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).
"Probably my least favorite Nightwish album - I feel it was a slight step back from Oceanborn. It's still good, though. Most of the songs are in that 80-85 "good" range, but very few (Wishmaster, Dead Boy's Poem) take it to the next level. Crownless is kind of annoying and comes across as mediocre...""Probably my least favorite Nightwish album - I feel it was a slight step back from Oceanborn. It's still good, though. Most of the songs are in that 80-85 "good" range, but very few (Wishmaster, Dead Boy's Poem) take it to the next level. Crownless is kind of annoying and comes across as mediocre power metal."[+]Reply
"First listen thoughts: The Beggar is a lot less "epic" than the likes of The Seer or To Be Kind, and I can tell it's going to be a slow-burn, but I did really enjoy it even on my first listen. The Beggar Lover (Three) is the disjointed and manic centrepiece of the album, on Spotify anyway, as it'...""First listen thoughts:
The Beggar is a lot less "epic" than the likes of The Seer or To Be Kind, and I can tell it's going to be a slow-burn, but I did really enjoy it even on my first listen.
The Beggar Lover (Three) is the disjointed and manic centrepiece of the album, on Spotify anyway, as it's not listened on here, but it was by far my favourite track."[+]Reply
"~retired album note recorded for archival purposes because I hate my future kids already~ "I'd like to say this album was the beginning of something but I'm not entirely sure what. Arguably it was the first excursion of "Frippertronics" but I'm not sure even Robert Fripp knows exactly what that i...""~retired album note recorded for archival purposes because I hate my future kids already~
"I'd like to say this album was the beginning of something but I'm not entirely sure what. Arguably it was the first excursion of "Frippertronics" but I'm not sure even Robert Fripp knows exactly what that implies (seeing as Fripp & Eno's tape loop experiments did seem to take on different forms here, on Evening Star, and then a bit on Discreet Music). Beyond the experimentation and the fact that the album sounds almost as cool in reverse (seriously try it), there's something here beneath the strangely emotive guitar layering within Fripp/Eno's drones that strikes me as (despite being endlessly minimal in its composition), as being more emotionality affecting than anything else by either of these two masters of their craft. At first glance it seems like there's not much to either piece here, but what there is is astounding.
"Heavenly Music Corporation" opens with layers of delicate guitar and synch that slowly collect on top of each other like water collecting in the crevices on the pavement: they just sort of gather there and before you even realize what's happening the sidewalk is suddenly flooded. This layering continues and evolves for a bit until Fripp comes in the litter the thing with enough feeback to dilute the whole of the piece to its ending, and just as you're processing what went down, Swastika Girls" begins, which takes the electronic manipulation we've heard up to this point and brings it somewhere totally beyond where it should theoretically even work. There's less outright structure here, and more and more of these layers going over each other not so much in the delicate fashion that characterizes the previous track, but in something more akin to meticulous chaos, whereby Fripp and Eno press all these layers into one dense space and let the resultant alternating of dissonance and melody go where it will.
So I'm sure something began here, and to be certain little bits of that "something" can be found elsewhere, particularly in Eno and Fripp's respective later work, but it's a something that, despite being of common musical trends, (Drones, ambient with melody, layered guitar, and of course the oft-imitated "Frippertronics") exhibits those trends put together here in a way very seeming totally unlikely but that makes all too much sense. Something uniquely Fripp & Eno.""[+]Reply
"A very logical sounding follow-up to her debut. While the songs don't have the singular power of the tracks off the first, that may change for me upon repeated listens. The finales of each of these songs are extremely song. I wish Chromeo's release this year had sounded this focused and clean sou...""A very logical sounding follow-up to her debut. While the songs don't have the singular power of the tracks off the first, that may change for me upon repeated listens. The finales of each of these songs are extremely song. I wish Chromeo's release this year had sounded this focused and clean sounding. While I can't say it's better than the first, I don't want it to seem like this is a bad album. Quite the opposite in fact."[+]Reply
"Many artists have refashioned themselves under a pop-dance music mold. The stylistic shift has worked or not to varying degrees. Speaking of just the last 20 years, the first example that comes to mind is the dizzying plummet of liz phair from indie rock grace to major label puppet. That also bri...""Many artists have refashioned themselves under a pop-dance music mold. The stylistic shift has worked or not to varying degrees. Speaking of just the last 20 years, the first example that comes to mind is the dizzying plummet of liz phair from indie rock grace to major label puppet. That also brings to mind jewel's transformation from folk poet to her blatantly saccharine "0304". When it comes to rock music, U2's "pop" succeeded in places of blending the techno sound of the time with their patented stadium rock. The biggest success story in dance pop transformations is ben gibbard joining forces with dntel for the superb Postal Service album. But of course, others like Bright Eyes ("digital ash..") have attempted the same to a far less successful degree. For the most part, the dance infusion is problematic for an artist who already has an established pop/rock sound. It sounds forced and/or phony.
I discovered tegan and sara opening for ryan adams circa 2000. I loved their upbeat acoustic tales of love's complications and scorns in support of their "if it was you" album. That was the first (and only) time i exited a concert wanting to immediately purchase the album of the opening act. It was sold out at the venue but i picked it up the next day and wasn't disappointed in the least. "monday monday monday" and "underwater" were/are my favorites on an album replete with catchy upbeat pop/rock songs bouncing atop the twins' personalities. They make simple music based upon not-so-simple relationships and the emotions involved.
They've transformed their sound in small increments over time, from the acoustic pop/rock "if it was you" to a more "new wavey" pop/rock sound infused with more electric guitars and aggressive musical approach. Those increments left me unprepared for what i heard on "heartthrob", a full indoctrination to today's dance music. On first listen, the album immediately made me think of "pink meets robyn" but with a hollow liz phair center. Any actual instruments used are buried under a drum machine and (at times, wall of) synthesizer. The charm of a tegan and sara album is derived from what feels like their authentic tales of relationship trials and woes. On "heartthrob", these woes sound artificial, concocted for a quick, freeze-dried plastic packaging to mass market to teenagers and your mom alike. I can't hear their personalities well, if at all on some songs. ("drove me wild" is one of the exceptions.) Most of these songs could be sung by anyone. And that's the danger of converting to dance music (and auto-tune, for that matter) -- your sound is instantly synthesized into a form where the performers and personalities don't matter as much as simply feeling good, having a good time and dancing. Without the organic feel of HUMANS making music and a proper palette for expressing human concerns, heartbreak and other subjects of the human heart, then such emotive topics, even if they're still being expressed, are lost.
That's the main problem i have with "heartthrob". Instead of hearing the heart throbbing and aching for men in their lives, i instead imagine a poster of a male heartthrob on tegan and sara's wall and they're singing to a dance soundtrack songs they think that hunky paper doll might want to hear. It's that detachment from real emotions that keeps me from liking this album as much as their others. It's that reality of life and love that i hope they bring back on their next album, while abandoning the artificial sound which subtracts from a warmth of personality that i know they have, which i've seen first-hand nearly 13 years ago."[+]Reply
poppmusic | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
