COUNTDOWN: Top 50 Music Albums Of All-Time.

BonnieSituation

Reberetta wrote: »

25th 33 pts

Def Leppard
Hysteria (1987)

Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: 89?/1/1
Singles: "Animal","Women", "Pour Some Sugar on Me", "Hysteria", "Armageddon It", "Love Bites", "Rocket"
Nominated by Kolido, bubblypop, bigtimecharlie



Ten things you didn't know about Hysteria.

The awesome secret hiding in Def Leppard's Hysteria singles.

I watched a documentary on the making of Hysteria a few years back and it has to be one of the best music docs I've ever seen.

Elliot talking about writing "Pour Some Sugar..." is gas.

Sheridan81

The Colour and the shape by Foos
Velvet Underground's debut
Unknown Pleasures by JD

I approve. I like the last track on Foos album alot, forget it's name now. "I felt like this on my way home, I'm not scared.."

BonnieSituation

Reberetta wrote: »

24th 33 pts

Stevie Wonder
Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
Playlist and documentary.
Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: ?/2/1
Singles "I Wish", "Isn't She Lovely", "Sir Duke", Another Star", "As"
Nominated by Pretzill, Plentyohtoole, The Floyd P



Inside story of the album.

This album has always left me cold. He just does very little for me.

BonnieSituation

Sheridan81 wrote: »

The Colour and the shape by Foos
Velvet Underground's debut
Unknown Pleasures by JD

I approve. I like the last track on Foos album alot, forget it's name now.

New Way Home

Sheridan81

BonnieSituation wrote: »

This album has always left me cold. He just does very little for me.

Haven't listened to it. Some, like Lionel Richie and Boy George, say he's not even blind :pac:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Sheridan81 wrote: »

The Colour and the shape by Foos
Velvet Underground's debut
Unknown Pleasures by JD

I approve. I like the last track on Foos album alot, forget it's name now. "I felt like this on my way home, I'm not scared.."

New Way Home. One of their greatest songs, IMO.

Reberetta

22nd 35 points

The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (1967)

Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: 2/1/1
Singles: None?
Nominated by Plentyohtoole, splashthecash, Pretzill

Portions of Sgt. Pepper reflect the Beatles' general immersion in the blues, Motown and other American popular musical traditions.

The author Ian MacDonald writes that when reviewing their rivals' recent work in late 1966, the Beatles identified the most significant LP as the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, which Brian Wilson, the band's leader, had created in response to the Beatles' Rubber Soul. 

McCartney was highly impressed with the "harmonic structures" and choice of instruments used on Pet Sounds, and said that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could "get further out" than the Beach Boys had. He identified Pet Sounds as his main musical inspiration for Sgt. Pepper, adding that "[we] nicked a few ideas", although he felt it lacked the avant-garde quality he was seeking. Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention has also been cited as having influenced Sgt. Pepper. According to the biographer Philip Norman, during the recording sessions McCartney repeatedly stated: "This is our Freak Out!" The music journalist Chet Flippo stated that McCartney was inspired to record a concept album after hearing Freak Out!

Indian music was another touchstone on Sgt. Pepper, principally for Lennon and Harrison. In a 1967 interview, Harrison said that the Beatles' ongoing success had encouraged them to continue developing musically and that, given their standing, "We can do things that please us without conforming to the standard pop idea. We are not only involved in pop music, but all music."

McCartney envisioned the Beatles' alter egos being able to "do a bit of B.B. King, a bit of Stockhausen, a bit of Albert Ayler, a bit of Ravi Shankar, a bit of Pet Sounds, a bit of the Doors".He saw the group as "pushing frontiers" similar to other composers of the time, even though the Beatles did not "necessarily like what, say, Berio was doing".

“Sgt. Pepper” was not universally adored when it appeared. The New York Times panned it, not entirely incorrectly, as “busy, hip and cluttered.” As pop tastes have swung between elaborate musical edifices and back-to-basics reactions, “Sgt. Pepper” has been by turns embraced, reviled and simply ignored.

“Sgt. Pepper’s was the first album I ever bought,” the Modfather told the Guardian in 1995. “I much preferred The Beatles when they dropped all their moptop nonsense and just became themselves. It was real. I loved everything about them - their clothes, their music and, when I was a little older, their attitude.”-Paul Weller

“Sgt. Pepper is special for me because I was born on the 29 May, and it came out on the 1 June,” he said. “So when I was being born in St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, it was being played on hospital radio. It still contains some of the greatest Beatles songs, like a Day in the Life, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”-Noel Gallagher

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne explained the enduring appeal of Sgt Pepper’s in a 2009 interview with Music Radar. “It was a special record – and still is,” he said. “Sgt. Pepper has amazing music, but it’s really about more than the music. It’s of a time, and now it evokes that time. And the amazing thing is, it lasts – there’s nothing retro about it. It’s still very hip, fresh music.”

Who's who on the album cover.

Sgt Pepper at 50: still full of joy and whimsy.

The influence of the album.

The greatest thing you've ever heard or just another album?

BonnieSituation

Reberetta wrote: »

22nd 35 points

The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (1967)

Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: 2/1/1
Singles: None?
Nominated by Plentyohtoole, splashthecash, Pretzill



Who's who on the album cover.

Sgt Pepper at 50: still full of joy and whimsy.

The influence of the album.

The greatest thing you've ever heard or just another album?

And don't get me started on them...

* runs *

speckle

Sheridan81 wrote: »

Haven't listened to it. Some, like Lionel Richie and Boy George, say he's not even blind :pac:

Great advances being made in eye diseases over the last ten years for some conditions... some only restore sight partially. I wonder if it has been partially restored how that might affect his music making? eg Could it overwhelm a person psychologically, affect how one would hear/sense music... Certainly would improve independence ...from tripping over leads...

Arghus

Not my favourite Beatles album, but a damn good album.

Electric Nitwit

Reberetta wrote: »

22nd 35 points

The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (1967)

Just looked at the track listing. It's crazy, I'm sure I've never actively played this album, possibly any Beatles, but I know them all so well. They really are an institution

Arghus

The Beatles are overrated and underrated.

Overrated because they were just a band.

Underrated because there's still loads of people who'll just have them dismissed without even really listening to them.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Arghus wrote: »

The Beatles are overrated and underrated.

Overrated because they were just a band.

Underrated because there's still loads of people who'll just have them dismissed without even really listening to them.

Agreed

Reberetta

21st 36 Pts

REM
Automatic For The People(1991)

Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: 24?/1/2
Singles: Drive, Man On The Moon, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts, Nightswimming, Find The River
Nominated by Bonniesituation, BPKS, bigtimecharlie, bubblypop, Sheridan81

Despite R.E.M.'s initial desire to make an album of rocking, guitar-dominated songs after Out of Time, music critic David Fricke noted that instead Automatic for the People "seems to move at an even more agonized crawl" than the band's previous release.

Peter Buck took the lead in suggesting the new direction for the album.The album dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of  turning 30", according to Buck. "The world that we'd been involved in had disappeared, the world of Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, all that had gone . We were just in a different place and that worked its way out musically and lyrically." "Sweetness Follows", "Drive", and "Monty Got a Raw Deal" in particular expressed much darker themes than any of the band's previous material and "Try Not to Breathe" is about Stipe's grandmother dying.

“It was kind of a down record with a lot of minor keys, and we were at the age when Michael was thinking a lot about mortality, so I didn’t expect it to be a huge hit,” said Peter Buck.

The songs "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts" and "Nightswimming" feature string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Fricke stated that "ballads, in fact, define the record", and noted that the album featured only three "rockers": "Ignoreland", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" and "Man on the Moon".

Buck helped turn Bill Berry’s chord sequence for a song with the working title “C Slide To D” into one of REM’s best-known singles, Man On The Moon. The only problem was, with the album already into mixing time it had no lyrics so, under duress from the band, Stipe was sent out to walk laps of downtown Seattle with the track on his Walkman. It worked, Stipe returning with an inspired, surreal narrative centred around comic Andy Kaufman. Recorded and delivered to the record company in a single day, it completed a singular, thought-provoking album that was destined to be massive.

"It pretty much went according to plan," Litt reported. "Compared to Monster, it was a walk in the park. Out of Time had an orchestral arrangement—so, when we did Automatic, judging where Michael was going with the words, we wanted to scale it down and make it more intimate."

"I'm not so crazy about 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'," Peter Buck reflected in 2001, "but overall I think it sounds great.We included it on Automatic in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that lyrically the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consensus among the band is that this might be a little too lightweight."

The now-universal heartbreaker Everybody Hurts, envisaged by Stipe as a duet with Patti Smith, was brought to the studio by Berry, the band eventually settling on a “Stax, Otis Redding Pain In My Heart kind of vibe”. The melody of the album’s sublime piano-led penultimate song Nightswimming, meanwhile, was written by Mills on the same piano that Jim Gordon teased the coda of Derek and the Dominoes’ Layla from.

“Listening back to Automatic, it doesn’t sound like anything else that came out that year,” says Buck. “Looking back at something a relatively young group of people did, I’m proud of them. I think they did a good job.”

A slice of the credit for the fact the record was a commercial success must go to actress Meg Ryan, who dropped in at Bad Animals studio while filming Sleepless In Seattle and persuaded the band the album would sell better if they changed the title of the song “**** Me Kitten” to “Star Me Kitten”.

It has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

REM reflects on Automatic For The People.

The genius of Automatic For The People.

Never listened to Sgt Pepper's in full either, I'd say I know about 3/4 of the songs there. I do really like most of the ones I know, though "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a bit crap, let's be honest!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Automatic For The People... excellent choice, can't believe I forgot it when making my choices.

Sheridan81

I got one!! and they owed it all to Meg Ryan.

Sheridan81

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

New Way Home. One of their greatest songs, IMO.

Nothing will ever beat Everlong of course, in my humble opinion.:)

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Sheridan81 wrote: »

Nothing will ever beat Everlong of course, in my humble opinion.:)

Yes, Everlong is the best of course, I'd probably have New Way Home as a close second though.

Reberetta

Everlong, David Letterman's favourite song from his favourite band.

Arghus

Deleted User wrote: »

Never listened to Sgt Pepper's in full either, I'd say I know about 3/4 of the songs there. I do really like most of the ones I know, though "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a bit crap, let's be honest!

McCartney could lean in too far into the whimsy at times. But, yeah, loads of good - A Day in The Life is the best song on it IMO. I remember hearing it for the first time as a kid and been blown away.

REM are one of those bands whose singles I generally really enjoy but have never properly listened to a full album by.

I know five songs on Automatic For the People, two of which I do really like ("Drive" and "Nightswimming"), two that are 'grand' ("Man on the Moon", Everybody Hurts") and one that I'm not a fan of ("The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", I just find it a bit irritating).

Electric Nitwit

[Deleted User] wrote: »

REM are one of those bands whose singles I generally really enjoy but have never properly listened to a full album by.

I know five songs on Automatic For the People, two of which I do really like ("Drive" and "Nightswimming"), two that are 'grand' ("Man on the Moon", Everybody Hurts") and one that I'm not a fan of ("The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", I just find it a bit irritating).

Try it, for sure. The singles really aren't the best on it

It's the first album I really remember. I knew music before then, but that's the first one I remember as a whole. I don't listen to it much these days but I still love it

Sheridan81

Sheridan81 wrote: »

Nothing will ever beat Everlong of course, in my humble opinion.:)

I wouldn't really be much of a Foo Fighters fan (don't dislike them, just was never very excited by them) but there's no denying that "Everlong" is an absolute beast of a tune.

speckle

Think I prefer Out of Time by REM,,, radio song.. losing my religion...low...near wild heaven.. and shiny happy people for fun.

Arghus

I think the Foo Fighters in general absolutely suck, but, yeah, Everlong is a good song.

Reberetta

Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite might just be my favourite R.E.M song. Interesting that the band were not enamoured with it themselves. All wrong and me right. :P

Electric Nitwit

speckle wrote: »

Think I prefer Out of Time by REM,,, radio song.. losing my religion...low...near wild heaven.. and shiny happy people for fun.

You forgot Country Feedback, might be my favourite REM song. Definitely in the top something!

Reberetta

Arghus wrote: »

I think the Foo Fighters in general absolutely suck, but, yeah, Everlong is a good song.

I'm not their biggest fan, but I like Friend Of A Friend.

BonnieSituation

Reberetta wrote: »

21st 36 Pts

REM
Automatic For The People(1991)

Chart Peak Ireland /UK/ USA: 24?/1/2
Singles: Drive, Man On The Moon, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts, Nightswimming, Find The River
Nominated by Bonniesituation, BPKS, bigtimecharlie, bubblypop, Sheridan81



REM reflects on Automatic For The People.

The genius of Automatic For The People.

Woohoo.

That's no. 2 pour moi.

Adore this album obviously, but if you don't know it please get to know "Monty Got a Raw Deal". It's such a phenomenal song and deserves more kudos.