Okay, say what you will about the album. Maybe it was way too long and over indulgent for you. I can understand that. The whole two discs are 135 minutes long, making this one of the longest albums I have ever heard. Maybe all the album cuts were shadowed by the singles (especially "Hey Ya!") Maybe you like Stankonia better. I wouldn't blame you for that either. But to me, this album is one of the greatest albums of the decade. It's the hip- hop version of The Beatles self titled album. It shows two artists going all out, just letting all their creative energy run wild. And it's really fun to see where that takes them. Sure, sometimes the experiments don't work. But it's still fun to see OutKast try them.
What I'm trying to say here is this. This album is ranked number 6 for the decade. It's number 127 all time. So why is it only 400 something on the EOD lists?? Have all the critics decided that it wasn't really that good?

I mean, I know there's a ton of EOD lists to come, bur I would still expect AT LEAST a top 100 placement by this album.

I think Speakerboxxx is getting the shaft because Stankonia has completely replaced it as OutKast's top album. Sort of how Sgt Pepper was considered The Beatles top album for 25 years, then suddenly Revolver became the Big Cheese.


Speakerboxxx would be in my top 50. It has filler, and it drags a bit, but there's undeniable brilliance there.

I have most of OutKast's albums, and this is never one I return to. My favorite of theirs will always be Aquemini.

One thing that's always been weird to me is that while Aquemini gets almost univeral 5 stars, it comes out far weaker than Speakerboxxx (which almost never gets perfect scores) on the AM 3000.

It was overrated when it came out, but is being underrated now. Maybe the balance will put it right where it deserves to be when all is said and done.

I sort of feel the same way about Franz Ferdinand's S/T and Neon Bible.

Franz's S/T was a very good but not amazing album to me. Neon Bible wasn't quite a sophomore slump, but definitely not a top 200 album of all time.

Now all 3 albums are getting crapped on.

I'm glad to see Franz Ferdinand ahead on Funeral on the list. It was a better album and deserves to be the #1 album of 04. Funeral sounds like it could have been written by every other british band from the early 90s. And people have the nerve to criticize British Sea Power for sounding too similar to Arcade Fire. At least they're actually British. To my BSP sounds like a decent Brisish band, very traditional. I'm just glad Franz got their #1 position back from the Arcade Fire.

Well Tim, on the decade end list right now...Funeral is #1 of the decade and Franz is #60. That doesn't necessarily mean that's how it will be when it's all said and done, but I think it's safe to say AF will reclaim the top spot of 2004.

Anyway, back to Speakerboxxx. It'd probably be somewhere between 40 and 50 of the decade for me.

Just to be brutally honest...Franz Ferninand's self-titled is decent at best and Funeral is one of the all-time great albums. I wouldn't be surprised to see it eventually rise to one of the top 50 albums of all-time, but it will certainly reach its deserved spot as one of the top 100 albums of all-time. It is an enjoyable listen the entire way through, and up to this point it maintains its staying power. Franz Ferdinand seems like it has little to no staying power, and is being pushed aside by the album that made its genre possible (Is This It).

Franz Ferdinand and Funeral come in at number 2 and number 3 of 2004 for me, respectively. I think they both deserve a hell of a lot of acclaim. I'm happy to see Arcade Fire get theirs, but Franz certainly seems to be nosediving, undeservedly. Now only if my number 1 album of 2004 (Anniemal) could get some acclaim outside of Pitchfork...

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm sorry that you don't enjoy Funeral the way I do. What has me puzzled is, what 90s British bands does Arcade Fire sound like? Blur? Oasis? Pulp? I could maybe see OK Computer-era Radiohead, but that's a stretch. And if a band sounds like OK Computer-era Radiohead, is that really a bad thing?

Edit: Just thought I would address the actual topic. I think SB/TLB is a fine album. I enjoy listening to it. It loses out to Stankonia when I make my "best of" lists because Stankonia has about as many great songs, and a quarter of the filler. Nonetheless, it's still probably in the 70-80 range of albums for me this decade.

For me:

01. Brian Wilson- SMiLE
02. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Abattoir Blues/ Lyre of Orpheus
03. Arcade Fire- Funeral
04. Wilco- A Ghost is Born
05. Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand

So you're not the only one that has neither as your top of 2004.