posted
Up until very recently, my list of Top Five Favourite Albums only had four entries.
There have been many albums in contention for that coveted fifth spot, including The Music's self-titled debut and the last I Mother Earth album (The Quicksilver Meat Dream). But one album -- and one band, actually -- has risen head and shoulders above the rest over the course of the last eight or nine months.
The band: Muse.
The album: Absolution.
Absolution was actually the first Muse album I ever heard; when I bought my iPod used on eBay it was among the mystery albums that were on it when it arrived, courtesy of the fellow I bought the iPod from. I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't quite figure out why. At Christmas I played the album for a close friend and his first question was "is this Radiohead?" Singer Matt Bellamy's vocals are indeed very similar to those of Thom Yorke; it just seems to be a property of his voice. I hadn't noticed, I just knew I liked them. Bellamy's voice is fuller than Yorke's, too, which is another mark in his favour. There are also some stylistic parallels with early Radiohead, though Bellamy's piano work simply blows that of Thom Yorke or Johnny Greenwood clear out of the water (more on that later).
Upon reflection, I realized that Muse are exactly what I wish Radiohead had become after The Bends. I first got into Radiohead when my father randomly brought The Bends back as a gift for me from New Zealand (in my youth he would bring me Calvin & Hobbes comic books). He didn't know anything about rock, so he'd just asked what kids these days were listening to, so to speak, and evidently whoever was working in the music store at the time had the good sense to give him The Bends. It was the second CD I ever owned, and I listened to it throughout my formative teenage years. I will always be able to listen to it, I think. I've never gotten tired of it. I sometimes set it aside for weeks or months, but I can always pick it up and it's just like an old friend.
OK Computer was a disappointment to me. That's what most people cite as their favourite Radiohead record, because it was their biggest album in terms of mindshare -- it's the one everyone knows about. I liked OK Computer, and I still listen to it sometimes, but for me it will never measure up to The Bends.
(Aside: Ironically, I loved Kid A. But only as an album. I almost never listen to the individual tracks; whenever I bust out Kid A it's for the whole experience. Kid A accompanies The Bends on my Top Five, but its place has been tenuous ever since I saw Radiohead live last fall and heard how much better all of their material sounds in person. Now I can't listen to Kid A without wishing that energy had been captured on the record, particularly on songs like Everything in its Right Place and Idioteque. Kid A could ultimately be replaced by The Music's first album, or either Ágætis Byrjun or () by Sigur Rós.)
Absolution rocks harder than The Bends. There are fewer angsty ballads and the album is meatier in texture. Furthermore, Matt Bellamy is a true piano virtuoso. The fact that he wrote and plays the piano melodies on Absolution in the studio -- let alone live -- makes him worthy of a seat next to some of the great classical pianists. In particular, Bellamy's piano work is reminiscent of Sergei Rachmaninov (who happens to be one of my favourite composers). This is most pronounced on Butterflies & Hurricanes, where Bellamy inserts a snippet of what could have been a full-blown piano concerto into the middle of the song.
I recently procured the other two Muse albums, Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry, and the progression through to Absolution is interesting to watch. Along the way, they dabble with jazz and also spend some time playing classical material on their rock instruments. Absolution is the best album, though -- which is good, because it makes me hopeful for their next effort.
I'm sure you're quite sick of my ravings by now, but if you like any sort of rock, you really owe it to yourself to give some of Absolution a listen to see if you dig it. It's a magnificent record.
So, without further ado, here is my list of Top Five Favourite Albums, in no particular order:
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Recently I've been having Winamp play Absolution interspersed with the songs off of whatever Radiohead album I feel like listening to. I like them together.
Yes, everybody into that sort of thing: give Muse a listen. They're good to hear. I'm going to need to get ahold of their earlier stuff somehow. But I'm poor. I'll try the used CD place downtown.
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Well that's strange. I didn't see Pretty Hate Machine on that list. There must be a mistake, twink, you forgot that one. Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I don't own it. I've never heard it all the way through. NIN were always to much synth and not enough band for me.
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Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and totally erase that last post of yours from my memory because you have some pretty great albums listed here. Good choices. Try to work out your NIN issues, they really are something else, I tell you.
Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I support twink on this one. He had it playing in the background one day and it's one of the few times I've asked him what band is playing. I promptly bought the album a few days later. Something fairly significant for me, I've bought all of 10 albums in my life. Definately a solid record.
Not to sure about their other work. Twink played some snippets of the first two albums last night and the sound is a lot thinner than on Absolution. Which is to be expected, most bands don't grow into their full sound until their second or third album.
And hey, Val, not only can I not stand Chris Cornell's voice, but I don't care much for NiN either. Remind me to never listen to music you suggest Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Abbey Road (Beatles) Revolver (Beatles) Untitled, aka Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin) Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles)
What? Why are you looking at me like that?
(Old music rocks)
Posts: 238 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Interesting list, twink. I really don't think I could ever make a top five list, or even a top ten list. I haven't heard Lateralus, but I would've thought you'd be more into A Perfect Circle than Tool.
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Heh, I actually got into APC through Tool. I like APC a great deal, but neither of their albums is quite there yet. The songs that are good are unbelievable, but the ones that aren't are just sort of 'meh.' Lateralus, for me, is ~76 minutes of nonstop, meaty hard rock/metal goodness, followed by ~3 minutes of weak and useless crap. Its "good to not-so-good" ratio is higher than anything but Ten (which IMO features zero not-so-good songs; every single one is an anthem) It helps, I suppose, that I like long songs.
My favourite albums are all reminiscent in some way of the 1991-1994 grunge/alt-rock era. I got into grunge and alt-rock retroactively a few years later, but that was what I listened to through my adolescence and so that style of music is what holds the most power for me.
Also, I've specified favourite Albums. I own, for example, Rachmaninov's piano concertos Nos. 1-4, and love them dearly (in particular, Nos. 2 and 3), but I wouldn't give them the "album" label. In fact, none of my classical or jazz tastes really qualify for the Top Five. I own, for example, Lara St. John's Re: Bach, but even if I absolutely loved it and it was one of my favourite records, the music isn't hers. Bach himself certainly never recorded any albums, he just wrote music for others to play. I also have Thelonius Monk's Greatest Hits, which is automatically disqualified by virtue of being a "Greatest Hits" compilation, even though it's fantastic (and Thelonius Monk is one of my favourite musicians). I'm very partial to Chopin, as well, and sooner or later I'll add the Preludes and Nocturnes to my record collection in some form or another.
The fact that my five absolute favourite albums are all rock albums does show the profound influence that rock has had on my life, but it doesn't diminish the deep love that I have for classical, jazz, and blues. I grew up listening to classical music and big bands; I took up the piano at four (I still play) and the trombone at 10 or 11 (I stopped that after high school). And even on the guitar I periodically bust out some light jazz or full-on blues jams.
There are a couple of notable genre omissions here, and they are electronica (in all of its myriad forms; I'll file trip-hop, which I enjoy, here for simplicity) and soundtracks. I love the LotR soundtracks, but they don't stand on their own, and either way they aren't among my favourite records (or albums). I do have a decent variety of electronic music (some Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Orbital, Stereolab and Massive Attack if they can be called that) and some trip-hop style stuff (Sneaker Pimps, Portishead, Emiliana Torrini), but while I like all of it (in particular, Portishead's live in New York disc is amazing), none of it stirs me the way Ten or Absolution does. What can I say? I like my guitars.
I hope you don't think of me as quite so musically limited or single-minded now. I really do try to keep an open musical mind, and am usually experimenting with some new group or genre, it's just that the early 90s is what stuck with me musically (at least when it comes to non-classical, non-jazz).
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Well, it's a music thread, and as Porce pointed out, I cannot stay away from it. I downloaded 6 songs off the Muse album, and I will say, I liked what I heard and I will be buying the album. That being said, there is some criticism. Mainly, some of their songs sound like they could have been written by Radiohead (there really is that much similarity) so they definitely lose points for lack of originality. Once you get past that fact, they do provide more variety than Radiohead ever did; there is great piano work that Radiohead could never match and there is (at times) a much harder edge then Radiohead ever offered. So, all in all, I was impressed, but not overly so. Though, once I get the album, I may view it differently
Now, to weigh in on your list of favorite albums ever (You threw them out there, so now you'll have to live with the consequences ). First, let me say, I don't how you could limit yourself to just 5 albums. I tried; I was able to take 16 albums and reduce the list to 9, but fromtthere, I could not decide between those 9 (I'll list them later to give you the opportunity to rip me apart).
I'll start where our tastes overlap the most-Tool's Lateralus is among my favorite albums, I think it is brilliant front to back.
Pearl Jam's Ten. I like this album a lot (on a scale of 1 to 6, I'd give it a 5), but I think there are better offerings from Pearl Jam (Vs., Vitalogy, and Yield). On Ten, the songs all have a fairly similar hard rockin sound (which is a good sound), but on their following albums, they really branched out and became a better (and more diverse) band.
Radiohead's the Bends. I like this album(4.5 out of 6), but I think it is inferior to O.K. Computer. The best songs from the Bends measures up to the best from Ok Computer, but the later is a much more solid album front to back.
Radiohead's Kid A. Here's where our tastes really diverge. I think Kid A is a vomitous waste. The songs are overly repetitive and can barely be called songs. I like moody, atmospheric music, but there needs to be some kind of strong melody to tie songs of that type together. Kid A lacks this and it's songs are little more than random noises thrown together.
Alright, here's my favorite 9 albums (in no particular order), rip me a new one.
The Gloria Record, Start Here Cave In, Antenna Tool, Lateralus Further Seems Forever, The Moon is Down Further Seems Forever, How to Start a Fire Elliot, False Cathedrals Mineral, The Power of Failing Sunny Day Real Estate, Diary Sunny Day Real Estae, How It Feels to be Something On
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posted
<shakes head at what a shame it is when people listen for the rest of their lives only to the music they liked in their youth>
I thought I'd throw in a few that you guys should really really hear. These are all great, but they aren't my top five or anything. I don't know that I have an all-time top anything. It always changes. But these have long term staying power, and are very very good.
Bach's B Minor Mass Dave Brubeck's Take Five Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Stravinsky's Firebird Suite Holst's The Planets Aaron Copeland's Appalachian Spring
For reference, my favorite recent bands starting now and going back in time for a while are Tool, Radiohead, Beck, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, They Might be Giants, The Cure.
I will definitely be checking out Muse. Right now I'm listening to LDS hymns all the time. They are so great! I'm trying to learn my favorites on the piano. (The Spirit of God, Love at Home, Teach me to Walk in the Light, Love one Another)
[ June 15, 2004, 10:12 PM: Message edited by: ak ]
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I know all of those, Anne Kate. And I like most of them.
The music I listened to in my adolescence is admittedly my favourite style, but I did make a pretty lengthy post to this thread detailing my other interests as well in response to Farmgirl, only to be obliquely accused of precisely the same offence by you. There's also the matter of general musical favourites versus albums. I certainly don't think my musical taste is lacking in scope. Along your lines, if I had to choose some favourite musical works, a few standouts would be:
Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3, Preludes in C# Minor and G Minor (Sergei Rachmaninov) Nocturne in E flat major, Prelude in D flat major, Revolutionary Étude (Frédéric Chopin) Clair de lune (Claude Débussy)
'Round Midnight (Thelonius Monk)
Alive (Pearl Jam, in particular the guitar solo) Roads (Portishead, NYC Live version) Just (Radiohead) Pushit (Tool) November Rain's guitar solo (Slash, of Guns 'n Roses fame)
Untitled 8 (Sigur Rós)
Actually, AK, I really think you would love Sigur Rós. More than Muse, even. Either Ágætis Byrjun or (), though I like the latter a little bit more. Their music is quite unclassifiable, but they're from Iceland and their stuff really does evoke that sort of stark landscape image. "Heartbreakingly beautiful" is how I feel about their songs.
Also, I think that the music you listened to through your adolescence just tends to stick with you. I'm not quite sure why that is, but I've definitely noticed it in myself and my friends.
From what I've heard of it, I'd say that Revolver is my favourite Beatles album as well. However, I'm not all that much for the Beatles -- or at least, their poppier stuff -- as a general rule.
Sarfa, until recently my list only had four entries. It takes a lot of listening for me to decide if an album has the kind of staying power that would put it on the list.
I also own Vs and Yield, but don't find them as compelling as Ten. Ten has a very consistent sound, but I happen to consider that sound the pinnacle of alt-rock, and I'm quite happy to listen to an hour of it. Naveed is my favourite Our Lady Peace album for the same reason -- the songs all sound similar, but I like that sound. No group other than Pearl Jam has released an entire album of alt-rock anthems, especially not as a first effort. I don't think anyone else could do it. I like some of their other albums, but Ten is very much my favourite.
Never once did I claim that my views are authoritative, either. I'm expounding on my own taste and explaining why I like what I do. OK Computer disappointed me, but that doesn't make it a bad record. I don't think there's any absolute scale on which to measure albums, but on my own personal scale OK Computer loses simply because while it maintains a consistent atmosphere, it just doesn't rock hard enough. I wanted The Bends part two (I was sixteen, can you really blame me?), and didn't get it.
All I can say about Kid A is that it's really worth hearing live performances of that material. Everything you say about Kid A is what I would say about large swaths of Amnesiac -- but I wouldn't say any of those things about Kid A.
I dunno what you're doing with two albums each from Further is Forever and Sunny Day Real Estate on your list. I don't mind either of those groups, but I can't listen to them for very long before I get bored, because each of them has a "sound" that they very much stick to, and unlike the stuff on Ten, that sound just doesn't have enough oomph for me. It should be clear from my Top Five that I like full, meaty guitars in rock as a general rule, and neither of these bands comes close to giving me that.
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Fair Enough. Like I said, I really do like Ten, I just like the more sophisticated sound they developed in their subsequent albums (not including No Code, which was a disaster). I can see that if fist-pumping, hard rock anthoms are your thing, then Ten would be your favorite. And realize, that though I speak as if my opinion is absolute fact, it really is just an opinion (i.e., I'm right and you're wrong ).
Further Seems Forever definitely has a "sound", I just happen to love that sound (amazing melodies and two guitar harmonies with powerful vocals). Their second record was fresh enough to be different, but similar enough to still be the same band, that's why both are up there, Neither is better than the other.
Sunny Day on the other hand, does NOT have a "sound". True, their second album is pretty much a B-grade version of Diary (their 1st), but their other two albums are very different stylisticly from each other and Diary.
It's funny, I listened to none of this music in my adolescence. I was all about punk rock and hardcore until I got out of high school. I really don't listen to any of either anymore (though my hard-edged youth has left me more open to more abrasive styles of music).
My tastes in music are one dimensional, and I make no apologies about it. I am an uncultured neanderthal. For me it's rock, rock, and more rock. From classic rock, to modern rock, to mellow folk-rock, to paint blistering heavy metal.
Oh, and Abbey Road is the greatest of the Beatles albums by far. (Though Revolver does indeed blow away Sgt. Pepper's, which is overated as Beatles albums go.)
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I guess I just haven't heard enough SDRE. The only one I have is The Rising Tide, and while I really like some of the stuff on it, I can't listen to it all the way through without getting tired of the sound of the record.
I consciously work on broadening my musical horizons. This year I'm doing that by exploring various avenues of electronica, which I used to despise. It's a fun exercise, and along the way I typically discover some great stuff. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I added your SN to my buddy list, mine is BlueEyesBlue85 lemme know when you want me to send it, and if you'd like the tracks all seperate or zipped up =}
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OK. I'm taking off tomorrow until Thursday, but I'll message you when I get back or something.
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So I bought the Muse album and have listened to it all the way through (I got a funny look from the cashier since it was at the bottom of a pile of CD's that included Slayer, Atreyu, and Machine Head). It is better then I thought (not the greatest album ever) and less like Radiohead than the 6 songs I downloaded were (that is, the other songs on the CD are further away from Radiohead than the 6 I downloaded). Thanks for a good new band to listen to Twink.
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Glad you like it! I've been spreading the word about these guys as much as I can, because I quite like them. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I pretty much think Sgt. Pepper and Revolver are tied. It's more of a mood thing for me. But Abbey Road is definately the best Beatles album, and possibly the greatest album ever made.
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I actually was on Abbey Road on my recent London trip, but I was inside a bus.
I am such a doofus. Our hotel was THREE BLOCKS from Abbey Road, but we didn't know it!!!!
On the way to the airport, the bus driver pointed out "Hey, here's Abbey Road." Oh well, I'll just have to get my shoe-less Paul picture next time. Posts: 524 | Registered: May 2003
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You can listen to the entire Muse album online here
I can understand the comparisons to Radiohead, but to me it is really just the vocals that bear any significant similarity.
I really enjoyed the album and my interest in Muse is definitely piqued.
I think my musical tastes overlap quite a bit with you Twinky. I would definitely put Lateralus and The Bends in my top 5 and the others on your list all have places in my collection. My tastes have a bit more leaning towards punk, but there aren't many albums as a whole from punk music that I could commit to my top 5.
My top 5 as of this moment are, in no particular order:
Tool - Lateralus
Radiohead - The Bends
Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary
Face To Face - Self Titled
Wow that was really difficult. I don't think that list can possibly be a permanent thing. I think I would need at least 10 before I could commit and even then it would be really difficult. I really wanted to put The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving o n there as well, but I couldn't leave off Face To Face. I think those 5 would work as a deserted island collection if I were forced to take just 5 though. There is quite a bit of variety in there. I, too have been actively expanding my musical horizons. Recently I have started listening to some electronica. Mostly Fatboy Slim and Aphex Twin so far. I have been trying to find some Hip-Hop/Rap that doesn't have too much in the way of derogatory lyrics and have found myself enjoying Factor. I have also realized that some country isn't as bad as I used to think. My wife is a country music fan and so I hear a lot of it on the radio and I have discovered that I kind of like a couple of artists including Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. I also have a lot of interest in The Corb Lund Band (You can get mp3s of his first couple albums here. Corb was the bass player for Canadian punk/metal legends The Smalls. The Corb Lund Band play old school country and have a pretty infectious sound, at least for me.
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I think it's interesting what's been said regarding Kid A and Amnesiac in this thread. Personally, I have a hard time listening to Kid A. Not to say it's bad, necessarily, it just loses me. And while I very much like the first two tracks on Amnesiac, I can never remember what the rest of the album sounds like.
Gosh, what are some of my favorite albums...
Running on Empty, Jackson Browne Abbey Road, The Beatles Play, Moby Surfer Rosa, The Pixies Four, Blues Traveler Are You Experienced?, Jimi Hendrix Crash, Dave Matthews Band The Pretender, Jackson Browne Nico and Rushad, Nico and Rushad (this one is a couple of guys I knew in high school)
::shrug:: I guess some of my music tastes could be considered pedestrian, but I still like it anyway.
I very much like Barenaked Ladies, but I only have their greatest hits album.
"Take 5" (Dave Brubeck) and "So What?" (Miles Davis) are tied for my favorite jazz songs, although I also like a lot of Vince Guaraldi's music. I have a compilation CD called Round Midnight that includes a lot of "cool jazz" stuff. I really like that one.
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). First, let me say, I don't how you could limit yourself to just 5 albums. I tried; I was able to take 16 albums and reduce the list to 9, but fromtthere, I could not decide between those 9 (I'll list them later to give you the opportunity to rip me apart).![[Frown]](frown.gif)
There's also the matter of general musical favourites versus albums. I certainly don't think my musical taste is lacking in scope. Along your lines, if I had to choose some favourite musical works, a few standouts would be:![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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