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I generally just pick out individual songs I like rather than liking entire albums.

That said, this album has enough songs that I really like for me to love the album as a whole: Melocure - Melodic Hard Cure

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Guys, I do believe I will go through this thread and listen to some of your favorite albums. I haven't really heard a whole lot of this stuff since I mostly listen to classic rock and "art" music.

Quote (Shotgunnova @ 30th May 2011 08:50)

...Grateful Dead - Reckoning...

...Phish - Farmhouse...

You're the only person to mention my two favorite bands, and yet I sort of have to "wtf?" you on the choices for albums... not that Reckoning or Farmhouse are bad... but...


In no particular order:
Workingman's Dead, Wake of the Flood- Grateful Dead
The Old and in the Way- Old and in the Way (tying into the Grateful Dead...)
The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday and Rift- Phish
Grand Pecking Order- Oysterhead (tying into Phish...)
(More often than not, I'm usually listening to live shows from both these bands more than studio work.)
The Doors (self-titled)
Remain in Light and Fear of Music- Talking Heads
The Brink of Time- Yasunori Mitsuda (the CT acid-jazz album)
Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd
Soft Bulletin- Flaming Lips

Honorable mention goes to The Black Mages first eponymous album and a whole pile of Bob Dylan albums I couldn't pick from.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Quote (MogMaster @ 22nd June 2011 14:14)

The Doors (self-titled)
The Brink of Time- Yasunori Mitsuda (the CT acid-jazz album)
Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd
Soft Bulletin- Flaming Lips

I haven't heard Phish or The Grateful Dead (actually I listened to The Grateful Dead for several hours because I was with someone who listened to nothing else, but other things were happening at the time. Long parenthetical), but I like these other albums! I had forgotten all about The Brink of Time.

[EDIT]
So I listened to some of these albums like I said I would a couple posts up. I tried to only pick albums by bands I had previously heard of, never listened to, but felt like listening to. Yep, there's some illegal grammar for you. Moving on, I also tried not to hype anyone too much to the extent that such a thing is doable.

Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted; recommended by Shotgunnova.

This is one of the legendary albums that I had never heard, and several internet buddies (all with better taste than my irl buddies) recommended it. Consequently, this is a case where I got my hopes up too far. I didn't like the album so much when I first listened to it. I liked the singer's style and the lyrics (I assume they were an influence on Cake), but found it pretty uninteresting otherwise. I felt like it was worth a second chance though, so I listened to it again and I have it on right now. And now, it doesn't seem so bad. I like Conduit for Sale!, Trigger Cut, and I find the album generally listenable. I don't know if I would listen to it regularly, but it's pretty cool, and I can see why Pavement has a cult following. Maybe they'll keep growing on me and I'll be in the cult too.

Quad recommended Breakfast in America by Supertramp

but I got confused along the way and listened to Crime of the Century instead, and only just now noticed. I can't feel too bad because I've heard several songs on Breakfast in America, and Crime of the Century was excellent. Supertramp is obviously a skilled group of musicians. Their sax and clarinet guy is really, really good. They sort of reminded me of Queen and The Moody Blues, with the occasional Pink Floyd in the lyrics department. But yeah, I'll listen to Breakfast in America sometime soon since it is their famous one.

Dr. Delinquent liked 4x4=12 by Deadmau5

But I didn't. I think it might just be not my thing. Sorry! For what it's worth, I thought Animal Rights was the best track on the album.

That's all I've done so far, but I totally plan to keep going. I've picked out one of my next ones already:

Quote (Rangers51)

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
Songs: Come on. This album released more singles you know than a lot of albums even have tracks. Just... come on.

I honestly can't name a single Smashing Pumpkins song, or tell you what they sound like. It has something to do with their place in history. I went through this exact same thing with RHCP like two years ago.

This post has been edited by jtdurai on 22nd June 2011 17:49

Quote (Sherick @ 31st May 2011 19:34)

Quote (Allen Hunter @ 31st May 2011 04:56)

- Pantera - Power Metal (1988)

Nice.

Indeed. All the other albums are just as worthy of a listen as well.

Quote (Zero_Hawk)

God Hates us All by Slayer - Disciple, Bloodline, Warzone
This was the album that first got me really interested in Slayer. So brutal.

I was not a fan of that album, but I am curious as to what your opinion is of Slayer's first two albums (Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits) and their Haunting the Chapel EP? I ask because I know you enjoy old school thrash metal bands like Exodus and Testament.

This post has been edited by Allen Hunter on 24th June 2011 05:53

Quote (jtdurai @ 22nd June 2011 11:59)

Dr. Delinquent liked 4x4=12 by Deadmau5

But I didn't. I think it might just be not my thing. Sorry! For what it's worth, I thought Animal Rights was the best track on the album.

Not a problem, I'm just happy you gave it a try Jtdurai. Animal rights was good, but I'm more partial to A City in Florida.

I'll also have to agree with Zero_Hawk on Ten Thousand FIsts.



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-FFIII FFIV FFV FFVII FFVIII FFX FFXII FFXIII FF:Dissidia FFVII:CC FFVII:DoC
--KHI KHII KH:COM KH:BbS
---SO:FD SO:TTEOT SO:TLH
----DQIII DQVIII
-----DA:O DAII
------VP:S

Quote (jtdurai @ 22nd June 2011 11:59)

That's all I've done so far, but I totally plan to keep going. I've picked out one of my next ones already:

Quote (Rangers51)

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
Songs: Come on. This album released more singles you know than a lot of albums even have tracks. Just... come on.

I honestly can't name a single Smashing Pumpkins song, or tell you what they sound like. It has something to do with their place in history. I went through this exact same thing with RHCP like two years ago.

That is in fact impressive. Obviously I said that with a bit of hyperbole, but it's true that if someone listened to rock or alt radio between the years of 1995 and 1997, the odds are that person would be able to list at least five songs from this album. It was just a machine in terms of airplay.

As much as I hate to do it, because The Sundays were my absolutely favorite band for a large chunk of the 2000's, I think I need to move them from my list of ten and into that category of bands with awesome catalogs but not enough of a standout album.

The reason why is that my wife has had on repeat in her car for the last week Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things and every time I get in there to take her to a doctor's appointment or whatnot, I remember just how amazing an album it is. A lot of people will probably still say that More Adventurous is a better album, and while it's great, I just can't agree. Execution is just the best alt-country album I've ever heard, with a nuanced blend of rock electric and country steel guitars and fantastic songwriting, and Jenny Lewis has such an offbeat voice that she makes you listen, and that's enhanced by having Blake Sennet do the vocals on a couple tracks to mix it up. The only knock I have to this album is the "hidden song" that is split into three or four parts and tagged on to the end of various tracks throughout - it might have been an okay song if just stuck on the end of the album, but it breaks the flow horribly as it is. Songs: "The Execution of All Things," "Spectacular Views," "My Slumbering Heart"

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Basically every album ever released by Dir en grey, Uroboros being one example.
I've been a fan for several years.

New album releases soon as well, will be amazing.

Quote (MogMaster @ 22nd June 2011 07:14)

Quote (Shotgunnova @ 30th May 2011 08:50)

...Grateful Dead - Reckoning...

...Phish - Farmhouse...

You're the only person to mention my two favorite bands, and yet I sort of have to "wtf?" you on the choices for albums... not that Reckoning or Farmhouse are bad... but...

I picked Reckoning since it's an amazing acoustic concert, and when I listen to Dead, it's usually that or Dick's Picks 11. [There's also plenty of sweet archival stuff on archive.org; that Allman Bros set with Spanish Jam comes to mind...dayum.] As for Farmhouse, it has my all-time fave Phish song: Back on the Train. I could listen to that for hours, even that 17-minute version from awhile back. The rest of the album ain't too shabby either. I guess a more obvious choice would've been APON or Billy Breathes, eh?

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Quote (Shotgunnova @ 25th June 2011 17:16)

Quote (MogMaster @ 22nd June 2011 07:14)

Quote (Shotgunnova @ 30th May 2011 08:50)

...Grateful Dead - Reckoning...

...Phish - Farmhouse...

You're the only person to mention my two favorite bands, and yet I sort of have to "wtf?" you on the choices for albums... not that Reckoning or Farmhouse are bad... but...

I picked Reckoning since it's an amazing acoustic concert, and when I listen to Dead, it's usually that or Dick's Picks 11. [There's also plenty of sweet archival stuff on archive.org; that Allman Bros set with Spanish Jam comes to mind...dayum.] As for Farmhouse, it has my all-time fave Phish song: Back on the Train. I could listen to that for hours, even that 17-minute version from awhile back. The rest of the album ain't too shabby either. I guess a more obvious choice would've been APON or Billy Breathes, eh?

Fair enough on both counts. When I think "Grateful Dead album", live releases don't usually come to mind for the simple fact that I spent so many damn years being an amateur archivist for those guys that "album" just means "studio" to me, I guess. There's a great acoustic set by them from Alfred College (just around the block from me!). It's available here. The acoustic set goes through UJB. You can still download all the stuff on the archive with a download manager, like downthemall.


APON strikes me as a series of one-offs, which is why I ultimately went with Rift and the Gamehendge saga. As concept albums, I find them superior to both APON, with it's big winners in Stash and Cavern, and Billy with Character Zero and DWD (the only song to date with a music video, actually. Bevis and Butthead even took a troll at it back in the day). Farmhouse actually got a bit of a flak when it came out, which, considering the musical atmosphere at the time and the less than outstanding shape of the relations between the band members, I understand. Upon further thought (and a second glance of the album tracks), I can definitely see your point... so far as it goes, it's really a more solid album than Billy Breathes, which I found to be somewhat of a one or two trick pony. I would definitely agree, the silly nostalgia people have for the early work aside, Farmhouse does and will stand the test of time, both on the album and in their live performances (especially since Trey can't seem to hit those fast, precision notes like he used to on Stash or Divided Sky anymore). I do love that bucket full of thoughts. You might say it really "Bug"s me (bazing).

--------------------

If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

My favorite albums:

#1: Radiohead, OK Computer: This simply can't be beaten in my eyes. Right from the start to the end it's just amazing. Maybe this being my first CD purchase has something to do with it, with absolutely no regrets. Favorites: Let Down, Airbag, Paranoid Android, No Surprises, Karma Police

#2: Tool, AEnima and Lateralus: These two are tied for #2, they are distinctly different and feel like an experience, with Lateralus especially feeling like a journey through each song. Favorites: Stinkfist, 46 & 2, Eulogy, The Grudge, Lateralus

#3: Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory Maybe this should be in a "unpopular music opinions you have" thread! It starts strong, it is varied and interesting through every single track save one. Favorites: Papercut, By Myself, Pushing Me Away, In The End

#4: The Mars Volta, De-Loused in the Comatorium: What started to me as erratic rambling quickly formed a cohesive, interesting experience on every listen, which just got better and better. I never ever get tired of hearing Televators. Favorites: Televators, The Haunt of Roulette Dares, Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt

#5: Weezer, Blue Album: I'll admit nostalgia bias on this one, just takes me back and every song on it has aged wonderfully. Favorites: Only in Dreams, Say It Ain't So, Holiday

#6: Deftones, Adrenaline: The CD is aptly titled, every song is just fantastic. No huge standout favorites on this one, they are all wonderful.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, by Derek And The Dominoes (AKA Eric Clapton and Delaney and Bonnie's rhythm section/keyboard player).*

There are 14 songs on the album, and I recommend them all.

I mean, if we are going to necro the Favorite Albums thread. I know so much BLOODY music that I've purposely kept my favorite to just one album. I could literally go on for days.

*And Duane Allman!!

This post has been edited by Spooniest on 20th April 2016 12:54

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X is blue.

The way that we listen to music has changed inexorably in the last decade, and even since the original thread was posted. Tragically, today it seems like fewer people listen to albums as a whole let alone spend money on a tangible piece of plastic (or vinyl) for it. But for the most part, I still listen to an album for the completion as the band intended it to be heard.

Today, the albums I listen to predominantly can be divided into three categories: ones I have saved on Spotify, ones I downloaded from iTunes, and ones I have on display on a bookcase, both compact disc and vinyl. My selections are of the third nature; the one I favor the most.

[Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind]
Sure, Number of the Beast is the classic Maiden album. But Piece of Mind is by far the most succinctly written and tightly performed Brit metal album ever written, and you can quote me
Best tracks: "Flight of the Icarus", "The Trooper"

[David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars]
The quintessential album from the Thin White Duke.
Best tracks: "Ziggy Stardust", "Moonage Daydream"

[Minus the Bear - Highly Refined Pirates]
Math rock with svelte vocals and a plucky harmony.
Best tracks: "Thanks For the Killer Game of Crisco Twister", "Monkey! Knife! Fight!"

[Local H - Hallelujah! I'm a Bum!]
Two man band with a monster conceptual album about an oncoming winter during an election year, using artful euphemisms about subway station and homeless dogs... Sounds convoluted, but works amazingly.
Best tracks: "Sad History", "They Saved Reagan's Brain"

[Alice in Chains - Dirt]
Grunge royalty
Best tracks: "Angry Chair", "Would?"

[Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own]
Alt-rock with a lot of fuzz and distortion, but performed with a lot of heart.
Best tracks: "In Like the Rose", "Heart + Soul"

[Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine]
Being a bass player myself, I'm fascinated by a band that features a bass with heavy distortion as the only harmony (paired with mashing drums and squelching vocals). It works perfectly in a garage infused smash nova.
Best tracks: "Blood on Our Hands", "Romantic Rights"

[2 Skinnee J's - Volumizer]
Two free flowing rhymers skate over some bass crooning rhythms. Rapcore meets high energy rock, and it's actually pretty awesome.
Best tracks: "Pass the Buck", "Horns of Destruction"

[Abandoned Pools - Armed to the Teeth]
Tommy Walter is alt-rock's unsung hero. Beautifully written, perfectly performed, and nuanced rock music paired with prismatic instrumentation.
Best tracks: "Tighter Noose", "Hunting (The Universe Breaks My Heart)"

[Rage Against the Machine - Battle of Los Angeles]
C'mon, you didn't I'd comment on a favorite albums list without including at least one from Rage, right?
Best tracks: "Guerrilla Radio", "Calm Like a Bomb"

This post has been edited by Sabin on 20th April 2016 03:14

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

Prolly Tool's Lateralus, but I'd also give a shoutout to Monster Magnet's Monolithic Baby.

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

I have wide and varied musical tastes, with virtually no genre being off limits. Here they are in no particular order:

Alice in Chains - Jar of flies
Sublime - Sublime
Everlast- Whitey ford Sings the Blues
Sparkle and Fade- Everclear
Frogstomp- Silverchair
Nihil- KMFDM
Home- Blessid Union of Souls
Joshua Tree- U2
Incesticide- Nirvana
Tonight The Stars Revolt - Powerman 5000
Fat of the Land - The Prodigy
Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails
Astrocreep 2000 - White Zombie
Spit - kittie
Eight Arms to Hold You - Veruca salt
Seinsucht - Rammstein
The Very Best of Johnny cash- Johnny cash
Cryptic Writings - Megadeth
Metallica - Metallica
Demon days - Gorillaz
Me Against the world - 2Pac
Marshall Mathers LP- Eminem
Devil Without a Cause- Kid Rock
Issues - Korn
Momentary Lapse of Reason - Pink Floyd
IV- Led Zeppelin
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Insomnia- Green Day.
Well, think of that as you would. I know that anyone who'd listen to my ipod would probably have their brains scrambled. The playlist is far longer than that, but I didn't want to take up too much space.


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"So, are you a fan of the Fett?"

"Nah, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

Sade - Diamond Life: The debut album from Sade is the best work from when 'Sade' was the name of the band and not just the name of the artist. Diamond Life is timeless, and while the songs may follow a traditional pattern of verse/chorus/verse (nothing wrong with that, btw), there is enough great musicianship and vocal prowess here regardless of the pop/jazz fusion known as "Smooth Jazz". Every song on the album is an absolute classic. And go figure, the only song that doesn't quite fit is the closing track, which is a cover song.

Luxury Elite - Moods: It is very hard to pick just one Luxury Elite album because I honestly love all of her work, but Moods is something I could listen to on repeat and not grow tired of. My favorite Vaporwave artist at the moment, but I have a hard on for Vaporwave in general.

Zapp - IV: I think IV is where Zapp and Roger really solidified their sound to perfection. Computer Love is the standout track of course, but the rest of the album is a lot more polished than the rest of their albums. As a whole, it is their most listenable album with the best hooks, singles and all that TALKBOX! If you like Daft Punk, do yourself a favor and listen to Computer Love (and do the late Roger Troutman a favor in doing so).

Lou Rawls - All Things In Time: I love this guy's voice. Every song on this album is fantastic. I'm new to his music and this is his most commercially successful album but this is when R&B was still, well...R&B. A very well produced, versatile album. His version of "Pure Imagination" (from the film Willy Wonka And the Chocolate Factory) is one of the best covers you'll ever hear.

D'Angelo - Voodoo: This is a hard album to listen to. The intricacies of the compositions and production are unparalleled across any genre. A flat-out masterpiece in musicianship, song-writing, production and composition. It is an exhausting listen from start to finish, and while there are a few 'singles' off the album, you really are doing yourself and the album a disservice if you don't listen to it in one sitting. Possibly the last great album of the 90s and first great album of the 2000s (it was released in January of 2000), if you don't understand the complexity of this album and the artist, you have no soul and music is but another device for your dopamine addiction.


Maybe more later.



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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

Quote (Rangers51 @ 24th June 2011 06:03)

As much as I hate to do it, because The Sundays were my absolutely favorite band for a large chunk of the 2000's, I think I need to move them from my list of ten and into that category of bands with awesome catalogs but not enough of a standout album.

The reason why is that my wife has had on repeat in her car for the last week Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things and every time I get in there to take her to a doctor's appointment or whatnot, I remember just how amazing an album it is. A lot of people will probably still say that More Adventurous is a better album, and while it's great, I just can't agree. Execution is just the best alt-country album I've ever heard, with a nuanced blend of rock electric and country steel guitars and fantastic songwriting, and Jenny Lewis has such an offbeat voice that she makes you listen, and that's enhanced by having Blake Sennet do the vocals on a couple tracks to mix it up. The only knock I have to this album is the "hidden song" that is split into three or four parts and tagged on to the end of various tracks throughout - it might have been an okay song if just stuck on the end of the album, but it breaks the flow horribly as it is. Songs: "The Execution of All Things," "Spectacular Views," "My Slumbering Heart"

I've been looking at this post on and off since I caused EvilEye to resurrect the thread last month, and I keep thinking I need to change it up again. But when I think about it further, I'm not sure what with. Sabin hits it pretty good in his recent post - I think it's just hard to process things in terms of albums for me any more, and even though I've heard some good ones lately I just don't know if any of them are going to stick for me the way albums I listened to in the past have. The Woods by Sleater-Kinney and The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES come to mind in that regard.

I really think I'd want to find room for these two if I were really going to redo a list, but were I to actually bother to do that I'd be just as likely to cheat horribly and just make it a bigger list.

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts
Songs: "Buy Nothing Day", "Rolling Blackouts"
Possibly an even better album than the one I previously listed.

Florence and the Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Songs: "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful", "Ship to Wreck", "Delilah"
I give this the edge over their first album, previously my favorite, because it has a couple more songs that I like on it, and a higher energy level overall.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 23rd May 2016 15:26)

Sabin hits it pretty good in his recent post - I think it's just hard to process things in terms of albums for me any more, and even though I've heard some good ones lately I just don't know if any of them are going to stick for me the way albums I listened to in the past have.

I'd like to touch on this subject because it's one that I think about often. It seems like it started around 2000 and has progressively gotten worse and worse and what I'm referring to is the emphasis on "Singles" over one coherent "Album" by musicians and bands.

For some reason, I always think back to that putrid band SUM 41 because their debut album was called: ALL KILLER NO FILLER.

This album stands out because of it's title. I think if you were to approach the album from an unbiased perspective and completely contain it within it's genre, you might actually agree that there is no "filler" on the album yet it still happens to be an album full of "singles", several of which were successful hits in the early 2000s.

Going in a complete opposite direction, I must mention D'Angelo's "Voodoo". One of the true and last great ALBUMS of the 2000s, it was also the first in a line of "last great albums" that include Radiohead's "KID A", Interpol's "Antics", OutKast's "Stankonia", Jay-Z's "The Blueprint", Arcade Fire's "Funeral" and several others but you get the point, I hope.

The 2000s brought both a rush of great, coherent and whole albums while at the same time, it filtered out the "Album" as a concept. Even bands that continued to try and make "Albums" as they traditionally were, often failed in their execution (I'm looking at Arcade Fire intensely here: Neon Bible and The Suburbs are perfect examples of FAILED Albums but at least they were trying?).

Even Radiohead, purveyor of everything great when it came to writing solid, front to back albums, only released one great album in the wake of a collection of singles. Amnesiac, Hail To the Thief, The King of Limbs all felt like a collection of singles, whereas IN RAINBOWS (supposedly recorded as a companion piece to OK COMPUTER: http://puddlegum.net/radiohead-01-and-10/) was and is one of the best albums of all-time, IMO.

But isn't just the songs themselves that make an album. Not the lyrics, or the music. It's the SOUND a band captures when recording an album. It has more to do with production than composition, but the two really do go hand in hand when you actually FEEL music and don't just HEAR music.

A lot of times since the mid-aughts, almost every single band and musician from your local unknowns to your Paul McCartney's record using the same equipment, in the same environments, with the same instruments and the same production values. Radio "sound" was streamlined and digital recording mixed to a "standard" decibel level. Certain frequencies were favored, copy-pasted melodies were added and the songs themselves became copy-pasted and auto-tuned. All inconsistencies were mastered out of the recordings and the recording environment itself was isolated to the point of being in a emotionless vat.

The emphasis became on making 10 songs recorded in a vacuum, all mixed at the same level, and mastered to the same standard but composed in such a way that none of them sound like they're from the same album, but all of them sound like the same song and any of them could become a "hit" with the right promotion and advertising.

The manufactured pop-band became a thing again, from actual pop music to "modern-rock" like Nickleback, even to indie and alternative music like Vampire Weekend. What we now have are these cookie-cutter bands just trying to make buck, getting shilled to us by mediums such as Pitchfork.

This has caused a dummied down music industry and a dummied down audience, all stupified by hundreds of songs recorded with the same equipment, in the same studios, with the same program (ProLogic) and mixed and mastered to the same level. We literally are listening to the same song over and over again but just re-arranged in a different order, with few exceptions.


TL;DR: The album is dead.

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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)