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Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Talk Talk "Laughing Stock" (number 1)
Neil Young "Rust Never Sleeps"
Pixies "Bossanova"
Spiritualized "Ladies and Gentlemen..."
Leonard Cohen "I'm Your Man"
Tricky "Maxinquaye"
Big Star "Third/Sister Lovers"
Brian Eno "Another Green World"
King Crimson "In the Court..."

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Here are some of the comments i made for records not included in the top 100

1. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
the best Springsteen, much more confused, and with a more "modern" sound, especially for these times where rock often wears dark. Sometimes on the verge of hard rock, the songs are much less romantic but more about desillusion of the working class.

7. Doc & Merle Watson - Ballads from Deep Gap (1967)
A hidden gem I found by chance at a library. This is pure country-folk, all traditional songs. And the performance is astonishing. Doc Watson, a blind singer and guitarist discovered in his middle age is one of the most influential country guitarists (along with Chet Atkins and Merle Travis), and most of all, sings and pick with with a pure and emotional authenticity and exceptional virtuosity. He plays here with his son Merle and a bassist, and the record is full with warm energy and plays like a dance : it's fast, fun and slightly reckless (thanks AMG). It's also the occasion of putting pre-album era music in my top 10, because most of the material here is songs from before world war 2. With a divine sound.

8. Georges Brassens - n° 7 (Les Funérailles d'antan)(1960)
Brassens is the first thing I remember, musically speaking. My grandfather played these 10-inch (25 cm) LPs, I was 3 or 4 years old and soon I knew some songs by heart and sang them in my grandparents' yard to frends and neighboors. My father played these records too, singing along. I listened to them with my sisters for afternoons, especially this one. And Brassens still rules : he's folk, and sometimes jazzy à la Django (always just a double bass and two accoustic guitars), he's the hell of a songwriter, he's an exquisite poet (much better than Brel to me, much more literate), he's fun, bio here
The songs ? about God (the hilarious Le Mécréant), death and murder (adaptation of XVth century poet François Villon's Le Verger du roi Louis), love (Pénélope, L'Orage, Le Bistrot, two of his very best songs).


11. The Divine Comedy - Promenade (1994)
Concept album : a chamber orchestra meeting conventional rock instruments and exquisite samples from movies, and the story of a teenage love with the omnipresence of the sea. Musically speaking it's a tour de force. And, of course briliant songwriting and singing. Chamber pop ?


15. Jacques Brel - Brel (1977)

Brel's swan effort. After his retirement in the Marquesas islands, and when he knew cancer would carry him off, he went back to Paris and recorded these 12 songs. It turned out to be his most cohesive record, not a collection of singles but with a real unity. It is even more ferocious than his previous works (the political song Les Flamingants with his surprising and kitch jazz-funk music, or a defying song about old age and death, Vieillir), and musically more convicing.

16. Neil Young - Harvest (1972)

Being Neil Young's most accessible and popular album, it is not an all-critics' favorite, despite its obvious qualities. It is almost a straight country record, except a few rockers, and every song has something to say and its own seduction, especially because Neil expresses a need for love to come (Heart of Gold, Out on the weekend). Being polished is not (always) a bad thing. And there's Needle and the damage done


17. Georges Brassens - n°4 (Je me suis fait tout petit) 1955
one more great Brassens : the beautiful melody of the first song, 2 classical poems adapted (Verlaine, Hugo), and a hilarious one about a guy whose dream is to see the navel of a policeman's wife

Anyone still reading ?



Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Oh the big mistake
IN the Darkness comment instead of confused, read "focused"
Freudian ?

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I'm still reading nicolas, and your list looks likely to be the most fascinating and idiosyncratic one posted. My girlfriend's father is a huge Doc Watson fan, and the stuff I've heard has been wonderful-I'm going to try and hunt down 'Ballads from Deep Gap' based on your recommendation.
Also, I join those disappointed not to see 'Funhouse' on the list-a masterpiece of late 60s dissonance a la 'White light/White heat', another record which seems to have dropped off the radar.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

me again..
Neoptolemos, this one's for you :

33. The Eagles - Hotel California (1976)

When I was 14, I pretended I was in a band, and evry concert would start with Hotel California. 15 years later a critic who read my novel in which I told that story used to make jokes at me about the Eagles. Critics, especially post-punk critics, do not like the Eagles. I can hear them say "it's so mainstreaaam !". Fuck them, this album is beautiful. Great guitars, great production, great songs. the exact antidote to indie rock ! and the perfect mainstreaaaaam album

Henrik, I back you on "Superfly"

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

*Adds Deep Gap to an already long list*

My comments of the two albums that did not make it:

9) The Who - Tommy: A weird, strangely fascinating and fantastic album. The first time I heard this record (in the wrong order) I thought it was extremely weird. But after repeated listenings (in the right order) I've come to realize it's magnificence.

10) Guns 'N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction: I had this at around place 50 in the first draft of the list, and it has been climbing ever since. As I'm writing this, I think I put it a little too high and it'll probably be lower next year, but it needs a little love anyway. It's hard to put your finger on why this album is so good, but I just know that it is. Welcome to the jungle.


As mentioned, GnR has dropped to #15 since then.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I'm with you on Superfly as well. Best soundtrack ever, and my #37.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

When I say Hotel California is the perfect antidote to indie-rock, I don't mean no harm. I like indie rock too, but an overdose of Sonic Youth or Sigur Ros (2 groups I love) lead me to pick up my Hotel California for a little air and simplicity

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I love "Tommy" (# 127 on my list)
My favorite cover when I was in a band was "Go to the mirror" played electric like they do in Woodstock (it's called "We're not gonna take it on the Woodstock album)

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Yep, for me it's a straight-up classic, no matter what critics or other people think. The titletrack is one of my favorite songs ever, and Last Resort is right up there for the most beautiful sentences in songs with "They call it paradise/I don't know why. Call some place paradise/Kiss it goodbye". And I like every song on the album, albeit not as much as those two.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

7. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
9. The Sound - From The Lion's Mouth
13. The La's - The La's
15. The Triffids - Treeless Plain
16. Jason & The Scorchers - Lost & Found
18. 10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe
21. U2 - War
22. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
23. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath
24. The The - Soul Mining

7 out 10 are from the 80's, so I guess I'm an 80's fan.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I've updated my favorite 100 on RYM. Click here.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Since Steely Dan is now out of survivor, I have to add that "Aja" was my #21.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

5 Big Star The Third/Album/Sisters Lovers
8 Husker Du New Day Rising
14 Husker Du Warehouse: Songs and Stories
16 Guided By Voices Bee Thousand
17 Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I
23 And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Source Tags and Codes
26 McLusky McLusky Do Dallas
27 Julian Cope Peggy Suicide
28 Wrens Meadowland
31 Spoon Kill The Moonlight

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Oh man, I just realized I entirely forgot to include one of my favorite albums, Marc Cohn's self titled debut. I feel really stupid now. I've decided to place it at #19.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Forgive me for posting this here; I didn’t want to start a new thread.

Regarding the album poll, if anyone has a request for statistics that I haven’t already posted, feel free to let me know - I’m more than willing to do more number-crunching. Otherwise, I’m about ready to put this baby to bed.

I was looking forward to posting some voting statistics (eg. the number of votes/percentage of votes cast for each decade, most represented year, the biggest “fans” of each decade – ie. which AM’er had the most ‘90s albums on their list, etc.) and I had actually been keeping a running total of this with each ballot received, but towards the end of December, a significant number of ballots came in without the years included. Since I never asked for this information it wasn’t a problem, but at this point, going back and researching the missing release dates would take quite a bit of time, and frankly (and apologetically), I’m not up for it.

Again, I'm open to suggestions for other statistics.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

My wish is for a 101-200 list.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Consider it done. It'll be posted on the sticky thread (btw, thanks Henrik.)

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I have another wish. I don't know if you can do this, but Henrik for the'90s polls had made an excel shhet with correlations between the voters, to establish which other AMer's list is the closest tou yours.
But maybe that implies a lot of calculation so I don't know...

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Correlations were possible in the ´90s poll since everyone ranked the same albums and songs. Here, the most useful thing would probably be a table of the number of albums each pair of voters had in common. I think this would require quite a lot of work from Anthony...

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Unfortunately, my technical prowess has limits. I would have no idea how to generate a correlation chart, but I can certainly send my Excel document to you Henrik, as I’m sure you’d know how to accomplish that.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

But then again... probably not with the Excel document that I've created. Compared with Henrik's '90s poll spreadsheet, mine is, well, embarassingly primitive. I'm sure it would take even Henrik a bit of time to producce something like that from my rudimentary document.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I didn't send my list in, but these ones wouldn't have made it:

3. The Who - Tommy
4. Bright Eyes - Lifted
5. CocoRosie - La Maison de mon Rêve
6. Mansun - Six
8. Voltaire - Devil's Bris
9. Rufus Wainwright - Poses
10. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Master and Everyone
11. Adam Green - Friends of Mine
12. Johnny Cash - At San Quentin
13. Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
14. Adam Green - Gemstones
17. Daniel Johnston - Rejected Unknown
18. Moneybrother - To Die Alone
19. Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

and the list goes on and on.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Hey Anthony I don't mind filling out dates for albums if it'll help at all.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Yeah? Cool! I'll email you the details.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Neoptolemos,

Thank you for inspiring me to get The National - Boxer. It's really great!

As I was listenting to it, I realized that it really reminded me of another great album that you might want to check out: American Music Club - Everclear (1991). You don't hear much about it anymore, but its a real treasure. Here's a review: All Music Guide - Everclear Review

If anybody else likes American Music Club, please chime in. It's good stuff. Would have been in my top 100 if I had more time to be careful in how I put it all together.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

#13. Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
#15. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.
#16. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Natty Dream
Also from the 21-30 range, although I don't remember exactly where I ranked them, were Creedence Clearwater Revival's Willy and the Poor Boys, and The Harder They Come soundtrack.

One thing I got from the list is exactly how white our tastes appear to be. There was certainly a lot of classic '60s and '70s rock combined with a lot of indie pop/rock. But there was only one rap/hip-hop album that made the list, there was no reggae or world music and there was very little soul/r&b.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I tried to get The Harder They Come in there (my #31), but I think it was hurt by the soundtrack factor. Really, really great reggae album for those who want to try...

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I meant Natty Dread of course, not Natty Dream, which sounds like a collaboration between Bob Marley and Air.
Yep, Loophole, anyone who's knowledge of reggae is limited to Bob Marley should give The Harder They Come a shot. I'd also recommend Toots and the Maytal's Funky Kingston.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

A few things: First, thanks for the Flatlanders recommendation Loophole. Has lost classic written all over it! Second, I didn't vote (damn!) but here are my favs that didn't make the list:

#3 Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
#9 Townes Van Zandt - High, Low.../The Later Great
#10 Gram Parsons - GP/Grievous Angel
#11 John Prine - John Prine
#12 Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
#13 The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
#14 Leonard Cohen - Songs (Not sure about this one?)
#15 Tom Waits - Closing Time
#16 Van Morrison - Into the Music
#17 Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers

Also, I wanted to mention Rate Your Music again. It's a great place to create a list of your 100 favorite albums. You can change it anytime you want! :)

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Yes, you're right Rocky about the lack of black music
Apart from PE, no rap
And one thing I realized : no black music since 1988

About reggae, The Harder They Come is a great introduction to reggae because there are some of the greatest after Marley (Toots, Jimmy Cliff,desmond Dekker...)
Another record to hunt for is "Tougher than tough : the story of Jamaican music", it's a 4-record box set, I have it but I lost 2 records and now it's hard to find. There's everything in that one.
And of course every Trojan box set.

Jamaican music (r&b, ska, calypso, rock steady, dub, ragga..) is fantastic.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

are we a niche site ?
That's a question I'm asking myself, but I don't want to bother anybody with that.
How come this site seems to draw only mostly people more indie rock oriented ?
there is probably a sociological explanation
But I have to say that the final forum top 100 is much more varied that I would have thought in my (paranoid ?) mind .

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

The only two albums to appear on my list and nobody else's top 100 were the aforementioned Funky Kingston and Living Colour's Time's Up!

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Sorry to keep banging on about 'Spiderland', but I can't think of another album from 1990 onwards that has not only inspired so much great music, but which also still sounds unique today.
I think the relative popularity of 'Kid A' on the forum attests to the fact that the voters have an appetite for left-field music which would fall under the umbrella of 'post-rock'.
It seems odd that Slint, the progenators of this (admittedly vaguely defined) genre are so widely ignored. OK, they broke the top 200, but after skimming the individual lists I could only see the album on five ballots.
Basically, I just wonder whether the lack of interest reflects a lack of familiarity with the record, or whether people just don't like it.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

EdAmes – you can chalk my lack of vote for Spiderland up to just plain ol’ ignorance. I’ve never heard it before, but since you’ve related it to post-rock and Kid A, I’m intrigued. And fortunately, there’s a record store just down the street from my office. I’ll stop in over my lunch break.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

ChrisF - I wish you had voted. You're list looks right up my alley. If you haven't already, you should post your entire top 100 over on the "individual lists" thread. There are a few other stragglers posted there already.

And yes that Flatlanders album is the very definition of lost classic. In case anybody doesn't know, its an early 1970s collaborative effort by West Texas country/folk heroes Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock. Read review here.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

EdAmes

Spiderland is an excellent album, among the best if you ask me. However, I didn't include it in my top 100 simply because I forgot it existed. It would have made top 20, that's for sure. Second however, I didn't send in my list, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Nicolas

I think a site so concerned about music critic and specially rankings is the perfect niche for feeding music knowledge greedy indie rockers' appetite. If you observe the profile of fans of other genres and even other rock stiles, you'll see the information that can be obtained here fits less their interests than that of indie fans. I think that's also because "indies" are the group that mostly like discovering artists and albums they had never heard of before, looking not so much to their styles as to their quality. This makes them attracted to the musically universal (for not saying the word "eclectic") purpose of this site. Most of jazz fans are interested only in good jazz, as most classic rock fans are interested only in good classic rock, to make exemples. These people don't want to see which are the best 90's albums including all genres. Of course I'm not generalizing! That's just a tendency, not an absolute fact for all music lovers.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

haha, I was just forgeting to tell my favorite unranked abums...

5) The Frattelis - Costello Music
8) Graham Coxon - Happiness in Magazines
9) Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish
10) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
12) Los Lonely Boys - Los Lonely Boys
14) The Beatles - Magical Mistery Tour
15) Bjork - Post

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Anthony, just wondered whether you'd been able to get hold of 'Spiderland' at your local record store.
If not, keep trying. If you did and hated it, I'm sorry, but...keep trying.
I know it sounds nothing like 'Kid A', but then it doesn't really sound like anything else either.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Hey EdAmes,

Actually, yeah, the record store had a single copy and I nabbed it. I've only listened to it once so far (and it was at work; not the ideal listening environment), but I really enjoyed what I heard. I'm going to rip it right now and then give it a more focused listen.

Thanks again for the recommendation.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Bowie's Diamond Dogs - the finest album of all time; but then I knew it would never make it.

My favourite album I'm surprised didn't make the top 100 of the poll would be Pink Floyd's The Wall - probably the most intelligent rock album ever made.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I am of course dissapointed that no Zappa made it, but happy to see there were some fans from the individual lists.

I do want to express dissatisfaction for the lack of Deerhoof or Fiery Furnaces on anybody else’s lists.

Deerhoof, admittedly, might be a little too quirky, although they are dabbling with semi-mainstream success with each subsequent album.

But Fiery Furnaces’ Blueberry Boat is truly a modern masterpiece for fans of indie sensibilities, progressive experimentation, lyrical adventurousness, and everything in between.

I especially want to shout out to those aforementioned Zappa fans. Are you familiar with the Zappa epic closer Brown Shoes Don’t Make It, from the album Absoultely Free. Now imagine a whole album full of epic crazy multi-part song suites that never drag? A lot of classic albums have that a big number, From a Day in the Life to A Quick One While He’s Away (The Who), and even Paranoid Android that allow for ‘pop’ music to adopt a movement structure similar to classical pieces. Blueberry Boat offers the total thrill of having multi-part opus after multi-part opus without ever sounding pretentious.

I think the Furnaces are really the modern equivalent of Zappa, in the sense of a very prolific artist refusing to compromise, who are totally willing to write a beautiful melody only to have distorted, chopped up, or mixed with beautiful dissonant noise. Like Zappa, they have sometimes crossed the line of adventurousness and have alienated me as a listener, but my #17 Blueberry Boat is the near perfect balance limitless innovation and great indie songwriting, an album that is incredibly challenging but also very easy on the ears.

Please check it out! Someone needs to put it our their list next time around!

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Jonah, I remember seeing Deerhoof and the Fiery Furnaces at the same music festival and being really impressed with both.
For some reason, I've not really got into Deerhoof's records as much as their live show-I still mean to get hold of their latest album.
Anyway, I've just ordered 'Blueberry Boat' from Amazon-if it's shit, on your head be it.
Just kidding, am looking forward to hearing it. If this goes anything like my last Amazon purchase, I'll give you some feedback in about six months time...

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Hey Ed, I'm glad you took my advice on Blueberry Boat and look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

My personal favorites are the title track and Chief Inspector Blancheflower but the album is so long there are new hidden moments to discover each time I give it a listen.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Alright Jonah, belated thanks for the recommendation. Like a few of my favourite albums, Blueberry Boat balances a flair for classic, hook-based songwriting with a healthy interest in subverting the conventions of pop music.
Live, the band were tight whilst retaining a sense of spontaneity. Likewise, this album is dense and intricately constructed, but with a lightness of touch and an almost steam of conciousness feel to it. Great stuff.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I would expect any site that's connected to a review site to be indie rock skewed. They're the fans whose tastes most correlate with critics.

I saw the front of a country music magazine that was about the 'best of 2007'. It mentioned Kenny Chensey, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, Keith Keith, all those people. No mention of Lucinda Williams, no mention of Miranda Lambert. So people who only like country have no reason to come here, but indie fans who like some country do.

Just like people who only like rap have no reason to come here, but indie fans who like some rap do.

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

This is due to the specialization of radio stations and magazines, especially in America
it's coming to Europe though
Separated markets
Indie -country (Lucinda Williams, Johnny Cash with Rick Rubin)
Indie rap
classic rock
country country
rap rap
indie indie
We're targets (well maybe not us)

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

I mean it's a musical apartheid
People don't want to listen to some music because they don't want to be like the people who listen to that music
It sucks
Music is music
I'm bluesclassicalchansonelectrojazzworldr&brapreggaerockindiepop
That's my tribe
Wanna join ?

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Count me in, Nicolas

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

Sounds like a wonderful tribe

Re: AM Forum Top 100 Albums - What was your favorite album left out?

EdAmes, it’s great to hear that you like Blueberry Boat. The year the album was released was a key period where I realized that thanks to music webzines (mainly Pitchfork), there was a whole new explosion of music that will never get radio airplay but was just bursting with creativity and uncompromising experimentation. In fact, 2004 was a surprisingly strong year in my top 100 albums of all time list. Blueberry anchors that year that year for me. The rest of their output, including their completely different live shows, have their moments, but really aren’t as consistently pleasing as this album.