Best Albums of 1997

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1.

OK Computer 

 Radiohead

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"I think making such a big deal about OK Computer only takes away from the great music they made after. This is a great album but unlike a lot of 90s bands Radiohead didn't try to ride this any further. From here on out they became a genre all their own."  Reply

- ProfessorSquid | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +45 votes (45 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

4,456 charts

Rank Score:

61,931

Rank in 1997:

1

Rank in 1990s:

1

Overall Rank:

1

Average Rating:

 92 (5,671 votes)

Comments:

861

2.

Homogenic 

 Björk

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"145th best album of all time is a bit of an insult. This beautiful, timeless, life-changing masterpiece deserves to be far higher. Every single track is sublime; from the elegant, sweeping brilliance of "Joga" and "Bachelorette" to the more electronic stompers like "5 Years" and "Pluto". I can't ...""145th best album of all time is a bit of an insult. This beautiful, timeless, life-changing masterpiece deserves to be far higher. Every single track is sublime; from the elegant, sweeping brilliance of "Joga" and "Bachelorette" to the more electronic stompers like "5 Years" and "Pluto". I can't recommend this album enough, it easily outshines its two predecessors and represents a landmark album in the electronic genre. One of my favourite albums ever from my favourite artist. "  [+]  Reply

- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +11 votes (11 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

1,150 charts

Rank Score:

12,896

Rank in 1997:

2

Rank in 1990s:

17

Overall Rank:

90

Average Rating:

 84 (1,408 votes)

Comments:

103

3.

Either/Or 

 Elliott Smith

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"Mr. Smith really had an unmatched ear for melody and harmony. This record is mostly just very quiet and subdued, but further listens reveal just some of the best written melodies. I just love it."  Reply

- Mercury | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

995 charts

Rank Score:

10,086

Rank in 1997:

3

Rank in 1990s:

26

Overall Rank:

130

Average Rating:

 84 (1,173 votes)

Comments:

70

4.

The Lonesome Crowded West 

 Modest Mouse

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"On this album, Isaac Brock manages to sound more pissed off than any punk or metal singer could ever dream of. He's sick of seeing patches of forest being destroyed to build yet another subdivision, sick of seeing Walmart after Walmart putting mom and pop stores out of business, sick of all the p...""On this album, Isaac Brock manages to sound more pissed off than any punk or metal singer could ever dream of. He's sick of seeing patches of forest being destroyed to build yet another subdivision, sick of seeing Walmart after Walmart putting mom and pop stores out of business, sick of all the pointless urbanization eating the heart out of many of America's small towns. In the midst of all of this anger, Brock also displays a lot of vulnerability, particularly in Trailer Trash, which seems to be about nostalgia for a childhood that, in all honesty, really wasn't that great. Even in Cowboy Dan, a song that for the most part seems to have the speaker trying to keep his barely-contained rage from boiling over, there's a piece in the middle where a hazy childhood memory temporarily distracts the speaker from his ranting. The entire album is loose and all over the place but still manages to be incredibly consistent, with nearly every song being excellent, the other songs being good enough to hold you until a better one comes along. This album is definitely one of my favorites, I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys alternative/indie rock."  [+]  Reply

- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

729 charts

Rank Score:

7,608

Rank in 1997:

4

Rank in 1990s:

40

Overall Rank:

199

Average Rating:

 84 (972 votes)

Comments:

65

5.

F♯ A♯ ∞ [F-Sharp, A-Sharp, Infinity] 

 Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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"Fun fact: The story behind the album title is that the first side starts in the key of F#, and the second side stars in the key of A#, with the infinite loop at the end... F♯A♯∞!"  Reply

- koner1 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +18 votes (18 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

656 charts

Rank Score:

6,502

Rank in 1997:

5

Rank in 1990s:

50

Overall Rank:

246

Average Rating:

 84 (789 votes)

Comments:

49

6.

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space 

 Spiritualized®

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"When you combine Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd and The Velvet Underground, this is your result: ZOMGEGNIUARGBRVBARGQR[GH3TYH37THQGIVFBNYGAVBVPGHSOWHYDIDNTIDISCOVERTHISSOONERBGYUVF0PVTJEUGVBBNVZJFHTYHVNFHGHUVUBB it's good."  Reply

- HazeyTwilight | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +15 votes (15 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

767 charts

Rank Score:

6,359

Rank in 1997:

6

Rank in 1990s:

52

Overall Rank:

250

Average Rating:

 82 (954 votes)

Comments:

66

7.

Perfect From Now On 

 Built To Spill

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"It combines indie and noise rock in a really awesome way. The combination of experimentation with traditional indie music leads to a fantastic sound. There are some great moments with the string sections and the guitar played in reverse on "Unstrustable/Part 2 (About Someone Else)". The lyricism ...""It combines indie and noise rock in a really awesome way. The combination of experimentation with traditional indie music leads to a fantastic sound. There are some great moments with the string sections and the guitar played in reverse on "Unstrustable/Part 2 (About Someone Else)". The lyricism is great as well. I love the way Doug Martsh structures his lyrics. It gives each song a dynamic sense of purpose and direction. Not only this, but they're very poetic and authentic sounding. At times, this album feels conversational. This adds a significantly more personal element to it, which adds so much volume and dimension to an already personal and introspective album. I was captivated from the first lyrics of "Randy Described Eternity", and to be honest I've rarely heard eternity described better than how Randy describes it."  [+]  Reply

- slurpdurp | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

583 charts

Rank Score:

5,963

Rank in 1997:

7

Rank in 1990s:

55

Overall Rank:

276

Average Rating:

 84 (650 votes)

Comments:

35

8.

Urban Hymns 

 The Verve

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"Britpop's softer and most eloquent side. A songbook for the disenfranchised, Urban Hymns is beautiful from start to finish, capturing the disgruntled tinge of its contemporaries and presenting it in a conversational and delicate attire. It's a flawed masterpiece, too long and too soft for its own...""Britpop's softer and most eloquent side. A songbook for the disenfranchised, Urban Hymns is beautiful from start to finish, capturing the disgruntled tinge of its contemporaries and presenting it in a conversational and delicate attire. It's a flawed masterpiece, too long and too soft for its own good in places, but it's hard to deny how reassuring and how comforting Richard Ashcroft's words are. I have a lot of sentiment with this record. It came out just around the time I was born, and the CD copy I still play in the car all the time is the same as the one my parents bought shortly after its release; Lucky Man inadvertently soundtracked a lot of big moments in my life, and very aptly too I must add; the album has opened me up to a hell of a lot of other 90s alternative bands, and continues to shape my taste to this day. It's for those reasons that I can forgive the slow pacing and dragged feel that others pick out. Urban Hymns packs the depth and approachability that I crave on occasion - a healthy dose of slightly dreamy alt rock, with enough 90s guitar riffs for all the family and a diorama of melancholic, politically tinged lyrics - and has been there for me enough to have earned a prized place among my collection. A flawed masterpiece for sure, but like all flawed masterpieces, it's what you see in it that matters most. "  [+]  Reply

- DeusExMackia | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

853 charts

Rank Score:

5,581

Rank in 1997:

8

Rank in 1990s:

57

Overall Rank:

293

Average Rating:

 77 (1,118 votes)

Comments:

71

9.

The Colour And The Shape 

 Foo Fighters

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"Dave's 2nd album is more elaborately fleshed out both musically and lyrically. This album really bridged a shift in style from the 1st album to the rest of their output. (i felt subsequent albums just haven't been as good, and i just found out that dave grohl created most of the songs of the 2nd ...""Dave's 2nd album is more elaborately fleshed out both musically and lyrically. This album really bridged a shift in style from the 1st album to the rest of their output. (i felt subsequent albums just haven't been as good, and i just found out that dave grohl created most of the songs of the 2nd album -- i already knew he did the whole first album himself.) It's not as abrasive as his post-grunge-fest debut, but grohl still rips and bangs this mutha. Doesn't sound that way from the outset though, as "doll" eases us in to the rockin' splendor, beginning with lead single "monkey wrench" ("whatever happened to innocence?") . It's a fun song amidst a serious topic of relationship problems and despite sounding like a standard rocker -- i love the raging scream-fest at the end. "hey, johnny park!" plays the quiet/loud game nirvana helped make popular. "my poor brain" is more fun, again punctuated by a lil ending rage. "see you" is short and sweet. The other highlights for me are "my hero", "everlong", "enough space" and "walking after you", with "everlong" being the gem. The song is seductive and philosophical, wondering "If everything could ever feel this real forever"."  [+]  Reply

- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (4 helpful | 1 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

707 charts

Rank Score:

4,550

Rank in 1997:

9

Rank in 1990s:

67

Overall Rank:

366

Average Rating:

 78 (1,005 votes)

Comments:

66

10.

The Boatman's Call 

 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

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"I remember when Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds toured this album. Theyopened with Into My Arms and Cave had a terrible time with the first line "I don' t believe in an interventionist god" it took him 4 or 5 gos to get through it and ages to complete the song. Had seen him live a number of times but...""I remember when Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds toured this album. Theyopened with Into My Arms and Cave had a terrible time with the first line "I don' t believe in an interventionist god" it took him 4 or 5 gos to get through it and ages to complete the song. Had seen him live a number of times but never struggle like this. Eventually the gig went well. Anyway this was the night Michael Hutchence did away with himself in the hotel room with Nick being the godfather of his child. Sad but true."  [+]  Reply

- stangetzaway | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

585 charts

Rank Score:

4,039

Rank in 1997:

10

Rank in 1990s:

73

Overall Rank:

412

Average Rating:

 81 (703 votes)

Comments:

31

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of 1997 composition

Top 1,000 Top 500 Top 250 Top 100

Artist	Albums	%
Various Artists	18	2%
Delirious?	3	0%
Mogwai	3	0%
Grateful Dead	3	0%
Squarepusher	3	0%
David Bowie	3	0%
Erykah Badu	2	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	438	44%
	221	22%
	37	4%
	33	3%
	33	3%
	22	2%
	22	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	910	91%
Yes	90	9%

Live?	Albums	%
No	966	97%
Yes	34	3%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	982	98%
Yes	18	2%