Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 12:01:55 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Your Top 10 Favourite Albums of All Time, Ever!: The Thread

Started by danyulx, December 10, 2011, 12:29:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

danyulx

I'm sure there's been sixty-odd threads in this section of the forum extremely similar to this one, with a bit of luck none of which 100% identical. Blame the knackered search function. I ask you to list the top 10 albums that you hold dear to your heart, in order of preciousness..

I've discovered many a great album (and film) in my time - amidst the sea of god-awful, vacuous drivel, that shouldn't even exist - from reading individual artist's and critic's Top 10 lists. If I see at least a handful in their list I concur with I'm instantly on the hunt for the unknowns, assuming - usually rightly - those'll tickle my balls as well. I hope this thread turns into some more of that, for me. I'm starved.

THE ONE RULE, obey it or not: you're only allowed one album per artist. So don't go listing seven albums on trot by The Vaccines or whatever shit you're into.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * *

01) The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour

02) Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station

03) Van Morrisson - Astral Weeks

04) Kate Bush - The Dreaming

05) Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate

06) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

07) Morrissey - Vauxhall & I

08) Public Image Ltd - Metal Box

09) The Raincoats - The Raincoats

10) Coil - Musick to Play in the Dark, Vols. 1 & 2


EDIT: Sorry Tom.

ThickAndCreamy

In alphabetical order;

1) Animal Collective - Feels
2) The Avalanches - Since I Left You
3) Grandaddy - Under the Western Freeway
4) Magazine - Real Life
5) Mercury Rev - Yerself is Steam
6) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
7) Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
8) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
9) Slowdive - Souvlaki
10) The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico

It's hard choosing for electronic / ambient artists more than anything, as I find collections of work as a whole seem to make me love them more than their individual albums.

biggytitbo

Not in any order:

- The Dreaming - Kate Bush
- Happiness in Magazines - Graham Coxon
- The Beatles - The Beatles
- Ram - Paul McCartney
- OK Computer - Radiohead
- Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
- This Is Hardcore - Pulp
- Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon


Not doing 10 because at least 2 would be by the same artists but your crazy rules...

Retinend

1. Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry
2. The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening
3. St. Vincent - Actor
4. Ry Cooder - Chavez Ravine
5. Steely Dan - Katy Lied
6. Dionne Warwick - Here I Am
7. Neil Young - Tonight's The Night
8. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
9. Marvin Gaye - I Want You
10. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

Fun.

danyulx

Quote from: Retinend on December 10, 2011, 02:01:38 PM
7. Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

An album I've heard many people - and people I respect - raving about forever,  but I just can't see what all the fuss is about myself; I've tried many a time to get into it, and failed. Though I certainly don't dislike it and love the rawness of production and performance.. 'Lookout Joe' is a fantastic song.

I prefer 'On the Beach', but even that I wouldn't call "a classic" or anything.


Spiteface

In no order, off the top of my head and subject to change:

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Ash - 1977
Mogwai - Young Team
Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Ramones - Road to Ruin
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Oasis - Definitely Maybe

I did consider working around the "One album per artist" rule by putting in Zwan's "Mary Star Of The Sea" and Billy Corgan's Solo album "TheFutureEmbrace" but I decided not to. I will say that my favourite Pumpkins album changes regularly, as does my choice of Ramones and JAMC.

danyulx

Quote from: Spiteface on December 10, 2011, 02:22:55 PM
I did consider working around the "One album per artist" rule by putting in Zwan's "Mary Star Of The Sea" and Billy Corgan's Solo album "TheFutureEmbrace" but I decided not to.

That would be perfectly acceptable, in line with the rules. Even if a band was forced to change their name at some point in their career by the threat of lawsuit: that would be fine. New name: new band. See: the recent Brother (now Viva Brother) debacle.

'Adore' was the Smashing Pumpkins' best album.. though I haven't bothered with the last four or five. Last I heard he was insulting transsexuals online and hosting wrestling shows. Mad fucker.

Roy*Mallard

This has not been easy, but here ya go.

Psychic TV – Force The Hand Of Chance - this had to be included as it was the album that led me from synth-pop bands that i loved to (Depeche Mode, New Order and the like) to TG, Coil and the whole World Serpent roster and beyond. So a very important album for me, although PTV's 2nd album, Dreams Less Sweet, is as good, maybe even better.

Death In June - Nada! Spaghetti western-esque folk electronica from 1985. The beginnings of neofolk and Douglas Pearce, although superb throughout his DIJ career, has not bettered it.

Faust & Tony Conrad – Outside The Dream Syndicate - an album i can have on endless repeat ad nauseum. Endless plodding drone.

Neu! – Neu! 75 - the best of Neu's output, for me.

Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro - my introduction to the world of Julian Cope and the first album i knew all the words to. I couldn't decide what Copey album to include (waaaaay too many favourites), so this will do.

Nurse With Wound – Spiral Insana - just utterly beautiful and odd - could have chosen countless NWW titles, but this is the a stand out. 

Daevid Allen – N'Existe Pas - as with Julian Cope and the Teardrops, i couldn't decide whether to include this or Gong's Camembert Electrique. Camembert is another album that led me to various Canterbury/prog/kraut bands, but i couldn't leave out this Deavid Allen solo album from 1978 - it's a mix of everything - psych, avant garde, folk, and even bluegrass - bizarre and fucking wonderful.

Kraftwerk – Techno Pop (Electric Café) - a relative newie on me - it was the only Kraftwerk album i hadn't heard until the reissues came out a couple of years back - too many bad reviews. Wow, how wrong i was to ignore it.

La Dusseldorf – Individuellos - i like the 2 other La D albums, but this is something else. 

The Orb - Live 93 - a monster 2CD/4LP monster slab of live Orb from 1993. As with Neu! 75, i can happily have this on repeat for hours on end.

I originally put a list together of 30+ albums i cannot live without (and that only included 1 album per artist!). As i said, i have far too many Julian Cope favourites, NONE of which are included above. Various Coil titles (Gold Is The Metal, Worship The Glitch, Black Light District etc), Throbbing Gristle (oh how said i am not to include them - Live At The Factory, Manchester May 1979, Heathen Earth, TGCD1),  The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request, Steve Hillage - Rainbow Dome Musick, The Who – The Who Sell Out, Zoviet France – What Is Not True, 23 Skidoo – The Culling Is Coming, Lee Perry – Kung Fu Meets The Dragon, The Upsetters – Super Ape, Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn, Funkadelic –Maggot Brain, The Residents – 3rd Reich n Roll, Ivor Cutler - Prince Ivor, Can – Unlimited Edition, The Fall – Slates, Depeche Mode - Black Celebration, Shock Headed Peters – Not Born Beautiful, Zappa/Mothers – We're Only In It For the Money, Richard H Kirk - Time High Fiction, Foetus – Hole and The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society amongst quite a few others. Ok enough from me. Sorry.

Retinend

Quote from: danyulx on December 10, 2011, 02:14:09 PM
An album I've heard many people - and people I respect - raving about forever,  but I just can't see what all the fuss is about myself; I've tried many a time to get into it, and failed. Though I certainly don't dislike it and love the rawness of production and performance.. 'Lookout Joe' is a fantastic song.

I prefer 'On the Beach', but even that I wouldn't call "a classic" or anything.

Are you forgetting tracks like "New Mama" and "Borrowed Tune"?

BlodwynPig

Neu! - 75
Ozric Tentacles - Sliding Gliding Worlds
Pink Fairies - Never Never Land
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
The Ullulators - Monads of Mangonia
Future Beat Alliance - Disconnected
Amon Düül II - Wolf City
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Yello - Claro Que Si
Pink Floyd - Meddle

CaledonianGonzo

It shifts and changes, TBH, but here's a representative .gif of 9 from a similar thread a few years back:


Roy*Mallard

Quote from: BlodwynPig on December 10, 2011, 03:08:01 PM
Neu! - 75
Ozric Tentacles - Sliding Gliding Worlds
Pink Fairies - Never Never Land
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
The Ullulators - Monads of Mangonia
Future Beat Alliance - Disconnected
Amon Düül II - Wolf City
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Yello - Claro Que Si
Pink Floyd - Meddle

Great list Blodwyn, Sliding Gliding Worlds, Wolf City & In the Land Of Grey & Pink are great and Neu! 75 is on my own list. The Ullulators are superb and i wish you could get their stuff on CD.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - Revolver
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
The Kinks (are) The Village Green Preservation Society
The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd.
Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Sings Newman
Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
The Velvet Underground - Loaded

I should really take some time to explain why for each one, but I'm off to see The Deep Blue Sea in a minute. Bye.

Treguard of Dunshelm

In no particular order:

-The Slits - Cut
-Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
-Tool- Aenima
-The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
-Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
-Love - Forever Changes
-David Holmes - Bow Down to the Exit Sign
-Pixies - Doolittle
-Gang of Four - Entertainment!
-Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible

That's a bit surprising - no Bowie, only one metal album. Only one hip hop album as well, but though there's a lot of individual hip hop tracks I like I've never really found it to be a genre that produces many albums I like. Only one dance album as well. I could have had Lateralus instead of Aenima but I prefer the songs on Aenima a bit more, Brand New Second Hand instead of Run Come Save Me-  RCSM gels better as an album, I feel - and about 5 other Tom Waits albums.

Honourable mentions - Bowie - Low/Heroes; Velvet Underground & Nico; Metallica - Ride the Lightening/Master of Puppets/Metallica; Slipknot - Slipknot; Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back; Leftfield - Leftism; Chemical Bros - Surrender; Slayer - Reign in Blood; The Clash - London Calling; Siouxise & the Banshees - Kaleidoscope/Juju; Ozric Tentacles - Waterfall Cities/Become The Other/Hidden Step; Porcupine Tree - Signify; and probably loads more. I'm no good at lists.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Roy*Mallard on December 10, 2011, 03:19:11 PM
Great list Blodwyn, Sliding Gliding Worlds, Wolf City & In the Land Of Grey & Pink are great and Neu! 75 is on my own list. The Ullulators are superb and i wish you could get their stuff on CD.

cheers :) Gavin is supposed to be releasing those old tapes again soon (he's been saying that for a few years), plus some possible new material!

holyzombiejesus

Again, in no order and likely to change on an almost daily basis...

The Smiths - The World Won't Listen
Arab Strap - Philophobia
Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
Galaxie 500 - On Fire
Six Organs Of Admittance - School of the Flower
Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
Felt - Poem of the River
Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On
The Pastels - Illumination
The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express

Should really have a Gorky's Zygotic Mynci album in there as they're one of my favourite bands but can't decide which one.


doppelkorn

In no particular order:

Neil Young - Decade (a cop out but who cares)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions...
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Streets - Original Pirate Material
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
The Band - The Band
Tenacious D - Tenacious D

Maybe...

Shoulders?-Stomach!

The Innocence Mission - Glow (proper indie music- fraught, delicate, angsty, contemplative and human)
M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us (helped redefine to me not only what an album was but what music was)
808 State - Don Solaris (so creative and imaginative and most importantly Fun)
Secede - Tryshasla (astonishingly imaginative, evocative and thoroughly enjoyable all the way through)
Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (still sounds as urgent and flamboyant as ever)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (The only thing involving Morrissey that survives a full listen)
Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Powder Milk (A hugely creative limitless album that wouldn't be made anymore)
James - Laid (Their most consistent and most interesting lyrically)
PO! - Little Stones (Short jangly, funny, spiteful and English record )
The Orbs Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld - (Unwelcoming and gigantic but a huge treasure trove of delights unlikely to ever be equalled)

These albums are always listened to all the way through, which is why they are my current top 10 favourite albums!



Not in vogue this season but much admired-

The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
Biosphere - Patashnik
The Chemical Bros. - Exit Planet Dust
The Chemical Bros. - Surrender
The KLF - Chillout
Hooverphonic - The Magnificent Tree
Love Spirals Downwards - Flux
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
The Orb - Orblivion
The Orb - Orbus Terrarum
The Orb - Cydonia
The Orb - Baghdad Batteries
The Popguns - Eugenie
The Prodigy - Fat Of The Land
Spacetime Continuum - Sea Biscuit
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon
Orbital - In Sides
Orbital - Brown Album
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
Virginia Astley - From Gardens Where We Feel Secure
Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place
Thomas Fehlmann - Honigpumpe
Thomas Fehlmann - Gute Luft
Even As We Speak - Feral Pop Frenzy
REM - Murmur
James - Wah Wah
Youth Group - Skeleton Jar
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs
The Starseeds - Parallel Life
Earwig - Past

riotinlagos

Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Randy Newman - Good Old Boys
Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
YMO - Technodelic
Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
Sven Libaek - Inner Space

I feel as though XTC and REM should be in there, but it's difficult to single out just one album from each band (given that they each did about 5 albums that would be worthy of this list).

doppelkorn

The Queen is Dead is winning!

Great choice on that Phil Spector album CG, I would never think to include that due to the seasonal content. I listened to it on Spotify today. My dad still has our family copy of the original with its amazing cover.

Dead kate moss

Sort of off the top of my head

Scott 4 - Scott Walker
The Memphis Record - Elvis Presley
Forever Changes - Love
The Power of Pussy - Bongwater
Songs About Fucking - Big Black
The Stooges - The Stooges
Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits
Fairytales & Fantasies/Best Of - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
Hot Buttered Soul - Isaac Hayes
Abbey Road - The Beatles (tied with Revolver really)


Bubbling under but couldn't pick one particular album - Beach Boys, Neil Young, My Bloody Valentine, Big Star, Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, The Doors, Killldozer, Funkadelic, Butthole Surfers, Prince & The Revolution... etc.

Nobody Soup

Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan
Tallahasse - The Mountain Goats
Sings Jacques Brel - Scott Walker (technically a compilation of all his brel covers from scott 1, 2 and 3 but I don't care, I have it in a box and case: counts)
Murder Ballads - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim - Pixies
69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields
Armed Forces - Elvis Costello
White Blood Cells - White Stripes
Histoire de Melody Nelson - Serge Gainsbourg
Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon

no tom waits for some reason, can't really pick an album of his. no Velvets either, or smiths, oh dear, this makes me feel bad about the whole experience.

buttgammon

This is tricky and it's even harder to order them, so alphabetical by album title seems the way.

Wire - Chairs Missing
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Nas - Illmatic
David Bowie - Low
Public Image Ltd - Metal Box
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Durutti Column - Return of the Durutti Column
Tortoise - TNT
Bjork - Vespertine

SteveDave

The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground (3rd LP)
Lou Reed- Transformer
The Beatles- White Album
The Kinks- Are The Village Green Preservation Society
The Flamin Groovies- Supersnazz
Blur- Parklife
Alan Price- The World Of...
Randy Newman- Good Old Boys
Bob Dylan- Highway 61 Revisited
Markley- A Group

with Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies by Of Montreal at 11

Ian Benson

For now, in no order:

The Beach Boys - Wild Honey
Neu! - Neu! '75
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything?
Faust - The Faust Tapes
Jean-Claude Vannier - L'Enfant assassin des mouches
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby
Nilsson - Pandemonium Shadow Show
The Better Beatles - Mercy Beat
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

Danger Man

Utd. State 90 - 808 State
Bummed - Happy Mondays
U.F.Orb - The Orb
Music Has The Right To Children - Boards of Canada
Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy
Extricate - The Fall
Hatful of Hollow - The Smiths
Ivory Tower- Louis Phillipe
Volume, Contrast, Brilliance - The Monochrome Set
Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys


I bet I've forgotten something really obvious....

Serge

Rules were meant to be broken, so the top two are by the same artist because I can't have one without the other.

1. 'Low' David Bowie
2. "Heroes" David Bowie
3. 'Computer World' Kraftwerk
4. 'Neu! 75' Neu!
5. 'Tindersticks' (first album) Tindersticks
6. 'Remain In Light' Talking Heads
7. 'Scott 4' Scott Walker
8. 'Tago Mago' Can
9. 'Zuckerzeit' Cluster
10. 'Music Has The Right To Children' Boards Of Canada

and then:

11. 'Station To Station' David Bowie
12. 'XTRMNTR' Primal Scream
13. 'Siren' Roxy Music
14. 'They Say I'm Different' Betty Davis
15. 'Baader Meinhof' Baader Meinhof
16. 'Irrlicht' Klaus Schulze
17. 'Zero Set' Moebius/Plank/Neumeier
18. 'Jehovahkill' Julian Cope
19. 'Trans-Europe Express' Kraftwerk
20. '45:33' LCD Soundsystem

Unsurprisingly, heavy on Krautrock, and 2/3 of Big Dave's Berlin Trilogy make an appearance. Obviously, these aren't literally my top 20 albums, because I don't really have a top twenty, and other than any of the top 5, there are plenty of others I could fit in here - Super Furry Animals missed because I couldn't settle on any one album, Dexys, Magazine, Faust, Harmonia and Eno could all just as well have been in there, not to mention two dozen other acts. The Units missed out because their only album is a compilation, but by christ have I hammered it. No jazz! Fuck all soul and funk - though certainly soul is something that I think of as a singles genre, which is why compilations often work best for me, but Stevie Wonder and The Temptations should definitely have been in there. As should 'Heart Of The Congos'. Arrgh! I'm off to write a book on this shit. Basically: Music is fucking brilliant.

The Velvet Underground & Nico
Loveless
Pet Sounds
Revolver
OK Computer
Remain In Light
Fear Of A Black Planet
Fat Of The Land
Led Zeppelin IV
Fleet Foxes


Spoiler alert
lol
[close]

ThickAndCreamy

Lol critically acclaimed music is held in high regard.

Haha, I only just saw your list. I wasn't specifically taking the piss out of you.


That said, have you not found one single record in your entire life that you loved more than 'the critics' did?


lol