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: 2 hours ago).
"Etta James is a gutsy and versatile singer ranging across the styles popular at the turn of the decade: blues, R&B, doo-wop, gospel, jazz, and the emerging soul. After some success in the early 60s, though her work continued to attract critical attention, she stopped being popular, and by the lat..."" Etta James is a gutsy and versatile singer ranging across the styles popular at the turn of the decade: blues, R&B, doo-wop, gospel, jazz, and the emerging soul. After some success in the early 60s, though her work continued to attract critical attention, she stopped being popular, and by the late 70s she was struggling with drug addiction. She re-gained public attention in the 90s, largely due to a 1996 Pepsi advert. She has a long list of singers who admire and respect her singing, including Diana Ross, Janis Joplin, Mick Jagger, Joss Stone and Adele. This is a great album"[+]Reply
"With the exception of some very unique very strange very alienated sounding guitar solo's from Omar Rodriquez, this is progressive rock at it's finest. I have no idea what Rodriguez is trying to communicate with his guitar fills on Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus, they get quite a bit better on the Widow...""With the exception of some very unique very strange very alienated sounding guitar solo's from Omar Rodriquez, this is progressive rock at it's finest. I have no idea what Rodriguez is trying to communicate with his guitar fills on Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus, they get quite a bit better on the Widow, and thankfully Frusciante and a Salsa pianist lay down something catchy on L'Via, where Salsa meets the nightmare music and lyrics of the Mars Volta. As a composer, arranger, and a producer Rodriguez is a brilliant young man and he turns the band's 2nd album into something that you want to visit again and again to discover it's many layers. Cedric Bixler-Zavala's voice has never sounded more emotional and less annoying and his lyrics are simply chilling and mystifying. Frances the Mute excels in many areas, making it an all-around best ever album. "[+]Reply
"I respectfully disagree with the below comment. Taylor Swift has often had high profile collaborators and producers (Max Martin; Jack Antonoff etc.). Taylor's records tend to sound both like Taylor and her collaborators. I see it as a strength rather than a weakness, which has enabled Taylor to c...""I respectfully disagree with the below comment. Taylor Swift has often had high profile collaborators and producers (Max Martin; Jack Antonoff etc.). Taylor's records tend to sound both like Taylor and her collaborators. I see it as a strength rather than a weakness, which has enabled Taylor to capitalise on the potential of collaboration to help the longevity of her career and move in different directions.
Of'course, Swift wrote or co-wrote every track on this album so she is certainly not being propped up by others. This record sounds a lot like Taylor and the National as well. That said, it is very much a Taylor Swift record-the kind of melodies and and lyrics being already familiar to Swift fans, even as the music moves in a different direction. "[+]Reply
"So I'm currently working at an Applebees as a server. They have one of those TouchTunes jukeboxes and I just downloaded the app for it. That way I can play music without being judged by others for my superior taste. Around 11 PM I played "Stagger Lee" and followed it up with "O'Malley's Bar." It ...""So I'm currently working at an Applebees as a server. They have one of those TouchTunes jukeboxes and I just downloaded the app for it. That way I can play music without being judged by others for my superior taste. Around 11 PM I played "Stagger Lee" and followed it up with "O'Malley's Bar." It was fun watching the reactions of the forty or so customers in the building. When Cave exclaims that his "dick felt long and hard" there was an uproar of laughter (incidentally most rap music is banned on there due to the lyrics but most other explicit music is still available). The only person that seemed to be having a cow about it was the bartender. She's such a lamestain. But the best part is they had no idea it was me, I'm off work today, and it's April Fools Day. And it's Easter so there's gonna be a lot of churchgoing families eating out. I'm probably gonna drive up there and to a couple other places with the jukebox, without even getting out of the car, just to hit them with some unexpected savagery. "[+]Reply
"It's easily the best Sabbath album with Dio, and maybe even one of their overall best. It might even be Ronnie James Dio's best work. This and Holy Diver anyway. Ozzy being kicked out of Sabbath was the best thing ever. We got Blizzard of Ozz and this beautiful album out of it."Reply
"My Morning Jacket is about as close as one gets to a true twenty-first century arena rock band that I actually like. Of course, that's because these Louisville, Kentucky, natives are so much more than mere Skynyrd or Van Halen knockoffs. Even though their live performances include the light shows...""My Morning Jacket is about as close as one gets to a true twenty-first century arena rock band that I actually like. Of course, that's because these Louisville, Kentucky, natives are so much more than mere Skynyrd or Van Halen knockoffs. Even though their live performances include the light shows, smoke machines, and flying hair reminiscent of a seventies Live-at-Budokan cliché, Jim James and company actually seem to have something to say. "Off the Record," for instance, is a clever play on words that refers both to the duplicitous nature of politics and to the choices artists must make when deciding what material to make public. Z is just a great throwback rock and roll album."[+]Reply
"Along with, ray of light, like a prayer, is Madonna's best album. Usually with Madge, there are great singles but albums always tend to have a bit of filler on them. Not here. Having said that the singles are still the strongest songs; cherish, express yourself, and the title track are perfect po...""Along with, ray of light, like a prayer, is Madonna's best album. Usually with Madge, there are great singles but albums always tend to have a bit of filler on them. Not here. Having said that the singles are still the strongest songs; cherish, express yourself, and the title track are perfect pop songs. Madonna at her peak. "[+]Reply
"Cannot decide between this and Pornography. Both are masterpieces of the darkest and the most "goth" Cure period. Holy Hour against One Hundred Years, All Cats Are Gray against A Strange Day and so on..."Reply
"One of the best albums of all time, the quality of the songs is just sublime... so far ahead of most 1966 albums. The Kinks actually had something to say here unlike 99% of their peers. Middle class life in England and the gap between rich and poor (A House In The Country, Sunny Afternoon), runni...""One of the best albums of all time, the quality of the songs is just sublime... so far ahead of most 1966 albums. The Kinks actually had something to say here unlike 99% of their peers. Middle class life in England and the gap between rich and poor (A House In The Country, Sunny Afternoon), running away from home (Rosie Wont You Please Come Home), the opener song from this album deals with anonymity (Party Line) which is well ahead of its time. Look at where we are now, nobody knows you on the internet, just like the lyrics of Party Line predicted. "Is she big, is she small, is she a she at all" (preceding Lola, their biggest hit, a song about a transexual). The two songs Dandy and Fancy are about polygamy (Fancy: the music playing being an imitation of indian music - a novelty at the time, music and lyrics are from connected from that stand point, Dandy is a music hall style song of 2 minutes about Dave Davies and "that 2 girls are too many, 3 is a crowd and 4 you're dead"). The songs are connected through a certain theme, that being society in England and how it actually is, instead of what Ray Davies projects a fantasy of England (see: Village Green Preservation Society). Holiday In Waikiki is about winning a ticket to Hawaii, thus temporarily escaping the mundane middle class life and enjoying one self), Most Exclusive Residence For Sale is about the same guy who had a "House In The Country" who now loses his private property and has to pay off a mortgage (big problem in the 50s and 60s and after for that social class, the protagonist now being part of the middle class)
You don't have to read so much into the lyrics as all of this is really obvious.
Too Much On My Mind is about a mental breakdown that Ray Davies had earlier in 1966 (kind of reminds me of the many personal songs he wrote around that time, see: Two Sisters from another great album, Something Else).
I'll Remember and You're Looking Fine don't really fit in all that much like the 12 masterpieces on this album but they are alright, just average rock songs from 1966, nothing special, not too bad either, I certainly prefer them to a lot of songs featured in the album before this.
Rainy Day In June is a very atmospheric, unqiue song, using sound effects in a way not many other rock / pop bands did before (The Beatles and the Beach Boys did use sound effects too, the Kinks used them for multiple songs on the same album: Party Line, Holiday In Waikiki, Rainy Day In June. They also used effects for a single like the Beatles and Beach Boys did, Yellow Submarine, Caroline No, that Kinks single being Big Black Smoke)
All in all, I think Face To Face deserves to be so highly rated, being around the 890s in the overall ranking. Personally, I think it should be at least in the top 3 of 1966, but 8th place in 1966 isn't that bad. Evidently, more than enough people know about it, the instrumentation might be the reason why it's not as highly ranked in the Kinks discography like Arthur, Lola vs Powerman or even Something Else. All these albums have in common that the instrument playing is more enjoyable to the average listener and while Face To Face has good riffs and great basslines, the band who made it added more instruments for the following four albums and made the songs a bit deeper (not in a lyrical sense). In a way, Face To Face was the last garage rock album but at the same time the first operetta type concept album the Kinks did. "[+]Reply
"Quite possibly my favourite album ever, speaks to me like no other album ever has. Imposible to say how much this album means to me, soundtrack to my teenage years and still relevant now. I can see why some might hate this album but at least give it a try it might change your life."Reply