AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

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veganvalentine
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by veganvalentine »

Hymie wrote:For me the lyrics only matter in a strict phonetic away. I have no interest whatsoever in what the lyrics mean. The only time that I even pay attention to what lyrics mean are in the case of song parodies by people like Weird Al or Allan Sherman.
- That's reminds me of Jon Anderson of Yes saying that he wrote lyrics largely for how they sounded, rather than what they meant. Inscrutable lyrics can work, as I'm intrigued by the "umbilical blisters" and "exoskeletal" stuff The Mars Volta sing about, but it's definitely a fine line. The lyrics that really irk me are the ones that are overly focused on rhyming; it often sounds like an unpoetic musician who wants vocals in a song but doesn't have much to say.

- If I'm hooked by an album's music, then the lyrics (hopefully) become an additional layer to savor and analyze when I listen to the album repeatedly.

- Also, sometimes critics focus on lyrics too much; perhaps detailed discussion of chord progressions and musical technique would turn off readers who aren't musicians, but they are necessary for a full analysis of a piece of music and are sorely lacking from a lot of pop music criticism. It may also be that critics focus on lyrics because they are writers themselves so it's something they can really sink their teeth into.
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notbrianeno
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

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ELATION--ELEGANCE--EXALTATION--
All from God.
Thank you God. Amen.
#85. John Coltrane | A Love Supreme (1965)
# of Voters: 28 | Score: 1634.398
Rank in 2014: #86
AM 3000 Rank: #74
Top Fans: SonofSamIAm (#1), Jackson (#4), NotBrianEno (#4), JasonBob4567 (#10), Bootsy (#15), Nico (#21), Spiderpig (#24), Bruno (#28), Panam (#30), Listyguy (#35), Dudumb (#48), Nick (#65), VanillaFire1000 (#71), Dexter (#92), LiveinPhoenix (#99)
Two important things happened to John Coltrane in 1957: The saxophonist left Miles Davis' employ to join Thelonious Monk's band and hit new heights in extended, ecstatic soloing. Coltrane also kicked heroin addiction, a vital step in a spiritual awakening that climaxed with this legendary album-long hymn of praise – transcendent music perfect for the high point of the civil rights movement. The indelible four-note theme of the first piece, "Acknowledgment," is the humble foundation of the suite. But Coltrane's majestic, often violent blowing (famously described as "sheets of sound") is never self-aggrandizing. His playing soars with nothing but gratitude and joy. You can't help but go with him.
--Rolling Stone

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You bury your treasure where it can't be found
But your love is a secret that's been passed around
There is a silence that comes to a house
Where no-one can sleep
I guess it's the price of love, I know it's not cheap
#84. U2 | Achtung Baby (1991)
# of Voters: 30 | Score: 1643.735
Rank in 2014: #49
AM 3000 Rank: #80
Top Fans: StevieFan13 (#18), LiveinPhoenix (#19), ChrisK (#19), Dexter (#21), Chambord (#23), RockyRaccoon (#40), M24 (#44), GucciLittlePiggy (#46), GabeBasso (#51), Toni (#60), Nico (#69), Bruno (#74), Andyd1010 (#75), Listyguy (#80), Michel (#80), PlasticRam (#90), Karla (#95)
Achtung Baby and its accompanying Zoo TV tour lived within the slippage between perception and reality. "Sometimes you can get far closer to the truth of what you're trying to say by highlighting what it isn't as if it were true," said the Edge on "Naked City". "That's assuming we know the truth-- 'truth' is one of those words that's lost its meaning." In the 80s, U2 seemed endlessly in search of a definite truth, whether in peace or god or love or some ambiguous combination of the three. Famously, they didn't find it.

Achtung Baby is rightly known as one of rock's greatest reinventions because it was so complete. Sure, U2 changed their sound from chiming melodics to lurching, distorted rhythm. But they also changed their attitude, their demeanor, their look, their ideas on how to deal with celebrity. All of a sudden, they were funny, sexy, a bit dangerous-- three things few would've associated with U2 in the 80s. And yet, at their core, the band's values remained constant. They were still ethically minded and interested in the real-life connection between living beings. But the way they went about projecting those core tenets flipped. In TV-news parlance, their attitude switched from "60 Minutes" to "The Colbert Report".
--Ryan Dombal, Pitchfork

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We are the Sherlock Holmes English Speaking Vernacular
Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula
We are the Office Block Persecution Affinity
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
We are the Skyscraper condemnation Affiliate
God save tudor houses, antique tables and billiards
#83. The Kinks | The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1655.041
Rank in 2014: #74
AM 3000 Rank: #170
Top Fans: Jackson (#6), Miguel (#10), Georgie (#16), BryanBehar (#14), VanillaFire1000 (#19), BangJan (#31), Harold (#34), Zombeels (#60), SJner (#75), OrdinaryPerson (#85), RockyRaccoon (#89), SonofSamIAm (#90)
The Davies know that this dream of time traveling back to a pastoral wonderland is a bit unrealistic. It was practically the plot of one of their other concept albums, Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire in which the title character ends up depressed in quasi-exile to Australia. This is why in the title track they equate the mythical Village Green with Disneyana, comic books, pulp novels, and virginity. The sort of things that adults lose track of over the years, essentially. They also add in there 'strawberry jam and all the different varieties,' which are of course preserves. Sly gag. Throughout the album they also note the obsession with documenting and cataloging the past ('Picture book of people with each other - to prove they loved one another' for instance or 'People take pictures of the summer just in case someone thought they had missed it') and how that simultaneously living in the past and future subtracts from living in the present. Why should we preserve the past for the future at the cost of living in the present?
--jshopa, RYM

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Out on the floor
There ain't nobody there but us
Girl when you dance
There's a magic that must be love
Just take it slow
'Cause we got so far to go
You gotta feel that heat
And we can ride the boogie
Share that beat of love
#82. Michael Jackson | Off the Wall (1979)
# of Voters: 31 | Score: 1655.411
Rank in 2014: #117
AM 3000 Rank: #111
Top Fans: Nico (#5), Renan (#7), Felipinho (#8), RickyMathias (#10), Bruno (#10), Slucs (#10), Victor.Marianoo77 (#13), BonnieLaurel (#24), Bootsy (#28), Dudumb (#44), Schaefer.tk (#53), Karla (#58), Babydoll (#78)
The album opens on a joyously confident note with “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” a funky piece of pop (or a poppy piece of funk?) that’s a natural successor to “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground),” which Jackson co-wrote with his brother Randy for the Jacksons (as the Jackson 5 was renamed when they left Motown). Jackson’s songwriting was still in the early stages, and he only had a hand in two more tracks on Off the Wall, both geared toward getting the listener moving, “Workin’ Day and Night” and the self-explanatory “Get on the Floor.” The crisp production and concise arrangements make the songs really snap.

Jackson’s skills as a highly emotive singer are also nicely on display. “She’s Out of My Life” is the most highly touted in this regard, and rightly so; it goes for restraint in a weepy number than other hands might’ve opted to take in a more bombastic direction. But the delicate “Girlfriend” (released as a single in the United Kingdom) is also worth rediscovering, a playful song that shows how nuanced a performer Jackson could be.
--Gillian G. Gaar, Paste

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I am helium raven and this movie is mine
So he cried out as he stretched the sky
Pushing it all out like latex cartoon, am I all alone in this generation?
We'll just be dreaming of animation night and day
And won't let up, won't let up and I see them coming in
Oh, I couldn't hear them before, but I hear 'em now
It's a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lights
#81. Patti Smith | Horses (1975)
# of Voters: 31 | Score: 1677.393
Rank in 2014: #77
AM 3000 Rank: #22
Top Fans: Antonius (#5), Jeff (#14), BleuPanda (#20), Jirin (#27), NotBrianEno (#33), BangJan (#52), Acoramor (#59), RockyRaccoon (#67), Spiderpig (#67), ProsecutorGodot (#70), Moonbeam (#71), Michel (#76), LiveinPhoenix (#78), Harold (#81), Bruno (#82), JWinton (#88), Toni (#90), DocBrown (#90)
In retrospect, of course, it’s a dream line-up. An album by punk’s numero uno poet/priestess, produced by the coolest member of the Velvets (John Cale) with a Robert Mapplethorpe cover and even featuring CBGB-era legend Tom Verlaine on guitar. But then you look at the release date and realise how groundbreaking Horses really was. Talk about getting there first… while Horses stands as a defining statement in the run-up to 1976 and punk’s year-zero it’s also unafraid to wear its art on its sleeve. Both “Land” and “Birdland” clock in at around 10 minutes ( a perversely prog trick that Verlaine’s Television also used on Marquee Moon) – this was something that The Ramones et al were to utterly reject and as such marks Smith as more of a spiritual mother and inspiration rather than a core player.
Whatever, Horses remains a towering masterpiece of bile and beat. At the time it was a shock to the system – it retains its power to this day.
--Chris Jones, BBC
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BleuPanda
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by BleuPanda »

Horses has since become my #3 album after a few re-listens due to Best of the B-Sides 2. I wonder how much that 17 position increase would have affected things if I bothered to update my list another time before the submissions actually closed.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Bruno »

BleuPanda wrote:Horses has since become my #3 album after a few re-listens due to Best of the B-Sides 2. I wonder how much that 17 position increase would have affected things if I bothered to update my list another time before the submissions actually closed.
What a jump! :o
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by VanillaFire1000 »

Back to back Bruce!
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notbrianeno
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by notbrianeno »

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I know something is very wrong
The post returns for prodigal songs
The black-eyed sharks with flowered muse
With skull designs upon my shoes
#80. David Bowie | ★ (2016)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 1700.149
Rank in 2014: N/A
AM 3000 Rank: N/A
Top Fans: Romain (#15), RickyMathias (#22), Jirin (#35), GabeBasso (#47), M24 (#50), BleuPanda (#54), Panam (#56), Maschine_man (#57), JohnnyBGoode (#62), Whuntva (#63), OrdinaryPerson (#70), Jackson (#72), Nick (#83), Toni (#98)
★ is possibly his most mythical and yet, dare i say, intimate statement. Most importantly it is a document of a man divorcing himself from, and yet longingly aching for eternal union with his own mythology. Not since his partnership with Eno has Bowie/Jones been this fearless, this strange and this true to his own nature, so willing to play with dissonance and contradiction. For an artist who has always emitted the aura of utter confidence and artistic bravery it now seems clear that he was often more tentative and susceptible to tastes than initially perceived, for surely when he had nothing left to lose he performed his grandest gestures. ★ casts off any shackle of veiled circumspection and serves as the fittingly brilliant summation of a fascinating marriage of man and myth.
--unearth, RYM

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Pink ribbon scars
That never forget
I tried so hard
To cleanse these regrets
My angel wings
Were bruised and restrained
My belly stings
#79. The Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream (1993)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1705.347
Rank in 2014: #112
AM 3000 Rank: #137
Top Fans: Dudumb (#1), Spiderpig (#19), Toni (#27), BleuPanda (#28), NotBrianEno (#28), JohnnyBGoode (#46), ChrisK (#53), Dexter (#55), Harold (#70), RockyRaccoon (#82), Whuntva (#90), JWinton (#95), Listyguy (#96)
Judged solely by their 1991 debut, Gish, there were few signs that the Smashing Pumpkins could have produced a work as disciplined and cohesive as their sophomore effort, Siamese Dream. Though Gish was grungy and rhythmic, with threads of artsy, Moody Blues-inspired psychedelia sewn throughout, it also contained its fair share of self-obsessed rock clichés, including screeching, masturbatory guitar solos, and enough pseudo-spiritual, rock-as-religion metaphors to makes Chris Cornell’s lyrics sound positively literary. Whether it was frontman Billy Corgan’s near-suicidal bouts of depression, or the agony of touring, or simply their near-brush with stardom, the band quickly found its soul, and by 1993 they had mastered an indelible blend of Gen-X angst and smartly delivered guitar prowess. The Pumpkins were no longer acid headbangers, but purveyors of a far more elegant, melancholic brand of alternative rock, and they had precision in spades: Despite its bristling distortion, Siamese Dream remains an album of meticulous execution, as expertly layered, arranged, and recorded as any rock album from the past two decades.
--Kevin Liedel, Slant

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And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland
#78. Paul Simon | Graceland (1986)
# of Voters: 30 | Score: 1708.383
Rank in 2014: #51
AM 3000 Rank: #72
Top Fans: VanillaFire1000 (#1), Miguel (#3), PlasticRam (#6), DocBrown (#12), BonnieLaurel (#19), Dexter (#24), BleuPanda (#25), Gillingham (#27), Nicolas (#35), Bootsy (#39), RedAnt (#42), Toni (#44), Nico (#51), M24 (#54), RockyRaccoon (#58), Michel (#60)
There are moments here, like on the third verse of ‘Crazy Love’, when Simon’s voice glides into an unexpected, effortless falsetto, or as ‘Under African Skies’ dissolves into washes of sound and lightly ringing percussion, when Graceland sounds transcendent. There are others, like on the interlocking guitar and bass groove of ‘I Know What I Know’ or that same song’s vocal turn by General Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters when it just sounds vibrant and alive, impervious to any wider concerns or political firestorms. Simon’s lyrics are perceptive and ranging throughout, his vocals lilting and unforced; whether offering impressionistic scenes or deft character sketches, these songs are replete with memorable lines, instances and emotions. In the documentary he speaks of how liberating it was to be left alone by his label in the wake of 1983’s underperforming Hearts and Bones. On first song ‘The Boy in the Bubble’, he evokes the arrival of the Information Age, “days of miracle and wonder”, with appropriate levels of awe and uncertainty, his lens always trained on the underlying human aspect, where it remains across the set.
--James Skinner, Drowned In Sound

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Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason
So you had better do as you are told
You better listen to the radio
#77. Elvis Costello | This Year's Model (1978)
# of Voters: 32 | Score: 1711.922
Rank in 2014: #58
AM 3000 Rank: #84
Top Fans: DaveC (#15), Brad (#22), SJner (#23), Toni (#24), Harold (#27), Andyd1010 (#35), Listyguy (#40), BangJan (#64), VanillaFire1000 (#77), Honorio (#81), Spiderpig (#94)
This, Elvis Costello's second album, marked the beginning of a long and illustrious collaboration with the Attractions, not to mention one of those glorious moments in which a musician discovers a sound that is all his own. While My Aim Is True was largely a guitar-centered album, the sonic core of This Year's Model consists almost entirely of drums, bass, and keyboards. As a result, it's not only a more complex and dynamic album, but also one that steers well clear of the retro guitar twang that marred the less interesting bits of his debut. Indeed, songs like "Pump It Up" and "This Year's Girl" sound like they were essentially written from the rhythm section up. Pete Thomas' drumming is nothing short of perfect-- on these two songs in particular he keeps the beat deep and powerful, putting accents in all the right places without ever attempting to take the spotlight off the freak up front. With less rhythmically straightforward songs, such as the vaguely reggae-inflected "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," Thomas shifts accents faster than Miss Cleo, and with far more skill.
--Matt LeMay, Pitchfork

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It was good what we did yesterday
And I'd do it once again
The fact that you are married
Only proves you're my best friend
But it's truly, truly a sin
#76. The Velvet Underground | The Velvet Underground (1969)
# of Voters: 32 | Score: 1725.391
Rank in 2014: #70
AM 3000 Rank: #184
Top Fans: ChrisK (#9), Brad (#20), Romain (#26), Acroamor (#28), SJner (#37), BangJan (#44), GabeBasso (#53), DepecheMode (#57), PlasticRam (#60), Gillingham (#64), DaveC (#73), Harold (#75), NotBrianEno (#75), BleuPanda (#100)
On the album’s opener, “Candy Says”, we’re taken into the mind of someone claiming, “What else could I be / If I could walk away from me?” Reed has said he penned this song about Candy Darling, the Warhol superstar who later died of leukemia. Regardless of this influence, the questions the song poses could be applied to anyone. That’s what makes a song “a great song” in the first place. The second tune, “What Goes On” was composed originally when John Cale was still in the band. Here, it’s a mellower affair, but still a great organ and guitar weaving song. It also possesses what must be the longest “sustained-delayed-fuzz” sound of a guitar solo ever captured on record. Meanwhile, Reed assures us that “if we’re good, and do what we should, it’ll work alright”. On the album’s third track “Some Kinda Love”, Reed cuts loose with some great word play: “Like a bore is a straight line, that finds a wealth in division, and no kinds of love, are better than others”. I’m sorry but, from a lyrical standpoint, Dylan is a cynical bore in comparison. Who wants to hear about “How many roads a man must walk down”, when Reed is telling you questions like that are pointless. Why? Well, Reed spells it out in the third verse: “Between thought and expression, lies a lifetime”. Meanwhile, Dylan’s claiming the “Answer is blowing in the wind”. Gee, thanks a lot Bob. From here on, we’re taken into one of my favorite Reed compositions ever. “Pale Blue Eyes”. Reed has claimed it was written about someone he “missed very much”. The guitar solo on this song is also a work of art, whether Morrison or Reed played it I’m not sure, but it’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling it off with this much style and perfection. After Reed is done assuring the listener this relationship was “truly, truly a sin”, on the next song “Jesus”, he’s redeemed himself. Maureen accompanies Lou in asking Jesus to “help me find my proper place”. Hard to imagine the very same band was pulling a 20 minute feedback-fuzz epic on their previous record, with Reed describing an orgy in which someone is “sucking on my ding-dong”. A changed band? You decide. Most people wouldn’t believe it was the same band to begin with, but that’s what sets the Velvet Underground apart from the others.
--Dennis Tyhacz, Popmatters
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jirin »

Love the high finish for Blackstar.

Rain Dogs keeps sliding higher.

I would agree the way the lyrics sound is more important than the content, except for the cases when they're either *really* good or *really* bad.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Harold »

Jirin wrote:Love the high finish for Blackstar.

Rain Dogs keeps sliding higher.
Well, it was #39 in 2014. It's no surprise at all that it hasn't shown up yet.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by luvulongTIM »

I normally don’t do this but I’m siding with the critics 100% with the Jesus and Mary Chain being the superior record of the two in 1985. Although I’m a big JAMC fan I’m not even that big on Psychocandy and a woman clearly had the best album of that year with the Hounds of Love but I guess college kids see something in Waits for whatever reason.
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veganvalentine
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by veganvalentine »

Impressive showing for Blackstar. It missed becoming the first album to appear on a majority of lists by one vote! It will be interesting to see if it fairs this well in three years.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

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Image
When you were young
You were the king of carrot flowers
And how you built a tower tumbling through the trees
In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet
#75. Neutral Milk Hotel | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
# of Voters: 30 | Score: 1738.168
Rank in 2014: #113
AM 3000 Rank: #267
Top Fans: Harold (#3), DocBrown (#3), BryanBehar (#3), ProsecutorGodot (#12), M24 (#13), Jackson (#22), Panam (#22), BleuPanda (#22), JasonBob4567 (#27), Toni (#31), SJner (#32), Nick (#36), Acroamor (#37), VanillaFire1000 (#39), Whuntva (#67), Dudumb (#71), NotBrianEno (#74), Spiderpig (#84), Zombeels (#94)
In a 1977 article for the New York Rocker, Lester Bangs wrote that “the hardest thing in this living world is to confront your own pain and go through it.” In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the kind of album that embodies that statement; and in Jeff Mangum, personifies it. Aeroplane is a work of immense pain, not because of the hardship of life, but rather the sometimes overwhelming sense of melancholic joy that accompanies loss and epiphany.

The songs, which were almost all written or co-written by Mangum, are dexterous, comprised of elegiac thrills and bucolic dreams, rising out of the slag of the mung heap into a sort of postmodern malaise that celebrates life with equal parts innocence and complicity. Mangum’s lyrics are unrivaled in alliteration and inflection; he belongs in a rarefied stratum of songwriters, far above the taciturn voices of most bands, who sound instead like drone bees whose ferric appearance is an attempt to mask their culpable and palpable presumption that the exacting of sweat equals brooding ardor. Mangum's writing is abstract yet profoundly present, with the ability to affect a listener simply by the force of his voice.
--NotEvenWordsHere, RYM

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It was a tight toy night, streets so bright
The world was so thin between my bones and skin
There stood another person who was a little surprised
To be face to face with a world so alive
#74. Television | Marquee Moon (1977)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1742.918
Rank in 2014: #50
AM 3000 Rank: #23
Top Fans: Harold (#9), SJner (#10), ChrisK (#12), Chambord (#16), Nick (#19), Panam (#25), BleuPanda (#35), BangJan (#56), BryanBehar (#58), Spiritualized (#58), NotBrianEno (#59), Bootsy (#66), Spiderpig (#74), JWinton (#81), Georgie (#87)
Marquee Moon, Television's debut album, is the most interesting and audacious of this triad, and the most unsettling. Leader Tom Verlaine wrote all the songs, coproduced with Andy Johns, plays lead guitar in a harrowingly mesmerizing stream-of-nightmare style and sings all his verses like an intelligent chicken being strangled: clearly, he dominates this quartet. Television is his vehicle for the portrayal of an arid, despairing sensibility, musically rendered by loud, stark repetitive guitar riffs that build in every one of Marquee Moon's eight songs to nearly out-of-control climaxes. The songs often concern concepts or inanimate objects — "Friction," "Elevation," "Venus" (de Milo, that is) — and when pressed Verlaine even opts for the mechanical over the natural: in the title song, he doesn't think that a movie marquee glows like the moon; he feels that the moon resonates with the same evocative force as a movie marquee. When one can make out the lyrics, they often prove to be only non sequiturs, or phrases that fit metrically but express little, or puffy aphorisms or chants. (The chorus of "Prove It" repeats, to a delightful sprung-reggae beat: "Prove it/Just the facts/The confidential" a few times.)

All this could serve to distance or repel us, and taken with Verlaine's guitar solos, which flirt with an improvisational formlessness, could easily bore. But he structures his compositions around these spooky, spare riffs, and they stick to the back of your skull. On Marquee Moon, Verlaine becomes all that much better for a new commercial impulse that gives his music its catchy, if slashing, hook
--Ken Tucker, Rolling Stone

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In arenas he kills for a prize,
Wins a minute to add to his life.
But the sickness is drowned by cries for more,
Pray to God, make it quick, watch him fall.
This is the way, step inside.
#73. Joy Division | Closer (1980)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1748.542
Rank in 2014: #64
AM 3000 Rank: #40
Top Fans: Michel (#2), LiveinPhoenix (#3), Spiritualized (#7), JWinton (#12), ChrisK (#14), BleuPanda (#26), SJner (#27), OrdinaryPerson (#42), Listyguy (#44), Dudumb (#60), Spiderpig (#75), NotBrianEno (#81), DaveC (#82), BangJan (#86), Nick (#91)
They were already evolving away from the sparse, metallic economy of ‘Unknown Pleasures’, but the album’s final two tracks offer a glimpse at where Joy Division might have headed had Curtis not chosen his“permanent solution to a temporary problem”. The funereal, guitar-less ‘The Eternal’ is absolutely chilling, with Curtis singing about being “possessed by a fury that burns from inside” over a sepulchral piano and the industrial crack of a snare drum. ‘Decades’ is the album’s final and most ambitious song; a synth-driven ode to lost youth that has since taken on a ghostly sort of resonance. Its lingering fade-out of “Where have they been?” is perhaps rock’n’roll’s eeriest minute-and-a-half; you can hear Curtis slipping away from you, from the song, from everything.
--NME

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If I was your girlfriend, would you let me dress you
I mean, help you pick out your clothes before we go out?
Not that you're helpless
But sometime, sometime those are the things that bein' in love's about
#72. Prince | Sign 'O' the Times (1987)
# of Voters: 29 | Score: 1772.927
Rank in 2014: #53
AM 3000 Rank: #30
Top Fans: Romain (#2), Slucs (#3), RickyMathias (#13), Moonbeam (#15), RockyRaccoon (#18), EmilienDelRey (#22), Bootsy (#27), Babydoll (#31), Harold (#35), JWinton (#57), Toni (#58), Jirin (#59), Schaefer.tk (#60), Honorio (#64), Slick (#69), Bruno (#75), SonofSamIam (#79), Nicolas (#83)
Sign ’O’ the Times is an almost too-convenient double-disc blowout of sweat, funk, and raw, concentrated talent. I say too convenient because of how easy it has apparently proven for so many to use the album as some sort of last chapter on Prince: the good years (or, more to the point, the Prince and the Revolution years, since the album’s penultimate jam “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night” was the band’s last), absolving themselves from tackling the landmine-strewn but still rewarding aftermath. Anyone who refuses the playful self-awareness of the Love Symbol album, the expulsively dark majesty of Come, or the gorgeous (self-)loathing of “I Hate U”—or, for that matter, refuses to dance to his pre-rock pre-history including “Just As Long As We’re Together,” an atmospheric disco odyssey worthy of the Loft’s heyday—has probably never contemplated a strange relationship, much less ventured beyond the missionary position.

For an 80-minute album that sounds, paradoxically, as tight and focused as anything Prince has released, Sign ’O’ the Times was born from a number of stalled projects and should have, by all rights, sounded like a bloated set of B-sides. (Not that a collection of his unreleased material from this project wouldn’t still be a monster classic. Had he managed to find a platform for the technoid funk of “Data Bank” and “The Line,” that alone would’ve presaged the electronica boom of the 1990s.) In fact, when the project went by the temp title Crystal Ball (a title he would later reuse in the 1990s to collect, among other things, some of the tracks that didn’t make Sign ’O’ the Times), it actually did stretch to as many as six LP sides. A number of tracks were culled from prospective releases Dream Factory (itself a multi-disc) and Camille, an entire album featuring Prince singing with that pitched-up voice made famous in “Erotic City”; think Parliament’s Sir Nose wearing a white lace garter belt. While nearly every track involved in the creation of Sign ’O’ the Times has seen the light of day (or at least the darker corners of file-sharing hideouts), and some would’ve been highlights in any context (“Joy In Repetition” springs to mind—repeatedly), Prince managed to whittle his mountains of material into something like a statement.
--Eric Henderson, Slant

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Emotional landscapes
They puzzle me
Then the riddle gets solved
And you push me up to this
#71. Björk | Homogenic (1997)
# of Voters: 31 | Score: 1777.781
Rank in 2014: #79
AM 3000 Rank: #232
Top Fans: Maschine_Man (#1), NotBrianEno (#7), Schaefer.tk (#8), BonnieLaurel (#14), Gillingham (#16), Moonbeam (#22), Panam (#24), Babydoll (#25), SweepstakesRon (#26), Michel (#29), DaveC (#46), JWinton (#51), OrdinaryPerson (#59), Jirin (#71), Nicolas (#79), Romain (#80), Spiderpig (#81)
In this frozen ocean of total despair, Bjork's 'Homogenic' is a lonely iceberg of courage, of liveliness, of call to action - "This is an alarm call to wake up", as she says in the 8th track of the album. The album uses the electronic sound that used so many artists to describe apocalypse and dystopia (Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Radiohead) – and combine it with bombastic, melodramatic string arrangement, which has an irresistible emotional effect that clearly contradict the mechanic technical sound. Bjork combines the unemotional with the ultra-emotional, in order to show her romantic war with the dystopic, robotic, ultra-synthesized. Her singing, desperate and injured as much as it sounds, is a bomb of emotion that romantically struggles with the technique electronic sound and with the dull alienation that it represents. In her singing, that reaches some impossible pitches in the albums, Bjork use desperate screaming, hopeless whispering, and so much compressibility that almost any phrase she pronounce sounds like the last sentence she will ever say.

The immortal opening lines of the albums, "if travel is searching and home has been found - I'm not stopping." Enough said. Bjork does not accept the mediocre reality, the obvious home; she can't acknowledge the end of the human-cultural travel. She must keep her hunting, her artistic struggle. Her art discovers "Emotional landscapes", struggles the banal, depressing realism, as she declares- "State of emergency, is where I want to be."
--Brutuslevi, RYM
Last edited by notbrianeno on Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Maschine_Man
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Maschine_Man »

I'm not unhappy with that placement :happy-partydance:

I'm a grateful grapefruit for all the work that has gone into the roll-out so far! Looking forward to the Top 70!
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Harold »

I had Marquee Moon at #9 on my list but I'm missing from the top fans list.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jackson »

That last five was a strong group. Awesome placement for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I had expected a higher finish from the individual lists, but not as high as 75. Btw, I should be on the biggest fans list.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Harold »

Harold wrote:I had Marquee Moon at #9 on my list but I'm missing from the top fans list.
Fixed - thanks!
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

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The book of the new school rap game
Writers treat me like Coltrane, insane
Yes to them, but to me I'm a different kind
We're brothers of the same mind, unblind
#70. Public Enemy | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
# of Voters: 29 | Score: 1784.757
Rank in 2014: #54
AM 3000 Rank: #18
Top Fans: Bootsy (#3), StevieFan13 (#7), SonofSamIAm (#15), Jirin (#15), BleuPanda (#16), PlasticRam (#17), OrdinaryPerson (#23), VanillaFire1000 (#29), RockyRaccoon (#31), Bruno (#31), Nico (#35), Jackson (#38), BryanBehar (#38), M24 (#38), Harold (#76), Dexter (#89), Schaefer.tk (#94), Nick (#100)
t’s received wisdom now, but in the late ‘80s, when things weren’t quite so clear-cut it felt revolutionary to declare that Public Enemy were the “greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”. If the comment, often spilling from the pens of earnest music-crit types, feels like the kind of hype PE were urging us to disregard, drilling further down into Public Enemy’s history, motives and influences reveals its wisdom. Producer Hank Shocklee set his sights on rock’s energy and mid-frequency range, and created a noise to reflect the chaotic nature of the times.

With It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Fear Of A Black Planet, and indeed their precursor, 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Public Enemy managed the near-impossible: music that convincingly, articulately, held a mirror up to its multi-faceted, complex, media-saturated times, speaking with equal measures of righteous fury and retribution.
--Uncut

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Mon petit vulcan
You're eruptions and disasters
I keep calm admiring your lava
I keep calm
#69. Björk | Post (1995)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1790.039
Rank in 2014: #71
AM 3000 Rank: #242
Top Fans: BonnieLaurel (#2), OrdinaryPerson (#4), Maschine_man (#10), Romain (#12), DocBrown (#19), SweepstakesRon (#19), LuvulongTIM (#20), Moonbeam (#34), Jirin (#54), BleuPanda (#60), SonofSamIAm (#84), ChrisK (#95), Panam (#97)
from the menacing, industrial-tinged opener, "Army of Me," it's clear that this album is not simply Debut redux. The songs' production and arrangements -- especially those of the epic, modern fairy tale "Isobel" -- all aim for, and accomplish, more. Post also features Debut producer Nellee Hooper, 808 State's Graham Massey, Howie B, and Tricky, who help Björk incorporate a spectrum of electronic and orchestral styles into songs like "Hyperballad," which sounds like a love song penned by Aphex Twin. Meanwhile, the bristling beats on the volatile, sensual "Enjoy" and the fragile, weightless ballad "Possibly Maybe" nod to trip-hop without being overwhelmed by it.

As on Debut, Björk finds new ways of expressing timeworn emotions like love, lust, and yearning in abstractly precise lyrics like "Since you went away/I'm wearing lipstick again/I suck my tongue in remembrance of you," from "Possibly Maybe." But Post's emotional peaks and valleys are more extreme than Debut's. "I Miss You"'s exuberance is so animated, it makes perfect sense that Ren & Stimpy's John Kricfalusi directed the song's video. Likewise, "It's Oh So Quiet" -- which eventually led to Björk's award-winning turn as Selma in Dancer in the Dark -- is so cartoonishly vibrant, it could have been arranged by Warner Bros. musical director Carl Stalling. Yet Björk sounds equally comfortable with an understated string section on "You've Been Flirting Again." "Headphones" ends the album on an experimental, hypnotic note, layering Björk's vocals over and over till they circle each other atop a bubbling, minimal beat. The work of a constantly changing artist, Post proves that as Björk moves toward more ambitious, complex music, she always surpasses herself.
--Heather Phares, Allmusic

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Mathematically turning the page
Unequivocally showing my age
I'm practically center stage
Undeniably earning your wage
#68. The White Stripes | Elephant (2003)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1798.810
Rank in 2014: #66
AM 3000 Rank: #83
Top Fans: Maschine_Man (#2), Jirin (#9), Whuntva (#16), Chambord (#25), DocBrown (#26), OrdinaryPerson (#41), Nick (#48), Harold (#51), Romain (#53), GabeBasso (#55), DaveC (#56), RockyRaccoon (#59), JWinton (#60), Dexter (#87)
There are still only two of them. But now they sound like an army. The White Stripes made Elephant, their fourth album, in just two weeks last year, at a London studio outfitted with an eight-track tape machine and recording gear that predates the Beatles. But the Detroit duo walked out with a work of pulverizing perfection. Singer-guitarist Jack White and his ex-wife, drummer Meg — the undisputed king and queen of the new garage movement — finally romp and rattle like a fully armed band. It is a glorious thing to hear. It will be one of the best things you hear all year.

There is, for starters, true bottom here, for the first time on a White Stripes record. Jack's dancing-cobra bass line announces, then underpins, Elephant's opening fight song, "Seven Nation Army." He also plays a low, pumping lick, pinned to Meg's kick-drum pulse, that anchors the black stomp "The Hardest Button to Button."

There is big action in the upper registers as well. In the vicious title chorus of "There's No Home for You Here," Jack subdivides his voice into a choir of Freddie Mercurys, icing his granite guitars and dirty electric piano with high hallelujah. The White Stripes dedicated their first three albums to roots-music giants: the bluesmen Son House and Blind Willie McTell and country singer Loretta Lynn. Elephant marks the crossroads where that idealism collides with the swagger and snort of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti and Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.
--David Fricke, Rolling Stone

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Chimes sing Sunday morn
Today's the day she's sworn
To steal what she never could own
And race from this hole she calls home
#67. The Stone Roses | The Stone Roses (1989)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1811.742
Rank in 2014: #91
AM 3000 Rank: #57
Top Fans: Toni (#3), Slick (#6), LuvulongTIM (#7), BryanBehar (#8), Whuntva (#10), JohnnyBGoode (#17), Spiritualized (#23),
JWinton (#25), OrdinaryPerson (#30), VanillaFire1000 (#37), ChrisK (#46), Jirin (#51), GabeBasso (#54), Brad (#57), ProsecutorGodot (#59), GucciLittlePiggy (#80), Bootsy (#82)
Manchester at the end of the 80s was caught between two schools of musical thought. Still in thrall to the legacy left behind by both Factory records and the recently-departed Smiths it was also in the grip of early club culture.The odiously-named Madchester scene was just on the horizon. No band summed up this schism as well as the Roses.
Originally a punk-loving, bandana and leather trouser-sporting bunch of rowdy locals with a following and a Martin Hannett-produced flop to their names, they finally re-emerged with Johnny Marr's chiming Byrd-isms married to new bassist Mani's loping funk on "Sally Cinnamon". Guitarist John Squire now felt confident enough to let his influences shine and Ian Brown had progressed from raw shouts to Mancunian cool. The sound was sorted. Now for some top, banging album action
--Chris Jones, BBC

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My fingertips, and my lips, they burn
From the cigarettes
Forrest Gump you run my mind boy
Running on my mind boy
#66. Frank Ocean | channel.ORANGE (2012)
# of Voters: 30 | Score: 1813.860
Rank in 2014: #118
AM 3000 Rank: #177
Top Fans: JasonBob4567 (#2), Renan (#4), NotBrianEno (#6), GucciLittlePiggy (#10), Luis15Fernando (#12), Slucs (#25), Schaefer.tk (#29), ChrisK (#30), BleuPanda (#41), Nick (#41), M24 (#51), Bruno (#58), OrdinaryPerson (#82), Andyd1010 (#84), Toni (#87), JWinton (#90), EmilienDelRey (#91), BryanBehar (#95)
While pop is currently in the golden age of exacting self-reflection-- an often beguiling phenomenon spurred on by the internet's infinite mirror-- Ocean is interested in a more selfless pursuit. "As a lifestyle, you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy," Ocean recently told The New York Times. "I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films. Even though it's my voice, I'm a storyteller." Those tales are as wide-ranging as they are engrossing, always benefitting from Ocean's eye for detail and specificity. There are sly California class observations in the vein of Joan Didion or Randy Newman, where latchkey "Super Rich Kids" can't see past their own one-percent "Sweet Life". But once again, Ocean isn't just sniping easy targets; "why see the world when you got the beach?" he asks, a Rorschach test of a hook that leaves its levels of bliss or cynicism wholly up to the listener.

There are plenty of addicts on the back half of the album: the fiend at the center of "Crack Rock" whose family "stopped inviting you to things" and "won't let you hold their infant," or the poisoned relationship between a dealer and his mule on "Lost". On the record's most harrowing cut, "Bad Religion", Ocean is crippled by love and left searching for life's answers in the back of a cab-- the string-bleeding ballad finds the singer offering his most impassioned plea yet: "This unrequited love/ To me it's nothing but a one man cult and cyanide in my styrofoam cup/ I could never make him love me."

While Channel Orange is stuffed with one-of-a-kind details and characters, its overall scope is grand, as is Ocean's. Tape-hiss interludes bind these very hi-fi songs together with a musty analog quality, and a couple of tracks seem to end mid-sentence, leaving you no choice but to keep going. And there's a timeless philosophy involved here, one of hard-won acceptance and the acknowledgement that love and sex and loss will always draw legends to them. How else to explain "Pyramids", a 10-minute time warp that goes from ancient Egyptian wonders to modern strip clubs and essentially reincarnates one of the most storied female rulers in history as a six-inch-heeled woman of the night. But still, the song doesn't read as an indictment of the last 2,000 years as much as yet another attempt to cleverly level the playing field.
--Ryan Dombal, Pitchfork
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

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Well, I stand up next to a mountain
Chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise just a little sand
#65. Jimi Hendrix | Electric Ladyland (1968)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1814.462
Rank in 2014: #65
AM 3000 Rank: #25
Top Fans: Jirin (#17), BangJan (#20), Listyguy (#24), Whuntva (#24), GabeBasso (#27), RockyRaccoon (#28), Nick (#39), Honorio (#63), Harold (#63), Georgie (#66), Nicolas (#67), Bruno (#69), Dexter (#72), Slick (#84), Gillingham (#91), Babydoll (#97), Romain (#99)
As wonderfully diverse as Electric Ladyland’s material is, there are two moments that transcend the album’s greatness, albeit it in different ways. A devotee and admirer of the music of Bob Dylan, Hendrix chose to cover the classic “All Along the Watchtower” in tribute to his friend. What he did in the process was to reinvent the song, bettering the original and making it his own. The fervency of Hendrix’ playing and vocals make this version such a powerful statement that it has evolved into arguably the best cover of a rock song ever.

The album’s creative zenith, however, is reached with the track, “1983 … (A Merman I Should Turn To Be).” Not merely a song, it is a thirteen and one half minute epic wringed by pointed social commentary, optimistic dreams, and idealistic fantasy, all held together by mind-bending musical experimentation. It is a tale of love and life that showcases Hendrix’s skills as romance writer and passionately cerebral artist, one who could weave words and sounds into a vivid pictorial tapestry. A rare and exquisite composition that can transport a willing listener into another dimension, “1983” is as majestic in its grandeur as it is awe inspiring in its vision of Atlantean Nirvana.

Perhaps the ultimate significance of Electric Ladyland comes by way of Jimi’s subconscious knowledge that it was to be his crowning achievement. He did, after all, leave a cryptic message amidst the soaring guitars of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” when he stated, “If I don’t meet you no more in this world, then I’ll meet you in the next one, and don’t be late, don’t be late”. It can be argued that after the album was recorded, Jimi was never the same. Frustrated by public expectations and professional obligations, he soon grew weary of the business of music, departing this world 18 September 1970 to continue on his cosmic travels. Although he moved on far too quickly, his energy and artistry still resonate in the recorded material that remains. For me, though, Electric Ladyland is far more than just an album. Over time, it has become an invigorating life force, one that courses through my veins with regularity. It represents hope and purpose and inspiration, and is a bittersweet reminder of that brilliant flashing comet known as James Marshall Hendrix.
--Adam Williams, Popmatters

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Said roar, roar the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never comin' back here no more
Moon in the window, a bird on the pole
Can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands
#64. Tom Waits | Rain Dogs (1985)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1822.620
Rank in 2014: #39
AM 3000 Rank: #96
Top Fans: Jirin (#4), Nicolas (#11), SJner (#22), Antonius (#22), Spiderpig (#32), BangJan (#40), Listyguy (#49), Bootsy (#55), Jeff (#64), Gillingham (#67), Panam (#74), Michel (#75), DocBrown (#76), ProsecutorGodot (#77), Honorio (#83), GucciLittlePiggy (#99), Acroamor (#100)
Rain Dogs. What does one say? Barely recognizable from his early years as an alcoholic crooner, his voice gone over to a guttural growl most action heroes wish they could muster, Tom Waits had by this point begun to build his own universe. This is a universe parallel to our own, with some shared history, and its language is adjacent to ours in the same way as the language Burgess invented for A Clockwork Orange, cobbled together from slang and broken aphorisms. The day-to-day living is surreal and rife with nightmare imagery if not exactly nightmarish. Dead families argue over money in the cemetery, pimps have silverware fights in donut shops, and everyone's lost out in the rain with no familiar landmarks to guide them. Shattered remnants of blues, folk, country, and rock populate the darkened streets.
'No one brings anything small into a bar.' Hmmmm.
--jshopa, RYM

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My old man he's a singer in the park
He's a walker in the rain
He's a dancer in the dark
We don't need no piece of paper from the city hall
Keeping us tied and true no, my old man
Keeping away my blues
#63. Joni Mitchell | Blue (1971)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1831.014
Rank in 2014: #84
AM 3000 Rank: #52
Top Fans: Acroamor (#1), Victor.Marianoo77 (#5), JWinton (#13), VanillaFire1000 (#18), Slucs (#21), LiveinPhoenix (#24), DocBrown (#27), M24 (#29), Harold (#42), SweepstakesRon (#45), BangJan (#65), SonofSamIAm (#67), Listyguy (#77), Jirin (#78), Dexter (#78), RockyRaccoon (#86), Spiderpig (#92)
Of course, fashioning someone's love life into a decoder ring to sleuth around music sort of misses the point of art. To some degree, though, Blue invites it: Its songs are richly and sometimes painstakingly detailed, and Mitchell has conceded some of its more documentary aspects. But the wonder of Mitchell's writing is its seamless blend of personal and public, the mundane converted to the universal. Blue isn't a specific album so much as it's a precise one, an intricate tapestry of ambiguity. The album's title alone is remarkable, a single word that evokes everything from Picasso to B.B. King, pristine ocean vistas to bawdy dives. Its cover bears a striking resemblance to the cover of Otis Redding's 1965 album Otis Blue, which is graced by a beautiful blonde woman in some unmentionable state of bliss. The blonde woman on the cover of Mitchell's Blue has her head and her mouth turned in the opposite direction as Redding's, a sly revision of one of the great soul albums of the 1960s.

And in most every important sense Blue is soul music: its honesty, its economy, the surplus of expression wrung from every syllable. Listen to the first line of "All I Want," the album's first track: "I am on a lonely road / and I am traveling" Mitchell repeating that last word four times, leaning into it, rushing it towards some unknown. Or the way her voice soars skyward into the chorus of "River," setting the stage for its tumbling, shivering refrain: "I made my baby cry."

For all its desire and joy that are symptoms of being in love, Blue is gripped by that dull sense of fucking up that's often a symptom of the same. The iconic instrument of Blue is the Appalachian dulcimer: It's the first sound heard on the record and appears on "Carey, "California," "A Case of You." Mitchell once described her emotional state during the making of Blue as "like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes," a lovely image of translucent fragility that's carried in the sparkling timbre of the dulcimer, a taut and enticing crackle flickering in the California sun, or the flame from some shared candle.
--Jack Hamilton, The Atlantic

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As my bones grew they did hurt
They hurt really bad
I tried hard to have a father
But instead I had a dad
#62. Nirvana | In Utero (1993)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 1873.031
Rank in 2014: #100
AM 3000 Rank: #120
Top Fans: Dudumb (#4), Listyguy (#6), Felipinho (#10), Jirin (#20), DepecheMode (#32), OrdinaryPerson (#37), RockyRaccoon (#44), M24 (#61), Dexter (#62), ChrisK (#66), BleuPanda (#68), GucciLittlePiggy (#73), Whuntva (#75), Spiderpig (#78), Harold (#82), BryanBehar (#91), Spiritualized (#93)
Steve Albini's production, an au naturel power-trio snort that is almost monophonic in its compressed intensity, is particularly effective during those dramatic cave-ins. The word grunge, of course, doesn't do this kind of ravishing clatter justice. But Nirvana never bought into the simple Black Flag-cum-Sabbath hoodlum shtick anyway. From Bleach on, they have specialized in a kind of luminous roar and scarred beauty that has more to do with Patti Smith, the Buzzcocks and Plastic Ono-era John Lennon.

Actually, the icy tension of the part ballad, part punk-rock blues "Heart-Shaped Box" and the amorous chamber-punk urgency of "Dumb" ("My heart is broke/But I have some glue/Help me inhale/And mend it with you") confirm that if Generation Hex is ever going to have its own Lennon — someone who genuinely believes in rock & roll salvation but doesn't confuse mere catharsis with true deliverance — Cobain is damn near it. In "Heart-Shaped Box," the kind of song Stone Temple Pilots couldn't write even with detailed instructions, Cobain sets up a hypnotic coiled-spring tension between the frayed elegance of the verse melody and the strong Oedipal undertow of his obsession ("Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back"). The last track, "All Apologies," is another stunning trump card, the fluid twining of cello and guitar hinting at a little fireside R.E.M. while the full-blaze pop glow of the chorus shows the debt of inspiration Cobain has always owed to Paul Westerberg and the vintage Replacements.

It's the last thing most people would expect from Angst Central, and it's an inspired sign-off that shows how Nirvana have been reborn in the face of suck-cess. In Utero is a lot of things — brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once. But more than anything, it's a triumph of the will.
--David Fricke, Rolling Stone

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When thunder comes it rains cats and dogs
Dumb niggas like me never prosper
Prognosis of a problem child
I'm proud and well devoted
This piru shit been in me forever
So forever I'mma push it, wherever whenever
And I love you cause you love my brother like you did
Just promise me you'll tell this story when you make it big
And if I die before your album drop I hope --
#61. Kendrick Lamar | good kid, m.A.A.d. city (2012)
# of Voters: 30 | Score: 1905.413
Rank in 2014: #172
AM 3000 Rank: #166
Top Fans: Luis15Fernando (#3), JasonBob4567 (#3), GucciLittlePiggy (#9), EmilienDelRey (#13), JWinton (#18), BleuPanda (#24), Renan (#24), NotBrianEno (#34), Bootsy (#36), ProsecutorGodot (#36), Listyguy (#38), Nick (#42), PlasticRam (#43), ChrisK (#57), GabeBasso (#61), Schaefer.tk (#70), Nassim (#77), Harold (#87), Babydoll (#91)
The first sound we hear on good kid, m.A.A.d. city is a prayer: "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving us with your precious blood," voices murmur, evoking a family dinner gathering. The album's cover art, a grubby Polaroid, provides a visual prompt for the scene: Baby Kendrick dangles off an uncle's knee in front of a squat kitchen table displaying a 40-ounce and Lamar's baby bottle. The snapshot is such an unvarnished peek into the rapper's inner life that staring at it for too long feels almost invasive. This autobiographical intensity is the album's calling card. Listening to it feels like walking directly into Lamar's childhood home and, for the next hour, growing up alongside him.

Lamar has subtitled the record "A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar", and the comparison rings true: You could take the album's outline and build a set for a three-act play. It opens on a 17-year-old Kendrick "with nothing but pussy stuck on my mental," driving his mother's van to see a girl named Sherane. As his voice darts and halts in a rhythm that mimics his over-eager commute, Lamar explores the furtiveness of young lust: "It's deep-rooted, the music of being young and dumb," he raps. The song is interrupted by the first of several voice mail recordings that delineate the album's structure: Kendrick's mother, rambling into his phone and pleading for him to return her car. These voicemails appear through the record, reinforcing that good kid, m.A.A.d city is partly a love letter to the grounding power of family. In this album's world, family and faith are not abstract concepts: They are the fraying tethers holding Lamar back from the chasm of gang violence that threatens to consume him.

All this weighty material might make good kid, m.A.A.d city sound like a bit of a drag. But the miracle of this album is how it ties straightforward rap thrills-- dazzling lyrical virtuosity, slick quotables, pulverizing beats, star turns from guest rappers-- directly to its narrative. For example, when "Backseat Freestyle" leaked last week, its uncharacteristic subject matter ("All my life I want money and power/ Respect my mind or die from lead shower") took some fans by surprise. But on the album, it marks the moment in the narrative when young Kendrick's character first begins rapping, egged on by a friend who plugs in a beat CD. Framed this way, his "damn, I got bitches" chant gets turned inside out: This isn't an alpha male's boast. It's a pipsqueak's first pass at a chest-puff. It's also a monster of a radio-ready single, with Kendrick rapping in three voices (in double- and triple-time, no less) over an insane Hit-Boy beat.
--Jayson Greene, Pitchfork
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jackson »

Wow, the top three rap albums in the poll will be from the 2010s!
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Listyguy »

That really is a depressing finish for Rain Dogs. It killed basically all off the excitement I had about In Utero and Good Kid Maad City.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by veganvalentine »

Listyguy wrote:That really is a depressing finish for Rain Dogs. It killed basically all off the excitement I had about In Utero and Good Kid Maad City.
It only placed 15 spots lower than you had it in your list, so that doesn’t seem too bad.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Harold »

veganvalentine wrote:
Listyguy wrote:That really is a depressing finish for Rain Dogs. It killed basically all off the excitement I had about In Utero and Good Kid Maad City.
It only placed 15 spots lower than you had it in your list, so that doesn’t seem too bad.
Also, in a poll for which respondents could have literally voted for any album ever made, it finished ahead of all but 63 others. I guess everyone has a different definition of "depressing," but this wouldn't necessarily be mine.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by StevieFan13 »

Harold wrote:
veganvalentine wrote:
Listyguy wrote:That really is a depressing finish for Rain Dogs. It killed basically all off the excitement I had about In Utero and Good Kid Maad City.
It only placed 15 spots lower than you had it in your list, so that doesn’t seem too bad.
Also, in a poll for which respondents could have literally voted for any album ever made, it finished ahead of all but 63 others. I guess everyone has a different definition of "depressing," but this wouldn't necessarily be mine.
I'd call any finish inside the top 100 satisfying. Hell, my top 2 albums finished right outside the top 200 and 100 and I was still happy they made it that high.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jirin »

I'm happy with Rain Dogs at 64 considering how eclectic it is. Only a little sad it fell from last year. More bothered by Electric Ladyland underperforming compared to critics.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by notbrianeno »

Image
The cash machine is blue and green
For a bundle of twenties and a small service fee
I could spend three dollars and sixty-three cents
On Diet Coca-Cola and unlit cigarettes
I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck
How hot and sorrowful, the machine begs for luck
#60. Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
# of Voters: 33 | Score: 1929.340
Rank in 2014: #56
AM 3000 Rank: #75
Top Fans: DocBrown (#1), JohnnyBGoode (#3), BryanBehar (#10), ChrisK (#13), Nick (#17), Toni (#17), BleuPanda (#23), Chambord (#36), Honorio (#41), OrdinaryPerson (#50), Spiderpig (#50), Harold (#53), Jirin (#53), Bootsy (#54), Nassim (#71), Panam (#73), Jackson (#73), GucciLittlePiggy (#75), VanillaFire1000 (#87)
But for all the talk of terminally hip influences-- Jim O'Rourke, krautrock, and The Conet Project-- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot still conjures a classic rock radio station on Fourth of July weekend. And this extends beyond the alternating Byrds/Stones/Beatles comparisons that pepper every Wilco review ever written; Yankee Hotel Foxtrot evokes Steely Dan, the Eagles, Wings, Derek & The Dominos and Traffic. The slightly disconnected, piano-led "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," is delicately laced with noise, whistles and percussive clutter, like some great grandson of "A Day in the Life." The muted, "Kamera" strums along darkly with acoustic and electric guitars; the twittering electronics in the background don't quite mitigate the tune's comparability to the clever and precise (though now largely neglected) jazz-inflected blues-rock of Dire Straits' stunning debut.

The cone-filtered and anthemic country psychedelia of "War on War" could have been jammed straight out of a hot "Bertha" at a 1973 Grateful Dead show. The violin and coked-up country lounge of "Jesus, etc." recalls some mythical seventies in true love and cigarettes. The sharp, stuttering guitar solo that rips open "I'm the Man Who Loves You" could have come directly out of Neil Young's hollow body electric circa Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. For all its aural depth and layering, Yankee Hotel tends to come off as earnest as yesteryear's FM radio. Wilco gets the benefit of O'Rourke's gift for cutting straight to the guts of every style, without the burden of his trademark contempt for the subject matter at hand.

And Tweedy seems to be coming into his own as a lyricist. I still wince when I hear him sing, "I know you don't talk much but you're such a good talker," on Being There. The brooding introspection of Summerteeth made for a handful of elegant lyrics, most notably the skeletal beauty of "She's a Jar," where "she begs me not to miss her" returns as the stinging "she begs me not to hit her," transforming a wistful love song into something gently bruising. But on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Tweedy becomes what I think he always was: an optimist and a romantic.
--Brent S. Sirota, Pitchfork

Image
When the four corners of this cocoon collide
You’ll slip through the cracks hoping that you’ll survive
Gather your wind, take a deep look inside
Are you really who they idolize?
To pimp a butterfly
#59. Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
# of Voters: 32 | Score: 1947.397
Rank in 2014: N/A
AM 3000 Rank: #100
Top Fans: Luis15Fernando (#1), JasonBob4567 (#4), BleuPanda (#5), Schaefer.tk (#7), M24 (#8), ProsecutorGodot (#19), NotBrianEno (#19), BryanBehar (#23), GucciLittlePiggy (#25), Whuntva (#31), GabeBasso (#40), Babydoll (#45), OrdinaryPerson (#49), Bruno (#54), EmilienDelRey (#58), Harold (#66), Nick (#82), ChrisK (#86), Bootsy (#92), Nico (#97)
Just as Sly Stone’s decision to strip away his music’s bubbling, bright optimism perfectly caught the pessimism of 1971, To Pimp a Butterfly was the right album by the right artist at the right time. Broiling with post-Ferguson anger and despair – “You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture / You’re fucking evil” – complicated and claustrophobic, riddled with disquiet and self-doubt, desperate to work out what the answers might be but unable to come to any real conclusions, any meaningful reaction beyond a scream of horror.

Almost every time something optimistic or bright happened – the familiar braggadocio of King Kunta, These Walls’ detour into lubricious bedroom funk, the hopefulness of the chorus of Alright, sung by Pharrell Williams – it was quickly snatched away, or deliberately short–circuited: as it progressed, King Kunta’s self-aggrandising turned increasingly haunted and bleak; sex provides no real escape from anxiety and desperation; Alright’s positivity struggled to be heard against a backdrop of murmuring voices, agitated flurries of sax and uneasy harmonies. Uneasy, agitated, bleak, desperate: To Pimp a Butterfly sounded like 2015 frequently felt.

Moreover, it sounded like the work of an artist simultaneously at the end of his tether and at the top of his game. Lyrically dexterous and skilled enough to make even the hackneyed and deeply unlovable topic of the pressures of success sound compelling (how much of the album was concerned not with current events but gazing inwards understandably tended to be overlooked); musically ambitious and omnivorous, the album’s touchstones constantly shifting from late-1960s jazz to 1970s funk to 1990s hip hop.
--Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

Image
The worst is all the lovely weather,
I'm stunned, it's not raining.
The coffee isn't even bitter,
Because, what's the difference?
There's all the work that needs to be done,
It's late, for revision.
There's all the time and all the planning,
And songs, to be finished.
#58. LCD Soundsystem | Sound of Silver (2007)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1963.193
Rank in 2014: #47
AM 3000 Rank: #123
Top Fans: BleuPanda (#2), Nick (#7), Nassim (#9), Moonbeam (#10), VanillaFire1000 (#16), SweepstakesRon (#29), JWinton (#36), Michel (#44), Spiderpig (#51), ChrisK (#59), Whuntva (#60), Listyguy (#61), Maschine_Man (#64), M24 (#73), Jeff (#80), Jirin (#80), Harold (#83), NotBrianEno (#89)
LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy is chiefly regarded as a man with a gargantuan record collection. Less appreciated is the depth of his songwriting, and the unsettling accuracy with which he depicts the fretful ageing hipster whose gargantuan record collection is no longer enough. Beneath the jokes in his signature tune, Losing My Edge, lurks real fear of growing old and redundant. Amid the dependably thrilling punk-funk (North American Scum) and mercurial Bowie-vs-Underworld art-techno (Get Innocuous), Sound of Silver houses two songs that pack a devastating emotional punch. Someone Great is an addictive techno elegy, with an unexplained tragedy at its shattered heart, while the spine-tingling, New Order-tinged All My Friends is the sound of midlife stock-taking in the centre of a crowded dancefloor. This is dance-rock for grown-ups: extraordinary.
--Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian

Image
All your dreams are made
When you're chained to the mirror and the razor blade
Today's the day that all the world will see
Another sunny afternoon
#57. Oasis | (What's the Story?) Morning Glory (1995)
# of Voters: 34 | Score: 1965.577
Rank in 2014: #98
AM 3000 Rank: #91
Top Fans: Andyd1010 (#5), GabeBasso (#10), PlasticRam (#13), Nick (#15), Renan (#19), Felipinho (#21), Victor.Marianoo77 (#28), JWinton (#33), GucciLittlePiggy (#34), LuvulongTIM (#35), ChrisK (#41), Whuntva (#51), Dexter (#63), Listyguy (#69), DaveC (#76), VeganValentine (#83), BryanBehar (#100)
If Definitely Maybe was an unintentional concept album about wanting to be a rock & roll star, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is what happens after the dreams come true. Oasis turns in a relatively introspective second record, filled with big, gorgeous ballads instead of ripping rockers. Unlike Definitely Maybe, the production on Morning Glory is varied enough to handle the range in emotions; instead of drowning everything with amplifiers turned up to 12, there are strings, keyboards, and harmonicas. This expanded production helps give Noel Gallagher's sweeping melodies an emotional resonance that he occasionally can't convey lyrically. However, that is far from a fatal flaw; Gallagher's lyrics work best in fragments, where the images catch in your mind and grow, thanks to the music. Gallagher may be guilty of some borrowing, or even plagiarism, but he uses the familiar riffs as building blocks. This is where his genius lies: He's a thief and doesn't have many original thoughts, but as a pop/rock melodicist he's pretty much without peer. Likewise, as musicians, Oasis are hardly innovators, yet they have a majestic grandeur in their sound that makes ballads like "Wonderwall" or rockers like "Some Might Say" positively transcendent.
--Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic

Image
Sailing heart-ships
thru broken harbors
Out on the waves in the night
Still the searcher
must ride the dark horse
Racing alone in his fright.
#56. Neil Young | After the Gold Rush (1970)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 1989.102
Rank in 2014: #38
AM 3000 Rank: #53
Top Fans: Jirin (#6), Nicolas (#12), Honorio (#22), Antonius (#26), Chambord (#29), M24 (#30), SweepstakesRon (#31), BryanBehar (#44), Gillingham (#46), SJner (#56), Harold (#60), Spiritualized (#64), DocBrown (#68), NotBrianEno (#70), Nick (#73), Dexter (#74), Acroamor (#78), Schaefer.tk (#80), GucciLittlePiggy (#98), Henry (#100)
Released in the fall of 1970, Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush has over the course of the past 40 plus years become widely known as a benchmark record of the country-folk genre. Partly inspired by Dean Stockwell-Herb Berman’s screenplay of the same name, After The Gold Rush was Young’s third solo album as well as his commercial breakthrough.

Due largely in part to the recent notoriety he had acquired in connection with both Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - the latter of which also had two singles, “Teach Your Children” and “Ohio,” on the charts at the time of the album’s release- After The Gold Rush saw Young returning to his roots to hone in on the simple, heart-wrenching and raw confessional style that was both characteristic of his early work and of the country/folk genres at the time.

Though much more toned down than Young’s second album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After The Gold Rush displayed a wider-range of songs and introduced what would become a life long exploration of topics such as relationships, drug addiction, politics and the environment.
--Vice
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Nick »

A little sad to see Sound of Silver slip but the 41 place jump for Morning Glory more than makes up for it.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Listyguy »

I'm surprised Sound of Silver dropped, especially with the new LCD Soundsystem album and all that.

Also, I'm impressed with how close Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City came to beating To Pimp a Butterfly! They finished a lot closer together than I think a lot of us would have thought.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by notbrianeno »

Image
Sheets of empty canvas
Untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me
As her body once did
All five horizons
Revolved around her soul
#55. Pearl Jam | Ten (1991)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2022.551
Rank in 2014: #94
AM 3000 Rank: #141
Top Fans: Renan (#2), Dexter (#4), ChrisK (#5), LiveinPhoenix (#10), Whuntva (#13), Slick (#22), M24 (#22), Bruno (#26), Listyguy (#29), Victor.Marianoo77 (#34), Karla (#34), Nico (#38), DocBrown (#57), Andyd1010 (#58), Profeta (#59), OrdinaryPerson (#74), JWinton (#85), BleuPanda (#86)
In retrospect, it's easy to see why Pearl Jam clicked with a mass audience -- they weren't as metallic as Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, and of Seattle's Big Four, their sound owed the greatest debt to classic rock. With its intricately arranged guitar textures and expansive harmonic vocabulary, Ten especially recalled Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. But those touchstones might not have been immediately apparent, since -- aside from Mike McCready's Clapton/Hendrix-style leads -- every trace of blues influence has been completely stripped from the band's sound. Though they rock hard, Pearl Jam is too anti-star to swagger, too self-aware to puncture the album's air of gravity. Pearl Jam tackles weighty topics -- abortion, homelessness, childhood traumas, gun violence, rigorous introspection -- with an earnest zeal unmatched since mid-'80s U2, whose anthemic sound they frequently strive for. Similarly, Eddie Vedder's impressionistic lyrics often make their greatest impact through the passionate commitment of his delivery rather than concrete meaning. His voice had a highly distinctive timbre that perfectly fit the album's warm, rich sound, and that's part of the key -- no matter how cathartic Ten's tersely titled songs got, they were never abrasive enough to affect the album's accessibility. Ten also benefited from a long gestation period, during which the band honed the material into this tightly focused form; the result is a flawlessly crafted hard rock masterpiece.
--Steve Huey, Allmusic

Image
The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even the pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of matchsticks
Crumble into one another
#54. Bob Dylan | Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2026.122
Rank in 2014: #43
AM 3000 Rank: #81
Top Fans: Listyguy (#4), SJner (#9), Babydoll (#16), JasonBob4567 (#21), RockyRaccoon (#22), PlasticRam (#27), EmilienDelRey (#30), GabeBasso (#32), Spiderpig (#38), M24 (#57), JWinton (#59), Brad (#60), DepecheMode (#65), Dexter (#82), Nick (#88), Acroamor (#91), Harold (#93), Jirin (#96)
When Bob Dylan entered Columbia Records' Studio A in mid-January 1965 and blew out an 11-song LP in three days, he didn't merely go electric, invent folk rock and transition from an acoustic troubadour to a boundary-pushing rock & roller. He conjured performances that would completely reimagine how pop music communicated – not just what it could say, but how it could say it. "Some people say that I am a poet," he wrote coyly in the prose-poem notes on the back cover. Now, he was ready to test the limits of what that meant, rewiring himself for a singularly revolutionary moment. The fallout-shelter sign in the cover shot was on point: Bringing It All Back Home was the cultural equivalent of a nuclear bomb.

"The thing about Bringing It All Back Home was his words," says David Crosby. "That's what Bob stunned the world with. Up until then we had 'oooh, baby' and 'I love you, baby.' Bob changed the map. He gave us really, really good words."

As Dylan put it in his memoir, Chronicles, "What I did to break away, was to take simple folk changes and put new imagery and attitude to them, use catchphrases and metaphor combined with a new set of ordinances that evolved into something different that had not been heard before."
--Will Hermes, Rolling Stone

Image
'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
#53. Bob Dylan | Blood on the Tracks (1975)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2080.074
Rank in 2014: #24
AM 3000 Rank: #21
Top Fans: Listyguy (#7), DocBrown (#11), Spiderpig (#12), Jeff (#15), Harold (#18), BryanBehar (#19), SJner (#20), LiveinPhoenix (#30), GabeBasso (#30), NotBrianEno (#35), Nicolas (#38), Antonius (#42), ChrisK (#50), Nick (#52), Jackson (#54), RockyRaccoon (#63), BangJan (#68), Bruno (#70), Dexter (#71), Bootsy (#74), Nico (#83)
In his autobiography, Chronicles, he wrote about not really understanding why Blood on the Tracks was so beloved and considered such a personal, heartfelt album and the heralding of a career renaissance when it seemed to him not intrinsically any different from the several albums before it. Coming from full-on trickster Bob that should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, but even if it were true, there is a great emotional power to this album and a depth and density to the lyrics that is notably different from all the others surrounding it. "Tangled Up in Blue" stands out as not just the height of his seventies work but to me the finest song of his entire career, a detailed, comic/romantic narrative about past loves crossing paths again in different stages of life with histories colliding and tangling. All of the conflicting and shifting emotions are powerfully real and there's the sweep of a great modernist novel to the painterly details that fill every line - their family life, their different backgrounds, their other loves, their travels and work histories, the significant and memorable paths crossing theirs and a love constantly changing but never extinguished.

Of course, Dylan always had a way with the love song with a sting, the love song that was not really a love song, and Blood on the Tracks is almost entirely made up of such songs, like an entire album built from the concepts of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and its wistful sense of heartbreak where it is an abiding love that still has to be let go of. The songs here are almost all in some sense about heartbreak but also about the love that shines through anyway, a sense that any true love doesn't really go away but it can change and it can grow mellow and lose its ardor or mutate into hurt or cynicism or anger but never lose the fundamental emotional connection that drove it. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" feels lighthearted on the surface but it is still about an inevitable break. While it paints a Southern Gothic series of images of the richness of their love the point is still that it can't last and will end and that while this connection is what he's been searching for and will continue to search for in future, there's no way it can be maintained. A lot of the songs here have that sense of transience. Like Leonard Cohen's "Stranger Song" the characters within all of these songs are people who just cannot hang on to anything no matter how important or deep the connection might be. That Kerouac lure of the open road, the need to keep exploring the unknown has an irresistible pull that resists any stability.

Even when anger is a driving force for these songs, as it certainly is with "Idiot Wind", there is still a deep sense of yearning underlying it. As much as "Idiot Wind" is brutal and unforgiving in its scorned portrait, he still writes about being 'hounded by your memory' and the closing of the song (changing 'you're an idiot, babe' to 'we're idiots, babe') makes clear that the anger is a manifestation of an emotion he simply can't let go of what once was (and on some level still is) love. It's that ambiguity that makes things resonate, that as much anger or hurt he might feel, he's constantly reminding that it's as much his fault as hers or anyone else's. That raw, irreconcilable edge rings so true and is what makes this album above all his most vivid and everlasting.
--jshopa, RYM

Image
Kiss
Your fear
Your red button
Falls from my mouth
#52. My Bloody Valentine | Loveless (1991)
# of Voters: 37 | Score: 2087.318
Rank in 2014: #52
AM 3000 Rank: #56
Top Fans: Jackson (#1), EmilienDelRey (#5), DepecheMode (#12), Brad (#17), Nick (#20), OrdinaryPerson (#26), BleuPanda (#27), Chambord (#27), Dudumb (#30), Spiritualized (#31), JohnnyBGoode (#36), BangJan (#39), Jirin (#39), Whuntva (#43), NotBrianEno (#47), SonofSamIAm (#55), PlasticRam (#79), LiveinPhoenix (#85), LuvulongTIM (#89), Acroamor (#95)
Loveless' greatness proved that the band was inimitable. After two painstaking years in the studio and nearly bankrupting their label Creation in the process, the group emerged with their masterpiece, which fulfilled all of the promise of their previous albums. If Isn't Anything was the Valentines' sonic blueprint, then Loveless saw those plans fleshed out, in the most literal sense: "Loomer," "What You Want," and "To Here Knows When"'s arrangements are so lush, they're practically tangible. With its voluptuous yet ethereal melodies and arrangements, Loveless intimates sensuality and sexuality instead of stating them explicitly; Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher's vocals meld perfectly with the trippy sonics around them, suggesting druggy sex or sexy drugs. From the commanding "Only Shallow" and "Come in Alone" to breathy reflections like "Sometimes" and "Blown a Wish," the album balances complexity and immediately memorable pop melodies with remarkable self-assurance, given its difficult creation. But Loveless doesn't just perfect the group's approach, it also hints at their continuing growth: "Soon" fuses the Valentines' roaring guitars with a dance-inspired beat, while the symphonic interlude "Touched" suggests an updated take on Fripp and Eno's pioneering guitar/electronics experiments.
--Heather Phares, Allmusic

Image
*Cymbal Crash at 1:33 in "So What"*
#51. Miles Davis | Kind of Blue (1959)
# of Voters: 31 | Score: 2093.461
Rank in 2014: #35
AM 3000 Rank: #44
Top Fans: Panam (#2), Schaefer.tk (#3), Chambord (#4), Bruno (#9), Nico (#9), VanillaFire1000 (#10), Michel (#10), Acroamor (#12), Bootsy (#13), Gillingham (#17), Jirin (#18), Dexter (#25), DocBrown (#30), Nick (#37), Slick (#41), BleuPanda (#42), Honorio (#45), SonofSamIAm (#49), Georgie (#57), Harold (#58), BonnieLaurel (#82), Spiderpig (#90), Nicolas (#95)
I can heap a ton of praise on this album, but perhaps the greatest compliment I can give it is this:

Of all the albums I've ever heard, I can say with assurance that this is the most timeless of them all. It defies the boundaries of place or time or circumstance more than any other album I've ever heard.

On a bit of a sidenote, this is often the album people say should be your first exposure to jazz. But I couldn't disagree more. This album's beauty is steeped beneath the surface and I think to the jazz novice this would likely pass by their ears like crashing waves of the sea - while it may be a bit soothing it wouldn't have a lasting affect.

On the contrary, I'd recommend people listen to AS MUCH jazz as they can stand before giving this a chance. They should hear all of the attempts at achieving nirvana but not quite reaching it. They should hear all of the egos and ideas and colorful personalities in jazz.

Then they should hear this. And when they finally do, that is when they will hear the utter beauty this album contains.
--BTC, RYM
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Listyguy »

notbrianeno wrote:
#53. Bob Dylan | Blood on the Tracks (1975)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2080.074
Rank in 2014: #24
AM 3000 Rank: #21
FOR SHAME :angry-nono:
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Nassim »

Listyguy wrote:I'm surprised Sound of Silver dropped, especially with the new LCD Soundsystem album and all that.

Also, I'm impressed with how close Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City came to beating To Pimp a Butterfly! They finished a lot closer together than I think a lot of us would have thought.
American Dream wasn't out when we voted (not that it necessarily would have made a difference... aside from the fact it would have made the top 1000).

Actually I would have guessed GKmC would beat TPaB. I guess critic wise To Pimp a Butterfly will stay lightly ahead, but on a forum poll I would have assumed accessibility would have made a difference, and Good Kid m.A.A.d City seems to me the easiest one to get into.
Apparently it is not a huge hurdle for recent albums, as I don't think Black Star is an easy album either.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jackson »

I love or at least appreciate most of the albums at this point, but Morning Glory and Ten stick out to me as albums that belong at least 100 places back.

Nice placement for Loveless (I remembered it being lower last time, but maybe I'm thinking about the 2012 poll), and fun seeing Bob back to back. I think it's mostly random that both of those albums fell from last time.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Listyguy »

Nassim wrote:
Listyguy wrote:I'm surprised Sound of Silver dropped, especially with the new LCD Soundsystem album and all that.

Also, I'm impressed with how close Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City came to beating To Pimp a Butterfly! They finished a lot closer together than I think a lot of us would have thought.
American Dream wasn't out when we voted (not that it necessarily would have made a difference... aside from the fact it would have made the top 1000).

Actually I would have guessed GKmC would beat TPaB. I guess critic wise To Pimp a Butterfly will stay lightly ahead, but on a forum poll I would have assumed accessibility would have made a difference, and Good Kid m.A.A.d City seems to me the easiest one to get into.
Apparently it is not a huge hurdle for recent albums, as I don't think Black Star is an easy album either.
You're right, the album wasn't out yet (although there was definitely some hype about it).

As for the two Kendrick Lamar albums, I vastly prefer GKmC. I've yet to understand the hype of TPaB, but I'd love to hear from those here that do love it what makes them love it. To me it's always seemed like the social implications of it overshadow the music itself.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Chris K. »

Jackson wrote:I love or at least appreciate most of the albums at this point, but Morning Glory and Ten stick out to me as albums that belong at least 100 places back.
I love the jumps these two albums made, they're two of my favorite 90's albums. It helped cushion the blow of Murmur falling out of the top 100.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Bruno »

Happy for “Ten” in the top 60, amazing album.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Depeche Mode »

I guess Dylan taking a hit is a bigger surprise but I thought Loveless was a lock for top 20, based on RYM and another forum I used to vote on.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by andyd1010 »

Jackson wrote:I love or at least appreciate most of the albums at this point, but Morning Glory and Ten stick out to me as albums that belong at least 100 places back.

Nice placement for Loveless (I remembered it being lower last time, but maybe I'm thinking about the 2012 poll), and fun seeing Bob back to back. I think it's mostly random that both of those albums fell from last time.
Funny, those are easily my two favorites that dropped yesterday. Erlewine's review captures a lot of how I feel - (What's the Story) Morning Glory is pure melodic genius practically from start to finish, and very few albums, if any, can match its prowess in that regard. Both Morning Glory and Ten are very consistent and are also filled with all-time classics - between them, they have 10 (!) songs ranked on AM, including 4 in the top 750. I'm happy to see they did so well.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Gillingham »

Listyguy wrote:
Nassim wrote:
Listyguy wrote: Also, I'm impressed with how close Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City came to beating To Pimp a Butterfly! They finished a lot closer together than I think a lot of us would have thought.
As for the two Kendrick Lamar albums, I vastly prefer GKmC. I've yet to understand the hype of TPaB, but I'd love to hear from those here that do love it what makes them love it. To me it's always seemed like the social implications of it overshadow the music itself.
For me, To Pimp a Butterfly made my top 300, while I don't particularly like Good Kid, Maad City. Not because of the lyrics (maybe slightly better, but great on both albums), the rapping (it's Kendick!) or the social implications (isn't really part of my appreciation anyway), but because of the music. Tracks like King Kunta and The Blacker the Berry are some of the best hip-hop songs (or actually, songs in general) of the last couple of years. The only song of GKMC that really impressed me musically is Swimming Pools. Besides, in my eyes TPaB is overall just plain better. I guess I just prefer the jazz and soul influences more than the production on GKMC. That's probably why I even prefer Untitled Unmastered over GKMC.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by BleuPanda »

For me, both GKMC and TPaB made my top 25, but TPaB stands as my favorite largely due to the production. It made me realized I really love hip hop with a jazz influence (which is also why I've rediscovered A Tribe Called Quest since its release). It's such an inventive album through every track. The social message is important, but like most albums with a great message, it works because it uses its musical style to set an atmosphere.

I think that's a thing people are missing when we talk about lyrics and social meaning in music; the words are what is being said, but more importantly, the music is how it's being said.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jackson »

Depeche Mode wrote:I guess Dylan taking a hit is a bigger surprise but I thought Loveless was a lock for top 20, based on RYM and another forum I used to vote on.
It's funny, I thought the same thing the first album poll after I joined the forum. I think it's a combination of (1) the album doesn't have a lot of huge fans among the long term users of the forum and (2) newer members of the forum have given a huge bump to mainstream alternative, pop, and classic rock, while performance of everything else including indie classics like Loveless has been mixed.

I voted for both GKMC and TPaB, but I had GKMC higher primarily because the album is more consistent. TPaB hits some very high highs, particularly with Kendrick's career highlight The Blacker the Berry, but to me there are some weak stretches on the album that people tend to overlook. I think it's selling GKMC a little short to say the music isn't very interesting; tracks like Money Trees and Good Kid are very interesting and well produced.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Listyguy »

Interesting. I personally prefer the production of Good Kid mAAd City, but I can see why you guys love the jazz influences on To Pimp a Butterfly so much.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by spiderpig »

andyd1010 wrote:
Jackson wrote:I love or at least appreciate most of the albums at this point, but Morning Glory and Ten stick out to me as albums that belong at least 100 places back.
Funny, those are easily my two favorites that dropped yesterday. (...) Both Morning Glory and Ten are very consistent and are also filled with all-time classics - between them, they have 10 (!) songs ranked on AM, including 4 in the top 750. I'm happy to see they did so well.
Yeah, this really shows how diverse our tastes are. And that's perfectly healthy for a poll like this.

Still, I can't help but agree with Jackson. I have to admit it hurt a little bit to see "Ten" doing so well. To my ears, the songwriting is unremarkable, the playing is influenced by pretty tasteless hard rock, and I always disliked singers with Vedder's singing style. It's not a bad rock album, but (to my ears, of course) is very far from being the 55th album of all time. Being a little shorter would help, but not much because the quality just isn't there.

Morning Glory is a bit different. Gallagher isn't his idol Lennon, but he knows how to write an effective pop song. But of course, they are incapable of doing something like "Common People". And Liam's singing gets on my nerves (perhaps even more than Vedder).

But again, it's good that the voters have different tastes and I have no problem that people will vote for these mainstream records (and by mainstream, I mean both "real mainstream pop" and "acts that are consistently popular with guys that don't know a lot of different music" - like Pearl Jam but also like stuff that I love, like Nirvana). The biggest problem with a poll full of mainstream albums is when people are voting mainstream because they only know very few albums or never listened to "unusual" records more than a couple of times. That will make mainstream albums artificially place better, not because they deserve it but because other music never wasn't really competing, as if it wasn't really on the ballot. But, due to the nature of this forum, it's relatively unlikely that it is happening here, although it may be a small factor influencing the "mainstreamification" of this year's poll.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by andyd1010 »

spiderpig wrote:
andyd1010 wrote:
Jackson wrote:I love or at least appreciate most of the albums at this point, but Morning Glory and Ten stick out to me as albums that belong at least 100 places back.
Funny, those are easily my two favorites that dropped yesterday. (...) Both Morning Glory and Ten are very consistent and are also filled with all-time classics - between them, they have 10 (!) songs ranked on AM, including 4 in the top 750. I'm happy to see they did so well.
Yeah, this really shows how diverse our tastes are. And that's perfectly healthy for a poll like this.

Still, I can't help but agree with Jackson. I have to admit it hurt a little bit to see "Ten" doing so well. To my ears, the songwriting is unremarkable, the playing is influenced by pretty tasteless hard rock, and I always disliked singers with Vedder's singing style. It's not a bad rock album, but (to my ears, of course) is very far from being the 55th album of all time. Being a little shorter would help, but not much because the quality just isn't there.

Morning Glory is a bit different. Gallagher isn't his idol Lennon, but he knows how to write an effective pop song. But of course, they are incapable of doing something like "Common People". And Liam's singing gets on my nerves (perhaps even more than Vedder).

But again, it's good that the voters have different tastes and I have no problem that people will vote for these mainstream records (and by mainstream, I mean both "real mainstream pop" and "acts that are consistently popular with guys that don't know a lot of different music" - like Pearl Jam but also like stuff that I love, like Nirvana). The biggest problem with a poll full of mainstream albums is when people are voting mainstream because they only know very few albums or never listened to "unusual" records more than a couple of times. That will make mainstream albums artificially place better, not because they deserve it but because other music never wasn't really competing, as if it wasn't really on the ballot. But, due to the nature of this forum, it's relatively unlikely that it is happening here, although it may be a small factor influencing the "mainstreamification" of this year's poll.
I totally understand that perspective, and it is perfectly healthy. Liam's singing can get on my nerves at times too, but only on certain songs and not much on this album. I love Common People too, and it's fair to say that its lyrics are better than anything on either of these two albums, but I still think Don't Look Back in Anger overall is even better, mostly because of the melodies. I think your "mainstreamification" concern is legitimate - I'm sure many users are more familiar with more popular, mainstream acts and haven't heard even some of the highly ranked albums by more obscure artists. At least I've given all of the highly ranked albums a chance, so I simply prefer albums like Ten to Loveless. But to each his own!
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Chris K. »

spiderpig wrote:The biggest problem with a poll full of mainstream albums is when people are voting mainstream because they only know very few albums or never listened to "unusual" records more than a couple of times. That will make mainstream albums artificially place better, not because they deserve it but because other music never wasn't really competing, as if it wasn't really on the ballot. But, due to the nature of this forum, it's relatively unlikely that it is happening here, although it may be a small factor influencing the "mainstreamification" of this year's poll.
Perhaps mainstream albums will inevitably artificially place better, that's hard to say. I can say that Ten is in my top 10 and What's The Story... is in my top 50 but Low by Bowie is also in my top 10 and Joy Division, Brian Eno and Television are all in my top 20; I'm a big fan of mainstream and more obscure/difficult albums. All that to say it's relatively difficult to generalize these things.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Jirin »

If there's any forum on the entire internet where mainstream albums have the least artificial advantage, it's here.

If any albums have an artificial advantage here, it's albums high on the AM list.

Great to see Kendrick Lamar land two albums in the top 100, though unfortunate to see both them and Nation of Millions fall below Narcissism: The Album.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Henry »

Jirin wrote:If there's any forum on the entire internet where mainstream albums have the least artificial advantage, it's here.

If any albums have an artificial advantage here, it's albums high on the AM list.

Great to see Kendrick Lamar land two albums in the top 100, though unfortunate to see both them and Nation of Millions fall below Narcissism: The Album.
Your remark about alignment with the AM list as an artificial advantage in these polls is spot on!

I vaguely remember someone doing an analysis of one of the polls to characterize alignment with the AM list. I typically reconsider my voting at least once in each poll to try to reduce alignment with the AM list.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Hymie »

Henry wrote:
Jirin wrote:If there's any forum on the entire internet where mainstream albums have the least artificial advantage, it's here.

If any albums have an artificial advantage here, it's albums high on the AM list.

Great to see Kendrick Lamar land two albums in the top 100, though unfortunate to see both them and Nation of Millions fall below Narcissism: The Album.
Your remark about alignment with the AM list as an artificial advantage in these polls is spot on!

I vaguely remember someone doing an analysis of one of the polls to characterize alignment with the AM list. I typically reconsider my voting at least once in each poll to try to reduce alignment with the AM list.
What was highest ranking album in this that was eligible for AM but was not listed on the site?

One of the things that skews AM and skews polls on this site is that that are almost no female critics or female members of this forum. There's essentially no input from half of the population. Females have a different perspective on what makes a work of music good.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by notbrianeno »

Image
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there
#50. The Zombies | Odessey & Oracle (1968)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2094.800
Rank in 2014: #68
AM 3000 Rank: #292
Top Fans: Zombeels (#1), PlasticRam (#2), BryanBehar (#13), Jackson (#14), BangJan (#16), Babydoll (#20), Acroamor (#27), VanillaFire1000 (#28), Georgie (#29), BleuPanda (#30), SonofSamIAm (#32), DaveC (#45), Harold (#48), Andyd1010 (#48), Brad (#63), LiveInPhoenix (#65), Honorio (#76), GucciLittlePiggy (#83), Romain (#91)
A lot of the songs on Odyssey are very melancholic and minor-key in tone, in contrast to a lot of the happy, skip through the flowers melodies that their peers were putting out at the time. Colin Blunstone's voice is absolutely amazing. Definitely much better than either Lennon or McCartney and right up there with the great Brian Wilson. While the group's harmonies never quite match up to The Beach Boys were doing, every song here is magical. Song after song, from the opening jangly piano keys of "Care of Cell 44", to the sad, sweet melody of "A Rose for Emily", the rich harmonies of "Brief Candles", "Maybe After He's Gone" and "Changes", the absolute psychedelic brilliance of "Beechwood Park", "Hung Up on a Dream", and "Time of the Season", the sheer pop mastery of "I Want Her, She Wants Me", "This Will Be Our Year", and "Friends of Mine", and the underrated powerful ballad "Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914)", this album is nothing more than perfect song after perfect song after perfect song. The perfect album? I'm not sure if I believe that there is an absolute "perfect" album, but every time I listen to this album, it goes a long way in changing my mind. Best album of the 60's? While Abbey Road and Pet Sounds both have their place in my heart, this even trumps those great albums in my humble opinion. Best album of all time? Very well could be because quite honestly, if I could give this album more than a 5, I would.
--OtherBarry, RYM

Image
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
Blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
#49. Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here (1975)
# of Voters: 38 | Score: 2096.297
Rank in 2014: #59
AM 3000 Rank: #186
Top Fans: VeganValentine (#2), Listyguy (#8), Chambord (#10), ProsecutorGodot (#17), OrdinaryPerson (#17), Dudumb (#17), M24 (#18), GabeBasso (#24), RickyMathias (#34), SJner (#42), DaveC (#42), Andyd1010 (#51), Michel (#52), Honorio (#62), Gillingham (#70), BryanBehar (#74), Acroamor (#87), Whuntva (#89)
This album IS the sound of absence. It manifests through moody musings about absent friends and lost relatives, as well as looks at the soulless automaton of the record industry which strangely works very well next to the more obviously about absence tracks. They share a sound of emptiness and sadness toward missing something integral in life. The obvious centerpoint of all this of course is Syd Barret, long gone into a private hell of mental illness, it's clear that no matter the track his ghost haunts the precedings. In fact he literally walked in on the studio sessions at one point, looking like a miserable wreck of the man he knew and speaking nonsense he drove his former bandmates to tears. It's not a fun album, easily one of the most sad records I've ever heard. But like many of the best LP's about sad moods it's also achingly beautiful. And shows Floyd finally being economical and playing what needs to be played.
--Zephos, RYM

Image
Don't look
At the carpet
I drew something awful on it
See
#48. David Bowie | Low (1977)
# of Voters: 39 | Score: 2117.367
Rank in 2014: #61
AM 3000 Rank: #97
Top Fans: ChrisK (#7), BangJan (#7), Spiderpig (#11), Dudumb (#15), RickyMathias (#16), Bootsy (#24), Schaefer.tk (#32), Harold (#43), SonofSamIAm (#44), Jackson (#48), GabeBasso (#52), BleuPanda (#57), SJner (#62), Karla (#63), OrdinaryPerson (#67), Moonbeam (#72), Georgie (#89), Listyguy (#93)
Low's first side is a beautiful futurist ruin, littered with holes left purposefully unfixed. Two decades after its release, Bowie noted that his crew "really captured, unlike anything else in that time, a sense of yearning for a future that we all knew would never come to pass." Visconti heightens the decay and distills the lifespan of every sound, treating Dennis Davis' drums so that he was playing along to a withered echo of his last strike, like an explosion contained in a tin can. Even Bowie's voice sounds aged and distant. Eno's sharp electronics jostle against the bolshy funk rhythms and Carlos Alomar and Ricky Gardiner's guitars, giving the record a feverish euphoria that hits like too much pseudo-ephedrine and mangles linear time. These swaggering fragments, seldom breaking the three-minute mark, promise bombastic payoffs but then fade out instead. Low's first side feels like having the carpet ripped out from under you by three wizards who have plans to fly it elsewhere.

All this playfulness means that Low's reputation for utter desolation doesn't feel quite right. Bowie is, of course, obsessed with barriers to connection: the sudden instinct that causes him to yelp and back away from someone on "Breaking Glass" ("You're such a wonderful person/ But you got problems/ Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'll never touch ya"), self-imposed isolation ("Sound and Vision") and isolation from the self ("What are you gonna be/ To the real me," on "What in the World"), and a semi-serious plea for lifelong companionship just as his marriage was disintegrating ("Be My Wife"). From the windows of Hansa Tonstudio (where the record was mostly finished, not tracked) the band could see into the watchtowers atop Berlin's dividing Wall. A lot of Low's lyrics were extemporized, but the consistency of these ornery admissions, however fragmented, implies a self-aware desire to push past them, to hunt some trace of optimism.
--Laura Snapes, Pitchfork

Image
There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Oh, it's my time coming, I'm not afraid, afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love
But she cries to the clicking of time, oh
#47. Jeff Buckley | Grace (1994)
# of Voters: 36 | Score: 2151.671
Rank in 2014: #75
AM 3000 Rank: #59
Top Fans: Slucs (#2), RickyMathias (#4), GucciLittlePiggy (#8), Chambord (#11), Listyguy (#14), M24 (#24), ChrisK (#26), VAnillaFire1000 (#31), JohnnyBGoode (#32), BleuPanda (#32), NotBrianEno (#32), Dudumb (#35), Nicolas (#36), JWinton (#37), Victor.Marianoo77 (#47), Bruno (#52), Whuntva (#55), Spiritualized (#77), Dexter (#88), DaveC (#94), Nico (#94), OrdinaryPerson (#94), Harold (#95)
The posthumous aspect of Grace’s continuing appeal is of key importance – if he hadn’t died, aged 30, in 1997, the chances are that Buckley would have taken the incredible promise showcased here and transformed it into material to place these efforts in the shade. Resultantly, Grace exists in a vacuum, with no material of particular note to trouble it as its maker’s definitive musical statement. Instrumentally, little is remarkable – surely Buckley would have explored new textures, bringing greater life to his music. But his vocal is mesmerising, and it’s this element of Buckley’s performance which has best stood the test of time. It is unique amongst artists, from the rock and pop spectrum and well beyond, defying prosaic pigeonholing. Hear it once, and it will stay with the listener forever.
As the son of Tim Buckley – who also died far too young – Jeff was always going to find it difficult to escape his father’s shadow and establish himself as a singular talent. Grace, though, was a remarkable first step – inconsistent certainly, but blessed with moments of arresting, beguiling beauty. It takes most of its compositional cues from fairly classic rock sources (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd), but Buckley’s vocals – committed, sincere, stop-you-in-your-tracks intense – marked him as an artist to follow intently. What a tragedy that he was never able to develop further the epic potential of this worthy debut.
--Mike Diver, BBC

Image
Jubilation,
She loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing.
#46. Simon & Garfunkel | Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
# of Voters: 41 | Score: 2212.259
Rank in 2014: #63
AM 3000 Rank: #115
Top Fans: Miguel (#2), BonnieLaurel (#8), RedAnt (#10), PlasticRam (#11), DocBrown (#16), Dexter (#20), JWinton (#20), Henry (#21), Spiritualized (#26), Zombeels (#30), Andyd1010 (#31), Profeta (#36), Bruno (#50), VeganValentine (#51), VanillaFire1000 (#55), Jirin (#58), SweepstakesRon (#58), Nico (#87), Acroamor (#93)
Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 swan song, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was both their most effortless record and their most ambitious. The duo spent most of the 1960s as a highly regarded folk act distinguished by their intuitive harmonies and Paul Simon's articulate songwriting, yet compared to the Greenwich Village revivalists, whom they tried to emulate on songs like "A Simple Desultory Philippic" and "Bleecker Street", they were pretty square. By Bookends in 1968, they were settling into themselves, losing their folk revival pretensions and emphasizing quirky production techniques to match their soaring vocals. Two years later, Bridge did that album one better by revealing a voracious musical vocabulary that spanned gospel, rock, R&B, and even classical. As this thoughtful reissue attests, the album sounds unique even 40 years later, driven and defined entirely by their own personal musical and political obsessions.

This diverse album contains the roots of Paul Simon's subsequent incorporation of African and South American rhythms into astute pop songs, especially "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)". The tune is hundreds of years old, but Simon came to it via a contemporary Peruvian group called Los Incas. He wrote new English lyrics about the rural versus the urban, and he and Garfunkel sang them over the original instrumental track. Especially coming after the grandiose gospel of the title track, the song sounds both exotic and humble. Later, "Keep the Customer Satisfied" swells with gargantuan blasts of brass, "Baby Driver" revs up some R&B sax, and "Cecilia" sounds impossibly infectious with its pennywhistle solo and handclap/thighslap percussion. Despite the breadth of sound-- and despite the splintering of their relationship-- Bridge sounds like a unified statement enlivened by styles and rhythms not often heard on pop radio at the juncture of those two decades.
--Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Nick »

Awesome rollout thus far, notbrianeno! Very happy to see MBDTF crack the top 45.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Harold »

Hymie wrote:What was highest ranking album in this that was eligible for AM but was not listed on the site?
I think it was Jacques Brel's Olympia '64, back at #539. Rodriguez's Cold Fact was #549, and the 2014 poll's highest-finishing unlisted-at-AM album, Exuma, came in at #552 this time around.
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Hymie »

notbrianeno wrote:Image
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there
#50. The Zombies | Odessey & Oracle (1968)
What do those lyrics have to do with this album?
Hymie
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Re: AMF Favorite Albums of All-Time -- RESULTS

Post by Hymie »

Harold wrote:
Hymie wrote:What was highest ranking album in this that was eligible for AM but was not listed on the site?
I think it was Jacques Brel's Olympia '64, back at #539. Rodriguez's Cold Fact was #549, and the 2014 poll's highest-finishing unlisted-at-AM album, Exuma, came in at #552 this time around.
Thanks Harold. One of my favorite albums that is not listed at AM is this one:

Image
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