Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#21

Anything music related. Latest songs, good new bands, and blasts from the past.

Moderators: Buscemi, BarcaRulz, Geezer, W

User avatar
transformers2
John Rambo
Posts: 7730
Joined: October 23rd, 2009, 5:15 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by transformers2 »

Sounds good to me surfer.
BRING BRENDAN FRASER BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN DAMN IT
Check out my blog http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/
Movies,Music,Sports and More!

User avatar
silversurfer19
John Rambo
Posts: 7726
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 3:34 pm
Location: pretty much the ass end of the universe

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by silversurfer19 »

I have a question for NSpan regarding Smile. Today while I was in town I found a CD of Smiley Smile in a cheap cd store. I picked it up as it was so cheap, but how close to the finished product would you say the album is? I mean, my total understanding of the record was that the band just released it to conclude a contract. So is the album more of just a studio session, or were there actual complete recordings and it just needed an extra few tracks. My cd doesn't have 'Lost' on it, nor the tracks six mentions. So was the record to be a double album, or was it just a work in progress? And is the quality of The Smile Sessions or Brian Wilson's Smile better? What is the definitive version?

User avatar
numbersix
Darth Vader
Posts: 11545
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 2:34 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by numbersix »

silversurfer19 wrote:I have a question for NSpan regarding Smile. Today while I was in town I found a CD of Smiley Smile in a cheap cd store. I picked it up as it was so cheap, but how close to the finished product would you say the album is? I mean, my total understanding of the record was that the band just released it to conclude a contract. So is the album more of just a studio session, or were there actual complete recordings and it just needed an extra few tracks. My cd doesn't have 'Lost' on it, nor the tracks six mentions. So was the record to be a double album, or was it just a work in progress? And is the quality of The Smile Sessions or Brian Wilson's Smile better? What is the definitive version?
Alarm bells are ringing. Someone has asked a question about the history of Smile. Right now, NSpan is sliding down some pole into the bay area and is about to prep himself for what he was born to do: explain the complicated history of a classic album.

(of course, in case NSpan's excitement causes him to crash his musichistoromobile, there's always Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_%28T ... s_album%29)

User avatar
numbersix
Darth Vader
Posts: 11545
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 2:34 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by numbersix »

Great, now I ended up reading up on the troubled production of Smile. Goddammit, I hate Mike Love. If ever anyone deserves a kick in the crotch it's him. How could he question the lyrics of Van Dyke Parks? They're some of the best lyrics in pop music. Hell, the original lyrics of Good Vibrations beat the hell out of Love's cliches.

User avatar
JohnErle
Snake Plissken
Posts: 2905
Joined: October 22nd, 2009, 4:01 am
Contact:

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by JohnErle »

So before I jump into the fray with the Top 20, I figured I'd post a very rough list of my top 100 that I put together before I decided that doing a top 100 was too time-consuming and pedantic for me. As you can see, I gave up trying to rank albums once I got farther down the list, and spelling became less of a concern as well. Most of the albums in the bottom 50 could easily jump or drop 30 slots if I put some thought into it or actually listened to them for the first time in years. Still, it gives you a rough idea.

And no, The Fray will not appearing anywhere in my list.

21 The Smithereens Green Thoughts
22 The Police Synchronicity
23 Big Country Live Without A Safety Net
24 Big Sugar 500 Pounds
25 The Smithereens Blow Up
26 Everclear Sparkle & Fade
27 Tom Waits Bone Machine
28 The Tragically Hip Fully Completely
29 Depeche Mode Violator
30 Soundgarden Badmotorfinger
31 Paul Simon Graceland
35 Dire Straits On Every Street
35 Wilco Being There
35 Blur Parklife
35 Cornershop When I Was Born For The 7th Time
35 Crowded House Crowded House
35 The Clash The Clash (US Version)
38 The Smithereens A Date With The Smithereens
39 Ben Folds Five The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner
40 The Velvet Underground Loaded
40 Crowded House Temple Of Low Men
40 Steve Earle Transcendental Blues
40 The Velvet Underground & Nico
40 Big Country The Seer
45 Gang Of Four Return The Gift
45 The Tragically Hip Up To Here
45 Big Country Driving To Damascus
50 The Tragically Hip Road Apples
55 Paul Simon Rhythm Of The Saints
55 Replacements All Shook Down
55 U2 Acthung Baby
55 Various The Harder They Come
60 Dire Straits Brothers In Arms
60 The Decemberists The King Is Dead
60 Pearl Jam Vitalogy
70 Georgia Satellites Georgia Satellites
70 U2 The Joshua Tree
70 Wilco Summerteeth
72 Teenage Fanclub Man-Made
74 Against Me! New Wave
75 Dire Straits Dire Straits
75 The Lowest Of The Low Shakespeare My Butt
75 The Pogues Rum, Sodomy, And The Lash
75 Whiskeytown Strangers Almanac
75 U2 War
80 The Beatles Revolver
80 Big Sugar Heated
80 Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience
80 Ron Sexsmith Whereabouts
80 Wilco A.M.
82 AC/DC Let There Be Rock
85 Everclear So Much For The Afterglow
85 Ocean Blue Cerulean
85 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Baby 81
85 Bruce Springsteen Tunnel Of Love
85 Calexico Feast Of Wire
85 Camera Obscura Let's Get Out Of This Country
85 Camera Obscura Underacvievers, Please Try Harder
85 Dead Can Dance Spleen & Ideal
85 Gorillaz Gorillaz
85 Ron Sexsmith Blue Boy
90 The Clash Sandinista!
90 TV On The Radio Return To Cookie Mountain
90 Bat For Lashes Fur And Gold
90 Beirut The Flying Club Cup
90 Big Star #1 Record
90 Handsome Furs Face Control
90 Hem Rabbit Songs
90 Shearwater The Golden Archipelago
90 Sly And The Family Stone Stand!
90 Old 97's Fight Songs
90 Comsat Angels Fiction
95 Mike Ness Cheating At Solitaire
95 Avett Brothers I And Love And You
95 British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music?
95 Big Star Radio City
95 Santogold Santogold
95 TV On The Radio Dear Science
95 White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan
96 REM Automatic For The People
98 Tea Party Transmission
99 My Morning Jacket It Still Moves
99 Iron & Wine The Shepherd's Dog
100 The Wonder Stuff The Eight Legged Groove Machine
105 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
Be Good Tanyas Blue Horse
Beck The Information
M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Mew No More Stories...
Patty Griffin Flaming Red
Slowdive Souvlaki
The Decemberists The Crane Wife
The Wailin's Jennys Firecracker
Tom Waits Rain Dogs
White Stripes Elephant
be Good Tanyas hello love
Iron & Wine our endless
The Tragically Hip Phanton Power
Elvis Costello This Year's Model
The Dandy Warhols Welcome To The Monkey House
Kings Of Leon Youth And Youung Manhood
Bloc Party A Weekend In The City
The Payola$ Hammer On A Drum

User avatar
Leestu
Ratzo Rizzo
Posts: 1652
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 11:46 pm
Location: Western Australia

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by Leestu »

Good to have you on board John. Happy to see some Big Star. I was sort of expecting them to be on someone's list. They weren't on mine because I lost my copies a long time ago and haven't got around to replacing them...although I did spend a couple of hours a few weekends ago revisiting them through you tube. Other highlights for me are Ben Folds, The Wonder Stuff, Slowdive, and Elvis Costello.

User avatar
JohnErle
Snake Plissken
Posts: 2905
Joined: October 22nd, 2009, 4:01 am
Contact:

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by JohnErle »

Elvis Costello is one those artists where I've never actually listened to the albums, only the compilations, but the stuff I know from that album is so good that it was worthy of consideration. But then I realized Radio, Radio wasn't technically on the original release of the album, so then I wondered whether This Year's Model was worthy of inclusion at all, and that's when I realized that a top 100 would be way too much work and I said screw it. :lol: But this unfinished list and a top 20 is something I can handle.

I'm glad to see someone remembers the Wonder Stuff, BTW. And I haven't been paying close attention to everyone's lists, but I'm also surprised Big Star hasn't appeared so far. I'm glad I could be the first.

User avatar
silversurfer19
John Rambo
Posts: 7726
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 3:34 pm
Location: pretty much the ass end of the universe

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by silversurfer19 »

Very interesting list, John. Lots of records that haven't appeared on the countdown thus far, and many I've never even listened to. I picked up No.1 Record and Third/Sister Lovers last year, haven't really given them the full benefit of a proper listen, guess I should. I also seem to remember The Wonderstuff, though I think it was more by name as I kind of missed the bus on them.

Intriguing to see so many records by well known bands which would generally be regarded as their lesser efforts. This may be because their more highly regarded albums are still to come, but more likely you just prefer these particular ones. I'm referencing the likes o The White Stripes, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, Gang Of Four, The Replacements and BRMC. Great to have a bit of variety though, I suppose we all recognise great things from different albums!

Also, delighted to see some love for The Decemberists. I'm a big fan and a good few of their records just missed the cut, with The Hazards Of Love and Picaresque my own personal favourites.

Anyway, a lot of these are going on my To Check Out List, so thanks! Looking forward to the top 20.

User avatar
numbersix
Darth Vader
Posts: 11545
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 2:34 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by numbersix »

Glad to see you post your list, John.

Some good stuff on there. Lots of early Wilco, which I need to explore more of. Bone Machine made my Top 100. Cool to see Comsat Angels there, a band I've only recently gotten into. Never heard of the Smithereens - are they a punk Smiths tribute band? Are you the first to place Graceland in your Top 100 here? If so, kudos, it's truly a wonderful (and influential - I'm looking at you, Vampire Weekend) pop record. Like your Velvet Underground, Clash, and Bat For Lashes picks too.

One interesting inclusion is Return the Gift. From what I remember that was the compilation record in which Go4 re-recorded their older songs. I heard a few versions, and to me they were vastly inferior to the originals. Perhaps it's merely a case of being used to them, but I felt they lacked the urgency of, in particular, their first two albums.

Looking forward to your Top 20!

User avatar
JohnErle
Snake Plissken
Posts: 2905
Joined: October 22nd, 2009, 4:01 am
Contact:

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by JohnErle »

Surfer: I rarely let the general consensus affect me in any way, unless it subconsciously sends me running in the opposite direction. With most of those bands you mentioned I'm not even sure what the generally accepted best albums would be -- Bandwagonesque and Tim maybe? -- but these are the ones I love best. The White Stripes fell into the category of "too lazy to listen to them again in order to determine proper placement", and in the case of Wilco, I was a fan since Being There, so Yankee Hotel Foxtrot seemed like such a radical departure that it didn't appeal to me in any way, and all the new fans who suddenly discovered the band made it very difficult for me to view it objectively. Now that the hype has died down to manageable levels I see it as a natural progression from Summerteeth, but I still prefer the early stuff.

And if you like the Decemberists I'm surprised that you were so critical of The Pogues recently. The Celtic influence is not as overt with the Decemberists but it's definitely there, and as songwriters Shane MacGowan and Colin Meloy are definitely cut from the same cloth. And I also highly recommend the first three albums by Big Country to fans of the Decemberists. Well, I recommend those albums to anyone who will listen, but especially to fans of the Decemberists.

Six: Return The Gift is the only Gang Of Four I've ever heard, and I love it. I understand that they were re-recordings as well, but I just haven't gotten around to hearing anything else. And you just might hear a taste of The Smithereens in my top 20.

User avatar
silversurfer19
John Rambo
Posts: 7726
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 3:34 pm
Location: pretty much the ass end of the universe

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by silversurfer19 »

JohnErle wrote:Surfer: I rarely let the general consensus affect me in any way, unless it subconsciously sends me running in the opposite direction. With most of those bands you mentioned I'm not even sure what the generally accepted best albums would be -- Bandwagonesque and Tim maybe? -- but these are the ones I love best. The White Stripes fell into the category of "too lazy to listen to them again in order to determine proper placement", and in the case of Wilco, I was a fan since Being There, so Yankee Hotel Foxtrot seemed like such a radical departure that it didn't appeal to me in any way, and all the new fans who suddenly discovered the band made it very difficult for me to view it objectively. Now that the hype has died down to manageable levels I see it as a natural progression from Summerteeth, but I still prefer the early stuff.

And if you like the Decemberists I'm surprised that you were so critical of The Pogues recently. The Celtic influence is not as overt with the Decemberists but it's definitely there, and as songwriters Shane MacGowan and Colin Meloy are definitely cut from the same cloth. And I also highly recommend the first three albums by Big Country to fans of the Decemberists. Well, I recommend those albums to anyone who will listen, but especially to fans of the Decemberists.
It wasn't so much that I was expecting you to fall in line with the general consensus regarding any particular records, just that I hadn't really even considered some of those records you have listed, and it's probably because of how we come to discover each band. For example, like you said with Wilco's Being There, sometimes you fall in love with a record for a particular sound, and then when hearing something which veers away from that you become a little more critical. I began my Wilco fascination with Summerteeth, so it's always held a special place in my heart (though A Ghost Is Born is the only record of theirs to make my cut), while the later White Stripes moved so far from the early blues sound (which I love), that I've always found it hard to appreciate the likes of Satan, Icky Thump and even Elephant. As I say, I guess it's how you come to discover a band and their sound, sometimes that first impression just grabs you so hard you can't ever really fall in love with anything that follows.

Re. The Decemberists, I see where you're coming from, there is certainly a Celtic influence which is hard to avoid in their work, but for some reason it just doesn't agitate me as much as The Pogues. Song writing wise, I can certain respect MaGowan, but their sound has always just swayed a little too far into traditional Irish music that I can't connect. The Decemberists, as you say, are not as overtly Celtic, they still have this folkish charm to their music I like, and honestly, I think they write catchier music too. It's all just personal preference though, I guess.

Big Country are a band I've known of without ever really exploring, I'll certainly look into them.

User avatar
JohnErle
Snake Plissken
Posts: 2905
Joined: October 22nd, 2009, 4:01 am
Contact:

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by JohnErle »

There is one album in my top 20 that is generally perceived to be that band's best album and one of the greatest albums of all-time. There is part of me that hates being so predictable, so I'll have to find the one song on that album that most people skip over. ;)

And PS to Six - I figured you'd be the one person around here who's heard of the Comsat Angels. I kept expecting them to show up on your list, along with that hyphenated phrase you love so much and which I will not repeat. Not even on Saturday mornings. ;)

User avatar
numbersix
Darth Vader
Posts: 11545
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 2:34 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by numbersix »

JohnErle wrote: And PS to Six - I figured you'd be the one person around here who's heard of the Comsat Angels. I kept expecting them to show up on your list, along with that hyphenated phrase you love so much and which I will not repeat. ;)
Yes, I've been harping on about my love of hair-metal far too much.

User avatar
JohnErle
Snake Plissken
Posts: 2905
Joined: October 22nd, 2009, 4:01 am
Contact:

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by JohnErle »

So when metal bands get old and go bald does that make them post-hair-metal? Hmmm...

Image

User avatar
numbersix
Darth Vader
Posts: 11545
Joined: October 21st, 2009, 2:34 pm

Re: Fantaverse Top 100 Albums Of All Time (Thread #8) #30-#2

Post by numbersix »

Hah!

Post Reply