LD's (Current) Favorite 32 Albums

[Lowerdeck]

Running along with the trend... let's see what I can do for you all. Here's my listing of 32 favorite albums, as of right now. My CD collection is always growing, and I got some new stuff that I didn't count as a result.

Please note, my reviews of the albums will probably be briefer than most people's top album topics. But hey, if you like... you can comment.

Honorable mentions: stuff I considered putting in but did not

Rush - Snakes @ Arrows

Big Zoo - The Bear Essentials

DMX - It's Dark and Hell Is Hot

Nas - Illmatic

Bruce Springsteen - Magic

Ferry Corsten - Right of Way

and to start off...

#32: "Quality" by Talib Kweli (2002)

Notes: Happens to be the first album I owned with a PA sticker on it. Also notable for being the first conscious rap album I got.

Favorites: Rush, Waitin' For The DJ, Guerrilla Monsoon Rap, Won't You Stay

Dislikes: In tradition of not liking most tribute songs, especially about the dead, children, or mothers... Joy

#31: "The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem (2008)

Notes: This is quite new, and to me also. But I can't help but listening to it on a daily basis (or close to it). For those of you unaware of what it is, it's something like Springsteen meets punk. I'm not a huge punk fan beyond the Dropkick Murphys, but hey... this band from Jersey got something that sounds good to me.

#30: "Cardinology" by Ryan Adams and The Cardinals (2008)

Notes: Another new album, and to me also. Like TGA, something I'm wanting to listen to on almost a daily basis. It's a pretty good rock/alt-country mix, something I likely wouldn't have gotten into until just recently. (Lately I been in a alt-country rock/blues/folk phase, this is one of the leaders of the pack.)

Favorites: Born Into A Light, Cobwebs, Natural Ghost, Sink Ships

[METALMAN]

I dunno Talib Kweli as it's not really an area of music I have much interest in though to be fair I have heard very good things about him.

Gaslight Anthem is very good of course. Probably my favourite of their two albums.

I loooooooooooooooove Cardinology. Ryan Adams is my all-time favourite musician. However, when I first listened to Cardinology I wasn't too impressed but upon seeing it live everything fell into place and I fell in love with it. Probably just behind Love Is Hell, Gold and Heartbreaker if I were to rank his albums in order of preference but that is by no means a bad place to be.

It's nice to see another list though because I'm always looking for new music myself and I've found a lot of good stuff from other people's lists. Hope you can keep it up! (Y)

[Lowerdeck]

Yeah. I got into Ryan Adams a couple months ago, first with Cardinology. Last week I got Easy Tiger for just over $10, I'm impressed.

Supposedly he's coming around here next month, so it'll be tempting to see him live.

[Dan]

Talib & The Gaslight anthem are both awesome.

Really impressed with the '59 sound.

[METALMAN]

Yeah. I got into Ryan Adams a couple months ago, first with Cardinology. Last week I got Easy Tiger for just over $10, I'm impressed.

Supposedly he's coming around here next month, so it'll be tempting to see him live.

He was amazing live. When I saw him he played for well over three hours. It was fantastic.

[Liam]

I'm weird with Ryan Adams. If he continued making music like he did on 'Gold', I'd be insanely happy. However, his changing styles mean I like him less, for whatever reason.

[Lowerdeck]

#29: "Vapor Trails" by Rush (2002)

Note 1: I was almost tempted to put "Thirteenth Step" by A Perfect Circle here and Vapor Trails as honorable mention, then decided against that.

Note 2: Newer era Rush. Yeah, who would have thunk it? This is their 17th studio album, and even after several decades they keep rocking along. I picked this one up on a used rack in October for $7, and quite pleased. There's no epic 15-20 minute songs on this, like some past albums (cough 2112 cough). But there's still a solid listing of tracks.

Favorites: Ghost Rider, Vapor Trail, Earthshine, Nocturne

#28: "Food & Liquor" by Lupe Fiasco (2006)

Note 1: I once got to review a Lupe Fiasco concert in 2007 for the campus newspaper. Then saw him in an elevator with a couple of guys on the 1st n' 15 label. I jumped in before the doors closed, and the concert organizer got pissed at me for the effort.

Note 2: It's one of the last hip-hop albums I ever got. Pretty much after this, I lost tons of interest in the genre and what it had been putting out. The last few years have been pretty dismal, but this is for sure a highlight.

Favorites: The Instrumental, Daydreamin, American Terrorist, The Cool

[METALMAN]

I'm weird with Ryan Adams. If he continued making music like he did on 'Gold', I'd be insanely happy. However, his changing styles mean I like him less, for whatever reason.

I suppose I've just got lucky in that I've happened to like all his different styles but I can understand why it would put people off. As I said before I still see Gold as one of his best albums. He only played "When The Stars Go Blue" from it when I saw him though.

[Liam]

Don't get me wrong, I like some of his other stuff, and have a few of his albums (4, I think), but whilst I like his other stuff, I love 'Gold'. Admittedly, its probably the easiest album of his to get into, but it just has the best songs for me.

Plus, he releases so much stuff, its hard to keep up

[Lowerdeck]

#27: "Ride The Lightning" by Metallica (1984)

Notes: I only got into Metallica within the last year or two. What was I missing all these years? I really don't need to say much about this album though, everyone pretty much knows about it anyway.

Favorites: Ride The Lightning, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Call of Ktulu

#26: "Hell Hath No Fury" by Clipse (2006)

Notes: Like Food & Liquor, this is one of the last really good rap albums that I got into. To most people, this falls underneath the radar. Little radio play, more for hip-hop snobs, and coming out of the such giant rap hotbed of Norfolk, Virginia. But when I was music reviewer for the campus paper, this might have been the best album I got to review. Most people couldn't believe me when I said that, then came back a week later and was ... you're right, that Clipse album was fire.

Favorites: We Got It For Cheap, Hello New World, Keys Open Doors, Chinese New Year

#25: "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd (1975)

Notes: Yeah, I like this one better than Dark Side and The Wall. Both those had great tracks on them, but here I can listen to the entire album and never skip a track. Granted Wish You Were Here only has five, but half of The Wall to me is skip over territory and Dark Side in spots too.

Favorites: Welcome To The Machine, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (both of them)

#24: "A State of Mind", mixed by George Acosta (2007)

Notes: The first of the couple of trance mix albums I have on the list. Most notable for having several insane tracks in a row, providing the perfect blend of tripping the fuck out, speeding down a highway (motorway to most of you), or just telling yourself... holy shit that's nuts.

Favorites:

The last four tracks on disc 1, which I call 'the closer': "Ripping Base" by Mac & Mac, "Consciousness" by Cosmic Gate, George Acosta vs. Mike Shiver's "The Apocalypse", and "Shine" by Talla 2XLC. In addition to 'the closer': "Grasshopper" by Sander van Doorn, "Behind The Wheel" and "Emotions" by George Acosta

[Lowerdeck]

And now to continue on the countdown that nobody really cares about.

#23: "In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza", mixed by Tiësto (2007)

Notes: The other trance/house mix on the list. Couple of solid tracks towards the end of Disc 1, but Disc 2 is a clear favorite in my book. I'm not usually into vocal mixes, but there's quite a few good ones on here.

Favorites: High Glow, Dancing Water, Imagination, Falling, Fall to Pieces, Arguru, Somewhere Inside

#22: "In Sorte Diaboli" by Dimmu Borgir (2007)

Notes: Ran across this one somewhere in my deep anti-Christian metal phase late in 2007. It's an interesting concept... a Dark Ages era priest who turns against God and becomes the Anti-Christ. However, if you think about it... if you reject God, doesn't that mean you reject Satan and all the Biblical descriptions of such character? Ah well, it's still a brutal album with some good symphonic elements at times. That and some good ol' time blasphemy to warm up the sole during the religious holiday season

Favorites: The Serpentine Offering, The Heretic Hammer, The Fundamental Alienation, The Invaluable Darkness, The Foreshadowing Furnace

#21: "ESCM" by BT (1997)

Notes: This album is notable for containing two of my favorite tracks of all time: 'Firewater' and 'Flaming June'. Both are simply incredible pieces of piano trance. There are some parts of the album which just get strange and flirt with rock and don't quite fit the electronic theme: 'Love, Peace, and Grease' along with 'Solar Plexus'. But Firewater and Flaming June help rise this album to this ranking. Remember is also a pretty good track also.

#20: "Mr. Bad Guy" by Eturnal (2006?)

Notes: Here's an album done by a far far underground rapper from Brooklyn. This is actually available only in a slim case or MP3, I found a copy at a show at a bar in town. Most of the songs here: sex, not wanting any more kids, his son, more sex, more sex... you get the idea. For how limited the topic fare is, it still is enjoyable to me.

[Lowerdeck]

#19: "Liquid Swords" by Genius/GZA (1995)

#17: "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" by Wu-Tang Clan (1993)

Note 1: Who didn't see these two coming?

Note 2: Why is the version of Protect Ya Neck on 36 Chambers edited?

Favorites 19: 4th Chamber, Duel of the Iron Mic, B.I.B.L.E., Liquid Swords

Favorites 17: Da Mystery of Chessboxin, Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit, C.R.E.A.M., Clan In Da Front, Bring Da Ruckus, Shame on a Nigga

#18: "Before These Crowded Streets" by Dave Matthews Band (1998)

Notes: A couple of years ago I got into DMB. But it took a while for this one for me to really like this one. Before this was mostly good for just "Crush", but after seeing a live show in Hartford last summer... a lot more of the album is really good to me.

Favorites: Crush, The Last Stop, Don't Drink The Water, The Dreaming Tree

#16: "Mission 2002" by Trance Control (2002)

Notes: My introduction to electronic music. One of my cousins burned me a copy of this CD, and the rest was history. A whole new world of music became opened up to me.

Favorites: Haunted Souls, Hyperacusis, Gothenburg Sound, Epicenter

[Liam]

I'm pretty surprised to see a Dimmu Borgir CD on this list.

[Lowerdeck]

^ And strangely enough, that's the only album of theirs that I have. Besides Metallica and a couple Slayer albums, I really don't have too much for metal. Unless Killswitch Engage suddenly counts as metal.

Some hip-hop classics in this batch.

#15: "Life After Death" by Notorious B.I.G. (1997)

Notes: When I first started listening to rap, this and Puffy's "No Way Out" was like... the peak. When this came out, it was the best thing going for a couple years. And then a bunch of guys from Yonkers came out with that hardcore sound (DMX, The Lox)... but still never forgot about this one. The double album here, numerous numerous classics. Mo Money Mo Problems was one of my favorites way back in the day, then I burned myself out on it.

Favorites: Hypnotize, Kick In The Door, I Love The Dough, Notorious Thugs, Ten Crack Commandments, Sky's The Limit, My Downfall

#14: "The Chronic" by Dr. Dre (1992)

Notes: It was interesting. The mid/late 90s, Boston seemed to play a lot of West Coast stuff too. So came across a lot of Snoop, 2Pac, Dr. Dre. Not much else though, since the rap station out here always had a tiny playlist. This is my favorite of all the West Coast stuff. And who doesn't like "The $20 Sack Pyramid"?

Favorites: Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everyone's Celebratin'), The Day The Niggaz Took Over, Nuthin' But a "G" Thang, A Nigga Witta Gun, Lyrical Gangbang, High Powered, Bitches Ain't Shit*

* = I'm not sure which is better, this or the ridiculous Ben Folds cover.

#13: "It Was Written" by Nas (1996)

#12: "I Am" by Nas (1999)

Notes: You might be asking yourself... how do these two beat out Illmatic? Illmatic was good, don't get me wrong. But these two I got first, then went back for Illmatic after. And it just stuck in preference to me, these two over the rest of the catalog. I couldn't really decide which one of these was better than the other, so I put them next to each other. It Was Written had stuff stand out more, but I liked more from I Am.

Favorites:

I Am - Favor For A Favor, We Will Survive, Ghetto Prisoners, I Want To Talk To You, Life Is What You Make It, Money Is My Bitch, Undying Love

It Was Written - Street Dreams, Nas Is Coming, Affirmative Action, Live Nigga Rap, If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)

Edited February 4, 2009 by Lowerdeck

[Lowerdeck]

Back to the countdown that maybe one person is looking at...

#11: "Mer de Noms" by A Perfect Circle (2000)

Notes: This was one of those albums that I got into a couple of years ago. I known about it for years, more Thirteenth Step, but held off on. Then again, I wouldn't have liked it as much back then as I did now. This got a bit of a boost in my Fall 07 anti-Christian era thanks to Judith, but it's better than just that.

Favorites: The Hollow, Magdalena, Judith, Orestes, 3 Libras

#10: Band of Gypsys (1969-70)

Notes: Slightly different, but from the same concert series as, Live at the Fillmore East... here's Jimi Hendrix with the Band of Gypsys setup playing New Years Eve. This album is only six tracks at just over 40 minutes... but still impresses.

Notes 2: Machine Gun... 12:41 of pure awesomeness.

Favorites: Machine Gun, Who Knows

#9: "Real Animal" by Alejandro Escovedo (2008)

Notes: I originally found out about this one by a radio show 'Saturday Morning Club', then saw him open for DMB at the Meadows back in June. I was hooked from there.

Favorites: Always a Friend, Sister Lost Soul, Golden Bear, Real As An Animal, Hollywood Hills, Swallows of San Juan, Slow Down

[Lowerdeck]

Onward I go...

#8: 'Nine Lives' by Steve Winwood (2008)

Notes: Like the Rush album earlier, who saw newer material coming in? Was really loving this one back in the spring and summer. It's an interesting sound, compared from the stuff done in the 80s. Still very good though

Favorites: Fly, Dirty City, At Times We Do Forget, Other Shore, Hungry Man

#7: "Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood" by DMX (1998)

Notes: This is the top ranked rap album. And oh dear God, this is hood... and yet this album was one of my favorites for years. Just so ridiculous what DMX was doing back in the day. Why is Slippin' edited though?

I'm sure I'm white.

Favorites: Bring Your Whole Crew, We Don't Give a Fuck, Blackout, Dogs For Life, Heat

#6: "Under The Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band (1994)

Notes: Some friends of mine have a love affair with DMB, through them I decided to give it a listen. I'm not as obsessed as they'll ever be, or the weed smoker, but this is the best of what's around (pun semi-intended)

Favorites: Warehouse, Jimi Thing, #34, Rhyme & Reason... I think I might have to say Ants Marching too.

#5: "The Way I See It" by Raphael Saadiq (2008)

Notes: My favorite album from 2008, and the best R&B album I've heard to date. Why? Cause it's different than your typical R&B sound out there nowadays. Really could have done without the Jay-Z remix of "Oh Girl", and perhaps "Let's Take a Walk", but the rest is pretty much no skip territory.

Favorites: Sure Hope You Mean It, 100 Yard Dash, Just One Kiss, Staying In Love, Never Give You Up, Sometimes

Coming up... the top 4. One album from 1985-1988 each. And the obligatory Bruce Hornsby.

[Lowerdeck]

4 - "Scenes From The Southside" by Bruce Hornsby & The Range (1988)

2 - "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby & The Range (1986)

Notes: One of my favorite long time artists, this was the best of his stuff... The Way It Is is the far more famous album, but I've been burned out a bit on "Mandolin Rain" and "The Way It Is". But the rest of that album is solid. "Every Little Kiss" is a major guilty pleasure. Lately I've been loving "The Red Plains", "The Long Race", and "The River Runs Low". Hmmm... apparently Huey Lewis was a producer on this too.

As for Scenes, not a huge fan of "The Old Playground" and even more so "Defenders of the Flag". The rest of the album though was an instant favorite of mine. This might be much more of a guilty pleasure too - between "The Road Not Taken" and "Till The Dreaming's Done", both of which I've been listening to a ton lately.

3 - Heart's self-titled album (1985)

Notes: This, like #1, I've been listening to for nearly much of my life. This one's rather strange, a mix of rather hard rock and some really really softer stuff and some pop-rock thrown in. I'd probably also say, had I not heard this album about 50 million times when I was younger... this probably wouldn't be ranked #3. But there's a lot of sentimental value - or something - here. It's still pretty good stuff, considering all the contrasts and guilty pleasures. No real skipable song on this album, though in public I may not admit to that.

1 - "The Joshua Tree" by U2 (1987)

Notes: Do I really need to explain this?

Favorite Tracks:

1 - Bullet The Blue Sky [4]

2 - Red Hill Mining Town [6]

3 - Where The Streets Have No Name [1]

4 - With or Without You [3]

5 - Exit [10]

6 - In God's Country [7]

7 - One Tree Hill [9]

8 - Trip Through Your Wires [8]

9 - Running To Stand Still [5]

10 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For [2]

11 - Mothers of the Disappeared [11]

So there's the final list. Not really much of a debate on the matter. I don't think there's any closet Bruce Hornsby or Heart fans... and there's the U2 topic hence me posting this (finally)

[YI]

Bruce Hornsby. I only have his with with 'The Trio' in "Camp Meeting" which was released the other year. But it's really, really good, piano styled jazz. Was going to be in my Best 100 albums of 2007 list, which never particularly got going, 'way back when'.

"The Joshua Tree" is a good album. It bores me at times (but that's U2 all over for me), but it is a soothing listen.

Edited March 21, 2009 by YI

[Lowerdeck]

I got Camp Meeting also. It's an interesting album. Haven't really listened to it all that much, cause I need to be in a mood to hear all-instrumental albums and jazz.

Yesterday I had "Death and the Flower" stuck in my head though.

[METALMAN]

Bruce Hornsby is cool.

I only know Heart because they had a song on GTA. It is fun to drive along to.

Joshua Tree is a good album. I'm not a huge fan of it myself but I can definitely see why so many people like it. My favourite U2 album is War.

Well done for finishing this!