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.
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
1,228
Rank in 2005:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
6
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
435
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
927
Rank in 2008:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
36,920
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
10,032
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
9,166
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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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]
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:
Rank Score:
1,499
Rank in 2008:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The van screeches
The old man preaches about the gold sand beaches
The cold hand reaches for the old tan Ellesse's
Jesus
--
Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
The old man preaches about the gold sand beaches
The cold hand reaches for the old tan Ellesse's
Jesus
--
Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,105
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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And 14, and you know
That I'm looking the wrong way
And is the past outside
Or in this lovely home?
--
The perfect album on a walk at 3am. Receives bonus points for the current change made in live versions of “And She Would Darken The Memory” to “head up dear, the rabbit won’t die”. Life is really about making impacts on other people huh! [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
That I'm looking the wrong way
And is the past outside
Or in this lovely home?
--
The perfect album on a walk at 3am. Receives bonus points for the current change made in live versions of “And She Would Darken The Memory” to “head up dear, the rabbit won’t die”. Life is really about making impacts on other people huh! [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
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If you'd been a dog
They would have drowned you at birth
Look into my eyes
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
--
Knives Out is my favourite Radiohead song so this is the album on the list. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
They would have drowned you at birth
Look into my eyes
It's the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth
--
Knives Out is my favourite Radiohead song so this is the album on the list. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,455
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 24. Page 1 of 3
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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 | |||
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| New entries |
|---|
 Impeccable Blahsby Say Hi To Your Mom |
| Leavers |
|---|
 Oohs & Aahsby Say Hi |
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| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | Lagunin | Overall chart | 2023 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  Jjjoniee | Overall chart | 2015 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | Conker | Overall chart | 2013 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | rnanderson8 | 2000s decade chart | 2019 | |
| Top 45 Greatest Music Albums | willett25 | Overall chart | 2010 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | ZTAS | 2000s decade chart | 2014 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  pecan3141 | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | Greendonut227 | 2000s decade chart | 2018 |  |
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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums ratings
88/100 (from 2 votes)
where:
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Showing all 2 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 10/27/2021 02:19 |  seb7 | | 91/100 |
| 100/100 | 04/17/2021 09:50 |  Arthurknight | | 89/100 |
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100/100
From seb7 10/27/2021 02:20
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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100/100
From Arthurknight 04/17/2021 09:50
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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