Best Ever Albums

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:47:29 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/18/2013 20:47

I think I just automatically flip into one album per artist mode when I am creating a chart. So with very very few exceptions all my charts are one album per artist ones.

I personally prefer it because I really really struggle with condensing my love into 100 albums... and taking this particular approach gives me a greater opportunity to reflect a wider selection of my favourites including the odd surprise. I also think music is about your emotions and how you are as a person. By extention your chart is an outward manifestation of these emotions and your personality. I think a diverse chart with lots of artists is a better reflection of a person and their many likes and (to a lesser extent) dislikes and is more likely to excite me. Unlike the BEA charts that comprise of 20 or so artists... that doesn't tell me anything about you apart from you like band A or band B, which I find a little dull and monotonous (and do tend to think that the people are probably the same or don't know enough music to know any better... sorry)!

I will always prefer charts with diversity, something I am more likely to get on charts with more artists than on ones that specialise in one or two bands entire back catalogue.

But hey if that is what rocks your boat, then you go for it. It's all a matter of personal choice!

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Robert Anton Wilson — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:01:50 GMT

Author: Robert Anton Wilson

Posted: 02/18/2013 16:01

MrFrogger wrote:

Some more "Clear best album" artists
King Crimson

Saying that King Crimson is a "clear best album" band is like saying that The Beatles are a "clear best album" band because they recorded Sgt Pepper ... it is a clear case of stating something as best based on its social and historical significance while neglecting everything else. King Crimson aficionados are just as likely to have debates over whether the best KC album is ITCOTCK, Islands, Lark's Tongues, Red, Discipline ... and even Thrak has some die hard fans just like the Beatles fans are split amongst Revolver, Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, The White album. However casual Beatles fan will nearly always name Sgt Pepper just as much as casual KC fans will nearly almost always name ITCOTCK, to me, this is an indication of how well known and iconic an album has become -reputation not quality- not an indication that it is a "clear best album". If there was a place I expected not to be confronted with the "its clearly the better known therefore it has to be clearly the best" was on BEA but the again, everything is possible.

Now I am not saying that ITCOTCK is not the best KC album (well actually I am but that is not the point), what I am saying is that KC can be named as a "clear best album" type of band ONLY, and ONLY IF you consider that the better known album is necessarily the best. If you do so, then sales are your best indication of which is the best album of a band and it means that a band like Genesis is a "Clear best album" band and that their best album is "We can't dance".

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:55:34 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/18/2013 13:55

It all depends on the user, and neither chart is "better". And a chart with multiple albums from favorite bands is just as personal, not automatically more so, than one that has one album per artist list. It all depends on how one wants to showcase their love of albums. Personally, it just got dang near impossible to condense a list of favorite albums to a simple 100, and often the sacrifices just turned out to be albums from artists that showed up previously on the chart (although I just couldn't leave off Dry, so it's not a strict one-album-per-artist list). I remember hearing a good saying on the forums previously that in many ways a chart is a portrait of the user, and that can be either through what a number of artists and respective album have done to them, or how the wealth of a particular band(s)' discography has affected them. Every chart is terrific, none are better than another as nobody's opinion is more or less correct than others, and however one wants to craft it is splendid indeed; the more charts added to this site and the more possible albums to discover is the greatest reward.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Johnnyo — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:24:34 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 02/18/2013 12:24

Got to be multiple artists in a chart irrespective of whether it's overall, decade or year. My charts need to reflect the albums that I love & just couldn't leave any of them out.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:58:49 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/18/2013 09:58

I've given a two album limit a go.
I'm liking seeing some of my favourites like Pink Moon getting a much higher rank as before it was pretty swamped by Beatles. Although from about 80 onwards they're albums I don't really have strong feelings towards.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

davidhuret — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:49:17 GMT

Author: davidhuret

Posted: 02/18/2013 08:49

I chose the one-album-per-artist rule for my general chart.
No such thing for my decade-charts.
It's up to the compiler.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:45:19 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 18:45

When I first started I took the 1 album per artist approach. This was because I wanted to display the greatest variety possible with my top 100. However, I eventually realized that the artists for which I'd want to put multiple albums, the albums I'd want to put on my chart all have very distinct sounds (Led Zeppelin's first 6, Pixies' first 2, Nevermind and In Utero, etc.), and so including both would not detract from the variety.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 05:39:02 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 10:39

What I think is that custom charts should be mostly considered about recommendations and such, therefore this restriction could apply to them. But for charts like "Best Albums Of All Time", or "Greatest Albums of the '90s" and such, I don't know, it doesn't sit well with me to put just one album per artist because the final "product" is less representative of the "chart-maker's" taste. Of course I'm not saying that everybody should do it that way; anyone can compose his/her chart anyway he/she likes, just stating how I feel about it.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:45:17 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 07:45

I dunno, it's whatever someone prefers

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

lightmyway — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:13:15 GMT

Author: lightmyway

Posted: 02/16/2013 07:13

I think it's more honest and makes a chart more personal if there are multiple albums by a band. Everybody has certain bands they fall back on, it's a big part of your musical fingerprint!

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

SquishypuffDave — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:23:35 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 02/16/2013 06:23

I stick to one album per artist because it makes me look cool and knowledgeable. Also because I usually only listen to the most popular album in an artist's discography.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:06:20 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 02/16/2013 06:06

What it comes down to for me is that my chart would not be at all honest without all the Radiohead stuff on it. Same with City & Colour and any other repeat artists.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Charicature — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:00:17 GMT

Author: Charicature

Posted: 02/16/2013 03:00

It isn't "best ever bands" it's "best ever albums" so yeah, my chart has multiple albums by some artists that I think are amongst the best ever. There's far more artists in my chart with only 1 album because I don't think anything else they did was all that special.

My list is limited to albums I've actually heard, so it's also natural to have some multiples...that said, there's several artists with more than one album in my top 20, so even if I listened to 10,000 more albums they're still likely to have at least 2 in my chart. Don't think there's any that have 3 in my top 20 though.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:55:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:55

thejoj96 wrote:

This thread is not about IRL.

Sorry. I forgot that when you're on the internet you aren't supposed to admit you have a real life. 🫢

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:47:19 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:47

lethalnezzle wrote:

I didn't know that at all, and a lot of my friends are Cure fans, some fairly obsessive. Ho hum.

This thread is not about IRL.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:45:17 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:45

Hayden wrote:

Meh. Disintegration is often cited as their best.

I didn't know that at all, and a lot of my friends are Cure fans, some fairly obsessive. Ho hum.

MrFrogger wrote:

I think it's pretty safe to say that Turn off the Bright Lights is the clear Interpol album, no?

Antics gets a lot of love from a lot of people, although Interpol have never done much for me.

I knew which album you meant in most cases (I think), I just don't see them as being really obvious cases of being significantly more popular than their other albums (let's take the majority opinion, for example), except the artists I bolded. Each of the artists probably has one album that is seen as superior, but not to the extent that if charts were limited to one album per artist (which is where this discussion started, lest we forget 🤣 ) that it would significantly damage the rankings of their other highly regarded albums.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

MrFrogger — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:37:37 GMT

Author: MrFrogger

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:37

lethalnezzle wrote:

I would've guessed F#A#∞. Also, which Cure album are you alluding to? Pornography maybe? Disintegration? The Head on The Door? Faith? Maybe Three Imaginary Boys? I knew which albums you meant with the others (I think anyway, although I'm starting to doubt that given you weren't talking about F#A#∞), but I find the inclusion of The Cure especially confusing, even in a list full of strange choices which I disagree with.

Well with The Cure I was talking about Disintegration, I think its pretty safe to say its their biggest album, its their top album on BEA by a large margin and it's definitely their most well known.

Although I think it's pretty safe to say that Turn off the Bright Lights is the clear Interpol album, no?

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Hayden — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:35:14 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:35

lethalnezzle wrote:

Meh. Disintegration is often cited as their best.

But I was also surprised that you meant Lift Your...
Both are close to equal on charts, and most people have their favourite of the two. Not a decisive one.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:29:49 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:29

I would've guessed F#A#∞. Also, which Cure album are you alluding to? Pornography maybe? Disintegration? The Head on The Door? Faith? Maybe Three Imaginary Boys? I knew which albums you meant with the others (I think anyway, although I'm starting to doubt that given you weren't talking about F#A#∞), but I find the inclusion of The Cure especially confusing, even in a list full of strange choices which I disagree with.

Re: Charts: 1 album pr artist or not?

MrFrogger — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:17:44 GMT

Author: MrFrogger

Posted: 02/16/2013 00:17

Hayden wrote:

Ok. I could figure out all of them but this one.

What album are you referring to?

Lift yr Skinny Fists like Antenna's to Heaven, all their fans that I personally know prefer that one, as do I but their is a really strong case for some of their others, looking back they dont really have a clear best.