Your "Top" Albums Of All Time? And Why..

[Cheery Cherry]

Wow....Great list Cheery! NOTB was the album that got me into music.


"INVADERS! PILLAGING! INVADERS! LOOTING!"


I was so hooked from that point. That was the 8th grade I think....

Same here! I was in 9th grade though.

[gokartmozart]

Some good stuff on this thread, thanks. I am a little surprised by the amount of the metal stuff... didn't DS pull a corna in an early video?

[Cheery Cherry]

Corna...wow, I never knew that's what it was called and the history behind it. Thanks for the info.

[Sylvian's Beard]

Some good stuff on this thread, thanks. I am a little surprised by the amount of the metal stuff... didn't DS pull a corna in an early video?

Contrary to popular belief neither Gene Simmons or Ronnie Dio made the devil horns synonymous with heavy metal, it was in fact Mr. Sylvian.

[sexandpolitics]

WHAT VIDEO??????

[tallulahtaurus]

Gotta agree with baht_habit, Plumb by Jonatha Brooke is ahmazing stuff...the most heartbreaking, perfect clear voice and those lyrics and all of it in fact.

David Sylvian Brilliant Trees - I am as in love with this album as one person can be I think. It is this wonderfully lush rich music, multi layered pieces of peace and relaxation but with this spirit of muted upheavel about it. Lyrically it has so much distress and yet it is so quiet and even the most jagged pieces like "Pulling Punches" and "Backwaters" are soothing to me instrumentally. Great stuff David Sylvian I love thee so so much.

The Smiths Meat is Murder - By far their most perfect album and given that I adore the Smiths entirely with a fanatical devotion that is saying something. Variation from rockabilly to funk and a jarring passionate treatise about vegetarianism...
"That Joke isn't funny anymore" is this beautiful dance of harp sounding guitars. Johnny Marr just came up with two pieces of utter sophistication in That Joke and "Headmaster's Ritual" that still stand as my favourite songs in the world...yeah...that's without starting on the lyrics and Morrissey's utter genius...

Busta Rhymes The Coming - I'm a big hip hop fan and I don't see that is gets much better than this album. The beats are generally unique and interesting and eerie - the raps are strange and peculiar. He wasn't like other rappers, he was so fresh I mean Woo ha got you all in check is madness made rhyme...great... My other favourite is a track called Still Shining. All of the other tracks are better than the mediocre efforts I see elsewhere in terms of wit and atmosphere...

Kate Bush The Dreaming/Never Forever
Never Forever is always the one that sticks with me, every track is a winner, unique and pitched utterly perfectly. She adopts every persona in a thorough and believable manner that hooks me. From the Irish accent and pathetic tragedy in Army Dreamers to the deranged, delirious shrieking of Violin...Then the real treats of Blow Away and Babooshka and Delius and god all of them she is a goddess.

The Dreaming, at first I didn't quite 'get' I mean I was always a big fan of the title track but the rest left me unmoved. Unique is a word I overuse but she really is...I mean the donkey noises...to make it all make utter sense in the context of the track... is greatness...

Michael Jackson Off the Wall/Dangerous.
Off the Wall is the ultimate disco album augmented by the truly heartbreaking "She's out of my life". Jacko is the king of pop and unlike some pieces I can explain I can only say about this album that it is ultimate pop.

Dangerous - funky as hell wonderfully engineered, inspirational pieces like Keep the Faith and then the pop of "Jam"...that perfect voice and equally great writing. A real winner where every tracks has had the effort put into it, every track could've been a single and it's that all out pop approach that I adore here, "I love you Michael!!"

There is other ones but I can't think at the moment....

[Cheery Cherry]

You know, I am so glad to hear about Michael Jackson in a better light because I was once a great fan (still is) of Michael's and no matter how "strange" things are and no matter how much crap people want to dish out about Michael, the truth is, he IS the king of pop and no one can take that away from him. He was a genius. Everything he created turned into something wonderful, something new...timeless work of art. There has not been anybody like Michael and I don't believe there ever will be.

[deadbees]

In all honesty my list would comprise solely of DS/Japan albums but putting those to one side;

Blue Nile - Hats
Eric Matthews - It's Heavy in Here
Bill Nelson - The Love That Whirls, Chimera
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Beauty, Heartbeat
Depeche Mode - Violator
James Brown - Love Power Peace
Tricky - Maxinquaye
Jansen/Barbieri - Stone To Flesh
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter

[heartofdavid]

So what albums would you say are worthy of being your "favorites of all time"? Not necessarily ones that you still listen to, but ones that have had a lasting impact on your life?

I think the ones that have had the most impact are the ones that first shaped the way I listen to music. Each one educated me in some way - aware of new sounds and styles.

There are a lot of old albums (and I'm talking vinyl here, lol) that made a huge impression and I still listen to them today. I came across them when they were first released (yeah, I'm old - my mom bought me The Beatles "Rubber Soul" when I was five so I blame her for my musical obsession).

The Beatles - Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album
Rolling Stones - Flowers, Their Satanic Majesties Request
Pink Floyd - Meddle, Ummagumma
Aerosmith - Aerosmith, Get Your Wings
Queen - Queen I, Queen II
Yes - The Yes Album, Fragile
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Trilogy, Tarkus, Brain Salad Surgery
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards
King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King
Nektar - Remember the Future
Triumvirat - Illusions on a Double Dimple
Uriah Heep - Uriah Heep Live
Heart - Dreamboat Annie, Little Queen
Paul McCartney - McCartney, Ram
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass, Living in the Material World
John Lennon - Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine
Led Zeppelin - LZ I and II
Enid - Aerie Faerie Nonsense
Genesis - Foxtrot, Nursery Cryme, Trespass, Selling England by the Pound
David Bowie - Low, Heroes, Station to Station
Cheap Trick - their first album (self-titled)
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson
Roxy Music - Country Life, For Your Pleasure
Bryan Ferry - The Bride Stripped Bare

I'm sure I'm missing loads but these came quickly to mind.

And then I heard Japan...

[tallulahtaurus]

You know, I am so glad to hear about Michael Jackson in a better light because I was once a great fan (still is) of Michael's and no matter how "strange" things are and no matter how much crap people want to dish out about Michael, the truth is, he IS the king of pop and no one can take that away from him. He was a genius. Everything he created turned into something wonderful, something new...timeless work of art. There has not been anybody like Michael and I don't believe there ever will be.

HERE HERE!!!

[Sylvian's Beard]

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies


I love Alice. He is such an underrated songwriter. I really like some of his early 80's albums, like DA DA, and Special Forces. Have you heard those?


Here is a clip of Alice from the Lace & Whiskey tour. Another one of my favorite albums. He is SO wasted in this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-LtfLB8izk

[heartofdavid]

I got into Alice Cooper with the early stuff; Love It To Death, Pretties For You, Killer, Muscle of Love and Easy Action. Probably the last album I heard in full was Flush the Fashion - Clones was the hit single. Yeah, I do remember Lace and Whiskey - don't have that one though. I haven't heard the ones you mentioned.

I kind of edged away from rock/metal during the 80s, rediscovered it in the 90s and found I preferred the heavier side, starting with stuff like Danzig, Carcass, Cathedral, Obituary - still like all that too.

[krausy]

Heart of David, I agree with so many of your choices, especially the Beatles, McCartney, Queen, Heart and Roxy Music choices---right on!!!!!

[Sylvian's Beard]

I got into Alice Cooper with the early stuff; Love It To Death, Pretties For You, Killer, Muscle of Love and Easy Action. Probably the last album I heard in full was Flush the Fashion - Clones was the hit single. Yeah, I do remember Lace and Whiskey - don't have that one though. I haven't heard the ones you mentioned.

I kind of edged away from rock/metal during the 80s, rediscovered it in the 90s and found I preferred the heavier side, starting with stuff like Danzig, Carcass, Cathedral, Obituary - still like all that too.

Alice kinda flirted with new wave on Special Forces, and Flush the Fashion. He has always followed trends but twisted it to make it his own. He always has that wit, and his tongue in cheek, dark humored lyrics.

"I love the dead, before they're cold."


Here is another great video from the Special Forces era. It has a few songs and an interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miMlE6VNWRY

[Lady Arcadia]

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