Our incessant fan boy antics are paying off!

Rap is one of the few genres that I can't seem to enjoy, and I've really tried with it. Seriously, I wouldn't even be able to suggest even a single rap album which I've enjoyed, and that concerns me for some reason.

I've noticed that it's not uncommon to meet people who find the Rap genre distasteful in the UK. I think critics are usually more positive with Rap records in the US than they are over here (not that Rap records never get positive reviews in the UK), so I was wondering whether that it's just a coincidence or whether it's just a culture thing? Perhaps could you can suggest a Rap record which you think I'll find accessible?

You could check out some A Tribe Called Quest or maybe The Roots.

Well if you enjoy neither It Takes a Nation of Millions, the College Dropout, Original Pirate Material, Enter the Wu-Tang, Paul's Boutique, Stankonia and 3 Feet High and Rising, you should probably give up ^^
(It Takes a Nation... is, by far, the album I like the least in this list, looks like I'm insane)

I would have liked to see Paul's Boutique and College Dropout in the top 100, but those are already very good results for hip-hop albums.
I think College Dropout remains Kanye's best album, but if MBDTF's acclaim helps put more lights on his previous albums it's fine with me.

I will join the ""the Suburbs" and "Dear Science" are good but no top 100 material" club

Anyway, best news : 2 Elliott Smith albums in the top 100 !

110-101

First impressions : many records from the 00's ! Too much ? Maybe. May I call that a lack of perspective ?

I agree with Harold : what the fuck if one album is 110th and not 90th. Better discuss albums that numbers.

Now Negative Nancy, go home to your garden gnomes !

I'm happy to see Super Fly and Talking Book (respectively my #76 and 66): still some great soul classics left to come (2 Stevie, 1 Marvin, and I got no hope for On Nation Under A Groove anymore). I have a special love for Talking Book. Heart factor places it slightly above Innervision;

I should try Merriweather once again, but I'm afraid (I should rename this album "Fear Of Music"). "My girls" irritates me because of the high pitched synths. I remember some good melodic moments though, but kind of wasted by that production. Genetically modified music is not my cup of tea;

Boxer was a good discovery of the 00s poll : great , deep album indeed, but to soon to make my top 200. As I said before, I don't know "Se"Lost Cause" is a fantastic songa Change" well enough, but it sounds great too. Beck obviously listened to some Gainsbourg, the British Gainsbourg of the seventies.

Happy to see a jazz album like "The Black Saint" so high, even if I prefer the rootsier "Ah Hum". I should give Black Saint a couple more listens. That is the big problem of the Internet era : so many records are available that you don't spend enough time listening to one album, and sometimes you miss the most challenging ones.

And Stephen, I support Stephan's rap recommendations. Try these groups if you haven't heard them yet. About rap in the UK there's a British rap scene, right ? I didn't know that rap didn't get good critics there. Here in France we have a lively -if not always talented- rap scene and rap records get good critics sometimes.

I find it amazing that everyone seems to know what albums are coming,just not in what order. I try not to think about what albums haven't come yet so I can be surprised by the appearance of something I hadn't expected

Midaso, I'm like you ! Like watching a magician do his tricks without trying to figure out how he does.

Same here. I love to be surprised now and then.

Looking forward to the top 100!

I don't keep track of the 100 albums, it just happens that one of the 2 Elliott Smith albums is my all time #1, so I'm keeping a close eye on this one ! (and the other contains my favorite song ever).

Just to keep the Age of Adz debate alive, one of the interesting things about its high score is how few voters listed the album, just 9 voters and it made 124. The other Top 200 albums with 9 votes all sit in the 180 to 200 zone. So it has a few fans that like it a lot. Will it fall from grace in the next poll or rise to sit alongside Illinoise as a second masterwork?
I saw Sufjan perform the album live earlier this year and still can't decide what I think of it. An amazing live concert, though that's different from an amazing album.

That's it; seems our agony is coming to an end . I like White Stripes but not to a great extent- in a way, it's better they are off the Top 100. However I think " Talking Book" should be in as Wonder's greatest achievement- seriously, is "Songs In The Key Of Life" that better? I still wonder though about "Different Class" and if, along with the traditional and righteous inclusion of the usual suspects called Dylan and Beatles in the top 10 will be also Radiohead. I also think that " Funeral" will be in the Top 20 though not deserving it if you ask me ( not that I do not like it at all of course).

Well, I'll do my part to keep its ranking lofty! I ranked it #15, and I don't see it falling as time goes on.

I'm probably not the biggest Stevie Wonder fan here, but he is in my top 20. Songs in the Key of Life is my favorite album from the 70s. It contains everything I love about Stevie. I enjoy every song and feel enriched whenever I listen to it. Talking Book is good and Innervisions is great, but neither one matches up with the wall-to-wall excellence of Songs in the Key of Life for me.



There goes my lunch.

LONG LIVE THE AGE OF ADZ

See, there's a common ground between Moonbeam and me !!!

Songs In The Key is top 10 for me. It's better than Talking Book because it is... longer

Haters gonna hate

I don't have a problem with people enjoying The Beatles and Bob Dylan. I just don't think there's such a thing as a "righteous" inclusion.










Other than 1999, of course.

Hark! Common ground!

Despite your allergy to synths and mine to roots music, I think we approach music in somewhat of a similar way.

As for Songs in the Key of Life, its length does indeed work in its favor, but I also think it is stunningly even more consistent than Talking Book and Innervisions despite its length.

ETERNAL LIVING!

My distaste for The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, et al is not contrarian. I just don't like them.

Steely Dan, on the other hand, I don't dislike. There are elements in their music that I can appreciate, and even a song that I can enjoy ("Reelin' in the Years").

What I mean by the whitewashed sound is that it sounds like they could be performing in any lounge in any restaurant in any place in the world, and the vocals are generally without much feeling in my view. They could be the house band for SNL for all I know.

Come to think of it, I do remember "Aja" being part of the World Cup, and there was a weird little synth that came in toward the end that I wished was around a bit longer. It was one of their songs I found the most interesting.

Thanks for the clarification. The vocals on Reelin' in the Years were done by someone other than Fagen (the voalist was David Palmer - Palmer quietly left the group during the recording of the second album, soon hooking up with Carole King, with whom he wrote the 1974 #2 hit "Jazzman". So, Can't By A Thrill (1972) may be the only album on which you can avoid the Fagen vocal stylings.

In my view, the vocals are not any more emphatic on Aja than SD's other albums. Quite the contrary, the Aja persona is more laid back, more jazzy than some of the other albums where SD rocks out a bit more. As usual there is an exception and that is the song "Peg" in which Michael McDonald's vocals should be more to your liking than Fagan's.

Even though Aja is more consistently solid (each and every song) than other SD offerings it is not my favorite. Others (especially Henrik) clearly prefer Aja to SD's other offerings, and with good reason I am sure.

Besides Peg, other singles from Aja were Josie and Deacon Blues. You might find the lyrics in Deacon Blues a bit fun as Fagen wants a name when he loses to contrast Alabama's Crimson Tide and their winning ways.

While I enjoy Black Cow and Home At Last, I am not confident that you will find them particularly appealing. While I consider I Got the News to be the weakest track on the Album, it is still worth a listen (for most folks).

I would like to know how you rate the Aja offerings compared to the songs I used in the World Cup, perhaps I could change things up if I get to manage SD again.

Thanks for the description! I think you hit on something with the vocals. "Laid back" is really not my thing vocally or musically.

l've never thought of Steely Dan's 70s music as laid back. I say its their balanced style that turns off the kind of music listeners that are mostly staying in their corner expecting for everything to be like what they're used to. I frequently see others mention Prince & Steely Dan as their favorite artists. I grew up with a lot of Prince and I like a lot of his songs. I had his debut as the only Prince LP in my top 500, but he would peak later on inconsistent albums (1979-1984).

I am not in a position to speak for Moonbeam. But, the laid back vocals are relative to the pop vocalists that I hear Moonbeam rave about, e.g., Madonna and Annie Lennox. I appreciate Prince but Steely Dan has been one of my faves since 1972 and Prince was never close to being one of my favorites. Steely Dan provided great music with exquisite composition, production, and instrumental virtuosity - especially with their horns and guitars. But, in my view what makes Prince special is his creative rhythms and use of percussion. As much as I love Steely Dan, I do not remember their percussion and rhythms as the strength of their creativity and virtuosity. I also vaguely remember others disagreeing with me on this point.

Henry, how can you say that David Palmer does the singing on Reeling In The Years? He only sings 2 songs on that album and clearly that's not one of them. I also disagree about the rhythm. They don't rely on it, but there's still a lot of it. I still don't understand why some describe them as complex/difficult and others say stiff/predictable. An example of the balance that I'm talking about.

Mea Culpa on the Reelin' in the Years vocal.

As I noticed a few minutes ago, Palmer does vocals on Brooklyn and Dirty Work (as I recall SD's first single).

While I don't find any innovative percussion in SD's works, they were remarkably precise and tight. They weren't straightforward or predictable in my view, and they worked magic with whatever complexity they brought to their songs.

Steely Dan's first single was Dallas/Sail the Waterway in '72. Dlrty Work was never a single or b-side.

Props to For You! I certainly find it to be weaker than his celebrated stuff, but it definitely has its charm. "Just As Long As We're Together", "Soft and Wet" and "In Love" are firm favorites.

As a Prince fan, I also come across many fellow fans who also list Steely Dan as a favorite, and Aja in particular. I never really sought them out and was hoping this AM World Cup would give me the impetus I needed to explore them more. While I wouldn't say the music itself is laid back (I'd say it's more sophisticated than laid back), the vocals do seem rather sterile. I guess I was hoping for something with a bit more teeth. Perhaps I need to listen to them outside of the context of a song here and there.

I thought is was Do It Again. Thanks for the info.