Marvellous G's Top Fifty Albums - FINISHED

[ReaperKK]

I have Blue Train but I never checked out A Love Supreme

I have to make a point to listen to it sometime soon.

[ariich]

Last few updates have been amazing!

[Marvellous G]

I do love Blue Train but A Love Supreme just about edges it for me I think. I'll have to check out Ascension though, I've been meaning to for a while but not gotten round to it yet! Anyway, probably the most controversial update yet:

20.   CING – Hotel Dusk OST (2007)



– I’m hoping that this will be a pretty surprising pick. And I can also see how it could seem like a completely ridiculous one. I mean, a DS game soundtrack as my 20th favourite album, EVER? Well, yeah, it is, and it really deserves it. Not only is Hotel Dusk in my top 5 games of all time, the music is so perfectly suited to the hard-boiled, neo-noir stylings of the game itself that it really is the ultimate noir album and, luckily for those of you who are getting bored of such albums cropping up on here (ie, everyone who reads this far) it’s also the last noir album on my list. Serenity, in particular, is the most perfect summation of the entire noir movement into sound of all time for me, conjuring up images of men in trenchcoats, shady murder scenes, plot twists, cigarette smoke and damsels in distress much more effectively than any other ‘proper’ music I’ve heard ever has. And for that, I’ll always love it.

19.   Dixie Chicks – Taking The Long Way (2006)



– Oh no I di’int. But no, your eyes don’t deceive you, I freaking love the Dixie Chicks. Whilst their 2002 effort Home could also easily have placed this high, its successor Taking the Long Way just edges it out for me. From the first vocal melody of the first track, this album shows that the Dixie Chicks really are the master of pleasing, lightweight pop songs that don’t get boring after repeated listens. It’s also chock-full of surprising and wonderful moments; when the harmonies first kick in during Easy Silence, when John Mayer takes a brilliant guitar solo spot in Baby Hold On, and when you realise that the closing track I Hope is an awesome gospel track, rather than a country one. I know that nobody will be checking this album out despite my high placement of it, but I’d ask that before people troll me, they at least realise that this is more than just a crappy country cash-in album. That shit’s reserved for Taylor Swift.


18.   Norah Jones – Feels Like Home (2004)



– Okay, I promise that the incredibly unmanly picks will stop for a while after this. But, once again, on this album Norah Jones completely eschews the notion that she’s nothing more than a pretty face, with a pretty voice, with some generic and pretty songs. 2002’s Come Away With Me was a good album that might have justified some listeners’ apathy to Jones’ music, but on Feels Like Home she really matures the musical side of things, to the point where it’s a legitimately brilliant record. Her voice is, obviously, the main focus here, and it is wonderfully warm, soothing and comforting. But the music on Feels Like Home is more than just an afterthought; whether it’s Humble Me’s gorgeous acoustic backing, Don’t Miss You At All’s jazzy cool, Sunrise’s double bass relaxation, or really any of the instrumentation to be heard on this album, it’s always understated, but it’s always good. Jones’ career did take a bit of a nosedive after this, but at least she churned out one genuine masterpiece before succumbing to the mainstream.

[Sigz]

Was it not good or can you not listen to without thinking "this was fucking by a fucking douchebag"? I can't bring myself to listen to any of his stuff because of the latter.

No, it just wasn't good. There were a few songs that had some good bits, but as a whole it just didn't do anything for me.

I SENT THIS BITCH A PICTURE OF MY DICK


edit: Norah Jones

[Marvellous G]

That's fair enough, I do think as a complete package it's much better than the (already really good imo) sum of its parts though. AND YES NORAH JONES!

[WebRaider]

Norah has a great voice (and more) 

[Fluffy Lothario]

Feels Like Home is definitely her best album.

And I'd say she's done the opposite of succumbing to the mainstream. I once read a review (maybe on allmusic?) where they described Not Too Late as her Kid A, and I think there's a lot of truth to that. Meaning that on that album, she basically throws away her established sound, the one she's popular for, and starts again for the sake of stretching out as an artist, regardless of how it's going to affect her sales. And if anything, she was searching even more on The Fall.

[Marvellous G]

Feels Like Home is definitely her best album.

And I'd say she's done the opposite of succumbing to the mainstream. I once read a review (maybe on allmusic?) where they described Not Too Late as her Kid A, and I think there's a lot of truth to that. Meaning that on that album, she basically throws away her established sound, the one she's popular for, and starts again for the sake of stretching out as an artist, regardless of how it's going to affect her sales. And if anything, she was searching even more on The Fall.

Really? I guess maybe that's what she's was going for, but it doesn't come across like that to me when I actually listen to the albums. Glad we agree on Feels Like Home though! Anyway, getting into the tippity-top stuff now...

17.   Porcupine Tree – Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)



– Choosing my favourite Porcupine Tree album is actually the hardest time I ever have when selecting my favourite record from a certain artist. Normally it’s a clear cut win for one album over the others, or at least I can decide after some deliberation, but with Porcupine Tree it’s nigh-on impossible to do so. So bear in mind, Lightbulb Sun or Deadwing could easily be up here as well. But whilst Fear of a Blank Planet isn’t the band’s most perfect album, it’s their most consistently enjoyable, and their most endearing. The title track is an underrated beast of a song, Anesthetize is their greatest epic, and the closing one two punch is legendary. There may only be six songs to enjoy on here, but being concise is far better than needlessly fattening an album out. Steven Wilson knows this better than anyone, and so the entirety of the 50 minute running time of FOABP is used to its absolute fullest. Sure, some moments aren’t quite up to scratch, such as the painful second half of Way Out Of Here, but FOABP manages to combine both the ‘new PT’ with some amazing newer-still elements, which were sorely lacking from The Incident, and which we might not ever hear again. Which is a crying shame, because FOABP is nothing less than amazing.

16.   Gospel – The Moon Is A Dead World (2005)



– I’m not really a fan of harsh vocals. Sure, I like Opeth and some Devin Townsend etc, but that’s a case of me listening to them in spite of their harsh vocals, rather than because I enjoy them. Gospel are the only band with which it’s a different story entirely. With The Moon Is A Dead World, the band released probably the most urgent, apocalyptic sounding album that I’ve ever heard; every single second feels like the band are playing their hearts out in a race against time to save the universe, and judging by the vocals you really would believe that their lives depended on it. Tracks like A Golden Dawn, with its ludicrously intense climax, or What Means of Witchery’s sheer insanity, show that Gospel are one of the most underappreciated acts not only of the last decade, but also of all time. I can’t recommend this album enough, and remember, if you don’t like harsh vocals, I didn’t until I heard this. Admittedly, this is still the only time when I really enjoy them, but what an enjoyable listen it always is.

15.   Tosca Tango Orchestra – Waking Life OST (2001)



- Yes, another OST is riding high up on my list. Waking Life is my favourite film of all time, and, once again, a large reason that I love it so much is the soundtrack. For those that haven’t heard much about it, Waking Life is all about lucid dreaming and other such interesting, abstract stuff, and so it would appear to be an odd choice for director Richard Linklater to choose, well, a tango orchestra to provide the music for the film. But it works bizarrely well; the aching beauty of the strings and the crashing dissonance that the piano occasionally provides serves up an atmosphere quite unlike anything other than the feeling of dreaming. The final track of the album, which plays during the final scene of the film, is absolutely the most desperate sounding song I’ve ever heard, and the whole album is full of perfectly judged emotions and feelings, which any music fan would and should enjoy, regardless of whether they’ve seen the film or not.

[Zantera]

Some cool picks, I especially like FOABP since it's my favorite PT album as well!

[kári]

Hm. I prefer Deadwing, In Absentia, Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun over Fear Of A Blank Planet.

[Sigz]

Haven't heard the OST, but FOABP and The Moon is a Dead World are both great albums. Cool to see some love for Gospel on DTF

Speaking of screamo, did you ever listen to Circle Takes the Square?

[Marvellous G]

Haven't heard the OST, but FOABP and The Moon is a Dead World are both great albums. Cool to see some love for Gospel on DTF

Speaking of screamo, did you ever listen to Circle Takes the Square?

Ohhhh I haven't yet actually, I've heard them completely raved about though so I'll make sure to in the next week or so. Thanks for the rec!  It'll take a lot to top Gospel, though...

[MetalManiac666]

Just stopping buy to say that I gave Madvillainy a listen, and damn, it might be the best hip hop album I've ever heard.

[ReaperKK]

I would rank FOABP that high, I haven't heard the other two albums.

[Jirpo]

I would rank FOABP that high, I haven't heard the other two albums.

Same! FOABP is amazing

[Marvellous G]

Here we get to, with #14, the album I'd most like to recommend to people on here as I'm sure it's the last one which can remotely qualify as 'obscure.' If there's one album on this list I'm saying LISTEN TO! because you won't otherwise, it's #14, so on with the picks...

14.   Nizlopi – Half These Songs Are About You (2004)



– A lot of people might only have heard of Nizlopi because of their brief fame due to the JCB Song. A lot of people hate that song. Whilst I’d have to completely disagree with those people (when you learn the tragic backstory the JCB Song becomes one of the most uplifting tunes imaginable) Nizlopi are still so much more than just that one ‘novelty single.’ Half These Songs Are About You showcases singer Luke Concannon’s rich, gorgeous voice and equally lovely lyrics, and bassist John Parker supplies the album with evocative double bass grooves and textures. Songs such as Faith, Girls and Freedom show that Nizlopi really are one of the best bands of all time when it comes to ‘softer’ music, and even when they get all fired up for tracks such as Fine Story and Call It Up, there’s still always a bittersweet emotional edge to proceedings that makes this such a wonderful album. You might not have heard of them before now, but you really should change that right away.

13.   Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)



– I’ll get it out of the way first; Kid A is, in my mind, objectively Radiohead’s greatest album, and one of the greatest albums of all time. But whilst Kid A is the album I’d placer much higher in a ‘best albums’ list, this is a list of my favourite albums. As such, In Rainbows is the Radiohead album that suits it best, for the key reason that I enjoy it more. The opening drums of 15 Step are one of my favourite sounds in music, because I know that if I’m hearing them I’m about to hear another near-perfect forty minutes of brilliance. In Rainbows is not only one of the warmest, most cohesive albums on this list, it also offers up some brilliant individual tracks, even outside of the context of the album. Jigsaw Falling Into Place is the perfect mini-epic, Weird Fish/Arpeggi is an increasingly unsettling journey that goes from hypnotic to disturbing, and All I Need features Radiohead’s most post-rocky moment yet. All in all, In Rainbows is the perfect combination of a cohesive album with great standout tracks, and some brilliant refinements whilst retaining a sense of fun that Kid A sorely lacked.

12.   Green Day – American Idiot (2004)



– I’m not entirely sure whether I love American Idiot whenever I listen to it nowadays because I’m actually enjoying it, or because I’m so grateful for what it did for me. I like to think it’s both, but its influence on my listening habits is the greatest any album has ever had on me. Before American Idiot, I listened to basically exclusively pop. After American Idiot came a massive influx of new, exciting music which I wouldn’t have tried otherwise. Nonetheless, it is a magnificent album, and it’s what I’d say was Green Day’s only classic. Jesus of Suburbia and Homecoming in particular can rival far more ‘serious’ bands in terms of musical sensibility, and when Green Day revert to their punkier roots on tracks such as Letterbomb and St Jimmy, they do so with far more aplomb than they ever had done in their career up to, and after, that point. American Idiot might well have been the perfect gateway album for me, but it’s still a consistently brilliant album in its own right that fully deserves its place up here.

[senecadawg2]

I do love In Rainbows, especially Reckoner

[Ravenheart]

– I’ll get it out of the way first; Kid A is, in my mind, objectively Radiohead’s greatest album, and one of the greatest albums of all time.

notthisshitagain.jpg

But In Rainbows is a great album, as is Kid A. American Idiot is pretty cool, too. I find most of the criticisms aimed at it very petty, weak, elitist, and amusing.

[Zantera]

In Rainbows! 

[Arch Benemy]

Green Day’s only classic

Dude.

Dookie.
Insomniac.

Obviously you have a special place in your heart for American Idiot, but those earlier albums were some of the defining moments of 90s punk rock, along with Enema of the State. Dookie in particular is not just classic, it's iconic. Just had to throw that out there! 

Cool list so far, plenty of things to add to my ever growning list of new music to discover.

[Zydar]

American Idiot

[Marvellous G]

Green Day’s only classic

Dude.

Dookie.
Insomniac.

Obviously you have a special place in your heart for American Idiot, but those earlier albums were some of the defining moments of 90s punk rock, along with Enema of the State. Dookie in particular is not just classic, it's iconic. Just had to throw that out there! 

Cool list so far, plenty of things to add to my ever growning list of new music to discover.

I guess Dookie is kind of a 'classic' too, but I mean 'classic' in the sense of an amazing album in its own right, rather then definition/epitome of a movement, which I feel American Idiot falls into more. Fair enough, though.

[Marvellous G]

Whoops, sorry for the delay, almost done now though...

11.   Pearl Jam – Ten (1991)



- Ten manages to do that rarest of things in music; epitomise an entire movement, namely the grunge influx of the early 90s, but also remain relevant in today’s music world when considered outside of its legacy. Ten is, if anything, more akin to classic rock and blues acts than it is to Alice in Chains or Nirvana, but it’s for that reason that it’s so much more interesting than those rivals. Eddie Vedder’s ‘golden baritone’ is also a crucial factor in setting Ten apart from the pack, as he delivers his excellent lyrics with the kind of emotion that most other singers could only dream of. Ten is really just a great amalgamation of a lot of my favourite genres and styles, and, considering the fact that it has one of the best songs ever in Black, it really comes together to make something truly great.

10.   Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)



– There’s just something intangibly brilliant about this album, which means that people either seem to place it in their top albums ever or call it out as overrated. When I first heard it, I was very much in the latter camp, and I was actually kind of disappointed that an album held in such high regard by people whose taste I trust did so little for me. But that was because I had it playing on my laptop while I mindlessly browsed the internet. A few days later I tried it again while walking through the park, feeling depressed, as it started to rain. As comically sad a picture as that paints, this was the perfect soundtrack for it, and every song on the album suddenly clicked. From the achingly beautiful chorus of opener Flume, to the monolithic, towering Re: Stacks closing the album out in the best way possible, For Emma is a truly significant achievement, and while it’s ‘only’ 10th on my list, it might well be the best album of our generation.

9.   Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005)



– This is, for me, the king of all indie albums. And to be honest, it beats most other albums of any genre. It’s the most ambitious record I’ve ever seen attempted by a solo artist, with the song titles alone proving the Stevens is setting himself a loftier goal than any singer-songwriter has done before him. What’s most endearing about Illinois, then, is that Stevens not only pulls off everything he attempts, he does it with a joyfulness and enthusiasm that puts most other artists to shame. And the album’s instrumentation is also astonishingly varied and skilled for being done, essentially, by just one guy. Illinois is really the ultimate triumph of style, and Stevens manages to combine amazingly poetic lyrics with amazingly complex and compelling music to create something that is more than the, already considerable, sum of its parts.

These/the remaining 9 are clearly what I think are the best albums OF ALL TIME, so massive recommendations for each of them should be implicit if they sound at least a bit like your kind of thing!

[Zantera]

Been meaning to check out Sufjan Stevens for a while, especially now when both you and Seth (unless I remember wrong) had albums with him in your threads.
Any starting point-recommendation?

[Marvellous G]

I started with Illinois and loved it on first listen, but it depends on what you want, really.

Seven Swans is a quiet, calm and lovely acoustic/clean album with more delicate, less ambitious songs. Michigan is kind of a bridge between Seven Swans and Illinois (musically, not chronologically) and I think Seth prefers Michigan; it's still really mellow but a lot more complex than Seven Swans. Illinois is the big, bombastic 'classic' of his albums, but I can definitely see the argument for it being a bit overblown. Then Age of Adz is very good also, but not quite as good as those other three, and there's a massive focus on electronic stuff and EVEN MORE bombast than Illinois.  You really can't go wrong with any of those four though, they're all amazing. I would say that Illinois is the best combo of easy to get into/summing up all of his music, though.

[WebRaider]

Ten is a great album unfortunately for PJ they never got better album wise than that IMO.

[Marvellous G]

Yeah, they had Arcade Fire syndrome (or vice versa). 

[kári]

3 excellent albums!

[ClairvoyantCat]

Been meaning to check out Sufjan Stevens for a while, especially now when both you and Seth (unless I remember wrong) had albums with him in your threads.
Any starting point-recommendation?

I'm still in the Michigan party, but the general public seems to agree on Illinois.  Either one would be a great starting place, I think! 

[Zantera]

Yeah, they had Arcade Fire syndrome (or vice versa). 

The Suburbs is awesome!

[Marvellous G]

True I guess, but it wasn't anywhere NEAR on the level of Funeral for me. Much like PJ have had really good albums since Ten, but nothing on the same plane of awesome.

[Sigz]

I REALLY don't understand the love for Sufjan Stevens (or Arcade Fire for that matter).

[ClairvoyantCat]

It's okay. 


Actually, I'm with you on Arcade Fire.  Never quite as wild about them as others, though I really like Funeral.

As far as Sufjan is concerned, I think it's mostly the arrangements.  He's not a particularly special singer, (though I think his voice fits well enough) but I love the piano/banjo/horn/bells/loads of other things found on his albums, especially Michigan, and how they interact together perfectly.  IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH?

[Dr. DTVT]

I remember when Pearl Jam's Ten just came out, but they weren't big yet - just an occasional "Alive" late night on MTV.  Then a friend of mine bought it and said it was the greatest thing he ever heard.  Granted, a 13 year old before the internet-age was limited to what radio and MTV played, and Pearl Jam didn't get any love whatsoever until Evenflow dropped.  I still have Ten on cassette (along with a copy of vs that has the title "Five Against One).  Pearl Jam was probably my favorite band from 1992-1996, at which point Tool replaced it until I discovered Dream Theater.

[Jirpo]

Cool to see Bon Iver!