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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This is a follow-up of my album listening session of 2003 (as I had not listened to all the 2003 albums in the overall top albums ranked 2500 or better. These are the first albums:
- Frengers by Mew: fairly bad emo with the only comforting sound in the last track.
- Everything Goes Numb by Streetlight Manifesto (nr 30): I like ska and I like punk but I've heard some ska-punk albums in these listening sessions and I didn't really like them in general and for this one my opinion is no different.
- Boy In Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal (nr 33): not my kind of music
- In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 by Coheed and Cambria (nr 34): there is nothing that struck me as really good.
- Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts by M83 (nr 36): this albums makes me think a bit of early days electronic albums but to me not as good as those. Overall also a bit too mellow to be really enjoyable.

The next album of 2003 I will listen to is Sleeping With Ghosts by Placebo, a band I like and an album of which I already know some tracks.

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This is the next batch of albums of 2003 I listened to (centered around sometimes I think):
- Sleeping With Ghosts by Placebo (nr 36): sometimes I think if I will ever get bored with albums of Placebo because I have to admit that their albums are a bit all of the same. But this album is again very good with the killer song The Better End as the icing on the cake.
- Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts by M83 (nr 37): sometimes I think I should get a bit more into the French electronic scene but I didn't real feel a connection with this album.
- Get Rich Or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent (nr 38 ): sometimes I think why I keep trying to also listen to the rap albums in these listening sessions because I'm not really a big fan of the genre. Well on this album some songs are not too bad but still enough to convince me.
- Rounds by Four Tet (nr 39) : sometimes I think I should get a bit more into post 2000 electronic music but this Four Tet album is just not very exciting and varied enough.
- Thickfreakness by The Black Keys (nr 40): sometimes I think I should get rid of my prejudice against two member bands like the Black Keys but this album didn't convince me of that. This is very much a blues album but it gets a bit uniform because of the fact that it's difficult to bring variety in the songs with only two band members. Only Hold Me In Your Arms is an exception.
- Want One by Rufus Wainwright: sometimes there is an artist I think I should find out more of and Rufus Wainwright is one of them. But listening to this album just brings me to the conclusion that the songwriting of the man is perhaps a bit too swollen for my taste. On some tracks like I Don't Know What It Is and the epic Go Or Go Ahead, he gets away with it because there's a good song behind it but in most cases it's just swollen. I doubted a bit because of those two tracks but I finally decided not to include it in my personal top chart of 2003.
- Sing The Sorrow by AFI (nr 42): sometimes I wonder why I didn't discover bands more early and I wondered about that when I read good reviews about AFI comparing them to Husker Du etc. But then I listened to this album and I understood why: this is an album I don't like at all: it's a mixture between emo and nu-metal with no punk spirit or any form of creative craftmanship at all (of course all my personal opinion 😉 )
- Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts (nr 43): sometimes I discover an album which makes this project worthwile and this is one of those. Maybe there is nothing really special about the sound or the song-writing on this album but there is not a bad track on it and they all carry out the sound of the early punk years and there is nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately I didn't find this album on Apple Music but only found it on Spotify.

The next album to listen to is The Lemon of Pink by The Books.

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More albums of 2003:
- The Lemon Of Pink by The Books (nr 46 on the overall BEA top chart of 2003): maybe these guys created a genre of its own but they forgot to write good songs.
- Electric Version by The New Pornographers (nr 47): very catch music: I like it.
- Get Born by Jet (nr 48 ): I must say I like this album of these Australian guys. They're not very original but that doesn't really matter for this type of music.
- Decoration Day by Drive-By Truckers (nr 49): Sometimes they get a bit mellow and country-ish and the story telling sometimes gets a bit in the way of the music but even then I like these guys and at their best they really rock like in the great Marry Me and the slowburners Your Daddy Hates Me and Decoration Day.

The next album to listen to is Haha Sound by the Broadcasts.

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Another bunch of albums of 2003 I listened to:
- Haha Sound by Broadcast (nr 50): this is not a bad album. I especially like the first two tracks and Lunch Hour Pops. The songs combine some kind of experimental atmosphere with both abrasiveness and vulnerability. A welcome addition for my personal top chart of 2003.
- Cuatro Caminos by Café Tacuba (nr 51): I already listened to a number of Latin American albums in this listening sessions and upto now I hadn't found any album (including an earlier album of this band) which struck me as very original. But this one blew my mind. It is really good and although the music wanders off in different directions (loud, soft, more experimental) but it however still sounds as a coherent album. The only thing I don't really like is the voice of the singer but the quality of the songs makes up for that.
- Mount Eerie by The Microphones (nr 52):I like experimental but only if it goes together with good songs and that is not the case on this album.
- Permission To Land by The Darkness (nr 53): I've always hated their hit single on this album, I Believe In A Thing Called Love, and I must admit, some of the other tracks are better. At their best they have a bit the guitar sound of Boston. But overall not really top quality for me.
- Veneer by José González (nr 54): nothing to do with Latin music at all because this is a Swede. These accoustic guitar tracks are not too bad but overall not enough variety to really draw me in this music.
- 100th Window by Massive Attack (nr 55): not really my thing even if sung by Sinead O'Connor.
- Black Cherry by Goldfrapp (nr 56): and even less my thing and a bit too much pop for this rock lover.

The next album of 2003 I will listen to is Lesser Matter by The Radio Dpt, some more Swedish music.

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And some more albums of 2003:
- Lesser Matters by The Radio Dept. (nr 57): I'm a sucker for jangly indie and this album offers precisely that together with some shoegaze. I liked it.
- Et Minne Om Deg by Jan Toft (nr 58 ): maybe you have to be Norwegian to like this album.
- Feast Of Wire by Calexico (nr 59): I had to listen to this album via Youtube. I fairly like records like Hot Rail but this one didn't really appeal.
- Billy Talent by Billy Talent (nr 60): somewhere described as a follow-up to the Buzzcocks but I don't agree: this is fairly standard juvenile punkrock.
- Frank by Amy Winehouse (nr 61): I'm not a big lover of the voice nor the songs of Amy Winehouse.
- Dopesmoker by Sleep (nr 62): only one long stoner track (a bit like a Black Sabbath song on endless repeat. I fairly like the music and the density of it doesn't disturb me but makes this a bit of a tedious listen just because of the lack of variety. I also didn't find the album/single on Apple music or Spotify so I had to revert to Youtube. Final decision is: I'm not gonna include it.

I have only one album to go of 2003: Here Comes The Indian by Animal Collective.

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This is my final contribution for album I've listened to in 2003. I only had one left:
- Here Comes The Indian by Animal Collective (nr 64 in the BEA top chart of 2003 and the last one having a rank of better than 2500 in the overall BEA top chart): I can be short about this one: it's as boring as it's unlistenable.

And this ends my journey through 2003 with here also my final verdict (with the BEA overall rank at the beginning and thereafter the BEA rank of the year and my personal year rank before and after these listening sessions:

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
19057 North By Elvis Costello 505 - 4 To 1
1428 Final Straw By Snow Patrol 32 - 5 To 2
11121 Earthquake Glue By Guided By Voices 288 - 2 To 3
27980 Son By Jeff Hanson 735 - 8 To 4
2582 Sumday By Grandaddy 69 - 1 To 5
931 The Meadowlands By The Wrens 19 - 3 To 6
280 Room On Fire By The Strokes 4 - 11 To 7
1619 Guitar Romantic By The Exploding Hearts 43 - To listen To 8
20865 Throwing Muses (2003) By Throwing Muses 550 - 10 To 9
8530 Down The River Of Golden Dreams By Okkervil River 221 - 9 To 10
14301 Static Transmission By Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 374 - 6 To 11
3239 Dance Of Death By Iron Maiden 85 - 15 To 12
30934 Slideling By Ian McCulloch 801 - 14 To 13
33876 M For Means And L For Love By Mintzkov Luna 871 - 16 To 14
109 Absolution By Muse 2 - 7 To 15
4894 Welcome Interstate Managers By Fountains Of Wayne 130 - 13 To 16
1500 Sleeping With Ghosts By Placebo 37 - To listen To 17
6428 The Smell Of Our Own By The Hidden Cameras 166 - 21 To 18
1922 Decoration Day By Drive-By Truckers 49 - To listen To 19
7035 Nocturama By Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds 180 - 28 To 20
2168 Lesser Matters By The Radio Dept. 57 - To listen To 21
62 Elephant By The White Stripes 1 - 12 To 22
1860 Electric Version By The New Pornographers 47 - To listen To 23
1938 Cuatro Caminos By Café Tacuba 51 - To listen To 24
15630 Howl Howl Gaff Gaff By Shout Out Louds 410 - 24 To 25
39384 Ride 'Til I Die By George Thorogood And The Destroyers 980 - 23 To 26
11097 The New Folk Implosion By The Folk Implosion 287 - 25 To 27
1162 Dear Catastrophe Waitress By Belle And Sebastian 25 - 18 To 28
18755 Summer Sun By Yo La Tengo 495 - 19 To 29
988 Ghosts Of The Great Highway By Sun Kil Moon 22 - 22 To 30
8642 The Wind By Warren Zevon 226 - 26 To 31
1896 Get Born By Jet 48 - To listen To 32
52624 Skull Ring By Iggy Pop 1299 - 27 To 33
759 Youth & Young Manhood By Kings Of Leon 14 - 31 To 34
6453 Reality By David Bowie 167 - 30 To 35
320 Transatlanticism By Death Cab For Cutie 6 - 33 To 36
1929 Haha Sound By Broadcast 50 - To listen To 37
115 Hail To The Thief By Radiohead 3 - 17 To 38
2526 The Decline Of British Sea Power By British Sea Power 67 - 29 To 39
7763 Admiral Freebee By Admiral Freebee 196 - 35 To 40
15387 I Am Kloot By I Am Kloot 399 - 36 To 41
3205 Cast Of Thousands By Elbow 84 - 38 To 42
64657 High Anxiety By Therapy? 1614 - 32 To 43
7295 Shootenanny! By Eels 188 - 37 To 44
3428 St. Anger By Metallica 88 - 20 To 45
1766 It Still Moves By My Morning Jacket 44 - 34 To 46
17235 Greendale By Neil Young And Crazy Horse 455 - 39 To 47

And this ends the year on 2003 and next year to cover is 2004.

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But before I start with 2004 I would like to give some stats of this thing I'm doing here and in which I already covered 19 years: 1963/64, 1968/69, 1973/74, 1978/79, 1983/84, 1988/89, 1993/94, 1998/99, 2003, 2008 and 2013 and still have to cover all the other years.

The starting point of all this is the BEA overall top 2500 chart (which of course changes all the time so this is the situation point in time):
- Of these 2500 I excluded 95 albums for several reasons (compilations, live albums, Jazz albums, etc)
- Of these 2500 I already knew and scored 575 albums before these listening sessions
- Of these 2500 I already knew but didn't score (because I don't include them in my top charts) 140 albums
- Of these 2500 I have listened to 347 albums during these listening sessions but were deemed by me to be not good enough to include them in my personal top chart of the year in which they were issued
- Of these 2500 I have listened to 163 albums during these listening sessions and scored them and included them in my personal top charts of the year in which they were issued
- Of these 2500 there are still 1178 albums to listen to during these sessions which is a hell of a lot but doesn't scare me off to continue.

And then of course there are many albums outside the 2500:
- 10 I thought to listen to and scored but are now outside the top 2500
- 968 albums which are outside the overall top 2500 but are in my personal top charts. Many of these are ranked very high.
To give an example: in my personal top 100 (which sticks to the rule of one album per artist) there are 38 albums which are not part of the overall BEA top 2500:
My top chart by dihansse: this is not yet my Top 100 Greatest Music albums: I still have to work on that.

The results of this can also be viewed in my individual year and decade charts.

I will repeat these stats from time to time to show my progress.

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This is the first entry for the year 2004 listening session and this is the list of albums of overall top 2500 albums which were issued in 2004 with at the start the BEA year rank and then the BEA overall rank and then my personal rank of the album before this listening session (or to listen):

BEA YearRank Title By Band BEAOverallRank - My Rank before
1 Funeral By Arcade Fire 7 - 1
2 American Idiot By Green Day 128 - 13
3 Hot Fuss By The Killers 136 - Already listened
4 Madvillainy By Madvillain 167 - To listen
5 The College Dropout By Kanye West 224 - To listen
6 Franz Ferdinand By Franz Ferdinand 266 - 12
7 Good News For People Who Love Bad News By Modest Mouse 273 - 20
8 Antics By Interpol 405 - 4
9 Smile By Brian Wilson 524 - 11
10 Hopes And Fears By Keane 579 - 33
11 The Libertines By The Libertines 627 - 21
12 Aha Shake Heartbreak By Kings Of Leon 628 - To listen
13 The Milk-Eyed Mender By Joanna Newsom 639 - To listen
14 A Ghost Is Born By Wilco 679 - 5
15 Sung Tongs By Animal Collective 706 - To listen
16 Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus By Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds 714 - 32
17 Seven Swans By Sufjan Stevens 750 - Already listened
18 Our Endless Numbered Days By Iron And Wine 826 - To listen
19 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb By U2 877 - 23
20 Kasabian By Kasabian 885 - To listen
21 You're A Woman, I'm A Machine By Death From Above 1979 971 - To listen
22 Rubber Factory By The Black Keys 1001 - To listen
23 A Grand Don't Come For Free By The Streets 1103 - To listen
24 From A Basement On The Hill By Elliott Smith 1120 - 18
25 Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge By My Chemical Romance 1134 - To listen
26 Leviathan By Mastodon 1172 - To listen
27 Mm.. Food By MF Doom 1287 - To listen
28 Panopticon By Isis 1305 - To listen
29 You Are The Quarry By Morrissey 1369 - 27
30 Futures By Jimmy Eat World 1414 - To listen
31 Medulla By Björk 1601 - To listen
32 Soviet Kitsch By Regina Spektor 1611 - To listen
33 Thunder, Lightning, Strike By The Go! Team 1640 - To listen
34 Set Yourself On Fire By Stars 1781 - To listen
35 Van Lear Rose By Loretta Lynn 1805 - To listen
36 Shadows Collide With People By John Frusciante 1859 - 38
37 Riot On An Empty Street By Kings Of Convenience 1932 - To listen
38 The Dirty South By Drive-By Truckers 1948 - 41
39 Trouble By Ray LaMontagne 1961 - To listen
40 Talkie Walkie By Air 2019 - To listen
41 Blueberry Boat By The Fiery Furnaces 2060 - already listened
42 Bows + Arrows By The Walkmen 2085 - To listen
43 ...Is A Real Boy By Say Anything 2198 - To listen
44 Love Is Hell By Ryan Adams 2234 - Already listened
45 Breakaway By Kelly Clarkson 2252 - To listen
46 Under My Skin By Avril Lavigne 2278 - To listen
47 Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) By Slipknot 2279 - To listen
48 Back To Bedlam By James Blunt 2297 - To listen
49 Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes By TV On The Radio 2302 - To listen
50 Bubblegum By Mark Lanegan Band 2380 - Already listened
51 Let It Die By Feist 2431 - To listen
52 Marbles By Marillion 2498 - To listen

2004 was not a bad year with a few magnificent classics like Funeral, Antics and A Ghost is Born but most of my favorite albums were outside of the top 2500 like People Are Like Seasons by Sophia and Burn the Maps by The Frames.

I already listened to a few albums of 2004:
- Madvillainy by Madvillain (nr 4 on the overall BEA top chart of 2004): a first rap record...
- The College Dropout by Kanye West nr 5): and a second rap record I went through rather quickly and again not my thing.
- Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings Of Leon (nr 12): After their first good record, this second one went a bit under the radar for me and the next ones weren't really my thing. The thing is: I like this one even more than their debut because it rocks even more (while it went downhill on the guitar front after that). There's a few good ones like Slow Night, So Long and King Of The Rodeo and also on the rest of the album a few tracks rocked really well.

The next album to listen to is The Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom (but not sure I will be able to listen to it because not on Apple Music).

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More albums of 2004:
- The Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom (nr 13 on the overall BEA top chart of 2004): I must admit I even haven't listened to Ys (also because JN is not even available on Apple Music or Spotify) so this is a bit of a first introduction to her. To me she has the innocent-like way of singing and using her instruments as Kevin Coyne in the seventies but I don't like it as much.
- Sung Tongs by Animal Collective (nr 15): experimental but lacking good songs
- Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron And Wine (nr 18): not bad but I like his latter albums more than this one which is a bit less good than I expected.
- Kasabian by Kasabian (nr 20): Some of the tracks are a bit over the top but I like Reason is Treason and Test Transmission so I will add it to my personal top chart any way.
- You're A Woman, I'm A Machine by Death From Above 1979 (nr 21): although they surely have a lot of energy (mainly the bass is shredding), the fact that it's again a two-piece band makes this album a bit uniform.

The next album to listen to is Rubber Factory by the Black Keys, another album by a 2-piece band.

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A third batch of albums of 2004 I listened to:
- Rubber Factory by The Black Keys (nr 22 on the overall BEA top chart of 2004): this is by far the best Black Keys album I have listened to already. Indeed only a two member band but the guitar playing is outstandingly in-your-face and the delivery of the songs is very direct and utterly bluesy. In short: I liked this album very much.
- A Grand Don't Come For Free by The Streets (nr 23): rap with a cockney accent and still not my thing
- Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance (nr 24): over the top emo and sometimes so catchy that I nearly started to like it but only nearly.
- Leviathan by Mastodon (nr 26): I don't dislike this band and this album and most of the tracks are fairly good with a mix between prog and real metal but it doesn't grab me by the throat as a good metal album should.
- Mm.. Food by MF Doom (nr 27): rap again

The next album to listen to is Panopticon by Isis.