Tuesday, August 01, 2006

My top 10 favorite albums

10) Black Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)
9) The beatles (Rubber Soul)
8) The Cure (Boys don't Cry)
7) David Bowie (Hunky Dory)
6) Pink Floyd (The Wall)
5) Morphine (Cure for Pain)
4) Pink Floyd (Obscured by Clouds)
3) Fleetwood Mac (Then Play On)
2) The Pretty Things (S.F. Sorrow)
1) David Bowie (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars) TIE
1) The Beatles (Abbey Road) TIE

Honerable mention: Velvet Underground and Nico (Velvet Underground and Nico)
Neil Young (Harvest, After the Gold Rush)
Beatles (everything not on list)
Pink Floyd (everything with WITH Roger Waters or Syd)
The Who (Tommy)
David Bowie (all with the Spiders band)

Reasons

10) In Black Sabbath's 1973 album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath they were taking a different direction that their previous four albums. The band slowed down their music and made it much more rhythmic, they had adopted a kind of progressive rock sound. Another addition to the band for this album was Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman. I feel that this album was a more evolved sound from their previous albums and I also think that it is a proclamation for how good Ozzy could have been if he wasn't a sell out.

9) Rubber Soul was when the Beatles took their band to a new level, It had incorporated an early sound of a pschedelic rock. I also feel that this era of the band was especially Lennon heavy which I much prefer.

8) Boys don't cry is actually the Cure's secon album. But in the words of Robert Smith (singer/songwiter for the cure) "it was our first good album". This album has a poppy/punky/dark vibe to it and I thinks that the conglomeration worked perfectly.

7) Hunky Dory includes multiple tributary tracks including song for Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, and oh you pretty things. Hunky Dory has a "a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class." (wikipedia)

6) The Wall is an indepth rock opera about the inner struggles of a man going through a mental breakdown. Questioning sanity seems to be predominantnt theme in Pink Floyds music. From Piper at the gates of dawn through what should have been their last album The Final Cut (after that Gilmore ruined the band). The Wall is just a masterpiece of an album.

5) Cure for Pain was Morphines second album, this band was great. they had a jazz/grunge sound that singer and songwriter Mark Sandman fused together perfectly with his vocals anrhythmim.

4) Considered by some (not me) to be Pink floyds last good album.
This albums was also a soundrack to Frenchch movie "The Valley"
This album contains similarhythm'sms throughout most songs to create more of a "whole" soundThisis is mfavoriteit Pink Floyd Album anI i think that anyone who hears it will like it.

3) Fleetwood Mawasn'tnt always a lame pop band. In the late sixties Peter Green was the singer/songwriter/vocals for the band and they had a blues/rock/progressive sound to them on this albumThisis album iphenomenalal and Peter Green was geniusus at making you feecertainan things from his music.

2) For S.F. Sorrow please read my blog on the Pretty Things

1) Abbey Road: The last album recorded by The Beatles anI don'tnt know if they could have ended it better. Fom the opening track Come Together through the final Her Majesty you cold tell that the band knew it was the end and wanted to do the best thing they had ever done. This album blends together creating a "feel" that no other album has done. In the track the End Ringo did his only drum solo ever with the Beatles and all three other members do a guitar solo together, then the line that makes the album "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make". That said everything it needed to say.

1) Ziggy Stardust: Another Rock opera, this one has the musical touch of David Bowie. Throughout the whole album you can distinctly hear his influence from the Pretty Things. The whole along with Abbey Road has a unique "feel" to it. One of David Bowie's best skills was making climactic songsThehe whole albums comes together for one final song "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" that features an orchestral sound that sound perfect, then after a second of silence there is one final chord to signify the albums completion.
If you have not heard this album go get it and listen to it now! Also remember that it is to be played at maximum volume.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Being one of your biggest influences by taking you to see REM when you were 5, Smashing Pumkins a few years later, The Rolling Stones a few years after that (the GREATEST ROCK N ROLL BAND of all time) and many in between (remember Boyz 2 Men/we did that for Hallie) as well as our late night talking/listening sessions at our home, I am very proud of you.
However, I must add about 3.
Neil Young..After The Gold Rush and my favorite..HARVEST..which both hold special places in my heart. Also, some of the Stones early stuff..needs to be on your list ie. Sympathy for the Devil, Painted Black, Shattered, Out of Time, Heartbreaker..
But, you did great and keep writing, whatever you do, be the best at it, go to school, work hard and know how special you are.
Laura

Anonymous said...

I forgot to tell you that I fully agree with your tie for the #1 spot on your top 10.
The Beatles Abbey Road was a life changing record for me and I am sure most of my peers. For me, the last 20 minutes of that record is pure brilliance never to be duplicated again.
As for Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album, you said it! THE PERFECT ALBUM, every song is pure genius, the louder/the better and Rock and Roll Suicide still gives me goosebumps.
Laura

Snave said...

You definitely have some of my favorites in your list. "Then Play On" is my favorite Fleetwood Mac album, particulary the two "Madge" tracks... talk about jamming!! Whew! I have a bunch of Cure CDs, and my favorites are from their druggy period ("Faith", "Seventeen Seconds", "Pornography"), but I actually have never heard "Boys Don't Cry" in its entirety. Thanks for mentioning that CD, I will look for a copy of it... I think Robert Smith is a genius.

Glad to see you are a Bowie fan too! I see you like his early releases... what do you think of "Aladdin Sane"? It is my second favorite of his, after "Heroes".

Having three of your top ten slots occupied by Beatles albums is a sign of your good musical taste! 8-)> At the top of my all-time list of albums is "the White Album". In my top 20 would also be "Abbey Road" and "Rubber Soul". I think "Revolver" was awfully good too! I am also a Lennon fan, and I love the first "Plastic Ono Band" album. I also have his "box set", which is full of all kinds of treats. If you get a chance to hear it sometime, be sure to listen! It's fun!

I have only heard a few tracks by Morphine, but I like what I heard. Our local CD shop is going out of business, but before that happens I may have to get in there and get the copy they have of the Morphine anthology.

I love Pink Floyd, but I am more of an earlier Floyd fan, kind of like the excellent album you have at #4. I have most of their stuff, and I have to say "Meddle" is my favorite because of the epic cut "Echoes". Next would probably be "Wish You Were Here", and after that probably "Dark Side Of The Moon", but I recently heard "A Saucerful of Secrets" for the first time, and I love it. That early stuff with Syd Barrett is amazing... As for the later period when Roger Waters dominated the band, I find it a bit of a tough listen. I'm not really a fan of "The Wall", and I'm definitely not into "The Final Cut". I think "Animals" was pretty danged good, though.

I only recently decided to pay attention to Black Sabbath, and I realize what great music I have been missing for so many years. I got their single-disc "greatest hits" collection that covers the years from 1970 to 1978, and the songs I like best are from "Volume Four". I never knew Rick Wakeman played with Sabbath... he was one of my heroes when I was a teenager. I may have to look into "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" too, now that you have given it such good marks.

Keep writing about music, you do a good job at it and your love for rock and roll shows in your writing!

Lizzy said...

Great post, Noah. I agree with many on your list, including Abbey Road, Ziggy Stardust, and The Wall.

I would add the Beatles White Album, Revolver & Sgt. Pepper's.

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here & Dark Side

Other favs of mine include:
Elvis Costello: first 2 albums
The Cars: first 2 albums
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush
Nirvana: Nevermind
Black Crowes: Shake Your Money Maker
U2: Joshua Tree
The Clash: 1st album
The Police: 1st album
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks
The Who: Tommy
Van Halen: 1st album
Ramones: 1st album
Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life
Prince: Purple Rain
Guns N Roses: Appetite For Destruction
Bruce Springsteen: The River
X: Los Angeles
Green Day: American Idiot
Descendents: Milo Goes To College
Sublime: Sublime

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Anonymous said...

When Gilmour ruined the band? I thought he enhanced it! He brought a legitimate and flowing musicianship that the band had previously lacked. In my opinion, they were never better than when you had both creative forces (Roger and David) working together. Perhaps you dislike him because he gave them more of a mainstream appeal? That arguement reeks of Pitchfork Media. This is of course, my opinion. A very well done post, by the way, well thought. I love musical debates! Keep up the good work!