio Soulwax
The Faint - Danse Macabre
The Smiths  The Queen Is Dead
Suede - Suede
Jeff Buckley - (Sketches for) My Sweetheart The Drunk
Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova - One jug of wine, two vessels
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Son, Ambulance- Key
Magazine - Where the power is
Manic Street Preachers  - The Holy Bible
Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
Felix Da Housecat - Kittenz and Thee Glitz
Azure Ray - Hold on Love
Muse - Showbiz
The Good Life - Album of the Year
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning

There's so much else, but these are just the albums I can listen to on repeat and not get bored of, I don't mind that they're all pretty recent..

[ASturge]

The Flaming Lips get a big thumbs up too, as do Iron Wine and Arcade Fire but no broken social scene?. they'd definatly make mine.
 Another thing,just becasue you've got 'older' doesnt mean that you should stop liking NMH. they are teh aceness


ps. id do a list if i wasnt so damned lazy

[Banana_Hammock]

The Flaming Lips get a big thumbs up too, as do Iron Wine and Arcade Fire but no broken social scene?. they'd definatly make mine.
 Another thing,just becasue you've got 'older' doesnt mean that you should stop liking NMH. they are teh aceness


ps. id do a list if i wasnt so damned lazy

I meant i don't like NIRVANA as much anymore... I LOVE NMH, they're one of my all time favourite groups, as my list reflects...

[ASturge]

aha, silly me.

Nirvana sets me off balance it seems....

[negative creep]

i just decided not to make a list like that, because there would be at least 3 nirvana albums in it.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

Yeah, that's a big 'shut up' right there...

I would do one.... but I have to go home, and go into town to meet one of my women(Hannah, before you ask Sturge)

[Inlander]

Well I've donned the rope and the safety equipment and dived into my C.D. collection, and after a lot of hard graft I've managed to come up with a top 25.  I had to start off with a short-list of 53, then to narrow that down I decided to only have one album from each artist . . . And after that it got difficult!  That left me with 32, and it hurt me so to cut out the final seven - but here it goes, in alphabetical order:

Louis Armstrong: Plays W.C. Handy
If it's high summer, and you're outside on the back verandah sharing a meal and a bottle of wine with some good friends, put this album on.  The mood is complete.

Count Basie: The Original American Decca Recordings
'30s swing at its peak - big band doesn't get any better than this.

Cat Power: Moon Pix
A divisive one, but listening to it in the shop to decide whether or not to buy it, an idea for a story suddenly popped into my head - that prompted me to buy the album, and for the next fortnight I listened to nothing else.  Thus did this album become part of me.

The Clash: London Calling
Do I really have to explain?  The presence of "Rudy Can't Fail" alone would make this one of the greatest albums ever.

Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
It's not often that an album goes straight into your list of favourites the minute you buy it.  This is one of those records that divides your life into "before" and "after".

Miles Davis: Round About Midnight
Not one of his most famous recordings - many would say not even one of his best.  But for me this is the greatest band Davis ever led - the legendary first quintet - at the height of its powers.  If you're going to listen to one jazz performance in your life, make it "Bye Bye Blackbird" from this album - especially for the stunning piano solo by Red Garland.

Herb Ellis: Nothing But the Blues
More jazz - though, obviously, of a blues bent.  Although, as is the way with jazz reissues, the album has been supplemented with additional tracks, on the original 8 tunes there is literally not a bum note.  And for me, jazz guitar starts and ends here.

Bill Evans: Waltz for Debby
The finest 11 p.m. music ever created.  This is one of those recordings that re-sets the bar as far as its particular genre - in this case, the jazz piano trio - is concerned.  Recorded live in 1961, this is all the more significant - and more tragic - for the fact that the brilliant bassist in the group, Scott LaFaro, died in a car accident only 10 days later.

Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
Well, what can I say?  In 1959 Fitzgerald's voice was simply the most beautiful thing you'll ever hear - and Fitzgerald and the Gershwins deserved each other.  As a writer, I'm especially fond of this album because it allows me to wallow in Ira Gershwin's lyrics - there's never been a better lyricist, in my opinion, and listening through the four C.D.s that make up this album is just to live in a world of sheer joy.

The Four Tops: Four Tops
For my money, the Tops were the best of Motown.  Levi Stubbs' voice is the very definition of soul, and this album is vintage Motown right through - but particularly the classic opening track, "Baby I Need Your Loving".

Billie Holiday: The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume V
Though it's since been supplanted in my collection by the 10 (yes, 10) C.D. set of the complete Billie Holiday recordings of 1933-44, this was the first Holiday album I bought and even though the remastering is rough by later standards, it still holds a special place in my heart.  It includes "On the Sentimental Side", which must be my favourite of all the Holiday recordings of the '30s and '40s.

Massive Attack: Blue Lines
Another instant classic.  No matter how many times I hear songs such as "Safe From Harm" and "Unfinished Sympathy", they always sound fresh.

Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
For most people, myself included, the best album Mingus ever recorded. Aw, screw that, it's probably the best jazz album ever, full stop.  Don't believe me?  Just listen to "Better Git It in Your Soul".

Palace Music: Lost Blues and Other Songs
The beginning of my wonderful Will Oldham adventure.  In Australia we have a weekly music show called "Rage" - every Saturday it's guest programmed by a touring band, either oversease or local, who play their favourite songs.  When I was in my late teens "Ohio River Boat Song" popped up again and again.  This album also includes possibly my favourite Oldham song (and that's a BIG call!), "Gulf Shores".

Charlie Parker: The Complete Dial Sessions
Another 4-C.D. set, though truth be told you could settle for just the master takes on 2 C.D.s.  A Charlie Parker performance is a complete entity: you can't listen to just a snippet or it'll just sound like noise.  But listen to one of the tunes off the last two C.D.s in this set, and you'll be hearing musical perfection.  In particular I love the way he redefined jazz ballad playing: listening to Parker play a ballad is like listening to an inarticulate man trying to spurt out just how much he loves you.  There are notes everywhere, but at heart it makes sense and it's beautiful.

Dolly Parton: The Grass is Blue
Yes, Dolly Parton.  I am not ashamed!  If you only buy one bluegrass album in your life, make it this one.  Just listen to "Cash on the Barrelhead", or "Steady as the Rain", or "Will He Be Waiting For Me", or . . . Or just listen to the whole damn thing.

The Pixies: Doolittle
I know some people who look down on this album a little because they see it as the Pixies' "pop" album.  Well fuck 'em, this is the one for me.

The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
I had THREE Pogues albums in my shortlist.  I went for this one because it combines everything that made the Pogues great when they were in their prime.  And because it has "Fairytale of New York" on it.

The Sundays: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Long before the Shins, the Sundays were writing gorgeous pop songs with bitter, cynical lyrics.  Just about every time I listen to this album I have a different favourite song, but I think all things considered the best would have to be "Can't Be Sure" - the point where the drums kick in and the whole song blossoms open is a weak-at-the-knees moment.

The Tea Party: Splendor Solis
Everybody has a favourite band that they worshipped in High School, and then grew out of.  Before they disappeared up their own arses, the Tea Party released one brilliant album.  Forget The Edges of Twilight - this is it.

The Waterboys: Fisherman's Blues
It's not often that you get an album that is not just a collection of songs, but a seamless whole from beginning to end.  This is Mike Scott's most consistent album, and with songs such as the title track, "And a Bang on the Ear", and a classic cover of Van Morrisson's "Sweet Thing", it's also his best.

Ben Webster: Meets Oscar Peterson
Swoon!  Arguably the most gorgeous tenor saxophone player the jazz world has ever produced, and this is his best.  38 minutes of heaven.

X: Los Angeles
Back when they made REAL punks on the West Coast.  John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, D.J. Bonebrake - is this the coolest band ever?  Probably, but honestly who cares about cool when the music's this good.  One of the great punk albums.

Lester Young and Teddy Wilson: Pres and Teddy
Lester Young - "Pres" - is probably the greatest tenor saxophone player ever.  And yes, I'm including Coltrane in that.  Truth be told, though, this album isn't his best - though it's still miles ahead of what most musicians could achieve - but it gets into the list because of Teddy Wilson, one of the absolute greats of jazz piano.  Just listen to his solos on this album - the man had a gorgeous tone on the piano, unlike any jazz pianist who came before him.

Various artists: The Harder They Come Soundtrack
The ultimate reggae album - and there's not a Bob Marley track in sight!  Though it's often remembered for Jimmy Cliff, who also starred in the film, some of the best songs on this album are the non-Cliff ones.  This album was wildly influential on a generation of musicians when it came out (the Clash covered "Pressure Drop" - and on a rather less exalted level, Boney M covered "Rivers of Babylon, and (ugh) Tony Childes covered "Many Rivers to Cross").  Basically, this album comes down to one thing: you have one C.D. with Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, AND Toots and the Maytals, all at their peak.  What more could you ask for?

(Honourable mentions: Duke Ellington, the Magnetic Fields, Uncle Tupelo, Jackie Leven, Darren Hanlon, the Violent Femmes, Coleman Hawkins . . . etc, etc.)

[Signum_Tenebrae]

Number One:  Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning  This album is a cursed painting of a horrible, frightening existance one man lives.  A wrist-slitting suicidal classic, don't listen if you're depressed and have weapons nearby.  Malefic's howls sound like the despair-filled cries of a phantom wandering aimlessly for centuries.

Number Two:  Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath  Quite the polar opposite from my first album, though it is fucking incredible in a different way.  Melodic leads and a heavy-metal style to instrumentation put together with King Diamonds crazed falsetto voice yields a rocking, head-banging, yet evil as fuck album.

Number Three:  Nokturnal Mortum - Goat Horns  Epic.  This album's intro uses a classical-music approach, tieing together themes from all of the other tracks to make the entire thing feel like one lengthy piece of music.  Two keyboardists were used on this album, and it is really keyboard dominated yet folky at the same time.

Number Four:  Burzum - Hvist Lyset Tar Oss There isn't much that needs to be said about this album.  It's a masterpiece.  Varg is a genius.  My favorite of everything Burzum released.

Number Five:  Sargeist - Satanic Black Devotion  Incredibly cold and emotion-filled riffing.  Simplistic in technique, very deep in feel.  Hate just seeps from this album, yet some riffs do not fail to be quite catchy.  You can definitely hear the influence from Behexen and Horna (in which members of Sargeist are also in)

Number Six:  Judas Iscariot - Heaven In Flames  Another album of very simple riffing, and yet with a touch of keyboard, it becomes epic, triumphant, and hateful at the same time.  Displays the majestic hatred that a lot of BM bands shoot for but never manage to quite achieve.

Number Seven:  Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve  Large and frequent doses of DXM (A dissociative drug found in cough syrups) inspired this album heavily.  The members remarked that a listener on a DXM "trip" would make more sense of this album.  Even though I'm not a DXM user, this album is incredible.  It sounds as if it was written in the darkness beneath thousands of feet of ocean.  Sparse vocals and wandering guitars make this a really "hypnotic" listen.

Number Eight:  Abyssic Hate - Suicidal Emotions  Another "suicidal" (as the name implies) album.  Whereas Xasthur's depressing is filled with the feeling of an alienated attachment to the supernatural and occult, this one gives off more of a pure depression and hopelessness often found in doom metal.  

Number Nine:  Absu - Tara  Absu describes themselves as "mythological black/thrash metal"  Proscriptors insane drumming sets this albums tempo at about a thousand fucking miles per hour, and the guitars keep the pace quite nicely.  The riffs are very thrash-influenced, and jet this album doesn't lack it's epicness which the lyrics depict.  Such tracks as "Stone Of Destiny" (in which Proscriptor showcases some clean vocals) are masterpieces that are hundreds of times better than your average dumb thrash metal song.

Number Ten:  Mütiilation - Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Curse Soul  Meyna'ch strikes me as very mentally unstable.  The best release from the infamous French Black Legions (or if you prefer, Les Legions Noire) this is truly a strain of detatched, ugly, raw, evil, painful, and horrible black metal not very friendly to the ear.  Probably a pinnacle of raw and ugly black metal.


Maybe I'll post some more later.  These are always subject to change of course.

[LightThievesAll]

Number Two:  Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath

I'm going to see King Diamond next week.  It's going to be really, really, awesome.

As for albums, shit, I can't think of a true top 25, but here's a good list anyway.

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Misfits - Legacy of Brutality
Effigies - Remains Nonviewable (it's a best of, but I'm still counting it)
Motorhead - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith
Sheer Terror - Just Can't Hate Enough
Negative Approach - Tied Down
Slapshot - Step On It
Life of Agony - River Runs Red
Amazing Royal Crowns - Amazing Royal Crowns
Bruisers - Singles Collection (I know, another best of, sue me)
Cock Sparrer - Shock Troops
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Aesop Rock - Labor Days
Cro-Mags - Age of Quarrel
Judas Priest - Painkiller (or Screaming For Vengeance, tough call)
Skrewdriver - All Skrewed Up
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
Darkbuster - 22 Songs You'll Never Want to Hear Again
Black Flag - Damaged
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The Who - Who's Next
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
The Business - Suburban Rebels

[El Opium]

oh, alright. No Order
Kinks-Village Green Preservation Society
Neil Young-Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Can-Tago Mago
Big Black-Atomizer
Slowdive-Souvlaki
Polvo-Cor Crane Secret
Sonic Youth-EVOL
Fire Show-Saint the Fire Show
Comsat Angels-Waiting for a Miracle
Wire-Pink Flag
My Bloody Valentine-Isn't Anything
Growing-The Skies Run Into the Sea
Swell Maps-A Trip To Marineville
Swans-Great Anhilator
Slint-Spiderland
Charalambides-Market Square
Jack Rose-Opium Musick
PIL-Second Edition
Yellow Swans-Dreamed Yellow Swans
Skullflower-Exquisite Fucking Boredom
edit: Slowdive-Souvlaki (why did I forget the soundtrack to my nothing years).
Not quite sure if thats 25 more or less. Some  of it reflects my current taste more then others.

[nickyandthefuture]

Ok, here goes.  Every time I write this, it will probably be different, but this is what I'm thinking right now:

1. The Secret Stars - Genealogies:  Geoff Farina and Jodi Buonanno (with help from Ted Leo, Ida and others) made the perfect album.  The style varies drastically from song to song, jumping from sincere, confessional pop songs stripped down to the minimum number of sounds to walls of static.  There are constant themes throughout it, though.  It's too bad that it's been out of print for so long.

2. The Lucksmiths - Happy Secret:  So much of my life is tied up in this album, I can't really judge it anymore.  All I know is that "Untidy Towns" is one of the best pop songs ever written.

3. The Secret Stars - s/t:  Much like the other Secret Stars album, with a softer feel to it.  "Eyelashes" is the only song I still remember how to play on guitar, and I don't feel like I really need to learn anything else at this point.

4. Ted Leo/Rx - The Tyranny of Distance:  This was the album that made me realize how much of a genius Ted Leo is.  I liked his previous solo album quite a bit (much unlike probably everybody else in the world), but this album is unbelievably solid.

5. The Holy Childhood - Up With What I'm Down With:  Cacophony with a purpose.

6. Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk:  One of the prettiest things I've ever heard.  Also one of the few indie albums that lives up to its legendary status (which has of course faded now that people other than wealthy hipsters can get their hands on it)

7. Heavenly - Operation Heavenly:  Being simultaneously manic and beautiful is pretty hard to pull off, but Amelia Fletcher always seems to pull it off.  There should probably be more of her stuff on this list, but this is the one I like the best.

8. eric Metronome - Lime Green:  A three dollar cassette-only release that completely changed my taste in music back in high school.  A lot of people say he sounds like Elliot Smith, which is pretty true, but also... not.

9. The Lucksmiths - A Good Kind of Nervous:  Is it possible for an album to be more clever than this?  That is a rhetorical question.  The literal answer is "no".

10. Of Montreal - The Gay Parade:  The happiest album about isolation ever written.

11. Ida - Ten Small Paces
12. Brittle Stars - s/t
13. Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
14. Karate - In Place of Real Insight
15. Cibo Matto - Viva! La Woman
16. The Monorchid - Who Put Out the Fire?
17. Sarge - The Glass Intact
18. Yesteryear - Under the Rug
19. Belle and Sebatian - If You're Feeling Sinister
20. In My Living Room (compilation)
21. Beulah - Handsome Western States
22. Darren Hanlon - Hello Stranger
23. Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
24. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
25. From Bubblegum to Sky - Me and Amy and the Two French Boys

(I tried to write descriptions for everything, but I'm getting restless so I stopped at the top ten).

[KharBevNor]

I have a feeling mine shall be somewhat different to most of the others on this forum. The only rule I made myself is that I can't pick any band twice.


25: Ministry - Psalm 69

Yes, it is a fact. Ministry can only make truly awesome records when a Republican named Bush sits in the white-house. From the vast, beautifully blasphemic sample-fest of the title track to the 500 mph industrial speed metal of 'Jesus Built My Hotrod', this album shows the range and scope of the band in a way none of their albums even approached matching until 'Houses of the Mole' (which deserves an honourable mention).

24: Jack Off Jill - Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers

From their debut 'Sexless Demons and Scars', to this release JoJ made huge progress in song-writing and sophistication. Gone are the mono-textural, two chord songs, and in are a perfect synthesis of hard-rocking and the 'cutesy goth' aesthetic. Jessickas voice is in perfect form, switching from ennui-ridden disinterest to prepubescent innocence to riot grrl screams at the flick of a button.

23: Therion - Lemuria/Sirius B

Therions most ambitious project to date. Though nothing quite reaches up to the standard of the apocalyptic 'To Mega Therion' from their opus Theli the sheer scale and ambition of the album, which features performances by over 350 musicians, is staggering. Therions dense, unappolagetically occultic lyrics, delivered in a bizarre and wonderful mix of operatic and heavy metal styles, are once again the perfect complement for the immense, unique scale of the music. This album once and for all proves that extreme metal is firmly rooted in the structures of classical music. And in immense style too. I mean, a balalaika solo? Genius!

22: Nightwish - Once

With this release, Nightwish finally reconcile their metal half and their symphonic half, cutting a path between the keyboard overload of Angels Fall First and reconciling the influences of Oceanborn and Wishmaster to create a brilliantly satisfying album bereft of filler: a real doozie from the epic 'Ghost Love Score' to the satisfyingly heavy 'Romanticide'.

21: Inkubus Sukkubus - Vampyre Erotica

Inkubus Sukkubus' unique brand of 'Pagan Rock' blends eighties new wave and goth rock with a hefty dollop of celtic folk and classic 70's metal to create a wonderful blend, with 80's keyboards soaring over mechanical folk drums and twisting guitar riffs surmounted by Candia's beautiful vocals. Vampre Erotica is if not the bands best, then certainly my favourite of their works to date (Supernature deserving an honourable mention). The song-writing is brilliant and, unlike most of their other works, it keeps up it's pace and quality without wavering to a substandard song or a dash of ill-thought out experimentation.

20: Immortal - Damned in Black

Really, several Immortal albums could have gone here. However, Damned in Black was the first of their works I ever purchased and listened to in it's entirety, and I fell in love with it instantly. The production is slightly changed from Immortals normal, crisp high end buzz-saw of icy guitar to a more murky, menacing mix that perfectly compliments tracks like 'Damned in Black' and 'Against the Tide (In the Arctic World)'. Won a close race with 'Battles in the North'.

19: Venom - Black Metal

Do I even have to explain this one? Venoms 1982 Meisterwerk was a kick in the balls to the stagnating European metal scene, in which they can probably claim to have pretty much invented the european mode of extreme metal. It's also a motherfucker of a record. I have the re-released version with Venom's Peel sessions. At the insanely low price of £10.99 it's probably the best value music purchase I've ever bought.

18: Count Nosferatu Kommando - Ultraviolence Uber Alles

This record is silly and over the top, as befits anything involving the notorious Hreidmarr of Anorexia Nervosa. This record bolts anarchistic French black metal to a solid industrial base and then goes on a drunken killing spree. If the media or your average depressed teen ever latched on to this record, then tracks like 'Get a Gun, Shoot at Random' would take a hell of a lot of explaining.

17: Forefather - Ours is the Kingdom

Man, this CD makes me feel good. It's viking metal at it's most anthemic, but unlike the stirring but somewhat removed musings of other viking bands, this CD is about the bloody Anglo Saxons. This album actually has a song praising someone who is supposedly one of my direct ancestors (Hereward the Wake). Awesomely brilliant, and, like Ancient Rites, very much on the 'fuck it' side of politically correct. I could imagine horrific racist misinterpretations of the title track (which is in fact anti-religious).

16: Danzig - Danzig II: Lucifuge

This album is like a vampire on a huge motorbike, riding through the American deep south listening to rock and roll, stopping briefly every so often to seduce, corrupt and consume innocent maidens. That's pretty much the best way I can describe it. And oh man, can Glenn Danzig sing.

15: Crotchduster - Big Fat Box of Shit

Supposedly a concept album (about smuggling the mysterious 'Mammal Sauce' to the dimension known as Williamsburgland in an interdimensional pickup truck in order to avoid taxes). Crotchduster casually sweep up and flatten every other Avant-Garde band in the world with what is categorically the most insane (and possibly obscene) record ever. Deathgrind meets rap, jazz, black metal, music hall, new wave, power metal, country, thrash, funk, blues, hard rock and everything in-between in this insane rollercoaster of parody and immature comedy. This album is pretty much a metal in-joke: no-one who hasn't heard a live death metal concert will quite grasp 'Stars Ingenious Cooter [live]', and you have to actually be able to pick out grindy death metal vocals to realise that at one point the singer is screaming 'I love rainbows, I love balloons, I cried at Forest Gump and Disney cartoons' (this comes after a light funk passage about analingus). Sheer brilliance.  

14: Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow

Crimson and Crimson II are technically better records, but imo Purgatory Afterglow is the closest EoS ever came to their unfulfilled promise of producing the best MDM record ever (they are superior, imo, to popular favourites like In Flames and At The Gates). This album isn't truly impressive until you realise that it was made in 1994. Then it suddenly sinks in just how far ahead of the game the unstable writing team of Dan Swano and Andreas Axellson really was. Purgatory Afterglow is simply too dischordant in the nature of it's songs to be a true masterpiece, sounding somewhat like a compilation (a curse that would afflict all of EoS' later works) but some of the cuts on here are sheer genius: from the sheer brutality of 'Enter Chaos' to the epic 'Twilight' and the beautiful 'Blood-Coloured' the album shows that there really was something special happening here, despite filler tracks like 'Song of the Sirens' and 'Black Tears'. If only the band hadn't got mired into the combat between Swano's love of progressive rock and Axellson's affinity for first wave black metal...

13: Pink Floyd - The Wall

This is, quite literally, the album that got me in to music. Though my tastes have come on a long way since then, I still look back on it with great fondness and rightfully acknowledge it's place as probably one of the best concept albums ever put out, certainly one of the best if not the best to gain true mainstream appeal. Though 'Dark Side of the Moon' is another brilliant offering from Floyd The Wall has always captivated me with it's diverse influences and sheer intricacy of detail.  

12: Bathory - Blood on Ice

Another record startlingly ahead of it's time, Quorthon kept this album back for almost eight years, fearing that it would be ridiculed and misunderstood by his audience. It showcases more than any other album Quorthon's gift for both story-telling and evoking a sense of truly epic scale with the simplest of means (parts of this album were recorded in his flats toilet). Great music compliments a great story well told.

11: Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics

Acid Bath is a brilliant career cut tragically short. Their unique brand of hallucinogen-influenced sludge metal, veering wildly between grind and bluegrass, delivers along with excellent vocals and lyrics a perfect musical    approximation of their name: slowly drowning in a bath of Acid. What type of Acid is not always clear...

10: Wuthering Heights - Far From the Madding Crowd

Probably one of the most goddamn impressive albums I own guitar-wise, Wuthering Heights fourth offering (and still the only one I have been able to track down) is totally blistering speed/power metal with a hefty dollop of folk and beautifully bereft of a good deal of the flowery bollocks (well, as much as you can realistically expect for the genre) that marr a lot of power metal. Cuts like 'Bad Hobbits Die Hard' and 'Land of Olden Glory' leave DragonForce and Rhapsody coughing dust in their wake.

9: My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans

TLtS is the soundtrack to depression. Forget all that emo bollocks: MDB albums are atom bombs of gloom each capable of vapourising a whole legion of foppy-fringed crybabies, leaving behind nothing but a thousand smoking pairs of converse. This is the gloomiest of them all: a slow, apocalyptic symphony of utter despair. Great fun.

8: Ewigkeit - Radio Ixtlan

The solo project of Tom Fogarty (aka Mr. Fog), former Meads of Asphodel keyboarder, Ewigkeit is an insanely individual mix of everything from electronica to thrash to folk to black metal. Fogarty gave his entire music collection away to Oxfam several years ago, simply to be free of influences. His latest offering is truly spectacular, and word about it MUST be spread. To give you an idea how underground Ewigkeit is, Fogarty is offering the original cover art to several of his albums and the sound card on which this album was recorded for sale on his website. I am seriously, seriously tempted.

7: Waylander - Reawakening Pride Once Lost

Folk metal comes in two general varieties. Either the folk melodies are played using traditional metal instrumentation or they are played over the top on an additional instrument. Waylander is of the second type, and this, their first and most acclaimed album, passes it's ultimate test, in that the removal of the folk instruments would still leave a pretty good album of black metal (and probably quite a nice album of celtic folk too). This album never flags, with it's greatest tracks only standing out from a very prominent crowd: 'Born to the Fight' is an unarguable blast of furore Celtica, and the version of the traditional song 'King of the Fairi' contained on this album is simply jaw-dropping.

6: 3 Inches of Blood - Advance and Vanquish

3 Inches of Blood's sophomore effort is an unrelenting barrage of the kind of heavy metal that should, by all rights have died with the eighties. And it proves, categorically, that there's no school like Old School. Stupidly metal in the best sense of the word, 3 Inches of Blood are a band to be enjoyed best whilst drunk or in a fast moving vehicle. The crisp production and brilliant song-writing of this album drives home the promise of Battlecry Under a Winter Sun with a massive axe blow to the face. No respite, no ballads, no remorse. Beautiful.

5: Rammstein - Mutter

The first hard rock album I ever bought, and still one of my all time favourites. Every track is like an old friend to me, and it's one of the first I put on when I need to rock out a bit.

4: Cradle of Filth - Vempire (Dark Faerytales in Phallustein)

Cradle were my favourite band for ages. Coming in the middle of their career, Vempire is simply the best thing they ever did. Tracks like 'Queen of Winter, Throned' and 'The Rape and Ruin of Angels (Hosanna in Extremis)' can compete with the best, and it also includes the categorically finest version of 'The Forest Whispers My Name'.

3: Skyclad - Folkémon

Skyclad's unbeatable Martin Walkyier era burned brightest as it was extinguished. Folkemon adds a heaviness Skyclad hadn't known since Prince of the Poverty Line with pure folk brilliance to create an unbeatable end to an era. Strongly contested it's spot with The Answer Machine? and Wayward Sons of Mother Earth.

2: Finntroll - Visor Om Slutet

Damn, this record is hard to describe. It's an acoustic concept album, recorded in the middle of a forest, lasting just over half an hour. It has very little in the way of vocals. It achieves a transition of scale that is almost un-matched on any other record I've heard: from close, intimate fireside songs and new-agey-but-more-evil nature sounds tracks to vast musical passages that evoke massive sweeps of Scandinavian wilderness. It also has my absolutely favourite dancing track ever: 'Forsvinn Du Som Lyser', a fucking insane, raw finnish polka track full of wild cries of joy from the backgground, hand-clapping, thigh-slapping and chants of 'humpaa humpaa humpaa'. It also happens. when you translate it, to be about the destruction of the human race. Despite tough competition, I chose this offering over Finntroll's 'proper' albums, all of which deserve honourable mentions (but for the one album per band rule I enforced upon myself, one or two others would be in this list)

1: Ancient Rites - Dim Carcosa

This album is, literally, flawless. An utterly perfect fusion of several types of extreme metal with classical, chamber and folk music and even spoken word poetry. A formula almost everyone's tried, but no-one sounds like this. The lyrical theme of this album is insane: AR are European nationalists. Though they disavow nazism (In a musical scene where extreme right wing politics can gain you fans) their lyrics cut a razor-blade edge straight through self-effacing political correctness and say: well, Europe is, actually, one of the best places in the world. And man, have we kicked some asses. Ballsy and brilliant.



Other honourable mentions: Electric Wizard - Dopethrone, Iron Maiden - Powerslave, Burzum - Burzum, KMFDM - Angst, Arch Enemy - Burning Bridges, Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Dream Evil - The Book of Heavy Metal, Crown of Autumn - The Treasures Arcane, Cruachan - Pagan, Orange Goblin - Frequencies From Planet Ten, Carpathian Forest - Strange Old Brew / Morbid Fascination of Death , Entombed - Sons of Satan Praise the Lord and loads more.

[LightThievesAll]

16: Danzig - Danzig II: Lucifuge

This album is like a vampire on a huge motorbike, riding through the American deep south listening to rock and roll, stopping briefly every so often to seduce, corrupt and consume innocent maidens. That's pretty much the best way I can describe it. And oh man, can Glenn Danzig sing.

Fuckin' a.  My favorite Danzig album is III though, just my opinion.

[Inlander]

22. Darren Hanlon - Hello Stranger

Little Chills is even better.  (Can't remember if I've said that to you in another thread or not!)

[Tago Mago]

I love your list, El Opium. Here's mine in no real order:

Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
Can - Tago Mago
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation
Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Neu! - Neu!
The Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
Flipper - Album: Generic Flipper
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
Pixies - Doolittle
Sebadoh - Bakesale
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Popol Vuh - Hosianna Mantra
Wire - Chairs Missing
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Glenn Branca - The Ascension
Chrome - Half-Machine Lip Moves
The Stooges - Fun House
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

[Johnny C]

I can't wait to find the time to do this.

[Psiogen]

An extremely approximate list:

01 XTC — Apple Venus
02 Beatles, The — Revolver
03 King Crimson — Larks' Tongues in Aspic
04 And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead — Source Tags & Codes
05 Beach Boys, The — Pet Sounds
06 Dismemberment Plan, The — Emergency & I
07 Neutral Milk Hotel — In the Aeroplane over the Sea
08 Radiohead — OK Computer
09 Eno, Brian — Before & After Science
10 Gentle Giant — Octopus
11 Wrens, The — The Meadowlands
12 They Might Be Giants — Lincoln
13 Super Furry Animals — Guerrilla
14 Talking Heads — Remain in Light
15 Velvet Underground, The — s/t
16 Yes — Close to the Edge
17 Dylan, Bob — Blonde on Blonde
18 Arcade Fire, The — Funeral
19 Magma — Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
20 Wonder, Stevie — Songs in the Key of Life
21 Anderson, Laurie — Big Science
22 Genesis — Foxtrot
23 Antipop Consortium — Arrhythmia
24 Decemberists, The — Castaways & Cutouts
25 Animal Collective, The — Here Comes the Indian

[yggdrasil]

Number Seven is Weezer's Weezer (Blue Album)
Why? Because it is the catchiest album of all time. Disagree? Pull out your copy - I know you have one, or at least had one, no matter who you are or were - and listen to it. Hah! You still remember all the words, don't you?

Hmmm... sorta...

My name is Jonas
I'm carrying the whale
Thanks for all you've shown us
This is how we feel

Come sit next to me
Pour yourself some tea
Something something something
And you know what else!
Something something something
Something something for my little brother

The choo choo train left right on time
The ticket costs only your mind
The driver says "hey man we go all the way"
"As long as you're willing to pay"

My name is Wakefield
Got a box full of your toys
We're fresh out of batteries
But we still make good noise, make good no-o-oise

etc.

It also has the only song I know of to reference a roleplaying game (call of cthulhu doesn't count), "I've got dungeonmaster's guide..."

[KharBevNor]

Number Seven is Weezer's Weezer (Blue Album)
Why? Because it is the catchiest album of all time. Disagree? Pull out your copy - I know you have one, or at least had one, no matter who you are or were - and listen to it. Hah! You still remember all the words, don't you?

Don't have one. Never did. Hopefully, if my sanity remains, never will.

[Psiogen]

Well, with you, it goes without saying...do you like anything that isn't metal or prog?

[Robbo]

Might as well throw in my lot. Dunno how well it'll turn out with all the crap I listen to but still.

In no order other than the randomness of my mind:

Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory
Because I'm a major Prog fan and this is one of the great modern works.

October Tide - Rain Without End
A Katatonia side project and one of the greatness Doom albums ever. Also the last time Renske ever used his Death/Doom vox on cd.

Thou Shalt Suffer - Somnium
Ihsahn proving he's still a musical great and making some beautiful Classical music on his way as well.

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
Greatest Thrash album ever. All there is to it really.

Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Just because of the amazing show they put on for this and combing some of the best from the first 5 albums.

Cynic - Focus
Blending two seemingly unmixable genres into something new and amazing for the Metal music world.

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
I love my Doom, but this was the first album that made me like anything Stoner based and it owns while it's at it.

Megadeth - Rust In Peace
Another bit of classic thrash that I'll always love.

Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky
I dunno, I like this best out of all the Black Metal stuff and it's what go me into Black Metal so it'll always have a place.

Sauron - Thrash Assault
Probably the best independent label release of 04, bringing back the greatness of old school German Thrash and Blackend Thrash.

Death - Individual Thought Patterns
My favourate album from this classic band that did so much for Death Metal. RIP Chuck.

Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard
Just a jaw dropping slab of Grindcore combing those strange, dark and poetic lyrics with great playing.

Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Another fantastic live album, mixing some great tracks and just going off on one with the extended stuff.

At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul
Say what you will, has always caught me as being damn good, just brings so much great stuff and atmosphere really.

Decapitated - Winds of Creation
Just a stunningly brutal album form a band that's so young. I just have to love something that nails me to the wall like that.

Edge of Sanity - Crimson
I know, shock. I do think it's a great show of how you can craft one huge track that should be one song, yet make it so interesting and listenable.

Sunn O))) - Flight of the Behemoth
Anything that makes my windows shake like that and just creates such rolling noise is awesome to me.

Opeth - Still Life
Again, just my favourate work from these guys. Just crafting Death and Prog together so well and creating a great noise in total.

Without Face - Astronomicon
Best damn Goth Metal album I've ever heard.

Fall of The Grey-Winged One - Death Time Emptiness
Just one massive slab of crushing drone noise that creates a bleak and empty sound scape. Also my funeral song.

Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
I've already said about their frontman so it's no shock. One of those common "best ever" Black Metal albums, doesn't stop be loving it.

Rush - 2112
I know, another one that gets marked out a lot. But again, one of those albums that just has a place in my heart so thats why it goes in here.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
I mean, how could any Metal Head from Brum not have this. Looking past the title track that's played to death, it owns and I always feel more for the classics.

John Zorn - Naked City
I like Jazz...or rather I like crazy stuff like this. Introduced to me as "think of Napalm Death playing Jazz" and it didn't let me down.

Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops
Back in their Hardcore days you know. This album just down right impressed me when it came to Hardcore, just it's chaotic and aggressive nature.

So yeah, basically loads of popular and well known stuff, but oh well.

[KharBevNor]

@ Psiogen: I like folk music and industrial. I even like some punk. And classical!

Now that's what I call open minded.

@Robbo: Massive respect for choosing Dopethrone. That one very nearly made it on mine,

[Robbo]

Folk....only way I can handle Folk is in Folk Metal, or nice atmospheric stuff like Ulver's Kveldssanger.

[KharBevNor]

I used to only be able to take the folk metal as well (and folk metal still remains a great love of mine, I think seven or eight of my 25 are folk metal or folk rock of some sort) but Skyclad in particular softened me up to the more 'Hey Nonny No' side of folk, and now I love stuff like Blackmore's Night and The Whisky Priests. If you're a fan of the relaxing stuff you should try some Lothlorien. It's like Enya. But better.

[Robbo]

I've heard Blackmore's Night, damn that was something different. Shall have to check out Lothlorien, but I generally go for Experimental/Ambient Electronica of all things for relaxing music. Just trippy keyboard and synth soundscapes like Snowsleep.

[LightThievesAll]

I have to make an addition to mine.  I couldn't forgive myself if I did not recognize:

S.O.D. - Speak English or Die

I bought the album when I was 12 or 13 and it melted my brain.

[Kai]

25. Primus - Pork Soda. Simply because it was the first album I bought and sent me spiraling into the music geekdom that nobody here in Kansas likes.
24.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Best Sabbath album EVER.
23.Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Uphoric Misanthropia
22.Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
21. The Residents - Animal Lover
20. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
19. Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese
18. Pink Floyd - The Wall
17. Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
16. Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage, Acts I, II, and III
15. Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
14. The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out
13. The Mothers of Invention - Absolutely Free
12. The Residents - Not Available
11. The Residents - Duck Stab
10. Frank Zappa - Apostrophe
09. Captain Beefheart - Doc at the Radar Station
08. The Mothers of Invention - We're Only in it for the Money
07. Frank Zappa/The Mothers/Beefheart - Bongo Fury
06. The Residents - The Third Reich N' Roll
05. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
04. King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King
03. Captain Beefheart - Trout Fish Replica
02. Captain Beefheart - Lick My Decals Off, Baby
01. Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy

[nickyandthefuture]

Little Chills is even better.  (Can't remember if I've said that to you in another thread or not!)

Yep, I have that one, too.  It's only been out in the US for a few weeks, though.  I like it a lot, but I can't really put something on my all time list until I've gotten to know it though and through, I think...  Darren certainly does know how to put words together, though.

[Johnny C]

Beck? Anyone? No? Okay.

[Robbo]

Futurama said it that needs to be for Beck really.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

22.Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
21. The Residents - Animal Lover
20. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
19. Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese
18. Pink Floyd - The Wall

HOW can you choose The Wall over Dark Side? The Wall is eeeeevil Pink Floyd. Can you not see that the overall quality and musicianship in DSOTM is thoroughly missing in The Wall? The Wall is basically a Roger Waters solo album and in my opinion he is entitled to it. WORST. GILMOUR/MASON/WATERS/WRIGHT. PINK. FLOYD. ALBUM. EVER.[/rant]

Good choice on 4. though.

[Robbo]

There's better KC than the first LP... I actually dont like it that much after hearing the rest of their stuff.

Maybe you can blame DSOTM being more over played than The Wall for his pick. And at least it's not The Final Cut.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2 got to #1 in 1979/1980 and that song annoys the fucking hell out of me. How can you say that DSOTM is more overplayed than The Wall other than the fact that it is 6 years older than The Wall. At least it wasn't The Final Cut.

[Robbo]

Ok, fair point. But to a lot of newer fans, specially with the 30 years and all, DSOTM feels over played as it where. That's the way it feels to me and other people I know.

But yes, very fair point about part 2.

[BlueCoatKarma]

A lot

Good taste. I'm impressed.

[KharBevNor]

The Wall's on my list as well. I just love it for nostalgia reasons mainly. Also I think it's very, very good at the storytelling aspect of it all.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

DSOTM was my first Floyd album. Granted I am only 15 but I have been listening to Dark Side since I was 7. It still has pride of place at the front of my CD wallet. I love it.

[Robbo]

Fair enough man, fair enough.

I've always wonder about those Tool DSOTM bootleg rumours. Probably just rumours, but still.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

Say... WHA!?!?!

You mean Tool as in, industro-gay Tool?!?

[Robbo]

Tool as in love 'em or hate 'em sludgy wank band, yes.

There have been rumours that Tool did a full live cover of DSOTM but then couldn't get rights to release it as an offical bootleg.

[Kai]

Tool = Teh suck.



The Wall ranks higher for me simply because the first time I heard them was when someone gave me a tape copy of The Wall in like, 6th grade. Nostalgic reasons, as Khar put it.

EDIT: I personally prefer KC's first album rather than their rest, which seemed to be sorta repetitive to me.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

I see. Fair enough.

I would really like to hear this Tool bootleg if it exists. Then, I'll send a copy to Dave Gilmour and hopefully he'll find some way to have Tool arrested, or put in stocks or something like that.

[Robbo]

Man, feel the Tool hate. Like I said, it was a rumour. And even if it is true, it was never released, so yeah.

[I Am Not Amused]

Neat. My boredom turned inadvertantly into a list thread. I thought everyone was just going to make fun of my picks. Maybe I was just too tired to think straight.

Anyway, I think Khar is the first person I've ever even heard of that has anything even remotely negative to say about the Blue Album. My theory on that album is that it is the most universally liked album ever. Notice I didn't say most popular, I said most universally liked. Meaning that you can put it on in just about any setting imaginable and people will enjoy it.

[Johnny C]

He didn't even say anything negative, other than imply that it takes an insane person to buy a copy.

[KharBevNor]

I dunno, let's see if we can change that

*checks to make sure that it's the band he's thinking of and he's not making a hideous mistake*

Ah, I actually was. I don't loathe them. Not sure I've even ever heard them actually.

Gotta say though, they look like geek rock, and as a rule I don't like geek rock.