Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #1: love is the dance of eternity

[Sacul]

A DT album I'm sure

[Elite]

Not DT, but you're close. Here's a DT rip-off band

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15. Haken – Aquarius (2010)



On my first list, I had Haken's 'Visions' up slightly higher than 'Aquarius'. I have back from that original assessment and genuinely consider 'Aquarius' to be the better album nowadays. Also their third record 'The Mountain' can't top the band's debut for me. This might probably be seen as heresy to some of the newer Haken fans, but (fanboy alert) I got into these guys when they released 'Aquarius', have seen then live more than any other band and I was there at their first gig outside of Europe. I've caught them live on every tour they have done through Europe so far, and I've met the guys multiple times (singer Ross Jennings would come up to me after gigs to have a chat, always surprised to see the face at his gig. Even weirder story; Richard Henshall's father came up to me after a different gig, telling me he 'has a picture of me on my wall'. Turns out that it was a photograph of the audience at the Night of the Prog festival, I was in the middle on the first row. He proceeded to hand me all of his tokens, because he didn't fancy any more drinks. Yes, this really happened).

By no means do I want to suggest that I'm good friends with the band or that I know them personally, but I have a history of seeing them live. Now that I got that out of the way, I can discuss this album. Containing only seven tracks, this album has the shortest track-list out the three albums they have released thus far. The album contains their third longest song, Celestial Elixir, which is also their best (and not, as Ross Jennings once said at a gig "we will play our last song now. It's also our best song", proceeding into Visions from their second album), as well as six other amazing tunes, of which quite a bunch would probably show up in my own personal Haken top 10.

Why did I pick this album as my favourite when the general consensus is that 'The Mountain' is their best work to date? Am I doing this really to get attention? No. I think this is their best album, because what you hear on this record is a young band experimenting with music, hitting an absolute jackpot and creating such a unique sound that is unrivalled to date. Truth be told, 'Visions' and 'The Mountain' are great albums in their own respect, but if I'm honest, they don't really do much for me now that some time has passed. Those records are fairly stale, almost boring even, in sound. Both the band's second and third album sound too much like other contemporary progressive metal bands do. Granted, they're good, but that's beside the point.

'Aquarius' is a unique gem in my top 50. A debut-album that managed to deliver not only a great set of music, but also a style I wish the band would have expanded more upon and the fame they needed to get heard. It's hard to think probably, that only 6 six years ago Haken were virtually unknown. This is the disc that started it all. It's ambitious, it's bold, it rocks, and most of all: it's tons of fun. Do listen to the opening of Streams, the wacky section in the middle of Celestial Elixir, the fun guitar solos in Aquarium or most of album-opener The Point of no Return, and tell me that it's not tons of fun. That's what makes this album great. A young band on fire, shooting for the moon and hitting it. Gloriously.

Seriously, excuse the rather silly write-up for this one.

Favourite song: Celestial Elixir
Other songs worth checking out: Aquarium, Drowning in the Flood, Eternal Rain
Other stuff by this band: Most people here know this band and most Haken fans prefer 'The Mountain', I think. To me, their second album 'Visions' is better. Like with so many other bands on this list, you can't really go wrong with either. I'm really looking forward towards their new album, due released on April 29.

[jakepriest]

Aquarius is top notch. Visions is easily the weakest Haken album imo.
(I only really dig Nocturnal Conspiracy tbh, the rest is decent but not stellar).

I agree on Celestial Elixir being their best. Visions (the song) is incredibly boring and stale to me.

[Onno]

I don't know if I'd rate this one higher than Visions, but I'd rate it above The Moutain. Funny, for some reason I always thought The Mountain was your favourite Haken record. Don't know why.

Anyway, fantastic album. I've only seen Haken live once (Night of the Prog 2011, oh boy that was good) but I'd sure see them anytime they play anywhere near me. I heard this back in 2010 when it had just come out and loved it on first listen.

[Crow]

aquarius: the weirdest
visions: the most tame
the mountain: the most refined (also best)

but aquarius is great too so i can't complain

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Regarding Red, it's more or less one of the best KC albums, which is already saying a lot. Starless is IMO close to being the greatest closer in rock music. Anyone who hasn't listened to their post-Red stuff needs to really do themselves a favor and listen to Discipline as well.

[Train of Naught]

Finally got ahold of this one recently thanks to the flying biz. For some reason Aquarius wasn't available anywhere I checked.

Great pick The Mountain is my favorite but this one isn't too far behind, and I agree on all the favorite song picks.

[Tomislav95]

My least favorite Haken album. I tried hard and still I like both Visions and The Mountain much more.

[Elite]

Yeah, The Mountain seems to be the favourite here, but I've known them since Aquarius and I still think that's the best and Parama, I like weird.

Also, with #14 coming up in an hour and a half or so, I'll be overtaking Anguyen92, who is the only other person running an album top 50 right now.

And nobody has guessed any albums yet to come

[Train of Naught]

Images & Words, El Cielo and that Mr. Bungle album

and Opeth maybe, Ghost Reveries/Blackwater Park?

[Tomislav95]

You'll probably have something by Porcupine Tree, I'm guessing In Absentia.

[Zantera]

Meh, never got the huge love for Haken. Thought Aquarius was way too wanky and had similar flaws to the modern DT albums, but after seeing them live I got a little bit more admiration for them, and there are some decent songs on The Mountain. I don't think I'll ever be a huge fan since I've kinda left that "appreciating technical prog metal" phase of my life though.

[Elite]

Here's an album that people might a) like, b) disagree with, c) find boring or d) haven't heard at all, yet don't like beforehand.

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14. Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)



Here's the album that's been listen as the 'best album ever' on rateyourmusic, for as long as I can remember. While I do not agree with that sentiment, nor with basically the rest of their chart (obviously, or else my list would be copy of theirs), I can certainly agree on the picks in the list and I can understand why this album has the collective highest rating.

So, this is almost my favourite alternative rock album and I can probably already hear some people cringing, for Radiohead seems to be the cause of much disdain amongst many music fans. I am actually not really fan of their electronic period either and consider their rock albums to be a lot better, because I can identify with them much more. I'm a guitar person, more than a bleep-person and this album satisfies me to a very great extent. Radiohead is amazing at making pretty complicated music sound so natural and correct, even though what they're doing is so weird really. Listen to all the stuff that's going on in basically every song and it's only at the moment you really pay attention that you can truly grasp what they're doing.

One source of hate is usually singer Thom Yorke's voice and... yeah, I can really understand why his nasal voice would be off-putting. It took me a while to get into him, but I'm usually not the one to moan about a singer's timbre or accent. Yorke's voice just isn't the nicest, but it fits the music very well, you'll have to admit that. Listen to the "You don't remember" part in Paranoid Android for instance to hear not only how the band utilises their instruments in pretty innovative ways, but also how his voice is just right for the music. Also the guitar solo at the end of that song is amazing. And what they're doing with all those random egg-shakers, very imaginative. Great stuff.

'OK Computer' is very much an alternative rock album by a band that has such a unique style that it can't be mistaken that this is a Radiohead album. Every song has some sort of melancholic feeling to it and that's probably the most in either Karma Police, Climbing Up The Wall or Exit Music (For a Film). Seriously, I can't choose, but that's not really the point. In terms of accessible, melancholic, 'sad' music, this album is absolutely great.

I feel like I've come at a point where I don't really know what to write about anymore; there's so much I've already written about for other bands. Like with every other album on the list though, I believe this is some of the very best music I have ever heard. It's really late as I'm typing out this write-up, it will only come online in a couple of days. Tomorrow I can have a lie-in. "No alarms and no surprising, please. Silence." This will look very silly when this write-up will be published in the morning. "Arrest this man." That's all for now, I'm out of stuff to say really.

Favourite song: Paranoid Android
Other songs worth checking out: Karma Police, No Surprises, Airbag
Other stuff by this band: Everybody holds a different opinion on the best Radiohead albums. I'm a fan of 'The Bends' more than of any album that comes after 'OK Computer', but you have those who swear by 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac'. Your best bet is to simply try them out.

[Tomislav95]

I heard it only few times in full and I think it's ok but it didn't really clicked with me yet. However, No Surprises is one of my favorite songs ever.

[Train of Naught]

I think it's ok

I'm in neither of those categories, I haven't heard the entire album yet but I thought I heard enough songs off this band to determine they're not for me. Don't know how many of those were OKC songs, but I definitely heard Karma Police and Paranoid Android before.

[Zantera]

I think OK Computer is a good album that is massively overrated. Kid A, Amnesiac, In Rainbows and The Bends are all superior.

[Mladen]

To me, this is one of those life-changing albums. It got me into alternative, Brit-pop, indie, even avant-garde. Essential and amazing.

[Elite]

I think OK Computer is a good album that is massively overrated.

Oh, I'll agree with you that it's overrated. In fact, I fully understand lots of people not wanting to like Radiohead because they're idolosied this much. However, OK Computer is to me more than simply a 'good album', which is where your next comment comes in:

Kid A, Amnesiac, In Rainbows and The Bends are all superior.

I don't 'get' Kid A and Amnesiac, but I'll give you this: I almost had The Bends up here instead of OK Computer. I like them about equally I suppose, but OK Computer has just that little touch of extra experimentalism that makes me enjoy it slightly more.

[Fluffy Lothario]

speaking of which, have you guys no idea what will come next or is guessing what albums come next a boring game in itself?

Well, it's kind of obvious.

1: Burt Bacharach
2: G G Allin and the Scumfucs
3: Engelbert Humperdinck
4: Cher
5: Dying Fetus

and so on.

I don't like it quite as much as Kid A, and it is a tad overhyped, but OK Computer is a pretty stunning album. The Bends is great too, though I don't think it's on the same level as those two.

[Elite]

Crap, my whole top 5 has been guessed.

[Crow]

ahh, okay

[senecadawg2]

In Rainbows is my favorite Radiohead, but I haven't listened to most of their albims very carefully. I should.

As for predictions--Signify (or some other PT) album will be somewhere up there.

[Crow]

prediction: dream theater

[ThatOneGuy2112]

OK Computer is a great album, but it's not in the league of records that I'd call "the greatest of all time". Kid A is most definitely better IMO.

[Sacul]

I never got the love for Kid A, I find half of the tracks quite boring. OK Computer is fantastic tho 

[Nihil-Morari]

Funny thing about Radiohead is that I rarely think that I really like them. Until I look in my CD collection, and there's The Bends, OK Computer, In Rainbows and The King Of Limbs which I all really really like, and I'm really interested in their more electronic work. So I guess I should check out Kid A and Amnesiac then. And then there's only two albums left. I guess you could say that I'm on the verge of liking Radiohead.

[425]

Aquarius is an excellent choice. I think I boringly like The Mountain best, but Aquarius is a very close second. And Celestial Elixir is their best song, Visions fans can fite me irl.

[Evermind]

Aquarius is an excellent choice. I think I boringly like The Mountain best, but Aquarius is a very close second.

I agree. Visions is decent, but nowhere near those two. Nocturnal Conspiracy is awesome though.

[home]

I always forget I should listen to them more as I really enjoy Radiohead when listening to them (but I somehow never do). OK computer is the only album of them I have listened to a lot so far and it's great indeed 

The Bends is great too, though I don't think it's on the same level as those two.

The album cover of The Bends is almost preventing me from listening to it, wow that is one of the most horrible covers I've seen 

[jakepriest]

Radiohead is okay. I don't love or hate them.
OK Computer is easily their best album though. Paranoid Android is a classic and Karma Police is equally as good.

[Elite]

13. Transatlantic – Bridge Across Forever (2001)



A third (fourth, if you count '?' at #54) album Neal Morse appears on and the one I rate highest. Transatlantic are a well-known band on these forums, not only because of Mike Portnoy being the drummer in the band. They're a progressive rock supergroup, consisting of four respected musicians from different bands. Althouth this might be seen as a 'side-project' of sorts, I believe the band takes their music very seriously, as they make sure they can tour after releasing an album. With the four band-members having other duties music-wise, it's easy to see why they have only released 4 albums over the 16 years they've been together.

I think that this band tries to stay true to progressive-rock philosophy; jam a lot, write some riffs,  arrange songs from tons of material and release an album consisting mostly of epics and one or two shorter tracks. True to form, three of their album contain two lengthy epics (most being far over 20 minutes in duration) and some other songs, usually a rocker, or a ballad. Their third album is different, but that one follows a different progressive rock standard. 'The Whirlwind' is one 78-minute song (a concept album of sorts), divided into 12 tracks. With regards to quality, this band is excellent, amd all four of their records are amazing in their own right. The band can play as well; their numerous live releases show that they can pull off their songs  flawlessly. It is said, that the entire 'Kaleidoscope' record was written and recorded in under 5 days. That's ridiculous, for a 75-minute album that includes two 25-minute plus prog epics.

Why 'Bridge Across Forever' then, if all their stuff is great? Because this one their best. Both Duel With the Devil (26 minutes) and Stranger in Your Soul (30 minutes) are amazing epics with recurring themes (even between the songs) that bookend both sides of the record. In between we find the 17-minute long Suite Charlotte Pike, an amazing tune that obviously came forth from a jam-session. On fact, the whole vibe of the song on record makes me believe it's actually recorded live in the studio. Awesome stuff. Rounding off the album is the title-track, whoch is by far the shortest song on the record at less than 6 minutes. I would argue that this is one of the best ballads Neal Morse has ever written. It's a heartfelt tribute to the loss of a loved one (if I interpret the lyrics the right way).

Now, this record is clearly not meant for people that can't take progrssive wank and long song structures. In fact, I would say that Transatlantic actively abuses all the tropes and characteristics of progressive rock in general. In that sense, they are very much a modern-age Close-to-the-Edge-era Yes, with the modern sound we are used to. One might say this band sounds too mich like Neal Mose, and while I agree that the man has a signature sound of sorts, this is absolutely not a bad thing per se. You can really hear all influences from the four band-members and their respective contributions to this album. This is most definitely a fun album – and like with  the Haken album, I'm inclined to say that this band was at their creative peak here, creating an album from nothing by jamming on the various parts every band-member brought in. The result is a great piece of work and a modern classic for the progressive rock scene.

Favourite song: Duel With the Devil
Other songs worth checking out: Stranger in Your Soul, Bridge Across Forever, Suite Charlotte Pike
Other stuff by this band: You can't go wrong with any album. Both 'SMPT:e' and 'Kaleidoscope' are similar in structure to this one (long epics with one or two shorter songs), while 'The Whirlwind' is one long song, divided in 13 different tracks.

[Elite]

And Celestial Elixir is their best song, Visions fans can fite me irl.

I guess you could say that I'm on the verge of liking Radiohead.

You have more of their records on CD than I do

[Zantera]

2prog4me

[Elite]

2prog4me

I thought so, but it's a good record nonetheless. Guess what, it's one of the last prog albums on the list (at least in terms of prog-wankery and long songs).

[425]

Bridge Across Forever is spectacular. I'm a big fan of Suite Charlotte Pike, and I hope that next time they tour, whenever that is, they break out the full Suite Charlotte Pike, not cut through with anything else, just the full song.

I'd be hard pressed to name my favorite Transatlantic album. I rank all their last three pretty much equally.