Best Albums of 2011

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1.

Helplessness Blues 

 Fleet Foxes

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""I was raised up believing I was somehow unique / Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see / And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me." So begins this album's fantastic title track,..."""I was raised up believing I was somehow unique / Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see / And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me." So begins this album's fantastic title track, a song that may sum up the peculiar situation of the millenial generation. I'm not a millenial, but to a degree I think we can all identify with that final sentiment: that our culture rewards individual achievement when what really delivers meaningful happiness is a sense that we're part of something larger than ourselves. I've never seen Fleet Foxes live, and I'm not sure if I ever will with the band on indefinite hiatus, but I'd like to sing that song at the top of my lungs in a room full of people."  [+]  Reply

- buzzdainer | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:

2011

Appears in:

944 charts

Rank Score:

8,346

Rank in 2011:

1

Rank in 2010s:

16

Overall Rank:

178

Average Rating:

 82 (1,329 votes)

Comments:

104

2.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver 

 Bon Iver

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"This is an interesting album. It is considerably different in tone than For Emma, Forever Ago. I actually had never heard of Bon Iver prior to seeing them featured on a cover of the Rolling Stone. I think I had heard of Justin Vernon though prior and the article had mentioned him working with Kan...""This is an interesting album. It is considerably different in tone than For Emma, Forever Ago. I actually had never heard of Bon Iver prior to seeing them featured on a cover of the Rolling Stone. I think I had heard of Justin Vernon though prior and the article had mentioned him working with Kanye, so that made me interested after seeing that. Gave a listen and Perth to me was an outstanding opener. I also got a chance to see them in concert and being five feet away from the speaker on this song was an awesome experience and really made me appreciate it even more haha. Minnesota, WI is another good song. I like the funky opening. A big problem though I have with the album is 1) A lot of it is hard to understand lyrically and I think that's the point. It is supposed to move you more through music. The lyrics are just a passenger on this album in the vehicle the music. And 2) Some of the lyrics like wtf do they mean. You need a theasaurus for some of it. In Minnesota, WI one of the lines is like Armour let it through borne the arboretic truth you kept posing...what's that mean? lol But some songs are beautiful with their words particularly Perth and Holocene. Holocene is one of the best songs I've ever heard. Might be a weird comparison but this to me is kind of like a indie folk version of Chrstopher Cross's song Sailing. Both are very soothing songs and hypnotic in their sound and make you appreciate living. The middle of the album is not fascinating and slows down a lot. Songs start to sound the same. Towers is good. I think it's about a relationship Justin had in college. Hinnom, TX, Wash. and Michicant probably the weakeest songs on the album. Calgary is by far Bon Iver's most underrated song and in looking at their catalog that could be the one that's most underappreciated. It's a good song especially when it picks up in the end. Lisbon, OH is a nice instrumenatal piece. It's a quiet song like you're walking in a downtown of some small town late at night. Vernon does a good job with the instrumental tracks. Team from For Emma is phenomonal and one of the best instrumental tracks I've heard. Lastly, the album closes with Beth/Rest, which is very hit or miss to listeners. I love it. It's got a very late 80's sound to it and I tend to like that kind of music. It reminds me of Bruce Hornsby and the song in theme actually reminds me a lot of his closing song the Red Plains on the Way it is. Lyrically, again it's a very tough song to decipher, but I think the ultimate message is that the memories you have with people will always be there, even if you're no longer in contact with the person. It's not for everyone, but I'm a fan of this album. It's a very soothing album and Vernon does a good job depicting place and time in his songs. This is the album that made me a fan of Vernon's. Bon Iver's future kind of looks up in the air now, but I'm looking forward to the rest of Vernon's career. "  [+]  Reply

- Ds0589 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:

2011

Appears in:

970 charts

Rank Score:

8,290

Rank in 2011:

2

Rank in 2010s:

17

Overall Rank:

179

Average Rating:

 80 (1,360 votes)

Comments:

105

3.

Let England Shake 

 PJ Harvey

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"Best album I've heard so far this year, and a welcome return to greatness for P.J. Amazing."  Reply

- Norman Bates | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:

2011

Appears in:

769 charts

Rank Score:

5,833

Rank in 2011:

3

Rank in 2010s:

33

Overall Rank:

278

Average Rating:

 80 (964 votes)

Comments:

60

4.

The Smile Sessions 

 The Beach Boys

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"Finally, after more than forty years, the Beach Boys' unfinished album "Smile" has been released in its entirety - to the extent possible. "Smile" was in 1966 Brian Wilson's most ambitious project, and he wanted to create music that was as innovative as that of the Beatles - a group which he both...""Finally, after more than forty years, the Beach Boys' unfinished album "Smile" has been released in its entirety - to the extent possible. "Smile" was in 1966 Brian Wilson's most ambitious project, and he wanted to create music that was as innovative as that of the Beatles - a group which he both admired and wished to match. Wilson dropped tour-life to concentrate on writing and recording music, while the other Beach Boys occasionally came in the studio and recorded vocals on the new songs. The amazing single "Good Vibrations" was an indication of directions Wilson's musical ideas took. The single became a huge hit and there were naturally great expectations for the album that would follow. Unfortunately, Wilson broke down under the stress of the high expectations and his own ambtions before the album was completed. In fact, a cover drawn with a charming beautiful colorful front and a back side with a preliminary tracklist. Some of the songs were practically finished, while others were under development when the project was dropped. However several of the Smile songs appeared on the next Beach Boys albums where the overall musical ambitions were lowered and the other Beach Boys began to take more part in the songwriting. The best of these are now well known classics, especially "Heroes and Villains," "Surf's Up," "Wind Chimes" and "Vegetables." In early 2000 years Brian Wilson re-recorded the Smile songs and also went on tour with them. Although these were fine and impressive performances, they also meant that the wishes the the original versions, with different beautiful Beach Boys voices, became even stronger. This 2 CD version contains the versions of the many Smile recordings which Brian Wilson believes are the best. CD 1 contains the finished versions of the songs, or in some cases as finished as possible. CD 2 gives a little insight into the work in the studio, and numerous recordings and overdubs behind these contemporary loose shots. Since there never was any final decision on tracklisting, anyone can try to put an album that may match or perhaps overpass the group's previous album "Pet Sounds" which is considered as the group's masterpiece. I have put such an album together which after the contemporary standards has14 songs and which lasts about 40 minutes. In fact, I think this "album" in respects in on the level of "Pet Sounds", which after all also does contain songs of lesser significance Side one of this imaginary vinyl version looks like this: Side one 1. You're Welcome / 2. Good Vibrations / 3. Surf's Up / 4. Wonderful / 5. Cabin Essence / 6. Child Is Father Of The Mon 7. Look (Song For Children) - Side two 1. Our Prayer / 2.Heroes And Villains / 3 Holidays / 4. Wind Chimes / 5. Vega-Tables / 6. Gee / 7. Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock). I've played this compilation many times and am very satisfied with it, and I believe it would have received deserved recognition in its time, even if individual numbers may seem a little incomplete. In any rate, this bunch of beautiful songs constitute an important part in music history. "  [+]  Reply

- Rovers | 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:

2011

Appears in:

469 charts

Rank Score:

5,708

Rank in 2011:

4

Rank in 2010s:

35

Overall Rank:

286

Average Rating:

 85 (843 votes)

Comments:

77

5.

The King Of Limbs 

 Radiohead

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"I've read some reviews describing this album as lacking in warmth, or too distant from their roots as a 5-piece rock outfit, or too much of a Thom Yorke project. Yet, I truly find KoL to be an incredibly intimate album that rewards full immersion with headphones. It is also a real tribute to the ...""I've read some reviews describing this album as lacking in warmth, or too distant from their roots as a 5-piece rock outfit, or too much of a Thom Yorke project. Yet, I truly find KoL to be an incredibly intimate album that rewards full immersion with headphones. It is also a real tribute to the artistic flexibility of each member to be able to work so cohesively to enhance each track with their more subtle contributions. Much like with In Rainbows, The King of Limbs shines in their 'In the Basement' session. Watch the YouTube recording of this session to see just how brilliant these tracks really are. You'll come away with a whole new respect for what they have created. Once viewing this you realise that it is a mistake to think that much of the album as 'just' electronic. Instead it is driven by a cohesive, percussive tapestry. It is an album that showcases rhythm as its driving influence. Sure, it suffers a little for not having the 'fullness' of sound that they are capable of but I just love their willingness to explore new territory. I find myself returning to this album time and again on my train commute as it works so well when closing out the world around. ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: For sheer transcendent beauty; Codex, which needs more recognition as a Radiohead classic. For the audiophiles who love masterful layers of cacophonous instrumentation; Bloom - it will have your mind swirling. "  [+]  Reply

- Strangel | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:

2011

Appears in:

886 charts

Rank Score:

4,542

Rank in 2011:

5

Rank in 2010s:

44

Overall Rank:

365

Average Rating:

 75 (2,063 votes)

Comments:

230

6.

El Camino 

 The Black Keys

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"None of the songs are bad at all. As a matter of fact, on its own merit this is a very very good album. The problem is that I just heard this album last year and back in 2008 also. You could put all the tracks from El Camino, Brothers, and Attack & Release in one playlist, hit random, and have th...""None of the songs are bad at all. As a matter of fact, on its own merit this is a very very good album. The problem is that I just heard this album last year and back in 2008 also. You could put all the tracks from El Camino, Brothers, and Attack & Release in one playlist, hit random, and have three hours of great music. But I'll bet you can't place which album each of the songs were on without cheating."  [+]  Reply

- ShaneSpear | 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:

2011

Appears in:

638 charts

Rank Score:

4,103

Rank in 2011:

6

Rank in 2010s:

54

Overall Rank:

405

Average Rating:

 78 (1,090 votes)

Comments:

61

7.

Kaputt 

 Destroyer

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"The melodies and the lyrics are good, but the jazzy instrumentation is what makes this album for me. Exquisitely tasteful."  Reply

- 9999 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (7 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:

2011

Appears in:

504 charts

Rank Score:

3,757

Rank in 2011:

7

Rank in 2010s:

60

Overall Rank:

450

Average Rating:

 79 (602 votes)

Comments:

47

8.

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming 

 M83

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"OK so why do I feel this is a "music equivalent of Tree of Life". Both works can be described with the word "epic", they're lengthy, full of interesting ideas, exhilarating, techincally very impressive, and even the theme is somewhat similiar with constant nostalgic "looking back", to the time of...""OK so why do I feel this is a "music equivalent of Tree of Life". Both works can be described with the word "epic", they're lengthy, full of interesting ideas, exhilarating, techincally very impressive, and even the theme is somewhat similiar with constant nostalgic "looking back", to the time of childhood. I also think they share the same problem - often I get the feeling that they're epic just for the sake of being epic. Not that this is a bad thing, but I did feel sometimes, that it was just... empty, when it presented itself to be something more than that. I had more problem with that in the movie than on the album though. I guess if the movie is visually impressive, it can still easily make me unsatisfied if I feel that the images on screen don't make much sense or if I feel the author thinks the movie is smarter than it actually is. On the album, there are several interludes, that are impressive by themselves, but don't really offer anything in the terms of an album, not musically nor thematically. Some will find them to be a filler, but to me they're impressive and quality enough so I don't lose interest. In Tree of Life, there are also certain "interludes" that in general probably had some place in director's story (his whole "vision"), but I ultimately found a lot of that to be fairly boring (despite being fascinating to watch) and quite simply - empty. So.. Being just a music album (also, without the annoying voice overs of the movie) Hurry Up, We're Dreaming doesn't make me feel that way at all, even if I have my doubts about it. Some of the songs are just so good that I don't care if Gonzalez made them with true emotions, honesty, or just in order to make them as big and "epic" as possible. Track picks: Midnight City, Wait, Claudia Lewis, Raconte Moi Une Historie (something out of the ordinary, can only be a good thing on an album like this), ..."  [+]  Reply

- 19loveless91 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 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:

2011

Appears in:

514 charts

Rank Score:

3,366

Rank in 2011:

8

Rank in 2010s:

71

Overall Rank:

516

Average Rating:

 77 (677 votes)

Comments:

50

9.

21 

 Adele

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"Best Adele album,but still just good. She has a pretty voice and she can definitely sing,but not only does the album get extremely tedious after only a few tracks in,it's not really something interesting in the first place. There are some great songs on here,but everything else is lacking."  Reply

- Wingman | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (8 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:

2011

Appears in:

519 charts

Rank Score:

3,122

Rank in 2011:

9

Rank in 2010s:

77

Overall Rank:

548

Average Rating:

 72 (940 votes)

Comments:

87

10.

Wasting Light 

 Foo Fighters

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"Can't decide if I prefer this or The Colour And The Shape. The standout songs on The Colour And The Shape are better than those on Wasting Light, but Wasting Light is more consistent."  Reply

- blackflag29 | 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:

2011

Appears in:

434 charts

Rank Score:

2,603

Rank in 2011:

10

Rank in 2010s:

92

Overall Rank:

658

Average Rating:

 76 (788 votes)

Comments:

55

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of 2011 composition

Top 1,000 Top 500 Top 250 Top 100

Artist	Albums	%
Various Artists	5	1%
The Weeknd	3	0%
Kate Bush	2	0%
Radiohead	2	0%
Gorillaz	2	0%
Wussy	2	0%
Adele	2	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	476	48%
	187	19%
	55	6%
	36	4%
	30	3%
	24	2%
	22	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	958	96%
Yes	42	4%

Live?	Albums	%
No	972	97%
Yes	28	3%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	993	99%
Yes	7	1%