Good Bye, Lenin! - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

RoundTheBend I miss the comfort in being sad Profile
Ground Control

My BEA story is that it was 01 Jun 2011 and I was looking for new music. I started realizing that all my favorite artists had their debut before 2010 and I started feeling out of touch with new music. And I'll be honest... I had a hard time finding something I could truly call "my own". Problem is... I still do. That's something I guess I struggle with as I get older and lazy and realize how much of a terrible person I've become (I mean I guess I fear I am just becoming that old ignorant person I hated growing up).

I gravitated to this site because I decided early in my music listening years (probably at about 14 years old), that the only artists I'd spend time with were ones that could craft a full album worth listening to the whole thing. I despised one hit wonders, etc. Anyway... now that I'm a bit more mature, I find value in the masterpiece of a song, even if they didn't write anything else worth listening to. So I wanted to find artists in a day and age where 99 cent songs was the norm which fit my prejudice.

Anyway... it's April 5th 2016, and well... I'm actually not much further along (90% my fault). I took like a 2 year break from the site as well. I still don't connect with artists that made their debut after 2010 (not that I'm aware of at least). But what BEA has given me is a chance to re-evaluate my previous prejudices and expand my horizons a little. I'll be honest, I'm pretty stubborn, which might be my problem. Although there's been some fun discoveries. NEU! for example was pretty fun that I had heard of, but hadn't actually heard their music. Faust was also fun.

Good Bye, Lenin! is a great film about East German culture. The basic story is that someone from the old GDR days wakes up from a 20 year comma or something and her family is afraid to tell her the GDR no longer exists... Sometimes I wonder if my music taste is a bit like this... am I afraid of abandoning my DadRock for newer equally good music because of my prejudices?

When I first joined this site I did this: 1) ranked music I owned in iTunes (so therefore a bit limited) and then I 2) did some music history discoveries with mostly the use of wikipedia and that's kind of how I did my decade charts (some of which I based on a few singles and not actually hearing the entire album). 3) Worst of all, I didn't even really organize which album was better than another past like 20 in any of my charts... some of them I did it maybe by which band I thought of first, not even by which album was best.

So I decided to give my evaluations a deeper re-evaluation. My "skills" in Excel and my wife's gift of Spotify Premium probably are the key tools that are helping me do a more solid re-evaluation instead of just a random gut check.

Anyway... here's some goals:

1) Finish my survey of at least 200 albums per decade. I'm in the 1970s now and have listened to 178 albums. (I think I might look at top 10 for each decade too to maybe help in finding those gems that take a lot of work to find).

Results of albums rated 82 or above:
Top Rated Albums 1-100 by sethmadsen
Top Rated Albums 101-200 by sethmadsen
Top Rated Albums 201-300 by sethmadsen
Top Rated Albums 301-400 by sethmadsen

2) Journal my reactions to MY top 100 albums per decade. Hopefully confirming or denying my assessment, plus it's fun to discuss what I love about a song/why, etc. Instead of my 1960s thread, I think I might just make a master list on this thread of all the decades... first time I'm doing this, so learning/deciding process as I go. Will start new thread.

3) Hopefully by the end of all the decades since the 50s, I'll be able to update my Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart to truly reflect more than just what's in my iTunes collection (85% of which was about 200 CD's I bought).

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by sethmadsen

4) I also hope to compile a slightly more "mathematical" approach to who is my favorite artist... my own opinion on this question changes pending on the temperature outside. I'm hoping that this mathematical approach will at least help me understand why my top artists are the way they are.

It's started: My Top Rated Artists by sethmadsen

In doing so I may make sure to re-listen to discographies of artists I respect.

5) Create best of decade playlists in Spotify, as well as create best of genre playlists. It might also be fun to get super geeky and best of year album and song charts.

6) Compilations don't get a lot of love sometimes on BEA, so create my favorite compilations chart.

Started: Compilations by sethmadsen

7) Finish some of my custom chart ideas (best double albums, best debut albums, best of genre charts (right now I have a pretty sad rap list), etc.

Best debut: My Favorite Debuts by sethmadsen
Best double albums: My Favorite Double Albums by sethmadsen
Best Rap/Hip hip:Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B by sethmadsen
Best "art" music: My most favorite Art Music by sethmadsen

8- Genre discoveries: Rap/Hip-Hop, Metal, Jazz, Punk, Electronic, Experimental, Art Music... basically I have a HUGE focus on rock/alternative rock, and only some tastes with the previous genres. Probably do top album lists/best of the genres. (similar to my 5th goal, but more in depth/more clarity).

9) baystateoftheart reminded me of year charts... I think I have enough on my list before I can listen to 50 albums from each year or something, but I do think it wise to update my yearly charts based on what I have listened to. (These are up to date and possibly will update them when I do my historical journey).

10) Stole this idea from pranafilms, but do post-"beatle" albums as if they hadn't broken up. I've always thought it sad that their solo careers were a little less awesome possibly lacking the synergy and so creating a fake album of their best work seems like a Beatle FanBoy's wet dream.

11) Go through my vinyl/iTunes collection and see if this site is missing any gems/rate stuff I haven't rated yet that I own. Realizing that I have some stuff I forgot about on my current project because they aren't on the site/not ranked high on chart.

12) Create an educational thing... I suppose the idea would be to create a brief history of the music I love? Something like create a list of the greatest artists of each decade, which album I like of theirs and some fact/tidbit something educational. Haven't decided if this would accompany a list of my favorite album per year or if it would only focus on artists, or maybe a little of both... need to look at my data and the gaps in my data to see which direction to go... but definitely more educational than my opinion (meaning the post would probably focus more on historical facts than my opinion and most likely would have interesting information I've gathered from secondary sources like wikipedia, etc.). The purpose of this, of course is more me sharing what I've learned, and not really that I know anything about anything.

Last edited by RoundTheBend on 08/12/2016 19:54; edited 15 times in total

RockyRaccoon Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me? Moderator Profile
Maryland

Nice title, I love that movie
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You know I'm watching you 😎
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RoundTheBend I miss the comfort in being sad Profile
Ground Control

Thanks to the both of you.

dihansse dihansse Profile

Don't try to be too methodical or mathematical Seth, just make additions to what you like in the moment w 😄
Although one can be too sluggish as well: I started a custom chart where I wanted to list fast and relentless tracks but I only ended up at 10 while there are lots more I should add 😉

undefined

It's been 3 days and I haven't seen a single album. If you keep Stalin I'll be Marxing your grade down. I won't be Putin up with this. No gold tsars for you.

sorry

dihansse dihansse Profile

Seth, I'd Yelts-in his ear that you are not too happy with that comment

RoundTheBend I miss the comfort in being sad Profile
Ground Control

hahahahahahahahahaha
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

That was possibly the best two posts ever on any forum. I love music lovers... they are some pretty cool people.

Yeah... sorry for the delay... I had this epiphany that I should write out my goals and I'm not journaling until I'm done with my surveys. I think being honest about my opinions on what I listen to got me in trouble before (especially on things people are passionate about and I know nothing about), so I will only say nice things about my top 100 albums per era, but I got to finish my survey first.

I guess I can post my progress so far on the 1970s.

I already updated my 70s chart (not done yet), but it was so bad, I wanted to at least update it with what I know now:

Top 96 Music Albums of the 1970s by sethmadsen

Last edited by RoundTheBend on 04/09/2016 17:58; edited 1 time in total

RoundTheBend I miss the comfort in being sad Profile
Ground Control

dihansse wrote:

Don't try to be too methodical or mathematical Seth, just make additions to what you like in the moment w 😄
Although one can be too sluggish as well: I started a custom chart where I wanted to list fast and relentless tracks but I only ended up at 10 while there are lots more I should add :wink:

hehe... I think my mental health needs this extreme mathematical approach right now.

Also I can't even agree with myself on opinions... I tried that when I first started and hate all of my lists right now!!! hahahaha 🤣 🤣 🤣

Give me a couple years and I'll probably be unsatisfied again. If you know of any good pessimism self help books, that might help 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

RoundTheBend I miss the comfort in being sad Profile
Ground Control

Ok... I think with 228 albums from the 1970s... I'm done with that survey. Here's the results... need to decide if I'm going to do best of collections or not (I think I won't because the Stones and Sly and family stone stuff was mostly in the 60s... though those two best of collections are AMAZING): Decade I will use though because I like that better than any one Neil Young album.

Here come the 80s!!! Pretty excited because this was a time when I started to actually live... I actually remember experiencing this music. The 70s are almost 90% discovery because my parents were 50s/60s and my siblings/friends and I were more 80s/90s/2000s. Anyway... it was a good time and super proud of being able to listen to all of this.

Greatest Hits Sly and the Family Stone 1970 98.7
Hot Rocks 1964â€“1971 The Rolling Stones 1971 97.3
1 The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd 1973 97
2 Deja Vu Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 1970 93.5
3 Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon And Garfunkel 1970 93.1
Greatest Hits Elton John 1974 93.1
4 Moondance Van Morrison 1970 92.5
Chronicle - The 20 Greatest Hits Creedence Clearwater Revival 1976 92.2
6 Paranoid Black Sabbath 1970 91.8
5 John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band John Lennon 1970 91.8
7 Imagine John Lennon 1971 90.5
8 Let It Be The Beatles 1970 90
9 Some Girls The Rolling Stones 1978 89.5
10 Led Zeppelin IV Led Zeppelin 1971 89.3
11 At Fillmore East The Allman Brothers Band 1971 89.2
12 Black Sabbath Black Sabbath 1970 89
13 Abraxas Santana 1970 88.8
14 Eat A Peach The Allman Brothers Band 1972 88.8
15 Meddle Pink Floyd 1971 88.3
16 Specials The Specials 1979 87.8
17 Houses Of The Holy Led Zeppelin 1973 87.5
18 London Calling The Clash 1979 87.3
19 Cosmo's Factory Creedence Clearwater Revival 1970 87.2
20 Led Zeppelin III Led Zeppelin 1970 87
21 Atom Heart Mother Pink Floyd 1970 87
22 There Goes Rhymin' Simon Paul Simon 1973 87
23 What's Going On Marvin Gaye 1971 86.6
24 Loaded The Velvet Underground 1970 86.5
25 Mothership Connection Parliament 1975 86.4
26 The Wall Pink Floyd 1979 86.1
27 Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd 1975 86
28 Stardust Willie Nelson 1978 86
29 Sticky Fingers The Rolling Stones 1971 85.5
30 The Cars The Cars 1978 85.5
31 The Man Who Sold The World David Bowie 1970 85.5
32 Exile On Main St. The Rolling Stones 1972 85.2
33 Another Green World Brian Eno 1975 85
34 Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield 1973 85
35 Neu! Neu! 1972 85
36 Damn The Torpedoes Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 1979 85
37 American Pie Don McLean 1971 85
38 American Woman The Guess Who 1970 85
39 Breakaway Art Garfunkel 1975 85
40 Exodus Bob Marley And The Wailers 1977 84.5
41 Still Crazy After All These Years Paul Simon 1975 84.5
42 Decade Neil Young 1977 84.2
43 Innervisions Stevie Wonder 1973 83.8
44 The Joker Steve Miller Band 1973 83.8
45 Superfly Curtis Mayfield 1972 82.7
46 Master Of Reality Black Sabbath 1971 82.5
47 Live! Bob Marley And The Wailers 1975 82.5
48 Electric Warrior T. Rex 1971 82.2
49 Catch A Fire The Wailers 1973 82.2
50 News Of The World Queen 1977 82.2
51 Songs In The Key Of Life Stevie Wonder 1976 82
52 L.A. Woman The Doors 1971 82
53 Rumours Fleetwood Mac 1977 81.8
54 Morrison Hotel The Doors 1970 81.8
55 Slowhand Eric Clapton 1977 81.6
56 Boys Don't Cry The Cure 1979 81.5
57 Natty Dread Bob Marley And The Wailers 1974 81.1
58 Europe '72 Grateful Dead 1972 81.1
59 McCartney Paul McCartney 1970 81.1
60 Rock 'n' Roll John Lennon 1975 81.1
61 Chocolate City Parliament 1975 81.1
62 The Man-Machine Kraftwerk 1978 80.8
63 Fly Like An Eagle Steve Miller Band 1976 80.8
64 Histoire De Melody Nelson Serge Gainsbourg 1971 80.7
65 The B-52's The B-52's 1979 80.5
66 Parallel Lines Blondie 1978 80.4
67 Rocket To Russia Ramones 1977 80.3
68 A Night At The Opera Queen 1975 80
69 Pink Moon Nick Drake 1972 80
70 Physical Graffiti Led Zeppelin 1975 80
71 The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Genesis 1974 80
72 Band On The Run Paul McCartney & Wings 1973 80
73 Foxtrot Genesis 1972 80
74 Workingman's Dead Grateful Dead 1970 80
75 Let's Get It On Marvin Gaye 1973 80
76 OxygÃ¨ne Jean Michel Jarre 1976 80
77 Hooker 'N Heat Canned Heat 1970 80
78 Harvest Neil Young 1972 79.5
79 Transformer Lou Reed 1972 79.5
80 Outlandos D'Amour The Police 1978 79.5
81 Quadrophenia The Who 1973 79.4
82 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Black Sabbath 1973 79.3
83 Fun House The Stooges 1970 79.2
84 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars David Bowie 1972 79
85 After The Gold Rush Neil Young 1970 79
86 Blue Joni Mitchell 1971 79
87 Bryter Layter Nick Drake 1971 79
88 Out Of The Blue Electric Light Orchestra 1977 78.8
89 Horses Patti Smith 1975 78.7
90 ABC The Jackson 5 1970 78.7
91 Talking Heads: 77 Talking Heads 1977 78.63
92 Fear Of Music Talking Heads 1979 78.6
93 Talking Book Stevie Wonder 1972 78.5
94 The Stranger Billy Joel 1977 78.3
95 Sex Machine James Brown 1970 78.3
96 Ramones Ramones 1976 78.2
97 All Things Must Pass George Harrison 1970 78.2
98 Born To Run Bruce Springsteen 1975 78.1
99 Close To The Edge Yes 1972 78
100 Here Come The Warm Jets Brian Eno 1974 78
101 Overkill MotÃ¶rhead 1979 78
102 Summer Breeze Seals And Crofts 1972 78
103 Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols Sex Pistols 1977 77.9
104 There's A Riot Goin' On Sly and the Family Stone 1971 77.9
105 Machine Head Deep Purple 1972 77.8
106 Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs Derek & The Dominos 1970 77.5
107 Ambient 1: Music For Airports Brian Eno 1978 77.5
108 Teaser And The Firecat Cat Stevens 1971 77.5
109 Paul Simon Paul Simon 1972 77.2
110 It's Only Rock 'N' Roll The Rolling Stones 1974 77
111 MotÃ¶rhead MotÃ¶rhead 1977 77
112 Off The Wall Michael Jackson 1979 76.5
113 Marquee Moon Television 1977 76.2
114 The Clash The Clash 1977 76
115 American Beauty Grateful Dead 1970 76
116 Nilsson Schmilsson Harry Nilsson 1971 76
117 Queen II Queen 1974 75.9
118 Ram Paul & Linda McCartney 1971 75.8
119 A Day At The Races Queen 1976 75.5
120 Surf's Up The Beach Boys 1971 75.5
121 Dark Horse George Harrison 1974 75.5
122 Bitches Brew Miles Davis 1970 75
123 Dire Straits Dire Straits 1978 75
124 The Modern Dance Pere Ubu 1978 75
125 Chairs Missing Wire 1978 75
126 Band Of Gypsys Band Of Gypsys 1970 75
127 Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Devo 1978 75
128 Joe's Garage Act l Frank Zappa 1979 75
129 Cut The Slits 1979 75
130 Chicago Chicago 1970 75
131 Get Your Wings Aerosmith 1974 75
132 Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) Eagles 1976 75
133 At Budokan Cheap Trick 1978 74.5
134 Aerosmith Aerosmith 1973 74.3
135 Ege Bamyasi Can 1972 74.2
136 Hotel California Eagles 1976 73.8
137 Toys In The Attic Aerosmith 1975 73.8
138 A Trick Of The Tail Genesis 1976 73.7
139 Tago Mago Can 1971 73.5
140 Can't Buy A Thrill Steely Dan 1972 73.5
141 The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers 1976 73.3
142 Saturday Night Fever Various Artists 1977 73.2
143 More Songs About Buildings And Food Talking Heads 1978 73.1
144 Animals Pink Floyd 1977 73
145 Breakfast In America Supertramp 1979 73
146 Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 1976 73
147 Maggot Brain Funkadelic 1971 72.8
148 Tea For The Tillerman Cat Stevens 1970 72.7
149 Songs Of Love And Hate Leonard Cohen 1971 72.5
150 Piano Man Billy Joel 1973 72
151 On The Beach Neil Young 1974 71.8
152 (pronounced 'lÄ•h-'nÃ©rd 'skin-'nÃ©rd) Lynyrd Skynyrd 1973 71.8
153 Selling England By The Pound Genesis 1973 71.2
154 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John 1973 70.8
155 Boston Boston 1976 70.6
156 Who's Next The Who 1971 70.5
157 Blood On The Tracks Bob Dylan 1975 70.5
158 Arrival ABBA 1976 70.5
159 Pink Flag Wire 1977 70
160 Trans-Europe Express Kraftwerk 1977 70
161 Entertainment! Gang Of Four 1979 70
162 Thick As A Brick Jethro Tull 1972 70
163 Tapestry Carole King 1971 70
164 2112 Rush 1976 70
165 Aqualung Jethro Tull 1971 70
166 Desire Bob Dylan 1976 70
167 The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle Bruce Springsteen 1973 70
168 Live At Leeds The Who 1970 70
169 All Mod Cons The Jam 1978 70
170 Pearl Janis Joplin 1971 70
171 Closing Time Tom Waits 1973 70
172 The Kick Inside Kate Bush 1978 70
173 Before And After Science Brian Eno 1977 70
174 Third Soft Machine 1970 70
175 Faust IV Faust 1973 70
176 Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Bruce Springsteen 1973 70
177 Give 'Em Enough Rope The Clash 1978 70
178 Burnin' The Wailers 1973 70
179 Presence Led Zeppelin 1976 70
180 Sad Wings Of Destiny Judas Priest 1976 70
181 The Pleasure Principle Gary Numan 1979 70
182 Another Music In A Different Kitchen Buzzcocks 1978 70
183 School's Out Alice Cooper 1972 70
184 4 Way Street Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 1971 70
185 Young, Gifted and Black Aretha Franklin 1972 70
186 Back In Your Life Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers 1979 70
187 Rocks Aerosmith 1976 68.8
188 Low David Bowie 1977 68.1
189 Aladdin Sane David Bowie 1973 68
190 Three Imaginary Boys The Cure 1979 68
191 Let There Be Rock AC/DC 1977 67.5
192 Fragile Yes 1971 67.2
193 Highway To Hell AC/DC 1979 67
194 Sheer Heart Attack Queen 1974 66.9
195 This Year's Model Elvis Costello 1978 66.8
196 Station To Station David Bowie 1976 66.6
197 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap AC/DC 1976 66.6
198 Darkness On The Edge Of Town Bruce Springsteen 1978 66.5
199 Van Halen Van Halen 1978 66.5
200 Lust For Life Iggy Pop 1977 66.1
201 New York Dolls New York Dolls 1973 65.9
202 Hunky Dory David Bowie 1971 65.4
203 Raw Power The Stooges 1973 65
204 My Aim Is True Elvis Costello 1977 65
205 Bat Out of Hell Meat Loaf 1977 65
206 Billion Dollar Babies Alice Cooper 1973 65
207 Paris 1919 John Cale 1973 64.4
208 Heroes David Bowie 1977 63
209 Berlin Lou Reed 1973 63
210 Unknown Pleasures Joy Division 1979 62
211 Aja Steely Dan 1977 60
212 For Your Pleasure Roxy Music 1973 60
213 #1 Record Big Star 1972 60
214 Hemispheres Rush 1978 60
215 Tusk Fleetwood Mac 1979 60
216 Singles Going Steady Buzzcocks 1979 60
217 Rising Rainbow 1976 60
218 Jailbreak Thin Lizzy 1976 60
219 Destroyer Kiss 1976 60
220 Diamond Dogs David Bowie 1974 57.7
221 Black And Blue The Rolling Stones 1976 56.2
222 Crime Of The Century Supertramp 1974 55
223 Rock Bottom Robert Wyatt 1974 50
224 Alive! Kiss 1975 50