Paul, I think maybe my reasoning on the Beatles has to do with this strange fact: I happened to get into the Beatles seriously for the first time by buying their stuff as it came out, in chronological order, on CD. Sure, Please Please Me and With the Beatles aren't great albums, and both have plenty of clunkers--but if you approach them fresh, as I did, they do seem incredibly bright and energetic.
Let It Be, coming at the end of the same sequence, suffers badly by comparison with the five or six albums that came before it. I do keep meaning to get Let It Be Naked, which allegedly strips off most of Spector's fluff.
I think a lot of people assume Let It Be Naked is better because of the mastering. It's an unfair comparison IMO because the Beatles CD's that came out in the 80's are so poorly mastered. A lot of people most likely would even prefer LBN on CD over Let It Be on the original vinyl because they are used to today's mastering. So in any case, a fair comparison can't be made until The Beatles catalog gets a long overdue remaster.
I guess you could make a comparison on Long and Winding Road since that is so different. I think I prefer the Spector version since that's what I'm used to but the Naked version is pretty good too.
Yeah, I really like From A Basement On A Hill. Figure 8 is probably my least favorite of the Elliott Smith albums that I have heard.
Other picks:
Beck - Stereopathic Soul Manure -- Fun when one of the numbers on this lark of an album comes up on shuffle, but not worth listening to all the way through.
Pavement (Excluding EP's and collections) - Wowee Zowee -- I still like it, and there are some really nice moments, but it can be a bit of a slog compared to how effortlessly fun the rest of their output is. I love Brighten the Corners by the way... better than Slanted & Enchanted.
Bjork - Vespertine -- I've explained why elsewhere on these boards. I know there are a number of you out there (e.g., Moonbeam) that consider this her masterpiece. I disagree.
White Stripes -- Get Behind Me Satan -- Haven't listened to it recently enough to remember why it bored me so much when it came out.
okay, i have no idea why the hell i disliked darkness on the edge of town. i just listened to it a second ago and i love it. bruce springsteen might win the award from me for the most consistent single artist. albums 1-7 are so good it's obscene.
Okay, my turn. I'll go with a few artists that no one's gone with.
ELTON JOHN - Victim of Love. This one is no contest. Elton himself has disowned this album. I rated every song on this album a one-star except for one, which got two. But "Victim of Love" is an easy choice. If we're going for non-obvious picks, I gotta go with "Empty Sky," "Leather Jackets," or "The Fox." Never been a big fan of "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" either, but that's because I don't like the two singles from that album.
BILLY JOEL - Cold Spring Harbor. Again, an easy and safe choice. Billy has also disowned this one to a certain degree. But if we aren't going with the easy choice, I'm gonna go with "An Innocent Man." Never liked the retro sound Billy was trying to go with on this album.
PETER GABRIEL - Peter Gabriel 2 (Scratch). A couple good songs early, two more sprinkled in the middle, and the rest is just dreck.
RADIOHEAD - Amnesiac. I'm a little surprised that no one went with the obvious choice of Pablo Honey, but I guess we're all ignoring that that album even exists! Anyway, I remember reading a review that said that Amnesiac feels like songs that didn't make the cut for Kid A, and I totally agree. It's just not that good.
For a lot of artists my answer would be "Everything after X". Like, Neil Young - Everything after Ragged Glory. The Who - Everything after Quadrophenia. Led Zeppelin - Everything after Physical Graffiti.
So, for this post I'll stick only to things that contradict the AM ratings.
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
A few months ago I was very anti-Steely Dan. Now I like Can't Buy A Thrill and Aja. Pretzel Logic comes off to me as having overwrought melodies, and songs like 'Rikki don't lose that number' seem paternalistic to me. Like "Hey, I know what you're feeling better than you do!"
(Not that the songs on Can't Buy A Thrill aren't equally know-it-all.)
