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: )

Luigii Profile

dihansse wrote:

Moving on to the end of 1996 albums to listen to:
- Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis (nr 40 on the overall BEA top chart): the first track is like a dinosaur tramping around a thick forest accompanied by the sound of a sledgehammer and Purify is like that same dinosaur tramping through that same forest accompanied by bagpipes. So I'm not really a fan of this album.
- Take It From The Man! by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (nr 41): I fairly liked this one: nothing very special but ok enough to include this album in my personal top chart.
- Placebo by Placebo (nr 42): there's something special with Placebo: everytime I listen to one of their albums (and I already knew this one) I think: nice but this is fairly common stuff which will bore me after a while because all the tracks sound the same: but in the end I keep on finishing those albums with a satisfied feeling because they somehow succeed to keep their songs interesting until the end and that certainly counts for this first album of theirs.
- Older by George Michael (nr 43): I can't even begin to tell you how depressing was: because of the subject, because of the lyrics but most of all because of the fact that I didn't like the music at all.
- Bringing Down The Horse by The Wallflowers (nr 45): the fairly known One Headlight is OK and also God Don't Make Lonely Girls is not bad but overall not really inspired this album.
- K by Kula Shaker (nr 46): but I did like this album. Sometimes they sound like a Middle Eastern version of Oasis but generally I liked the grooves and the songs including their hits.

The next album to listen to is Filosofem by Burzum which can't be other than Black Metal :wink:

Well with Older you got two out of the three correct. Come on the sound on the album was really good. But my guess you found it boring.

dihansse dihansse Profile

Luigii wrote:

dihansse wrote:

Moving on to the end of 1996 albums to listen to:
- Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis (nr 40 on the overall BEA top chart): the first track is like a dinosaur tramping around a thick forest accompanied by the sound of a sledgehammer and Purify is like that same dinosaur tramping through that same forest accompanied by bagpipes. So I'm not really a fan of this album.
- Take It From The Man! by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (nr 41): I fairly liked this one: nothing very special but ok enough to include this album in my personal top chart.
- Placebo by Placebo (nr 42): there's something special with Placebo: everytime I listen to one of their albums (and I already knew this one) I think: nice but this is fairly common stuff which will bore me after a while because all the tracks sound the same: but in the end I keep on finishing those albums with a satisfied feeling because they somehow succeed to keep their songs interesting until the end and that certainly counts for this first album of theirs.
- Older by George Michael (nr 43): I can't even begin to tell you how depressing was: because of the subject, because of the lyrics but most of all because of the fact that I didn't like the music at all.
- Bringing Down The Horse by The Wallflowers (nr 45): the fairly known One Headlight is OK and also God Don't Make Lonely Girls is not bad but overall not really inspired this album.
- K by Kula Shaker (nr 46): but I did like this album. Sometimes they sound like a Middle Eastern version of Oasis but generally I liked the grooves and the songs including their hits.

The next album to listen to is Filosofem by Burzum which can't be other than Black Metal :wink:

Well with Older you got two out of the three correct. Come on the sound on the album was really good. But my guess you found it boring.

I did luigi

Luigii Profile

Fine. I could see that especially when I started to listen to this, there were a few songs that didn't captivate me at all. But after a while it became a gold standard for me. I at least found this record myself re compelling than say anything that Adele or Sam Smith ever came out with. Plus the sound ends up being low key so for some if you aren't ready for it than it will get boring. Sorry if I came off pushy. One of my personal favorites of 1996.

dihansse dihansse Profile

Finally back to 1996 with some albums I listened to:
- Filosofem by Burzum (nr 47 on the overall BEA top chart of 1996): I liked Jesus' Tod very much but that was really the only track I liked so this is a no for this album but I'm glad I discovered that one long track which was truly mesmerizing.
- Dr. Octagonecologyst by Dr. Octagon (nr 48 ): not my thing.
- Expecting To Fly by The Bluetones (nr 49): at first I thought not for me but after a while there were some tracks I really dug like Things Change and Fountainhead, and then Slight Return hadn't passed yet, a song which even was a semi-hit in Belgium and I liked at the time (I didn't even know it appeared on this album). The songs are not all of the same quality but overall an album I liked enough to put in my personal top chart.

The next album of 1996 to discover is Songs for a Blue Guitar by Red House Painters.

theblueboy

Helpful comments on the albums in this diary-I am putting Placebo on my playlist.

I listened to Expecting to fly the other day. Surprisingly accomplished for a "forgotten" Britpop band. Not sure if I really like it yet but Slight Return still sounds great and a couple of the other tunes did make me prick up my ears.

I have started a Britpop diary so we may have some nice overlap here 😄

dihansse dihansse Profile

Nearly at the end of 1996:
- Songs For A Blue Guitar by Red House Painters (nr 50 on the overall BEA top chart of 1996): I liked this album and as always with RHP sometimes there's not a lot of dynamics in the tracks but somehow most of them grab my attention anyway. The standout track here are Have You Forgotten, All Mixed Up and especially Make Like Paper. Unfortunately this album was not available on Apple Music so I had to revert to one of the fantastic Youtube things where you just see a record ( a real one not a CD) playing with the album behind it: nearly as good as listening to the real record 😉 .
- October Rust by Type O Negative (nr 52): swollen and superfluous.
- Revival by Gillian Welch (nr 53): a bit too much country for my taste
- Hourly, Daily by You Am I (nr 54): this is a near miss. In general it doesn't sound bad and sometimes it's quite catchy but it just seems that every song is something you already heard somewhere else in a better version. There is one absolute standout which is highly recommended: Tuesday, in which an already good tracks is enhanced by trumpets and other interesting instrumentation. But overall not enough to save this album.
- Sackcloth 'n' Ashes by 16 Horsepower (nr 55): I like some latter albums by this band but this first one, while it already has that hypnotising sound of the others, is not yet that good overall.

The next album to listen to is 1977 by Ash.

dihansse dihansse Profile

And the last batch of albums of 1996 I have listened to:
- 1977 by Ash (nr 56 in the overall BEA top chart of 1996): this band may be called too young to do even anything but this album rocks: nothing very innovative: sometimes they sound Ramones punk sometimes indie but they rock.
- In Sides by Orbital (nr. 58 ): I didn't like
- It Was Written by Nas (nr. 59): I didn't like it: how many times can you fit the N-word in one tracks and still be interesting?
- Second Toughest In The Infants by Underworld (nr 60 and the last 1996 album with an overall BEA year rank better than 2500): sometimes I like Underworld but not this album: a bit too uniform spread out over tracks which are much too long for my taste.

And this ends my journey into albums of 1996, overall a year which was a bit boring (apart from the albums I already knew).

This is my final top chart of 1996 with at the start the BEA overall rank and after that the BEA year rank and then m personal year rank before and after this listening session.

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
9459 Bob Mould by Bob Mould 221 - 1 To 1
5998 Harmacy by Sebadoh 140 - 2 To 2
1211 In A Bar, Under The Sea by dEUS 29 - 3 To 3
118 If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle And Sebastian 2 - 4 To 4
7107 Amazing Disgrace by The Posies 166 - 5 To 5
2706 Dust by Screaming Trees 63 - 6 To 6
533 Tigermilk by Belle And Sebastian 9 - 7 To 7
5287 Under The Bushes Under The Stars by Guided By Voices 121 - 8 To 8
39590 Rubbing Doesn't Help by Magnapop 841 - 9 To 9
103 Pinkerton by Weezer 1 - 10 To 10
2757 Black Love by The Afghan Whigs 65 - 11 To 11
841 Being There by Wilco 22 - 12 To 12
2383 1977 by Ash 56 - To listen To 13
666 New Adventures In Hi-Fi by R.E.M. 13 - 13 To 14
713 This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About by Modest Mouse 17 - 14 To 15
15687 Fixed Water by Sophia 390 - 15 To 16
1833 Placebo by Placebo 42 - To listen To 18
54087 Are You Building A Temple In Heaven? by Butterglory 1103 - 16 To 17
50401 Quickspace by Quickspace 1030 - 28 To 19
4371 Billy Breathes by Phish 94 - 17 To 20
31785 Melting In The Dark by Steve Wynn 716 - 18 To 21
18353 The Cult Of Ray by Frank Black 463 - 19 To 22
60256 A Seat Beneath The Chairs by Spent 1206 - 20 To 23
703 Beautiful Freak by Eels 16 - 21 To 24
4823 Fountains Of Wayne by Fountains Of Wayne 106 - 22 To 25
61059 Material Sunset by Mad Dog Loose 1227 - 23 To 26
1956 K by Kula Shaker 46 - To listen To 27
55317 Naughty Little Doggie by Iggy Pop 1127 - 24 To 28
34802 Change My Life by Epic Soundtracks 768 - 25 To 29
64469 2 by Dildo Warheads 1290 - 26 To 30
1268 Music From The Unrealized Film Script: Dusk At Cubist Castle by The Olivia Tremor Control 32 - To listen To 31
8632 Bagsy Me by The Wannadies 205 - 27 To 32
792 Long Season by Fishmans 19 - To listen To 33
2149 Songs For A Blue Guitar by Red House Painters 50 - To listen To 34
6343 Broken Arrow by Neil Young And Crazy Horse 149 - 29 To 35
4749 One Chord To Another by Sloan 102 - 30 To 36
9529 Trouble At The Henhouse by The Tragically Hip 224 - 31 To 37
1775 Take It From The Man! by The Brian Jonestown Massacre 41 - To listen To 38
17433 Breathe by Midnight Oil 438 - 32 To 39
588 Murder Ballads by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds 11 - To listen To 40
7890 Set The Twilight Reeling by Lou Reed 190 - 33 To 41
9434 Paradise In Me by K's Choice 218 - 34 To 42
8817 After Murder Park by The Auteurs 206 - 35 To 43
2028 Expecting To Fly by The Bluetones 49 - To listen To 44
2192 Load by Metallica 51 - 36 To 45
1678 Tiny Music... Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop by Stone Temple Pilots 38 - To listen To 46
10505 A Maximum High by Shed Seven 266 - 37 To 47
875 No Code by Pearl Jam 24 - 38 To 48
2397 Recovering The Satellites by Counting Crows 57 - 39 To 49
1595 Moseley Shoals by Ocean Colour Scene 36 - To listen To 50
70366 Go To The Sugar Altar by The Kelley Deal 6000 1412 - 40 To 51

The next year to listen to after skipping another 5 years is 2001.

dihansse dihansse Profile

This is the list of 2001 albums to listen to (those which are in the overall BEA top 2500) with at the start the overall BEA rank and after that the BEA year rank and my personal rank before this listening session (or to be listened):

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before
24 Is This It by The Strokes 1 - 1
99 Amnesiac by Radiohead 2 - 19
135 Origin Of Symmetry by Muse 3 - 9
145 Discovery by Daft Punk 4 - To listen
157 Lateralus by Tool 5 - To listen
202 White Blood Cells by The White Stripes 6 - 14
263 Toxicity by System Of A Down 7 - 28
270 The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones 8 - To listen
305 Vespertine by Björk 9 - To listen
407 Oh, Inverted World by The Shins 10 - To listen
422 The Blueprint by Jay-Z 11 - To listen
526 Gorillaz by Gorillaz 12 - Already listened
626 Blackwater Park by Opeth 13 - To listen
765 No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds 14 - To listen
793 Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World 15 - To listen
981 Gold by Ryan Adams 16 - To listen
1002 Love And Theft by Bob Dylan 17 - Already listened
1016 Morning View by Incubus 18 - To listen
1094 Take Off Your Pants And Jacket by Blink-182 19 - To listen
1096 The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox 20 - To listen
1225 Mutter by Rammstein 21 - To listen
1290 Rings Around The World by Super Furry Animals 22 - To listen
1311 Leaves Turn Inside You by Unwound 23 - 21
1313 Room For Squares by John Mayer 24 - To listen
1386 The Argument by Fugazi 25 - To listen
1391 Jane Doe by Converge 26 - To listen
1421 It's A Wonderful Life by Sparklehorse 27 - 37
1428 Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds 28 - To listen
1444 Endless Summer by Fennesz 29 - To listen
1458 Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch 30 - To listen
1520 The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid by Stars Of The Lid 31 - To listen
1534 Melody A.M. by Röyksopp 32 - To listen
1686 Comfort Eagle by Cake 33 - To listen
1732 Drukqs by Aphex Twin 34 - To listen
1759 Weezer (The Green Album) by Weezer 35 - To listen
1766 Asleep In The Back by Elbow 36 - 35
1785 Tenacious D by Tenacious D 37 - To listen
1825 Things We Lost In The Fire by Low 38 - 38
1882 Fever by Kylie Minogue 39 - To listen
2024 Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever by Explosions In The Sky 40 - To listen
2045 Southern Rock Opera by Drive-By Truckers 41 - 12
2095 Your Favorite Weapon by Brand New 42 - To listen
2151 The Invisible Band by Travis 43 - To listen
2204 All Is Dream by Mercury Rev 44 - 25
2273 Confield by Autechre 45 - To listen
2348 Girls Can Tell by Spoon 46 - To listen
2371 Brushfire Fairytales by Jack Johnson 47 - To listen
2378 cLOUDDEAD by cLOUDDEAD 48 - To listen
2418 Let It Come Down by Spiritualized 49 - To listen
2419 B.R.M.C. by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 50 - To listen
2446 Jessico by Babasonicos 52 - To listen
2469 10,000 Hz Legend by Air 53 - To listen

The first album to listen to is Discovery by Daft Punk.

dihansse dihansse Profile

So I've started to listen to a first batch of albums of 2001:
- Discovery by Daft Punk (nr 4 on the overall BEA top chart of 2001): the hits are of course earworms but otherwise I'm not really a fan of Daft Punk
- Lateralus by Tool (nr 5): already not on Apple Music and I must say I doubted because I'm not a big fan of Tool. But of course Schism is a beast of a song and after listening to it twice I somehow caught the general vibe. I'm still not a big fan but it's an album that deserves to be in my top chart of this year
- The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones (nr 8 ): Moon is a great song and some of the tracks are OK but this album is just too long and in general not really my thing
- Vespertine by Björk (nr 9): also this album didn't convince me to be a big fan of Bjork but it's more accessible than some of her more experimental albums.

The next album is Oh, Inverted World by the Shins which I haven't heard yet for one reason or another.

dihansse dihansse Profile

A lot more albums of 2001 I listened to (I had a lot of work but listened to lots of albums in the meantime):
- Oh, Inverted World by The Shins (nr 10 on my overall BEA top chart of 2001): to my suprise I didn't really like this album
- The Blueprint by Jay-Z (nr 11): just another rap album
- Gorillaz by Gorillaz (nr 12): also not my cup of tea
- Blackwater Park by Opeth (nr 13): a mixture between metal and prog that I don't really like
- No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (nr 14): another very good album by Nick Cave I overlooked a bit. Especially Oh My Lord and and We Came Along These Road are exquisite
- Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World (nr 15): This punk is a bit too juvenile for my taste
- Gold by Ryan Adams (nr 16): New York, New York is good but the rest is a bit too country-ish for my taste
- Morning View by Incubus nr 18 ): nothing that sticks
- The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox (nr 19): another hiphop album
- Take Off Your Pants And Jacket by Blink-182 (nr 20): not everything was as bad as I thought it would be but still not my thing
- Mutter by Rammstein (nr 21): after a wile it all starts to sound a bit the same but songs like Sonne, Zwitter and Feuer Frei! make this a worthwile and fun album to listen to.
- Rings Around The World by Super Furry Animals (nr 22): this album was a bit of a mixed bag for me and at first I thought it would be a no but finally tracks Receptable for the Respectable and Run! Christian! Christian saved this album.
- Room For Squares by John Mayer (nr 24): this is just plain directionless pop to me.
- Jane Doe by Converge (nr 25): hardcore punk/metal and I suppose you can't get it much hardcorer than this and it's really one of those albums where you get a headache if you listen to it completely. I suppose it could grow after a bit of listens but I think I'll pass.
- The Argument by Fugazi (nr 26): Full Disclosure was the best track but otherwise I think there are better Fugazi albums
- Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds (nr 28 ): I was mesmerised by his former album: ... Rheinohold Messner and at first sight this album wasn't of the same quality but it grew on me and again a very good Ben Folds album with lots of variety and good (and not one bad) songs.
- Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch (nr 29) another one of those album that have a bit too much country for me.
- Endless Summer by Fennesz (nr 30): too many bleeps
- Melody A.M. by Röyksopp (nr 31): a bit less than the former album but still too many bleeps although the hit Eple is alright
- The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid by Stars Of The Lid (nr 32): and another ambient album which is overlong and not varied enough to keep me interested.

The next album to listen to is Comfort Eagle by Cake.