I haven't even read through it yet, but this is the most exciting list I've seen here yet. I love metal, but for some reason never got into Priest. I'll be using this as a guide. Thanks Adrien!
I read the intro and was fully prepared to attack this list for a lack of singles material, but the two non-album songs are two of the three I'd go with (I also love Looking For Gold.) However, Son the Father and Crusades should always be numbers one and two.
Ys is just so complete. Each song can stand on its own, but they way they come together as a whole makes each part that much more special. The music on it is so developed and exquisite, the orchestration complements her playing so well, her playing has developed even further, and the way the songs twist and turn is unparalleled. That said, it's the lyrics that truly make the album a huge work, something that will be remembered long after she's gone. She uses such a great mix of esoteric phrasing (In their hydrocephalitic listlessness ants mop up their brow) and heartfelt, simple statements (Pa pointed out to me for the hundredth time tonight, the way the ladle leads to the dirt-red bullet of light) and the mix really makes those more common phrase even more emotive. And that's what really gets me: for all of the obscure and difficult stuff on here, it's a deeply, almost painfully, emotional album, and you can tell that she puts every bit of herself into these songs. Cosmia, at the end, is such an explosive expression of love, loss and longing that I can never hear it without tearing up, and I've listened to it well over a hundred times.
I love her so goddamn much.
I can't believe that it's been ten years. I heard this in 2004, during the death throes of my first major punk phase, and thought that it was extremely bizarre and kind of off-putting. That said, I was impressed enough by Devendra Banhart and his constant support of her that I gave The Milk-Eyed Mender a few more chances. It still didn't click, and I stupidly missed a chance to see her on the tour for the album. For some reason, despite the tepid feelings connected to MEM, I snagged the Ys leak after Pitchfork fucked up and let it out super early. It so stunned and completely overwhelmed me that I missed two classes and listened to it four times in a row. It also so completely overwhelmed me that it shed new light on her idiosyncracies, and provided me an entrance to the Milk-Eyed Mender. I adore it now, Sadie is possibly my favorite song of all time, and Ms. Newsom is, without a doubt, my favorite artist.
See her if you ever have the chance. She truly transforms these songs with her band, and as her voice has developed and changed she's found even more expressiveness with the early work. When she did the orchestral shows in 2010, the band performed a nashvill-ified version of Inflammatory Writ that remains, in my mind, the definitive version of the song. Plus, her question and answer sessions with the audience as the band tunes are worth the price of admission.
Bangs aired about 15-20 minutes of it at a birthday bash in LA two years ago. The footage he has is incredible, and it also has Steve Albini telling the story of how the Jesus Lizard came up with the song Mouth Breather. It's Slint-inspired and excellent.
Can I echo the disappointment from the peanut gallery at Figure 8 getting the top spot? Either/Or, S/T and XO are all superior to that great, worthy, fantastic, but slightly less amazing record.
This is incredible, and so very indicative of the earworm nature of this fantastic band. They can fit so well into a public space and, rather than blending into the background, work with it and have subtle parts stick out that you'll never forget.
My first thought when I saw this posted was, "St. Stephen belongs at number 1." Glad to see you agreed.
I would have put Dire Wolf on my list, but every song on this list is a great call.
I like the thought here, but I had to downvote you for questioning Beyonce's ability to reach the heights of those artists. She's got some serious talent, and man, if she made an album of tracks like Haunted it'd be no question. A dark slithering monster of a track.
"Macca jams like "I'm Looking Through You" and "I'm Looking Through You" are highly advanced specimens..."
Someone must really love that song, eh Mr. DeVille?
Pretty much all of those albums are working a different type of psych though. They deal more in blues-based long-form guitar rock. Sgt. Peppers pulls more in the direction of pop structures with odd additions. I would never put Sgt. Peppers at the top of my Beatles list or at the top of any psychedelic albums list, but to say it wasn't groundbreaking in its own right is just ignoring all the music that it spawned. And that doesn't even touch on the thematic material behind the album, the idea that a band can just become a different one and create a conceptual theme to build an album around (even if it doesn't hold for most of Sgt. Peppers.)
I like this order. It's really hard to deny any of the albums though.
Hey Jude, the compilation, should have been included though, as none of those songs were on any of the albums, and it gathers some great material. And also Old Brown Shoe.
I've gotta say that, while these lists are almost per se meaningless, I always appreciate the fact that groups put them out there. I was a teenager when Rolling Stone put out their first version of their 500 greatest albums of all time, and it made me excited to find all the random stuff on there that I'd not heard. As a result, I discovered the joy of Richard and Linda Thompson, dove head first into 50s rockabilly, gained my first appreciation for jazz and realized that Rolling Stone was very conservative in their musical choices. Of course this stuff isn't consensus and represents a bunch of pale nerds cloistered in their flats listening obsessively to brit pop, but if it inspires some goofy kid to go listen to Frank Sinatra and Dexy's Midnight Runners, good on them.
Beach House is, to me, the apotheosis of this. For all the claims that Ramones wrote the same song over and over, there was quite a bit of variety throughout their catalog. I've listened to Beach House a ton, and I can't tell most of their songs apart.
When Olivia Tremor Control played Arthurfest in LA back in 2006 they had the sheep lamp on stage. I can't for the life of me find my photo of it, but there are some things that, once you see, cannot be unseen.
Sudden Organ is the best song of all songs. I could listen to it every day (and probably have for the past decade) and not get tired of it. I love this band so much, but for me they never topped Painful. This album still puts a lump in my throat.
This is definitely the best week for loud music in a LONG time. Carcass, SubRosa, Windhand, Grave Miasma, Ulcerate and Pinkish Black in one week?! It's almost a bummer that Gorguts put out their fantastic release the week prior, because they would have fit in perfectly with this loud and excellent party.
In a year for great metal, this is the best week of the year thus far.
I'm surprised more people haven't jumped on here so far expressing surprise at The Fragile being as low as it is. It's the one I listen to the most, the highs on it are probably higher (for me) than any other peaks Trent has reached and it has more variety than any other release. It's my go-to album for driving in the middle of the desert late at night.
No Sixteen Military Wives? That song is the one of theirs that I play most frequently. And yeah, more Crane Wife is always needed. I'd also choose The Tain as the proggy, guitar-y epic of note.
They really need to tour again. I saw them back in 2006 and they were so very good. They invited the crowd up on stage and handed out drum sticks, encouraging a mass pound-along during (I think) 13 Months in Six Minutes.
I've gotta take my hat off. I haven't fully soaked in Bad As Me still, but this is an excellent ranking of a very tough and consistently excellent career. I like Heartattack and Vine more than you do and would probably bump Frank's Wild Years down a notch or two, but it's minor quibbling. Bone Machine definitely deserves that placement, and I'm going to go listen to it right now. AND THE EARTH DIED SCREAAAAMING!
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