You must listen to the album below you: canon edition

[Repo]

[Repo]

[EyeKanFly]

1)

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No Secrets by Carly Simon
I've listened to a decent amount of Carly Simon songs before, but only a couple albums including Hotcakes and the Working Girl soundtrack (which is great). No Secrets is probably her best, featuring both her most well-known song as well as a handful over other standouts. At first I saw that this album has "You're So Vain" and I figured it may be like some of the other albums from this NPR chart: the album was picked for a standout single but is not necessarily the artist's best album. I don't think that's the case here, it's a solid album start to finish.

There's also some INCREDIBLE back-up talent that went into this album: Nicky Hopkins playing piano on a few songs; Klaus Voormann on bass on most songs; James Taylor, Mick Jagger, Paul & Linda McCartney on backing vocals on various tracks! I know I've mentioned the amount of talent that went into some of these albums before, but hell, this one has a Beatle AND a Stone. Having said that, their contributions are very very slight, and this is truly a Carly Simon album through and through. The only exception being the James Taylor cover (which actually features the McCartneys, James Taylor himself appears on a different track).

This reminds me a lot of Carole King, who I love. I can't say I enjoyed this as much as I have King's top albums, but this was certainly very good and will be a welcome revisit. 3.5/5.

2)

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Gentlemen Take Polaroids by Japan
This has been on your list for a little while and I'm curious.

3)
Gonna roll with NPR until that's done, and going to start rotating through other charts to fill out the remaining 10.
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
114. Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
132. I Am Shelby Lynne by Shelby Lynne
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Purplepash's top albums of the 1990s: *3 picks remaining
24. Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs by Ministry
26. Guide to Better Living by Grinspoon
43. From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah by Nirvana (I don't love Nirvana but I do like their hits, which I assume a live album will provide en force)
46. Incesticide & 50. Hormoaning by Nirvana (there's a lot of overlap in the b-sides compilation and the EP)
58. Lego My Ego by Mercury Rev (not a huge fan of early-era Mercury Rev but I love their later 90s work, so we'll see how this goes)
59. Frizzle Fry by Primus
62. Sound As Ever by You Am I
_________________
51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Purplepash]

[Repo]

[baystateoftheart]

1.

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Unseen Worlds by Laurie Spiegel

I love The Expanding Universe, but had a bit of trepidation about trying this one based on the cover. Luckily, it's beautiful, mellow progressive electronic in much the same vein of its predecessor. There are very few missteps, Spiegel creates entrancing soundscapes throughout, and there are some transcendent moments. However, the most interesting thing about Unseen Worlds is how it was made. She created the software herself, and then used it to make music including this album. "Music Mouse - An Intelligent Instrument" launched in 1986 and continues to be available for download (good luck with compatibility though). 4/5.

~~~~~

2. This one is on my to-do list:

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I Am Shelby Lynne by Shelby Lynne

~~~~~

3. Alphabet Game, Cohort 15 (2 picks left)

L: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
M: Wap Konn Jòj! - Mach-Hommy*
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: WLFGRL - Machine Girl
N: King’s Disease II - Nas
O: Trophies - O.C. & Apollo Brown
P: Truckload Of Trouble - The Pastels
R: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II - Raekwon
S: Fuchsia Swing Song - Sam Rivers*
S2: System Of A Down - System Of A Down

*Last chance!
_________________
Add me on RYM

[LedZep]

(1)

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Gentlemen Take Polaroids by Japan
In preparation I've listened to Tin Drum again and its fantastic mix of art pop and weird experimental folky parts gets better with every listen. Unlike that one, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, which is supposed to be in the same quality tier, to me feels like a much more ordinary new wave and synthpop album. Not exactly my favourite genres, but even within those boundaries they sound pretty unique and forward thinking. Some atmospheric and slightly experimental moments foreshadow the things to come and those were my favourites. Burning Bridges in particular felt Brian Eno-esque or even new age, an excellent track. Nightporter was a great single too. Toned down approach, the eerie background in juxtaposition with Sylvian's mellow vocals and piano, romantic and nightmarish at the same time. On the other hand, cheesy saxophones and some VERY 80s sounding guitar/synth melodies on other songs didn't really help the album, much like that Prefab Sprout one. The name "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" is absolutely fantastic, I should probably pay attention to the lyrics on the second listen. 7.5/10

(2)
I'll skip SOAD and Mach Hommy and give you an album that's high on my TODO list: Trophies.

(3)
Seems that 2021 albums have started dominating this random list so I'll just make another one which I'll use for this game. Let's see how long it takes before I mess something up while doing a 4 concurrent lists run.

2021

JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Grouper - Shade
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
Turnstile - Glow On
Рожь [Rozh] - Вечное
Lorde - Solar Power
S280F - 28
Pink Siifu - Gumbo'!
Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters
Worm - Foreverglade
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[EyeKanFly]

1)

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I Am Shelby Lynne by Shelby Lynne
I didn't have much expectations for this album going into it, but coming out of it I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the full album a few times now and I think it could easily go into my top albums of the 90s chart. I'm going to delve deeper into Shelby Lynne's catalog. It had a really Norah Jones-esque feel throughout the album, sort of soft rock/pop blues, but overall I think a little more interesting than Jones (who is pretty good but gets a little stale rather quickly). Standout songs include "Your Lies" and "Dreamsome". 4/5

2)

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Blue Banisters by Lana Del Rey
I enjoyed a few tracks but not as much overall as Chemtrails Over the Country Club.

3)
Gonna roll with NPR until that's done, and going to start rotating through other charts to fill out the remaining 10.
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
114. Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Purplepash's top albums of the 1990s: *2 picks remaining
24. Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs by Ministry
26. Guide to Better Living by Grinspoon
43. From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah by Nirvana (I don't love Nirvana but I do like their hits, which I assume a live album will provide en force)
46. Incesticide & 50. Hormoaning by Nirvana (there's a lot of overlap in the b-sides compilation and the EP)
58. Lego My Ego by Mercury Rev (not a huge fan of early-era Mercury Rev but I love their later 90s work, so we'll see how this goes)
59. Frizzle Fry by Primus
62. Sound As Ever by You Am I
65. Live Seeds by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
_________________
51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[baystateoftheart]

1.

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Trophies by Apollo Brown & O.C.

Apollo Brown's production here is quite nice for the most part, although it lacks any masterstrokes and some of the beats are cliché. O.C. sounds really good on this album too. His flows are great throughout, and his lyrics are solid, at least through the first nine tracks. The album then goes off the rails lyrically, with homophobia, some serious antisemitism, and an elevated concentration of mid bars. The stated concept of this album is basically O.C. being a grumpy old man about everyone needing a trophy, so in retrospect it was inevitable that this would cut into the lyrical quality at some point. Anyway, the first half of the album is fun enough for this to be a pretty good album overall, in spite of the glaring flaws. 3/5.

~~~~~

2. Let's see how this one is:

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Lego My Ego by Mercury Rev

~~~~~

3. Alphabet Game, Cohort 15 (last pick)

L: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
M: WLFGRL - Machine Girl
M2: Mutantes - Mutantes
M3: Piñata Beats - Madlib
N: King’s Disease II - Nas
O: Garden Of Delete - Oneohtrix Point Never
P: Truckload Of Trouble - The Pastels*
R: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II - Raekwon*
S: Caravanserai - Santana
S2: System Of A Down - System Of A Down

*Last chance!
_________________
Add me on RYM

[Purplepash]

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Anime, Trauma And Divorce by Open Mike Eagle

This is the second OME album I've listened to, after Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, which I thought was great, and I really liked this too. I guess I should listen to more of his work. Even though I didn't fully understand everything he was getting at in each song I enjoyed a lot of, in fact most of, his lyrics throughout the album, and it gives me a desire to want to know more which encourages further listens. Nice interesting beats that add to, but don't overshadow his rapping. An album I would like to listen to again, I'm giving it 8/10, and it starts at #67 in my top 100 for the year. Good pick, thanks!




I think all the LCD Soundsystem albums are great. I need to listen to this one again it's been so long.

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LCD Soundsystem by LCD Soundsystem




Top 63 Music Albums of 2020 by Tha1ChiefRocka (2 picks left)

3. Rattle by Wailin Storms
4. Burden Of Proof by Benny The Butcher
6. Tellusboutyourself by Yerin Baek
9. Healing Is A Miracle by Julianna Barwick
14. Royal Swan by Phoxjaw
15. Motherhood by No Joy
16. My Magic Dreams Have Lost Their Spell by Nick Storring
19. Blizzards by Nathan Fake
22. Sorry You Couldn't Make It by Swamp Dogg
23. Pink Elephant by Stand Atlantic