What's Your Favourite Album?

[DJ Yung Crunk]

As anyone who knows me knows I am a rather vocal fan of the album format. I feel that, in most cases, it gives the songs a proper context that they are otherwise deprived of. Certainly there's an immediate and visceral appeal to the act of selecting tracks you like, but it speaks, perhaps, to the completionist in me that finds so much more satisfaction in taking music as a whole. The act of pacing, structuring an album and fleshing out its narrative or its concept has a greater depth of appreciation, to me. Maybe it does for you too, I don't know.

Whatever the case, albums are just a damn fine format and I doubt I'll get much of a fight there (though I imagine some of you wouldn't be quite so hyperbolic about your appreciation.) So, straight up, what's your single favourite album? Why that one? Does it speak to you in some deep, emotional way? Is it just more consistent than any other album you know? Do you have some sort of past with that record? There are no bad reasons here, just bad people. And I'm pretty sure those people are all on Reddit, anyway.

[Moak]

Seeing how I love concept-album, and the narration of a story through the songs... I concour. Also, it put in the right perception of the historical period/production of that moment of that artist.

My fav album? uhm... as they come to mind:

1) Savatage - the Wake of Magellan || Savatage - Dead Winter Dead
3) Devin Townsend - Synchestra
4) Van Halen - Van Halen
5) Battiato - Gommalacca
6) Vasco Rossi - Canzoni per Me
7) Extreme - III Sides to Every Story
8) Deam Theater - Metropolis pt.2:Scenes from a Memory
9) Avantasia - The Metal opera pt.2
10) Tiamat - Wildhoney
11) Tommy Emmanuel - The Only


And why the first place is a tie? Because which I prefer swings a lot with the mood of the day. Dead Winter Dead when I'm more romantic/nostalgic/"blue emotion". Wake of Magellan when I'm more energic/dynamic/proud/"red emotion".
They touch me deep. I LOVE polyphonic voices. Melodies that speak of a story from many point of view. And both are a story, from intro to resolution. The booklet also ADD something: tought and context about the song, and how it transalte from one piesce to the next. Also, I love the covers. Both are powerful in transmitting the concept they have in.
Also, there are 2 songs, one per album, that have been the tune of my love history with my wife. So...

[Feytalist]

Yeah, I've mentioned this before as well. I pretty much only listen to albums. Especially if they are meant to be listened as one. Which is also part of the reason I don't really like Best of albums.

Single favourite album though? Yeah, that doesn't exist. I can maybe pare it down to... four. At any one second. Which shifts from moment to moment. Depending on my mood. And time of day. And the phase of the moon.

Let's pick one, though. Agalloch's The Mantle will always be pretty much at the top of my nebulous list. Every song in that album fits together like puzzle pieces. The album flows like a single whole. From the acoustic strumming in A Celebration for the Death of Man, on to In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion, which is pretty nearly the perfect song on its own, all the way through to the closing strains of A Desolation Song, the narrative doesn't falter even once. Even in that odd little hiccup on A Hawthorne Passage serves as a chance to take a breath and regroup. It also contains some of the most powerful prose poetry I've ever encountered.

Also it was one of the first metal albums I ever heard. That might also have something to do with it.

[pita]

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell. Not my type of music, normally, but it's a beautiful, amazing album. The writing is some of the best I've seen, even if the singing itself varies in quality. I'd never think I'd enjoy something called a folk opera, but there is very little music I've enjoyed more.

[warty goblin]

Stan Rogers, From Fresh Water. There is absolutely no contest on this front. Mind, I think you'd have a job convincing me the twentieth century had a better folk singer than Stan Rogers, and From Fresh Water exemplifies everything he did best from the opening matter-of-fact tragedy of White Squall to the last shame in The House of Orange.

[The Extinguisher]

Ugh, I worked really hard to just make this a list of every single album I love. These three are my favourites. In no particular order.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues - Against Me!
This was released, what two week ago, and it's already one my favourites. Just absolutely amazing, brutally honest punk music. Probably the most important records of 2014 right here.


Love Ire & Song - Frank Turner
Every single song on this album is just great. I always waffle back and forth over what my favourite Frank Turner album is, but I'm pretty sure it's this one. All good songs, lots of heart, and plenty to sing along to.

Live the Dream - Ramshackle Glory
On a technical level, there's a lot better out there. It's definitely not bad, and really good at parts, but not anything fancy. What really makes the album for me is that the lead singer of the band is this big folk punk icon, but he had a lot of drug problems, mainly heroin. This album was released after he got out of rehab and is mainly focused on that. It's a terrifying look into the mind of a recovering addict and is very well worth it.

[Piggy Knowles]

Station to Station, David Bowie.

[Hida Reju]

Billy Idol - Cyberpunk

This album was ahead of its time and remains I feel his best creative work.

Favorite songs
Wasteland and Love Labors on

Runner up was "The Last of the Mohicans" soundtrack that had some of the best music I had heard in years.

[Ebon_Drake]

Rid of Me by PJ Harvey. It rocks like all hell. It's alternately stark, claustrophobic, vulnerable, brash, terrifying and funny. Harvey is a killer lyricist and an underrated guitarist, and Rid of Me shows off both skills at their best. Steve Albini's production on the album is divisive, but I personally think it reinforces the mood of the album perfectly. It has a track listing that doesn't make any sense (two versions of the same song, a random Dylan cover in the middle, a title track for her previous album) yet somehow still works. I love all of Harvey's albums, but Rid of Me is still easily my favourite.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Transgender Dysphoria Blues - Against Me!
This was released, what two week ago, and it's already one my favourites. Just absolutely amazing, brutally honest punk music. Probably the most important records of 2014 right here.
This album is really good, but I think it's importance is being way over hyped. It's audience simply isn't that big.

As for me ... Guh. I really don't know.

I actually really disliked the album format until recently, so from about the age of 12 to maybe 15, Green Day's American Idiot was probably my favorite album. The fact that it had a a real, followable story to it amazed me and it was first even vaguely punk album. So while I look back at it now and laugh, it's shaped my taste quite a bit in the following years. Yes, I know. Terrible. But that was mostly my middle school years, what wasn't terrible?

For 2013 I'm probably going to have to go with The Wonder Year's The Greatest Generation as being my favorite full album--though Alkaline Trio's Broken Wing EP is definitely up there. The Greatest Generation is just really damn good. Like The Extinguisher's evaluation of Gender Dysphoria Blues, it's "absolutely amazing, brutally honest punk." But it comes from a more nostalgic place and drives home the point so well, that I find myself empathizing with the singer and missing this place I personally have never known, despite it sounding like an absolute **** hole.

As for Alkaline Trio's EP. Just damn. Bassist and occasional lead vocalist Dan Andriano finally get's a chance at the mic after having almost no chance on their latest LP, My Shame Is True, and let's loose. His lyricism is amazingly thought provoking, and the songs themselves are either beautifully haunting or damn catchy. Of the four songs on the EP, Dan sings three of the four, and the one Matt Skiba song is an excellent return to form reminiscent of earlier, darker albums.

[Cyrion]

Favorite Album-as-Story: Brave- Marillion

Favorite Album Because of Association: Broadsword and the Beast- Jethro Tull

Favorite Album Currently on High Rotation: Recto Verso- Zaz

Brave moved into top slot when I saw it performed live. It's definitely one of those stories that a singer can sink performance teeth into and take the audience on a ride with him. BatB is one of the albums I associate with college- really good part of life. It helps that the music on it is really solid. Recto Verso is French jazz that hooks me even though I don't understand much of it (usually just enough to know what the song's about); it makes you want to move and sing along, and there are a couple of songs there that would make really good juggling routine pieces.

[BWR]

Oh, choices choices. Is there a difference between 'album' and 'collection of songs'? Do they need a common theme like Nick Cave's "Murder ballads"? Do they need to have a similar style like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts CLub Band"?

I'll stick with 'collection of songs' for now. I suppose the one that immediately springs to mind is the self-titled "The Velvet Underground and Nico".
I could probably list a hundred or more albums I like, and how I rank them would depend on which day you asked me.

[SeeDarkly_X]

Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy

It changed my life.
:mitd:

[Avilan the Grey]

I have never really cared for the "album" concept; quite frankly the whole MP3 / Spotify thing is amazing because I no longer have to buy a whole album to get the two songs that are good. I have also never had a "lifechanging experience" from albums (or music at all, for that matter).

There ARE albums where all songs are good (and are not "Greatest Hits" :smalltongue:)

I also show my age with the following selections:

AC/DC - Back In Black.
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell

[JoshL]

I could by no means pick a favorite...of anything really. I love too many things. But here are a few that have stuck with me over the years:

Joy Division - Closer Really the second side mostly. The first is spotty, but side two is perfect. Spent more time listening to that than anyone really should.

(Oingo) Boingo - Boingo Again, a couple tracks that aren't my favorite, but it flows so well. I've probably listened to the song "Insanity" more than any other song. The album is a trip, climaxing perfectly with "Change" (unless you had it on cassette, where "Helpless" served as a perfect epilogue)

Tangerine Dream - Legend (soundtrack) This happened right when I was becoming more aware of music. My interest in film music and electronic music both have roots in this album.

The Church - Priest=Aura It's amazing how complete of an album this is. It flows absolutely perfectly. This (and the next) are albums I buy every time I see to give to people who don't own it.

Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind Epic and bleak, fragments, moments of euphoria. I love every album Swans have done, but nothing compares to this one.

The Tear Garden - To Be An Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide A fantastic record, introspective and groovy. I love the Legendary Pink Dots and Skinny Puppy both, but this album soars above all others. That said, my favorite song by The Tear Garden is off the first, "You And Me And Rainbows".

Nurse With Wound - Spiral Insana I could pick almost any NWW (or C93) album, but this one is a brilliant journey. Makes me cry every time. Can't explain it, but hits me just right, the way good surrealism does.

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage The only concept album on this list. Hit me exactly right at the right time. "Watermelon In Easter Hay" made me want to play guitar.

I could go on and on. Erasure's self-titled, GYBE's Lift Your Skinny Fists, The Old Blind Dogs' Close To The Bone, Strawbs' Grave New World....I like music.

[Elkreeal]

This is the first time I've been delving through this side of the forum and I am pleasantly surprised with the eclecticism and good taste of the users of this form.

This is a hard choice to make, so I'd rather make a small list. I have, for as long as I can remember, a strange fascination for music that can influence my mood in good ways and since I was young that I discovered that, strangely, music dubbed "depressing" has the opposite influence on my feelings, making me, well, feel better. So most atmospheric or ambient black metal, post-punk, post-rock, shoegaze bands, and everything remotely similar make my day every time I listen to them, although the list will not be limited to this. Moving on.


Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning
This is the band that made me "discover" the aforementioned comment, so It will always have a special place in my mind.

Explosions in The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
This band got me into playing music more "professionally", got my interest in recording things with my friends and playing live, we started by simply playing post-rock with this band and a lot of other bands as influence almost in the dark while improvising, it was a transcendent feeling, and this album in specific reminds me of that, in it's simple brilliance.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
I have no words for this album, it was like love at first sight, as in you fall in love and you almost don't even know why, I just feel it's perfect.

Swans - The Great Annihilator
As above, this album was the first album I ever heard of Swans and definitely one of my favorite albums.

Merzbow - Dharma
I love this, and as EItS did this project got me into recording, I don't even think this is Merzbow's best work but it's my favorite for certain.

Forgotten Woods - Curse of Mankind
There's something about Forgotten Woods that attracts me to them like sirens, the simplicity and atmosphere of the music, so ahead of it's time in my point of view, there's something about their slower doomy black metal that makes me love everything they have but this is my favorite work of theirs.

Hateful Abandon - Famine ( or Into the Bellies of Worms)
The band that got a nickname mixing both things that most influence me on a musical composition level : "the Joy Division of black metal", this work is simply amazing, the lyrics are brilliant.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
New Dawn Fades will always be my favorite JD song and therefore this will always be my favorite JD album. No song has marked me so much as this one, or have I listened to any other song more than I did New Dawn Fades.

Inverno Eterno - Póstumo
My country has a spotless underground black metal scene and this album to me, more than their other one, is probably the album I would take from my house in case it was on fire and I could only take one CD lol. The lyrics are based on a couple of portuguese modernist poets and 2 other older poets from the 1800's heavily based on the interpretation of negative feelings, one's own existence and nostalgia.

Ars Diavoli - Clausura
This is another portuguese black metal band, also based on a kind of feelings mentioned above. It's claustrophobic and like a relief at the same time, it has an atmospheric feeling to it. It seems to me almost contradicting in the way that it seems to create walls around me but pass on a feeling of an open space. It gives me the feeling of getting something out of my chest, a feeling of strange peace.

Linda Martini - Olhos de Mongol
I have to thank this band so much for this album, I heard it so long ago and it opened my horizons and helped solidify the taste I have for music now a days. This is probably the best Portugal has to offer in what concerns the post-rock genre, this album is energetic, it's mellow, it's happy and it's nostalgic at the same time.

[Eonas]

Yeah, I've mentioned this before as well. I pretty much only listen to albums. Especially if they are meant to be listened as one. Which is also part of the reason I don't really like Best of albums.

Single favourite album though? Yeah, that doesn't exist. I can maybe pare it down to... four. At any one second. Which shifts from moment to moment. Depending on my mood. And time of day. And the phase of the moon.

Let's pick one, though. Agalloch's The Mantle will always be pretty much at the top of my nebulous list. Every song in that album fits together like puzzle pieces. The album flows like a single whole. From the acoustic strumming in A Celebration for the Death of Man, on to In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion, which is pretty nearly the perfect song on its own, all the way through to the closing strains of A Desolation Song, the narrative doesn't falter even once. Even in that odd little hiccup on A Hawthorne Passage serves as a chance to take a breath and regroup. It also contains some of the most powerful prose poetry I've ever encountered.

Also it was one of the first metal albums I ever heard. That might also have something to do with it.

Agalloch is fantastic. My favorite doom album (which is admittedly rather gothic as well) is easily Draconian - A Rose for the Apocalypse, though. Everything about them oozes tragedy - from the growls to the clean female vocals to the melodies to the slowness. Adagio for Strings? Pah, give me Death Come Near Me anyday.

I'm like you in that I can't decide on a favorite. Some albums that I really like, though, are...
Draconian - A Rose for the Apocalypse for the reasons listed above
Infected Mushroom - Army of Mushrooms for its brilliant and unique take on Dubstep/Electro, Rhapsody of Fire - Legendary Tales for its boundless enthusiasm (and the kickass instrumental solo in Warrior of Ice)
Jean Michel Jarre - Chronologie for its eclecticism and generally incredible composing,
Esoteric - Paragon of Dissonance for its slow-boiling tragedy which takes a long while to seep in but which stays seeped,
Faun - Von Del Elben for its modern take on the medieval sound and for the singer's extremely attractive voice,
Septic Flesh - Communion for its dramatic, atmospheric, and sinister sound,
and especially Igorrr - Nostril and Igorrr - Hallelujah for so many reasons, chief among them the fact that Igorrr creates a musical hodgepodge of the highest order which works. You can listen to his music as many times as you like, and never loses any of its power or interest because it's so incredibly intricate and well-composed

Everybody reading this take a listen to Igorrr - Tout Petit Moineau (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKp30C3MwVk). I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that it's one of the most chilling pieces of music I've ever heard.


This is the first time I've been delving through this side of the forum and I am pleasantly surprised with the eclecticism and good taste of the users of this form.

This is a hard choice to make, so I'd rather make a small list. I have, for as long as I can remember, a strange fascination for music that can influence my mood in good ways and since I was young that I discovered that, strangely, music dubbed "depressing" has the opposite influence on my feelings, making me, well, feel better. So most atmospheric or ambient black metal, post-punk, post-rock, shoegaze bands, and everything remotely similar make my day every time I listen to them, although the list will not be limited to this. Moving on.


Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning
This is the band that made me "discover" the aforementioned comment, so It will always have a special place in my mind.

Explosions in The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
This band got me into playing music more "professionally", got my interest in recording things with my friends and playing live, we started by simply playing post-rock with this band and a lot of other bands as influence almost in the dark while improvising, it was a transcendent feeling, and this album in specific reminds me of that, in it's simple brilliance.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
I have no words for this album, it was like love at first sight, as in you fall in love and you almost don't even know why, I just feel it's perfect.

Swans - The Great Annihilator
As above, this album was the first album I ever heard of Swans and definitely one of my favorite albums.

Merzbow - Dharma
I love this, and as EItS did this project got me into recording, I don't even think this is Merzbow's best work but it's my favorite for certain.

Forgotten Woods - Curse of Mankind
There's something about Forgotten Woods that attracts me to them like sirens, the simplicity and atmosphere of the music, so ahead of it's time in my point of view, there's something about their slower doomy black metal that makes me love everything they have but this is my favorite work of theirs.

Hateful Abandon - Famine ( or Into the Bellies of Worms)
The band that got a nickname mixing both things that most influence me on a musical composition level : "the Joy Division of black metal", this work is simply amazing, the lyrics are brilliant.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
New Dawn Fades will always be my favorite JD song and therefore this will always be my favorite JD album. No song has marked me so much as this one, or have I listened to any other song more than I did New Dawn Fades.

Inverno Eterno - Póstumo
My country has a spotless underground black metal scene and this album to me, more than their other one, is probably the album I would take from my house in case it was on fire and I could only take one CD lol. The lyrics are based on a couple of portuguese modernist poets and 2 other older poets from the 1800's heavily based on the interpretation of negative feelings, one's own existence and nostalgia.

Ars Diavoli - Clausura
This is another portuguese black metal band, also based on a kind of feelings mentioned above. It's claustrophobic and like a relief at the same time, it has an atmospheric feeling to it. It seems to me almost contradicting in the way that it seems to create walls around me but pass on a feeling of an open space. It's gives me the feeling of getting something out of my chest, a feeling of strange peace.

Linda Martini - Olhos de Mongol
I have to thank this band so much for this album, I heard it so long ago and it opened my horizons and helped solidify the taste I have for music now a days. This is probably the best Portugal has to offer in what concerns the post-rock genre, this album is energetic, it's mellow, it's happy and it's nostalgic at the same time.

Thanks for this list. The only artist/band here that I've actually listened to is Merzbow. Really fascinating stuff.
I'll definitely be listening to all of that later.

[OhJohnNo]

This is a great thread and I want to post mine, but with respect Crunkie... you first. :smallwink:

[Elkreeal]

Everybody reading this take a listen to Igorrr - Tout Petit Moineau (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKp30C3MwVk). I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that it's one of the most chilling pieces of music I've ever heard.

This is actually pretty amazing, it's weird in a good way and I like it.

[Feytalist]

I have, for as long as I can remember, a strange fascination for music that can influence my mood in good ways and since I was young that I discovered that, strangely, music dubbed "depressing" has the opposite influence on my feelings, making me, well, feel better.

I'm exactly like that as well. Depressive stuff is incredibly cathartic for me.


Agalloch is fantastic. My favorite doom album (which is admittedly rather gothic as well) is easily Draconian - A Rose for the Apocalypse, though. Everything about them oozes tragedy - from the growls to the clean female vocals to the melodies to the slowness. Adagio for Strings? Pah, give me Death Come Near Me anyday.

Draconian is good yeah. But my favourite doom album will always be My Dying Bride's The Angel and the Dark River. That opener... yeah, that's the stuff right there.

[Eachuinn]

I'm rather fond of this one:

Tales From the Kingdom of Fife-Gloryhammer
Despite the epic tone of the symphonic power metal theme that Gloryhammer has going on, this album isn't to be taken too seriously. Gloryhammer is an affectionate parody of Power Metal and Fantasy as a whole, with songs like The Epic Rage of Furious Thunder you know what you're in for.

[SeeDarkly_X]

Tangerine Dream - Legend (soundtrack) This happened right when I was becoming more aware of music. My interest in film music and electronic music both have roots in this album.


I still own this on cassette tape from when I first got it after the movie came out when I was a kid! I didn't own the movie itself until a couple years ago.

Joy Division was a late find for me, but I love those albums too.

[Corlindale]

I love this thread. Just what I need to overcome my musical stagnation these days.

Here are a few of my own favourites, in no particular order:

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

Progressive late 80's metal. I'm not usually a metal guy, but something about this album really clicked with me the first time I heard it. Especially the first half of the album has some amazingly catchy songs that really work well together.

Marillion - Misplaced Childhood

This album is an emotional rollercoaster. So much power (especially thanks to Fish' epic voice), so many different moods, so much epicness. The tracks are tied together perfectly. Though it has both sad and happy songs, it ends on an uplifting note and never fails to cheer me up.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

If you look up "funky" in a dictionary, there should be a picture of this album. I usually loathe albums with live music and much prefer studio recordings, but somehow Talking Heads pull it off perfectly. Unlike the others it's not really a "concept" album as such (technically it's the soundtrack from their concert movie by the same name), but it has so many good songs that it still works perfectly as a whole.

[Zrak]

I can't really see choosing a single favorite album out of the diversity of styles and sounds out there. Even choosing a single musician, it's hard to choose between the earnest, subdued beauty of Nick Cave albums like And No More Shall We Part and The Boatman's Call, the groovy, sleazy apocalypses of Abattoir Blues and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, and the pervasive mania and dread of records like Your Funeral... My Trial. The raw, frenetic energy of Crime As Forgiven By Against Me! or the more polished and anthemic Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose? (On that note, I wish Ms. Grace all the best in her endeavors, but the new album appealed to me only a little more than the last few.) The crushing dirges of The Mountain Goats's Tallahassee, the hymns to redemption on We Shall All Be Healed, or the beautiful vignettes of All Hail West Texas? Basically every album by Songs: Ohia?

If I had to pick, I'd probably select one of the Songs: Ohia albums (either their self-titled record or Lioness), one of the late-period Nick Cave albums (probably Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus, just to get two for the price of one), Orchid's Chaos is Me, or The Clash's self-titled record.

[Ravens_cry]

I can't say I have one. I tend to like songs more than albums and artists. If I like something, I like it, with little brand loyalty, as it were.

[nyjastul69]

In no particular order these are some albums I never get tired of hearing.

Different Stages- Rush
Aqualung-Jethro Tull
O.G. Original Gangster-Ice-T
Exile on Main St.-The Rolling Stones

[Marillion]

Ohh man.

Let's start with nostalgia. The very first band that got me really interested in music was Rhapsody, an Italian self-described Symphonic Hollywood Metal band. Dawn of Victory and Power of the Dragonflame had the right mix of epic storytelling and epic music, and I was inevitably hooked. I listen to them a lot less than I used to, but they'll always hold a place in my heart.

Lateralus by Tool is probably one of the greatest things ever. Hopeful and despairing in equal measures, beautifully complex but expressing simple profound truths, this album taught me to always spiral out.

And then there's Acid Bath. Both of their albums are true classics. They're raw, loud, morbid, vulgar, violent, and ugly...interspersed with moments of tranquil, horrible beauty. Bones of Baby Dolls, Graveflower, and New Death Sensation are so radically different from Jezebel, Dr. Seuss Is Dead, and 13 fingers you'd hardly think the same band wrote them, let alone put them on the same album. But it works. I think I love this band because it shows that even awful sickness and great evil can be terrifyingly beautiful.

The Mountain Goats are really fantastic all around, but I think I'd call out Heretic Pride as my favorite. Be true to yourself, and be proud of who you are, even if no one else understands.

Blood Mountain by Mastodon is the album that got me interested in playing drums, and forever changed the way I listen to music, so there's that. Every single song on this album is evocative and almost mythical in scope, from The Wolf is Loose to Siberian Divide.

Weather Systems by Anathema. Anathema have changed quite a bit over the years, and the journey from inconsolably heartbroken songs on Judgment and A Fine Day To Exit to the wondrous, tear-strained but joyous anthems on Weather System is quite a difficult one. Weather Systems speaks to me on a spiritual level, from Gathering of the Clouds to Lightning Song to Storm Before The Calm.

I could go on...But I need to go to work.

[nyjastul69]

Heh, I forgot one that should have been listed.

Reign In Blood-Slayer

[Corlindale]

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell. Not my type of music, normally, but it's a beautiful, amazing album. The writing is some of the best I've seen, even if the singing itself varies in quality. I'd never think I'd enjoy something called a folk opera, but there is very little music I've enjoyed more.

Consider this strongly seconded. I checked it out a few days ago while browsing various stuff from this thread, and I've listened to it almost non-stop ever since. Such a crazy mix of genres and influences, but still a fantastic sense of continuity and it actually tells a compelling story.

Thanks for bringing this hidden gem to my attention :smallsmile:

(Also, Way Down Hadestown has been stuck in my head all this time. Extremely catchy tune. )

[Zrak]

I wouldn't put either Acid Bath record up with my all-time favorites, personally, but they're still a nice band and it's great to see them get recognition. I feel like they're overlooked even within metal because they were so strange and, in a lot of ways, ahead of their time.

Plus, when I ended up seeing Dax Riggs play a live solo set at some festival or something, he covered my favorite Townes Van Zandt song, which is pretty cool.

EDIT: Also, Heretic Pride isn't one of my favorite Mountain Goats albums, but Sax Rohmer #1 is one my favorite Mountain Goats songs. "And a rabbit gives up somewhere/And a dozen hawks descend/Every moment leads towards it's own sad end."

[Feytalist]

Weather Systems by Anathema. Anathema have changed quite a bit over the years, and the journey from inconsolably heartbroken songs on Judgment and A Fine Day To Exit to the wondrous, tear-strained but joyous anthems on Weather System is quite a difficult one. Weather Systems speaks to me on a spiritual level, from Gathering of the Clouds to Lightning Song to Storm Before The Calm.

Strange you mention Weather Systems. I love Anathema; A Fine Day To Exit and A Natural Disaster being my favourites. They did melancholy damn good. Then with Weather Systems their sound changed so dramatically. Or not even their sound. Their message. Weather Systems is incredibly uplifting, and it's amazing that it can be so different and still so good. (I still prefer the old stuff, though.)

And Internal Landscapes is a leeetl heavy-handed but we can forgive that, I think.

[robinhussain2]

And why the first place is a tie? Because which I prefer swings a lot with the mood of the day. Dead Winter Dead when I'm more romantic/nostalgic/"blue emotion". Wake of Magellan when I'm more energic/dynamic/proud/"red emotion".

[Weezer]

My favorite album by far is Velvet Underground and Nico by Velvet Underground. I firmly believe its one album everyone should really listen to. Here's a massive wall of text I posted on another forum analyzing it and trying to show why I think it's so good. Went a bit overboard...



A bit of background:

The Velvet Underground were a sign that rock was changing. They were the harbingers of punk, with their first album released in 1967 while they were still the house band for Warhol's Factory and his roadshow Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The VU are one of the primary influences on punk and in their music you can really see the transition from the largely pop sensibilties of mainstream 60s rock (your Stones and Beatles) to the grittier, more raw and experimental sounds of the punk, postpunk and even much of mainstream 70s rock. Doomed to obscurity throughout their existence, they still managed to influnce an incredible amount of the rock that followed and become very well known in the decades following their dissolution. To quote someone who I can't remember "The album [Velvet Underground and Nico] sold 10,000 albums and everyone who bought an album went on to found a band".

The Album:

This album is in many ways a look at the darker side of the wild 60s, a side of drug use and sexuality not seen in much of the music of the time, though there were more conventional pop songs on the album. The album really showcases their range veering from the dreamy pop of Sunday Morning to the garage rock of I'm Waiting for the Man to the atonality and bursting static found in The Black Angel's Death Song. A very diverse album, but still one tied together by a penchant for darker themes and experimentalism.

The opening track, Sunday Morning, is as I mentioned before one of the poppiest songs on the album and actually the last song recorded. Their producer felt the album needed a track with the potential to become a hit single, and this was the result. Its dreamy, flowing feel with a melancholic undertone works well to ease one into the album. After the gentle Sunday Morning fades away, you're hit by the garage rock attack and pounding piano of I'm Waiting for My Man, a song about an out of place junkie waiting around a ghetto to score some drugs. This is the first real glimpse at the album's gritty focus, especially the reminder that even though he's feeling good from his hit, it will fade and he'll be back tomorrow, waiting for his man. Again, we have a tonal shift as the abrasiveness of Waiting transitions into the gentle Femme Fatale another of the poppier tracks. This track served as the B-side for the album's single, and is one of my less favorite songs of the album, the transition from Waiting for my Man to Femme Fatale is jarring in a way that doesn't quite work for me.

After this track comes Venus In Furs, a song about sadomasochism (named after a book written by Sacher-Masoch, the person who gave rise to the term "masochism"), describing a dominatrix dressed in "boots of Shiny, shiny leather" and wielding a "Tongue of thongs, [and] the belt that does await you". It's again a look at the darker side of live, in this case sexuality and the violence that some see in it. Interestingly enough (from a musical standpoint) the lead guitar was tuned in a fashion known as "ostrich", where all of the strings are tuned to the same note, in this case C. This is also the album where John Cale's atonal electric viola makes an appearance. The juxtaposition between the rhythmic, insistent ostrich guitar and the grating atonality of the viola serve to create an uncomfortable feeling that well matches the lyrical subject. The second to last song on the A side was Run Run Run, it's a chronicle of a number of characters seeking for and/or using drugs, including a heroin overdose (When she turned blue, all the angels screamed, They didn't know, they couldn't make the scene). This song is characterized by Reed's heavy blues guitar, including the best solo of the album, and the interesting lyrical combination of drug use and religious imagery. The final track for this side is All Tomorrow's Parties, Warhol's favorite song by the band. It's a description of some regulars at Warhol's Factory and it's constant cycle of partying, a lot calmer than the at time frenetic preceding track, it's a more melancholic track, focusing on the 'trap' of constant pressures of appearance and of staying on the edge of and ever changing avante guarde that Reed saw many of Warhol's clique fall into.

The second side opens with the song Heroin, whose topic should be self explanatory. It's a varied song that features repeating frantic and increasingly atonal crests and drifting troughs, representing the highs and downswings of heroin use. It very explicitly depicts heroin use, abuse and addiction in a way that's not quite an endorsement but not quite a condemnation, and talks about it as "the death of me, it's my wife and it's my life". In many ways the darkest song, it depicts ones complete dependence on this drug. I think it's my personal favorite, the uncomfortable, atonal, screaming crescendos and the ever shortening releases really effects me in a physical way. Whether that rising discomfort and then calming denouement are accurate representations of heroin use, I can't say, but it certainly feels that way. It's a genius song and one of the best musical depictions of drug use I've come across.

The following track is There She Goes Again, a deceptively upbeat sounding song describing a prostitute, the exact details are ambiguous, but I've always seen it as it looking through from the perspective of a guy who drove away his (once very dependent) girlfriend, who is just becoming a prostitute desperation? Regardless of its intended meaning, this song depicts clearly the extremities some people are forced to go to in order to survive. The next song, I'll Be Your Mirror is the final song with Nico as lead vocals, and like the previous two she lead is a rather poppy, though melancholic. Despite the sound, this is in many ways the most positive song on the album, depicting someone acting as a mirror for another, showing them their true beauty rather than their self-loathing and belief that inside they're "twisted and unkind".

The second to last track on the album is The Black Angel's Death Song and is the most experimental track on the album. It features most heavily Cale's atonal viola and regular hissing static/feedback that is probably someone blowing hard into a microphone. The atonal swirls are overlaid by Reed's deadpan, almost speaking, vocals are a philosophical musing about death, fate, personal choice and pain. The final song European Son opens with a bluesy style common to many contemporaries, a familiarity shattered when one minute in a glass is shattered and an atonal screech drags itself from your speakers. The song breaks into a wild rock improvisation filled with (yet more) atonality, screaming solos, random noises and pounding base. It's a suitably complex and uncomfortable track to end an album that is just that.