MUSIC THREAD

Alligator is my number two behind Boxer. Matt really hasn't yelled on an album since Mr. November, which has always kind of disappointed me. I like his yell. He comes close toward the end of Anyone's Ghost, but it's not quite the same as Abel/Mr. November.

This could prompt a whole new discussion on best in song yells.

 

Bruce Springsteen would win.

I like Trouble Will Find Me more because a lot of clutter was stripped back on it. It's a mature-sounding album. "Pink Rabbits" and "Demons" are my favorite tracks by The National.

 

I'll give you that. It's definitely a leaner album. The "Fuck..." moment in Demons is tremendous.

 

Also, I won't be picking my 15 albums until my month as up and I can listen to as many of my considerations as many times as possible, but here are the ones off the top of my head in the consideration pile:

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Kanye West - College Dropout/Late Registration
The Gaslight Anthem - '59 Sound
Jay-Z - Blueprint/Black Album
Ben Folds (Five) - Whatever and Ever Amen/Rocking the Suburbs
The Decemberists - Picaresque/The Crane Wife
Lauryn Hill - Miseducation
Dylan - Highway 61
The Who - Who's Next
Prince - Purple Rain
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
2pac - Me Against the World
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
The Beatles - White Album/Revolver
Wu-Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club (live albums are allowed)
Zeppelin - One of the many options; I need to listen to them all through again as it's been a while
Nas - Illmatic
The Clash - London Calling
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

I'm sure there are plenty I'm missing. I'm limiting myself to one album per artist for the list with my friends just to get as many artists in there as possible. Who's Next, Funeral, one of the albums from Kanye and one from Jay-Z are probably the four choices I consider locks at this point.

 

I only give the nod to Boxer because it has a small taste of every other album on it. At times it's polished. Other times it's raw. Ballads, rockers, songs in Fake Empire and Green Gloves that are as creepy and disorienting as the band gets. The showy almost-marching band drum cadences should be off-turning, but they're not. They just rock. Even the songs left off the American version, Blank Slate and Santa Clara, are some of their best recordings.

Here's a strange way to explain my fondness for Boxer: I get the feeling that listening to Boxer will make me feel like I'm 28 years old for the rest of my life. Alligator makes me feel 21 years old. The last two albums make me feel middle-aged (in a good way). I like 28 best.

Alligator is more fun. Sad Songs is more artistically-minded. High Violet is more lush and perfect. TWFM is a better pop album. But none of them are a better album in totality than Boxer, for my money.

 

The Gaslight Anthem would be appalled at your lack of Bruce Springsteen, dreunc1542.

 

And I will be listening to this now.

Speaking of live soul albums, have you listened to the Otis Redding Live in London/Paris album? It was reissued a few years back and is awesome. The rendition of Respect on it is great.

I was also glad to see someone else listing Modest Mouse, even though I didn't love We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

 

The Moon and Antarctica is on my top 20 albums of the 2000s list.

 

They would be, indeed. There are certain artists where I love a bunch of their songs, but rarely listen to their full albums - Springsteen is one of those. I'll likely consider Born to Run, and listen to it during this month, but it will probably not be included. '59 Sound, on the other hand, is easily one of my top 10 most played albums.

gs - The fact that I've listened to WWDBTSES a ton the past couple months has a lot to do with that being the Modest Mouse album I picked. I commonly listen to albums while driving to and from work and so the poppier vibe of it is a good fit. I'll also give Good New for People Who Love Bad News and The Moon and Antarctica some spins this month, though, to see if they'll change my mind.

I don't think I've listened to that live album from Otis. I'll check it out.

Speaking of live albums, I'm listening to The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East, which is the other main live album I'm considering for the list. The guitarwork is so fucking good, and that version of Whipping Post, holy shit.

 

I have a funny relationship with that album. I always liked it, and then a few years ago something with it clicked and I just loved it.

Looking back on my list, 9 of the 15 are from 2000 or later, which I guess makes sense since I really didn't start listening to a lot of music until 2002/2003. At that point I was still figuring out what I liked, and simultaneously went back and discovered the "classic" albums while also listening to random new stuff. This is why I love seeing other lists from different people, it reminds that there maybe something great that I have missed, or forgotten for some reason. It also gives me a push to listen to some albums again.

I think if I was choosing a list with a more objective lens, it would look very different. For example, I love Revolver, and agree with the many people who have called it the perfect pop album, but I don't find myself listening to it very often. In hindsight, I probably would have placed London Calling in the Top 15 somewhere...maybe replacing M83, although I do love that album.

 

Otis Redding Live in Europe is a superlative album, as is the Otis/Hendrix record from Monterey Pop. I have no idea if this ever found its way on to CD, I have it on vinyl.

 

Sturgill Simpson is on heavy rotation for me lately. I wish country music stations would play his music.