Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
DriftingOrpheus 
Subject to change (often). These are my personal favorite records...not necessarily a reflection of an objective musical hierarchy. (Wow. These write-ups have grown like weeds, particularly as you descend through the list. Only the slightest bit proud. 😌)
- Chart updated: 04/09/2024 04:15
- (Created: 04/25/2020 20:18).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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For many, In Rainbows is the definitive record for the prodigal sons from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It's certainly the most earthly and naturalistic of the lot. More importantly, it's the most human from a band that's consistently alien. The warm embrace that In Rainbows provides is a welcomed outlier amidst a catalogue fearful of the outside world and entrenched in emotional isolation. On the album, Radiohead don't create panic over climate change like on Kid A. They don't warn of a technology-driven future due to human complacency and they don't protest the political direction of world powers like on Hail to the Thief. They simply reflect, ponder human vanity, recall drunken evenings and most of all, have fun.
The band collectively "letting their hair down" has led to an undeniably earnest entry in the Radiohead canon. Emerging with the bouncy, yet refined 15 Step, it's easy to admire Phil Selway's percussion on the track. The 5/4 time signature creates the illusion of a mutated pop song, awash in sarcastic wit. Bodysnatchers seems to rekindle the band's love for guitar rock as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien imprint their likenesses all over the thundering track. Nude, track three, could easily take the cake for Radiohead's pinnacle of aesthetic beauty, a song that unfurls slowly and fades into the ether ever so softly. Yorke's vocals on this cut are among the finest he's ever produced. It's very apropos that a song about physical vanity ends up being so tangibly gorgeous.
Late album entries such as Reckoner, Jigsaw Falling Into Place and the heartbreaking Videotape, bookend an album submerged in consistency. Still, there is no grand memorandum, no life-lesson other than what it means to be human, whether fallible, physically self-conscious or devoid of direction. Radiohead have made a name for themselves by zigging and subsequently zagging, but In Rainbows resides on the straightest of lines. A line that is neither accessible nor challenging, existential nor nihilistic. Ten tracks of simply being, at the heights of exuberance and the base of sorrow. A full spectrum of emotion, paralleled by the spectrum of light that dons the album cover.
"No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I've ever seen."
-Videotape
Standout Tracks:
1. Nude
2. Videotape
3. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
95.9 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
The band collectively "letting their hair down" has led to an undeniably earnest entry in the Radiohead canon. Emerging with the bouncy, yet refined 15 Step, it's easy to admire Phil Selway's percussion on the track. The 5/4 time signature creates the illusion of a mutated pop song, awash in sarcastic wit. Bodysnatchers seems to rekindle the band's love for guitar rock as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien imprint their likenesses all over the thundering track. Nude, track three, could easily take the cake for Radiohead's pinnacle of aesthetic beauty, a song that unfurls slowly and fades into the ether ever so softly. Yorke's vocals on this cut are among the finest he's ever produced. It's very apropos that a song about physical vanity ends up being so tangibly gorgeous.
Late album entries such as Reckoner, Jigsaw Falling Into Place and the heartbreaking Videotape, bookend an album submerged in consistency. Still, there is no grand memorandum, no life-lesson other than what it means to be human, whether fallible, physically self-conscious or devoid of direction. Radiohead have made a name for themselves by zigging and subsequently zagging, but In Rainbows resides on the straightest of lines. A line that is neither accessible nor challenging, existential nor nihilistic. Ten tracks of simply being, at the heights of exuberance and the base of sorrow. A full spectrum of emotion, paralleled by the spectrum of light that dons the album cover.
"No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I've ever seen."
-Videotape
Standout Tracks:
1. Nude
2. Videotape
3. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
95.9 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
51,117
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
386
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When Fishmans signed with Virgin Records Japan in 1990, drummer Kin-ichi Motegi thought that the band would sell 50,000 copies of their debut record, 'Chappie, Don't Cry'. In reality, the album didn't even sell 5,000. Fishmans, despite their brilliance, weren't able to boast any kind of monetary success, not that this ran parallel to the quality of the music, which was often stratospheric. These days, their performances and reissues are labors of love and honor while thoughts of economic prosperity from the music seem irrelevant. The remaining men from the band's heyday occupy a very different headspace than the young kids that broke into the Japanese music scene at the dawn of the 1990's. Then, they were wide-eyed, ambitious and fully unaware of the rigors and crushing distresses that the music industry offers with little clemency. Frontman Shinji Sato, particularly, foresaw a future bedecked with a rock star effigy and he worked tirelessly on his craft to feed the fires of his vision. Not to undermine the disappointment of any of the members who gave their all to the now legendary Japanese unit, but the fruits of a belatedly adored discography feel all the more tragic in a world without Sato in it. Outside of Japan, few could squint and regard the band as "rock stars", however, whenever the group took the stage, the quality of their live showcase anointed them as a force with no equal.
'Long Season '96' contains material from Fishmans at their peak. Recorded in the Winter of 1996, its release in 2016 came as a welcomed surprise for loyal fans who had long waited for a companion piece to the seismic '98.12.28' (1999). It's safe to say that '96' wades effervescently through the same hallowed passage of celestial bodies. The LP commences, the only way it could, with a Fishmans live staple/calling card. 'Oh Slime' starts with the shrill, unmistakable wail from Shinji Sato, a sort of auditory autograph, as the unit uncorks their customary, preliminary track. This version of 'Oh! Slime', is more barebones than the epic, arena-filling version found on '98.12.28'. What this rendition lacks in polish, it makes up for with heavy helpings of charm. Notably less formidable than its evolution, the playful keyboarding of secret weapon member, Honzi, colors the track beneath Sato's half-spoken/half-sung vocals. Before you can blink, the band slips into second track 'Go Go Round This World!', as declared by Yuzuru Kashiwabara's heartbeat, sub-aquatic bass line. This iteration of 'Go Go' vastly differs from its original life as a single from Fishmans in 1994. Where the single was direct, melodic and firmly colored in from within the lines, the live equivalent is comparative free jazz and borderline improvisational. It's an eight-minute, kaleidoscopic safari that reorients itself compulsively between canorous wobbler and prog-rock bouncer. It's one of the record's more intriguing forays, especially when holding it up to the light, parallel to the prototype. Putting new coats of paint on compositions should always be in play on stage and the band successfully touches up their prior handiwork. Third track, なんてったの, is an early career standout, as pointed out by Sato himself. The swirling track retains most of the properties of the studio cut. In other live iterations, there's a warmth present from Honzi's keys. Here, chilly tones return, leaving the warmth to Sato's vocals as Kin-ichi Motegi's drums dance around both elements. It's a track that undeniably circular, leaving the listener in dizzy, joyful bewilderment. The aura of merriment extends to fourth entry, '土曜日の夜', however, shy basslines are shown the door. Kashiwabara's buoyant work on the track provides a smooth surface for others to effectively ad-lib on top of. This bravado is most extroverted during the song's mid-section, when Honzi's cosmic flourishes play tag with the unshackled guitar of Darts Sekiguchi. '土曜日の夜' is a ringing endorsement of the sturdiness of Fishmans' sonic foundations and gives credence to the notion that any additional musical adornment would homogenize seamlessly.
The LP takes its foot off the pedal with fifth track, 'バックビートにのっかって', a tranquil transcription of one of the more serene moments from 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya' (1997). Here, in its live reincarnation, the song is willing to unbutton its collar and let loose, if only marginally. The dotting of the outer edges propagates renewed vigor without parting with its aboriginal appeal. Extended drum installments and brighter keys illuminate a track that's far removed from a Monday morning shift and is comfortably enjoying Friday night cocktail hour. The airy waltz advances with 'エヴリデイ・エヴリナイト', which also isn't afraid to step out of its comfort zone. This chapter is still chiefly captained by the soothing coos of Shinji Sato, but exits stage with a Sekiguchi guitar extension that shakes your hand firmly before leaving, making sure you commit the name to memory. It's just then, when all things passive are expunged as 'Sunny Blue's' agitated riff splits the silence. The dichotomy between Sato's vocal delicacy and some of Fishmans' more combative instrumentation never ceases to marvel with its ability to harbor such consonance. Despite the truth behind the melody section hording the spotlight, Kin-ichi Motegi's dexterous drumming straightens the spine of the rebellious episode. The track, potentially more than the others, best displays a group who have fully found their technical confidence. With 'Smilin' Days, Summer Holiday', the band re-up on their opportunity to cast out any lingering kinetic energy. Another piece that has been embedded with new life on stage, 'Smilin' Days' is, at times, formless and polychromatic. However, the tune never veers into a place of ostentation and retains its sense of self. Still a down-to-earth celebration of life's little delights, this 'holiday' champions childlike innocence. Sato sings, "Like how a puppy and a child are understandably good friends; I'm sure the person with the foreign hairstyle is thinking the same thing."
As the LP approaches its coda, Fishmans graciously send off the observational, tenderhearted canticles of their formative years and invite the space rock, dream pop stylings of "すばらしくてNice Choice" in to close the loop. The track whirrs in, akin to a hovering flying saucer. The slightly shrouded perspective and auditory ambiguity point to a freshly charted course on the back half of 'Long Season '96'. This is not to dye the objectively benign lyrics as deceitful, but it does, however, cause them to land with alternate reverberations. Honzi's violin further implicates the cut as one with nebulous sensibilities, both literally and figuratively. 'Nice Choice' is one of the album's more arresting tangents, one that's markedly nihilistic as evidenced by Sato's declarations of, "Gently meet fate and laugh at it". Fishmans continue to live in the world of the incorporeal with '夜の想い', which translates to 'Thoughts of the Night'. Although the track has more swagger in its step, it still wrestles with headier themes than previous pop belters. This introspection isn't just contained to the setlist, the emotion found in this recitation is noticeably impassioned, as highlighted by the carefully weighted playing of its authors. Still, these are just precisely situated cultivations in service of the gut punch to come. The penultimate, 'ナイトクルージング', is to my ears, the finest arrangement the song has ever adopted, with its captivating allure pausing, smelling the flowers and then departing, clearing a path for the colossus. The finality of 'Long Season' never loses it's potency and while its more famous exhibition brandishes more emotion, this offering is more cavernous. The stellar percussion of Motegi and Asa-Chang at the track's axis is triumphant, eliminating any hint of a mid-point lull. This perpetual momentum steers the listener headfirst into the brunt of the song's unrivaled emotional endgame. Sato long wished for he and his cohorts to become "rock stars". Fortunately for them, the term "deities" would have to suffice.
95.7 [First added to this chart: 07/17/2022]
'Long Season '96' contains material from Fishmans at their peak. Recorded in the Winter of 1996, its release in 2016 came as a welcomed surprise for loyal fans who had long waited for a companion piece to the seismic '98.12.28' (1999). It's safe to say that '96' wades effervescently through the same hallowed passage of celestial bodies. The LP commences, the only way it could, with a Fishmans live staple/calling card. 'Oh Slime' starts with the shrill, unmistakable wail from Shinji Sato, a sort of auditory autograph, as the unit uncorks their customary, preliminary track. This version of 'Oh! Slime', is more barebones than the epic, arena-filling version found on '98.12.28'. What this rendition lacks in polish, it makes up for with heavy helpings of charm. Notably less formidable than its evolution, the playful keyboarding of secret weapon member, Honzi, colors the track beneath Sato's half-spoken/half-sung vocals. Before you can blink, the band slips into second track 'Go Go Round This World!', as declared by Yuzuru Kashiwabara's heartbeat, sub-aquatic bass line. This iteration of 'Go Go' vastly differs from its original life as a single from Fishmans in 1994. Where the single was direct, melodic and firmly colored in from within the lines, the live equivalent is comparative free jazz and borderline improvisational. It's an eight-minute, kaleidoscopic safari that reorients itself compulsively between canorous wobbler and prog-rock bouncer. It's one of the record's more intriguing forays, especially when holding it up to the light, parallel to the prototype. Putting new coats of paint on compositions should always be in play on stage and the band successfully touches up their prior handiwork. Third track, なんてったの, is an early career standout, as pointed out by Sato himself. The swirling track retains most of the properties of the studio cut. In other live iterations, there's a warmth present from Honzi's keys. Here, chilly tones return, leaving the warmth to Sato's vocals as Kin-ichi Motegi's drums dance around both elements. It's a track that undeniably circular, leaving the listener in dizzy, joyful bewilderment. The aura of merriment extends to fourth entry, '土曜日の夜', however, shy basslines are shown the door. Kashiwabara's buoyant work on the track provides a smooth surface for others to effectively ad-lib on top of. This bravado is most extroverted during the song's mid-section, when Honzi's cosmic flourishes play tag with the unshackled guitar of Darts Sekiguchi. '土曜日の夜' is a ringing endorsement of the sturdiness of Fishmans' sonic foundations and gives credence to the notion that any additional musical adornment would homogenize seamlessly.
The LP takes its foot off the pedal with fifth track, 'バックビートにのっかって', a tranquil transcription of one of the more serene moments from 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya' (1997). Here, in its live reincarnation, the song is willing to unbutton its collar and let loose, if only marginally. The dotting of the outer edges propagates renewed vigor without parting with its aboriginal appeal. Extended drum installments and brighter keys illuminate a track that's far removed from a Monday morning shift and is comfortably enjoying Friday night cocktail hour. The airy waltz advances with 'エヴリデイ・エヴリナイト', which also isn't afraid to step out of its comfort zone. This chapter is still chiefly captained by the soothing coos of Shinji Sato, but exits stage with a Sekiguchi guitar extension that shakes your hand firmly before leaving, making sure you commit the name to memory. It's just then, when all things passive are expunged as 'Sunny Blue's' agitated riff splits the silence. The dichotomy between Sato's vocal delicacy and some of Fishmans' more combative instrumentation never ceases to marvel with its ability to harbor such consonance. Despite the truth behind the melody section hording the spotlight, Kin-ichi Motegi's dexterous drumming straightens the spine of the rebellious episode. The track, potentially more than the others, best displays a group who have fully found their technical confidence. With 'Smilin' Days, Summer Holiday', the band re-up on their opportunity to cast out any lingering kinetic energy. Another piece that has been embedded with new life on stage, 'Smilin' Days' is, at times, formless and polychromatic. However, the tune never veers into a place of ostentation and retains its sense of self. Still a down-to-earth celebration of life's little delights, this 'holiday' champions childlike innocence. Sato sings, "Like how a puppy and a child are understandably good friends; I'm sure the person with the foreign hairstyle is thinking the same thing."
As the LP approaches its coda, Fishmans graciously send off the observational, tenderhearted canticles of their formative years and invite the space rock, dream pop stylings of "すばらしくてNice Choice" in to close the loop. The track whirrs in, akin to a hovering flying saucer. The slightly shrouded perspective and auditory ambiguity point to a freshly charted course on the back half of 'Long Season '96'. This is not to dye the objectively benign lyrics as deceitful, but it does, however, cause them to land with alternate reverberations. Honzi's violin further implicates the cut as one with nebulous sensibilities, both literally and figuratively. 'Nice Choice' is one of the album's more arresting tangents, one that's markedly nihilistic as evidenced by Sato's declarations of, "Gently meet fate and laugh at it". Fishmans continue to live in the world of the incorporeal with '夜の想い', which translates to 'Thoughts of the Night'. Although the track has more swagger in its step, it still wrestles with headier themes than previous pop belters. This introspection isn't just contained to the setlist, the emotion found in this recitation is noticeably impassioned, as highlighted by the carefully weighted playing of its authors. Still, these are just precisely situated cultivations in service of the gut punch to come. The penultimate, 'ナイトクルージング', is to my ears, the finest arrangement the song has ever adopted, with its captivating allure pausing, smelling the flowers and then departing, clearing a path for the colossus. The finality of 'Long Season' never loses it's potency and while its more famous exhibition brandishes more emotion, this offering is more cavernous. The stellar percussion of Motegi and Asa-Chang at the track's axis is triumphant, eliminating any hint of a mid-point lull. This perpetual momentum steers the listener headfirst into the brunt of the song's unrivaled emotional endgame. Sato long wished for he and his cohorts to become "rock stars". Fortunately for them, the term "deities" would have to suffice.
95.7 [First added to this chart: 07/17/2022]
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When you think of jazz, what comes to mind? Is it the image of a smokey club amidst the throes of a liquor-soaked evening where men and women who have nothing left to lose congregate bombastically with sullied but exotic instruments that light their path to the night's end? Is it more akin to a visage of a smooth, sagacious individual whose jib is cut in the fashion of someone who's seen and done it all with only the sound of a perfectly crafted note proving enough to catch him off guard? Perhaps your perception of this often misunderstood and under-appreciated genre takes the shape of a dinner party, stiff upper lips or imperceptible elevator music more akin to ambient soundscapes than anything else? However you may frame it, there's one definition that most who have lived and died, scratched and clawed, inhaled and exhaled jazz's rich, fertile terrain can come together on. Jazz, simply put, is religion. In addition to being a way of life, the genre is immaterial, fluid and ever-evolving. Kamasi Washington's approach to jazz is not exactly aligned with your grandfather's retelling of it. That's not to say one is superior to the other. It more plainly proves that this genre, more than any other, reflects the hearts, minds and temperaments of its craftsmen. In the case of Washington, his heart bleeds for a frenetic, emotionally swelling, ancestral tribute version of the eclectic genre, best synthesized on his 2015 aptly-named odyssey, 'The Epic'.
Kamasi Washington has spent his life honing his one-of-a-kind, God-given talent in preparation for a grand statement on the pageantry of jazz, the glory and tribulations of his ancestors and the beauty of music at large. He studied at UCLA, with the focus of his education centered around Ethnomusicology, which would play an integral role in crafting his first, proper label LP in 2015. Additionally, his experiences flanking artists such as Snoop Dogg, Nas, Run the Jewels and most notably, Kendrick Lamar, on his 2015 record 'To Pimp a Butterfly', have allowed the saxophonist to absorb a variety of styles and musical ideas while also contributing to an ocean of outstanding music without most listeners being particularly privy to his contributions. On the mammoth undertaking that is 'The Epic', Washington establishes an unmistakeable, idiosyncratic grandeur and deconstructs and subverts anyone's expectations on what a Jazz record should be. His saxophone glides over the entirety of the nearly three hour journey, shepherding its chapters through frantic bursts of brassy elation and breezy, idyllic, reflectionary traverses. Evidence of the album's supernatural power for vehemence can be found on its introduction. 'Change of the Guard' features a bevy of woodwind fury as Washington's tenor sax sets the stage for a cosmic, interstellar journey of incalculable potency. The record is also distinctive for its use of choral backing, a resource put to glorious effect during 'Askim', which pairs its angelic choir with breakneck but respectful drum passages from Ronald Bruner Jr. and Tony Austin. This is nothing less than hymnal music fit for a final performance at world's end or, perhaps more fittingly, during an ascension into the clouds.
One would be remiss without touting the contributions of bass maestro, Thundercat, whose patient diligence acts as the heartbeat for 'The Rhythm Changes', which comes equipped with a lavish lead vocal from Patrice Quinn. As the track swells her vocals begin to soothe as she states, "Daylight seems bright because of night;
It's shade we need so we can see." Kamasi's exploits return to center stage on the deliciously untamed, comparatively chaotic 'Miss Understanding', which quickly forms into a showcase for Washington's saxophone and Thundercat's bass to continuously dance circles around each other. It's another dizzying height for the 'The Epic' and leaves room for contemplation regarding its ability to exist in the first place. The next monolithic instillation comes in the shape of 'The Magnificent Seven', a stirring, towering work that's propelled like a jazz fireball and remains the most baronial entry on the LP. The track comes into focus on the horizon with Thundercat's swaggering bass tones only to proceed to sweep you into zero gravity on a rising tide of choir voices sent skyward by Washington's billowing sax. The keyboard-piano partnership between Cameron Graves and Brandon Coleman never ceases to lag behind the weighty punctuality of the rhythm section as they provide a healthy injection of sprightly luminescence amidst the quickly forming volcano of sonic aggression. 'The Magnificent 7' brandishes a western sheen (not just in name), as its driving momentum recalls horses galloping into town with riders hell bent on making their conclusive stand. These are the kind of harmonies that comprise the entirety of 'The Epic', notes that resonate far beyond the sheet music and into the collective consciousness of all who listen. Its pension for imagery is undefeated, its brush strokes unclouded and it carries an earthly, human spontaneity. Despite the record's modern sensibilities, Washington still finds time to tip his cap to the artisans of yesteryear. His cover of 'Claire de Lune', made famous by Claude Debussy, is just as romantic but seamlessly repackages the piece in a manner that's languid, yet expressive, like an autumn wind through leaves that are destined to change their shade. The labyrinthian LP ends with 'The Message', a final explosion of intention and a rallying cry which ensures that all that came prior is capped with suitable vigor. The track may represent Washington's finest saxophone exhibition as the pulses cascade over one another with considerably ferocity; a manic addendum on previous endeavors.
Whether honoring those who gave their life for equality on 'Malcolm's Theme' or turning in a jazz Rembrandt inspired by 1960's celluloid on 'The Magnificent 7', it's transpicuous to this listener that Kamasi Washington doesn't believe in presenting his illustrious art without carefully affixed ethos. This ethos stems from a decisive adoration for the beauty of jazz, the African American spirit and the inextinguishable fire that burns within each and every human being with hearts that beat with love. Though 'The Epic' is an undeniable championing of innumerable ideas, there are those who will look upon it with skewed gazes, no doubt viewing its cinematic presentation too far flung from the often purist genre sensitivities. No, this is not an attempt to make a commercial jazz record or appeal to a younger generation categorically. 'The Epic' is, however, an acknowledgment of the perseverance of mortal men and the actions, documents and legacy they leave behind. The instructions are to love all, even in the face of scrutiny and danger. Great men and women have chosen to express this universal truth through countless different vessels. Poems, stories, sacrifices and demonstrations dot the course throughout the history of human kindness. Kamasi Washington chooses to transmit this message from an entirely different cosmos, equipped with his Saxophone at the ready, sonically willing and able to provoke change from within and vibrate the very air you breathe.
"Our love, our beauty, our genius
Our work, our triumph, our glory
Won't worry what happened before me
I'm here."
- The Rhythm Changes
Standout Tracks:
1. The Magnificent 7
2. Change of the Guard
3. The Message
95.6 [First added to this chart: 11/26/2021]
Kamasi Washington has spent his life honing his one-of-a-kind, God-given talent in preparation for a grand statement on the pageantry of jazz, the glory and tribulations of his ancestors and the beauty of music at large. He studied at UCLA, with the focus of his education centered around Ethnomusicology, which would play an integral role in crafting his first, proper label LP in 2015. Additionally, his experiences flanking artists such as Snoop Dogg, Nas, Run the Jewels and most notably, Kendrick Lamar, on his 2015 record 'To Pimp a Butterfly', have allowed the saxophonist to absorb a variety of styles and musical ideas while also contributing to an ocean of outstanding music without most listeners being particularly privy to his contributions. On the mammoth undertaking that is 'The Epic', Washington establishes an unmistakeable, idiosyncratic grandeur and deconstructs and subverts anyone's expectations on what a Jazz record should be. His saxophone glides over the entirety of the nearly three hour journey, shepherding its chapters through frantic bursts of brassy elation and breezy, idyllic, reflectionary traverses. Evidence of the album's supernatural power for vehemence can be found on its introduction. 'Change of the Guard' features a bevy of woodwind fury as Washington's tenor sax sets the stage for a cosmic, interstellar journey of incalculable potency. The record is also distinctive for its use of choral backing, a resource put to glorious effect during 'Askim', which pairs its angelic choir with breakneck but respectful drum passages from Ronald Bruner Jr. and Tony Austin. This is nothing less than hymnal music fit for a final performance at world's end or, perhaps more fittingly, during an ascension into the clouds.
One would be remiss without touting the contributions of bass maestro, Thundercat, whose patient diligence acts as the heartbeat for 'The Rhythm Changes', which comes equipped with a lavish lead vocal from Patrice Quinn. As the track swells her vocals begin to soothe as she states, "Daylight seems bright because of night;
It's shade we need so we can see." Kamasi's exploits return to center stage on the deliciously untamed, comparatively chaotic 'Miss Understanding', which quickly forms into a showcase for Washington's saxophone and Thundercat's bass to continuously dance circles around each other. It's another dizzying height for the 'The Epic' and leaves room for contemplation regarding its ability to exist in the first place. The next monolithic instillation comes in the shape of 'The Magnificent Seven', a stirring, towering work that's propelled like a jazz fireball and remains the most baronial entry on the LP. The track comes into focus on the horizon with Thundercat's swaggering bass tones only to proceed to sweep you into zero gravity on a rising tide of choir voices sent skyward by Washington's billowing sax. The keyboard-piano partnership between Cameron Graves and Brandon Coleman never ceases to lag behind the weighty punctuality of the rhythm section as they provide a healthy injection of sprightly luminescence amidst the quickly forming volcano of sonic aggression. 'The Magnificent 7' brandishes a western sheen (not just in name), as its driving momentum recalls horses galloping into town with riders hell bent on making their conclusive stand. These are the kind of harmonies that comprise the entirety of 'The Epic', notes that resonate far beyond the sheet music and into the collective consciousness of all who listen. Its pension for imagery is undefeated, its brush strokes unclouded and it carries an earthly, human spontaneity. Despite the record's modern sensibilities, Washington still finds time to tip his cap to the artisans of yesteryear. His cover of 'Claire de Lune', made famous by Claude Debussy, is just as romantic but seamlessly repackages the piece in a manner that's languid, yet expressive, like an autumn wind through leaves that are destined to change their shade. The labyrinthian LP ends with 'The Message', a final explosion of intention and a rallying cry which ensures that all that came prior is capped with suitable vigor. The track may represent Washington's finest saxophone exhibition as the pulses cascade over one another with considerably ferocity; a manic addendum on previous endeavors.
Whether honoring those who gave their life for equality on 'Malcolm's Theme' or turning in a jazz Rembrandt inspired by 1960's celluloid on 'The Magnificent 7', it's transpicuous to this listener that Kamasi Washington doesn't believe in presenting his illustrious art without carefully affixed ethos. This ethos stems from a decisive adoration for the beauty of jazz, the African American spirit and the inextinguishable fire that burns within each and every human being with hearts that beat with love. Though 'The Epic' is an undeniable championing of innumerable ideas, there are those who will look upon it with skewed gazes, no doubt viewing its cinematic presentation too far flung from the often purist genre sensitivities. No, this is not an attempt to make a commercial jazz record or appeal to a younger generation categorically. 'The Epic' is, however, an acknowledgment of the perseverance of mortal men and the actions, documents and legacy they leave behind. The instructions are to love all, even in the face of scrutiny and danger. Great men and women have chosen to express this universal truth through countless different vessels. Poems, stories, sacrifices and demonstrations dot the course throughout the history of human kindness. Kamasi Washington chooses to transmit this message from an entirely different cosmos, equipped with his Saxophone at the ready, sonically willing and able to provoke change from within and vibrate the very air you breathe.
"Our love, our beauty, our genius
Our work, our triumph, our glory
Won't worry what happened before me
I'm here."
- The Rhythm Changes
Standout Tracks:
1. The Magnificent 7
2. Change of the Guard
3. The Message
95.6 [First added to this chart: 11/26/2021]
Year of Release:
2015
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,055
Rank in 2015:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Bringing It All Back Home is often the odd one out when discussing Bob Dylan's legendary mid-1960's output. However, in the dead heat that ensues between Dylan's 1965 duo of albums, Bringing It All Back Home rings true most often. Yes, this is the much criticized moment when the folk icon developed a penchant for the electric guitar. Yet, we all know that revisionist history has now championed that decision, allowing Dylan to bloom into a multi-dimensional artist. He always claimed to had never written a protest song, likely to avoid the burden of a crown that would signify him as a social justice figurehead, but the tracks here echo sentiments of transcendentalism that leave behind the creative shackles that topical music left on him. Soon, staunch Dylan devotees refrained from professing, "This is a cause I can get behind". They now asked, with palms upturned, "What the hell is this man talking about?".
The thematic tonal shift is a far more interesting component than the well-publicized musical one. It created a chasm of occupiable space for interpretation, alchemizing Dylan into a philosopher instead of a prognosticator. It's no coincidence that his most lyrically lauded period runs parallel to the release of this record. Passages like, "And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, the haunted frightened trees, out to the windy beach, far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow", epitomize the ethereal nature on the treatises found on the album. Dylan, self-effacing as ever, regarded Mr. Tambourine Man as a simple number about a man with a tambourine. I'm inclined to agree with him, to a point. Somber track Love Minus Zero/No Limit touches on the complexion of unshakable true love and how it eludes scientific quantification. The insight and metaphorical precision preserved within the song implore suspicions of Dylan himself having visited Heaven in a past life. Finally, the formless, chorusless Subterranean Homesick Blues rattles on like a railroad car with a cargo full of organized confusion. All the while, Dylan notes that the "Pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles".
The track She Belongs to Me recounts a woman so lovely that she defies the very possibility of diminution. "She never stumbles, she's got no place to fall," he sings. Dylan's stream of consciousness approach to Bringing It All Back Home showcases an artist no longer concerned with those who desire to sociologically dissect his verses, rendering his music immune to debilitation. This is really the highest form of artistic nirvana. Not referring to the elitist worldview that refuses constructive criticism and indigenous thought, but rather the creative freedom to create work not clouded by the trepidation of condemnation. Many may not identify with Dylan's spacey, allegorical forays, which is more than admissible. What can't be rebuked, is the consummate method in which he internalizes his deepest thoughts and rearranges them in a manner so polished, an enviable trade coming from a fellow writer. That particular skill, unlike mastery of an instrument, can't be taught. You simply have to be born with it.
"My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire"
-Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Standout Tracks:
1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
2. Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
95.3 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
The thematic tonal shift is a far more interesting component than the well-publicized musical one. It created a chasm of occupiable space for interpretation, alchemizing Dylan into a philosopher instead of a prognosticator. It's no coincidence that his most lyrically lauded period runs parallel to the release of this record. Passages like, "And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, the haunted frightened trees, out to the windy beach, far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow", epitomize the ethereal nature on the treatises found on the album. Dylan, self-effacing as ever, regarded Mr. Tambourine Man as a simple number about a man with a tambourine. I'm inclined to agree with him, to a point. Somber track Love Minus Zero/No Limit touches on the complexion of unshakable true love and how it eludes scientific quantification. The insight and metaphorical precision preserved within the song implore suspicions of Dylan himself having visited Heaven in a past life. Finally, the formless, chorusless Subterranean Homesick Blues rattles on like a railroad car with a cargo full of organized confusion. All the while, Dylan notes that the "Pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles".
The track She Belongs to Me recounts a woman so lovely that she defies the very possibility of diminution. "She never stumbles, she's got no place to fall," he sings. Dylan's stream of consciousness approach to Bringing It All Back Home showcases an artist no longer concerned with those who desire to sociologically dissect his verses, rendering his music immune to debilitation. This is really the highest form of artistic nirvana. Not referring to the elitist worldview that refuses constructive criticism and indigenous thought, but rather the creative freedom to create work not clouded by the trepidation of condemnation. Many may not identify with Dylan's spacey, allegorical forays, which is more than admissible. What can't be rebuked, is the consummate method in which he internalizes his deepest thoughts and rearranges them in a manner so polished, an enviable trade coming from a fellow writer. That particular skill, unlike mastery of an instrument, can't be taught. You simply have to be born with it.
"My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire"
-Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Standout Tracks:
1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
2. Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
95.3 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,367
Rank in 1965:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
The swan song from short-lived post-rock luminaries Joy Division is markedly more finessed and emotionally nuanced than the band's universally hailed debut record, Unknown Pleasures. Closer, their second and concluding collection of music, is a paradigm shifting, soul excursion into the psyche of frontman Ian Curtis during his final days. Due to this saddening alignment of events, the album acts both as a monument of post-rock music but also as a scientific, psychological documentation of a virtuoso battling mortal depression. At times, knowing the events that would unfold, some of Curtis' poetry may be too searing for certain listeners. Rest assured, they can take solace in the transcendent beauty of the music itself.
The LP emerges with Atrocity Exhibition, a tribal tonal shift for the quartet, which features drummer Stephen Morris as the focal point of the track, extending the invitation to the listener as Curtis croons, "This is the way, step inside". Track two features the airy, hissing Isolation during which Bernard Sumner's synthwork fills the sonic space like a gas leak. Cavernous and harrowing, Curtis murmurs, "Surrendered to self preservation, from others who care for themselves, a blindness that touches perfection, but hurts just like anything else." Percussion, as touched upon earlier, is a large component of the album's might. This is showcased astutely on side two opener, Heart and Soul, where Morris' hypnotic drumbeat is pushed to the forefront of the mix as Peter Hook's accordant bassline hovers close behind. Lyrically, Curtis must ponder his sacrificial preference, proclaiming, "Heart and soul, one will burn." The final album track in the band's canon is Decades, an icy, sparkling ode to the destructive nature of trauma and a youth unfulfilled. Synth whirls in tandem with Morris' punctual drum hits create the illusion that time is spiraling away from the narrator with no way to correct the nefarious rotation. Curtis sings, 'Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever, can't replace the fear or the thrill of the chase, each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings, open then shut, then slammed in our face," contextualizing his forlorn disappointment.
Vocalist Ian Curtis wouldn't live to see the release of his final, most significant piece of art. Closer's album cover serves as an eerie testament to what lies between the lines of the poetry confined within. The sense of mourning is thoroughly encapsulated in the black and white starkness of Bernard Pierre Wolf's photo of the Appiani Family Tomb in Genoa. Closer embodies its namesake as a conduit to occupy remarkable proximity to death and emotional turmoil. From the debris left behind from Joy Division's Shakespearian conclusion, a new artistic force was constructed. New Order would go on to have commercial and critical success for two decades, all the while enduring the immense pain of their phantom limb, a fallen brother in arms. Closer is Ian Curtis' gift to the world, in all its shimmering beauty and soul-demolishing despair.
"Now that I've realized how it's all gone wrong,
Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long,
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late."
-Twenty Four Hours
Standout Tracks
1. Decades
2. Isolation
3. Twenty Four Hours
95.1 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
The LP emerges with Atrocity Exhibition, a tribal tonal shift for the quartet, which features drummer Stephen Morris as the focal point of the track, extending the invitation to the listener as Curtis croons, "This is the way, step inside". Track two features the airy, hissing Isolation during which Bernard Sumner's synthwork fills the sonic space like a gas leak. Cavernous and harrowing, Curtis murmurs, "Surrendered to self preservation, from others who care for themselves, a blindness that touches perfection, but hurts just like anything else." Percussion, as touched upon earlier, is a large component of the album's might. This is showcased astutely on side two opener, Heart and Soul, where Morris' hypnotic drumbeat is pushed to the forefront of the mix as Peter Hook's accordant bassline hovers close behind. Lyrically, Curtis must ponder his sacrificial preference, proclaiming, "Heart and soul, one will burn." The final album track in the band's canon is Decades, an icy, sparkling ode to the destructive nature of trauma and a youth unfulfilled. Synth whirls in tandem with Morris' punctual drum hits create the illusion that time is spiraling away from the narrator with no way to correct the nefarious rotation. Curtis sings, 'Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever, can't replace the fear or the thrill of the chase, each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings, open then shut, then slammed in our face," contextualizing his forlorn disappointment.
Vocalist Ian Curtis wouldn't live to see the release of his final, most significant piece of art. Closer's album cover serves as an eerie testament to what lies between the lines of the poetry confined within. The sense of mourning is thoroughly encapsulated in the black and white starkness of Bernard Pierre Wolf's photo of the Appiani Family Tomb in Genoa. Closer embodies its namesake as a conduit to occupy remarkable proximity to death and emotional turmoil. From the debris left behind from Joy Division's Shakespearian conclusion, a new artistic force was constructed. New Order would go on to have commercial and critical success for two decades, all the while enduring the immense pain of their phantom limb, a fallen brother in arms. Closer is Ian Curtis' gift to the world, in all its shimmering beauty and soul-demolishing despair.
"Now that I've realized how it's all gone wrong,
Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long,
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late."
-Twenty Four Hours
Standout Tracks
1. Decades
2. Isolation
3. Twenty Four Hours
95.1 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,758
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Radiohead were an entirely different beast in 1995. Long before they were gray-bearded and critically adored, they were fresh off the heels of an introductory effort that was met with a lukewarm reception, noted only for its lead single to which the last fleeting grunge aficionados clung to with vigor. Pablo Honey has now gone on to gather a cult following in the wake of more complimentary retrospective reviews, but what they would produce next would shape the trajectory of their careers for years to come. The Bends is an easily discernible maturation for the group as the songwriting becomes more poignant and the musicianship undergoes a colossal leap forward. It was in the finest details of The Bends where the band had carved out their sound and, more importantly, their confidence.
While examining the title track, The Bends, the two-headed monster of guitar fury is let loose as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien flourish their talents all throughout a track named after a sensation caused by gas-infused bubbles in the blood. However, the concepts communicated in the song deal with fair-weather friends riding the band's coattails into stardom and knowing who the true confidants are. The conclusion is drawn by Thom Yorke himself who snarls, "We don't have any real friends". Fourth track Fake Plastic Trees goes down as an early era anthem of rejection for the band, serving as a wiser, more contemplative Creep evolution. Working both as a blistering assessment of consumerism in modern society and as Yorke's own disillusion towards the porcelain nature of his experiences of human interaction, particularly those with the opposite sex. The song delicately unfolds before crashing thunderously with guitar hits subbing for lightning. The track softly recoils as Yorke sorrowfully ponders, "If I could be who you wanted, all the time". This was, for lack of a better term, a "grown up" piece for the band and it was also the moment of discovery for Yorke's own lyrical voice. Closing cut Street Spirit (Fade Out) sculpts out a place alongside other Radiohead classics with an emotional weight not yet produced by the group. Commencing with a guitar hook that could inspire ominous dread within Satan himself, the track explores nihilistic motifs and the chilling-certainty of life's short duration. Yorke has even claimed that "it hurts like hell to play" and likened it to "staring the Devil in the eyes". The backing vocal harmony during the second half beseeches images of wandering souls lost in transit as the frontman begs those who listen to "immerse your soul in love". Street Spirit (Fade Out) serves as a proper creative zenith for the band, acting almost as a baptism into a higher consciousness of musical inspiration for the English quintet.
In May of 1997, Radiohead would go on to release the seminal OK Computer and the rest, as they say, is history. For all of OK Computer's ingenuity and attention to detail, the seeds for the album were really sown two years earlier on The Bends. The 1995 effort often draws the short straw when most recall Radiohead's most polished discography entries. It's easy to overlook the stratospheric ascent in dynamism between the band's first and second LPs. The Bends enjoyed a mostly cordial reception by critics but few could be astute enough to cite the album as the birthing of a modern music legend. The pyramid of what we now know as Radiohead was still being built, and the blocks of stone at the foundation are just as important as the ones that sit atop them.
"Faith, you're driving me away,
You do it every day,
You don't mean it, but it hurts like hell,
My brain says I'm receiving pain,
A lack of oxygen,
From my life support, my iron lung."
-My Iron Lung
Standout Tracks:
1. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. (Nice Dream)
94.8 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
While examining the title track, The Bends, the two-headed monster of guitar fury is let loose as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien flourish their talents all throughout a track named after a sensation caused by gas-infused bubbles in the blood. However, the concepts communicated in the song deal with fair-weather friends riding the band's coattails into stardom and knowing who the true confidants are. The conclusion is drawn by Thom Yorke himself who snarls, "We don't have any real friends". Fourth track Fake Plastic Trees goes down as an early era anthem of rejection for the band, serving as a wiser, more contemplative Creep evolution. Working both as a blistering assessment of consumerism in modern society and as Yorke's own disillusion towards the porcelain nature of his experiences of human interaction, particularly those with the opposite sex. The song delicately unfolds before crashing thunderously with guitar hits subbing for lightning. The track softly recoils as Yorke sorrowfully ponders, "If I could be who you wanted, all the time". This was, for lack of a better term, a "grown up" piece for the band and it was also the moment of discovery for Yorke's own lyrical voice. Closing cut Street Spirit (Fade Out) sculpts out a place alongside other Radiohead classics with an emotional weight not yet produced by the group. Commencing with a guitar hook that could inspire ominous dread within Satan himself, the track explores nihilistic motifs and the chilling-certainty of life's short duration. Yorke has even claimed that "it hurts like hell to play" and likened it to "staring the Devil in the eyes". The backing vocal harmony during the second half beseeches images of wandering souls lost in transit as the frontman begs those who listen to "immerse your soul in love". Street Spirit (Fade Out) serves as a proper creative zenith for the band, acting almost as a baptism into a higher consciousness of musical inspiration for the English quintet.
In May of 1997, Radiohead would go on to release the seminal OK Computer and the rest, as they say, is history. For all of OK Computer's ingenuity and attention to detail, the seeds for the album were really sown two years earlier on The Bends. The 1995 effort often draws the short straw when most recall Radiohead's most polished discography entries. It's easy to overlook the stratospheric ascent in dynamism between the band's first and second LPs. The Bends enjoyed a mostly cordial reception by critics but few could be astute enough to cite the album as the birthing of a modern music legend. The pyramid of what we now know as Radiohead was still being built, and the blocks of stone at the foundation are just as important as the ones that sit atop them.
"Faith, you're driving me away,
You do it every day,
You don't mean it, but it hurts like hell,
My brain says I'm receiving pain,
A lack of oxygen,
From my life support, my iron lung."
-My Iron Lung
Standout Tracks:
1. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. (Nice Dream)
94.8 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
33,199
Rank in 1995:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. However, the passion project can only be accessed on 'The Fish Tank' (Fishmans' Discord), issuu.com and archive.org. This narrowness of access is an emblematic reminder of the legacy the band has left in its wake. It's a portrait of veracious artisans whose existence and collected works are shrouded in just as much mystery as truth. This attaches value to excavating deep within cavernous labyrinths to find gold among endless, pedestrian sediment. Some things are meant to be uncovered by happenstance and, due to this, many don't find Fishmans. Fishmans find you. Furthermore, it seems fitting that the closing studio effort was 1997's 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', an eight-chapter odyssey that saw the band fully harness and deploy the optimal strength of their dream pop powers. See, just as Fishmans was destined to be difficult to discover, they also curated a candle which burned ineffably bright for a finite amount of time. At the risk of inducing melodrama, Fishmans' catalog extends beyond the plane of human achievement and dexterity. To put it plainly, it was the music of the angels.
Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group.
'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry.
The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art.
When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment.
"I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little"
-Pokka Pokka
1. Daydream
2. Walking in the Rhythm
3. In the Flight
94.8 [First added to this chart: 03/14/2021]
Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group.
'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry.
The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art.
When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment.
"I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little"
-Pokka Pokka
1. Daydream
2. Walking in the Rhythm
3. In the Flight
94.8 [First added to this chart: 03/14/2021]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,135
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Bob Dylan's 1965 output could account for what is possibly the finest calendar year any artist has ever experienced. His catalogue now brandishes two landmark records that elevated him from folk-raconteur royal to undefinable social enigma. Dylan's ability to rhapsodize was already at such an advanced level prior to these releases that advancement to his songwriting would just brand his ability as an embarrassment of riches. An exceptional place to window-shop for those riches would be Highway 61 Revisited. Kicking off the album with a well-documented contender for finest track ever recorded and closing it with one of Dylan's most labyrinthian, heart-rending lyrical voyages, the album boasts one of the most cherished collection of tunes in the discography.
Like a Rolling Stone's jangly electric guitar, amalgamated with Dylan's hypnotizing harmonica, ooze a vivid sensation of perpetual motion, both sonically and thematically. Seemingly quasi-reflectory of Dylan's decision to head in a different auditory direction but also a stern statement on his abnegation at the prospect of staying stagnant in a creative sense as well as a philosophical one. It's clear he didn't want to focus on sociological objection any further, trading in his picket sign for a collection of metaphysical and mythological texts. Now, less Woody Guthrie and more Friedrich Nietzsche, Dylan's work seems somehow more focused but less categorical, as if such a thing was even possible. During Ballad of a Thin Man, the character of 'Mr. Jones' is taken apart piece by piece. Speculation of the persona in question is often believed to be a real-life journalist determined to peel back Dylan's characteristic layers and inspirations. The enigmatic nature of the track and its scathing lyrical dissection have left the truth still uncovered. Lines such as, "Aw, you've been with the professors and they've all liked your looks, With great lawyers you have discussed lepers and crooks, You've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books, You are very well read, It's well known" seem to point to a learned individual trying to validate his judgements by flourishing his academic excursions. It's likely the most hazy track on the LP, but it may have the most to say bubbling under the surface.
The album ends with ten minute soul excursion, Desolation Row, a locale reserved for the downtrodden and those down on their luck. Often seen as a reflection of the turbulent state of the nation at the time, however, given Dylan's newfound disposition to avoid current affairs, it's very possible it could just be a fictional tale of woe. Regardless, the song burrows its way into the company of his most impressive artistic statements. The depressionist atmosphere on the track is typified by the line, "Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles, And puts her hands in her back pockets, Bette Davis style, And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe", And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave". The exclusively acoustic track conveys that Dylan's poetry is unaltered by the musical manner in which he chooses to propel it, rather, it just provides him with more sonic flexibility.
Highway 61 Revisited is routinely touted as Bob Dylan's crowning achievement. Released at a such chaotic chapter in his career, the record features angst, sorrow and beauty in equal measure. Certainly more musically polished than his previous work but simultaneously less tangible. 1965 was a year of immense evolution for the bard from Minnesota and he left two gargantuan records in his wake. Highway 61 Revisited is repeatedly used as the entry point for listeners to start enjoying Dylan and it's likely the sound that is most identifiable when people think of music's poet laureate.
"The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken"
-Tombstone Blues
Standout Tracks:
1. Like a Rolling Stone
2. Desolation Row
3. Tombstone Blues
94.8 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Like a Rolling Stone's jangly electric guitar, amalgamated with Dylan's hypnotizing harmonica, ooze a vivid sensation of perpetual motion, both sonically and thematically. Seemingly quasi-reflectory of Dylan's decision to head in a different auditory direction but also a stern statement on his abnegation at the prospect of staying stagnant in a creative sense as well as a philosophical one. It's clear he didn't want to focus on sociological objection any further, trading in his picket sign for a collection of metaphysical and mythological texts. Now, less Woody Guthrie and more Friedrich Nietzsche, Dylan's work seems somehow more focused but less categorical, as if such a thing was even possible. During Ballad of a Thin Man, the character of 'Mr. Jones' is taken apart piece by piece. Speculation of the persona in question is often believed to be a real-life journalist determined to peel back Dylan's characteristic layers and inspirations. The enigmatic nature of the track and its scathing lyrical dissection have left the truth still uncovered. Lines such as, "Aw, you've been with the professors and they've all liked your looks, With great lawyers you have discussed lepers and crooks, You've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books, You are very well read, It's well known" seem to point to a learned individual trying to validate his judgements by flourishing his academic excursions. It's likely the most hazy track on the LP, but it may have the most to say bubbling under the surface.
The album ends with ten minute soul excursion, Desolation Row, a locale reserved for the downtrodden and those down on their luck. Often seen as a reflection of the turbulent state of the nation at the time, however, given Dylan's newfound disposition to avoid current affairs, it's very possible it could just be a fictional tale of woe. Regardless, the song burrows its way into the company of his most impressive artistic statements. The depressionist atmosphere on the track is typified by the line, "Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles, And puts her hands in her back pockets, Bette Davis style, And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe", And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave". The exclusively acoustic track conveys that Dylan's poetry is unaltered by the musical manner in which he chooses to propel it, rather, it just provides him with more sonic flexibility.
Highway 61 Revisited is routinely touted as Bob Dylan's crowning achievement. Released at a such chaotic chapter in his career, the record features angst, sorrow and beauty in equal measure. Certainly more musically polished than his previous work but simultaneously less tangible. 1965 was a year of immense evolution for the bard from Minnesota and he left two gargantuan records in his wake. Highway 61 Revisited is repeatedly used as the entry point for listeners to start enjoying Dylan and it's likely the sound that is most identifiable when people think of music's poet laureate.
"The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken"
-Tombstone Blues
Standout Tracks:
1. Like a Rolling Stone
2. Desolation Row
3. Tombstone Blues
94.8 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,057
Rank in 1965:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
The music zeitgeist has seen its fair share of luminous storytellers but few vividly beseech their audience to partake in their free-flowing whimsy like balladeer-extraordinaire Joanna Newsom. Yet, when discussions of this generation's most profound creators, her name seems to reside on the periphery. This is an unspeakable injustice. To call her dexterous would be an understatement, having mastered the piano, harpsichord and the seldom-conquered pedal harp. These instrumental exploits have produced work that's drawn comparisons to the Romantic era, coupled with the singer's unmistakable, naturalistic vocals. Never has Newsom's music sounded more idyllic and enchanting than on 2006's Ys. Named after the mythical French city engulfed by the sea, the album is comprised of five long-form treatises which metaphorically recount four distinct experiences undergone by the harpist in the span of a year. The autobiographical nature of the subject matter enriches the poetry of the record and renders every lyric endlessly interpretable. Newsom's scholarly, fairy-tale epic is equal parts whimsical and irreplicable.
The fantasy-tinged odyssey materializes with opening number, Emily. The song is inspired by Newsom's astrophysicist sister and the revered moments shared between them. As you'd imagine, Joanna's harp is the centerpiece of the sprawling, musing procession. The might of the string section smolders behind her handiwork creating a sensation of perpetual motion that never allows the 12 minute opener to stall but rather to wander with concentrated beauty. Newsom's ability to rhapsodize approaches mythic plateaus on the track as she requests, "Let us go though we know it's a hopeless endeavor; the ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever; though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning; there is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning." It's just one stone that resides within the collection of embarrassing riches of this era's greatest lyricist. Second track, Monkey & Bear, expands the sonic repertoire slightly but the songstress' harp still chaperones. The song flaunts calculated orchestral flutters buoying Newsom's unabridged poetic amendments. The thematic roots of the sweeping nine minute piece are entrenched in the legend of Ursa Major, a constellation in the frame of a bear. Potentially more personally akin to Newsom's experience, the song echoes sentiment of the damning effects staying steadfast in romantic kinship at the cost of surrendering personal independence. "Until we reach the open country, a-steeped in milk and honey; will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me; can you bear a little longer to wear that leash," she details. Album epergne, Sawdust and Diamonds, bears the sweetest of fruits. The track is bolstered by Newsom's sublime harp arpeggio that acts as the engine for the song's excellence. It also ranks as one of the finest lyrical labyrinths of her career. It communicates a moment of adversity between two lovers and ponders if said love will persevere or subside. "And in a moment of almost-unbearable vision, doubled over with the hunger of lions; hold me close, cooed the dove, who was stuffed, now, with sawdust and diamonds," Newsom sings with fragility. It's a harrowing excursion that remains one of the artist's most ethereal yet lucid declarations. Its tendency to induce tears is formidable.
Only Skin, is a serpentine account of the events that befell Joanna during the year that inspired the album and the interrelation between those fragments. The track is Ys' most sonically voluptuous as it features backing vocals from Bill Callahan and burly cello contributions. The tuneful escalation does not supersede Newsom's poetry, however. She protests, "But always up the mountainside you’re clambering, groping blindly, hungry for anything; picking through your pocket linings, well, what is this; scrap of sassafras, eh Sisyphus," as she alludes to a partner's polygamous lust. Only Skin transmutes multiple times throughout its 17 minute runtime, punctuating Newsom's ability as a virtuoso spinner of feminine, fantasy sagas. The album comes to rest with Cosmia, where Joanna calls upon moths to lead her to the warming light of solace. Her vocal work is her mightiest here, as she calls for her "little darling" and how she misses a particular "precious heart". Additionally, the heavenly falsettos she unleashes joyously contrast backing accordion hums. She asks, "Can you hear me; Will you listen; don't come near me; don't go missing, and in the lissome light of evening, help me, Cosmia; I'm grieving."
It's important to step back slightly and gaze at the mountainous mosaic that Newsom has architected. It's tremendously difficult to synthesize one's intimate thoughts into such a boundless tapestry of wordplay and metaphor. On Ys, Joanna Newsom seems to operatively channel her convictions while remaining blissfully, beautifully unfazed by the rigors that would derail mortal songwriters. This is not Newsom's lyrical coming out party as she was profoundly bardic on 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, but the poeticism has ballooned into a hulking behemoth on Ys, all the while bending one of the world's most challenging instruments to her will. It's clearly difficult to be humble when describing the young woman's ever-blooming genius. I'll just leave the humility to her as it seems to come her naturally as all things inherently do. With a quartet of albums under her belt, she's likely to have more future triumphs and adornments affixed to her name. Still, she'd be hard-pressed to outdo her chamber folk paragon. It's a carefully constructed journey of enlightening pain and a promise of subsequent emotional provision. It is destined to harbor the necessary magic native to the fantasy settings that which galvanized its creation. Ys is simply a fossilized memento of a forgotten and forlorn age, washed up on a forbidden shore as considerate waves propel it lovingly toward you.
"From the top of the flight,
Of the wide, white stairs,
Through the rest of my life,
Do you wait for me there?"
-Sawdust and Diamonds
Standout Tracks:
1. Sawdust and Diamonds
2. Emily
3. Monkey & Bear
94.3 [First added to this chart: 04/29/2020]
The fantasy-tinged odyssey materializes with opening number, Emily. The song is inspired by Newsom's astrophysicist sister and the revered moments shared between them. As you'd imagine, Joanna's harp is the centerpiece of the sprawling, musing procession. The might of the string section smolders behind her handiwork creating a sensation of perpetual motion that never allows the 12 minute opener to stall but rather to wander with concentrated beauty. Newsom's ability to rhapsodize approaches mythic plateaus on the track as she requests, "Let us go though we know it's a hopeless endeavor; the ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever; though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning; there is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning." It's just one stone that resides within the collection of embarrassing riches of this era's greatest lyricist. Second track, Monkey & Bear, expands the sonic repertoire slightly but the songstress' harp still chaperones. The song flaunts calculated orchestral flutters buoying Newsom's unabridged poetic amendments. The thematic roots of the sweeping nine minute piece are entrenched in the legend of Ursa Major, a constellation in the frame of a bear. Potentially more personally akin to Newsom's experience, the song echoes sentiment of the damning effects staying steadfast in romantic kinship at the cost of surrendering personal independence. "Until we reach the open country, a-steeped in milk and honey; will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me; can you bear a little longer to wear that leash," she details. Album epergne, Sawdust and Diamonds, bears the sweetest of fruits. The track is bolstered by Newsom's sublime harp arpeggio that acts as the engine for the song's excellence. It also ranks as one of the finest lyrical labyrinths of her career. It communicates a moment of adversity between two lovers and ponders if said love will persevere or subside. "And in a moment of almost-unbearable vision, doubled over with the hunger of lions; hold me close, cooed the dove, who was stuffed, now, with sawdust and diamonds," Newsom sings with fragility. It's a harrowing excursion that remains one of the artist's most ethereal yet lucid declarations. Its tendency to induce tears is formidable.
Only Skin, is a serpentine account of the events that befell Joanna during the year that inspired the album and the interrelation between those fragments. The track is Ys' most sonically voluptuous as it features backing vocals from Bill Callahan and burly cello contributions. The tuneful escalation does not supersede Newsom's poetry, however. She protests, "But always up the mountainside you’re clambering, groping blindly, hungry for anything; picking through your pocket linings, well, what is this; scrap of sassafras, eh Sisyphus," as she alludes to a partner's polygamous lust. Only Skin transmutes multiple times throughout its 17 minute runtime, punctuating Newsom's ability as a virtuoso spinner of feminine, fantasy sagas. The album comes to rest with Cosmia, where Joanna calls upon moths to lead her to the warming light of solace. Her vocal work is her mightiest here, as she calls for her "little darling" and how she misses a particular "precious heart". Additionally, the heavenly falsettos she unleashes joyously contrast backing accordion hums. She asks, "Can you hear me; Will you listen; don't come near me; don't go missing, and in the lissome light of evening, help me, Cosmia; I'm grieving."
It's important to step back slightly and gaze at the mountainous mosaic that Newsom has architected. It's tremendously difficult to synthesize one's intimate thoughts into such a boundless tapestry of wordplay and metaphor. On Ys, Joanna Newsom seems to operatively channel her convictions while remaining blissfully, beautifully unfazed by the rigors that would derail mortal songwriters. This is not Newsom's lyrical coming out party as she was profoundly bardic on 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, but the poeticism has ballooned into a hulking behemoth on Ys, all the while bending one of the world's most challenging instruments to her will. It's clearly difficult to be humble when describing the young woman's ever-blooming genius. I'll just leave the humility to her as it seems to come her naturally as all things inherently do. With a quartet of albums under her belt, she's likely to have more future triumphs and adornments affixed to her name. Still, she'd be hard-pressed to outdo her chamber folk paragon. It's a carefully constructed journey of enlightening pain and a promise of subsequent emotional provision. It is destined to harbor the necessary magic native to the fantasy settings that which galvanized its creation. Ys is simply a fossilized memento of a forgotten and forlorn age, washed up on a forbidden shore as considerate waves propel it lovingly toward you.
"From the top of the flight,
Of the wide, white stairs,
Through the rest of my life,
Do you wait for me there?"
-Sawdust and Diamonds
Standout Tracks:
1. Sawdust and Diamonds
2. Emily
3. Monkey & Bear
94.3 [First added to this chart: 04/29/2020]
Year of Release:
2006
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,287
Rank in 2006:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Fishmans' penultimate album, Long Season, is tricky to recapitulate. The music itself seems beyond the realm of tangibility, reminiscent of a soothing summer daydream, effortlessly invoking the ethereal. Despite not being a Japanese speaker, Shinji Sato's tender coos resonate through the sheer emotion that they delicately channel. Sato's vocals function as an extension of the instrumentation rather than a separate entity, consolidating into a 35 minute cloudburst of dream pop and psychedelia. The record in earnest consists of five parts, all weaving together to manifest the full anatomy of Long Season.
As Long Season (Part 1) surfaces, a spacey, smoky atmosphere comes into focus, bubbling with an alien strut. The track evolves into a cascading keyboard loop which is majestically serene while carrying an ever-present promise of combustibility. This is when Sato's first declarations are audible, "At dusk we drove, calling the wind and calling you, we ran from one end of Tokyo to the other, halfway dreaming." The track shimmers during its climax as Honzi's violin and accordion join the fray with exuberant grace. The track seamlessly drifts into Long Season (Part 2) as the keyboard loop is adorned with percussive twinkles and Sato's own protuberant guitar solo. As Kin-ichi Motegi's drums cushion the final moments of Long Season (Part 2), (Part 3) introduces itself with a decidedly ambient complexion. Commencing with a damp, distant quality, (Part 3) is notably restrained when compared to the previous two movements. The track blossoms with Motegi's second drum flourish, a solo that lasts the length of the track serving as a distinct bridge between both boundaries of the record. (Part 4) comes into view with relaxed, remote guitar strikes. Whistling is interwoven throughout the DNA of (Part 4) betwixt a duplicated vocal melody and a swirling, ominous backing whirl. (Part 5) is a different shade of (Part 1), reintroducing the hypnotic keyboard riff with heightened immediacy and scope. The track builds to Sato's own haunting falsetto, broadcasting a billowing a sense of catharsis and rebirth amidst the sonic revisitation. (Part 5) is as majestic as the LP gets and is among the most gorgeous movements in recent memory.
Long Season (Part 5) sounds suspiciously like a swan song in many distinct manners. It recounts the past and treats a movement only 25 minutes removed to be one of complete nostalgia. Sato's own vocals at the finale are so undeniably vulnerable that one would be inclined to think of it more in terms of a finale for him rather than the LP, like a final championing of life and its wonders. The backing vocals stand to up the ante as intrinsic collateral for such a moment. Eerily enough, this movement would be the final piece of music Sato would play live. Long Season in its entirety would be played in Fishmans' final performance which was featured on the beloved live album, 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare. Sato died suddenly of a heart attack three months after the band's final gig. These days, the outfit has reached an entirely new audience far from their native Japan. Long Season has been instrumental in moving the needle and has been retrospectively lauded as a masterpiece, one that graces the ears of new listeners each and every day. It's a testament to the band and the music they were producing. The record outdistanced its own release and becomes more inviting with age. Aligned with the recurring nature of its content like a persistent dream, Long Season is a crisp Spring day that will never end and more importantly, will never wither at the hand of a cruel Winter.
"What is the song you are humming,
What things can you remember,
We are half in a dream."
-Long Season (Part 1)
Standout Tracks:
1. Long Season (Part 5)
2. Long Season (Part 1)
3. Long Season (Part 4)
94.3 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
As Long Season (Part 1) surfaces, a spacey, smoky atmosphere comes into focus, bubbling with an alien strut. The track evolves into a cascading keyboard loop which is majestically serene while carrying an ever-present promise of combustibility. This is when Sato's first declarations are audible, "At dusk we drove, calling the wind and calling you, we ran from one end of Tokyo to the other, halfway dreaming." The track shimmers during its climax as Honzi's violin and accordion join the fray with exuberant grace. The track seamlessly drifts into Long Season (Part 2) as the keyboard loop is adorned with percussive twinkles and Sato's own protuberant guitar solo. As Kin-ichi Motegi's drums cushion the final moments of Long Season (Part 2), (Part 3) introduces itself with a decidedly ambient complexion. Commencing with a damp, distant quality, (Part 3) is notably restrained when compared to the previous two movements. The track blossoms with Motegi's second drum flourish, a solo that lasts the length of the track serving as a distinct bridge between both boundaries of the record. (Part 4) comes into view with relaxed, remote guitar strikes. Whistling is interwoven throughout the DNA of (Part 4) betwixt a duplicated vocal melody and a swirling, ominous backing whirl. (Part 5) is a different shade of (Part 1), reintroducing the hypnotic keyboard riff with heightened immediacy and scope. The track builds to Sato's own haunting falsetto, broadcasting a billowing a sense of catharsis and rebirth amidst the sonic revisitation. (Part 5) is as majestic as the LP gets and is among the most gorgeous movements in recent memory.
Long Season (Part 5) sounds suspiciously like a swan song in many distinct manners. It recounts the past and treats a movement only 25 minutes removed to be one of complete nostalgia. Sato's own vocals at the finale are so undeniably vulnerable that one would be inclined to think of it more in terms of a finale for him rather than the LP, like a final championing of life and its wonders. The backing vocals stand to up the ante as intrinsic collateral for such a moment. Eerily enough, this movement would be the final piece of music Sato would play live. Long Season in its entirety would be played in Fishmans' final performance which was featured on the beloved live album, 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare. Sato died suddenly of a heart attack three months after the band's final gig. These days, the outfit has reached an entirely new audience far from their native Japan. Long Season has been instrumental in moving the needle and has been retrospectively lauded as a masterpiece, one that graces the ears of new listeners each and every day. It's a testament to the band and the music they were producing. The record outdistanced its own release and becomes more inviting with age. Aligned with the recurring nature of its content like a persistent dream, Long Season is a crisp Spring day that will never end and more importantly, will never wither at the hand of a cruel Winter.
"What is the song you are humming,
What things can you remember,
We are half in a dream."
-Long Season (Part 1)
Standout Tracks:
1. Long Season (Part 5)
2. Long Season (Part 1)
3. Long Season (Part 4)
94.3 [First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1996
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,350
Rank in 1996:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 2 of 10
Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 3 | 3% | |
| 1960s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1970s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1980s | 7 | 7% | |
| 1990s | 20 | 20% | |
| 2000s | 20 | 20% | |
| 2010s | 20 | 20% | |
| 2020s | 2 | 2% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| フィッシュマンズ [Fishmans] | 10 | 10% | |
| Radiohead | 7 | 7% | |
| Bob Dylan | 5 | 5% | |
| Swans | 5 | 5% | |
| Vampire Weekend | 4 | 4% | |
| Charles Mingus | 4 | 4% | |
| Cancerslug | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
56 | 56% | |
 |
22 | 22% | |
 |
10 | 10% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 2 from 94th to 92nd Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 92nd to 93rd Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective |
| Down 1 from 93rd to 94th Currents by Tame Impala |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
88/100 (from 32 votes)
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 32 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 70/100  | 06/23/2023 05:13 |  Applerill | | 75/100 |
| 85/100 | 03/27/2023 17:55 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
| 85/100 | 03/27/2023 00:15 | Moondance | | 84/100 |
| 80/100 | 03/26/2023 12:00 |  Tamthebam | | 85/100 |
| 90/100 | 09/17/2022 23:03 | Rm12398 | | 89/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 9% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 88.2/100, a mean average of 88.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 11.6.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing all 9 comments |
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Longest Comments First
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85/100
From Johnnyo 03/27/2023 17:55
Exceeding chart and a great read.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Moondance 12/08/2022 00:11
We are 2 generations apart, so no surprise that our musical tastes/album preferences are not going to align. Totally respect your selections and appreciate your commentary - this chart is a definite labour of love. BTW - our one common album ~ Dark Side Of The Moon. BTW2 - thank you for introducing me to Night Beds' Country Sleep album - a future inclusion in my 2013 year chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
Larcx13 07/20/2021 15:00
Larcx13 07/20/2021 15:00
I guess youre a fan of radiohead.
Hard work on the descriptions good stuff.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From DriftingOrpheus 04/27/2021 22:55
DriftingOrpheus 04/27/2021 22:55
@StreakyNuno: Your statement is demeaning to every individual who's ever experienced an inkling of an original thought...
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60/100
From StreakyNuno 04/27/2021 19:23
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
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100/100
From 
DommeDamian 04/27/2021 13:50
DommeDamian 04/27/2021 13:50
*shocked emoji* this is ridiculously great.
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90/100
From leniad 10/21/2020 23:28
Like your taste
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95/100
From 
Strangel 06/17/2020 10:18
Strangel 06/17/2020 10:18
Saw your comments on Syro which intrigued me enough to wander over here and read a bit more. I’ve always rated charts that offer explanations for each choice. So far you have gone above and beyond, plus I tend to agree with your love for many of these albums (Smiths aside). Look forward to seeing the finished version!
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55/100
From mianfei 05/14/2020 02:18
Even with very many “stereotypical” choices, this is not that bad a list.
Although I have never heard their music, Acid Bath is a wonderful surprise, as is the Misfits. I heard of both bands in the middle 2000s from one writer on Amazon.com called “janitor-x”, whose musical taste I cannot relate to but whose virulent criticism of ‘Rolling Stone’ I have never doubted nor seen refuted.
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| Best Artists of the 2000s | |
|---|---|
| 1. Radiohead | |
| 2. Arcade Fire | |
| 3. The Strokes | |
| 4. Coldplay | |
| 5. Sufjan Stevens | |
| 6. Arctic Monkeys | |
| 7. Wilco | |
| 8. Animal Collective | |
| 9. Muse | |
| 10. The White Stripes | |
| 11. Kanye West | |
| 12. Phil Elverum | |
| 13. Interpol | |
| 14. Modest Mouse | |
| 15. Queens Of The Stone Age | |
| 16. Madvillain | |
| 17. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | |
| 18. LCD Soundsystem | |
| 19. The National | |
| 20. The Flaming Lips |