The GoGo Yubari Top 50 Albums (By 50 Acts) Party Extravaganza

[GoGo Yubari]

... I've got schoolwork to do and that Rumble thing to write but I'm starting this anyway because I wasted a lot of my day today seeing if I could actually order this, and now I have. Of course, given the way I listen to music, this list isn't static. Hell, three albums in my top twenty are ones I picked up over the past year, so who knows what the list would look like a year from now. But if there's one thing this has proved to me, it's that I need to own more albums by different artists. After all, it's amazing that this cracked the top fifty;

50. "Live at Stubbs" by Matisyahu

Yep. His fifteen minutes are up but I think this record was a fairly solid justification for why he got the fifteen minutes in the first place. "Live at Stubbs" has a fun mix of songs that, even without visuals, show off Matisyahu's ability as a live performer (which, unfortunately, didn't translate to skill in-studio as his first studio release was pretty boring more often than not and I stopped caring about him soon after that). I don't really regard it as being anywhere near one of my favorites and I haven't listened to it start to finish in ages, but it's good for what it is, and either superior to or has had more staying power than the thirty-five or so albums that didn't make the cut.

Best Track: Obvious answer, but "King Without a Crown"

Worst Track: "Fire and Heights" (putting an instrumental in here was stupid. Nobody gives a fuck about that when it comes to Matisyahu, man)

49. "Bleach" by Nirvana

... sort of an odd placement here mostly because I'm fairly indifferent on a lot of their songs on this one, but for some reason this is still my favorite of the three Nirvana studio albums. Possibly because "About a Girl" blows every other song they ever did out of the water by a landslide, "Love Buzz" is a top contender for my favorite cover they ever did (and they did some great covers), and "School" is just fun, simple, dumb song with like three lines to it. But mostly I think maybe it's just because I will never ever ever not love "About a Girl." It's the song that above all else justifies my Nirvana love, dammit.

Best Track: "About a Girl"

Worst Track: Eh. Probably "Big Cheese."

48. "Little by Little" by Harvey Danger

The single best free album I've ever gotten by legal means. Like, Harvey Danger releasing their new album online for free predates Radiohead and Trent Reznor's stuff by like two years, but understandably it was a little overlooked because the general public regards them as one hit wonders/"oh man are they the guys who did 'I'm Not Sick But I'm Not Well?'" (No. They're the guys who did "Flagpole Sitta.") But "Little by Little" was a great return for them after five years of not doing anything; the download experiment was such a success that the album actually got picked up and distributed by a record label and still sold fairly well. And as a CD on its own merits, it's pretty good too. Some of the songs are a little forgettable, but "Cream and Bastards Rise" is awesome enough that Rock Band properly recognized it as being awesome and released it as a DLC track and both "Moral Centralia" and "Little Round Mirrors" are absolutely gorgeous, especially the latter, which would likely have a top twenty-five slot if I were doing some sort of Top 100 Most Beautiful Songs list or some crap. I'm not sure if they still offer this for free, but if they do, go find it because it's well worth the nothing you spend for it.

Best Track: "Little Round Mirrors"

Worst Track: "War Buddies"

47. "LOOSE" by B'z

It wouldn't be a GoGo Yubari list with Japanese shit that 99% of EWB has never or wouldn't listen to! And, really, some of this stuff I probably wouldn't listen to either without the Japanese language smokescreening the lyrics quality and allowing me to judge it mostly on the actual music. In the case of B'z, this basically means focusing on Tak Matsumoto's guitar work, and Tak Matsumoto is a really, really good guitarist. This is basically arena rock at its... most arena rock-y, but hey, it works. The hooks are so good that even like three years removed from me listening to the album itself instead of just the songs showing up on random shuffle I can still remember much of them. Also, it has a song called "LOVE PHANTOM," which I assume is a completely unironic song title choice. This is the second best unironic song title that sneering hipster douchebags would use ironically, with #1 being Ringo Starr's classic "I Think Therefore I Rock & Roll."

Best Track: Of course it's fucking "LOVE PHANTOM." Look at that name!

Worst Track: "BIG." Too much weird country influence here.

46. "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye

... it's fucking "What's Going On," what am I supposed to say about it that hasn't been said? Admittedly, some of the songs don't really hit for me like they should, but a lot of it is some of the most beautiful R&B ever made. I feel like I'm committing a cardinal sin even having it this low when I love Marvin Gaye so much, but I can't ignore the fact that stuff like "Save the Children" doesn't actually interest me in the slightest, even if it's outweighed by songs like "What's Happening Brother." Perhaps with more time it'll climb up, but right now... well, it beat Japanese arena rock. At least I spared it the indignity of being lower on the list than that.

Best Track: "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"

Worst Track: "Save the Children"

Next Time: Two jazz albums, one hip-hop album where the beats, not the rhymes, are the selling point, a Lennon album, and some classic rock & roll from one of the all-time great guitarists.

[Skummy]

LOVE PHANTOM! I had forgotten B'z even fucking existed, genius. Other than that, not much to say. Good call on Nirvana and Marvin. Marvana.

[GoGo Yubari]

LOVE PHANTOM! I had forgotten B'z even fucking existed, genius.

God, that song is the most hilariously epic song. I mean, it opens with like a piano/violin thing and then transitions into someone with a deep movie narrator tone speaking in half-coherent English which transitions into the actual song. A song called "LOVE PHANTOM." Fabulous.

[METALMAN]

Two Jazz albums! Excellent. I need some good jazz.

[GoGo Yubari]

Correction; one jazz album, because the other just jumped up like... three slots because I randomly changed my mind. Yeah. This should tell you how ill-suited I am for proper, ordered lists of my favorite things.

45. "Blue Train" by John Coltrane

Man, how do I speak articulately about this one. There's a reason why this album was mentioned by someone (I can't remember who. Was it you, Skummy?) as one that anyone looking to get into jazz should check out, because the opening to the title track alone is enough to get one hooked (at least, it definitely did for me the first time I heard it). Now, my thing with "Blue Train" is that even though I've had it for two years and listened to it on multiple occasions, I could probably only name two tracks upon hearing them immediately. I've never really... focused on or studied it heavily, so it hasn't been committed to memory the way the other two jazz albums that will be appearing on this list have. It could be higher by the end of the year, but for now it's at 45.

Best Track: "Blue Train"

Worst Track: ... I dunno. "I'm Old Fashioned?"

44. "Friendly Fire" by Sean Lennon

... well I did say it was a Lennon album in this batch, just not which one. Honestly, if Sean Lennon released albums at a rate faster than one per decade, I'd probably be able to list more songs of his I really like than songs of his dad's easy. It helps that Sean, was running with a really fucking talented crew in the late '90s. Dude dated Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, did guest vocals for the likes of Del and Dan the Automator, was on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal Records label, and the end result's been that he's become a really good artist in his own right. Friendly Fire is a way more polished effort than his first album, Into the Sun, where he bounced from style to style with varying levels of success; it took... um, like eight years for him to release it as his follow-up, but at least by that point he's clearly figured out that he's at his best when writing low-key, reflective pop music, and as a huge sucker for that kind of music I can't help but approve. "Tomorrow" and "Falling Out of Love" in particular are songs where Sean's at top form, sounding kind of like his father distilled through an indie pop filter without any of the lofty champion of the working class bullshit aspirations, and he's better off for it.

Best Track: "Tomorrow"

Worst Track: ... possibly "Dead Meat." Which he released as the first single. Whoops.

43. "Axis: Bold as Love" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

I guess this is the combo breaker to my hipstertacular prior two selections? I dunno, it is Hendrix, his awesome should be like a universal thing. I think this one's actually a little... interchangable with some of the other albums here, but it features some of Hendrix's strongest work, and also his most underrated. Songs like "Little Wing," "Spanish Castle Magic," and to a lesser extent "Wait Until Tomorrow," of course, everyone and their grandmother knows, and for good reason, but they're supplemented by songs like "Ain't No Telling" and "Castles in the Sand," which are supremely underrated, awesome songs. So, uh. Jimi Hendrix. Great guitarist, eh?

Best Track: "Castles in the Sand"

Worst Track: "EXP" by about a million miles.

42. "So... How's Your Girl?" by Handsome Boy Modeling School

Fuuuuck, I just found out that they broke up in '06 to go back to just being fabulous producers. Yeah, uh. It's Dan the Automator and Prince Paul, and anyone who knows even a little about good hip-hop probably knows that this leads to epic. On a relisten on Tuesday I remembered how good this record is and bumped it up; by and large the majority of the songs are gorgeous or fun, a perfect showcase for the beatmaking abilities of both men and amplified by a list of guest stars that includes De La Soul, Mike D, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Sean Lennon, Miho Hatori (all of whom, along with Prince Paul and Dan Nakamura... basically ran in the same circle during that time period; it's not exactly hard to find albums where at least three of them are featured), and fucking Father Guido Sarducci of SNL fame. The only reason it's at only 45, really, is because the songs I don't like have been beaten into my brain by unfortunate tendencies for internet radio and random shuffle to play them a lot, I think. But no matter what, it's true what they say in the first track; rock and roll could never ever hip hop like this.

Best Track: "The Truth"

Worst Track: "Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)"

41. "Sunset on Dateland" by Visqueen

Obligatory Seattle band inclusion! Seriously, Visqueen is like one of the most underrated Seattle bands out there considering how long they've been around and how great their stuff is: they're known, but not as known as they deserve to be because they make brilliant power pop. I guess it doesn't help that they've taken five years to release a follow-up to this one, which was released in 2004, but still. By and large every song nails its mark and has a great hook, especially "Crush on Radio," which is just fantastic from start to finish. Good power pop that manages to be dorky and sweet without getting outright cheesy is one of my great loves in music, and Visqueen delivers on that promise every damn time.

Best Track: "Crush on Radio"

Worst Track: "Friends in Love," which does, unfortunately, slip into cheesiness. But only doing it on one track is acceptable enough.

Next Time: Hip-hop, post-punk, jazz, one of those albums that every critic in the world loves, and an album of beats made by a guy I have to assume nobody else on EWB has ever heard of! Good times.

[OGpistolpete]

Holy Calamity was the best track on that album.

Glad to see you said Inner City Blues was better than What's Going On, which is also my opinion.

And Little By Little was an awesome album as well, and even better because it was free.

Edited January 19, 2009 by SKA

[GoGo Yubari]

40. "St. Elsewhere" by Gnarls Barkley

I was iffy about having it this high, but relistening to it the other week (... when I should have updated this, whoops) reminded me of how much I genuinely love the first half of the album before it gets a little uneven in the second half. "Go Go Gadget Gospel" in particular grows on me every time I hear it and now I'm starting to think it might be one of my all-time favorite opening tracks, both because of its energy and because I am a huge, huge, huge sucker for anything with really good vocal harmonies. The album falls apart a little bit later on, but at present I still prefer it over The Odd Couple, its follow-up, because none of the songs off of Odd Couple have stuck with me the way a lot of the stuff here did.

Best Track: "Smiley Faces"

Worst Track: "The Boogie Monster." Way to take that Sesame Street book with Grover freaking out over the monster at the end of the book and turn it into a song, guys.

39. "The Life of Clutchy Hopkins" by Clutchy Hopkins

Clutchy Hopkins is... uh... well, I mean, he's... okay, trying to write a summary of who the guy IS is obnoxiously hard. This website does a good job covering most of the angles, both official and fan theory-wise, but in a nutshell it's some guy making fucking awesome instrumental music who may or may not be Cut Chemist or DJ Shadow or one of the Beastie Boys or really seriously just some guy making fucking awesome instrumental music. This record, depending on the copy you get of it, has... well, it has song titles but they aren't really song titles. They're either the track number or just the length of the song. And not all of the songs work perfectly or are instantly memorable, but what works seriously, seriously works and proves to be perhaps my favorite non-jazz instrumental album of all time.

Best Track:

Worst Track: ... really it's a little interchangeable between the later ones, but I'll go with Track 06.

38. "Percussion Bitter Sweet" by Max Roach

If you don't know who Max Roach is, shame on you. ... well, okay, no. But anyone with a decent schooling in jazz surely knows his name; Roach is one of the best drummers of all time, both in jazz and in music in general, and basically worked with a who's who of the bop-era greats (Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, etc.). What this album proves is that not only is he an amazing drummer, but he's got chops as a composer as well. One of the first things it displays quite clearly is that the drums don't have to just be a supporting instrument; Roach lets his own skill take center stage and the shit that results is always fantastic. There's also an interesting sound to the record as a whole, it has this distinct style to it that makes me think that Roach borrowed heavily from African musical traditions (beyond the usual things that jazz takes from it) so it doesn't sound like the other jazz records of the period. Great shit. If you like jazz and have never heard this record (hi, metalman possibly?), get it now.

Best Track: "Garvey's Ghost"

Worst Track: Maybe "Mendacity?" I wasn't a huge fan of the vocal solo there.

37. "Pet Sounds" by The Beach Boys

Yes, here it is, one of the albums that every critic and their mother has in a top position. To be entirely honest, I generally dislike the Beach Boys. Their early surfer stuff is completely unbearable kitsch to my ears, and I never got over "Surfin' USA" just being a Chuck Berry song with inferior lyrics. But this, yeah, this is good. What I like about the Beach Boys is that they're excellent at one of my biggest weaknesses as a music listener; vocal harmonies. Their voices, none of which are really great on their own, blend together excellently. The high point of that, for sure, is the harmony on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times," where it's like four people singing four entirely different things at once and it sounds gorgeous. It's a great pop record. Not one of my top ten favorite albums by a mile, but good enough to finish thirty-seventh.

Best Track: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"

Worst Track: "Caroline No," maybe?

36. "Look Sharp!" by Joe Jackson

If you ever want proof of just how easily my taste in music shifts and is easily influenced by recent things, let's do a bit of comparison here. I've had St. Elsewhere, Pet Sounds, and Percussion Bitter Sweet since 2006. I've had Clutchy Hopkins' album since 2007. I've had this since last Christmas. But... man, I mean, it's awesome. Of course I already knew "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" (though I discovered it by accident; LimeWire, in an almost understandable mislabel, called it an Elvis Costello song), and "Look Sharp!" the title track became one of my favorites after I saw its use in Freaks & Geeks, but once I got the actual album the whole thing clicked for me. It's great. The lyrics are great, the pop hooks are great, it's just a fantastic album. I wouldn't be shocked if it were in the top thirty by the end of the year. After all, I'll outright admit that at least a couple albums in the top twenty are ones I've purchased over the last six months. Fun times.

Best Track: "Look Sharp!"

Worst Track: "Fools in Love" kind of beats you over the head with the point of the song after you've already figured out what the point of the song is a loooong time ago.

NEXT TIME: Hip-hop luminaries! A Japanese band that walks the line between pop and rock! Indie darlings! My second-favorite live album of all time! And my favorite violently European band of all time. Hamster will get the love, I'm sure.