The Art of the Album

[chasea]

I've made my opinions on Exile known here:
http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...ime-20030.html

Start to finish, what are your favorite albums?

Go.

Greatest Hits and live albums (pretty much greatest hits) don't count.

[Brandon White]

The Good Life - Blackout
The Antlers - Hospice
Neutral Milk Hotel - In an airplane over the sea
Cursive - Domestica

That's not in any order. I took the stats from iTunes, but also - these immediately come to mind.

[MacLaughlin]

The Good Life - Blackout
The Antlers - Hospice
Neutral Milk Hotel - In an airplane over the sea
Cursive - Domestica

That's not in any order. I took the stats from iTunes, but also - these immediately come to mind.

Yay, "Aeroplane!" Truly a new American classic.
I'd like to add "In a Priest-Driven Ambulance" from The Flaming Lips
Violent Femmes' "Violent Femmes,"
and "Elephant Eyelash," from Why?

[alexstar]

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Opeth - Morningrise
Kampfar - Kvass
Death - For The Whole World To See
Notorious BIG - Ready to Die
Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa
The Crooked Jades - World's On Fire
Arcade Fire - Funeral
T-Rex - The Slider
This Bike is a Pipe Bomb - Front Seat Solidarity
Bent Outta Shape - Stray Dog Town
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks/Underdog World Strike
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.

[zetroc]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Cream - Disraeli Gears (also Fresh Cream)
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Windir - Arntor
Bach - Goldberg Variations (glenn gould, 1981)
Mistur - Attende
Philip Glass - Solo Piano

[GRAVELBIKE]

Full Collapse or No Devolucion (tie, even though they're two very different records) -- Thursday
Never Mind The Bullocks -- Sex Pistols
Second Edition (aka, Metal Box) -- Public Image Ltd (but to be completely honest, everything after track 5 just pales in comparison)
Unknown Pleasures or Closer (again, a tie) -- Joy Division

[jonathanb]

Off the top of my head…

Robert Fripp -- Exposure
Miles Davis -- Milestones
Nihilist Spasm Band -- Vol. 2
Deep Purple -- Machine Head
Devo -- Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo
Alvin Lucier -- Music on a Long Thin Wire

[robin3mj]

I could get by with just these 7 if I had to.

Beatles- Abbey Road
Black Crowes- Shake Your Moneymaker
Jurassic 5- Quality Control
Sinatra- Come Fly With Me
Sinatra- Come Swing With Me
Springsteen- Greetings…
Marley- Catch a Fire

['nati Chris]

New Bomb Turks- Destroy Oh Boy! (anything they did, except for their last, is terrific)
X- Under a Big Black Sun
Replacements- Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation...
Hellacopters- Super Shitty to the Max
The Fluid were a great live band but I just can't put one of their albums on the list.
Maybe not one that should belong on this list but The Clash opened my eyes.
The Who- Quadrophenia

[omnigrid]

Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin, 1994

[chasea]

Off the top of my head:

Too Much Love- Harlan T Bobo
Too Much Guitar- Reigning Sound
Sea Change- Beck
Tonight's the Night- Neil Young
Funhouse- The Stooges
Movement- New Order
Pacific Ocean Blue- Dennis Wilson
A Ghost is Born- Wilco
This is Happening- LCD Soundsystem


Here's my complaint with hip hop albums- Too long. Too many skits. Usually one or two songs wedged in that just don't fit the album as a whole.

Tyler the Creator came pretty damn close with Goblin, though.
And Talib Kweli's Reflection Eternal is up there.

[zetroc]

I'm gonna add:

New Order - Low-life
The Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
Angry Samoans - Back from Samoa
Masters of Reality - Sunrise on the Sufferbus

[boundgear]

Blackalicious- Blazing Arrow
Willie Colon- El Malo
Willie Colon- Asalto Navideno
People Under the Stairs- Highlighter
Cyrus Chestnut- Earth Stories
Julius Watkins Sextet- vol 1 & 2
Cymande- Cymande
Don Byron- Bug Music

[vpierce]

Here's my complaint with hip hop albums- Too long. Too many skits. Usually one or two songs wedged in that just don't fit the album as a whole.

Tyler the Creator came pretty damn close with Goblin, though.
And Talib Kweli's Reflection Eternal is up there.

Nas-Illmatic

[R.Liverman]

I'm surprised this has not been mentioned:

OK Computer :: Radiohead

[chasea]

Harlan T Bobo- I'm Your Man (That's right, listed him twice.)
The Roots - Phrenology
Kanye West-College Dropout (Hey, it holds up)
NWA- Straight Outta Compton
The Strokes- Is This It
Liars- Drums Not Dead
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever to Tell
Tv on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Nirvana- Nevermind, In Utero
Beastie Boys- I'll Communication

Up next... Classic Rock... or Britpop?

[malcolm22]

lots more on this list, but two of them

[malcolm22]

couple more

[malcolm22]

and more

[malcolm22]

and as a sidebar - one of my favorite albums, not in the top tier, but definitely one of the great album covers