Listed below are the best albums of the 2000s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 3 hours ago).
"One of those albums thats nostalgic to a fault for me. Hysteric is my wedding song. Is it a 100? Maybe not, but for me it is. Every song sparks a magic in me that is undeniable. Listen to the extended version, so much beautiful music. Thank you YYY for letting this record exist."Reply
"I dunno why this album doesn't have a higher average rating. It's great not a bad song on it. Does get weaker after track 8 and it's a bit too long though. Favourite tracks: Cochise, Like A Stone, I Am The Highway"Reply
"You’ve just had the perfect day. Sun drenched and bone tired, you gather up your things with your friends. There is sand in your hair and on your bare feet, but you don’t care. You can wash it off tomorrow. You pile into the car laughing about some inside joke that no one outside that day would e...""You’ve just had the perfect day. Sun drenched and bone tired, you gather up your things with your friends. There is sand in your hair and on your bare feet, but you don’t care. You can wash it off tomorrow. You pile into the car laughing about some inside joke that no one outside that day would ever understand. The car hits the road and everyone grows silent, lost in their own little world as they reminisce and take in the day. Sinking into their seats as the sun begins to set on the horizon. THIS is the album for that ride home. No one says a word. No one needs to say a word. There’s nothing to say. The days fond memories and the music meld perfectly together as the wind the from the half open car windows plays with your hair. And you all fall half asleep with a half smile on your face thinking the same thought - this was the greatest day.
Grade: A. Finishing perhaps one of the greatest four run album runs in indie, hell rock history, …And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out is Yo La Tengo at their mellowest. They know the perfect music for the ride back from the Jersey shore, and this is it. Like all the albums in this four run stretch from Painful to ATNTIIO, this is essential indie rock. Yo La Tengo always got a bit overlooked perhaps because they never broke up or maybe because their music was always a bit more understated and less headline grabbing, but they are easily one of the greatest indie rock bands of the 90s. And you need to look no further than this (almost) seamless masterpiece to find out why.
Aside: My one (minor) quibble with this album is with “Cherry Chapstick”. It’s a great song, but breaks up the super mellow vibe of the rest of the album. It’s a song that would have fit much better on Electr-o-pura or I Am Not Afraid of You and Will Beat Your Ass. "[+]Reply
"Picaresque is my favorite album from the Decemberists. It starts off with a muted tribal horn i often blast before the drums beat in with Colin narrating the premise of "the infanta": "Here she comes in her palanquin / on the back of an elephant / on a bed made of linen and sequins and silk / all...""Picaresque is my favorite album from the Decemberists. It starts off with a muted tribal horn i often blast before the drums beat in with Colin narrating the premise of "the infanta": "Here she comes in her palanquin / on the back of an elephant / on a bed made of linen and sequins and silk / all astride on her father's line / with the king and his concubines / and her nurse with her pitchers of liquors and milk / and we'll all come praise the infanta". The charging literature of the song is finely offset by the quieter, pensive, recharging bridge. The lyrics on "infanta" are the best decemberists lyrics yet (and i love intelligent lyrics), replete with high-point scrabble words like "palanquin", "pachyderm" and "folderol", tied with another picaresque tune, the epic "mariner's revenge song", probably my favorite decemberists songs of all-time. "mariner's" starts in flashback mode "in this belly of a whale" recalling a "rake and a rastabout" who moved in on the narrator's mother when he was 14 "Leaving my mother A poor consumptive wretch" with a killer-yet-frail chorus delivered by Jenny wisping "Find him, bind him / Tie him to a pole and break / His fingers to splinters / Drag him to a hole until he / Wakes up naked / Clawing at the ceiling / Of his grave". The narrator later was hired in a priory "But never once in the employ / Of these holy men / Did I ever once turn my mind / From the thought of revenge" hearing about a captain known for "wanton cruelty", the man who left his mother destitute in death. There's even a pensive instrumental passage as the narrator contemplates commiting a "wicked deed" (to kill that captain) which nails the sound of the old sea (as only the Decemberists can!). Then "And then that fateful night / We had you in our sight / After twenty months at sea / Your starboard flank abeam / I was getting my muskets clean / When came this rumbling from beneath" as the whale rose from beneath which chews up all but our two antagonists. Marvelous storytelling and delivery including an energized ending. All tunes have the feel of tales of centuries ago, classic stories charles dickens or herman melville would be proud of, full of motorcars and muskets ablaze. "we both go down together" is a tale of a couple who commit suicide knowing their families will never allow them together ("Meet me on my vast veranda / My sweet untouched Miranda / and while the seagulls are crying / we fall but our souls are flying"). That Colin can make such wordsmithy, sea shanties so catchy and endearing is a testament to his intelligence and ability to tap the human condition. Like on "eli the barrow boy", the soliloquied epitaph of a loved one, singing "Would I could afford to buy my love a fine robe / Made of gold and silk Arabian thread / But she is dead and gone and lying in a pine grove / And I must push my barrow all the day". Or the humorously playful "the sporting life": "I fell on the playing field / the work of an errant heel / the din of the crowd and the loud commotion / went deafening silence and stopped emotion" . The instrumentation on this album kicks arse too, from the fiddle on "together" to the organ and horns on "16 military wives" to the accordion on "mariner's revenge song". The slower numbers work well too, from the crime scene buildup of "the bagman's gambit" ("On the lam from the law / on the steps of the capitol / you shot a plainclothes cop on the ten o'clock") and literally lost love "from my own true love (lost at sea)", to what i feel is Colin's first love song "of angels and angles". Beautiful acoustic guitar prefaces simply-felt lines like "there are angels in your angles, there's a low moon caught in your tangles", the perfectly understated closer to offset the literary bombast of "infanta". The sentiment is as saddening-sweet on "the engine driver" with a chorus pleading "and if you don't love me, let me go", and even on the lyrically-simple-life-of-a-male-prostitute of "on a bus mall" illustrating "here in our hovel we fuse like a family, / But I will not mourn for you. / So take off your makeup / And pocket your pills away. / We're kings among runaways / On the bus mall." . There's even a jab at politics in "16 military wives": "Cheer them on to their rivals / Cause America can, and America can't say no / And America does, if America says it's so". "[+]Reply
"I'm going to tell you that this is The White Stripes' best album so hang with me. I get that you all are attached to White Blood Cells. I get the appeal of that album, it's a jolt of rock. This album is not White Blood Cells. It requires an acquired taste, an open mind. The White Stripes fan base...""I'm going to tell you that this is The White Stripes' best album so hang with me. I get that you all are attached to White Blood Cells. I get the appeal of that album, it's a jolt of rock. This album is not White Blood Cells. It requires an acquired taste, an open mind. The White Stripes fan base expect rock, which is why this album is often cited as their worst.
From a songwriting standpoint, this is their best. I like to start the album off with "The Nurse" and not "Blue Orchid" because I feel like "Blue Orchid" was slapped in there at the last minute just so this album could have a single. "The Nurse" sets the correct tone for the album, it is also the best track. I understand why some people do not like "The Nurse", but keep in mind that "The Nurse" is a song about murder (at least from my interpretation), so it should be uncomfortable to listen to. It really gets me into the right frame of mind for the rest of the album. So for the sake of being a snob, I'm going to pretend like "Blue Orchid" doesn't exist.
Get Behind Me Satan explores many themes, but the one that stands out the most for me is how to overcome seclusion. Every track represents a different scenario that deals with the issue. One of the more stunning tracks, "White Moon", is about a soldier who carries a photograph of Rita Hayworth to symbolize his "girl back home" that he never had. In this album, Hayworth represents the unobtainable dream, which grows obsessive in "Take, Take, Take", a song about seeing Hayworth in the flesh.
Another standout track, "Little Ghost" is about still being attached to the memory of a dead spouse.
"Every morning I awoke
And I see my little ghost
Wondering if it's really her that's lying there
I lean to touch her and I whisper
But not brave enough to kiss her
When I held her I was really holding air"
What makes a song like this so great is its devastating lyrics being accompanied by one of the most joyful melodies The White Stripes ever created. The White Stripes use this trick throughout most of the album.
The final track "I'm Lonely" is a heartbreaking ending to the album. This song tells the listener that there is always love in family, even though the family is out of reach in a place far away. Which may be about Jack's own feelings about touring. In any case, it's still an amazing song.
Overall, my interpretation of this album might be different from your own. This is one of the many reasons why this album so unique. In the end, I feel satisfied, which is what really counts."[+]Reply
"Karin Dreijer Andersson is one of the greatest minds currently active in pop music. She can write a hook as well as anyone can but then masks it in this dark, almost Lynchian weirdness. Her vocals, manipulated and not, are always compelling even though somewhat alien and usually creepy. And her l...""Karin Dreijer Andersson is one of the greatest minds currently active in pop music. She can write a hook as well as anyone can but then masks it in this dark, almost Lynchian weirdness. Her vocals, manipulated and not, are always compelling even though somewhat alien and usually creepy. And her lyrics are full of vivid imagery that also wouldn't seem out of place in, say Twin Peaks or Mulholland Dr. There's no one really doing what she's doing, not exactly anyway.
This album had me from the first seconds of the first track and is absolutely relentless. Coconut is an astounding track, and is a perfect closer. When I Grow Up and Dry and Dusty are the other two highlights.
I also had the good fortune of seeing a Fever Ray performance, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Here's to hoping she does something else as Fever Ray."[+]Reply
"In the late nineties and early 2000's, Bruce Springsteen was at a bit of a loss. He had recently reformed the E street band for a successful tour, but Springsteen hadn't released an album of new material since, the ghost of Tom Joad, in 1995. Springsteen was also at his best when he had something...""In the late nineties and early 2000's, Bruce Springsteen was at a bit of a loss. He had recently reformed the E street band for a successful tour, but Springsteen hadn't released an album of new material since, the ghost of Tom Joad, in 1995. Springsteen was also at his best when he had something to say, when he was inspired, when there was 'something to push against', as he would later say. That inspiration came on 11th September 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States of America, in the worst U.S. tragedy since pearl harbour 60 years before. Soon after 9/11, Springsteen was in a parking lot when a voice called out to him. 'We need you now', the voice said. Springsteen heard. In July the following year, Bruce Springsteen was back. The rising, was a fantastic collection of songs, concerning the events of 9/11. From devastated family members, to the courageous emergency services, even to the thoughts of a suicide bomber. It was moving stuff. The rising, is easily springsteen's best E street album since, born to run. Working with producer Brendan O'Brien who had previously recorded pearl jam, the band sounded bigger and better than ever. Lonesome day, is a fantastic opener, followed by the moving, into the fire. Other 9/11 inspired tracks were, empty sky, world's apart, paradise, and the title track itself, all brilliant. There are lighter moments, waitin'on a sunny day, and the wonderful Motown pastiche, Mary's place, are great fun. Other standouts are, the contemplative, nothing man, the rocking, further on up the road, and the excellent, you're missing. If there are any lightweight moments, it's the throwaway, let's be friends. Elsewhere though, it's brilliant, ending with the uplifting, my city of ruins. The rising, Is a fantastic record, that goes down as one of Bruce's best. It's a moving album that only someone with the stature of Bruce Springsteen could have pulled off. Marvellous. "[+]Reply
micah88800 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Repo | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +11 votes (11 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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NubbinBased | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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