Top 50 Greatest Music Albums by rubysmith

A love letter.

• Chart updated: 11/08/2022 02:15
• (Created: 04/02/2021 11:16).
• Chart size: 50 albums.

There are 2 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 50 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 2 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (=)

The Sunset Tree 

 The Mountain Goats

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I'm in my room with the headphones on
Deep in the dream chamber
And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face
Hoping you don't break my stereo
Because it's the one thing that I couldn't live without
And so I think about that and then I sorta blackout
--

Is it cliched to say that an album “saved your life” now? Perhaps, but that doesn’t change the truth of the statement. Cringe is dead and I am not, or something along those lines. Unpacking how I feel about The Sunset Tree is as complicated as unpacking how I feel about my life. It’s an album that feels too intimate to critique; reviewing it feels insulting. Maybe this isn’t a musically perfect album, or maybe it’s only musically perfect if you have been the tetrapod, if you have experienced “And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face / Hoping you don't break my stereo” yourself and then experienced hearing Darnielle apparently reach into your own memories. (Are alcoholic fathers really that universal?) Hearing the sunset tree for the first time at age 16, deep in the thicket, was absolution. “Oh,” you think, “someone else has survived this! Someone else has lived through this and come out the other side, and been able to explain the truth of it.” Life-changing! So many times in my life have I been tempted to simply hand this album to people with a sticky note attached that just says “so that you can understand”. (I also have to give credit for one of the most important survival anthems of all time, even though it’s standard NYE fare nowadays.) [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2005

Appears in:

201 charts

Rank Score:

1,228

Rank in 2005:

26

Rank in 2000s:

218

Overall Rank:

1,412

Average Rating:

 79 (206 votes)

Comments:

6

2. (=)

Set Yourself On Fire 

 Stars (CA)

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I am trying to say
What I want to say
Without having to say
"I love you"
--

I get giddy with excitement whenever I hit play on this album, it is so jam-packed with joy and love. Stars embraces mess and earnestness nearly the full run time, with their weakest moments coming when they try for seriousness or the musical high-brow. Side-A doesn’t let up for a moment (besides “The Big Fight”, but it’s decent enough to get a passing grade), and I feel my heart rate spike every time I reach the title track’s “let’s roll”, let alone What I’m Trying To Say, which is my second-favourite love song of all time. And then they finish off the album with Calendar Girl! There is no other possible way to end this album then scream-singing along to “I’m alive!” [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2004

Appears in:

105 charts

Rank Score:

435

Rank in 2004:

52

Rank in 2000s:

581

Overall Rank:

3,412

Average Rating:

 77 (105 votes)

Comments:

2

3. (=)

The Midnight Organ Fight 

 Frightened Rabbit

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I am armed with the past and the will and a brick
I might not want you back, but I want to kill him
--

1. Everyone and their dog has written about being depressed and horny, but only Scott Hutchison has had something interesting to say about it.
2. I think I might start carrying a locket with this album in it.
3. I can’t listen to Head Rolls Off in public because I cry at the drop of a hat when I hear it.
4. At the end of the day, it’s just a really good euphemism at a point when there aren’t really any good ones left. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2008

Appears in:

129 charts

Rank Score:

927

Rank in 2008:

21

Rank in 2000s:

291

Overall Rank:

1,814

Average Rating:

 77 (149 votes)

Comments:

9

4. (=)

Loveless 

 My Bloody Valentine

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Come back, don't be
Afraid of me soon
That I'll harm you
-- [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

2,153 charts

Rank Score:

30,718

Rank in 1991:

2

Rank in 1990s:

4

Overall Rank:

22

Average Rating:

 86 (2,464 votes)

Comments:

311

5. (=)

Ctrl 

 SZA

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Let me tell you a secret
I've been secretly banging your homeboy
Why you in Vegas all up on Valentine's Day?
Why am I so easy to forget like that?
It can't be that easy for you to get like that
--

GOD she just gets it! One of, if not the, most brilliant statements on modern 20-something womanhood. 0 skips. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2017

Appears in:

319 charts

Rank Score:

2,000

Rank in 2017:

12

Rank in 2010s:

125

Overall Rank:

880

Average Rating:

 78 (360 votes)

Comments:

14

6. (=)

Funeral 

 Arcade Fire

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When daddy comes home you always start a fight
So the neighbours can dance in the police disco lights
--

God. Ok. What a fucking shame that they are the new Coldplay-lite (looking back in 2022 I don't think that covers their issues anymore), because there is no greater disappointment than a band who’s whole ethos was caring to end up bored and boring. The fear also remains that their new “too cool for school tech bro” schtick would dampen the effect of Funeral, but thank god it doesn’t. So what if all of my favourite music falls into the category of “music that makes you feel like a human being that is alive with a heart and everything”. Funeral maybe does it best of all, and that particular shine doesn’t wear off after 100 listens, it just starts to feel lived in and comfortable - in a way even better. A painfully Canadian album, which is part of why I love it (and why CBC radio played it almost exclusively throughout my whole childhood). The kind of music you can only make if you spend 9 months of the year under a layer of ice, fighting off seasonal depression and trying to remind yourself that life is out there. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2004

Appears in:

2,878 charts

Rank Score:

36,920

Rank in 2004:

1

Rank in 2000s:

3

Overall Rank:

15

Average Rating:

 88 (3,651 votes)

Comments:

401

7. (=)

Boxer 

 The National

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I wanna hurry home to you
Put on a slow, dumb show for you
And crack you up
--

No other lyric makes me want to go lie facedown in the middle of the road more. Are you kidding me. [First added to this chart: 07/14/2021]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

994 charts

Rank Score:

10,032

Rank in 2007:

4

Rank in 2000s:

21

Overall Rank:

145

Average Rating:

 82 (1,206 votes)

Comments:

92

8. (=)

The Queen Is Dead 

 The Smiths

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Some girls' are bigger than others
Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers
--

Pay no attention to my complex and extremely personal relationship with this album! I still think it might be the best album ever written. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,484 charts

Rank Score:

36,087

Rank in 1986:

1

Rank in 1980s:

1

Overall Rank:

16

Average Rating:

 88 (2,896 votes)

Comments:

265

9. (=)

The Moon & Antarctica 

 Modest Mouse

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These walls are paper thin
And everyone hears every little sound
Everyone's a voyeur
As they're watching me watch them watch me right now [First added to this chart: 11/07/2022]

Year of Release:

2000

Appears in:

1,010 charts

Rank Score:

9,166

Rank in 2000:

3

Rank in 2000s:

26

Overall Rank:

169

Average Rating:

 84 (1,256 votes)

Comments:

95

10. (=)

Crystal Castles 

 Crystal Castles

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When your skin is shed
Find a pile of your head
Now then, I'll look so smart
--

Alice Glass can have my firstborn if she wants it. Ethan Kath can have death by my hands. "Vanished" is a perfect synth line. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]

Year of Release:

2008

Appears in:

251 charts

Rank Score:

1,499

Rank in 2008:

12

Rank in 2000s:

177

Overall Rank:

1,174

Average Rating:

 77 (357 votes)

Comments:

14

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	1	2%
1970s	1	2%
1980s	3	6%
1990s	8	16%
2000s	24	48%
2010s	12	24%
2020s	1	2%

Artist	Albums	%
Band Of Horses	2	4%
Mitski	2	4%
The National	2	4%
My Bloody Valentine	1	2%
Otis Redding	1	2%
Madvillain	1	2%
Phoebe Bridgers	1	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	22	44%
	13	26%
	8	16%
	5	10%
	2	4%

Top 50 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

New entries
Impeccable Blahs by Say Hi To Your Mom

Leavers
Oohs & Aahs by Say Hi

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 50 Greatest Music Albums ratings

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
100/100	10/27/2021 02:19	seb7	110	91/100
100/100	04/17/2021 09:50	Arthurknight	383	89/100

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums comments

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Rating:  

100/100

From seb7 10/27/2021 02:20

Damn what a cool and interesting list. I love your little diddles about each album. Righteous!!

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Rating:  

100/100

From Arthurknight 04/17/2021 09:50

Great list Ruby!
There's a really good attention to some of the really under-appreciated works of the 2000s here. The Dears and Stars are super underrated, and then the esoteric A.A. Bondy pick makes sense in the context of Frightened Rabbit/Mountain Goats being in the top 10, themselves also being great choices. Ride are a personal favourite of mine too, In a Different Place and Vapour Trail are just incredible tracks off that record (to name only a couple). Some things I'm totally unfamiliar with like Dazey And the Scouts, and then there's a couple weird choices like a pretty contrarian New Pornographers pick, and then the odd Laurie Anderson pick (both still good records, just not the ones by them I'd expect). I look forward to hopefully seeing it grow to 100!

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