Listed below are the overall rankings for the best albums in history as determined by their aggregate positions in over 59,000 different greatest album charts on BestEverAlbums.com! (Chart last updated: 2 hours ago).
"The title track is excellent, Motion Pictures is basically perfect, but then he goes ahead and closes the album with Ambulance Blues. A perfect album closer, among the best ever, and certainly the best acoustic ballad album closer aside from Desolation Row. I might even prefer it for it's emotion...""The title track is excellent, Motion Pictures is basically perfect, but then he goes ahead and closes the album with Ambulance Blues. A perfect album closer, among the best ever, and certainly the best acoustic ballad album closer aside from Desolation Row. I might even prefer it for it's emotional impact. It's such a devastatingly beautiful song. I've literally spent hours listening to it on repeat. There are some weak moments on Side 1, but Side 2 is breathtaking.
Edit: Oops, realized this is my 2nd comment (not counting my response to another comment). I don't think I can delete it."[+]Reply
"This album is SHOCKINGLY underrated in the overall score. Jesus christ people, look at the average ratings for the songs and compare it to others who score around 80-82 overall. I mean, I let a lot of stuff go on here, but COME ONNN"Reply
"When will everyone realise the absolute brilliance of Megalomania, Space Dementia and Micro Cuts? And when will Citizen Erased become, rightfully, the highest rated song on the album?"Reply
"Hard for me to express how much this album resonated on a personal level. Dirt captures the feeling of being trapped, whether from addiction or depression etc. There is something incredibly poignant in listening to Layne Staley on this album, knowing how things would turn out. Them Bones is a fan...""Hard for me to express how much this album resonated on a personal level. Dirt captures the feeling of being trapped, whether from addiction or depression etc. There is something incredibly poignant in listening to Layne Staley on this album, knowing how things would turn out.
Them Bones is a fantastic opener, and Dirt continues on with strong sequencing, Rooster the album centerpiece and Would as a perfect closer. Jerry Cantrell's guitar riffs and solos are very interesting and inventive, as well as overtly and powerfully dark. Additionally, Staley and Cantrell combine to create some of the most memorable vocal harmonies in alternative (or any) rock.
I think a line from Would best captures this album's essence: "So I made a big mistake / Try to see it once my way." Dirt is angry, harsh, and brutal, yes - but it is also deeply, painfully emotional. Its songs don't ask for forgiveness, but simply understanding. "[+]Reply
""I was raised up believing I was somehow unique / Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see / And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me." So begins this album's fantastic title track,..."""I was raised up believing I was somehow unique / Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see / And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me." So begins this album's fantastic title track, a song that may sum up the peculiar situation of the millenial generation. I'm not a millenial, but to a degree I think we can all identify with that final sentiment: that our culture rewards individual achievement when what really delivers meaningful happiness is a sense that we're part of something larger than ourselves. I've never seen Fleet Foxes live, and I'm not sure if I ever will with the band on indefinite hiatus, but I'd like to sing that song at the top of my lungs in a room full of people."[+]Reply
"Perhaps there is no figure who approached music as a science more capably than Suffolk's sagacious Brian Eno. Eno, the preeminent sonic architect, crafts his tiniest compositions with the delicacy of an artisan with his most grandiose and longform exhibitions resembling sprawling city blocks desi...""Perhaps there is no figure who approached music as a science more capably than Suffolk's sagacious Brian Eno. Eno, the preeminent sonic architect, crafts his tiniest compositions with the delicacy of an artisan with his most grandiose and longform exhibitions resembling sprawling city blocks designed for optimal traversing, with each street name and traffic sign strategically plotted and placed. It seems as if any resulting emotional potency is unintentional, or at least, coincidental. Eno never sought out a comfortable groove in which to ride out his over fifty-year career. Instead, he opted to eschew convention and complacency, hell bent on meeting fresh, uncultivated sediment which was ripe for exploration. After opting out of Bryan Ferry's gyrating, glam force majeure, 'Roxy Music', Eno's subsequent musical forays produced far less immediate and less carnal fruits. Often categorized by complexity and an inherent pension for the abstract, his first pair of solo efforts embraced the unconventional, just as Ferry's project had, but now it was on his own terms as he set coordinates for the great beyond. It wouldn't be out of line to declare that nobody quite looked at music the way that Brian Eno did and, by 1975, he had severed the tendrils of his peers and was ready to deliver a idiosyncratic, alien, and career defining artifact.
'Another Green World' commences with 'Sky Saw', a serrated, buzzing entity with a taste for the dissonant. 'Sky Saw' is the first of a line of tracks linked by DNA and could only exist as mysterious fauna native to an entirely different cosmos. The robotic, ory instrumentation employed makes it seem like a fashionable dance track at a futurist discotheque. When Eno's vocals finally penetrate the aluminum atmosphere, it ends up jarring in a way that's welcomed. It's the lone piece of humanity amidst a mosaic of auditory gadgetry and a stark introduction to record's genetic code. Second track, 'Over Fire Island', contains a far more earthy timbre, largely centered on percussion and wet bass. It wouldn't be out of place at a tribal soiree but the whirring coda ends the dream and places you squarely back into a chilly reality. The track briefly embodies a memory of an AI recreation of native music, yet without a discernable, anthropomorphic soul. The most urgent cut on 'Another Green World' has to be fourth track, 'St. Elmo's Fire'. It's catalyzed with uptempo, accelerative energy with Robert Fripp's proggy guitar solo flooding over the dam and washing overtop of the rest of the components. It's a brilliant approach to the art of the earworm and a visionary compromise between the horizon-less limits of Eno's sonic fantasies and the hard line of pop music's rigid boundaries. The album takes a nefarious turn on 'In Dark Trees' with Eno as its lone captain. The sensation of tumbling downward is tactile, as the shallow, unloving electronic drums dutifully chug on, unswaying throughout the track. It's a brief showcase, but by the end of it, you'd swear you were subterranean and devoid of the sun's kiss. Fifth outing, 'The Big Ship', doesn't include a vocal feature from Eno, a trend that carries throughout the majority of the record. In it's place, a tangible sense of scale is meticulously constructed. The track harbors the qualities of an iceberg, with it's peak gloriously basking in warmth the sun, while the base is left to remain untraversed and unable to be properly gauged. Eno's synth work is frothy and luminous, bestowing the honor of "most winsome" onto 'The Big Ship'. However, its aesthetic beauty is perched above the aforementioned impression of scale and labyrinthian real estate held below like oil resting comfortably on top of the sea. The track is gigantic to the ear despite its minimal instrumentation and Eno's excellence creates a cognizance of a world uncharted between the notes.
The most sugary offering on the record is 'I'll Come Running', which bottles a domestic, romantic syrup into a nearly four-minute nocturne, à la The Beatles' 'When I'm Sixty-Four'. The frolicking piano, which strides to and fro, projects a sensation of repetitive bliss and the notion that life's banalities make for gratifying exertion when in service of a special someone. It's strangely human for Eno, or perhaps, deceptively snide. Side one ceases with the title track, a brief , patient transitional that pokes its head out of the clouds just to be quickly shrouded once more. Eno's 'Desert Guitars' parabola as the track comes and goes like a sun shower. Side two, unfurls with a pair of wordless pieces with alternating physiology. 'Sombre Reptiles' is charged with locomotive energy powered by pistons set to world music of the Peruvian variety. Its straight-line fidelity is in stark divergence with follow up tune, 'Little Fishes', which effectively meanders in a way which could easily harmonize within the confines of a sound studio or underneath an electron microscope. Possibly the most apropos moniker on the LP, the track's prepared piano conjures an image of a minnow swimming up and downstream, susceptible to the gentlest of currents. It's clear by this point that Eno is reserving ample space for some of his most three-dimensional soundscapes. Track ten, 'Golden Hours' surely contains helium, as its carefully batted around expertly by Eno and Fripp. It also holds some of the album's finest lyrical pearls as Fripp's guitar solo sews the track shut with thin kevlar. Subsequent track, 'Becalmed' sounds as if Eno has harnessed the full weight of artificial placidity as the track swells and shrinks at the moments most opportune. Impressively, the music remains terrifically pastoral while also sounding akin to a deep-space, cosmic happening. 'Zawinul/Lava' plays like a wise man recounting an ancient prophecy or event responsible for population bottleneck, with more than a hint of dread as fretless bass drops leave the back door open for distant howls propelled by the wind. It's a musing piece that depicts what's coming and what has occurred without a moment's thought for the present. Eno carves out one more slot for a ballad, as to not drift too far into the ether, but even Eno's narratives inject a dose of the illusory. 'Everything Merges with the Night' depicts a love affair, but in which stage we never know. It's as if Eno wrote a treatment for a couple he viewed on a canvas, no doubt one with soft, pastellic edges. Our subject has been "waiting all evening or possibly years" as Eno's piano ensures us that the character is not displeased or even losing patience. Finally, the record concludes with 'Spirits Drifting', which feels evocative of an ending, yet strangely behaves as if it could run parallel to the entire album. The synth work does indeed achieve spectral ambience, but the track functions more effectively as the main mode of transit for the lost souls of Eno's gaseous, nearly imperceptible world of sonic dominion.
When entering the studio for what would become the third record under his stewardship, Brian Eno was without much of a foundation, save for the knowledge that he had begun to tire of the rock's dependent formula that still lingered on his previous two efforts. His lack of sonic provision actually proved to be a strength in the studio as it aided in the construction of a fossil which relished its own formlessness and supernatural ideology. As the sessions commenced, Eno's vision began to take shape, a vision that permeated like a vapor while remaining stoic and shapeshifting with no classification able to weigh down its ascent. 'Another Green World' was indeed the composer's first step into a new paradigm, where music was kinetic and a naturally occurring element with conscious, sonic landscapes capable of forming their own chemical makeup. It marked the beginning of four-decade long pilgrimage to a haven of musical liberation which had long thought to be bestiary. It was a place that married well with Eno's disdain for the shelters of sonic conventionalism and it's a dimension that Eno has yet to bid adieu to.
Standout Tracks:
1. The Big Ship
2. Becalmed
3. St. Elmo's Fire
92"[+]Reply
"I don't think anyone was expecting another My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, an album which is as good as any hip-hop release since 2000 or so, but I gotta be honest, what the hell are the critics listening to? If this was any other artist besides Kanye, they would've destroyed this album's lyri...""I don't think anyone was expecting another My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, an album which is as good as any hip-hop release since 2000 or so, but I gotta be honest, what the hell are the critics listening to? If this was any other artist besides Kanye, they would've destroyed this album's lyrical content, because the lyrics are not that great in some spots, but alright in others.
Someone mentioned this and I think it could be possible, that critics were paid off to give praise to this album. The people giving this album 4.5-5 stars are insane, I love this album musically and it's something new and different for Kanye which I enjoy, but it seems critics chomp at the bit nowadays to praise something just because it's the slightest bit "experimental" which is absurd.
As always on a Kanye album, the beats and production in my opinion are very good and the standout, on this album. But the lyrics in most spots just aren't good. There is no "All of the Lights", "Runaway" or "Blame Game" to be found on this album. And a big problem I have with Yeezus, is that whatever political statement and viewpoints he's trying to make and could feasibly be interesting to analyze and dissect is too muddled by all the immaturity in those same songs and unnecessary vulgarity, which seems to be a big theme by him lately as he's gotten older. Jesus Walks or Gold Digger even didn't have as much profanity or whatever, and it just seems like it comes off forced and him trying to portray himself as such a tough rapper even as he's closing in on 40.
I'd give this album a slight recommendation. I think a 3.5/5 or 7/10 is fair. Kanye knows good music when he hears it and it shows through sometimes. He is excellent at getting guest artists and utilizing them to the best of their capabilities. Him collaborating with Justin Vernon I really feel has helped both of their careers because all the songs they've done together, to me have been memorable and Hold My Liquor is one of the best songs on this album. New Slaves and Blood On the Leaves would be the other 2 songs I recommend on this album. Check it out if you're a hip-hop fan or like modern music. Though the lyrics aren't that good in my opinion, there's a lot of other artists who are just as bad lyrically now too. Give me Kanye over 2 Chainz any day of the week lol."[+]Reply
"Patti Smith has never been given her due recognition for being the first female rock and roller to lead a band and have complete creative control over her music. Before Patti, a rock band would have a "chick" singer but the boyz in the band were the primary players of the music. Smith became an i...""Patti Smith has never been given her due recognition for being the first female rock and roller to lead a band and have complete creative control over her music. Before Patti, a rock band would have a "chick" singer but the boyz in the band were the primary players of the music. Smith became an icon to subsequent generations of female rockers. She never relied on sex appeal for her success — she was unabashedly intellectual and creatively uncompromising, and her appearance was usually lean, hard, and androgynous. "Horses" is a benchmark because Patti was the first of a plethora of CBGBs bands to get signed; she beat the Voidoids, Television, Blondie, the Talking Heads and even the Ramones to the recording studio and in doing so she became the godmother of American punk. "[+]Reply
"Drugged out album which involves nearly zero songwriting, the sound of a band that doesn't give a fuck! I can't see its experimental nature, all The Velvet Underground ever did on this record was to turn up the volume and allow the created feed-back and noise to be maintained in the mix. The poem...""Drugged out album which involves nearly zero songwriting, the sound of a band that doesn't give a fuck! I can't see its experimental nature, all The Velvet Underground ever did on this record was to turn up the volume and allow the created feed-back and noise to be maintained in the mix. The poem on "The Gift" sounds goofy, most songs consist of monotonous rhythm patterns and the variety on this album is minimal.
I get that most people see this as a groundbreaking wall of noise, but I think the band were lacking discipline in the creating of the album to make it anywhere near great. Besides the opener, which works fine as opener but nothing more, and the idea of a long track to end the album, this album is nothing but free play!
I wasn't looking for a pleasant pop-album, but even from an avant-garde music lover's point of view, I wouldn't be able to see the greatness from this album. After all it isn't very experimental, it's only a pumping rhythm section that never stops, where each member play whatever they want to. We've already seen this from free-form jazz!
So why is this album ranked and rated so high? My guess is because of The Velvet Underground's completely exaggerated image. It's not because I'm scared of the album's dissonant and unstructured composition, but this band's discography and especially this album is like a complex joke: If you don't get it, you're probably just stupid. Hurry up laughing, or someone else will notice!"[+]Reply
"This is an interesting album. It is considerably different in tone than For Emma, Forever Ago. I actually had never heard of Bon Iver prior to seeing them featured on a cover of the Rolling Stone. I think I had heard of Justin Vernon though prior and the article had mentioned him working with Kan...""This is an interesting album. It is considerably different in tone than For Emma, Forever Ago. I actually had never heard of Bon Iver prior to seeing them featured on a cover of the Rolling Stone. I think I had heard of Justin Vernon though prior and the article had mentioned him working with Kanye, so that made me interested after seeing that.
Gave a listen and Perth to me was an outstanding opener. I also got a chance to see them in concert and being five feet away from the speaker on this song was an awesome experience and really made me appreciate it even more haha. Minnesota, WI is another good song. I like the funky opening. A big problem though I have with the album is 1) A lot of it is hard to understand lyrically and I think that's the point. It is supposed to move you more through music. The lyrics are just a passenger on this album in the vehicle the music. And 2) Some of the lyrics like wtf do they mean. You need a theasaurus for some of it.
In Minnesota, WI one of the lines is like Armour let it through borne the arboretic truth you kept posing...what's that mean? lol But some songs are beautiful with their words particularly Perth and Holocene. Holocene is one of the best songs I've ever heard. Might be a weird comparison but this to me is kind of like a indie folk version of Chrstopher Cross's song Sailing. Both are very soothing songs and hypnotic in their sound and make you appreciate living.
The middle of the album is not fascinating and slows down a lot. Songs start to sound the same. Towers is good. I think it's about a relationship Justin had in college. Hinnom, TX, Wash. and Michicant probably the weakeest songs on the album. Calgary is by far Bon Iver's most underrated song and in looking at their catalog that could be the one that's most underappreciated. It's a good song especially when it picks up in the end. Lisbon, OH is a nice instrumenatal piece. It's a quiet song like you're walking in a downtown of some small town late at night. Vernon does a good job with the instrumental tracks. Team from For Emma is phenomonal and one of the best instrumental tracks I've heard.
Lastly, the album closes with Beth/Rest, which is very hit or miss to listeners. I love it. It's got a very late 80's sound to it and I tend to like that kind of music. It reminds me of Bruce Hornsby and the song in theme actually reminds me a lot of his closing song the Red Plains on the Way it is. Lyrically, again it's a very tough song to decipher, but I think the ultimate message is that the memories you have with people will always be there, even if you're no longer in contact with the person.
It's not for everyone, but I'm a fan of this album. It's a very soothing album and Vernon does a good job depicting place and time in his songs. This is the album that made me a fan of Vernon's. Bon Iver's future kind of looks up in the air now, but I'm looking forward to the rest of Vernon's career. "[+]Reply
Medelsvensson | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Dingerbell | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Caesar01 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (7 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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buzzdainer | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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DriftingOrpheus | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Mother Nature's Son | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (16 helpful | 10 unhelpful)
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