Best album by...(just some random stuff)
Chuck wanted more of this so here it. I hope he can pick a favorite for #10 considering how much I know he likes them...
- The Who - Who's Next (It's not just the definitve Who album, it's the definitive rock album)
- Bob Marley - Catch a Fire (It's everything that's good about reggae and it never sounds like something college kids listen to to be cool.)
- Tom Petty - Wildflowers (His whole career built to this point. he hasn't been as good since.)
- Talking Heads - Little Creatures (Talking Heads stretched so much that they often produced uneven records, but not so here. They stretch and reach their goals throughout on this one.)
- U2 - Boy (It's not their most mature work, but they did most of the important (pre-Achtung Baby) stuff here and just polished it later.)
- Prince - Parade (He did almost no wrong from 1999 through Sign O the Times, but this is my favorite.)
- The Doors - Tie: The Doors and LA Woman (They're very different, but too good to choose between. The rest of the catalog is pretty eratic.)
- Van Halen - 1984 (Everything they did with DLR was pretty much on par (except Diver Down), but 1984 wins on "Drop Dead Legs," my fav VH song.)
- Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (This was a close call with Touch, but "Love is a Stranger" carries the day.)
- Styx - Pieces of Eight (Don't even ask why I have a favorite for this one...)
posted by bob_vinyl at 3:26 PM
4 Comments:
OK, I've been intrigued by your music polls, so i'm finally going to take part in one, even though you don't know me or my quirky musical tastes yet.
The Who - I'm not a huge Who fan, but every now and then I like listening to Tommy
Bob Marley - I used to love reggae until I had a roommate who played nothing but - I woke up to it, fell asleep to it, heard it all day long. It took me a couple years to be able to listen to reggae on my own again, and even now I have to be in a certain frame of mind. I like Bob Marley but I'm not sure I have a favorite. Maybe Catch a Fire, maybe Natty Dread.
Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
U2 - I pretty much stopped paying attention to U2 after Rattle and Hum. I keep hearing about how they've developed and matured and they're so much better now than in the 80's, but I have to stick with War.
Prince - Back in the day I hated Purple Rain because it was too popular and Prince looked too greasy. Over time I've come to love it though. I've always liked 1999, even though he was even greasier. (teenage girls are fickle)
Doors - This is one of those bands that i feel like I shouldn't like, but I can't help loving them. I have a hard time picking one favorite though because I like certain parts of each. I'll say Waiting for The Sun, but that might change if you ask me tomorrow.
Van Halen - Van Halen...this was my first true love affair with an album.
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Styx - I had one Styx record in my life and that's because I thought Tommy Shaw was cute in the Too Much Time on My Hands video. So while i'm quite sure that Paradise Theater isn't their best album, I'm choosing it because it's the one I know, and Tommy Shaw is probably still cute in that video.
This was fun. And painless. Maybe I'll go back and answer your other polls.
Hooray! Another poll!
The Who - Who's Next. Of the Three Most Important Bands In All Of Rock (along with The Beatles and The Stones), The Who is both my favorite and least favorite. When they succeed, they succeed magnificently. The same is true when they fail. The biggest failure -- if it can be called that -- on this album is "Bargain". And successes? The album contains both "Baby O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". It doesn't get much better than that.
Bob Marley - The only albums I know well from start to finish are Legend and Rastaman Vibration, and between the two I'll pick Rastaman Vibration. Legend isn't a bad collection of songs, but it turns an incredible musical and social presence into a homogenized, easy-to-digest fast food meal. I think both the strong and weak points of Rastaman Vibration serve to create a sum that is far greater than it's parts, something that Legend doesn't do.
Tom Petty - I don't see Tom Petty the way I see Bob Marley. I think Greatest Hits is a pretty amazing collection, and it's all I'd ever need from Tom and Co. Of course, Bob knows how I feel about White American Rock.
Talking Heads - In Bob's "Amazing Grace" post, he said the Neville Brothers' Live on Planet Earth is the best live album of all time. I think Stop Making Sense is a very strong contender for that title.
U2 - Achtung, Baby is perhaps my favorite album ever. I can't even begin to explain it. Everything that ever made U2 great is on that album, but sometimes you have to read between the lines to find it.
Prince - I know it's a predictable answer, but does it really get any better than Purple Rain?
The Doors - There are moments on other albums that outshine Strange Days, but on this one they found the perfect mix between spooky, strange, and spectacular.
Van Halen - Unfortunately, at some point in my post-adolescent years, I realized how pathetic it is for a bunch of grown men to sing about gettin' some in high school. It's like the 23-year-old guy who drives his Camaro to the roller rink and tries to pick up teenage girls. Ick. With that in mind, I reservedly offer Fair Warning as my favorite, perhaps because "Unchained" is the first VH song that grabbed me and is one of the few I can still stomach today.
The Eurythmics - I'm going out on a limb here and choosing the Walking on Broken Glass EP by Annie Lennox. It has "Here Comes the Rain Again (unplugged)" which might be even better than the original.
Styx - Don't be silly, Bob. How could someone pick just one?
Tom Petty - I have his self-titled first album and the greatest hits, plus Full Moon Fever on one of the Traveling Wilburys comps I have...I can't pick; Tom's albums are slices of Americana, each to be savored in their own right; my favorite song is "You Got Lucky." Fucking love that song. It says what was RIGHT about the 80s.
Talking Heads - I have to agree with "Stop Making Sense"
U2 - "War" and "Boy," more so on "War," because they really had their shit together by then and it's still disturbing in some aspects today...its brilliance is eternal
Prince - It's no secret to my friends that Prince is my absolute favorite musician and I've stuck by him over the years when it was unhip to like him. Regardless, "Sign O' the Times" will always be my favorite Prince album; as commercially appealing as "Purple Rain" is
Doors - Save for the squalid "The Soft Parade," I have a real bitch picking my quintessential Doors album. Probably the first one, but "Morrison Hotel" is grossly underrated and "LA Woman" really kicks too...The Doors are immortal, whether you want them to be or not...forget the Stones, The Doors painted theirs black with more conviction
Van Halen - I would agree with the first "Van Halen," but "1984" never left my turntable...it's a tough call...
Eurythmics - the bitch about a lot of these bands is that I have greatest hits, like this one and of course, Styx...what else to say? "Here Comes the Rain Again" is a wonderful, sad tune
Styx - domo arigato Mr. Roboto...domo domo...domo domo...imagine singing this like a loon to your wife at 2:00 am in a Huddle House on the Virginia/Tennessee border...
The Who - Quadrophenia...Hands Down.. one of my favorite albums ever made. It doesn't have the hits of Who's Next, but from start to finish it carries the listener through quite the journey. Listen to it LOUD.
Bob Marley - No real opinion.
Tom Petty - No real opinion.
Talking Heads - Again...
U2 - War... Nothing from them in the last 10 years was worth hearing.
Prince - Hated, then liked, now dislike...Don't have a fav.
The Doors - Strange Days. That album puts me in a very special place. Sitting outside in the summer, listening to Stange Days as the sun goes down.
Van Halen - Van Halen...Ohh yeah.
Eurythmics - The only one I have... Sweet Dreams...
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