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 work of utter genius. This album always seemed to me to be an extremely determined Curtis attempting to prove to the world that he was more than just a great pop songwriter (which he certainly was, and The Impressions are probably my favourite singles band of all-time), but also a Curtis overco...""A work of utter genius. This album always seemed to me to be an extremely determined Curtis attempting to prove to the world that he was more than just a great pop songwriter (which he certainly was, and The Impressions are probably my favourite singles band of all-time), but also a Curtis overcome by both anger at the way society worked, and total and irrefutable faith in humanity to do right in the end. Honestly, this album is just perfect from start to finish, filled to the brim with stunning and sincere lyrics and even more impressive musicianship and composing. My favourite soul album."[+]Reply
"Interesting that this guy sounds obviously very influenced by Dylan and yr a big Dylan fan.... The title track reminds of something on Blood on the Tracks... "Buckets of Rain" a bit, maybe... The picking, some phrasing, and overall vibe on third track "Troubles..." is total Dylan... reminds of "B...""Interesting that this guy sounds obviously very influenced by Dylan and yr a big Dylan fan.... The title track reminds of something on Blood on the Tracks... "Buckets of Rain" a bit, maybe... The picking, some phrasing, and overall vibe on third track "Troubles..." is total Dylan... reminds of "Boots of Spanish Leather" among many others... I'm a new comer to this guy... Obviously very talented but not really overly impressed...especially vocals seem too forced with contrived emotion and constant clever little entertaining flourishes I find distracting and tedious... comes across as sounding a little too desperate to be hip and it clashes with attempt to sound oh so laid back and relaxed, Dylanesque... Obviously he's young and a bit green... Might learn to chill out and just play and let it flow as he gets older and develops his chops... Anyway, sometimes it takes a few listens to hook me... I'll give it more time... "[+]Reply
"Finest example of the importance of creative freedom. When Stax broke with Atlantic Records in 1968 and lost her entire back catalogue, Hayes was compelled to make a studio album. He wasn't very happy to; his debut album "Presenting Isaac Hayes" failed to chart and Hayes had decided to stay in th...""Finest example of the importance of creative freedom. When Stax broke with Atlantic Records in 1968 and lost her entire back catalogue, Hayes was compelled to make a studio album. He wasn't very happy to; his debut album "Presenting Isaac Hayes" failed to chart and Hayes had decided to stay in the background as a songwriter and session musician. When Al Bell, record executive for Stax, persuaded Hayes to record a new album, Hayes demanded total creative freedom. The result: a groundbreaking soul record, consisting of only four tracks that changed the entire future for soul music. Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" aren't likely to have existed if it weren't for this album."[+]Reply
"Definitely Nick Cave's best album. Chock full of brilliant songs. Somewhat inconsistent as most double albums are - would have made a killer single album. Here's my imaginary track-listing: 1) Nature Boy 2) There She Goes 3) Abattoir Blues 4) Let the Bells Ring 5) Messiah Ward 6) Breathless 7) Ea...""Definitely Nick Cave's best album. Chock full of brilliant songs. Somewhat inconsistent as most double albums are - would have made a killer single album. Here's my imaginary track-listing:
1) Nature Boy
2) There She Goes
3) Abattoir Blues
4) Let the Bells Ring
5) Messiah Ward
6) Breathless
7) Easy Money
8) Supernaturally
9) Carry Me
10) O Children"[+]Reply
"Nominally, Joni Mitchell is Folk. This is really only true insofar as it indicates where she began as a songwriter. Mitchell's career quickly evolved into something far greater, and progressively harder to define. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is not only the greatest example of Joni Mitchell's cre...""Nominally, Joni Mitchell is Folk. This is really only true insofar as it indicates where she began as a songwriter. Mitchell's career quickly evolved into something far greater, and progressively harder to define. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is not only the greatest example of Joni Mitchell's creative individuality as a musician, but is also arguably the point at which all of the disparate pieces that comprise the woman who is "Joni Mitchell" came together in perfect harmony. Her impeccable skill as a songwriter, her unique guitar style, her jazz influence; on the Hissing of Summer Lawns, all of these pieces come together into a whole that is far greater than its individual parts. These “parts” have all been around Joni Mitchell at various points in her career; her songwriting and guitar skill were there from the start, but even from her beginnings of a masterful folk storyteller, she was to go in a slightly different direction with each coming album; toying with and sometimes fully implementing, at various points in her career, everything from pop-melodicism to African rhythmic structures. But the most important influence that hovered around Mitchell’s work, (and which had been since the early 70s) was that of jazz. By the time her massive commercial breakthrough came 1974’s “Court and Spark”, her folk origins were all but absent. In their place stood melodic and thoughtful pop-influenced ballads of the kind of self-expression that we had seen in her confessional masterpiece “Blue”. It would appear that no matter what kind of music Mitchell is delving into at any given time, her songwriting skill (which, by the way, easily matches if not trumps the likes of fellow lyrical geniuses Bob Dylan and Neil Young) is always present, but with every new album, there is always a twist in the way with which her words are displayed. Mitchell’s lyrical prowess, along with her mature vision of pop song construction, may have taken the forefront of Court and Spark, what is often overlooked is what may have been the beginning of what was to define Joni Mitchell’s most ambitious and most artistically rewording period as a musician, and that is that “Court and Spark”, behind it’s romantic orchestration, actually exhibited a substantial jazz influence. Of course, that did nothing to prepare Mitchell’s fan base for what was to come. In 1975, Joni Mitchell releases “The Hissing of Summer Lawns”, an album where the jazz that was hinted at in its predecessor takes full form, just as the folk that defined her early career makes a reappearance, and fuses itself with her love for the likes of Charles Mingus and Jaco Pastorius into an album that can only be loosely defined as “Jazz-folk”, but that contains a degree of ambition and sheer unexpectedness far greater than such a narrow genre pigeonholing would suggest. In the end, The Hissing of Summer Lawns exists outside of the realm of normal classification or judgment. Further description would do this album no justice. Joni has crafted a world that is entirely her own, and to which no parallels can or should be drawn.
That was too analytical.
I want to give this album a hug."[+]Reply
"This is one of the best Queen albums. It shows that the band was much better when they took risks. The theatrical progressive rock here blows away any tame classic rock sounds this album has to offer. Procession is a decent intro, but also aids well in allowing the album to flow with how it seaml...""This is one of the best Queen albums. It shows that the band was much better when they took risks. The theatrical progressive rock here blows away any tame classic rock sounds this album has to offer.
Procession is a decent intro, but also aids well in allowing the album to flow with how it seamlessly ties into Father & Son. Both Father & Son and White Queen are highlights, the former showing a bit of Queen's heavier side. From there the next two songs are by far the worst for me. Not at all into Brian May's Some Day One Day, and Roger Taylor's The Loser In The End is highly forgettable to me other than the cool percussive intro. This part of the album just suffers from Lack-of-Freddie-itis.
Ogre Battle picks the album right back up again and begins a string of great and eclectic Queen compositions that doesn't let up until the album is over.
Maybe my 2nd favorite Queen album."[+]Reply
"Can't really bring much new to say, yes she benefited greatly from being born into a hollywood family and her preternal social-media savviness and heaps of self-confidence definitely helped hype her music to the extreme. And yes she is a precociously deft songwriter with striking, crinkly-voiced ...""Can't really bring much new to say, yes she benefited greatly from being born into a hollywood family and her preternal social-media savviness and heaps of self-confidence definitely helped hype her music to the extreme. And yes she is a precociously deft songwriter with striking, crinkly-voiced R&B-style vocals who has a knack for making a catchy, moody modern pop song as her singles attest (particurally the digital-finger-snap paranoia of "Bury a Friend") who can occasionally open up to something more geniunely vulnerable and confrontational ("I Love You"). WWAFAWDWG also constantly reminds of you every other 21st century slightly left-of-center pop star, with elements of The Weeknd, Melanie Martinez, Sky Ferreira, Imogen Heap, (dear god) Halsey and espcially Lorde strewn throughout and which can occasionally lead into straight-faced impressionism. And "My Strange Addiction" is one of the more risible tracks I've heard recently (ESPECIALLY because of the samples), but that should've been obvious from the title alone. Again, like a lot of pop albums it would still keep the momentum and be far more effective if it cut the song length in half.
So yes I think this album is getting greatly overpraised for critics who want to latch themselves on to the next big thing and avoid Getting It Wrong-tm. I also do think she has a lot of potential if she can use her influences more as seasoning than ingredients, and if she stops thinking she's the edgiest teen in the world and just allows her so-far overprocessed and somewhat stifled compositions to reveal their rawer side and eventually grow into their fullest capabilities. "[+]Reply
"An incredibly creative effort leading to their most successful album to date,"Fear of a Blank Planet";moreover,Wilson has an astonishing haunting voice and he is likewise a great lyricist."Deadwing" is full of magnificent songs.Don't underestimate it!"Reply
"nursery cryme was the first very good genesis album. The prior two albums were not as good -- 1969 debut from genesis to revelation was carved in a generic 60s-music template mold and follow-up trespass didn't yet carve out a unique identity for genesis yet (although sporting one of their better ...""nursery cryme was the first very good genesis album. The prior two albums were not as good -- 1969 debut from genesis to revelation was carved in a generic 60s-music template mold and follow-up trespass didn't yet carve out a unique identity for genesis yet (although sporting one of their better songs, "the knife") -- and will not be covered in following, previous-year music posts. nursery cryme was also the first album to show off the talents of phil collins and steve hackett. Highlights are "the musical box", "the return of the giant hogweed" (which takes on more significance in my current fight against a takeover of dandelions) and "the fountain of salmacis", all of which run about 8 minutes or more each. Hackett and collins shine on "hogweed", probably the best track of the bunch, an escalating war march sung savagely by gabriel. (i love his lines like "botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge!" and how he even identifies it by its latin name, "heracleum mantegazzianii" which makes it sound even more menacing, like a vampiric race that has been around for millenia.) "seven stories" is sadly poetic ruminating on a life focused on the wrong things ("despair that tires the world brings the old man laughter") underpinned by the darkly ominous moog (via tony banks). "harold the barrel" is the first really good "cornball" genesis song in a long line of really good cornball songs from "cuckoo cocoon" and "i know what i like" to "illegal alien" and "i can't dance". You can hear Phil's lead vocals in "for absent friends". "fountain of salmacis" closes the album leaving me question "hogweed"'s self-proclaimed title as album-best as it sounds as epic (catch that hackett guitar tear dueling with Phil's drums near-midway through or tony banks dueling with Phil nearer the end) and is more humanly-touching."[+]Reply
"I typically don't like to consider compilations as proper albums and avoid putting them in my charts, but for this and Hatful of Hollow, I make an exception. Most of these tracks don't show up on any of the Smiths' studio releases, so might as well rate it as any other album."Reply