Pour your heart out...

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purple





  • #1
  • Posted: 12/30/2009 05:22
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Everyone can know everyone's favorite album by looking at their charts, but this thread is dedicated to describing, in as much excrutiating detail as you are willing to type, why your favorite album is your favorite album. From the sound, to the lyrics, to the history, type all that you can of your favorite album; if you have a close second or third (and I mean by close it's about to take #1), go ahead and present those as well, but make sure it doesn't take away from your will to type about your current favorite. Please keep it below three, and please don't spare any personal attachments to albums. I'll post mine eventually...
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videoheadcleaner
formerly Harkan


Gender: Male
Age: 38
Australia

  • #2
  • Posted: 12/30/2009 13:04
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So here is why I love Disintegration:

The first Cure album I bought was their self-titled 2004 album. It was regarded as a Disintegrationsequel of sorts. In retrospect, I am not too sure of this. So, upon reading that review, I bought Disintegrationin 2004. I knew only 'Lullaby' and 'Pictures Of You' from the album initially and the only other thing I heard was on a South Park episode when Robert Smith had defeated Barbra Streisand, Stan yells to him "Disintegrationis the best album ever".

My preconceptions started highly with the information above but nothing was disappointing. I was unsure of the 30 seconds of silence at the beginning of 'Plainsong'. I was about to turn up the sound but the first note hit and I knew it was deliberate. Clever idea which probably caught many people out.

'Pictures Of You' followed and it was like I was hearing it for the first time again. A longer, more atmospheric song than I initally heard. And from there on in, I continued to listen intently.

The songwriting struck me more than any other album. It was the first time I saw music for art than for entertainment. The lyrics of 'Lullaby' and 'Fascination Street' are incredible and the latter has become one of my favourite songs of all time.

Disintegrationis a journey. It is not a collection of songs, disjointed and nonsensical. The dark and moody themes surrounding love, death and loneliness connected with me in my late teens (18 when I got the album). It is not an emo album or depressing for me, it is an experience to be listened to and not consumed to overtake you. Even now, in my mid twenties, I listen to the album as a whole. The fiancee is glad that I don't reflect the somewhat depressing themes and rather escape through them if I am in a rut.

And I have even used the album as preparation for acting in a modern interpretation of King Lear. I was the character Edgar, whose father believes him to be a traitor and this takes Edgar on a journey to redeem his name and destroy the conspirators. 'Homesick' was stuck on loop before each performance as this song struck the most correlation to Edgar's plight. So, think of it as an educational tool as well!

In summation, The five years that I have owned Disintegrationhave started my appreciation for music as art and made me a Cure fan through and through. I now own all Cure albums and have tried to get my hands on anything they have ever released (I want Five Swing Live but I don't want to pay a bucketload.) Disintegrationis a must for any post-punk enthusiast and I don't think anything will ever take it over as my number one.
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purple





  • #3
  • Posted: 12/30/2009 16:01
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That was great, and exactly what I was looking for; the only thing more I can ask from anyone beyond harkan's is to point out certain sounds, riffs, and lyrics that really form that connection. And harkan, congratulations on marrying soon.
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Charicature




Age: 49
Location: Vermont
United States

  • #4
  • Posted: 12/30/2009 17:50
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Well, #1 on my list is Chrome by Catherine Wheel - I'll try to explain why as well as I can.

I bought this album in late 1993 - life was not so good at the particular time, but I won't go into that...it got worse, much worse, before getting better.

Anyway, I'd seen the video for "Crank" on eMpTy Vee (they actually still showed videos then, and I saw it either on Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes) and liked the song, so I bought the album based on just one song from a band I'd theretofore never heard of (When their first album Ferment came out I was just forming a taste for current music after years of listening almost exclusively to music from the 50s, 60s, and a bit of the 70s for reasons I, again, won't go into, so I wasn't aware of this band until this second release).

When I listened to the cassette the first time, hearing the opening riffs of "Kill Rhythm" then Rob Dickinson's rich voice singing "Wanna fire a gun, show me...wanna be unseen, show me" seemingly out of time with the music, I thought at first I'd made a mistake buying this album...but I stuck with it and my ears attuned to the music. On the first listen I was completely unfamiliar with most of the songs, obviously - Crank was the third track, but other than that I knew nothing. I was impressed on the first listen with several songs, particularly "Show Me Mary", the final track on the album. So I listened again.

Anyway, its status as my favorite had its roots then, but it was a progression over time and understanding the album's design itself. It's an emotional rollercoaster, taking you on the highs and lows of mental reconciliation. Anger, despair, denial, acceptance...you go through it all.

Well, after starting this, I'm finding I really can't describe it beyond that. It's an album you just have to listen to for yourself. But ultimately there isn't a song on it I don't like, and they all flow into each other seamlessly in a continuous sonic and emotional progression that makes (for me) the most perfect album I've ever listened to. The perfect mixes of sound with Dickinson's smooth singing style punctuated by occasional screams or cries.
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Boogn1sh



Gender: Male
Age: 38
Location: Chicago

  • #5
  • Posted: 01/06/2010 22:42
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Well number one on my list is Blonde on Blonde by Dylan and it will probably always top my list....I've written about it a looooot though, so rather than babble more about it I’ll instead babble about my number 2 album Odessey and Oracle (yup it's misspelled on the cover too) by The Zombies.

It is interesting to compare O&O with Blonde on Blonde. Dylan created a feast of an album, so bloated with originality and fascinating lyrics it’s impossible to dissect in one sitting. Listening to it straight through with headphones is like trying to eat an entire families Thanksgiving dinner through your ear holes; although it’s possible, it won’t always be the most rewarding experience.

O&O on the other hand is like the tiny bag of sugar coated pecans my Grandma used to make me for Christmas. It’s that delicate little treat you can’t help but eat immediately, and afterwards pine for more, fantasize about more. It’s one of the qualities of any great album, it leaves you wanting more; you want to be lost in the world that it creates.
O&O contains one of the strongest collections of pop songs ever assembled on a single album. More varied than Pet Sounds, more cohesive than Sgt. Peppers, and less preachy and full of itself than pretty much any other great album. There's never a hint of self indulgence, or any other kind of wankery, just one brilliant pop song after another.

Released in 1968, after the band had broken up, in a way it's a document of a downfall. But for something to have a downfall it must first have had a place of high regard, and unfortunately the Zombies never really reached that in their life; if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it... no one really heard the Zombies falling. So they quietly melted into the belly of history, with a couple semi hit singles under their belt, and went their separate ways.

Then in 1969, more than a year after the band broke up, Time of the Season was released as a single and exploded up the charts. If you've ever watched a movie or TV show about the late 60's you've heard it (“what's your name, what's your name, whose your daddy, is he rich like me”) unfortunately because of this it's become a cliché; vapid and indistinguishable from the sentiment it’s used to express. If you listen hard enough, you can hear it without seeing Forrest Gump sludge through muddy Vietnam, or an episode of the Wonder Years, and appreciate it as a unique, fantastic song off of an album full of fantastic songs.

If I had to use only one word to describe O&O it would be pretty, or perhaps bittersweet…or maybe harmony. It’s as if someone heard Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks and said, “I want to make an album of songs just like that.” Not necessarily in the way they sound, but in their overwhelmingly, almost painful, melancholic beauty.

The albums opener, Care of Cell 44 is a perfect example of this. Like much of the album, its joys come in its tiny climaxes contained within; and also like much of the album, its beauty belies an undertone of repressed sadness. The song is a letter to a woman the narrator is very much in love with; the catch being that she’s currently in prison, a fact that pays off well within the song. “We’ll get to know each other for a second time, then you can tell me about your prison stay.”

It’s funny and unexpected, but the real greatness in the song is the way the different parts of it interact. The way the verses build up to find a short bridge of vocal harmonies that release the tension, only to explode with happiness moments later as the narrator practically yells “feels so good you’re coming home soon.” You feel his happiness at the idea of having her back. That the version of her he imagines in his head maybe drastically different than the person she actually is doesn’t matter. We never fall in love with people, we fall in love with our idea of them, the version of them we’ve categorized in our head. This is pop song construction at its best, and it’s only the start.

It’s hard to choose individual songs to discuss because they’re all of the same extraordinary quality. One standout is Brief Candles, another example of great interplay between the different sections of the song. Its chorus is stunningly gorgeous, made even more powerful by the surrounding verses that include only piano and very plaintive vocals. It’s about dealing with loss, accepting that we may be better off without the person, or things, that we once had. It perfectly encapsulates the mix of feelings one experiences when they lose someone, the sadness that can be difficult to overcome at first, but ultimately, the happiness we feel in our ability to rise above it, while still recognizing the importance that person held for us

For some reason, many music listeners have come to equate pretty with petty, or trite; and seem to believe that something can’t be both pretty and powerful. In my opinion, the gauge of successful music should be its ability to illicit ANY emotion within the listener. The worst kind of music is that which makes us feel nothing, leaves us empty and with no desire to react to it in any way; its inoffensive and safe, which is what can be said about most of today’s pop music.

When I listen to any particular track off Blonde on Blonde it brings about a wave of emotions, some sadness, some regret, some confusion, some joy, but each and every track makes me feel something, and the same can be said for O&O. The fact that that feeling is often unbridled, uncontrollable happiness makes it no less valuable or successful in my eyes. I challenge anyone to listen to tracks like I Want Her She Wants Me, or This Will Be Our Year, or Friends Of Mine, and not have any feelings at all; try to not have a big wide stupid grin on your face….its impossible.
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maxperenchio




Location: Chicago

  • #6
  • Posted: 01/12/2010 01:47
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Revolver was the sound of an evolving social conscious- a sublime coming of age, an introduction to the "now" as we know it. Blonde on Blonde is the smokey breath of autumnal energy onto entangled lovers, tussling about within rustic apartment complexes. Pet Sounds beams with the weary eyed wonder and sadness of fading youth.



Animalize by KISS is the sound of fire-winged bionic falcons flying out of the mouth of a giant pharaoh-beast. It is probably the sweetest album of all time. Erupting out of the gates with a triple song attack i like to refer to as "the fire trilogy" (1. Into the Fire, 2. Heaven's on Fire, 3. Burn Bitch Burn) the Paul Stanley produced monolith of post-apocalyptic greatness boasts some of the most extreme and ruthless air guitar worthy moments in rock n roll. While I would never consider this album "challenging", it does beg some requirements from the listener;

The listener should be at least three of the following:
- black out drunk
- driving a sweet car over 90 miles per hour
- extremely pumped up
- about to get into a huge fight
- staring a mature scorpion in the face
- injecting questionable steroids
- aggressively horny
- hanging out with a group of dads

When Paul Stanley starts singing "Get All You Can Take", something starts to become obnoxiously evident- this album rules. Paul Stanley belts out what seem to be the highest notes of all time, even when he's singing low. Every lyric is about fire, sex, driving fast, and fire.

This is the only KISS album to feature virtuoso guitarist Mark St. John. After recording this album, he developed such terrible arthritis that he had to quit the band. Recording Animalize literally made his hands break. After odd-meter strut fest of Simmons' "Lonely is the Hunter', Paul Stanley delivers the most badass four minutes and one second of the entire 20th century with "Under the Gun". Now I don't want to get too deep into this, let it suffice to say that I can't listen to this song around other people because i'd punch their lights out.

"Thrills in the Night" is the sleazy-post-apocalyptic-hooker-story to end all sleazy-post-apocalyptic-hooker-stories. It oozes smut and genius. Paul Stanley sounds like he should be wearing a cyborg eye and singing on top of a toxic landfill. "While the City Sleeps" and "Murder in High Heels" are two Gene Simmons songs that some people (losers) could call "throwaway" because he was supposedly just fucking Cher all the time and never working on the album. In my opinion this makes those songs way more advanced. And thats what this album is, so advanced...sooooooo advanced.
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