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: 3 hours ago).
"Josh Ritter's "the animal years" starts off with a girl in the war" crying "paul said to peter 'you gotta rock yourself a little harder' / pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire". That sets the tone for the whole album. There are some beautiful lines on this one song al...""Josh Ritter's "the animal years" starts off with a girl in the war" crying "paul said to peter 'you gotta rock yourself a little harder' / pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire". That sets the tone for the whole album. There are some beautiful lines on this one song alone, like this closing sentiment: "Paul her eyes are like champagne / They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain ". There's a weight to even scanning through the (am?) radio on "monster ballads" -- "Out on the desert now / I'm feeling lost The bonnet wears a wire albatross / Monster ballads and the stations of the cross / Sighing just a little bit / Smiling just a little bit ". "thin blue flame" has the weight of a closing album (or concert) track, with its cymbals and piano crashing in near the middle leaving 2:30 at the end to restretch the song and close with piano & cymbals and "only a full house". It's all singer-songwriter, indie (folk) rock with ballads and upbeat numbers (see "lillian, egypt" and "good man") galore. It's a very, subtly sweet album."[+]Reply
"An eclectic, eccentric collaboration of former Dresden Dolls member and pop piano tunesmith Ben Folds comes up just short of hitting the mark. The weird and wonderful are topics du jour. Some guests show up, including Dead Kennedys drummer East Bay Ray and St. Vincent's Annie Clark, but it mostly...""An eclectic, eccentric collaboration of former Dresden Dolls member and pop piano tunesmith Ben Folds comes up just short of hitting the mark. The weird and wonderful are topics du jour. Some guests show up, including Dead Kennedys drummer East Bay Ray and St. Vincent's Annie Clark, but it mostly adds up to a hillful of nearly nothing to paraphrase the opening track."[+]Reply
"Even though labelled as a thrash metal band, quite a few tracks at times have a goth-y undercurrent. I'd like to rate it higher as there's some decent tracks, but I can't get past the poor production quality which makes it sound 2nd rate. On a positive note though, extra points for using Hieronym...""Even though labelled as a thrash metal band, quite a few tracks at times have a goth-y undercurrent. I'd like to rate it higher as there's some decent tracks, but I can't get past the poor production quality which makes it sound 2nd rate. On a positive note though, extra points for using Hieronymus Bosch for the cover."[+]Reply
"As I was preparing to write a BEA review for this album, I read the Paste review and realized that there was really no point in attempting to clarify and quantify my opinion at this time. Maybe in a decade-plus it will be possible to return to this and give it a proper critical analysis, but anyo...""As I was preparing to write a BEA review for this album, I read the Paste review and realized that there was really no point in attempting to clarify and quantify my opinion at this time. Maybe in a decade-plus it will be possible to return to this and give it a proper critical analysis, but anyone attempting to do so now risks getting caught up in the tidal wave of overwhelming cultural discourse. If you don't pick a side, don't worry: You will be ASSIGNED one by whoever. You will be assigned the "hater" or "Swiftie" title even if you, like me, initially recognize the album as merely an okay collection of pop songs with a couple of good ones and a couple of bad ones (one with a particularly offensive reference to the quality of Charlie Puth's musicianship/songwriting...I almost turned the album off in disgust when I heard that).
Anyway, I'm not going to even bother. I'm too scared that even after writing something HERE, a relative safe space, I'll get caught up in the discourse in an unhealthy way the second I attempt to put any sort of "pen to paper" about this collection of 16 songs (31 if you're truly patient). There are already a couple of reviews below mine and I agree with them both on some level, but any sort of rational discussion on the internet outside of this little bubble isn't really worth the time and anguish at the moment.
You wouldn't go outside during a hurricane, would you? Sorry if this review isn't "helpful.""[+]Reply
"Post-punk mosh pit meets the euphoric Rave dancefloor. Records that take pride in comparative dreariness always hit the spot for me, and this is an ecstatic new take on those themes. It’s hard to understate how much I love both the post-punk and the Acid House influences this album draws from, an...""Post-punk mosh pit meets the euphoric Rave dancefloor. Records that take pride in comparative dreariness always hit the spot for me, and this is an ecstatic new take on those themes. It’s hard to understate how much I love both the post-punk and the Acid House influences this album draws from, and its succinctness in blending those two is sublime. The backdrop may be that of overcast skies and brutalist concrete, but the brush they paint with is strobe light green.
Less than seeking your empathy, Working Men’s Club takes the mundane on a mushrooms trip, injecting its personal experience into a rave-meets-punk super gig. Their debut’s greatest achievement is the mix between synth and guitar, which constantly hang in a ying-yang balance over which one will fulfill the band’s cacophonic prophecies. There’s a harshness they seem determined to express and celebrate in every track, and the way they wield their drum machines and synths delivers that perfectly.
Working Men’s Club crosses the social and economic divide of the north and south with the authenticity of its sound. It has no desire to dwell on any downsides of present reality, instead turning its world into a bold vision that flourishes on this record. Far from reinforcing geographical division in our country, Minksy-Sargeant and Co. reinvent both northern stereotypes and their own experiences into an innovative, expressive and personal sonic landmark."[+]Reply
"Is it a really great band? Almost! They have all the ingredients necessary. Great musicianship, taste and creativity. But somehow they fail on arrangements. Almost every song of this record has tons of instrumentation. I know the band is big but that doesn't mean that everybody should play at all...""Is it a really great band? Almost!
They have all the ingredients necessary. Great musicianship, taste and creativity.
But somehow they fail on arrangements. Almost every song of this record has tons of instrumentation.
I know the band is big but that doesn't mean that everybody should play at all time.
Also, as I was doing the dedicated listening, the connection to Tortoise appeared and became strong. Funny enough just discovered that John McEntire mixed the album :)
An over-arranged and over-compressed album with great melodies and exciting rhythm games."[+]Reply