The Best Lyric-Related Albums

[senecadawg2]

Just thinking about the lyrics of a band like Anathema makes me feel slightly sad. Sure, they had some great high points back in the earlier days (Judgement), but nowadays it's like listening to drunk high school kids philosophizing about life and stuff. Luckily the music more than enough compensates for clichéd lyrics. And Anathema was just an example, most of the newer progressive rock bands have the same problem.

I don't want to get into a whole thing on this, since I think we already touched on it in the Anathema thread a few months ago, but just out of curiosity- do you think some of Anathema's earlier lyrics are also clichéd? I love almost all of Anathema's lyrics, but I also totally understand why you might find the newer stuff clichéd. Still, I get the sense that that the clichés of the new material is mirrored in the old material too. Like two sides of the same (highly emotional, tip toeing- but imo never crossing- that line into cheesiness) coin. For example, since you mentioned Judgement, Anyone, Anywhere...

No one seems to care anymore
I wander through this night all alone
No one feels the pain I have inside

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with this song (actually like it a lot), and I wouldn't say that I dislike the lyrics at all. I'm just surprised when people mention the clichéd lyrics in recent Anathema, as if it's a new thing. You might say it's the difference between a drunk high school kid philosophizing and a drunk high school kid wallowing in self-pity.

[Zantera]

Yeah I think one of my problems with Anathema is that they are often a bit blunt and clumsy in their delivery. Even on earlier albums they have those very straightforward lines, like the ones you posted. There's great stuff sprinkled in a lot of okay stuff. They're not really a band of subtlety, and straight-forward delivery can work if you make it interesting, which more often than not, they don't IMO. It also doesn't help them very much that they seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut lyrically for the last couple of years.

They're no worse than a lot of other progressive rock bands really, when I think about Anathema, Porcupine Tree, Riverside and The Pineapple Thief for example, I don't think about the lyrics, but rather the music instead.

[Sacul]

Tool's Lateralus is a great maths lesson.

[?]

For example, since you mentioned Judgement, Anyone, Anywhere...

No one seems to care anymore
I wander through this night all alone
No one feels the pain I have inside

To be fair, those lyrics were written by Dave Pybus, and according to Danny that song meant nothing to Dave at all. It's fairer to compare Danny's own lyrics from that period to the ones he writes these days.

To answer the question in the thread title, my favorite lyricists are Kevin Moore and Neil Peart, so I'd probably pick these albums:

Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios
OSI - Free
Rush - impossible to name just one

Dark Tranquillity, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree also have lots of great lyrics, and so does Marillion although I got into them just recently.

[Mister Gold]

For example, since you mentioned Judgement, Anyone, Anywhere...

No one seems to care anymore
I wander through this night all alone
No one feels the pain I have inside

To be fair, those lyrics were written by Dave Pybus, and according to Danny that song meant nothing to Dave at all. It's fairer to compare Danny's own lyrics from that period to the ones he writes these days.

To answer the question in the thread title, my favorite lyricists are Kevin Moore and Neil Peart, so I'd probably pick these albums:

Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios
OSI - Free
Rush - impossible to name just one

Dark Tranquillity, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree also have lots of great lyrics, and so does Marillion although I got into them just recently.

My favorite Rush album from a lyrical standpoint is probably Grace Under Pressure, but yeah, just about any album of theirs will have great lyrics.

[KevShmev]

Power Windows is probably my favorite Rush album from a lyrical standpoint, but yeah, so many Rush albums have great lyrics, especially those from the synth era.

And it goes without saying that the Big Four by Floyd have to be listed (Dark Side, WYWH, Animals and The Wall), as well as, like Jaq said, Amused to Death.

Obviously, Neil Peart and Roger Waters are my two favorite lyricists.

[PROGdrummer]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned him yet, but pretty much any Devin Townsend album is full of great lyrical content.

[Ben_Jamin]

Anathema - Weather Systems, Were Here Because Were Here

Immortal Technique - All albums

[hefdaddy42]

Jeff Buckley - Grace

John Hiatt - Bring The Family

Most of Bruce Springsteen's output

[425]

I never understand why people write songs about their relationships.

1. It should be private.

2. Nobody gives a shit.

Well, for them, it's their emotional output, their way of dealing with things. As for me, I have learned more about love and life through song lyrics than I have through every other artistic medium combined. So yes, I do give a shit.

This, pretty much.


As to the original topic: This is actually harder than I thought it would be. Hmm. I think my favorite lyricists in prog are Jon Anderson, Kevin Moore, John Myung, Neil Peart and Steven Wilson. So I would list Close to the Edge, Images and Words, Clockwork Angels (hard to pick just one, but I like Neil's mature storytelling on their latest release), Deadwing, Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident  as among my prog favorites in the lyrical category.

Just to stir the pot and bring the controversy, a couple of pop-rock-ish artists whose lyrics I really love (Kotowboy, just stop reading at this point):

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. John Myung loves him too. Some of his songs are a bit on the saccharine side, perhaps (perhaps their biggest hit, I'll Follow You Into the Dark, included). But he's written some really great stuff lyrically. The Transatlanticism album would have to be among my favorites.

And one of my favorite lyricists of all time, ahead of probably everyone except early KM and JMX, is actually Chris Martin of Coldplay. Yeah, he tends to write about clichéd topics—love songs and all. But behind all the anthemic, hooky choruses, there's some truly excellent lyric-writing going on. The highlight for me is probably Mylo Xyloto, which is on the surface a love story and a story about youthful rebellion and happiness. Somehow, however, Chris has managed to write about this topic in quite a poetic way. He's actually a really good lyricist when you get right down to it.

[KevShmev]

Hell yeah to the Ben Gibbard mention!!  When I got into Death Cab big time year ago, the lyrics really stood out to me, and he'd definitely be among my favorites after Peart and Waters.

[Mister Gold]

Jeff Buckley - Grace

John Hiatt - Bring The Family

Most of Bruce Springsteen's output

Damn, you're absolutely right about Buckley and Springsteen. Can't believe I forgot about either of them! My personal favorite Springsteen albums are probably Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska. The lyrics there are just bleak, especially on Nebraska.