Despite the vote count coming up to 21 at the end, I think I'll still reduce the cycle to five days. So, this round will end Sunday at midnight board time.

Same rules as before except for the reduced time frame. Maximum points you can give are 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6, but you can give fewer if you only feel strongly about your top few.

The top two here are albums I've kind of discovered this year... I've loved songs on them for years but I never really listened to the whole albums. Great stuff.

1. Bob Mould- Workbook (20)
2. Beach Boys- All Summer Long (17)
3. Aimee Mann- Bachelor No. 2 (15)
4. Guided Voices- Alien Lanes (7)
5. Pink Floyd- Animals (7)
6. Donovan- Sunshine Superman (5)
7. Rage Against the Machine- Evil Empire (3)
8. Okkervil River- The Stage Names (2)
9. Spiritualized- Let It Come Down (1)
10. Can- Monster Movie (1)

01 - Pink Floyd - Animals
02 - dEUS - The Ideal Crash
03 - Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills - Super Session
04 - Stills, Stephen - Stephen Stills
05 - Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
06 - Mann, Aimee - Bachelor No. 2
07 - Cooder, Ry - Chicken Skin Music
08 - Houston, Whitney - Whitney Houston
09 - Toto - IV
10 - Twain, Shania - Come On Over

1. Can- Monster Movie
2. The Cure- Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
3. Deee-Lite- World Clique
4. Living Colour- Time's Up
5. Lou Reed- The Blue Mask
6. M83- Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
7. David Bowie- The Man Who Sold the World
8. Kate Bush- Aerial
9. TOTO- IV
10. Lou Reed- Magic and Loss

1. Ry Cooder: Chicken Skin Music, 1976
2. The Beach Boys: All Summer Long, 1964
3. The Cure: Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, 1987
4. Steely Dan: Gaucho, 1980
5. Roy Orbison: Mystery Girl, 1989
6. Lou Reed: Magic and Loss, 1992
7. Tom Waits: Frank's Wild Years, 1987
8. Lou Reed: The Blue Mask, 1982
9. Living Colour: Time's Up 1990
10. Beth Gibbons and Rustin' Man: Out of Season, 2002

1. Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension (20)
2. Beth Gibbons and Rustin' Man - Out of Season (17)
3. Gomez - Bring It On (15)
4. Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat (13)
5. dEUS - The Ideal Crash (11)
6. Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years (7)
7. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World (4)
8. Pink Floyd - Animals (3)
9. John Coltrane - Meditations (2)
10. Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl (1)

This time I give points to only 9 albums (I can give minus points but I think it's not possble.)

1. Beth Gibbons and Rustin' Man - Out of Season
2. Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2
3. Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
4. Gomez - Bring It On
5. dEUS - The Ideal Crash
6. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts
7. Can - Monster Movie
8. Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension
9. Pearl Jam - No Code (1 point)

1. Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
2. Lou Reed - The Blue Mask
3. Kate Bush - Aerial
4. The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
5. Steely Dan - Gaucho
6. Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2
7. Cheap Trick - In Color
8. Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
9. Pink Floyd - Animals
10. Shania Twain - Come On Over

11. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
12. 2Pac - Me Against the World
13. Jackson Browne - s/t (Saturate Before Using)
14. Kate Bush - The Dreaming
15. June Christy - Something Cool
16. The Germs - GI
17. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
18. Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down
19. Frank Sinatra - Songs for Young Lovers
20. Whitney Houston - s/t

Anyone else like the Jesus Lizard? They aren't the most accessible band out there, mostly because of Adam Yow's gutteral vocals, but they tend to keep the record sounding fresh with each listen, and if it clicks with you there's a good chance he'd be your favorite part. I'm not sure what rock subcategory to put them in, but they belong in which ever one houses The Cramps, Butthole Surfers, and Steve Albini. I give Goat a 10/10.

1. The Jesus Lizard - Goat
2. Queens of the Stone Age
3. Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
4. Shellac - At Action Park
5. Bad Brains - Rock for Light
6. Fugazi - In on the Killtaker
7. Bob Mould - Body of Song
8. The Germs - GI
9. Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire (1)
10. Blur - The Great Escape (1)

1. Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick
2. Okkervil River – The Stage Names
3. M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts
4. Pink Floyd – Animals
5. Blur – The Great Escape
6. Tom Waits – Frank’s Wild Years (2 points)
7. John Cale – Fear (1 point)
8. Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes (1 point)

That's it for this batch.

Not quite as good a group for me as the last several. First one is around #100 for me all-time, next couple only around 350 or so...

1. Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land
2. Living Colour - Time's Up
3. Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck - Djam Leelii
4. Can - Monster Movie
5. Anthony Braxton - 3 Compositions of New Jazz
6. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis/Live
7. Kate Bush - The Dreaming
8. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie - Bird & Diz
9. Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
10. The Tony Williams Lifetime - Emergency!


11. Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2
12. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
13. King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
14. Gang of Four - Solid Gold
15. Bob Mould - Workbook
16. Deee-Lite - World Clique
17. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts

I have practically nothing this block, but those I do have are all in my top 200 or so.

1. Okkervil River - The Stage Names (My #5 for 2007)
2. Robert Plant & Alison Kraus - Raising Sand (My #6 for 2007)
3. Lou Reed - The Blue Mask

Six for me

1. Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
2. Pink Floyd - Animals
3. Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
4. Pearl Jam - No Code
5. Blur - The Great Escape
6. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Venom - Black Metal
The Only Ones - The Only Ones
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
Beth Gibbons - Out of Season
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Gang of Four - Solid Gold
Aimee Mann - Bachelor no 2
Common - Like Water For Chocolate
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Blur - The Great Escape

1. Lou Reed, THE BLUE MASK
2. Cheap Trick, IN COLOR
3. Aimee Mann, BACHELOR NO. 2
4. The Dictators, GO GIRL CRAZY!
5. Guided by Voices, ALIEN LANES
6. Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, RAISING SAND
7. Okkervil River, THE STAGE NAMES
8. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY
9. John Cale, FEAR
10. Bob Mould, WORKBOOK

This is interesting. (Not having counted any of the votes yet), it seems that while 22 of the 50 qualifiers so far are 00's albums, there may not be even one 00's album that qualifies from this block.

I wonder if this is a blip or if this is going to be the trend for the last fourteen blocks.

1. Animals
2. Evil Empire

1 Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck Djam Leelii
2 John Cale Fear
3 Frank Sinatra Songs For Young Lovers

Reminder to everyone that the time frame for voting is reduced to five days, so the voting ends tomorrow.

It looks like we've finally hit the point where a lot of people's exposure really drops off. Which makes me wonder if it might be the time to revisit old ideas that failed before when most people could still fill out their lists.

Anyway, here's the point totals of the leaders:

1975-1979 album: 87
2000-2004 album: 76
1980-1985 album: 71
1985-1989 album: 67
2000-2004 album: 56

Others less than one vote away: 48, 43, 40, 39, 37, 36

I,m completely out of my depth with this group of albums, I can,t even come up with a list of 5 that I would feel comfortable voting for. Hopefully the next group will prove a bit better for me. Honourable mention though goes to the stage names by Okkervil River, great album from a great year.

Yeah, now that it's gotten to the point where a lot of people can't even play, maybe it is time to handle things in 200 album blocks instead of 100 album blocks.

Maybe after that the top ten can get in instead of the top five, so it doesn't mess with the qualifier count.

I'll leave the voting open one more day just because there are people I'm pretty sure are capable of filling out a top ten that haven't voted.

Plus I want to give people a chance to seriously object to expanding the voting to 200 album blocks, only with ten qualifiers per round instead of five. If nobody seriously objects that's what I'll do, because there are way too many people now that just can't vote.

Thanks for waiting, Bill. I didn't notice the shortened timeline. Here's my list:

1. Beth Gibbons and Rustin’ Man – Out of Season
2. Aimee Mann – Bachelor No. 2
3. The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
5. Frank Sinatra – Songs for Young Lovers
6. Curtis Mayfield – Curtis/Live!
7. Pink Floyd – Animals
8. Gomez – Bring It On
9. Simply Red – Stars
10. Phil Collins – Face Value

This batch obviously hit a soft spot in me...!

1.DONOVAN “Sunshine Superman” (#56 in my all-time list)
2.KING CRIMSON “Larks' Tongues in Aspic”
3.LOU REED “Magic and Loss”
4.STEELY DAN “Gaucho”
5.BETH GIBBONS & RUSTIN' MAN “Out of Season”
6.CESAREA EVORA “Miss Perfumado”
7.DAVID BOWIE “The Man Who Sold the World”
8.PEARL JAM “No Code”
9.RY COODER “Chicken Skin Music”
10.JACKSON BROWNE “Jackson Browne”

First list where I don't feel I can give 10.

1. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
2. Herbie Hancock - Takin' Off
3. Tears for Fears - Songs From The Big Chair
4. Kruass & Plant - Raising Sand
5. 2Pac - Me Against the World

Now, the results.

1. Pink Floyd - Animal (96/8/2)
2. Aimee Mann - Bachelor #2 (93/7/0)
3. Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season (87/6/2)
4. The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (82/6/0)
5. Lou Reed - The Blue Mask (71/5/1)
-
Robert Plant & Alison Kraus - Raising Sand (53/4/0)
Okkervil River - The Stage Names (48/4/1)
Donovan - Sunshine Superman (45/3/2)
Can - Monster Movie (43/4/1)
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick (40/2/2)

I'm seeing a trend here that anything that makes it in that isn't 00's tends to be by a band with more famous albums.

I wonder, is that because the lesser known Pink Floyd and Cure albums just have more ownership, or are those albums maybe underrated because all the more well known albums are siphoning off all their acclaim?

We eventually got up to 19 votes this time around, but there are a lot of people who could only vote for five or less albums. So from here on, I'll expand it to 200 album blocks, only there will be ten albums qualifying per block instead of five so it doesn't mess up the numbers.

Yikes... Sorry I missed the pushed up deadline. I don't think my votes would have changed anything, I didn't plan on voting for anyone in the top-10 this go around. Probably would have gone with this list:

1. Blue Light Til Dawn - Cassandra Wilson
2. Magic and Loss - Lou Reed
3. World Clique - Deeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Lite
4. Pre-Millenium Tension - Tricky
5. Time's Up - Living Colour
6. Curtis/Live - Curtis Mayfield
7. Songs from the Big Chair - Tears for Fears
8. Alien Lanes - Guided By Voices

Good call on the 200 album blocks Bill, I hope to provide you with complete lists well into this game.

You make an interesting point regarding the albums making it to these lists. I would argue that many of these albums also make it because the universal acclaim of their major works make most people seek out the backcatalog of these bands to hear their less-essential items.

I bet some of these albums could be greatly acclaimed on their own, but music critics are human too, and all too often they are going to evaluate a band's subsequent album as a creative departure or step down from their masterwork. There wasn't going to be any reviewer in 1977 who would have said "There's this interesting prog-rock band called Pink Floyd that has come out with a unique record called Animals this year." Nope, they are going to measure it up to Dark Side (and Wish You Were Here), and if it doesn't live up to those earlier albums it's going to get demerits for being not-perfect.

Another angle on this is that I've noticed some critics are probably willing to give extra acclaim to perhaps mediocre albums by artists' that have one or two works so powerful that it warps critics' minds to evaluate crappy music objectively. I remember reading Pitchfork reviews of new Weezer and Liz Phair records where they finally said something like "now THIS is a terrible Weezer [or Liz Phair] record. Blue Album/Pinkerton and Exile in Guyville had raised such critical goodwill in their hearts that it was extremely difficult for them to evaluate new records by them as objectively as possible.