Listed below are the overall rankings for the best albums in history as determined by their aggregate positions in over 58,000 different greatest album charts on BestEverAlbums.com! (Chart last updated: 3 hours ago).
"The first half sits comfortably next to Nevermind, if somewhat less essential. The second half is weaker than the low points of bleach. Then it finishes with one of their best track."Reply
"If you come to love boards of canada, you'll not be concerned with individual tracks... but love what it is that they do, whatever they do! I want to live in a world created by BOC!!!"Reply
"Joni has been blowing my mind lately. I previously had only a passing knowledge of her work, and in my head I almost thought of Blue as her coming out party, her first great album. I thought of her jazz albums as her most revered albums and perhaps that is true, but I just didn't have a clear pic...""Joni has been blowing my mind lately. I previously had only a passing knowledge of her work, and in my head I almost thought of Blue as her coming out party, her first great album. I thought of her jazz albums as her most revered albums and perhaps that is true, but I just didn't have a clear picture of her capabilities as a musician or as a lyricist.
For my much more quickie 1968 list I discovered her debut and I was incredibly impressed. I was wondering why that album was not mentioned as one of the great debut albums of the 60s or even of all time. It was delicate, detailed, featured moments of intensely inventive musical expression. And it was number 4 for 68. And as I looked ahead at 69-72, my mouth watered with all the surely great albums I'd get to yap about in the future.
Which brings us to this album, 1969's sophomore album Clouds. And you know what? This is a masterpiece. It takes everything which made Song To The Seagull so vibrant and brilliant to me and turns it up even further. Joni just honed her talents to a bright, razor sharp level here. The lyrics became more personal and biting and, to me, more beautiful, the guitar playing is the same level of insane but more clear and mesmerizing, the arrangements were less busy and have more room to breathe.
And here's the thing, when I hear the songs "Chelsea Morning, "That Song About The Midway", "The Gallery", "I Think I Understand" and "Both Sides Now" I am filled up with an intense affinity for Joni. Like, I am just in love, I feel like I hearing someone I just really like, I empathize, and I just smile and say "Sing it, I feels you". That is a silly point perhaps, but I just want to say that cuz its unique. I don't have that feeling about solo artists much where I just love hearing them speak their minds like I'm hearing a peer and I am just filling up with joy. Dylan on Nashville Skyline and Blood On The Tracks and Freewheelin' and Another Side has that going for it, Townes on Live At The Old Quarter in particular, Joni on this and Ladies of the Canyon and Blue, and there may be a few other examples, but its a rare feeling is all I'm saying.
Okay, and even on the songs which are a bit darker and detached from that feeling of kinship I feel on half this album, songs like "Tin Angel", "Songs To Aging Children" etc, I feel something else almost as powerful. Its like Joni could convey a whole complete world and feeling with some perfectly chosen guitar chords or piano chords and sing out these deep lyrics with such musical prowess that I just instantly buy in.
Okay, and I'm not on my game today expressing why I love this album. Its great! Okay!?
The way she says "I am Dead!" with that strange accent or something on "The Gallery" and the whole chorus just kills me! Its just so impossibly great! The mood and the dark, hypnotic beauty of the opener "Tin Angel", and the unearthly harmonies in "Songs to Aging Children", oh my gosh oh my gosh, the sheer joyeous beauty of the entirety of "Chelsea Morning", the sweet then sad then sweet etc yo-yo of "That Song About The Midway" with its just amazing everything,, and of course the stunning and hall of fame level perspective and joy and reality of "Both Sides Now", etc etc I just love so much about this album.
Now when I laid out these ranks a few days ago, I didn't foresee my sudden upsurge in love for that Steve Young album. So maybe when I get to the rating it will seem strange that this is higher than that. But really, I stand by these rankings. Cuz the highs of this album, the happiness and empathy I feel here is much greater than for Rock Salt and Nails, even if I feel that may be a better all around album.
I will say also that the A Capella (spelling that right? doubtful ryan, doubtful) performance of "The Fiddle and the Drum" grates on me a bit. scratch that, it grates on me a lot. Just annoys me and ruins the whole momentum of the otherwise genius album. Also the song "Roses Blue" is strange and has cool and strange effects and all but it just doesn't work for me by and large. And.... those are the gripes I have.
This album is great, Joni is the greatest vocalist on this list (sorry Tim Buckley) she is one of the best guitarists here. She is top 5 lyricist probably all time. She is/was a greater songwriter with a better ear for music than almost everyone who has ever existed on earth. And she is great. There.
"Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all" - Joni Mitchell
Rating: 9.4/10"[+]Reply
"There are albums I like. There are albums I love. There are albums I consider masterpieces. There are albums that I have a personal connection to and, when thought of, make me smile. There are these things and then there are albums like songs by Adrianne Lenker. There are very, VERY few albums th...""There are albums I like. There are albums I love. There are albums I consider masterpieces. There are albums that I have a personal connection to and, when thought of, make me smile. There are these things and then there are albums like songs by Adrianne Lenker. There are very, VERY few albums that mean quite as much to me as this one here. A handful perhaps. And there are absolutely no other albums, or pieces of art, even that have affected me or been as integral to my life during these last 2 brutal and heartbreaking years as this album. So, as you perhaps can imagine, it is daunting trying to write something about this album. I am too close to it and too fond of it. It’s like talking about your spouse and trying to explain what you love about them. Damned challenging.
And, yet, I shall try to convey my thoughts here in brief. I am thinking I will not do this album justice. I also think that I likely will not attempt to write some grand and professional essay on the merits of this folk album. Instead, I will try to touch on some of the things I like the most, some of the charms that this album has, and some of the lyrics and lines and moments that seem to set this album apart in my mind.
The atmosphere of this record is marvelous and drips from every song and every note. The whole concept of a folk artist going through some shit in life and going to a somewhat remote cabin and isolating oneself to record a reflection of their state-of-mind is perhaps one you’ve heard before. Bon Iver’s debut is perhaps the most famous example of this. And there are many similar instances in history. While I do have a healthy respect for For Emma, Forever Ago and Nebraska and so many of these other similar solo albums recorded in isolation, I feel like songs takes the cake as the best. At least it is, by far, the one that most readily and consistently grabs me. When I hear this woman with a guitar on these recordings, it feels like all the cliches you can name: like I’m in the room with her, or like I am uncomfortably close to someone who should be alone in their hour of working their thoughts out. The album’s start is the sound of a tape recorder starting or clicking into operation, a guitar picked up, then a second later the melancholy yet detailed and beautiful guitar riff of “Two Reverse” and with that I am already on board and there for this album. It’s rare for an album to envelop me with so much atmosphere so consistently and quickly. And the fact that this is done with an adept and beautiful guitar, a brilliant singer and some occasional nature sounds added alone, is brilliant.
The songs themselves on this album called… songs, are…stunning. They are clear emotionally yet when looked at closer line by line, there are mysteries and there are abstractions and little details that are only fully or remotely understood by Adrianne herself. And yet each song has a line or lines that cut right through and make me feel like I have made some deep connection due to how relatable they are.
“Is it a crime to say I still need you?” captures that push and pull of self-conscious analyzing after a break up when so much media and so many people seem to say that in this day and age relationships are fickle and unimportant and nothing to get hung up on, and yet you still long for and need that person.
“Everything eats and is eaten. Time is fed” is a line that always makes me think about how everything is feeding off of other things and things are evolving perpetually and always NOW. Simple line, with a million tons of force behind it.
“Standing in the yard, dressed like a kid. The house is white and the lawn is dead. The lawn is dead” is a line that evokes for me similarly vivid memories and dreams reoccurring of strange things that only seem strange in hindsight. This type of visual comes up all over this album, and it consistently blows me away how Lenker is able to incorporate these visions or scenes into songs and make them come across as they do – just random flashes of recollection.
“Come, help me die, my daughter…” is equal parts heartbreaking, brilliantly evocative as an opening line to the song “come”, and delivered with such ghostly sadness, that the cumulative effect of this is just absolutely stunning. The rest of the song builds on this opening statement, a fragile, dark and deathly track where every line holds so much emotional power it can be overwhelming.
“Oh, emptiness… Tell me ‘bout your nature. Maybe I’ve been getting you wrong. I cover you with questions. I cover you with explanations. Cover you with music.” – This is a lyric which kind of kicks my ass personally because this seems about right. Through questions and agitations and music and distractions and all these things we (or I do at least) attempt to understand the void and the nothingness at the center and at the back of all experience and life as well as, usually, try with all our hearts to not stare directly at the fact that that emptiness and that void is there always at the back of all things.
“And your dearest fantasy is to put a baby in me. I could be a good mother. And I wanna be your wife. So I hold you to my knife. And I steal your letter. Not a lot, just forever.” – here is a line that makes me cry. Or, several lines, really. And I don’t know exactly why. It just strikes me as real. I have nightmares/dreams of women I’ve been with but haven’t seen in years and these similar visions of having children and settling down haunt me. And the way she says those words just kills me and strikes a very personal nerve.
And of course, perhaps the greatest song of all time, or, rather, perhaps my favorite song of all time or at least top 10, the track “anything” is a tumble of scenes from a relationship now long gone. The lines here are each one vivid and personal and yet universal and striking and the chorus… my god that chorus… it’s the most romantic and heartbreaking of choruses – so real and so honest and so direct and yet so poetic – in most songs and in most artists’ and singers’ hands it may come out as trite or sappy, but here? Nope. It comes out as one of the best songs ever. – “I don’t wanna be the owner of your fantasy. I just wanna be a part of your family. And I don’t wanna talk about anything, I don’t wanna talk about anything. I wanna kiss, kiss your eyes again. I wanna witness your eyes looking. I don’t wanna talk about anyone, I don’t wanna talk about anyone. I wanna sleep in your car while you’re driving. Lay on your lap when I’m crying.” – jesus christ.
…. And the list goes on and on. I love this album’s lyrics and the way they are delivered. Which brings me to Adrianne’s singing. I think I’ve seen here and there that some find her voice a bit grating or trying, a bit off and a bit weird. Well, I actually can understand and hear where that thought is coming from. As I have pointed out in other comments on her earlier albums, Lenker has a beautiful voice and when she so chooses she can sing a song as clearly and traditionally as a songbird. But in recent years there is a trend with her singing toward an idiosyncratic, ghostly, almost unvarnished and wavy and wavering and floating and unstable brittle beauty. That new sound and delivery reaches its pinnacle with this album. These are songs full of remembrances and indecision and grief and loss and heartbreak and tender one-on-one moments and so many human experiences and the way Adrianne chooses to express this vocally is, to me, one of the fundamental joys of this album and her music more generally. On some songs she is just floating like a ghost. On others she is almost conversationally talking about dreams and memories, and in others it sounds like her voice may crack at any moment due to the internal strain of trying not to break down. This all works to convey the emotions on songs.
Musically, it is easy to say this is a simple sound – an acoustic folk guitar sound, with some bird noises added in post sometimes, some finger picked stuff, some warm acoustic chords, etc etc… and that is true. But I feel like there are some really special musical moments and melodies here. The production is soooo stripped down and this production style works for this album with this vibe. Still, it isn’t an accident that those opening guitar lines on track 1 “Two Reverse” sound so crisp and distinct and so much better than almost any other simple woman+guitar type song. The production is doing some good work but it knows to not be intrusive even a little. The song structures and the writing musically here are perfect, not a note or chord feels wrong. And as a result, despite this being “just boring ol’ folk guitar music” this album never feels remotely derivative or boring or unengaging in the slightest. Every tone and sound fits and contributes to the power of the album, the messages being communicated, etc.
More broadly, what does this whole album and all of its parts mean to me? Well, I, like many, many around the world, had a tough time in 2020. This album was first heard by me in December 2020 and right from the jump it felt like I was hearing something bracing and needed on a spiritual level. This is an album that, when I don’t have any urges or motivations generally in life and I am feeling a bit stymied and lost, I often will play and the sound of these songs always picks me up a bit. It captures how I feel so often. Sad, lost, almost beaten, but never quite. And the fact that I can always come back to this statement and this record no matter what else is happening, and know that my friend (although I don’t know her at all and only know her music – she feels like a peer and friend) is here always with these songs and these images and this strange reassuring artistic statement gives me great peace. And it has given me much peace and succor over these hellish and heartbreaking last 16 or so months since I first heard it.
To say I love and appreciate this artist and this album would be an understatement. It is, without a doubt, one of the most important and loved pieces of art of my life and I will always ALWAYS feel a fondness and appreciation to it and the artist responsible. Thank you, Adrianne. You have no idea how much your music has helped me these last couple years and will continue to help me over the next many years as well.
10/10… of course. This is a pantheon, upper tier, all time great album. There is no more obvious 10/10 I could ever give."[+]Reply
"One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. Howe...""One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. However, the passion project can only be accessed on 'The Fish Tank' (Fishmans' Discord), issuu.com and archive.org. This narrowness of access is an emblematic reminder of the legacy the band has left in its wake. It's a portrait of veracious artisans whose existence and collected works are shrouded in just as much mystery as truth. This attaches value to excavating deep within cavernous labyrinths to find gold among endless, pedestrian sediment. Some things are meant to be uncovered by happenstance and, due to this, many don't find Fishmans. Fishmans find you. Furthermore, it seems fitting that the closing studio effort was 1997's 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', an eight-chapter odyssey that saw the band fully harness and deploy the optimal strength of their dream pop powers. See, just as Fishmans was destined to be difficult to discover, they also curated a candle which burned ineffably bright for a finite amount of time. At the risk of inducing melodrama, Fishmans' catalog extends beyond the plane of human achievement and dexterity. To put it plainly, it was the music of the angels.
Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group.
'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry.
The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art.
When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment.
"I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little"
-Pokka Pokka
1. Daydream
2. Walking in the Rhythm
3. In the Flight
95.3"[+]Reply
"It might not be as epic as her debut but it's really close, especially after multiple listens. Love how NDA goes right into Therefore I Am. Was worried at first how much I'd like this since her debut was my favorite album of 2019 and the singles on that first one just slapped harder but dang some...""It might not be as epic as her debut but it's really close, especially after multiple listens. Love how NDA goes right into Therefore I Am. Was worried at first how much I'd like this since her debut was my favorite album of 2019 and the singles on that first one just slapped harder but dang some of Happier Than Evers best moments were the non singles like I Didn't Change My Number, Oxytocin, Halley's Comet and Overheated. "[+]Reply
""Ain't that Good News" from 1964 was the last album Sam Cooke released in his lifetime, and for me it is also one of his most consistent and artistically successful. In 1964 Cooke was more or less a veteran in pop music, but this album clearly (especially the original side 1) proves he was far fr..."""Ain't that Good News" from 1964 was the last album Sam Cooke released in his lifetime, and for me it is also one of his most consistent and artistically successful. In 1964 Cooke was more or less a veteran in pop music, but this album clearly (especially the original side 1) proves he was far from finished in his musical development. Cooke is often called the father of soul, and not least because the songs he wrote and recorded during the last 2-3 years of his lifetime. Cooke had in most of his songs an ease and light way of dealing with both very personal and serious themes, and this is one the characteristics of this album, where most of his original songs could well be called classics. Good examples are "Good Times", "Another Saturday Night", "Meet Me at Mary's Place" and of course "A Change Is Gonna Come" which came two exemplify the 1960s' Civil Rights Movement.
On tracks like "Ain't that Good News", "Good Times" and his touching interpretation of "The Riddle Song" Cooke shows that he is in tune with the new sounds that streamed to America from Europe, especially thanks to The Beatles.
This is undoubtedly Cooke's most modern album, although some of the more orchestrated tracks on the original side two, may be mostly rooted in the 1950s.
"[+]Reply
"This is the album where they turned into a shit band. their first 4 albums were amazing, the best 4 consecutive albums put out by a band in the 21st century (maybe behind arcade fire but you get the point). Mylo was the album were the band went from being a respectable alternative band to a pop b...""This is the album where they turned into a shit band. their first 4 albums were amazing, the best 4 consecutive albums put out by a band in the 21st century (maybe behind arcade fire but you get the point).
Mylo was the album were the band went from being a respectable alternative band to a pop band. They sold out, and just put out shitty pop music. This album to me is like that scene in the revenge of the sith where Anakin chops off Mace Windu's hand and joins the dark side. Except Coldplay is Anakin, the jedi order is post-Britpop and the empire is generic pop music.
I was really excited for their half time show, as I was a huge fan of their first four albums, but I forgot what the band turned into since Viva La Vida. I was very disappointed with their performance.
Chris Martin, may god have mercy on your soul."[+]Reply
badfaith | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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DriftingOrpheus | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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ExTeaSea | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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