Fantaverse Top 100 Albums of All Time (THREAD #5): #60-#51

[Leestu]

englishozzy Against Me!, "New Wave", 2007 - This band is really growing on me during this countdown. Animal was a great song and its the best initial reaction I've had to an Against me! song so far.

Geezer The Gaslight Anthem, "American Slang", 2010 - I'm not sure...the first song was a bit meh, but I quite enjoyed the second one.
And by the way I loved the fun and catchy Matt and Kim songs.

NSpan Adam Green, "Gemstones", 2005 - Interesting...Judging from these songs I can see myself getting into this if the albums good enough to grab me by a second listen.

numbersix Suicide, “Suicide”, 1977 - Although I've heard most of this album as individual tracks I've never listened to the whole album, and obviously I really should. They have a great sound and great songs and inspired so many great bands...and what a song Frankie Teardrop is.

Ron Burgundy Crowded House, "Woodface", 1991 - I hate Crowded House...well not the band themselves - they are so likeable...but I hate their music. Apart from their debut single Mean To Me - which is surprisingly a very good song and showed a potential they never followed through on. Instead they went down the mum and dad music route.

silversurfer Queens Of The Stone Age, "Songs For The Deaf", 2002 - A very good album. My favourite of theirs.

transformers Queens Of The Stone Age, "Lullabies to Paralyze", 2005 - Got this album but I never liked it a lot and don't listen to it much at all. It's good, but not great.

[JohnErle]

I've been listening to Crowded House since I was a teenager, so I find all these Mum & Dad comments quite absurd. You don't have to be old to enjoy Crowded House any more than you have to be young to enjoy Queens Of The Stone Age or SLF. (I like all 3 but happen to like Crowded House more.)

I totally understand the desire to rebel against whatever your parents were listening to, but if your parents were listening to Crowded House they have excellent taste in music and you're only hurting yourselves by dismissing them.

[silversurfer19]

I'm not dismissing the music of Crowded House because it is music for the older generation, just as I didn't dislike it as a kid because I wanted to rebel. More so the Finn's music outside of Split Enz has always just sounded very safe and almost apologetic, there is nothing that has ever forced me to sit up and take notice, and in doing so this safe music which tries to be so unoffensive just doesn't appeal to me, neither when I was young or now.

[Buscemi]

Sounds like my opinion on hair metal, Surfer.

[Geezer]

It's funny, Animal is one of my absolute least favorite Against Me! songs. It's such a waste of a track when they are usually so dead on. But I guess to each his own.

[NSpan]

englishozzy Against Me!, "New Wave", 2007
"Animal" started out like mechanized classic rock ("Detroit Rock City" maybe?)--before descending into equally-mechanized modern rock. When this countdown is over, nobody will be able to say I didn't give these guys a chance! Interesting that our biggest resident fan isn't into that particular song.

Geezer The Gaslight Anthem, "American Slang", 2010
(As you know) not really my cup o' tea... but the songs you picked weren't too shabby.

BleedBlackandGold Stiff Little Fingers, "Inflamable Material", 1979
Leestu Stiff Little Fingers, "Inflamable Material", 1979
What a coincidence that you guys picked this album on the same day! Of the three songs, one was a live recording (which probably isn't the best way to be introduced to the band... right?), one was blocked by EMI, and the third didn't blow me away. That said, there's definitely something to it. I might track down more studio recordings from the album and listen a bit more.

numbersix Suicide, “Suicide”, 1977
Wow. Not what I expected. As you mentioned, these guys get name-dropped plenty. And the terms "punk" or "post-punk" are usually used in conjunction. You gotta tell me: are these two tracks representative of their overall sound? Because I don't hear ANY punk in there... and even the post-punk label is a bit misleading. The first track sounds like Donovan updating his sound for a new generation. The second has enough psychedelic droning to establish a strong link to a lot of my favorite modern bands (The Warlocks, The Raveonettes, BJM, etc.) by way of the shoegazing Spacemen 3. Surf's comparisons to (less fuzzy versions of) The Jesus And Mary Chain or MBV are definitely fair. I might delve a little deeper into this one.

Ron Burgundy Crowded House, "Woodface", 1991
We can't chalk up my ambivalence to any rebellious teenage rejection of another generation... I didn't even know who these guys were until just a few years ago. I suppose I knew a handful of their songs from my youth, but I never really put the songs together with the name of the band. Just not my thing.

silversurfer Queens Of The Stone Age, "Songs For The Deaf", 2002
transformers Queens Of The Stone Age, "Lullabies to Paralyze", 2005
I like these songs... and I like these albums... but QotSA never completely won me over. There's something a bit generic and less-than-memorable about their sound. A bit bland, even. I had already come to this conclusion when I first saw them live (opening for NIN), and they failed to make any impact on me (and the rest of the crowd, for that matter).

[numbersix]

numbersix Suicide, “Suicide”, 1977
Wow. Not what I expected. As you mentioned, these guys get name-dropped plenty. And the terms "punk" or "post-punk" are usually used in conjunction. You gotta tell me: are these two tracks representative of their overall sound? Because I don't hear ANY punk in there... and even the post-punk label is a bit misleading. The first track sounds like Donovan updating his sound for a new generation. The second has enough psychedelic droning to establish a strong link to a lot of my favorite modern bands (The Warlocks, The Raveonettes, BJM, etc.) by way of the shoegazing Spacemen 3. Surf's comparisons to (less fuzzy versions of) The Jesus And Mary Chain or MBV are definitely fair. I might delve a little deeper into this one.

"Punk" is misleading, but as "post-punk" is so broad you can incorporate a lot of Krautrock and minimalist electro they probably fit the bill. Throbbing Gristle and This Heat are certainly inspired by these guys.

Spaceman 3 is a good reference as they are completely indebted by Suicide. They even have a song named after the duo. And yeah, that dominant electro drone is responsible for the shoegaze sound.

As for the tracks, they are indeed representative of the album's sound. In fact, the 30 min album feels like one song divided into movements.

[Buscemi]

Someone should create an art project where a person rents an apartment and plays Frankie Teardrop through the walls non-stop to see if anyone reacts.

[silversurfer19]

Hah! Twice in two consecutive days we have the same album by consecutive participants!

Album No.56

Alyson
To Be Added At Later Date

englishozzy
To Be Added At Later Date

Geezer
Streetlight Manifesto, "Somewhere in the Between", 2007



1.We Will Fall Together – 5 stars
2.Down, Down, Down to Mephisto's Cafe – 5 stars
3.Would You Be Impressed – 3 stars
4.One foot On the Gas, One Foot In the Grave – 5 stars
5.Watch it Crash – 3 stars
6.Somewhere In the Between – 5 stars
7.Forty Days – 3 stars
8.The Blonde Lead the Blind – 4 stars
9.The Receiving End of It All – 5 stars
10.What a Wicked Gang Are We – 5 stars

Awesome Ska Punk band with a very unique sound.

"One Foot On the Gas, One Foot in the Grave"

"We Will Fall Together"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ije7d6xckSs

BleedBlackandGold
The Offspring, "Americana", 1998



Maybe my first punk Album ever.

"No Brakes"


Leestu
Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side of the Moon”, 1973



I don’t need to say why this album is so great. I would say that spending approx. 15 years on the charts does that. But personally I wasn’t a fan of Pink Floyd at first apart from the Syd Barrett era, but for one of my best friends through my teenage and early adulthood years this was his favourite band – so much so that his nickname was Floyd - so obviously he used to play their albums all the time, and with familiarity I was eventually won over. Now I would thank him for that – RIP mate! This is for you.

“The Great Gig in the Sky”

“Brain Damage”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVQ3-Xe_suY

NSpan
Pixies, “Doolittle”, 1989



Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away

Maybe I'm not using the search function properly, but it appears that I'm the first to feature this album on the countdown. However, I'm sure I'll not be the last. With this crowd, the band needs no introduction. I'll just move right on to my song selections. I imagine "Hey" , "Debaser" , "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man" will inevitably be featured, so I'll go with something different:

"Mr. Grieves"

"Crackity Jones"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPr7AzH36-M

"Silver" (dedicated to Stuart) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1GFWRicUmU

numbersix
Pixies, “Doolittle”, 1989



What else is there to say about one of the most popular alt-rock albums of all time? A testament to this record’s quality is that almost every song could be a single, so strong and joyful are the lot of them.

Expanding on the rock and pop tunes of Surfer Rosa, here we see more of Frank Black’s psyche-surf influence creep to the fore, but the band still retain their signature identity. Monkey Gone to Heaven has to be one of their most interesting songs, sounding both melancholic and breezy. I love the dark southern/Mexicano blues utilised in Silver and Hey, and even in their more throwaway songs there’s something great to behold (particularly the outros of La La Love You and No. 13 Baby). This a perfect record to introduce someone to rock music turned on its side.

"Gouge Away"

"Dead"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZtT0mlbSXU

Ron Burgundy
The 12th Man, "Wired World Of Sports", 1987



"Scene 1"


silversurfer
Led Zeppelin, "IV", 1971



I am sure my dad had this when I was a kid, I could remember seeing the LP sleeve amongst the rest of his collection. But we never really listened to it for some reason. So it was only really about 4 years ago I revisited one of the most reknowned records of all time. And I found that I knew most of the songs already! From the opener Black Dog to Rock N Roll, Stairway and When The Levee Breaks, it's a record full of foot stomping rock classics. Moving on from their more blues inspired past, this is a different Led Zeppelin from what came before - still maintaining their blues footprint but adding their own signature to their music now, and in a sense they created a new genre of their own in the process. This is such a fantastic record, I can't for the life of me think why we never really listened to it as a kid...

"Black Dog"

"When The Levee Breaks"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPjlFQQ3fs

transformers
2pac, "Me Against the World", 1995



"Outlaw"

"Dear Mama"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rpDmqRrnaI

[numbersix]

Geez: Both songs did have something to them beyond the usual ska sound, but they did have an awful lot of the usual ska sound too.

John L: I just lost interest in these guys by the mid 90s. They feel a bit on autopilot, or esle doing silly stuff like Pretty Fly.

Leetsu: I'm probably the biggest Floyd naysayer here. Dark side is probably the only record I've heard from start to finish. Despite the ridiculous production (over-production!) the album feels a bit light on actual tunes, instead relying on simple bass tunes to drive the songs. And then that's met with a whole lot of indulgence, that tips the sound into the world of the pretentious. Just listen to that singing in Great Gig... it's so OTT.

Nspan: totally overrated. Just awful. What were you thinking?

Ron B: I'm bewildered. I thought this was just a silly into, but from other clips on Youtube the whole record is some sort of sports commentator parody.

SS: I should really get my paws on this. Geez's pick were awsome, and I've forgotten how much Levee rocks.

Tranny: While I get that this record was 2Pac's attempt to go against the usual scumbag misogyny of Gangsta Rap, I still feel uncomfortable knowing he's a rapist bastard, and that this may merely be a cynical attempt to appear emotive. It's funny that there's so much hatred for Chris Brown when the likes of 2 Pac and James Brown himself are so revered.

[Geezer]

It's crazy how up to the hiatus, there was never an occurrence of two picks on the same day. We come back, it happens on the first two days!!!

[NSpan]

Geezer Streetlight Manifesto, "Somewhere in the Between", 2007
New to me. I'm not normally big on ska (though there are exceptions)... but these guys sounded genuine, and I liked what I heard. The second track didn't work for me, unfortunately.

BleedBlackandGold The Offspring, "Americana", 1998
I think it's a indication of our age difference, but I gave up on these guys the moment Ixnay dropped.

Leestu Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side of the Moon”, 1973
Of COURSE the guy who claims not to like The Beatles would also have a problem with Pink Floyd. Nay-sayers aside, this album is an incredible achievement: amazing performance combined with brilliant studio production wizardry. The album was intended to be listened to as a whole, and I think it works best in that format. Unfortunately, this LP has been ridiculously over-saturated in our culture. As a result, I find myself paying much more attention to the band's other albums. Nonetheless, I'm a huge fan--and I love all of their work from the early days all the way through The Final Cut.

numbersix Pixies, “Doolittle”, 1989
I had a feeling that (when the time came) you'd pick "Dead." Good choice!

Ron Burgundy The 12th Man, "Wired World Of Sports", 1987
(YouTube is acting a bit weird at the moment.. I'll come back to this)

silversurfer Led Zeppelin, "IV", 1971
Very solid album. Didn't make my list, but it was a consideration. One interesting note about Led Zep is the fact that modern "classic rock" radio stations play their ENTIRE discography (well, nearly). I've literally heard around 95% of their output on standard FM channels throughout my life. I don't know what FM radio is like on the other side of the world... but Clear Channel dominates most of the airwaves in the US. Sure, you can hear unique/eclectic music on college radio stations, pirate channels, and the rare independently-owned stations... but there's a limit to the bandwidth, and most of it is consistently bought up by one mega-corporation. On those channels, the DJs rarely have a say in what gets played. Instead, the playlists are predetermined through computer algorithms, cost analyses, and pushy CEOs with bad taste. The result is: each band is allowed a small handful of tracks to receive airplay. Great bands with expansive discographies end up getting completely underrepresented (ie. there are about five Pink Floyd songs on regular Clear Channel rotation). For whatever reason, Led Zeppelin seems to be the exception to this arbitrary rule.

transformers 2pac, "Me Against the World", 1995
Ah, the soundtrack to my suburban youth. The prominent use of classic funk/soul/R&B/rock samples is what made the music so catchy and accessible to begin with. But--as I've mentioned (ad nauseum)--I completely lost interest in West Coast / "G-Funk" rap after getting into the source material. The rapping itself never appealed to me, and the original music is much better heard in its proper original incarnations. That said, I still have plenty of nostalgia for the genre--and for Tupac specifically. In response to Six: don't tell me you don't recognize a fundamental difference between Chris Brown and James Brown...?

[silversurfer19]

Geezer Streetlight Manifesto, "Somewhere in the Between", 2007
While not compelling enough to really invest in, it was ok. The first song didn't even sound like Ska for a while, more like a modern college rock band until the who Ska-iness kicked in, while the second almost sounded eastern European, bizarrely enough.

BleedBlackandGold The Offspring, "Americana", 1998
I remember walking around record stores when I was younger thinking I should probably own this, but for some reason the moment passed and I never did get around to picking it up. I do like some of the songs on here, but I think given time I've realised it was probably not the biggest mis-step in life not to buy it.

Leestu Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side of the Moon”, 1973
I have this, but I don't think I've ever listened to it the whole way through as NSpan recommends. Probably should as those songs, while excessive, are well constructed pieces. I'm sure as a whole it would have a much greater impact. And just to say, I have always preferred the Barrett Floyd too.

numbersix, NSpan Pixies, “Doolittle”, 1989
Great pick, will be on my own list much, much later. And I can still remember walking down the supermarket aisles as a 12 year old listening to Crackity Jones and singing along to my Walkman ("Crack Crack, Crackity Jones!") and getting the most bizarre stares from other shoppers. It never changes...

Ron Burgundy The 12th Man, "Wired World Of Sports", 1987
Forgive me if I've made a mistake again, but for the sake of everyone else, Ron has only provided me with the title of his countdown, and I scoured the internet for something with the title "Wired World Of Sports". This is the only thing I could find, and I'm still not sure this is what Ron anticipated. It's certainly not what I was expecting. Must be Aussie humour...

transformers 2pac, "Me Against the World", 1995
I won't pretend to be some who can affiliate myself with the subtle nuances of rap, nor can I spot the referential source material used for samples. But really, the genre just doesn't appeal. I don't like the spoken vocals, the music did nothing for me and overall it's just not something I get enjoyment from. I'm sure the same will be said of many of my picks, so I'll just leave it at that.

[numbersix]

In response to Six: don't tell me you don't recognize a fundamental difference between Chris Brown and James Brown...?

Well, musically of course. But my point is that because James Brown is considered cool you don't hear people as outraged about his wife-beating history. It's just because Chris Brown is a pop star that certain people feel they can dismiss the man AND the music because of what he did.

[englishozzy]

#57

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang - 7/10
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material - 5/10
Adam Green - Gemstones - 8/10
Suicide - Suicide - 7/10
Crowded House - Woodface - 8/10
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf - 10/10
Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze - 9/10

#56

Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in Between - 7/10
The Offspring - Americana 9/10
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon - 8/10
Pixies - Doolittle - 6/10
The 12th Man - Wired World of Sports - 3/10
2 Pac - Me Against the World - 4/10