Let's have a less predictable voting game, and vote on the best albums from 501 down to 3000 on AM.

Right now I'm planning to take the top two from each block of 100, then fourteen wildcards based on most votes (To get the number up to 64), then have an elimination bracket.

If you have a better idea for how to run the game, I'm open at this point.

For now, vote for up to ten albums, with points distributed as: 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. Voting will remain open for a week. If Henrik does a full update before 25 weeks, for each block we'll go with the old list. Let's say, deadlines will be Tuesday at midnight.

My vote:
1. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
2. Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
3. Depeche Mode - Violator
4. The Cure - Pornography
5. Wilco - Being There
6. Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
7. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
8. Madonna - Ray Of Light
9. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
10. Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

Cool, Bill - I'm lazy and like when there's a set frame so I don't need to worry about what I'm forgetting.

I've got loads of favorites in this group. All these definitely deserve to move up at AM.

1. Depeche Mode - Violator
2. Massive Attack - Protection
3. Al Green - I'm Still in Love with You
4. Kraftwerk - Computerwelt
5. Count Basie - Basie
6. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
7. The Cure - The Head on the Door
8. The Cure - Pornography
9. Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
10. Madonna - Ray of Light

Thanks for the new game... Should be fun.

1. I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo (in my all time top-20)
2. Pinkerton - Weezer
3. Since I Left You - Avalanches
4. Last Splash - The Breeders
5. Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, Vol. 1 - Ella Fitzgerald
6. Face To Face - The Kinks
7. Curtis - Curtis Mayfield
8. Copper Blue - Sugar
9. Either/Or - Elliott Smith
10. I'm Still In Love With You - Al Green

1. Neu!
2. Massive Attack - Protection
3. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
4. The National - Boxer
5. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
6. King Crimson - Red
7. Tim Buckley - Starsailor
8. Primal Scream - Xtrmntr
9. Depeche Mode - Violator
10. Madonna - Ray of Light

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
3. Weezer - Pinkerton
4. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963
5. John Coltrane - Blue Train
6. Boston - Boston
7. Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
8. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
9. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
10. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

Good idea. A bunch of these are in my top 100.

1. Talking Heads- Stop Making Sense
2. Elliott Smith- Either/Or
3. Weezer- Pinkerton
4. Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
5. Replacements- Tim
6. Kraftwerk- Computer Welt
7. John Coltrane- Blue Train
8. Kinks- Face To Face
9. Yo La Tengo- I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
10. Billy Joel- The Stranger

cool idea!

1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
3. The Replacements - Tim
4. Wilco - summerteeth
5. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
6. The Clash - Sandinista!
7. Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads
8. Def Leppard - Hysteria
9. Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now
10. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

Man it's so hard to rank them. I love all of these, and the thought that some will get more points than others hurts. No, I was never good with lists.

1. I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo
2. Music Has The Right To Children - Boards of Canada
3. Blueberry Boat - Fiery Furnaces
4. You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr. (good call)
5. Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts - M83
6. The Meadowlands - The Wrens
7. In Sides - Orbital
8. Repeater - Fugazi
9. Internal Wrangler - Clinic
10. Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia - Dandy Warhols

Sean Pak, I think you misunderstood the game. I saw 13 Tales on your list and wondered how I missed it but I think you thought we were voting on 500-3000 when we are only voting on 500-600 this round.

Or maybe you're using an outdated AM list?

1. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. The National – Boxer
3. Weezer – Pinkerton
4. Boston – Boston
5. Wilco – Summerteeth
6. Blur – Blur
7. Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
8. The Replacements – Tim
9. Blur – Think Tank
10. Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs and Stories

This is a seriously brilliant group - three of the list are in my all-time top 20!

Ah, totally misunderstood. I'll revise my list then. Apologies.

1. I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo
2. You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.
3. Before And After Science - Brian Eno
4. Spiritual Unity - Albert Ayler
5. Since I Left You - Avalanches
6. Fragile - Yes
7. The Koln Concert - Keith Jarrett
8. Being There - Wilco
9. Neu! - Neu!
10. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

I need to listen to more albums as usual...

1 - Elliott Smith - Either/Or (favourite album ever)
2 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
3 - The Avalanches - Since I Left You
4 - The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
5 - Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Great game Bill, Here's my top-10

1 Elliott Smith - Either/Or
2 Al Green - I'm still in love with you
3 National - Boxer
4 Cure - The head on the door
5 Dire Straits - Brothers in arms
6 R.E.M. - Reckoning
7 Nuetral Milk Hotel - In the aeroplane over the sea
8 Talking heads - Stop making sense
9 Kate Bush - The kick inside
10 Madonna - Ray of light

01. Curtis. Curtis Mayfield
02. Laughing Stock. Talk Talk
03. Spiritual Unity. Albert Ayler
04. Starsailor. Tim Buckley
05. Blank Generation. Richard Hell & The Voidoids
06. Y. The Pop Group
07. Person Pitch. Panda Bear
08. Solid Air. John Martyn
09. Moanin' In The Moonlight. Howlin' Wolf
10. The Atomic Mr. Basie. Count Basie

This is a great idea! Of course there's plenty to choose from down here on the list. I would bet that those on this forum pride themselves on loving the moderately acclaimed records as equally or more as the top 500.

1. Fugazi - The Argument (my personal top 10)
2. The Who - The Who By Numbers (my personal top 10)
3. The Cars - The Cars
4. The Beta Band - The Three EP's
5. U2 - Zooropa
6. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
7. Sonic Youth - Dirty
8. R.E.M. - Green
9. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
10. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

tough call for #10 - coming in very close were Liars Drum's Not Dead, Dismemberment Plan's Emergency and I (an album I don't see on a lot of the lists of non-American forum participants?), a few Beck albums, and Silent Shout.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
3. Elliott Smith - Either/Or
4. Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
5. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
6. Depeche Mode - Violator
7. Def Leppard - Hysteria
8. Blur - Blur
9. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
10. Motorhead - Ace of Spades

1. Van Morrison: It's Too Late to Stop Now, 1974 (537)
2. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, 1988 (536)
3. Neil Young: Freedom, 1989 (574)
4. Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense, 1984 (529)
5. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, 1997 (588)
6. Ry Cooder: Paradise and Lunch, 1974 (585)
7. R.E.M.: Green, 1988 (509)
8. The Kinks: Face to Face, 1966 (586)
9. Yes: Fragile, 1971 (544)
10. Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, Vol. 1, 1956 (584)

Awesome idea!

I have a lot that I love from 501-600. The top 7 are all comfortably in my top 100 list.

1. Madonna- Ray of Light
2. Depeche Mode- Violator
3. The Cure- The Head on the Door
4. The Smiths- Strangeways, Here We Come
5. Missy Elliott- Miss E... So Addictive
6. Kraftwerk- Computer Welt
7. The Cure- Pornography
8. Roxy Music- Stranded
9. Echo and the Bunnymen- Ocean Rain
10. Missy Elliott- Supa Dupa Fly

Close, but no cigar:

TLC- Crazy Sexy Cool
Roxy Music- Siren
Talking Heads- Stop Making Sense
Def Leppard- Hysteria
Faith No More- The Real Thing
Kate Bush- The Kick Inside

Jonah, read the thread title again - this poll is just for albums between #501-600, NOT the entire list under 500.

1. Herbie Hancock “Head Hunters”
2. Sam Cooke “Live at Harlem Square Club 1963”
3. Billy Joel “The Stranger”
4. Yes “Fragile”
5. Boston “Boston”
6. Depeche Mode “Violator”
7. Weezer “Pinkerton”
8. TLC “Crazysexycool”
9. Sugar “Copper Blue”
10. R.E.M. “Green”

1. Neutral Milk Hotel, IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA
2. Mott the Hoople, MOTT
3. Roxy Music, STRANDED
4. Elliott Smith, EITHER/OR
5. The Rolling Stones, BETWEEN THE BUTTONS
6. Sugar, COPPER BLUE
7. Roxy Music, SIREN
8. Weezer, PINKERTON
9. R.E.M., RECKONING
10. Husker Du, WAREHOUSE: SONGS AND STORIES

I totally missed The Pop Group's Y! And Smith's Either/Or would be my main honourable mention.

As always, I compose these lists on the fly…this may not resemble previous rankings I’ve done. So it goes.

1. R.E.M., Reckoning
2. Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
3. Blur, s/t
4. R.E.M., Green
5. Hüsker Dü, Warehouse: Songs and Stories
6. Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
7. Neil Young, Freedom
8. Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight
9. Wilco, Being There
10. The Replacements, Tim

HON. MENTION: Blur, Think Tank; Tom Waits, Bone Machine; Madonna, Ray of Light; The Clash, Sandinista!; John Coltrane, Blue Train; Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads; Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine.

Good idea! Hard to rank, but something like this:

01 | The Kinks | Face to Face
02 | Kate Bush | The Kick Inside
03 | Serge Gainsbourg | Histoire de Melody Nelson
04 | Howlin' Wolf | Moanin' in the Moonlight
05 | Roxy Music | Stranded
06 | The Congos | The Heart of the Congos
07 | Depeche Mode | Violator
08 | Panda Bear | Person Pitch
09 | Iggy Pop | The Idiot
10 | Brian Eno | Before and After Science

1. THE CURE “The Head on the Door” (#54 of all time)
2. KING CRIMSON “Red” (#70)
3. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN “Ocean Rain” (#71)
4. DEPECHE MODE “Violator” (#84)
5. BRIAN ENO “Before and After Science”
6. THE CLASH “Sandinista!”
7. SERGE GAINSBOURG “Histoire de Melody Nelson”
8. ELLIOTT SMITH “Either/Or”
9. TLC “CrazySexyCool”
10. BLUR “Think Tank”

oops, I thought I had made a mistake. Lot's of information in those instructions!


1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. R.E.M. - Green
3. nine inch nails - pretty hate machine
4. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
5. Avalanches - Since I Left You
6. Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
7. Primal Scream - Xtrmntr
8. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
9. Dire Straights - Brothers In Arms
10. Herbie Hancock - Headhunters

1. R.E.M. – Reckoning
2. The Replacements – Tim
3. John Coltrane – Blue Train
4. The Kinks – Face To Face
5. The Clash – Sandinista!
6. Frank Sinatra – Songs For Only The Lonely
7. The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come
8. Husker Du – Warehouse
9. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Leh-nerd…
10. Kate Bush – The Kick Inside

made a mistake (summerteeth is #500) so let's do this instead:

1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
3. The Replacements - Tim
4. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
5. The Clash - Sandinista!
6. Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads
7. Def Leppard - Hysteria
8. Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now
9. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
10. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

1. Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die
2. Madonna - Ray Of Light
3. The Clash - Sandinista!
4. Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
5. Neu! - Neu!
6. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
7. Iggy Pop - The Idiot
8. Kraftwerk - Computer World
9. Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity
10. Massive Attack - Protection

Here is my complete list !

1 - Elliott Smith - Either/Or (favourite album ever)
2 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
3 - The Avalanches - Since I Left You
4 - The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
5 - Panda Bear - Person Pitch
6 - The Cure - Pornography
7 - Motorhead - The Ace of Spades
8 - Yo La Tengo - I Can Heart The Hearts Beating As One
9 - The National - Boxer
10 - Alice in Chains - Dirt

I messed up on Summerteeth too...

1. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. The National – Boxer
3. Weezer – Pinkerton
4. Boston – Boston
5. Blur – Blur
6. Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
7. The Cure - The Head on the Door
8. The Replacements – Tim
9. Blur – Think Tank
10. Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs and Stories

1. XTRMNTR - Primal Scream
2. Stop Making Sense - Talking Head
3. Curtis - Curtis Mayfield
4. Spiritual Unity - Albert Ayler
5. Histoire de Melody Nelson - Serge Gainsbourg
6. Ace of Spades - Motorhead
7. Dust Bowl Ballads - Woody Guthrie
8. Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams
9. Blue Train - John Coltrane
10. Sandinista! - The Clash

1. Speak No Evil ~ Wayne Shorter
2. Starsailor ~ Tim Buckley
3. Before and After Science ~ Brian Eno
4. Curtis ~ Curtis Mayfield
5. Head Hunters ~ Herbie Hancock
6. Histoire de Melody Nelson ~ Serge Gainsbourg
7. Red ~ King Crimson
8. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea ~ Neutral MIlk Hotel
9. Porgy & Bess ~ Miles Davis
10. The Stranger ~ Billy Joel

Wow, go away for a few days, get way more votes than anticipated.

Ok, so the first 15 votes are counted, I'll come back for the rest later.

I may have to change my vote. I totally blanked on Boxer being part of this group.

Does anyone have an opinion on how the game should be run? I have three possible ideas.

-First, the one I mentioned at the beginning. Two from each block, 14 highest other point getters = 64.

-Second, 10 from each block, 6 from bubbling under = 256.
The benefit of this is that less stuff will miss out by being in the wrong block, the drawback is that the elimination rounds will take much longer and albums that get in will get less individual focus.

-Third, some variation of more from the earlier blocks, less from the later blocks. The drawback to this one is that it kind of goes against the purpose of the game, to squeeze out those obscure lower ranked albums. Plus it'd be a bit harder to land on a power of 4.

I think the original idea of 2 per block plus the next highest 14 works well.

1 Dinosaur jr-Youre living all over me
2 Sugar-Copper Blue
3 Cpt. Beefheart-Clear Spot
4 Neu-Neu
5 Husker Du-Warehouse...
6 Wilco-A Ghost is born
7 Yo La Tengo- I can hear the heart beating as one
8 My Bloody Valentine-Isn't Anything
9 Elliot Smith-Either/Or
10 Panda Bear-Person Pitch

1 Replacements - Tim
2 REM - Reckoning
3 Kinks - Face to Face
4 Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons
5 Neil Young - Freedom
6 REM - Green
7 Wilco - Being There
8 Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
9 Wilco - A Ghost is Born
10 KISS - Alive

I find it all very well but I do not like the scoring system. 20, 15, 12 ... A tenth position is assigned a single point. One point is very close to 0 points. 0 points is what it deserves un'álbum we do not like anything.

I propose: 20,17,15,13,11,10,9,8,7,6.

1 - Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2 - The Kinks - Face to Face
3 - Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
4 - Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
5 - Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963
6 - The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
7 - Panda Bear - Person Pitch
7 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
8 - Massive Attack - Protection
9 - Primal Scream - Xtrmntr
10 - Goldie - Timeless

1. You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.
2. Tim - The Replacements
3. Last Splash - The Breeders
4. Reckoning - R.E.M.
5. Ocean Rain - Echo & The Bunnymen
6. Copper Blue - Sugar
7. Blank Generation - Richard Hell & the Voidoids
8. Blur - Blur
9. Isnt Anything - My Bloody Valentine
10. Dirt - Alice in Chains

Just missed: Green - R.E.M., Exit Planet Dust - Dust Brothers

Otis: If we were going with 10 per block maybe it'd be a good idea to make a #10 vote more powerful, but if we're only going with 2 per block, it's probably best for #1 and #2 votes to be much more powerful than a lower place vote.

But, if enough people feel strongly that your idea is better, I'd be happy to change it.

Tomorrow I'll count up the results and post the winners and the next thread. You can still vote until I finish counting votes.

I am changing my vote, but all I'm doing is sliding Boxer in at #1 and Van Lear Rose in at #3. (Which I'm doing, by the way, *without* any knowledge of how this will affect the final tallies.)

I kinda feel like 2 from each block is too few... I'm happy to have it be ten from each block and make the game longer!

However, I may feel that way because we're working on the most acclaimed portion of the game, so there are a lot of good albums. Ten albums from the 2901-3000 block may be too much.

Whichever way you decide to go... I'll keep playing.

If top 2 is too few and top 10 is too many try something inbetween like top 4-5.

5 albums per block + 3 wildcards = 128 albums
then you would have to make a first bracket round where 2 albums qualified by bracket instead of the usual only winner to get back to 64 albums.

Ohh, I'll post my list within the next few minutes. Sorry for the late-ness.

1) The National - Boxer
2) Bob Dylan - Live 1966 - The 'Royal Albert Hall' Concert
3) Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
4) Depeche Mode - Violator
5) Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads
6) Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
7) Neutral Milk Hotel - In An Aeroplane Over The Sea
8) Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
9) The Kinks - Face To Face
10) Neil Young - Freedom

Hope that's still in time.

I just counted up the votes, so Stephan's vote will be the last counted. As soon as I add up all the scores, I'll post the results.

We can go with the 5 per block + 3 wildcards idea. But instead of the first round being just two, maybe the last round should. So the elimination round will go 128-32-8-2.

For this round we'll go with the original scoring system. Next round maybe with your ballot you can vote between the two scoring systems as well.

Results!

31 votes cast, 89 albums voted for, and Stephan's last minute vote made a difference.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998, 565):
154 points/14 votes/5 1st place
2. Elliot Smith - Either Or (1997, 575):
104 points/9 votes/3 1st place
3. The Replacements - Tim (1985, 523):
89 points/8 votes/1 1st place
4. Depeche Mode - Violator (1990, 516):
81 points/9 votes/1 1st place
5. The National - Boxer (2007, 42):
79 points/6 votes/2 1st place

Runners up:
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One: 78/8/2
REM - Reckoning: 73/6/2
The Kinks - Face To Face: 71/8/1
Weezer - Pinkerton: 66/7/0
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me: 58/4/2

Using Otisredding's proposed scoring system would have probably put Yo La Tengo in over The National.

So I guess it depends which you think is more deserving:

1-1-2-3-4-9
or
1-1-2-5-6-7-8-9

I think that The National has had 5 voters, I think Billadama has twice the votes of Stephan.

Yo La Tengo exceeds The National, although not using my scoring system.

With my score, also exceeds posiblement Kinks to The National

That is correct, with your scoring system The National came in seventh.

Either way, I have a feeling I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One will be one of the three wildcards.

Hi Bill,

I really think you should recount the total.
I think you have taken into account twice the vote of Penguin (which had posted a first list and a corrected one) and twice the vote of Stephan since you say that the National has 2 first place while only Stephan put it in the top of his list.

@Nassim:

A view posts back Bill mentioned that he changed his votes and he would put Boxer at #1. So the votes for Boxer are right.
I also counted the votes and I had a different top-10. But my top-10 is based on 30 voters in stead of the 31 from Bill. So I guess there is a secret 'mystery' voter who didn't post his or her list here

I got curious with all these discussions about double votes and double checked myself.

BillAdama's calculations seems OK with me: The National did get 79 points from 6 votes (pop elton, Penguin, marc, Nassim, Stephan and BillAdama) and Yo La Tengo did get 78 points from 8 votes (Schwah, John, Greg, Sean Pak, Penguin, Miguel, Nassim and JoJo).

But marc, you're right, I don't get to 31 voters either, same thing for me, only 30 are visible