Your Favorite Album from 1988

[HOF]

Don't forget Winger's debut album! 

First album I thought of!

[pg1067]

I limited this to metal/metal adjacent primarily because I didn't want to have dozens of options listed.  The "Other" option exists but has only gotten 4 of 38 votes, so....

For me, it's Mindcrime, followed by No Exit and Keeper 2.  Justice is one of the only albums where I hold the production against it, and I think SSOASS is way overrated (with the title track and Moonchild being the only songs worth listening to).

If anyone's wondering who is the sole person voted for Helloween, that was me

I actually thought it might have been Tim.

[HOF]

This was my list when we did the year by year rankings a little while back:

1. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
2. Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
3. U2 - Rattle and Hum
4. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
5. King's X - Out of the Silent Planet
6. Winger - Winger
7. Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years
8. Van Halen - OU812
9. Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
10. Living Colour - Vivid
11. Bruce Hornsby - Songs from the Southside
12. R.E.M. - Green

So my "other" vote goes to Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden.

[twosuitsluke]

If anyone's wondering who is the sole person voted for Helloween, that was me

I actually thought it might have been Tim.

My first assumption, until it came to light he voted Winger.

[Samsara]

My number one is obviously Operation: Mindcrime. My all time favorite album. But 1988 was such a great time for me musically. And Justice for All, No Exit, Keeper Pt. 2, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and Living Colour: Vivid, all just classics.

[425]

For me, it's Mindcrime, followed by No Exit and Keeper 2.  Justice is one of the only albums where I hold the production against it, and I think SSOASS is way overrated (with the title track and Moonchild being the only songs worth listening to).

This remains, to me, your most jaw-dropping take. If for nothing else, for the mere existence of Infinite Dreams. (But really I think of every song on SSoaSS as at least a 9/10 except for Can I Play With Madness.)

Then again, you’d probably have a similar reaction to my “the only songs on Operation: Mindcrime I care about are I Don’t Believe in Love and Eyes of a Stranger” take.

[jingle.boy]

If anyone's wondering who is the sole person voted for Helloween, that was me

I probably could've guessed that actually.

I would've guessed Tim actually.

[jjrock88]

Mindcrime, but lots of great albums on that list.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

For me, it's Mindcrime, followed by No Exit and Keeper 2.  Justice is one of the only albums where I hold the production against it, and I think SSOASS is way overrated (with the title track and Moonchild being the only songs worth listening to).

Then again, you’d probably have a similar reaction to my “the only songs on Operation: Mindcrime I care about are I Don’t Believe in Love and Eyes of a Stranger” take.

Those are the best two songs on it though. 

[425]

Glad I care about the right ones, then!

[pg1067]

For me, it's Mindcrime, followed by No Exit and Keeper 2.  Justice is one of the only albums where I hold the production against it, and I think SSOASS is way overrated (with the title track and Moonchild being the only songs worth listening to).

This remains, to me, your most jaw-dropping take. If for nothing else, for the mere existence of Infinite Dreams. (But really I think of every song on SSoaSS as at least a 9/10 except for Can I Play With Madness.)

One of these days, someone will have to explain what's so special about Infinite Dreams.  The song starts off as a weird effort to merge metal and lounge lizard music.  Madness is an awful song.  The Evil That Men Do is decent, as is Only the Good Die Young.  The Prophecy and The Clairvoyant are boring as snot.

[TAC]

If anyone's wondering who is the sole person voted for Helloween, that was me

I probably could've guessed that actually.

I would've guessed Tim actually.

I haven't voted yet..



Actually just did and doubled Helloween's vote total!

[RoeDent]

2. Crowded House - Temple of Low Men

Excellent choice, sir! Very underrated album with a dark underbelly.

[hefdaddy42]

Run-DMC - Tougher Than Leather, by a nipple over Bon Jovi's New Jersey.

[pg1067]

Interesting results.

One one hand, it's no surprise that O:M, SSOASS and AJFA have gotten the overwhelming majority of votes (38 of 48 so far).

What I find a little surprising is that only three other albums have gotten votes (not including the 7 "Other" votes):  Keeper has 2, and OU812 and South of Heaven each have one.

[HOF]

2. Crowded House - Temple of Low Men

Excellent choice, sir! Very underrated album with a dark underbelly.

 

Yeah, a really strong album with an interesting range of material.

[ZirconBlue]

Mindcrime.  Even Bruce Dickinson thought it was better than SSoaSS:

Seventh Son really revitalized my enthusiasm. I loved the idea of doing a concept album. It was a great idea. I was probably responsible in a large part for the cover, with Derek. The idea was to do something surreal, a surrealist Eddie. And Derek came up with that, which I was really pleased with. I guess what I found strange is that we took the album to a certain point, and then it never got developed any further. And in the same year, while we were in the midst of mixing or something, I heard some advance tracks from Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, and was blown away. And I remember thinking, I was driving down a street through a park in Germany and heard these four tracks from Mindcrime, and stopped the car, and sat there with my head in my hands, and thought that they had made the album that we should have made. Seventh Son should be this. And could be this. If we'd only forced it, if we'd only thought it through and sat down and planned it and discussed it. You just don't make a concept album like that in five minutes. You don't just loosely glue a few things together and say okay, that's a concept album. So that was my feeling. I was proud of it, but there was always this thought, God damn it, artistically we were in second place. Review-wise we were as well. In terms of the way the world perceives everything, Mindcrime was a ground-breaking album. And Seventh Son was not quite. For Maiden fans it was, but there was this feeling I had then, that there was this world of Maiden and there was the rest of the world.

https://bravewords.com/features/bravewords-25-flashback-the-alchemical-wizardry-of-bruce-dickinson

[TAC]

Mindcrime.  Even Bruce Dickinson thought it was better than SSoaSS:

Seventh Son really revitalized my enthusiasm. I loved the idea of doing a concept album. It was a great idea. I was probably responsible in a large part for the cover, with Derek. The idea was to do something surreal, a surrealist Eddie. And Derek came up with that, which I was really pleased with. I guess what I found strange is that we took the album to a certain point, and then it never got developed any further. And in the same year, while we were in the midst of mixing or something, I heard some advance tracks from Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, and was blown away. And I remember thinking, I was driving down a street through a park in Germany and heard these four tracks from Mindcrime, and stopped the car, and sat there with my head in my hands, and thought that they had made the album that we should have made. Seventh Son should be this. And could be this. If we'd only forced it, if we'd only thought it through and sat down and planned it and discussed it. You just don't make a concept album like that in five minutes. You don't just loosely glue a few things together and say okay, that's a concept album. So that was my feeling. I was proud of it, but there was always this thought, God damn it, artistically we were in second place. Review-wise we were as well. In terms of the way the world perceives everything, Mindcrime was a ground-breaking album. And Seventh Son was not quite. For Maiden fans it was, but there was this feeling I had then, that there was this world of Maiden and there was the rest of the world.

https://bravewords.com/features/bravewords-25-flashback-the-alchemical-wizardry-of-bruce-dickinson

I was going to ask you when that quote was from..I see you have the link..it was from 1998.

I remember reading an interview with Bruce way back in 1988, where he basically says the same thing.
I don't remember exactly where I read that, but I definitely remember a quote just like that coming out after both albums had been released.

[King Postwhore]

Now and Zen - Robert Plant.
Winger - Self titled. Tim's favorite.
Level 42 - Staring at the Sun.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Winger - Self titled. Tim's favorite.

We need to convince Tim's wife to get a signed copy of that album for him for their next anniversary 

[TAC]

Winger - Self titled. Tim's favorite.

We need to convince Tim's wife to get a signed copy of that album for him for their next anniversary 

It won't happen.

[wolfking]

Winger - Self titled. Tim's favorite.

We need to convince Tim's wife to get a signed copy of that album for him for their next anniversary 

Delivered to the house by Kip himself too.

[King Postwhore]

Tim wouldn't have a chance.

[Bolsters]

It'd be either Yngwie Malmsteen's Odyssey or The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 for me.

[King Postwhore]

It'd be either Yngwie Malmsteen's Odyssey or The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 for me.

I love the dichotomy. 

[425]

For me, it's Mindcrime, followed by No Exit and Keeper 2.  Justice is one of the only albums where I hold the production against it, and I think SSOASS is way overrated (with the title track and Moonchild being the only songs worth listening to).

This remains, to me, your most jaw-dropping take. If for nothing else, for the mere existence of Infinite Dreams. (But really I think of every song on SSoaSS as at least a 9/10 except for Can I Play With Madness.)

One of these days, someone will have to explain what's so special about Infinite Dreams.  The song starts off as a weird effort to merge metal and lounge lizard music.  Madness is an awful song.  The Evil That Men Do is decent, as is Only the Good Die Young.  The Prophecy and The Clairvoyant are boring as snot.

I could make a mirror image statement of my own, where someone would have to explain to me what's so special about pretty much any song on O:M except the two singles and Suite Sister Mary (which I do not like but get why people would).

That Bruce quote Zircon posted is fascinating to me because he's focused entirely on stuff that I think is of secondary importance at best. Could Seventh Son have told more of a coherent, interesting story if they'd put more time into it? Maybe. But musically it's varied, rich, progressive—a real journey. The title track is a full musical experience in itself. Infinite Dreams, to answer the question, also contains a journey by telling a story with the music. You go from the placid calmness of sleep into the heightening anticipation of the nightmare, to the aggressive intensity of the nightmare itself, to the resolution that the protagonist reaches at the end. I think if you took what Maiden did on Seventh Son and tried to beef up the "concept" side of it, you'd actually run a real risk of ruining the magic.

Musically, which is what I think matters most, I think Seventh Son is way more interesting than O:M. And while this is completely a matter of personal preference, I find the story on that album, bare-bones as it is, way more enjoyable than the more fleshed-out O:M story—which I find tasteless and which is an active inducement for me NOT to put in more of an effort to get into the music.


My second choice for this year, since I haven't mentioned that yet, would be AJFA. Depending on the day I might call it Metallica's best album, and it was certainly the most complete one they'd made up to that point.

I should make a point of getting Keeper 2 soon. I like but don't love Keeper 1, but don't have the sequel.

[The Realm]

This list contains 4 of my absolute favourite and most personally influential albums of all time - Mindcrime, Seventh Son, Keeper 2 and Justice. I purchased each of these pretty much on release day on cassette and they literally changed my life. I had to vote for Mindcrime though as it is my absolute favourite but I do dearly love all these albums.

[Lowdz]

As my joint favourite album of all time, Mindcrime.

[Stadler]

Winger - Self titled. Tim's favorite.

We need to convince Tim's wife to get a signed copy of that album for him for their next anniversary 

Should have let me know; Winger played the town green here in Enfield a couple weeks ago.  I could have got the autograph. I probably could have had dinner with them given the size of the show.

[Samsara]

Mindcrime.  Even Bruce Dickinson thought it was better than SSoaSS:

Seventh Son really revitalized my enthusiasm. I loved the idea of doing a concept album. It was a great idea. I was probably responsible in a large part for the cover, with Derek. The idea was to do something surreal, a surrealist Eddie. And Derek came up with that, which I was really pleased with. I guess what I found strange is that we took the album to a certain point, and then it never got developed any further. And in the same year, while we were in the midst of mixing or something, I heard some advance tracks from Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, and was blown away. And I remember thinking, I was driving down a street through a park in Germany and heard these four tracks from Mindcrime, and stopped the car, and sat there with my head in my hands, and thought that they had made the album that we should have made. Seventh Son should be this. And could be this. If we'd only forced it, if we'd only thought it through and sat down and planned it and discussed it. You just don't make a concept album like that in five minutes. You don't just loosely glue a few things together and say okay, that's a concept album. So that was my feeling. I was proud of it, but there was always this thought, God damn it, artistically we were in second place. Review-wise we were as well. In terms of the way the world perceives everything, Mindcrime was a ground-breaking album. And Seventh Son was not quite. For Maiden fans it was, but there was this feeling I had then, that there was this world of Maiden and there was the rest of the world.

https://bravewords.com/features/bravewords-25-flashback-the-alchemical-wizardry-of-bruce-dickinson

Do you know specifically where this quote was taken from? Magazine, article title, author, etc.? If so, can you send me the info?

And Bruce really nailed it, honestly. I love Seventh Son, TBH. But it's nowhere near the quality of Operation: Mindcrime. I'd make the argument that Maiden's high points, album-wise, were better than QR for all of the bands' respective careers...EXCEPT for Mindcrime. That record was...is...one of the best albums ever recorded in the metal genre. Seventh Son is simply a really good album.

[TAC]

Sam, the link is in the post. It's just small fonted.

[TAC]

I have to say that And Justice For All is not really aging that well for me. I listened to it yesterday, as I did a handful of these albums, and I really love half of it (Blackened, One, Frayed Ends, and Dyer's Eve), and am fairly ambivalent to the rest.

[twosuitsluke]

I have to say that And Justice For All is not really aging that well for me. I listened to it yesterday, as I did a handful of these albums, and I really love half of it (Blackened, One, Frayed Ends, and Dyer's Eve), and am fairly ambivalent to the rest.

Over the last few years Justice is the Metallica album I’ve found myself coming back to more than any other. When we ranked all the Metallica songs recently I realised I really rate every song on the album 5*. The title track, Blackened and To Live is to Die are the best songs on the album for me, just perfection.

[jjrock88]

I have to say that And Justice For All is not really aging that well for me. I listened to it yesterday, as I did a handful of these albums, and I really love half of it (Blackened, One, Frayed Ends, and Dyer's Eve), and am fairly ambivalent to the rest.

wow

[Dream Team]

I have to say that And Justice For All is not really aging that well for me. I listened to it yesterday, as I did a handful of these albums, and I really love half of it (Blackened, One, Frayed Ends, and Dyer's Eve), and am fairly ambivalent to the rest.

Bulls-eye, those are the 4 best tracks with Eye and Straw a distance back. Each Metallica album I heard as it was released became my favorite for awhile but Justice is definitely no longer in the discussion. Which is ironic because it may be their best collection of riffs, solos, lyrics, and drums. Drums for sure.

But I voted for it with the SLIGHTEST of margins over SSoaSS and O:M. It’s like razor-thin margins.