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: 5 hours ago).
"A lot of confusion over this album. From interviews with David Gilmour and Nick Mason, Division Bell was supposed to be a double album. The disc that got realeased and then a second disc of abstract instrumentals. Sort of in the vain of Ummagumma. Anyway, they ran out of time to finish as the alb...""A lot of confusion over this album. From interviews with David Gilmour and Nick Mason, Division Bell was supposed to be a double album. The disc that got realeased and then a second disc of abstract instrumentals. Sort of in the vain of Ummagumma.
Anyway, they ran out of time to finish as the album took a long time to create and produce and the beginning of a huge tour was coming quickly. So they decided to pull the plug on the abstract instrumental section and release what was completed. That became the Division Bell that we know.
So, with that in mind, this album is more unfinished business then "scraps" put together as a cash grab as many have commented. For what it is I like it. Some really nice tracks on here and a really nice flow to the album. My only wish is that Roger Waters would have penned the lyrics and possibly participated in the final track, Louder then Words. Polly's lyrics here are ridiculous. Waters would have done a much better job and it would've been a nice gesture to have his input on the final song of the final album for PF.
Enjoy it for what it is. If you have surround sound the Blu Ray sounds amazing."[+]Reply
"Fantastic partnership in re-imagining the work of Woody Guthrie. Wilco offsets the folksy dead-pan approach of Billy Bragg well in alternating tracks. Sometimes it comes close to hitting the mark, and others they hit a home run. Highlights - California Stars, Ingrid Bergman, Christ for President,...""Fantastic partnership in re-imagining the work of Woody Guthrie. Wilco offsets the folksy dead-pan approach of Billy Bragg well in alternating tracks. Sometimes it comes close to hitting the mark, and others they hit a home run. Highlights - California Stars, Ingrid Bergman, Christ for President, and especially Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key. Dy-no-mite."[+]Reply
"Weller's best work is a musical masterpiece. This should certainly be considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but sadly it is generally both unknown and vastly underrated. While it did go platinum in the UK, it is unheard of in the US. The opener, Sunflower, draws you in for sure....""Weller's best work is a musical masterpiece. This should certainly be considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but sadly it is generally both unknown and vastly underrated. While it did go platinum in the UK, it is unheard of in the US. The opener, Sunflower, draws you in for sure. Along with Shadow of the Sun, Has My Fire Really Gone Out? and the title track, they make up the standout tracks. The other tracks are also memorable and pretty much just as strong. Jazzy instrumental interludes separate the tracks in a well planned out way, making the whole album sound seamless."[+]Reply
"“Shhhh….“ She whispered. “You need to keep it secret”, she said wide-eyed and with total sincerity. “The unikitty came last night. I saw him!” No album captures the world through my children’s eyes quite like this. A world where bunnies hop around the world hiding dayglo painted eggs under furnit...""“Shhhh….“ She whispered. “You need to keep it secret”, she said wide-eyed and with total sincerity. “The unikitty came last night. I saw him!” No album captures the world through my children’s eyes quite like this. A world where bunnies hop around the world hiding dayglo painted eggs under furniture and place neatly laid-out chocolate kisses & gumdrops in little baskets. This is an album only could have sprung from Iceland. If Bjork and Sugur Ros had a magical elven daughter, this is the album she would make. Where the sunlight sparkles off of melting glaciers as they gather into bubbling brooks. The whole album bubbles and percolates with the magical sounds of the forest. Where wood sprites still live and can and do protect us from all sorts of dangers. And if you listen closely, you can hear the laughter and giggles of children.
But most importantly it captures how children see the world. It captures their faith. Their trust. There’s an undying hope that springs from these songs. It fills the air. That everything is going to work out and that the world is a magical place. A world where unikitties and rainbow unicorns exist and have the power to make Daddy all better. I believe in this world. I believe in this magic. Because I have seen it. Seen it in the eyes of my child.
Grade: A+. This is a magical album that really is the love child of Bjork and Sugur Ros. Check it out if you don’t believe me. Because it’s the truth. It’s an album that could only have sprung from the heart of a child. It’s ethereal and beautiful. It doesn’t quite fit into any neat categories straddling the lines of post-rock and indie electronica. It doesn’t need to. And it vaults all the way to number one. "[+]Reply
"I'm kinda obsessed. This is so good. Disarmingly honest lyrics about romantic relationships, queer awakenings and becoming your true self. On top of that, amazing hooks and her voice is excellent. Add to that some polished production, and you've got a really winning pop album"Reply
"Hmmmm .... Well, upon first listen, this might seem to actually be a better album than Madcap. The compositions are as zany as ever, with playful lyrics and simply bizarre melodies. Also, the backup band here (including Gilmour and Wright) has made sure to augment Syd's wackiness with some actual...""Hmmmm .... Well, upon first listen, this might seem to actually be a better album than Madcap. The compositions are as zany as ever, with playful lyrics and simply bizarre melodies. Also, the backup band here (including Gilmour and Wright) has made sure to augment Syd's wackiness with some actual, solid arrangements. Sounds all good, right?
Well, no actually, it doesn't. The album may theoretically sound like an improvement over Madcap, but the problem is that it "improves" on Madcap in exactly the wrong way. Barrett's mental condition had only gotten worse since Madcap, which shows itself in some of the lyrics getting even nuttier than before, yet instead of emphasizing that aspect of Syd (which was very arguably just as crucial to his shtick as the actual songs were), Gilmour and Wright tried to mask this and make him appear as a relatively normal singer-songwriter (ha). Even more irritating is that the way they went about this was to make it sound somewhat like the contemporary Floyd albums (which I quite like, mind you), but with only about a tenth of the creative energy that went into Atom Heart Mother. The best example of this is the otherwise quite decent "Gigolo Aunt," where Wright spends what seems like forever after the main song has ended puttering with one of the most boring organ jams I can possibly conceive. Yet even when the Floyders aren't outright stealing time from Syd (like with the album's rolling 12-string guitar intro, which is nice but has absolutely nothing to do with what Barrett could do at the time), the dull organy arrangements often sound totally incompatible with Syd's childish ramblings, and that's bothersome to me.
It's especially saddening to me that a good number of the songs here are right on the level of the best stuff from Madcap, and that I consequently somewhat long for the Soft Machine to come back and trip over themselves trying to follow Syd's nuttiness. The opening triad of "Baby Lemonade," "Love Song" and "Dominoes" are terrific melody-wise, and "Dominoes" is even nice enough to have some chaotic sliding guitar noise softly happening in the background that adequately reminds us that we're listening to freaking Syd Barrett and not Jimmy Buffett. I'm also a big fan of "Wined and Dined," which likely would have been a hit in the hands of a less cultish artist, with a simple-but-effective main melody that can't help but stick in my head for hours on end after hearing it. And, now that I think about it, "Waving My Arms in the Air" is a nice little ditty too.
Unfortunately, the signs of serious decline are apparent over much of the rest of the album. Some of the songs are just kinda dull, but without the kind of eccentricity that showed up in the second half of Madcap. And then there's "Rats" and "Wolfpack," the two instances where Syd's madness are shown totally uncut. I know it's hypocrisy to have complained that the rest of the album made an attempt to mask his madness, and then to complain when the producer doesn't mask it, but these tracks don't show a genius turning into a madman; they just show a madman. It's an important part of his legacy, yes, but only as the sad conclusion to his decline.
So in short, this here is one massively uneven album. It helps considerably that it ends with a song that Syd wrote when he was 12, called "Effervescing Elephant," which puts his silly ditty skills on display front and center, but one clear dose of genius does not an album make. I give it an 8 because there are quite a few nice gems on here, but unless you're already a big fan of Madcap, it's hard for me to give it a serious recommendation. "[+]Reply
"The best album that George made throughout his entire discography. An album that shows a pop star from the 80's show a sense of maturity and having honesty through a hardship that never went away until his unfortunate death. This album has aged pretty well with the production having a twilight an...""The best album that George made throughout his entire discography. An album that shows a pop star from the 80's show a sense of maturity and having honesty through a hardship that never went away until his unfortunate death. This album has aged pretty well with the production having a twilight and opulent quality and the instrumentation that runs through jazz, funk, soul and down tempo. Best songs from this album are Older, Spinning the Wheel, It Doesn't Really Matter, Move On and You Have Been Loved. "[+]Reply
"A heartfelt, passionate album. The songs here each carry serious emotional weight propelled by solid musicianship. There's at least a little something on this record that anyone can relate to"Reply