My discoveries per year - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

dihansse · 2016-04-10T12:28:28-04:00

Well! Here I would like to start with my own long term project taking advantage of the best BEA has to offer: overall charts from people who are as interested in music as I am. I already have year charts which are based on the albums I already own or know, but there are a lot of them which I haven't listened to yet and which might be worth discovering. I'd like to do this by going through the overall BEA top lists per year starting in 1963 which is both my year of birth and the year in which I personally think rock music started to become interesting. To keep it a bit varied I will skip through the years in five year periods, ie starting in 1963 then 1968 then 1973 all the way to 2013 and then back to 1964 and so on. Every year I will start with some stats of my personal chart in comparison to the overall year charts, both top 20 an top 50 and will start to listen to at least the top 20 albums I don't know and I'll hope to give some comments sometimes very short, sometimes a bit longer. I will also update my personal year charts accordingly. In principle I will use Apple Music to listen to the albums, which I suppose will cover most of the field. If a certain album isn't present in Apple Music, I'll have to skip it. I will try to listen to all the albums at least once and sometimes twice if I doubt, but I'll skip the really stupid ones (ex a Xmas compilation in 1963) and also other compilations, classical music, jazz and easy listening. This will be a long term project which means there might be times in which I will stop a bit of course because I don't want be stuck listining to albums of the same year all the time. However I suppose this will take at least a month per year. I will try to keep it up but please don't be mad if I give up (maybe already after the first year :lol: )

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And here are some very typical albums of 1984 (which is not necessarily a good thing):
- Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac by Butthole Surfers (nr 38 on the overall BEA top chart of 1984): sometimes this album is good in its weirdness like in Butthole Surfer and Concubine but the weirdness become a bit tiresome so overall not a very good album.
- Swoon by Prefab Sprout (nr 39): this first album of Prefab Sprout is simply not good (yet) and very uninspired.
- Stay Hungry by Twisted Sister (nr 40): hairmetal with some songs which are not bad but overall not my thing
- Grace Under Pressure by Rush (nr 41): I'm not a Rush fan and this album didn't change my mind although it's a bit different than the others because of shorter and more focused tracks (like Red Sector A and The Body Electric).

The next album to listen to is Café Bleu by The Style Council.

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And more albums of 1984:
- Café Bleu by The Style Council (nr 42 on the overall BEA top chart of 1984): I'm a big fan of The Jam and a bit less of the Style Council. On a number of tracks there are some good grooves but in general there are too little tracks on this album I really like.
- Hallowed Ground by Violent Femmes (nr 43): there is only one track on this album that to me is hallowed, ie Hallowed Ground, so that really isn't enough to make this a good album overall.
- Brilliant Trees by David Sylvian (nr 44): and on this album there is one track which is brilliant which is Red Guitar and is really a song that is up to the high standard of the brilliant Japan album Gentlemen Make Polaroids. Luckily there are also other good tracks on this album like the weird title song and Backwaters. So an album to add to my personal top chart.
- Don't Break The Oath by Mercyful Fate (nr 45): this is a metal band I didn't know at all and had dismissed because I thought it was more of hairmetal band but I was wrong. This is a very good guitar based hardrock band although I don't really understand what it has in common with black metal (in any case on this album). The songs can be a bit too much prone to meandering and there is of course also the very peculiar singing of King Diamond which often is simply annoying but after a while you get used to it. I must say I quite liked this album (but maybe have to listen to it a bit more) so I'm gonna include it in my personal top chart.

The next album to listen to is The Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby.

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And here is my final list of albums of 1984 I listened to:
- The Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby (nr 48 on the overall BEA top chart of 1984): I must say I like this album: I Scare Myself is very good and has an excellent trumpet part and Hyperactive is exactly what it title predicts. I also dig the title track. So this is also an album for my personal top chart of 1984.
- E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching (nr 49): against all expectations this is a very good album. It starts off fairly boring with some electronic bleeps but each time you think it is becoming boring something new is added until after the half of this album of nearly an hour the guitar part is starting and just makes it all very interesting again. This album is hypnotising, mesmerising and is just spreading good vibes all over. So I will include it in my overall top chart of 1984.
- The Last In Line by Dio (nr 50, this is a new album in the overall top 2500 so I listened to it as well): I fairly liked Holy Diver but this sophomore album is just a bit too much of the same without real highlights so I'm not gonna include it.

So this ends my journey into 1984, with certainly some good albums, some new discoveries but it's definitely not the best rock year ever.

And here is the final list (sorted on my new personal rank and with at the beginning the overall BEA rank and thereafter the BEA 1984 rank):

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
450 Zen Arcade By Hüsker Dü 13 - 1 To 1
560 Reckoning By R.E.M. 15 - 4 To 2
184 Ride The Lightning By Metallica 2 - 3 To 3
1119 Rattlesnakes By Lloyd Cole and the Commotions 19 - 2 To 4
522 Powerslave By Iron Maiden 14 - 9 To 5
443 Ocean Rain By Echo & The Bunnymen 12 - To listen To 6
202 Born In The U.S.A. By Bruce Springsteen 4 - To listen To 7
192 The Smiths By The Smiths 3 - 5 To 8
1444 Reckless By Bryan Adams 24 - 7 To 9
1659 Couldn't Stand The Weather By Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble 29 - To listen To 10
1967 Learning To Crawl By The Pretenders 35 - To listen To 11
1344 From Her To Eternity By Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds 22 - 6 To 13
6533 The Las Vegas Story By The Gun Club 99 - 8 To 12
2433 The Flat Earth By Thomas Dolby 48 - To listen To 14
2454 E2-E4 By Manuel Göttsching 49 - To listen To 15
217 Let It Be By The Replacements 5 - 11 To 16
2313 Don't Break The Oath By Mercyful Fate 47 - To listen To 17
2189 Brilliant Trees By David Sylvian 44 - To listen To 17
1062 Meat Puppets II By Meat Puppets 17 - 10 To 19
2531 Sparkle In The Rain By Simple Minds 51 - 14 To 19
392 The Unforgettable Fire By U2 10 - 12 To 21
107 Purple Rain By Prince And The Revolution 1 - To listen To 22
9402 Spring Hill Fair By The Go-Betweens 146 - 15 To 23
2287 Perfect Strangers By Deep Purple 46 - 13 To 22
1375 The Works By Queen 23 - To listen To 24
3439 Red Sails In The Sunset By Midnight Oil 59 - 16 To 25
383 Treasure By Cocteau Twins 9 - To listen To A No
624 1984 By Van Halen 16 - To listen To A No
1101 Diamond Life By Sade 18 - To listen To A No
1291 Tabula Rasa By Arvo Pärt 21 - To listen To A No
1497 My War By Black Flag 25 - To listen To A No
1499 Fugazi By Marillion 26 - To listen To A No
1546 The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking By Roger Waters 27 - To listen To A No
1640 Defenders Of The Faith By Judas Priest 28 - To listen To A No
1682 Love At First Sting By Scorpions 30 - To listen To A No
1785 Heartbeat City By The Cars 31 - To listen To A No
1790 A Walk Across The Rooftops By The Blue Nile 32 - To listen To A No
1795 Out Of The Cellar By Ratt 33 - To listen To A No
1896 Some Great Reward By Depeche Mode 34 - To listen To A No
1970 Like A Virgin By Madonna 36 - To listen To A No
1992 Private Dancer By Tina Turner 37 - To listen To A No
2012 Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac By Butthole Surfers 38 - To listen To A No
2041 Swoon By Prefab Sprout 39 - To listen To A No
2054 Stay Hungry By Twisted Sister 40 - To listen To A No
2056 Grace Under Pressure By Rush 41 - To listen To A No
2087 Café Bleu By The Style Council 42 - To listen To A No
2159 Hallowed Ground By Violent Femmes 43 - To listen To A No
2491 The Last In Line By Dio 50 - To listen To A No

The next year I will listen to is 1989 (after skipping 5 years).

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This is the first entry of albums I will listen to of 1989. This was the year I started buying CD's and my collection of both new and older CD's grew at a fast pace. That's also why I know already most of the albums of this year which I think I appreciate.

Here is the combination of albums I have already listened to/ranked and the albums still to listen to in the next sessions (taken from the 2500 first ranked albums overall by the BEA community and ranked on BEA year rank; at the end is my current personal rank of the year):

BEA overall Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before
19 Doolittle By Pixies 1 - 1
30 The Stone Roses By The Stone Roses 2 - 22
52 Disintegration By The Cure 3 - To listen
166 Paul's Boutique By Beastie Boys 4 - To listen
365 On Fire By Galaxie 500 5 - 18
377 Bleach By Nirvana 6 - 19
449 Pretty Hate Machine By Nine Inch Nails 7 - To listen
463 3 Feet High And Rising By De La Soul 8 - To listen
617 Full Moon Fever By Tom Petty 9 - To listen
651 New York By Lou Reed 10 - 10
716 Like A Prayer By Madonna 11 - To listen
725 The Real Thing By Faith No More 12 - To listen
764 Technique By New Order 13 - To listen
859 The Sensual World By Kate Bush 14 - 24
989 Pump By Aerosmith 15 - To listen
1035 13 Songs By Fugazi 16 - To listen
1080 Energy By Operation Ivy 17 - To listen
1363 Rhythm Nation 1814 By Janet Jackson 18 - To listen
1373 Hats By The Blue Nile 19 - To listen
1385 Dr. Feelgood By Mötley Crüe 20 - To listen
1395 Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ By Peter Gabriel 21 - To listen
1409 The Seeds Of Love By Tears For Fears 22 - To listen
1513 Mother's Milk By Red Hot Chili Peppers 23 - To listen
1550 Wrong By NoMeansNo 24 - To listen
1627 Oh Mercy By Bob Dylan 25 - To listen
1629 Complete Discography By Minor Threat 26 - Greatest hits excluded
1670 Cosmic Thing By The B-52's 27 - To listen
1899 Freedom By Neil Young 28 - 8
1902 The Miracle By Queen 29 - To listen
2059 Floating Into The Night By Julee Cruise 30 - To listen
2142 In Step By Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble 31 - To listen
2316 Bizarro By The Wedding Present 32 - 5
2323 Let Love Rule By Lenny Kravitz 33 - Already listened
2332 Oranges And Lemons By XTC 34 - To listen
2346 Mystery Girl By Roy Orbison 35 - To listen
2414 Up To Here By The Tragically Hip 36 - To listen
2497 Mind Bomb By The The 37 - To listen
3213 Workbook By Bob Mould 47 - 3
3353 Puta's Fever By Mano Negra 50 - 15
3550 Steel Wheels By The Rolling Stones 54 - 6
4177 The Road To Hell By Chris Rea 67 - 21
4290 Beneath The Remains By Sepultura 69 - 17
6027 The Mekons Rock 'N' Roll By Mekons 94 - 16
11423 White Soul By Green 190 - 2
11649 Buzz Factory By Screaming Trees 192 - 9
18424 President Yo La Tengo By Yo La Tengo 295 - 20
19617 Love Agenda By Band Of Susans 308 - 14
20436 The Black Swan By The Triffids 324 - 7
22237 Intolerance By Grant Hart 345 - 11
22424 Beet By Eleventh Dream Day 350 - 4
24975 March By Michael Penn 410 - 12
35925 Gangbang + Rockery - A Compilation Of The Earlier Works By The Scabs 560 - 13
48259 Curses, Spells, Voodoo, Mooses By Shudder To Think 720 - 23

I already listened to the first two albums:
- Disintegration by The Cure (nr 3 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): I'm a big fan of the early cure of A Forest and 10:15 Saturday Night and I suppose this is the best album of the latter generation Cure with Fascination Street and the title tracks as special mentions. So certainly an album to include in my personal top chart.
- Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys (nr 4): I didn't like the Beastie Boys when they came out and I don't like them still.

The next album to listen to is Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails.

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My second journey in 1989 albums:
- Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails (nr 7 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): I was more impressed by this album than I originally expected. There is the very good slow Something I can Never Have (a bit like Hurt on one of their later albums) but also the more industrial sounding tracks like especially Sin are in general very good. All in all a good album for my personal top chart of 1989.
- 3 Feet High And Rising by De La Soul (nr 8): I tried but no it isn't my thing
- Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty (nr 9): also a better album than I expected. I'm not a big lover of his hits on this album like Free Fallin' and Won't Back Down but I really liked Running Down A Dream and The Byrds cover of Feel A Whole Lot Better. In general a solid album overall.

The next album to listen to is Like A Prayer by Madonna.

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And some more albums of 1989 I listened to:
- Like A Prayer by Madonna (nr 11 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): a few hits I've heard more than enough and also the rest a bit too poppy for my taste
- The Real Thing by Faith No More (nr 12): I was a bit doubting if I would include this one in my top chart. Of course I love Epic very much but the rest of the first half of the album is of a lot less quality. But the second half makes up for that: Woodpecker From Mars is a great track with its middle Eastern rhythm and feel and also the cover of Sabbath's War Pigs is very good and the fact that it's stays close to the original is a compliment. So I will include it in my top chart.
- Technique by New Order (nr 13): the same is a bit true for this album. I like the early New Order but not really the latter. I didn't really find standout songs except one, Run, and that's really the track that saves this track from oblivion in my chart.
- Pump by Aerosmith (nr 15): this album is harder rocking than some of its predecessors and there are some hits on it which are not bad but it's still Aerosmith trying to find a middle ground between the Stones and hardrock and are just falling in between. So still not good enough.
- 13 Songs by Fugazi (nr 16): now this is a discovery. I've not heard a Fugazi album yet than this one (which is in fact a compilation of EP's). This is your true hardcore with tons of energy and attitude. The highlights are many but of these, Glue Man and Give Me The Cure stand out.
- Energy by Operation Ivy (nr 17): I never heard of this skapunk band and I was afraid it was again one of these punk albums that only Westcoast Americans like but I was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes they verge a bit on the ridiculous with ex their cover of These Boots are Made for Walking, but in most of the tracks they stay on the right side of energetic and electrifying so indeed a good one.

The next album to listen to will be Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson.

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The next of the albums of 1989:
- Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson (nr 18 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): really not my thing
- Hats by The Blue Nile (nr 19): there is one really good track on this album: the very luscious (violins, piano and some weird electronic melody) Headlights On Parade. However for the rest there are too few standouts that make me like this album enough
- Dr. Feelgood by Mötley Crüe (nr 20): I like the band (Dr. Feelgood not MC) better than the album. There is indeed one standout track on this album, Kickstart My Heart, but has no one ever noticed that they stole part of the riff from Ballroom Blitz from The (not Sticky) Sweet? In any case on the whole again very hair metal and not really my thing.

The next album to listen to is Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for the Passion of Christ.

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These are the next albums of 1989 I listened to:
- Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ by Peter Gabriel (nr 31 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): The middle eastern influences are in many cases interesting but overall the album lacks a bit of energy.
- The Seeds Of Love by Tears For Fears (nr 32): although this album contains their biggest hit, Sowing the Seeds of Love, which is not bad, the overall album is a bit too long and uniform.
- Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers (nr 33): Higher Ground and Knock Me Down are not bad but I prefer the latter RHCP.
- Wrong by NoMeansNo (nr 34): this kind of American punk is not really my thing although some of the energetic stuff like Oh No! Bruno! and Two Lips Two Lungs and One Tongue is not bad.

The next album to listen to is Oh Mercy by Bob Dylan.

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More 1989 albums:
- Oh Mercy by Bob Dylan (nr 26 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): To me this is one of the best Dylan albums and it starts of with both the best and maybe the most atypical Dylan track ever: Political World. There are some more outstanding tracks to be found like Most of The Tme and all in all it will be added to my personal top chart of 1989.
- Cosmic Thing by The B-52's (nr 27): I was very much in doubt on this album. I'm a big fan of the first B-52's albums and this is a typical example of their latter ones. Tracks like Loveshack and Roam are not bad but they can't even tread in the footsteps of the older songs. However when I look at the overall quality of the album I have to cave in and cannot do anything else than to include this in the top list of 1989 anyway.
- The Miracle by Queen (nr 29): and here the final verdict is more tipping to the no, I won't include this album. I like I Want It All but that's about the only track I really like. The band is rocking like in the old days on a lot of tracks but they can't really convince me.
- Floating Into The Night by Julee Cruise (nr 30): I already owned the Twin Peaks soundtrack so I already knew a few of the tracks on this album, especially Falling I like very much. The rest of the album is in the same atmposphere but overall it is a bit too uniform to be really good overall.
- In Step by Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble (nr 31): I already knew a few albums of this great guitar sorcerer but this album even succeeded to be better than my expectations. Some of the tracks contain some real guitar shredding ex. Wall Of Denial and Scratch 'n Sniff) and are at least very fine rockblues. So definitely something for my final top list of 1989.

The next album to listen to is Oranges and Lemons by XTC.

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And here I'm again at the final stage of my discovery tour of 1989 albums with two final albums to discuss:
- Up To Here by The Tragically Hip (nr 35 on the overall BEA top chart of 1989): I got to know this band only from their fourth album Fully Completely I immediately liked. But this second album of this great Canadian band already has already all the good things which are so special to the Hip: the pronounced voice of of Gordon Downie combined by great lyrics and songs. A lot of people like the first half of the album better than the second half but I really like Every Time You Go and Trickle Down. Definitely an album for my top chart and of course courage for the battle Gordon is fighting at this moment.
- Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison (nr 36 and the last album with a rank better than 2500th): Roy Orbison had a magnificent voice and when combined with good songs he could really rock even if he didn't like in Mystery Girl and You Got it. Overall a decent album and also one my personal top chart of 1989.

To conclude: in this year the first roots were laid for grunge with albums of Nirvana and Pixies which shook the music scene a bit in the good sense although before this year the indie scene and hardcore scene where already laying the foundations. My personal top 25 is just littered with albums which to me are classics and I even discovered some new ones so this is definitely a very fine rock year.

This is the final verdict (with at the start the overall BEA rank after that the BEA year rank and the evolution of my personal rank:

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
19 Doolittle By Pixies 1 - 1 To 1
11454 White Soul By Green 191 - 2 To 2
3222 Workbook By Bob Mould 48 - 3 To 3
22451 Beet By Eleventh Dream Day 349 - 4 To 4
2349 Bizarro By The Wedding Present 34 - 5 To 5
3553 Steel Wheels By The Rolling Stones 54 - 6 To 6
20383 The Black Swan By The Triffids 322 - 7 To 7
1896 Freedom By Neil Young 28 - 8 To 8
11228 Buzz Factory By Screaming Trees 188 - 9 To 9
652 New York By Lou Reed 10 - 10 To 10
22069 Intolerance By Grant Hart 343 - 11 To 11
1034 13 Songs By Fugazi 16 - To listen To 12
24596 March By Michael Penn 394 - 12 To 13
19630 Love Agenda By Band Of Susans 307 - 14 To 15
35271 Gangbang + Rockery - A Compilation Of The Earlier Works By The Scabs 547 - 13 To 14
1082 Energy By Operation Ivy 17 - To listen To 16
2879 Puta's Fever By Mano Negra 43 - 15 To 17
451 Pretty Hate Machine By Nine Inch Nails 7 - To listen To 19
2141 In Step By Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble 31 - To listen To 18
6086 The Mekons Rock 'N' Roll By Mekons 95 - 16 To 20
4406 Beneath The Remains By Sepultura 71 - 17 To 21
2332 Oranges And Lemons By XTC 33 - To listen To 22
365 On Fire By Galaxie 500 5 - 18 To 23
373 Bleach By Nirvana 6 - 19 To 24
2421 Up To Here By The Tragically Hip 35 - To listen To 25
18356 President Yo La Tengo By Yo La Tengo 293 - 20 To 26
675 The Real Thing By Faith No More 11 - To listen To 27
4183 The Road To Hell By Chris Rea 67 - 21 To 28
52 Disintegration By The Cure 3 - To listen To 29
30 The Stone Roses By The Stone Roses 2 - 22 To 30
45424 Curses, Spells, Voodoo, Mooses By Shudder To Think 685 - 23 To 31
1642 Oh Mercy By Bob Dylan 26 - To listen To 32
2446 Mystery Girl By Roy Orbison 36 - To listen To 33
773 Technique By New Order 13 - To listen To 34
616 Full Moon Fever By Tom Petty 9 - To listen To 35
864 The Sensual World By Kate Bush 14 - 24 To 36
1676 Cosmic Thing By The B-52's 27 - To listen To 37
166 Paul's Boutique By Beastie Boys 4 - To listen To A No
461 3 Feet High And Rising By De La Soul 8 - To listen To A No
719 Like A Prayer By Madonna 12 - To listen To A No
989 Pump By Aerosmith 15 - To listen To A No
1369 Rhythm Nation 1814 By Janet Jackson 18 - To listen To A No
1384 Hats By The Blue Nile 19 - To listen To A No
1389 Dr. Feelgood By Mötley Crüe 20 - To listen To A No
1390 Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ By Peter Gabriel 21 - To listen To A No
1410 The Seeds Of Love By Tears For Fears 22 - To listen To A No
1510 Mother's Milk By Red Hot Chili Peppers 23 - To listen To A No
1559 Wrong By NoMeansNo 25 - To listen To A No
1897 The Miracle By Queen 29 - To listen To A No
2073 Floating Into The Night By Julee Cruise 30 - To listen To A No

And by again skipping 5 years the next one to discover is 1994.