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: 4 hours ago).
"Frankly, this album is far better than anybody could have reasonably expected it to be. If you think back to the singles he's put out in the interim since The Chronic 2001, both 'Kush' and 'I Need a Doctor' were overhammed and half-speed, precisely the sorts of out-of-touch songs you would expect...""Frankly, this album is far better than anybody could have reasonably expected it to be. If you think back to the singles he's put out in the interim since The Chronic 2001, both 'Kush' and 'I Need a Doctor' were overhammed and half-speed, precisely the sorts of out-of-touch songs you would expect from a hip-hop artist nearing his fifties. 'I Need a Doctor' in particular reeked of all the focus group balladry trappings that have marred Eminem's work over the past six or seven years, and it was difficult to imagine Dr. Dre ever sounding relevant again. Thankfully, those songs can now be consigned to history, along with everything else locked away in those infamous Detox vaults; Dre finally binned that album in favour of something far more focused, and I'm delighted to say that it's an unqualified success. Now, for an album named after the city of Compton, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this album is going to be a trip down memory lane, a retrofetishist jaunt through Dre's past, from the g-funk sounds of the early '90s to the brash and cocky clean lines of his second album - and that would, in all honesty, probably be welcome (to some extent) among a lot of listeners. But, instead, Dre has opted for something else, a labyrinth of different styles, heavily layered and maximalist in the extreme, snaking in multiple unpredictable directions, refusing to settle on one particular style. It makes the album feel refreshingly out of time, neither beholden to the ghosts of West Coast past or to the sounds of hip-hop's present. I mean, yes, we do get a couple of nods to trap, and the occasional moment that harks back to Dre's early Parliament-aping days, but on the whole this album defies any sort of categorisation. It's beefy, in the same way that The Chronic 2001 was, but it's also undeniably more frazzled than that record. It's lush, but it isn't always clean. Production-wise, it sounds to me like peak-era Timbaland being reimagined by MBDTF's ambitious perfectionist, but captured through an undeniably West Coast lens. It might be comparable to 2015's West Coast masterpiece, To Pimp a Butterfly, in that it doesn't ever settle into a particular groove, but where that album was tied together by its jazzy leanings, this record is harder to pin down - we get a lot of twinkling synths and triumphant horns, but its cohesion comes from how luxurious it all sounds. If Kendrick has had a major influence on this album, it's in proving to Dre that he can make a massive, mazy album in 2015 without it having to bend to current trends, whilst still sounding utterly contemporary. It's an exciting direction for Dre, and proves that even throughout these late-career, headphone-hawking wilderness years, he can still stay ahead of the game. In terms of rapping, the album feels more mature than previous Dre albums. Whilst he has always been able to offer a more sobering view of life in the ghetto than he's often given credit for (think The Chronic's 'Lil Ghetto Boy'), this record feel undeniably more mature than previous records, something that feels to me as though it's been brought on not only by middle-age but also by his current connection to Kendrick, who has proven that you can stay true and authentic and resolutely Compton whilst still offering some perspective on that gangster lifestyle. And so, yes, this album goes over a lot of West Coast gangsta tropes, but does so in a way that feels more grown up (and, perhaps, detached) than the Dre of albums past, for better or worse. Newcomers Justus and King Mez (and, to a lesser extent, Anderson Paak) excel whenever they show up throughout the record, and there are some brilliant throwback verses from Snoop, Ice Cube, Xzibit, and in particular Cold 187um. Kendrick predictably offers standout moments, but it's Dre evolution as a rapper that is most interesting on this album. Whilst his verses are obviously ghostwritten, I don't think Dre has ever sounded this comfortable on the mic - his flow has become much more nimble with age, and gone are the clunky missteps that occasionally marred albums past. That said, he appears to have lost something vocally, and he isn't quite as immediately recognisable as he has been in the past. Being as he's never been a writer, it's questionable whether nimble flows for booming voice is a good trade off, but I generally think it works on this album, which plays out like a real team effort, with Dre acting as a deep-lying playmaker, allowing others to steal the show as and when certain people are better suited to certain moments. So lyrically, this album is a cohesive love letter to Compton, comfortably and naturally speaking on both the positives and the negatives of the city over the past three decades. Sonically, it's unique within the Dre canon, but maintains a West Coast vibe without necessarily falling back on a stereotypical West Coast sound. I've only listened to the record three times, but it already stands out as easily one of the best hip-hop records of 2015 and, as I said in my opening sentence, a far better album than could reasonably have been expected from Dre in 2015. Brilliant stuff. "[+]Reply
"Red rose speedway, is one of Paul McCartney's most underrated records. It contains some great tracks, the best being the beautiful, my love, one of McCartney's greatest solo tracks(alright, it's technically Paul McCartney and wings, but you know what I mean), and, little lamb dragonfly, is one of...""Red rose speedway, is one of Paul McCartney's most underrated records. It contains some great tracks, the best being the beautiful, my love, one of McCartney's greatest solo tracks(alright, it's technically Paul McCartney and wings, but you know what I mean), and, little lamb dragonfly, is one of his most overlooked songs, it's brilliant. Elsewhere, there's the bluesy opener, big barn bed, the soul of, when the night, the sweet, one more kiss, and the experimental, Loup. The thing most criticized on the album is the medley that closes the record, alright it's not the second side of, Abbey road, but it's still enjoyable enough. Red rose speedway, would obviously be surpassed by it's follow up, band on the run, but it's still a very good LP. "[+]Reply
"For some reason I never noticed it before, but this album is a lot like Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden. And with each listen is grows more and more profound. From the poetic lyrics, to the brilliant musicianship that blends jazz and post rock into lush arrangements. It's an album that seems much simp...""For some reason I never noticed it before, but this album is a lot like Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden. And with each listen is grows more and more profound. From the poetic lyrics, to the brilliant musicianship that blends jazz and post rock into lush arrangements. It's an album that seems much simpler on the surface than it actually is. "[+]Reply
"Consistently good throughout and an improvement, in my opinion, on English Settlement. In Loving Memory Of A Name is probably my favourite on this one with Funk Pop A Roll harking back to the first two albums."Reply
"Brilliant companion album to, swinging lovers. Frank is on top form throughout, especially on, I wish I were in love again, I got it bad, and, stars fell on Alabama. Great record."Reply
"A Flock of Seagulls were clever musicians who produced some timeless classic eighties songs. One of the differences with Flock of Seagulls to many of the eighties new wave synth bands was their use of a real drummer rather than opting for Roland TR808 or Linn Drum. It is the driving and interesti...""A Flock of Seagulls were clever musicians who produced some timeless classic eighties songs. One of the differences with Flock of Seagulls to many of the eighties new wave synth bands was their use of a real drummer rather than opting for Roland TR808 or Linn Drum. It is the driving and interesting rhythm section which I love about Flock of Seagulls. Not a weak track on the album and great guitar work on every track to complement the rhythm section and synth washes. My favourite track is d.n.a"[+]Reply
"A neighbor had this and played it with his windows open, so I heard it in 1964. Then later in college I heard the version he rerecorded because the masters were thought lost. Then they were found, and the version I now have is both takes back to back, and it is amazing-- half a decade apart, and ...""A neighbor had this and played it with his windows open, so I heard it in 1964. Then later in college I heard the version he rerecorded because the masters were thought lost. Then they were found, and the version I now have is both takes back to back, and it is amazing-- half a decade apart, and there's no really obvious differences... "[+]Reply
"I grew up in the Midwest. All I knew was heavy metal and head banging, or pop 40 Casey Kassim. When I got to college I burned through classic rock, found alternative, which really took off big in 1993, and somewhere along I found this album and punk rock. I had no idea what it was. It was heavier...""I grew up in the Midwest. All I knew was heavy metal and head banging, or pop 40 Casey Kassim. When I got to college I burned through classic rock, found alternative, which really took off big in 1993, and somewhere along I found this album and punk rock. I had no idea what it was. It was heavier than anything I heard before but it wasn't heavy metal. It had some 50's rock sound, some country, some rockabilly, and topics that I found foreign to me but I liked. In the end it spawned my adventure into my favorite genre, punk, and spent so much playtime it earned a spot in my top 10 favorite on my eclectic list. By the way, one test of a great album is if you can play it real low and sleep to it. This one passes that test and believe it or not makes you wake up happier, more at peace with the world. One regret, missing them in concert for this album tour - though I caught them a few times after."[+]Reply
"As has already been said there is a "Cure" feel about this album via Robert Smith on guitars/keyboards. It is however essentially a Banshee record although Smiths influence cannot be denied(Dazzle, Bring Me The Head.... & Blow The House Down). Other notable tracks are Take Me Back & We Hunger."Reply
"It was a solid follow up. I'd draw parrallels to this and A.A.L's (Against All Logic) follow up album. It's solid, but the first one was so great that I've set the bar too high. It's good Jamie xx sound, but this feels like b-sides from the first album rather than a cohesive project, unique take,...""It was a solid follow up. I'd draw parrallels to this and A.A.L's (Against All Logic) follow up album. It's solid, but the first one was so great that I've set the bar too high. It's good Jamie xx sound, but this feels like b-sides from the first album rather than a cohesive project, unique take, or amplification of the prior work. "[+]Reply