My Taste in Music is Way Better Than Your Taste in Music
________

[Main]

[Reviews]

[Features]

[Albums]

[Wanted]

[Top 50]

[Guestbook]
________

tommo

at

ucc

dot

asn

dot

au

________


Tommo's Top 50 Favourite Albums (for the time being)

Part One: Fifty to Twenty-Six


It's been a while since I did the "Top ## Albums of All Time" thing on this site. My musical taste has developed and knowledge has expanded significantly since the last time (and, I'd like to think, my writing has improved), so I decided the time was right to revisit it. This time, I've decided to double my work (and hopefully, your reading enjoyment!) by expanding from a Top 25 to a Top 50!

I went about creating the list in a very particular way. First, I made an initial "draft list", including a handful of albums that were lying "in reserve" just outside the Top 50. Then, over the course of several weeks, I listened to each album in it's entirety, working my way sequentially up the list. After hearing each album, I then re-evaluated its place in the list until I was happy with its position. There's been a fair bit of shifting about, and I've even had a few personal relevations about how much I like certain albums, but I think this method has resulted in a list that reflects my tastes and opinions as accurately as possible. At least, you know, for the time being.

The final step was to write a short synopsis about each album, explaining why I love it. Listed below is part one of the feature - albums fifty to twenty six. I'll post twenty five to one when I finish writing all the synopses!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy it :)
#50 Faith No More - Angel Dust (1998)

As far as I'm concerned, Angel Dust is easily the pinnacle of Faith No More's body of work. Although primarily a hard-rock album at it's core, it features an incredibly diverse set of songs which delve into numerous other styles and genres, including touches of metal, funk, blues, and even a beautiful instrumental turn for their cover of "Midnight Cowboy". Mike Patton's lyrics are suberb and often brimming over with humour ("Land of Sunshine" and "R.V." are particularly funny), and his delivery booms with fiery conviction. "Epic" may have made them stars, but this is the album where they truly met their potential, and the results are utterly spectacular.


#49 The Shins - Oh! Inverted World (2001)

I used to rank Chutes too Narrow as The Shins' best release, but these days I think their debut is the superior album (although only just). The influence of 60s sunshine pop (particularly The Kinks) is evident right from the start, but The Shins manage to wrap that genre in an enticing layer of distinctly modern flourishes, impeccable sequencing and James Mercer's exceptional lyrical ability. The "weakest" tracks on the album are merely good, enjoyable listens, but the highlights, such as "Caring is Creepy", "One by One All Day", "New Slang", "Pressed in a Book" and "The Past and Pending" make up a sizeable portion of the group's finest work.


#48 Stone Temple Pilots - Purple (1994)

Although you couldn't really classify it as grunge per se, Purple still managed to achieve success by falling neatly into the grunge phenomenon of the early-90s. The set of songs here individually outdo anything else in the band's catalogue (barring the incomparable "Plush"), and collectively their impact is undeniable. Ranging from the hard-rock punch of tracks like "Meatplow" and "Lounge Fly" to the psychedelic detours of "Army Ants" and "Silvergun Superman", to the album's arena-rock, juggernaut singles "Vasoline", "Interstate Love Song" and "Big Empty", there's just so much to like about this album.

#47 Gastr Del Sol - Camofleur (1999)

This effort by post-rock stalwarts David Grubbs and John McEntire is one of the oft-criticised genre's loftiest acheivements. While many of their contemporaries restrict themselves to emotionless, musical-academia, Gastr Del Sol manage to infuse Camofleur with elements of other styles, including jazz, classical, country, folk, singer-songwriter, film music and found sounds, and then blend these element in exciting, original ways. While the music is certainly highly creative, it always feels utterly familiar, resulting in an album that's as warm and lively as it is fascinating and complex.

#46 Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)

Sam Beam seems to be almost unusally reliable. To be completely honest, I don't think there's anything particularly groundbreakingly great about this album. The standout track, "Naked as We Came", is fantastic, but still not really a lock for "classic" status. What's remarkable about Our Endless Numbered Days can be summed up with one word - "consistency". Every track on here is a solid 8/10 or better. There isn't anything that you could classify as being even close to "filler", and the album is perfectly sequenced and edited to boot. What you're left with is a dozen great, relaxing slices of laid-back folk music, and an album that doesn't overstay its welcome for even a moment.

#45 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Sitting down to write a synopsis about The Velvet Underground & Nico feels more than a little bit ridiculous. I mean, what's left to write about an album so influentual that it's more or less cemented its place as the Godfather of indie-rock? Two things blow me away about this album. Firstly, the Velvets' incredible grasp on songwriting, which sees them veer between the very best kind of traditionally catchy song structures and experimental turns that were years ahead of their time. Secondly, Lou Reed's incredibly powerful subject matter. Writing an album which covers topics including drug abuse, BDSM, addiction and prostitution is gutsy enough, but to do so in 1966 was bold and defiant beyond measure.

#44 Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (1966)

Who doesn't like Jimi? Are You Experienced? contains so many instantly recognizable guitar riffs that it's downright ridiculous. It's hard to think of an album of cooler songs, as Hendrix exudes attitude and swagger and ... awesomeness at every turn. I mean, you've got the strutting "Foxy Lady", the manic (*cough*) 2/4 assault of "Manic Depression", the bluesy cool of "Red House" and the psychedelic bliss of "Love or Confusion", with another handful of classics I haven't even mentioned. How can you not love it?

#43 Radiohead - The Bends (1995)

Radiohead's second album, The Bends show's the band treading the line between rock accessibility and experimental tendencies perfectly, showcasing their generous skill in both. The band fully embrace the soft-loud-soft aesthetic here, doing it well on "Nice Dream" and even better on "My Iron Lung". Meanwhile, the massive guitar lines of tracks like "The Bends" and "Just" are beautifully complemented by the gorgeous serenity of "Fake Plastic Trees", "High and Dry" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)".

#42 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

I have to confess to being a serious latecomer to this particular party. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of a small handful of 00s albums to have been so universally well received that it's already been canonised as a "classic" of the decade. At first I never quite grasped what was so special about it, but recently it finally clicked for me. Very few albums have combined the ecclectic with the emotional as perfectly as this. Tracks like "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", "Jesus, etc" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" manage to be endlessly fascinating in their experimental nature, while still wearing their heart on their sleeve. The collection of songs here are so moving and unique, I have no doubt that the album's lofty status is genuinely deserved.

#41 The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed (2004)

None of the other music critics (professional or otherwise) seem to agree with me on this. I think We Shall All Be Healed is, far and away, The Mountain Goats' best release. No, you're wrong - it's considerably better than The Sunset Tree, and I'll tell you why. Darnielle's lyrical ability kept on plateauing after this album, but he hasn't managed to equal the sheer brilliance in songwriting and lost-in-the-moment, spine-tingling emotional impact. The guitar work, melodies, vocal nuances, highlight moments, accompanying instrumentation, production, etc - all of it is at its very best here. The album's best tracks form a highlight reel to be contended with - "Slow West Vultures", "Palmcorder Yajna", "Letter to Belgium", "The Young Thousands", "Your Belgian Things", "Home Again Garden Grove", "Quito" and "Cotton" are all absolute first rate gems. Nothing else that The Mountain Goats have done reaches that level of consistent brilliance.

#40 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)

Nick Drake didn't manage to record many albums in his short lifetime, but the consistently high quality of his brief output is truly outstanding. On Five Leaves Left, his debut, Drake showcases his amazing ability as a guitarist and songwriter, laying down ten tracks of utterly beautiful, folk-tinged music. The core of each of these songs is always Drake's smooth, melancholy vocal and intricate guitar picking, but each of the songs deviates slightly from this motif in different and intriguing ways, from the lush, dense accompaniament of "River Man" to the great additional instrumentation of "Cello Song" and the upbeat, jaunty melody of "Man in a Shed."

#39 Nirvana - In Utero (1993)

Nevermind is, of course, the more popular choice, but I think In Utero is actually Nirvana's best work. While tunes like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium", with their poppy backbones, are certainly more hummable, the trio's final album is far and away their most ambitious and creative, and certainly has had more of a lasting impact on me. I usually play Nevermind to just rock out on a nostalgia trip, but In Utero really does still holds up as an excellent album in it's own right. I think the whole package is best summed up by its colossal opening trifecta - the crashing, wildly humourous opener "Serve the Servants", the wickedly abbrasive "Scentless Apprentice" and the crunchy, distorted single "Heart Shaped Box". Those three tracks alone rock out more than anything Nirvana had done before, and the album rides this magnifient high all the way through to its stark conclusion of "All Apologies".

#38 Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)

Surfer Rosa is, quite franky, mind-blowingly creative. The see-sawing guitars of "Bone Machine" and the instantly recognisable riff from "Where is My Mind?" would make those songs envelope-pushing masterpieces of lo-fi, even today. Hearing them and realising they were made in 1988 just makes it sound even more phenomenal. "Gigantic" gives big hints towards the more (comparatively) polished and accessible sound the band would adopt for Doolittle, giving the album its obvious single and centrepiece. Meanwhile, Frank Black's ludicrous vocal and off-kilter delivery, combined with Steve Albini's raw, spacious recording, manage to give the entire album a sort of grinning, maniacal joyfulness, as though the band were continually coming apart at the seams.

#37 David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971)

Hunky Dory is one of the few classic Bowie albums that doesn't seem to be tied into some sort of theme, narrative or persona - it's simply a diverse collection of totally original, knock-out songs. Opening track "Changes" has become one of Bowie's most recognisable singles, to the point of becoming truly anthemic, while big favourites "Life on Mars?" and "Oh! You Pretty Things" have also garnered unequivocal "classic" status. The rest of the album paints an interesting picture of Bowie's unrelenting creativity and refusal to be pigeonholed - "Andy Warhol" it at once menacing and upbeat, "Queen Bitch" has so much attitude that it positively swaggers, "Song for Bob Dylan" and "The Belway Brothers" delve into biographical folk and the fascinatingly cyclical "Kooks" manages to fashion itself as an offbeat, romantic singalong. Most impressive of all, though, is how Bowie manages to tie these varied tracks together into an album that somehow feels genuinely cohesive.

#36 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works, 85-92 (1994)

If the title's to be believed, some of the work on this disc was created by Richard D. James when he was thirteen. Nobody really knows whether that's true or not, but given that most electronica musicians don't even come close to this degree of quality in their entire career, it's certainly hard to imagine. The album was recorded directly to tape and then transferred to CD, resulting in some unfortunately poor sound quality, but the brilliance of the songs shines through regardless. The album was hugely influential, and tracks like "Xtal", "Pulsewidth", "Heliospan" and "We Are the Music Makers" might as well be regarded as archetypes for modern ambient electronica - they're instantly recognisable and accessible in their style, and yet they manage to avoid sounding even remotely dated.

#35 Soundgarden - Superunknown (1994)

Chris Cornell's voice is just unbelievable - every time he leaps from that warbling, throaty delivery straight into a pitch-perfect wail it leaves me totally transfixed. When you add to that the group's (then new-found) psychedelic-rock leanings, particularly Kim Thayil's brilliant guitar lines, you've left with an incredible final package. Superunknown was a phenomenally successful release, spawning the enormous hits "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman", and delivered a fresh angle on the grunge era. The rest of the album was just as amazing and accessible as it's leading singles, though, with songs such as the anthemic "The Day I Tried to Live", the eastern-influenced "Head Down", the lightning-fast "Superunknown" and the dirgy "Fourth of July" showcasing the entire group's diverse playstyle and outstanding musicianship.

#34 Sonic Youth - Goo (1990)

Another band where my favourite choice isn't the canonised "classic". Everyone rates Daydream Nation as the band's masterpiece, but I think Goo is the album where Sonic Youth's experimental and accessible sides meet the most perfectly. "Dirty Boots" is a very cool opener (okay, maybe not quite as cool as "Teenage Riot", but it's up there), while "Tunic (Song for Karen)", "Mary Christ", "Kool Thing" and "Mote" round out what amounts to an incredibly impressive first half. I love the fact that the group maintain their trademark murkiness on this album, while pushing forward into some of their tightest songwriting and melodies. Also, I don't find Kim Gordon's vocals remotely annoying anywhere on the album, which is honestly something of a rarity.

#33 The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir (2005)

Rehearsing My Choir is easily one of the most meticulously detailed concept albums ever recorded. It's also one of the most ludicrously complex and eccentric. It's amazing to hear an album make something as epically chaotic as Blueberry Boat sound straightforward by comparisson, but Rehearsing My Choir does just that, as Matthew Friedberger lets himself completely off the leash for a sprawling album of clunky upright piano, manic guitar lines, off-kilter instrumentation and random noise bursts. The duo's grandmother, Olga Sarantos, even joins in on the fun, providing not only the subject matter, but also the lead vocal for much of the album's autobiographical material. Her muppet-like vocal delivery is an utterly unusual delight, as it drives the album through stories of misspent youths, bowling alley shootouts, gypsy curses, weddings, funerals and numerous other adventures. There's so much going on here, it'd take even the most attentive listener at least a half-dozen runs through to merely absorb all of the content.

#32 Beck - Midnite Vultures (1999)

Midnite Vultures is sold short way too often. Sure, Beck's take on funk/soul/r&b is extremely trashy, and on the surface has a lovably disposable quality to it, but with numerous listens it becomes clear that this album warrants much more than mere "party starter" status. The album's opening trifecta of singles - "Sexx Laws", "Milk and Honey" and "Mixed Bizness" - are far and away some of the most brilliant work Beck has created, all featuring detailed, layered production, witty songwriting and a level of depth only apparent after repeat listens. The hectic, overblown structure of the songs continues right through the album, reaching a euphoric apex with the oh-so-funky "Milk and Honey" and finally launches into the stratosphere with the ridiculous "Debra" (easily one of the best album closers I've ever heard). So please, don't relegate Midnite Vultures to the "Parties Only" pile - it really does deserve so much more.

#31 Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (1998)

Far and away Eels' finest work, Electro-Shock Blues documents the personal challenges encountered by Mark Everett (aka E) through the then-recent deaths of several loved ones and his mother's cancer diagnosis. With E's confessional songwriting reaching its peak, the result was an album so brutally honest that it's difficult not to be moved. The lyrics are often very poignant in their simplicity - for example, on "Dead of Winter", E sings "Magic markers tatoo you and show it where to aim / And strangers break their promises: 'you won't feel any pain'", in reference to his Mother's cancer treatment, while on "Going to Your Funeral (Part 1), the line of "They put the flowers on the box that's holding all the sand that was / That was once you" is devestatingly frank. Even the depressed self-realisation of the title-track, where E intones "I am okay / I am okay / I'm not okay", is utterly haunting. He's tried to revisit this sort of down-to-Earth, personal songwriting time-and-again since then, but it's unlikely he'll ever release another album as completely moving (and musically exceptional) as this.

#30 Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! (2000)

Godspeed's second full-length is a work of incredible emotion and quite remarkable musicianship. Across its two CDs and four (rather lengthy) tracks, the Canadian collective stretch their atmospheric style of instrumental, semi-orchestral space-rock into previously uncharted territory. Each song is divided into four parts, each of which has its own subtitle - an appropriate move, given that within each track, these sub-sections are unique in their instrumentation, melody and structure, but undeniably united in their tone and mood. Opening track "Storm" remains the highlight of the group's career, as it progresses through a slowly building opening, a rapturous fanfare of a crescendo, a sweepingly majestic, multi-part midsection and finally a solemn, reflective close. The song not only perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the album, but also serves as a thrilling, multi-styled archtype for their entire catalogue.

#29 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O (2002)

Why is it that every time these two albums make it into one of my lists, they end up side by side? Fot me, Yanqui U.X.O just barely edges out Lift Yr Skinny Fists... as Godspeed You(!) Black Emperor(!)'s best album. It's more consistent, tightly structured and meticulously arranged, and the affecting gravitas that the group are known for is in effect to an extent not seen since their debut. The high points are as gripping as ever, with phenomenally dramatic buildups, such as the one which takes up a solid 4 minutes of "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls", leading into those trademark, earth-shattering crescendos. Perhaps best of all, the album's closing track, "Motherfucker=Redeemer", sees this dark motif through with a blazing finale that's increidbly uplifting, giving the entire package an emotional sweep that few other instrumental albums can match.

#28 Cornelius - Fantasma (1996)

Cornelius (aka Keigo Oyamada) manages to fashion himself as some sort of Willy Wonka of electro-pop on Fantasma, an album that seems to be the audio equivalent of overdosing on sherbert. There's an entire festival worth of crazed, wildly diverse music to be found here, including the drum 'n' bass intro of "Mic Check", the acid-Disney of "The Micro Disneycal World Tour" and "Magoo Opening", the blazing hard rock of "New Music Machine", the country hoe-down (yes!) of "Thankyou for the Music", the sci-fi-classical of "2010" and the fast-paced, OCD-rock of "Count Five or Six". It all sounds cohesive and chaotic at the same time, as though Oyamada wrote a bunch of consice pop songs, bound them all very tightly together, and finally cut the strings and recorded the ensuing explosion. The results are absolutely thrilling.

#27 Pixies - Doolittle (1989)

"Debaser" might just be the coolest opening track on any album on this list. "Slicin' up eyeballs" indeed. I really like the way that the cleaner production on Doolittle allows the Pixie's tradeoff between pop aesthetics and noisy experimentation to really hit the listener with absolute clarity. Those grinding, buzzsaw guitars on "Dead" are just one (incredibly great) example. Then there's the sunny pop of "Here Comes Your Man", the near-mindless singalong of "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and the wonderfully bizzare "Mr Grieves", to name just a few big highlights on an album of many. And then, I say once more, there is the almighty "Debaser" - truly one of the most rocking, addictive, mindlessly fun songs ever recorded. Here's a neat way to sum it up - ask 50 music-know-it-alls what the most influential indie-rock album of all time is - 47 of them will probably say Doolittle.

#26 Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2001)

Deltron 3030 is the sort of album that'll propel hip-hop loving sci-fi geeks into musical nirvana. For everyone else, it's a fantastic listen anyway. The loose concept (Del the Funkee Homosapien plays a "rap battler" who takes part in intergalactic rapping duels) gives Del's album persona, Deltron Zero, a great excuse to indulge in every member of the genre's favourite passtime - expounding in great detail why he's just so damn good at rapping (certainly much better than you and any other fools who dare to stand in his way). His lyrical ability more than matches up to his ego, though, as the album is truly bursting with SF-related content, including references to Microsoft, William Gibson, mecha, mutations, paranoia and oppressive governments, all filtered through Del's trademark slurred style of vocal gymnastics. All this is complemented by the playful turntabling and sampling of Kid Koala and the sublime production of Dan the Automator, resulting in one of the most well-rounded, exciting hip-hop albums you'll ever hear.




Numbers twenty-five to one coming soon!