Durg's Top 50 Albums Spanning Decades and Genres

[Durg]

Images and words 

I'm surprised to see Talk in your top 10, being that I've never listened to the album and knowing that it's not really regarded as one of their classics. I'll listen to it someday, that's for sure - I might be pleasantly surprised the way I was with The Ladder, that one turned out to be amazing.

I've never listened to The Ladder.  I should do that!

2.  Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay (1995)


This one shouldn't really be much of a shocker.  By now you guys should know that I love Jars of Clay and this is one is their best.  Make no mistake about it, Jars of Clay is not just your regular contemporary Christan band.  They are talented, creative and of high musicianship.  They just keep cranking out the hits year after year and winning Grammy awards and all kinds of other awards.  However, this first, platinum,  self titled album was without question a masterpiece.  After winning a song writing competition in Nashville, Jars of Clay started working on this Album with Adrian Belew of King Crimson.  Most of the tracks have a very mysterious chamber music feel coupled with a catchy percussive acoustic guitar feel that produced a very new and unique sound.  Of course most people listening to rock radio stations just knew of them as a "one hit wonder" with the song "Flood".  But "Flood", despite being a good song paled in comparison to some of the other atmospheric brilliance of songs like "Worlds Apart", "Liquid", and "Blind".  I own many of their albums and they're all very good but this one is great!

I've seen them in concert 3 times with the most recent one being in a small auditorium at a Christian college in Lancaster, PA.  Their equipment truck had broken down on the interstate in Tennessee and all they had was some guitars and some borrowed equipment from local musicians and music stores.  It was Jars of Clay unplugged.  They decided to perform all the songs from this first album in a raw acoustic mix just like they did when they were just getting started and opening for Michael W Smith 16 years ago (I saw them then in Charlotte, NC and the mix was really bad).  But that night.  Man oh man the mix was perfect.  The acoustics of the room was perfect.  Their vocals were spot on perfect and they were funny and relaxed and just having a good time without the big production.  A few of the songs were so old for them that the singer had to have the words near to make sure he didn't forget them.  But the song "Worlds Apart" was really the most beautiful song I've ever heard in a concert and I couldn't believe that I never really noticed it just listening to the song on the CD.  It's mainly because of this concert that this album moved ahead of Images & Words.

One other interesting note about this album for those of you that are not familiar with it, is the last track.  It starts off as just any other track with the song "Blind", which is a beautiful song by the way.  Then after a few minutes of dead space another half song plays and sort of fades away to what sounds like a recording of the practice/arranging session with the orchestra when they are working on the accompaniment for "Blind".  I'm not sure how long it goes on, maybe 10 minutes, but I love listening to it and it's so weird that they lumped it in with that last track.  Check it out sometime if your board. 

Favorite Songs: At this ranking it should be all of them.

[Durg]

Here's a recap of the entire list.

50.  Billy Joel - Glass Houses (1980)
49.  Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
48.  James LaBrie - Static Impulse (2010)
47.  Styx - Pieces of Eight (1978)
46.  U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)
45.  The Police - Synchronicity (1983)
44.  Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever (2001)
43.  Mastodon - Crack the Skye (2009)
42.  Queen - The Game (1980)
41.  Queensr˙che - Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
40.  The Alan Parsons Project - The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
39.  The Choir - Speckled Bird (1994)
38.  10,000 Maniacs - Blind Man's Zoo (1989)
37.  Queensr˙che - Empire (1990)
36.  Living Color - Time's Up (1990)
35.  Dream Theater - Octavarium (2005)
34.  Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)
33.  Harry Connick. Jr. - We Are in Love (1990)
32.  Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
31.  Jars of Clay - Much Afraid (1997)
30.  Level 42 - World Machine (1985)
29.  Collective Soul - Collective Soul (1995)
28.  Boston - Third Stage (1986)
27.  Yes - Union (1991)
26.  Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
25.  Huey Lewis & the News - Sports (1983)
24.  Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die? (2005)
23.  Jars of Clay - If I Left the Zoo (1999)
22.  Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (2007)
21.  Opeth - Damnation (2003)
20.  Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)
19.  Kings X - Faith Hope Love (1990)
18.  tobyMac - Portable Sounds (2007)
17.  Muse - Absolution (2003)
16.  Alison Krauss - Forget About It (1999)
15.  Kings X - Kings X (1992)
14.  Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
13.  Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea (1994)
12.  Yes - 90125 (1983)
11.  Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)
10.  Dream Theater - Awake (1994)
9.  Neal Morse - One (2004)
8.  DC Talk - Jesus Freak (1995)
7.  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975)
6.  Yes - Talk (1994)
5.  Kings X - Dogman (1994)
4.  Phil Keaggy - Beyond Nature (1991)
3.  Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992)
2.  Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay (1995)

[Ravenheart]

My prediction for 1: Lulu.

[Durg]

My prediction for 1: Lulu.

I've never even heard of Lulu.  I had to look her up.  No its.......



Just kidding.   

[Elite]

Ultimate troll.

[Durg]

Well, here we are at #1.  I've really enjoyed sharing this list with all you guys and I really appreciate the comments and humor.

1.  Toad the Wet Sprocket - In Light Syrup (1995) [Compilation]


Really? Really? Seriously, why would you rank a Toad the Wet Sprocket album this high?  Well I have to.  I must.  I love every single song on this album and some are the most moody and wonderful songs ever made.  This is a collection of rare Toad songs.  Basically an album of B side songs.  Sure there are some prototype Toad pop songs like "Brother", "Little Heaven", and "Good Intentions" which are great.  But any self respecting music lover must give "Are We Afraid", "All Right", and "Hope" a chance.  Those 3 songs are mellow and fairly simple but you can just put your headphone in and lay back and chill with them.  Glen Phillips just sings them so beautifully and makes them so wonderful.  Of course there is the oddity as the can on the album states in "Hobbit on the Rocks" and "Janitor". 

Yes this album is called a collection but it's really just a fantastic album that doesn't get enough credit.  I've spun this CD litterally thousands of times and I can't get tired of it.

Favorite Songs: Already answered this





So there we have it.  I'm sure this is kind of a weird ending to a top 50 list and I agree.  But I just have to be honest with myself and admit that In Light Syrup is my favorite album ever......


until I change my mind.....  

[jingle.boy]

Cheater.  Rule Breaker.  Rebel!    Collections are disallowed.  Your selection is hereby voided and invalid.   

Will be listening to it later.  I really enjoyed this list.  No offense to some of the more recent ones, but those genre's and style's of music just weren't my cup of tea.  I'm just p-o'd that Kings X isn't on Grooveshark (and there's not spotify in Canada). 

[Durg]

Cheater.  Rule Breaker.  Rebel!    Collections are disallowed.  Your selection is hereby voided and invalid.   

Will be listening to it later.  I really enjoyed this list.  No offense to some of the more recent ones, but those genre's and style's of music just weren't my cup of tea.  I'm just p-o'd that Kings X isn't on Grooveshark (and there's not spotify in Canada). 

Man I can't believe that.  I just had to go check myself and there's not much there for Kings X.  There's a live concert that has horrible sound quality and their first album that I didn't like all that much.  Weird.

I'm not sure In Light Syrup should be considered a compilation.  None of those songs are on any of their other albums.  At least that I know of.

[jingle.boy]

Hey... one more post, and you're in the 1000+ club!  Make it a good one.

[Dr. DTVT]

I don't see a collection of B-sides as a compilation.  I wouldn't care if someone included "Cleaning Out the Closet" in a list, other than maybe disagreeing with them.

[jingle.boy]

Yeah, agreed.  I guess I originally misunderstood, and was just raggin on him anyway.

None-the-less, I had a go at both Jars of Clay and In Light Syrup.  I wouldn't say they are overly appealing to me, but they were nice to listen to.  In Light Syrup was a nice mellow background album to listen to.