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: 6 hours ago).
"why? is one of those freaky artists that is pretty unclassifiable, i guess mostly part indie pop, part hip-hop. "Alopecia", the falling apart of a man (by the folicle), starts off "i'm not a ladies man, i'm a land-mine" in "the vowels, part 2", and so starts the falling apart of the narrator endi...""why? is one of those freaky artists that is pretty unclassifiable, i guess mostly part indie pop, part hip-hop. "Alopecia", the falling apart of a man (by the folicle), starts off "i'm not a ladies man, i'm a land-mine" in "the vowels, part 2", and so starts the falling apart of the narrator ending in the deceptively catchy "cheery A, cheery E, cheery I, cheeriO, cheery U". . It's like he's writing and reading anything and everything into his journal "reading Puerto Rican porno" and "blowing kisses to disinterested bitches" on "Good Friday" with another deceptively catchy lyrical hook (which is common on "Alopecia"). There's a lot of death and dead-or-alive rotting from "the smell of our still human bodies gas" on "These Few Presidents" (with the poetically universal sentiment "even though i haven't seen you in years, yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere") to the opening stanza on "the hollows" (possible best track) to "song of the sad assassin" which begins "we lifted the body from the water like a gown" and ends "billy the kid did what he did and he died". There's a complicated bluntness of the human condition and mortality that you'll miss if you're too busy humming along.
I highly recommend this if you're into TV on the radio, beastie boys, and of course artists like cloudDEAD and 13&God. This is the album where Why? transitioned from hip-hop to more "indie pop" and more conventional song structures."[+]Reply
"If you happen to be a fan of Silversun Pickups, I believe you will like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. They have a very similar sound. Some elements of shoegaze, some elements of indie rock all mixed together to make one really good album. One of the things I really like about this album is th...""If you happen to be a fan of Silversun Pickups, I believe you will like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. They have a very similar sound. Some elements of shoegaze, some elements of indie rock all mixed together to make one really good album. One of the things I really like about this album is the drumming. It’s really good, but it’s not featured. It plays in the background and if you’re not listening for it, you won’t hear it, but the drumming is complicated. It’s a fun and interesting album that is enjoyable to listen to multiple times. "[+]Reply
"I would get this album if I were you simply for the haunting vocals. Evil is one of the best heavy metal songs ever. Don't get caught up in the fact that the lyrics are openly satanic. Good music is good music. Enjoy."Reply
"There's an obviously cobbled together feel about this album, but when so much of Jello Biafra's wit and social commentary couldn't find a place on their regular releases, it easily justifies itself as an even wilder and more eclectic ride for a band who were never too fond of convention. Highligh...""There's an obviously cobbled together feel about this album, but when so much of Jello Biafra's wit and social commentary couldn't find a place on their regular releases, it easily justifies itself as an even wilder and more eclectic ride for a band who were never too fond of convention.
Highlights include Night of the Living Rednecks and Saturday Night Holocaust, of which the names along ought to give you a rough idea of the collision of pop culture and political satire that you're in for."[+]Reply
"Porcupine Tree weakest album in recent times. The biggest issue I have with the album is not necessarily the songs but the way they have been put together. It starts off well but into tracks 3 and 4 - it sounds like Steven Wilson is singing live to an audience a medley of his past hits that he do...""Porcupine Tree weakest album in recent times. The biggest issue I have with the album is not necessarily the songs but the way they have been put together. It starts off well but into tracks 3 and 4 - it sounds like Steven Wilson is singing live to an audience a medley of his past hits that he doesn't have time to play the full length version. The medley is definitely more cohesive after Time Flies. I Drive The Hearse is also a highlight. The second disc to me is a much better effort although Flickr sounds a lot like a part in Anaesthetise. Steven is obviously starting to run out of ideas and I support him in his decision to retire Porcupine Tree."[+]Reply
"This is the album that began the final phase of Cohen's career, a phase that also includes Dear Heather, Popular Problems, Old Ideas, and You Want it Darker. In my opinion, Ten New Songs is the best of that lot (though You Want it Darker is also a contender). It is also one of Cohen's greatest al...""This is the album that began the final phase of Cohen's career, a phase that also includes Dear Heather, Popular Problems, Old Ideas, and You Want it Darker. In my opinion, Ten New Songs is the best of that lot (though You Want it Darker is also a contender). It is also one of Cohen's greatest albums and though it may not hit the heights/peaks of some of his earlier album, it is really consistently good all the way through. There are some great lyrics on this record and a more hopeful tone than some other albums. Thematically it is driven by interior concerns and lacks the social commentary one finds on The Future, but that is ok in my opinion. LC sounds to me like he really has something to say on this album, and it is an affirmation of existence. I feel the content is richer and deeper than some of what appears on Popular Problems, Dear Heather, and Old Ideas. "[+]Reply
"This record's so great at building an effortlessly dreamlike landscape. Most of the tracks here are little more than a repetitive guitar with vocals, but the way the two go together works on every track. Jessica's voice is the main factor holding everything together, it takes a short while to get...""This record's so great at building an effortlessly dreamlike landscape. Most of the tracks here are little more than a repetitive guitar with vocals, but the way the two go together works on every track. Jessica's voice is the main factor holding everything together, it takes a short while to get used to it but once you're there it beautifully occupies the spaces left by the instrumentals with its echoing effects. The odd instrumental flairs are also great whenever they appear, breathing new life into certain sections of the tracks.
It's a great album that arranges a small amount of elements perfectly. There's not a huge amount of variation here, but this isn't so much a problem on a sub 30 minute album. I'm sure I'll only like it more with time."[+]Reply
"Night Palace has been celebrated online as the Mount Eerie album that sounds the most like Phil Elverum's work in the Microphones. It's interesting that this would happen when the solo project has covered so much ground that builds on different aspects of the Microphones sound, whether that's the...""Night Palace has been celebrated online as the Mount Eerie album that sounds the most like Phil Elverum's work in the Microphones. It's interesting that this would happen when the solo project has covered so much ground that builds on different aspects of the Microphones sound, whether that's the quiet and intimate songwriting (Dawn, No Flashlight), the fuzzy loudness (Wind's Poem, Ocean Roar) and intensely personal lyrics (A Crow Looked At Me, Lost Wisdom), so why does Night Palace evoke these elements more? I think the key property of the record is its willingness to mix loud and quiet and to build on particular ideas. The first point in particular helps create that epic scope associated with Phil's 2000s era work, a completely loud album doesn't necessarily have this effect because there isn't a point of reference, whereas songs that include both create small and massive objects, with the former often swallowing up the latter. Think of the transition from the closing chords of I Felt Your Shape into the opening of Samurai Sword, that track would always sound noisy but after something so gentle it's like the loudest sound you've ever heard. The album Mount Eerie pushed this further, with fragile sounding vocals and acoustic guitars crashing up against thunderous drums, piercing electric guitars and walls of noise. It happens again here, the slow opening of Breaths is expanded by distorted drums and guitars, this is then ripped apart by Swallowed Alive (I'm still not 100% sure what we're even hearing on this track). I Need New Eyes is built around Phil's ever gentle vocals, but even the backing vocals are bolstered by an electric fuzz, making it all feel enclosed in something massive.
Night Palace isn't just great because it recalls some great records from 20-25 years ago though. Many tracks have a cleaner sound and more straightforward progression, both of which work brilliantly as they never totally dominate the tracklist. The guitar work in Huge Fire is stunning, there's a beauty in the soft smoothness of I Walk and the quiet interplay between the piano and backing vocals at the start of I Heard Whales provides a strong counterpoint to the build up of noise. Like a number of Phil's recent records this one looks to and draws from the past without just emulating it, instead these ideas are reapplied to the less harsh and experimental music that he makes now.
Maybe the biggest departure from previous work is the introduction of a political viewpoint regarding the land and nature that's always played a huge role in Phil's music. The land of the Pacific North West has often had this almost scared feel in the past, an unchanging landscape that creates a humility in how small it makes one feel. Night Palace deals with much tougher questions of how this land came to be what it is, observations like "only ten thousand years ago there were meadows here" and talk of mountains running like a stream that we are too short lived to see flow view this are as changing like everything else. It makes it as susceptible as anywhere or anyone else to the forces of greed (November Rain, Co Owner of Trees) and imperialism (Non Metaphorical Decolonisation and the mention of fighter jets on Demolition). Its a radical step into new territory for a project that's focused on the self and on the universe, without considering much of what's in between."[+]Reply