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).
"One can hardly accuse King Crimson to be coquettish and play on safe keys. Very often the group has given even the most beautiful melodies a twist or edge which contrasts the ugly and the beautiful. This tendency, or intention, is also very evident in this, the group's fourth album. The group mix...""One can hardly accuse King Crimson to be coquettish and play on safe keys. Very often the group has given even the most beautiful melodies a twist or edge which contrasts the ugly and the beautiful. This tendency, or intention, is also very evident in this, the group's fourth album.
The group mixes genres in new and challenging ways, and while some passages may be an ordeal for many to give ear to, other pieces of the same track can be melodic beauty and sheer pleasure.
On this album, my two biggest favorites both have these extremes. The opening track "Formentary Lady" has a nice, slightly gloomy intro, played on cello and it builds up very classically inspired. The actual song is melodic, and you easily find yourself humming lines from the delicate and catchy melody. The song gradually develops towards the more discordant, and towards the end the saxophone play notes that may behard to grasp. Although many probably would feel it an assault on the track, I have chosen to make my own edited version - down to about five minutes; then my family wil also be able to be nearby when the track is playing.
The same thing could be done to "Ladies on the Road" which is my absolute favorite. Like "Formentary Lady" the song takes a similar turn towards the end. Still "Ladies on the Road" has everything you could ask for: a bluesy half-acoustic intro, great electric "Come Together" verses, and a beautiful chorus, which reminds me a lot of Pretty Things' "Parachute" album. The saxophone takes over towards the end, and "ruins" some of the song's beauty - some would feel
There are two instrumental, with the "Sailor's Life" as the most exciting, but also the most challenging for the listener. Again experiments on saxophone and later the electric guitar playing notes I have never heard other places.
"Prelude: Song of the Sea" is a very quiet classical number, which could very easily be overlooked. Nice but not really memorable
The title track is another quiet number which is really very nice, but which perhaps lacks a real memorable melody.
"The Letters" has good element but the song does not really hit me.
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"Bricolage opens pretty simply. A neatly arranged slowly paced track based around a smooth as fuck jazz baseline. The neat and laid-back nature of stoney-street lets you know that Tobin is into jazz, and that he's just as happy to make use of cool-jazz and smooth jazz as he is to implement the int...""Bricolage opens pretty simply. A neatly arranged slowly paced track based around a smooth as fuck jazz baseline. The neat and laid-back nature of stoney-street lets you know that Tobin is into jazz, and that he's just as happy to make use of cool-jazz and smooth jazz as he is to implement the intensity of hard bop and post-bop, but this hardly prepares you for what is to come. I guess this get classified as drum'n'bass with heavy influences from elsewehre, but with that influence coming from everywhere from nu-jazz to hip-hop to classical, Bricolage doesn't really function as a masterwork of melding together different genres so much as it does as a piece of music with its foundation laid in a plethora of genres but that amounts to something entirely unique form (and far greater than) any of the individual cogs from which it is composed. Easily sliding from a hypnotic cool-jazz melody to an erratic onrush of perfectly placed beats and noises, Bricolage seems to run across the mind of the listener, ravaging every synapse and almost immediately recreating the mental apparatus into something greater, just in time for it to repeat the process with an entirely different approach, and with and entirely different end result on the listener (though with the same lasting impact) as each previous time. At times, relaxing, romantic, energetic, smooth, frantic, organic, distorted, blah blah blah Bricolage is a symphony of paradoxes that not only flow into each perfectly, and with remarkable ease (defying whatever I used to think logic was). But as I said, this isn't an album made singular just for it's ability to make the juxtaposition of what one would think to be harshly opposing or just entirely unrelated elements seem completely natural, but for it's ability to take each of those individual elements and derive from them something peerless; something to which no accurate parallels can be drawn, and in the end, something that is just massive fun to listen to.
So yeah I sort of disagree with outlaw"[+]Reply
"This guy knows how to put an indie folk rock song together with many witty twists of phrase. Opener "fiery crash", one of the highlights on the album, is aptly apocryphal, stating "G force is twisting the faith with superstition / A fatal premonition / You know you've got to envision / The fiery ...""This guy knows how to put an indie folk rock song together with many witty twists of phrase. Opener "fiery crash", one of the highlights on the album, is aptly apocryphal, stating "G force is twisting the faith with superstition / A fatal premonition / You know you've got to envision / The fiery crash" which is "just a formality". Delicate "imitosis" and its intricate plucking states "And despite what all his studies had shown / What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis" where petri dish germs are swinging fists at the human race. The hits don't end -- a sole string intro to "plasticities" reveals "This isn't our song, this isn't even a musical / Think life is too long, to be a whale in a cubicle / Nails under your cuticle" where andrew pulls his version of new porn & multiple choruses. "heretics", "dark matter" and "scythian empires" are the other main highlights."[+]Reply
"When Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far mo...""When Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor."[+]Reply
"Also scratch just naming those 2 songs, just about every song here is amazing. While it may drag on a bit at 66 minutes, it completely makes up for it in sheer talent and composition. Also gotta point out that "The Heaviest Matter in the Universe" may just be true."Reply
"Normally I prefer studio versions, but some of the songs here (e.g. Sultans of Swing and Telegraph Road) are so great that I never play the studio versions anymore. Mark Knopfler at his best!"Reply
"Given the time, and the fact that she kept busy with various appearances on other people's albums, I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever put out another of her own. What she's finally given us is an incredibly sparse and quiet record. Long-time partner David Rawlings really shines on this one, ...""Given the time, and the fact that she kept busy with various appearances on other people's albums, I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever put out another of her own. What she's finally given us is an incredibly sparse and quiet record. Long-time partner David Rawlings really shines on this one, with every song containing a meandering guitar flourish. And Gillian is, as ever, a master lyricist."[+]Reply
"This is the concert that launched the big band era. After it popularized jazz, traditional "white" American music became increasingly blended with African American music with every passing decade. But it wasn't just an important event, it was also a breathtaking concert. With Benny Goodman's (mos...""This is the concert that launched the big band era. After it popularized jazz, traditional "white" American music became increasingly blended with African American music with every passing decade. But it wasn't just an important event, it was also a breathtaking concert.
With Benny Goodman's (mostly white) band serving as the jazz equivalent of Elvis, this recording grabs you from the first phrase and never lets up until the concert is over. His accomplishment is vastly underappreciated in a rock/pop/hip-hop culture that seems to think that music began in the mid-50s. If you're looking to develop an appreciation for jazz/swing music, this is a great place to start -- after all, this is where much of America started back in the 1930s. "[+]Reply
"This album is incredibly interesting to listen to. You have to be impressed by the sheer scope of it. I mean, These New Puritans use just about every instrument you can imagine, this album is almost like a minimalistic symphony of sorts. TNP keep kind of reinventing themselves over each album. Th...""This album is incredibly interesting to listen to. You have to be impressed by the sheer scope of it. I mean, These New Puritans use just about every instrument you can imagine, this album is almost like a minimalistic symphony of sorts. TNP keep kind of reinventing themselves over each album. This is their third, their first album since 2010’s “Hidden". It’s definitely interesting, the composition and everything. There are moments where the album gets a bit slow, but there are also some moments that are just beautiful. The organ in “Organ Eternal", for example, is beautifully done. It’s a pretty good album, it’ll definitely keep you intrigued for the most part."[+]Reply
"Criminally underrated. This album not only has more lyrical wit then her later efforts, but there is also this beautiful theme of having these pop tracks chaotically fall apart. Later albums have an element of chaos but it is more hand-picked instrumentation that is either hit or miss, rather tha...""Criminally underrated. This album not only has more lyrical wit then her later efforts, but there is also this beautiful theme of having these pop tracks chaotically fall apart. Later albums have an element of chaos but it is more hand-picked instrumentation that is either hit or miss, rather than this effortless feeling of having the track just collapse by its own weight. I think if people weren't slaves to publications and others opinions they would realize how strong this debut truly was."[+]Reply