Best Ever Albums

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

tgarritsen — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 19:39:18 GMT

Author: tgarritsen

Posted: 10/14/2013 23:39

Too many to write down now.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 10:33:18 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 10/10/2013 14:33

benpaco wrote:

I mean, most good albums are better like that. The ones that stand out, though:

Skylarking by XTC. This one is one I'd say is required.
For Emma Forever Ago by Bon Iver. It loses something separated.
Foiled by Blue October. There's a very interesting roller coaster you get to ride with the full album that makes it 500000x better.

This. So much. Same can be said for the self-titled album as well.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

meruizh — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 23:46:49 GMT

Author: meruizh

Posted: 10/10/2013 03:46

stupid thread....

post this on the official charts website

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

benpaco — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 22:25:26 GMT

Author: benpaco

Posted: 10/10/2013 02:25

I mean, most good albums are better like that. The ones that stand out, though:

Skylarking by XTC. This one is one I'd say is required.
For Emma Forever Ago by Bon Iver. It loses something separated.
Foiled by Blue October. There's a very interesting roller coaster you get to ride with the full album that makes it 500000x better.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Listmeister — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:43:57 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:43

lethalnezzle wrote:

Basically, everybody that isn't Listmeister is right.

LOL. Lethalnezzle, you're all right.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:34:31 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:34

Listmeister wrote:

I wasn't offended; on the contrary, my response was like, "I guess I'm a typical American. No shame in that." So, sorry I put you on the spot like that, Leeth.

I was responding to sp4cetiger by that point.

But yes, topic topic topic topic. Basically, everybody that isn't Listmeister is right.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:30:03 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:30

Mancsoulsister wrote:

If you are listening to the album out of order (or randomly) then you are in fact not listening to that album at all. You are listening to something else entirely.

Yeah, I think that hits the nail on the head. Prior to the mid-60s, it was pretty standard for the record company to mix and switch up the order of tracks on albums to appeal to particular demographics. For example, the American release of Rubber Soul was mixed up to achieve a more folky sound to exploit the American folk revival. They stopped that practice with Revolver (for the Beatles, anyway) and now I think it's generally understood that the artist puts songs in a particular order for a reason. The rise of the concept album in the late 60s probably had a lot to do with it.

Anyway, that may be a big reason why there are very few high-rated albums prior to the mid-60s. Back then, albums were mostly just collections of songs.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:18:44 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:18

And to come back on topic...

I think every album I have ever listened to.. I have listened to in one sitting all the way through 😕

I do listen to songs on their own and love nothing more than spinning the singles when I'm home alone.

But an album should be honoured from beginning to end - no track skipping or nothing. Doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing - that tends to be my approach!

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:14:12 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:14

Listmeister wrote:

A question is not pointless if the asker does not know the answer. Look, I'm not trying to be difficult here, and I'm not out to start an argument. Maybe I just have some song-order blindness brought on by years and years of listening to singles. Maybe it's not something that can't be explained, but rather a sense one develops through listening to "the right" albums.

But apparently the answer is "duh, it's obvious" so it must be the song-order blindness thing.

Ok here are my thoughts.

The song order is deliberately chosen by the artist as the manner in which they wish to release their music. It is therefore how they believe their music should flow and work in an album like 'whole'. So if you want to enjoy that album, then you should listen to it as the artist intended...

If you are listening to the album out of order (or randomly) then you are in fact not listening to that album at all. You are listening to something else entirely. You are listening to a random interpretation of an album which is different from the artists intended release. As Lethal eluded to with PIL, it completely changes the flow of the music. The tracks may be the same, but the overall effect is completely different. So out of order, you do in fact have a different album from the one that was released by the artist.

I get intensely irritated by re-releases of albums I know well, if they have changed the order or added a whole bunch of tracks that weren't there on the original. For me, this is not a re-release but a different album. It just sounds wrong.

I'm not sure that is articulated very well as it is hard to explain why something just jars... put it is my twopenneth for what it's worth!

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Listmeister — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:05:19 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:05

lethalnezzle wrote:

Making an observation that somebody is conforming to a stereotype is not equivalent to stereotyping somebody. I didn't expect Listmeister to ask such a question because he was American (stereotyping), I was merely pointing out that said question did in fact conform to a stereotype (a mere observation). Listmeister's question was a perfect example of what Derrida was talking about; I found the parallel funny. I clearly was not prejudging Listmeister by his nationality. Again, I think that in choosing to believe I was that you're being unnecessarily defensive.

I wasn't offended; on the contrary, my response was like, "I guess I'm a typical American. No shame in that." So, sorry I put you on the spot like that, Leeth.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 15:03:53 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 10/09/2013 19:03

ppnw wrote:

There's less than two handfuls of albums I haven't cherry-picked tracks from, but when listening to full albums I think track order is important to me. Playing off of lethalnezzle's example, I was exposed to Second Edition before Metal Box and consequently gravitate towards the former track order. When I make a mix, I prepare my brain for a random order; when I put on an album I've listened to already, I'm expecting a certain order of sounds, and if it becomes unpredictable because of a mixed-up order it's actually very cerebrally upsetting. It's kind of like listening to an atonal piece for the first time; it's offputting because you can't predict the next sound until you've heard the piece a few times.

My thoughts exactly. It goes the same for when individual tracks are on the radio. Any time I hear, for example, Come Together and Something played back to back, when Maxwell's Silver Hammer doesn't come on afterwards it always throws me off.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:59:52 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:59

There's less than two handfuls of albums I haven't cherry-picked tracks from, but when listening to full albums I think track order is important to me. Playing off of lethalnezzle's example, I was exposed to Second Edition before Metal Box and consequently gravitate towards the former track order. When I make a mix, I prepare my brain for a random order; when I put on an album I've listened to already, I'm expecting a certain order of sounds, and if it becomes unpredictable because of a mixed-up order it's actually very cerebrally upsetting. It's kind of like listening to an atonal piece for the first time; it's offputting because you can't predict the next sound until you've heard the piece a few times.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:58:35 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:58

Ahem. Back on topic, if I may?

The Downward Spiral has to be heard start to finish. With a single song missing or in a diferent order, you lose all of the narrative, all of the character Reznor had created. Musically it also makes no sense to go out of order seeing as many of the songs segue into eachother. If you start at Ruiner, or Big Man With a Gun, or Eraser, or The Downward Spiral, or Hurt, it'll sound like there was something beforehand that led into those songs. Because there was.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:44:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:44

sp4cetiger wrote:

I don't want to draw this out since it's way off the main topic, but for the record, I'm not patriotic. I just don't like being stereotyped.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:44:01 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:44

Listmeister wrote:

But apparently the answer is "duh, it's obvious" so it must be the song-order blindness thing.

Nah, it's just hard to explain in words why we prefer albums in a particular order. If you don't care about song order, that's fine, I think you're just in a small minority on the site. I suppose it adds a unique perspective.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Listmeister — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:36:24 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:36

lethalnezzle wrote:

... the pointlessness of Listmeister's question. .

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:32:42 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:32

EDIT: Eh, forget it.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:17:55 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:17

sp4cetiger wrote:

I encounter a lot of anti-Americanism on the internet and it tends to get my goat. Rather than pointing to the stereotype you could just say what you said above and I think it would be more respectful. I agree that what he asked of you was unreasonable and that there is some truth in the stereotype, but dismissing him by simply pointing to his nationality sucks, IMO.

Fair enough, point taken. I disagree, but each to their own. To my mind, my response was perfectly reasonable, and indeed set up another discussion about whether pointing out that somebody is conforming to a stereotype is actually equivalent to criticising said stereotype - it isn't, and certainly wasn't in this case. However, I think patriotism is a waste of time, so what would I know?

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:08:33 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:08

lethalnezzle wrote:

My apologies if I'm being obtuse here, but I don't think at any point that I was "mocking American culture". Similarly to pointing out that South Korean aircrafts suffered many accidents in the past due to Korean attitudes towards professional hierarchy (co-pilots often didn't feel they could tell the pilot when he was making a mistake due to fears of it being seen as insubordination), pointing out that Americans are prone to demand concrete examples and easy summaries of concepts that can be difficult to articulate in a straightforward manner is in no way "mockery". We British supposedly have a 'stiff upper lip'; Germans are famous, rightly or wrongly, for their 'Teutonic efficiency'; the French are apparently a guarded people who maintain a dignified politeness in front of all but only let themselves truly be themselves in front of friends and family. The fact is that none of these stereotypes are true across the board, but that stereotypes obviously have some basis in truth. I was just pointing out the humour in Listmeister so perfectly exemplifying a certain "American attitude" as observed by Jacques Derrida, whilst at the same time using that video to convey what I saw as the pointlessness of Listmeister's question. You needn't get so defensive - "mocking American culture" was not my intention whatsoever.

Re: Albums which you have to listen to the entirety

Anonymous — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:00:57 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/09/2013 18:00

sp4cetiger wrote:

I hope that mocking American culture isn't going to be the way we start ending all of these arguments.