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: 1 hour ago).
"Janis almost sounds better as part of a band. Here, she sounds a little more focused, even as she wails and belts it out with the best of them. The creation of a legend."Reply
"Best album by a long way by Simple Minds. I can’t find anything bad about it’s a superb sounding album. One of the best albums ever made its beautiful"Reply
"All mod cons, in my opinion, is the best Jam album. All the potential that Paul Weller and co. had shown up to now is finally fulfilled on this great record. Weller is now truly into his stride and his songwriting is now approaching classic status. The cover of the Kinks, David Watts, is a respec...""All mod cons, in my opinion, is the best Jam album. All the potential that Paul Weller and co. had shown up to now is finally fulfilled on this great record. Weller is now truly into his stride and his songwriting is now approaching classic status. The cover of the Kinks, David Watts, is a respectful nod to Weller's influences, but nothing that Paul writes here pales in comparison to Ray Davies' classic track. Songs such as, down in the tube station at midnight, and, to be someone, are excellent. Weller shows his sensitive side on, English rose, even though he felt slightly embarrassed about it at the time. All mod cons, is a British classic. Excellent. "[+]Reply
"Illinois and Michigan are both beautiful albums, but for different reasons. They both seem to explore similar thoughts and feelings, but in different ways. Where Illinois seems like a musical put on by schoolchildren that exceeds everyone's expectations and ends up being better than most Broadway...""Illinois and Michigan are both beautiful albums, but for different reasons. They both seem to explore similar thoughts and feelings, but in different ways. Where Illinois seems like a musical put on by schoolchildren that exceeds everyone's expectations and ends up being better than most Broadway musicals, Michigan is a play put on by adults that don't go out of their way to show everyone they're the best, but instead leave more room for breathing and interpretation. Where Illinois seems to say, "This is a sad song" and put all its listeners to tears, Michigan seems to say, "You can feel whatever you want when you listen to this, but I was feeling sad when I wrote it," and put its listeners in a somber mood that's not nearly as heavy as Illinois, but just a different kind of sad. I'm not saying either one of these options is better, in fact I like Illinois more because I've simply never experienced such strong emotions evoked by music before. However I can understand why someone would like Michigan more, because there's so much space to breathe and decide what to feel. "[+]Reply
"When Vampire Weekend reformed and released Father of the Bride in 2019 I was just glad that my favourite band in my teenage years could still produce fun and exciting music, even if the output was a bit less consistent in quality than the stuff I'd grown to love years earlier. Only God Was Above ...""When Vampire Weekend reformed and released Father of the Bride in 2019 I was just glad that my favourite band in my teenage years could still produce fun and exciting music, even if the output was a bit less consistent in quality than the stuff I'd grown to love years earlier. Only God Was Above Us is a different prospect altogether, we're back to a shorter 10 track structure with each of these brimming with ideas and none having the throwaway quality of some of FotB's worse tracks. There's something else though, I've always found something very warm and reassuring in the band's earliest records and I'm finding it here as well, the baroque pop of Capricorn or Connect feels like the natural next step from Don't Lie and Everlasting Arms. It's a tough quality to completely describe but there's an effortless feel to these tracks, as though they simply grew from the emotions of the band members and the city setting. Maybe losing the pressure of delivering for a big comeback album has helped the band out or maybe they've just fully adjusted to Rostam's departure, either way they really feel back to their full powers here.
Through their early records, the improvements in the lyrics really charted the band's overall progress. The self-titled's sometimes anxious commentary on campus life gave way to something more emotionally resonant on Contra, before Modern Vampires of the City took the elaborate lyricism that the band were known for and twisted it into something strangely evocative and profound. Only God Was Above Us comes in at a similar level, there's lots of lines that I couldn't totally explain to you, but I could tell you how they made me feel. It's strong musically as well, the quirks in each of the tracks still hold close to the overall feel of a track and never feel like they were thrown in to try to make a song more interesting. None of the tracks stand out quite as much as Classical, where the multiple tracks of percussion, warm keys and wilder guitars & brass blend in this beautiful way. Ezra's vocals, reaching that mournful but not hopeless place he's so good at getting to, really wrap it all up as one of the band's best ever songs. There's no stand-out bad or even lacklustre tracks across the rest of the record, but it doesn't reach this level again. I'm also not always 100% sure about some of the more dissonant elements on some of these tracks, the final moments of Capricorn are especially guilty of this, as one of the better songs here starts to fall apart under the weight of the sound. Still, these are pretty minor points to make about an indie band which has had to adapt to so many changes in the musical landscape while either on hiatus or between albums. As a teenage Vampire Weekend obsessive I think I built myself up for the release of Modern Vampires of the City more than I have for any album before or since, I got a pleasant surprise with these subsequent two releases where I held much less of an interest in what was coming prior to their release, but with this I've really taken notice again and will be glad to be back on the VW hype train when it next rolls into the station."[+]Reply
"This album is just so fucking cool it's ridiculous. The aura of sounds and psychedelic atmospheres that are created by Bradford Cox and the gang just utterly encapsulates you from the very first listen. Whilst the middle-section of the album loses a little strength, the end picks up to a very str...""This album is just so fucking cool it's ridiculous. The aura of sounds and psychedelic atmospheres that are created by Bradford Cox and the gang just utterly encapsulates you from the very first listen. Whilst the middle-section of the album loses a little strength, the end picks up to a very strong finish."[+]Reply
"Not just one of the best alt-country albums ever made, but one of the best albums of all time. It took Lucinda 6 years to write and record this one, and I'd be more than happy waiting 6 years in between her records if they could be close to this good. I was introduced to this one the same night a..."" Not just one of the best alt-country albums ever made, but one of the best albums of all time.
It took Lucinda 6 years to write and record this one, and I'd be more than happy waiting 6 years in between her records if they could be close to this good.
I was introduced to this one the same night as Todd Snider - and changed the direction of my music listening forever.
Not going to mention songs, as they are all great. About as perfect as an album can be."[+]Reply
"Holy shit. I didn't think anything would possibly beat Ants From Up There as my AOTY and now I find myself faced with an incredibly difficult decision. Right now, I genuinely think this might be the best album of the decade. At first I thought this album had lows, but after a few listens I realis...""Holy shit. I didn't think anything would possibly beat Ants From Up There as my AOTY and now I find myself faced with an incredibly difficult decision. Right now, I genuinely think this might be the best album of the decade. At first I thought this album had lows, but after a few listens I realised it's just that the highs are so high some of the best songs I've heard seem weak in comparison.
After repeat exposures, I can no longer even point to the best song here, as my bias to Eat Men Eat and Welcome To Hell has worn off. Hellfire is one of the best album openers I've ever heard, with Greep's showman-like fast-paced greetings and rantings literally welcoming you to hell. The album then launches into the best 3-song run I've heard since The Place Where He Inserted the Blade through Basketball Shoes, starting with Sugar/Tzu, a song very much in the same vein as the two singles - a detailed, graphic tale of the worst humanity has to offer.
The album slows a little with the appropriately titled "Still", the only other song on this album featuring vocals by Cameron Picton, and boy do I wish they'd let him out more often. The cryptic lyrics and smooth delivery remind me of MGMT in a way. The track switches things up several times, with a quiet acoustic middle and a soothing ambient ending that fades into a locked groove loop reminiscent of the way the Beatles closed off Sgt Pepper. Half Time serves it's purpose well as a breather between the two longest tracks on the album and a cheeky reference to black midi's alter ego the Orange Tree Boys. There's also a bit of morse code in there which I can't wait for someone with more patience than me to translate.
The Race Is About To Begin kicks the 2nd half into 1st gear immediately, continuing the story of a character previously introduced in Welcome To Hell. Despite being the longest song on the album, it never settles into a groove, shifting and changing every minute, becoming more chaotic as it becomes a descent into addiction, madness, and shacks. Like Still, it ends on a quieter note, with a delicate ballad that reminisces on how people can change.
Dangerous Liasons, The Defence and 27 Questions form another trilogy of songs mirroring the first half of the album, each telling a story of the worst of humanity - A man tempted into murder with promises of money, a brothel owner attempting to justify his trade, and finally the closer 27 Questions, in which an audience revels at the suffering of a dying man. This song is a great way to close the album, with a show-tune style section that recalls the opener and passes a number of philosophical (and funny) questions onto the listener.
In conclusion, Black Country, New Road and black midi have both released masterpieces this year. This feels like the logical conclusion (or perhaps a new phase) of the new British Post-Punk scene that's cropped up since 2016, with it's two forefront bands releasing what will be remembered as two of the greatest albums of all time. No pressure Squid."[+]Reply