Your favorite album?

[neilgee]

Peter Gabriel's eponymous debut album, 1977.

[MarkBastable]

Very, very difficult but I think I'll go for This Year's Model. No - Abbey Road. No, no - something by Steely Dan. Wait, wait - actually Bookends, just for 'Overs'. Or - hang on...

Oh dammit. Rain Dogs, by Tom Waits.

[Babbalanja]

My favorite album is probably Pet Sounds, by the Beach Boys.

Me too.

Every time I listen to the intricacy of the melodies, vocal interplay, and orchestration on this album, I'm staggered. Whereas Phil Spector was good at dressing up simple songs with bombastic arrangements, Brian Wilson took very complex songs --- both musically and emotionally speaking --- and gave them added dimensions with strange melodic interludes and interesting combinations of instruments: harp, banjo, clarinets, harpsichord, strings, you name it. Wilson coaxed superb performances out of the session pros: the bass playing alone is amazing.

The emotional core of Pet Sounds is what makes it so unique. Wilson was making music of heart-rending sincerity, and Tony Asher's lyrics evoke a world full of doubt and heartache. Don't blame Wilson for the Beatles' failure to surpass this album's genius with their awkward, mannered Sgt. Pepper: they stole all his musical gimmicks (and a few of his trippy in-jokes), but they forgot his vulnerability.

Regards,

Istvan

[IJustMadeThatUp]

The Strokes - Is This It

I'll never get sick of that puppy.

[DanielBenoit]

There's too many to list but here are some of my recent favorites:

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis

*****es Brew - Miles Davis

Giant Steps - John Coltrane

Mingus, Umm - Charles Mingus

Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

OK Computer - Radiohead

The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place - Explosions in the Sky

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy


Oh and I almost forgot, the greatest of them all:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

and one of my all time personal favorites

The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

and

Wish You Where Here - Pink Floyd

[Babbalanja]

Oh and I almost forgot, the greatest of them all:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

If Pepper is the greatest, that makes Rubber Soul and Revolver even better than the greatest!

Regards,

Istvan

[donexile]

Tough choice...;

for a kick off

What's Goin On-Marvin Gaye
The Bends-Radiohead

[Eryk]

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

a few other favorites

Colour Kane - A Taste Of

Maps - We Can Create

Mogwai - Mr. Beast

Dolly - Tous des stars

[donexile]

Songs From the Big Chair-Tear for Fears
Bring it On-Gomez
Ten-Pearl Jam

[NickAdams]

How could I choose one Mars Volta album.

[Mariner]

The Strokes - Is This It

I'll never get sick of that puppy.

You took the words from my mouth. My all-time favorite as well.

[DanielBenoit]

Adding to my list

Kid A - Radiohead

Kala - M.I.A.

[Mathor]

Picking one is an impossibility. These are ones that will always be worthy of being called my favorite record of all time, as well as my justification.

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Somewhat similar to Abbey Road below this, this record is a documentation of a band at odds with eachother. After losing a drummer, Wilco decides to look for a drummer while recording. They find Glenn Kotche, who changes their sound completely. Founding member (for nearly 10 years) Jay Bennet, multi-instrumentalist, is asked to leave the band, after recording all of his guitar parts for the record. With that, Wilco sent the record to their current label Reprise, finally mastered. Reprise rejected the record, stating various things that might be changed, and ultimately dropped Wilco from Reprise. Without a label, Wilco leaked Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on the internet, where it developed a huge craze among indie and college music radio. Reprise was so confident that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would not be a success that they gave they gave the original masters to Wilco. The publicity of leaking their record was enough for it to finally be distributed by their current label, Nonesuch, to whom Reprise is a parent company. This album is one of the greatest things I've ever listened to, mixing noise, folk, ambient, oldies, indie, and postrock into one genre-bending piece of music.

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People - I first listened to this record in the winter of 2004. I would ride public transportation to and from school every day, and I would put this on. All that I could usually think about was just all of the many many sounds happening at once. This was my first listening of anything resembling a collective, and I did not know how to handle it. All of the guitars sounded like sirens or fans or anything but guitars. The pianos and synths sounded like computers glitching. The horns sounded like horns, but at times I would realize they were not horns at all, but guitars or distorted vocals. And then there was the bus I was on, the chatter, the loud noise of the bus engine, the loud slamming of the door shutting. Most times the sounds coming from the bus mirrored the noises coming into my headphones. Through this experience, I learned truly appreciate noise and ambience. Every listen to this record reveals more hidden gems, even to this day. It's certainly a hard listen.

Radiohead - In Rainbows - Though to truly talk about Radiohead, I would have to mention OK Computer and Kid A, I think that this is their greatest record to date. Like Hail to The Thief just before this, Radiohead has continued to evolve and improve. There are certain levels of ambience on this record that simply do not exist on Kid A or Amnesiac, and there also surges of pure rock that simply do not reach this level on OK Computer. This record has all of the greatest elements from past records, but more improved. Radiohead proves on this record that they just continuously get better.

The Beatles - Abbey Road - All I can say is, I'm usually filled with glee from the first to last song. I enjoy Paul McCartney's half of the record (the second half) more than the first. This is the one album, in my opinion, where Paul McCartney proves his worth to the band. In other records, I feel that Lennon easily outshines McCartney throughout. This is the last album the Beatles ever recorded together (though released before Let It Be), and in some ways, it is the documentary of their breaking up. Most of the record was done in overdubs, as Lennon and McCartney could not be in the same room together because of various feuds. In some ways, the pain and anguish that exists between the two makes this record the most worthwhile.

The Weakerthans - Left And Leaving - A sorrowful album, this one will stick with you.

Counting Crows - August And Everything After - a pop band at their finest, every song on this record is amazing. The overly-produced melodies can be forgotten when one finally opens the lyrical booklet and discovers what this monster is hiding.

The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie - a sprawling double-disc of love and loneliness, this album is an anti-depressant in itself.

Nirvana - In Utero - every angsty feeling that i've ever had, this album sums up my teenage years. If I'm in the perfect mood to yell, this is the one.

Led Zeppelin - II - speaks for itself.

Spoon - Gimme Fiction - This album taught me everything I love about dirty guitar. This is my favorite record as far as guitar-centered works go.

Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise! - This album is a pure enigma. I did not know that albums like this existed until I finally heard it. Words do not do this record justice.

Jeff Buckley - Grace - Oh, what could've been. Grace was the first and last record that Jeff Buckley released before his untimely death, in his mere 20's. The fact is this is some of the most complex music I have ever listened to. Just try to learn any of his guitar parts for any song on this record (except maybe the cover, Hallelujah) and you will understand.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip - whether or not you're tired of Trent Reznor, or even if you don't like him at all, he can kick out a top-notch produced record in his sleep. He continues to hone his craft and make very intricate ambient pop jams on his latest record.

[purplybob]

My Top Ten (only 1 per artist or else all Dylan lol)

In no paticular order, might change tomorrow!

Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Beatles - Abbey Road
Who - Who's Next
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Neil Young - After The Gold Rush
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life

[keilj]

Counting Crows - August And Everything After - a pop band at their finest, every song on this record is amazing. The overly-produced melodies can be forgotten when one finally opens the lyrical booklet and discovers what this monster is hiding.

and the crazy thing is, I think This Desert Life is just as good/maybe better