Stemming from the "Criminal" Thread.

Starting at #1 on the AM list, how far do you have to go down before you hit a 10-album gap, consisting of 10 consecutively ranked albums that you have never heard all the way through? If you borrowed from a friend and listened to it, that counts.

My first 10 album gap is #178 CCR's Cosmos Factory to #187 Public Image Ltd.'s Metal Box. Then VU's White Light / White kicks in and gets me back on track.

I declare whoever gets the farthest down the list (and is honest about it) to be King of AM! Henrik, of course, retains his prime ministership

I fumbled from 597 to 606. Yeah Schleuse I know I should have heard Wild Gift by now! Even if I had I still would have had to stop from 607-616. After the 400's I was losing major momentum.

Starting at #182 - Songs of Leonard Cohen through to #191 Bob Marley - Exodus.

Which isn't so bad, except that I actually own two of the albums within that stretch. Sad, huh?

After quite a few very close calls I get to 319 to 328.

#387 to #396.

Anthony, if you like any rap, you must hear Raising Hell (if not, then The Specials).

Neoptolemos, I suggest Richard & Linda Thompson.

jonmarck, Wild Gift is very good, but it's only their third best album, imo. A better intro to the band is their best of; it's called Make the Music Go Bang (well, to be fair, just disc one--you can copy "Burning House of Love," "4th of July" and "Devil Doll" off disc two and then use it as a coaster). OK, I'll stop proselytizing now.

Me, I'm gonna go track down PJ Harvey's Dry.

567-576. Although, I've tried listening to a few of them.

#299-#309 it seems - well I'm pretty proud of that. I've never done a big count up of all the albums I have off the list...

1296 (Flipper - Album - Generic Flipper) to 1305 (Nico - The Marble Index)

1172(Aretha Franklin-Spirit in the Dark)-1181 (Mark Lanegan Band-Bubblegum)

I'm shocked Henrick even has ten in a row he hasn't heard.

For me it's No. 308 Tortoise - "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" to No. 317 Ian Dury and the Block Heads "New Boots and Panties."

Although those ten did just squeeze between two I own.

Henrik, for the record I'd just like to state that I think that Flipper album is incredible.

I was slightly cocky when I started to do this - I expected to get to the high hundreds at least - but I only got up to 361-370 (Basement Jaxx to Sonny Rollins).

Hmm, very close, but just not beyond Henrik:

1283 (Birthday Party) - 1292 (Tocotronic)

(with two narrow escapes - i.e. gaps of 9 - around 1100)

191-202. i'm just glad it's not in the top 100.

Unbelieavable... I proposed this exercise and I turn out to be dead last, at least so far!

I'm going to the library and picking up The Smiths s/t or Prince's 1999 to get rid of this black mark.

FYI, my next 5 10+ album gaps are:

342-352
429-443
498-507
515-526
535-544

Once I get that first gap out of the way, I'll be ahead of some of you, ha ha! Music doesn't have to be pure and enjoyable, we need to inject some fierce competition.

Out of the 10 you're missing I'd say Cosmo's Factory is my favourite.

Actually, I spoke too soon. PJ Harvey's Rid of Me takes care of my second gap.

So if I listen to Cosmo's Factory and say, Police's Regatta De Blanc. I will instantly shoot down to #498. Not too bad.

I thought it was going to be 206-215, but Urban Hymns bailed me out.

First is 442-451

Jonah, prepare yourself or 1999- I really feel it's the greatest album ever.

676 The Libertines “The Libertines” to 685 System of a Down “Toxicity”
(although that the first 10 I don’t have a physical CD or vinyl right now is from 429 to 438, even I still own old bootlegged tapes of “Regatta de Blanc”, “New Day Rising” and “Can’t Buy a Thrill”).

I hesitated to reply to this one, because it lays bare the extent to which this site has influenced my musical life over the last few years, not to mention the obscene percentage of my disposable income that I spend on CDs.

My first ten-album gap is from 2143-2152.

I'm not going to embarrass myself further by revealing how far down the current list you have to go to get to the first album I don't own. I will say that it's a CD that's so far out of print that copies occasionally turn up on Ebay for, literally, hundreds of dollars, which is a bit much even for an obsessive-compulsive collector like me. (And it's -not- THE MEDICINE SHOW, believe it or not. I was lucky enough to stumble across someone offering that great lost Dream Syndicate album on Amazon for well under three figures.)

I get as far as no.s 320-29:

320 Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
321 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
322 Richard and Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights
323 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poorboys
324 Dave Brubeck - Time Out
325 Miles Davis - Jeru/Birth of the Cool
326 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
327 Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
328 Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
329 The Crickets - The Chirpin' Crickets

I'm especially embarrased about the Flaming Lips - I've listened a lot to The Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics and been to two marvellous concerts of theirs. R & L Thompson and Jane's Addiction are on the shopping list too, though.

Harold: You're not embarrassing yourself at all in my not so humble opinion. Excellent collection! (I do wonder which is that first album though. )

Harold - you're what I'll probably be like in 10-15 years. This site greatly influences me as well and I guess for my age(20) I'm pretty good...

Harold - you're what I'll probably be like in 10-15 years. This site greatly influences me as well and I guess for my age(20) I'm pretty good...

haha. since my collection will probably (hopefully) look something like harold's in a few years, and i am also 20 years old, i thought i'd just copy and paste what midaso said. btw, harold, it's not embarrassing, i envy your collection!

Harold, for chrissakes, own up: What is that album you're missing? One of us might have a spare copy ...

That's amazing, Harold!

I have Tim Buckley's "Starsailor" on vinyl (poor quality though), if someone's interested.

I know this is the wrong thread, but the most acclaimed album I don't own is
474. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
I'm sure it's a great one. Anyone who knows where I can find it for a good price?

you guys are good !
for me 179-188

Henrik, The Feelies have been one of my favourite bands for many years. As I'm sure your aware, Crazy Rhythms is out of print, which seems odd since two of their less famous and less acclaimed follow-up albums are available.

Though they haven't achieved the legendary status of Crazy Rhythms, I think The Good Earth and Only Life are equally as good. The Good Earth was produced by Peter Buck and it definitely has the feel of Reconstruction-era REM, though with much better songs and playing I feel. Only Life is more of a straight-ahead rock album with some great Neil Young-style soloing.

The only Feelies album I wouldn't whole-heartedly recommend is their final record 'Time for a Witness' - a tame and ordinary album, and the only one I'd give a wide berth.

There's a few decently priced Crazy Rhythms on eBay, $29 and $41 respectively without shipping fee. Suppose you could buy it there.

Hey Moonbeam, listened to 1999 for the first time this weekend. I checked it out from library and popped it in on a drive to Chicago.

My short review: Never has an album so dense been so much fun to listen to! Some of it on first listen, oddly enough, actually sounded like nine inch nails, in it's innovative beats. But unlike Reznor's self-hating lyrics, which for me tend to have been appropriate during my last years of high school and when I'm in a particularly bad mood, Prince's words, shall we say, cover a little more timeless and positive topics. Definitely worth a few more listens before I can make a final say on it.

I personally think it would be a neat idea to have someone take a first listen to a top 10 album from one of us every now and then. I would be fascinated to see how someone hears an important album in my life with virgin ears.

Jonah, that is awesome! I'm glad you can see the appeal of 1999. It definitely was innovative well beyond its years, and looms very large in Prince's canon. I'd be up for the task you propose of listening to albums as well.

#872 - #881. Lots of 9's down to that though!

429-438.

Or so I thought, until I realized I actually had heard Can't Buy A Thrill at 431, and also Fishscale at 441.

Still going. Although now I'm mostly being saved by albums I don't like...

...Neil Young - On The Beach is all the way down at 477?! Travesty!

And, I finally lose 488-497. I almost bought Juju Music to save me there, but not quite.

Heh, fun note: My next ten album gap is 516-525. I bought Violator a few weeks ago but haven't actually listened to it yet. Just pop that in the CD player, an hour later I get down to 596-605 for my second gap.

The first one I don't own is pretty early, #36 Joshua Tree. Because I hate U2.

An update: one of my recent album purchases was Boz Scaggs' s/t debut album, currently #2150 on the list. So, now my first ten-album gap is from #2244-2253.

Funnily enough, 1000-1009:

1000 Count Basie - April in Paris
1001 Moby - Everything Is Wrong
1002 The Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer
1003 Ride - Nowhere
1004 Bunny Wailer - Blackheart Man
1005 The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
1006 Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
1007 Frank Sinatra - September of My Years
1008 Squeeze - East Side Story
1009 Metallica - Ride the Lightning

And what makes me kick myself, is I've been thinking of picking up East Side Story for years, but it's never seemed like a big enough priority - largely due it to being so low down the list on this site!

You should give Ride the Lightning a listen as well. I am not a Metallica fan but that's one of the best hard rock albums of all time and should be what Metallica is judged on (not the Black album). I'm not even a metal/hard rock fan and I love that album.

Well, I'm quite impressed by your scores !
My first gap comes at 176 : T.Rex - Electric Warrior and reaches 188 : The velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Update: I’ve now heard Dry. After that, I do pretty well through the 400s; then I get to this appalling 19-album yawning chasm:

520. Little Feat, Dixie Chicken
521. Missy Misdemeanor Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly
522. Al Green, I’m Still in Love With You*
523. Manu Chao, Clandestino
524. Curtis Mayfield, Curtis*
525. Sam Cooke, Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963
526. Echo and the Bunnymen, Ocean Rain
527. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
528. Albert Ayler, Spiritual Unity
529. The Avalanches, Since I Left You
530. Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Blank Generation*
531. John Martyn, Solid Air
532. Van Morrison, It’s Too Late to Stop Now
533. Talk Talk, Laughing Stock
534. Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters
535. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Source Tages & Codes
536. Wilco, A Ghost Is Born*
537. Yes, Fragile
538. OutKast, Aquemini*

The asterisks mark the ones I’m REALLY embarrassed about.

schleuse! I'll send you #527 - what's your preference: vinyl, CD or mp3?

We're living here in the future, baby! What else but mp3?

And thanks.

Ok, I'll hook you up when I get home from work.

I know Mr. Wexler is a big fan of the album; are there any others out there?

I kinda like it, every time I listen to it, it seems to get better.

I'm with Neoptolemos - at first I was a little unsure why the hype, but it does set up camp inside your head after a while. Definitely worth hearing.

It is a strange sounding album upon first listen – no question about it. But I think once you get past that, the album is rewarding as hell.

One of my favorite aspects of it is that it’s the last album the band released (and when I say “band”, I’m referring to singer/songwriter/leader Jeff Mangum.) That was back in 1998 – and the guy hasn’t been heard from since! It’s almost as if he had nothing more to say, nothing more to record – he’d done everything he wanted to do with In The Aeroplane…

I know it sounds like I’m sucking this album’s d**k, but it really is that good. And I hate plugging Pitchfork, but the 10.0-rated review is worth a read here.

In the airplane is too expensive for here at NZ$25.95 - a little too much for one cd - I am looking forward to getting 'Loveless' now though which I have ordered for a reasonable price...

It's been a while since I've posted in this topic, and I've heard quite a few albums since, so I figured it would be interesting to see how far I'd come now. I'm not disappointed at all, I came all the way to 885-894.

I think I just lost this competition. It's 116-125

Outkast - Speakerboxxx, Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique - Neil Young - Harvest, Bob Marley - Natty Dread, Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley, Tricky - Maxinquaye, Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted, Tom Waits - Rain Dogs, Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet and Neil Young - Rust never Sleeps.

167-176 for me. I got further than I would think. I've never heard all of A Night at the Opera, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, We're Only in It for the Money, I Am a Bird Now, Abraxas, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Licensed to Ill, Stand!, Master of Puppets, and Electric Warrior. Some of you are probably surprised that I haven't heard some of these, but I haven't really heard much.