All these 'your favourite' threads are arbitrary, and this is no different. I'm interested getting a better understanding of music from the 70s and 80s as I really don't listen to much from that period, and I thought an interesting way to get that from GAF without just asking would be for people to list their favorite albums for specific decades.
I'll be using a two entry per decade format, please don't feel tied to that, if you want to do three, five, ten, just one, that's all cool, whatever you want. If you want to talk about the album that's great too, if you do just want to post cover art that's fine but try not to make it huge.
I was initially thinking of starting with the fifties, but I'm skipping that personally, I'd probably pick Kind of Blue and Blue Train, but I really don't listen to much from then so it's hardly an informed choice.
The Sixties
Winner: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
In an ideal world SMiLE would have come out and dethroned it, but as it stands Pet Sounds is my favorite album of the sixties. That mid to late sixties period was really exceptional for pop music, along with these two, The Zombies released Odessey and Oracle, Hendrix made Axis, it's the pinnacle of pop music for me. While I do like the two 'real' Beach Boys albums that preceded Pet Sounds, PS was an artistic leap that was pretty stunning in retrospect. It was essentially a Brian Wilson solo album in it's composition, it was almost entirely composed without oversight from the band. One song did get a slight rewrite on request of Mike Love because of it's allusions to drugs, although the song still has them.
Runner Up: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
One of the issues with Pet Sounds for the Beach Boys was having to perform the material live, something Brian Wilson didn't have to be concerned about as he'd quit playing live. In 1966 The Beatles also quit performing live, which meant their next album could be a lot more elaborate, and it was. Purely in terms of the songs, it's not my favourite Beatle album, I'd favour Rubber Soul in that regard, but as a complete package it's the best.
The Seventies
Winner: Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Both of my Seventies choices are very much extensions of that same late Sixties influence. BOTW, like my last two choices is a meticulous record. It's actually a fairly depressing set of songs, even when it wonders into something energetic it becomes more angry than happy. Unlike the first two, we didn't get to see S&G peak and decline, they went out at their best, and the Seventies best for me.
Runner Up: Roy Harper - Stormcock
Despite the hilarious name, it's a somber folk affair, with only four songs in fact. It's really stunning stuff, and about the most 'English' album I've ever heard, it also happened to inspire my favourite album, so hats off to Roy Harper...
The Eighties
Winner: The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
There's not a great deal to say about this one, most people know it very well I'd imagine. The Smiths didn't make a bad album, I could have picked any of them, but this is my favourite. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side is my favorite track.
Runner Up: Daniel Johnston - Songs of Pain
I think like a lot of people I was introduced to Johnston's music from the awesome documentary about him. Although he's made a very impressive amount of albums, the first is still my favourite. He has an uncanny ability to write songs I feel I've been hearing for years from the very first listen. His music is like a comfort blanket.
The Nineties
Winner: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Above I said Pet Sounds was a significant artistic leap, and it was, but this was obscene. From having done virtually nothing I care about to one of the best albums I've ever heard out of no where. This is specifically the US version I'm selecting though, that's not to say the UK one isn't great, but the US was much nicer.
Runner Up: Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
I have it on right now actually. Like Daniel Johnston I think it's easy to love the story surrounding an artist before you really care about their music. I was put off by this album for that reason actually, the admiration for it always appeared to be linked to it's legend more than anything. When I did finally get around to listening to it I was pretty blown away, it's beautiful.
The 2000s?
Winner: Joanna Newsom - Ys
My favourite album. Newsom's first album was a charming and gnarly rasp thru an eclectic song book, it was great but it's not cohesive. Ys feels like a single, continuous thought. This time she decided to have orchestration, and instead of writing the arrangements herself, she recruited Van Dyke Parks, the co-writer of SMiLE who himself released an incredible album called Song Cycle. He also co-produced Ys, well, he's credited as having done it. Lots of albums I've chosen are densely produced pop records, and while I love that for it's sense of magic, this is a really intimate album, while inspired by Stormcock mentioned above, it's very much the odd one out on this list I think.
Runner Up: John Frusciante - The Empyrean
This was the hardest choice, it's this or Frances The Mute, if I made this thread tomorrow I might have changed my mind. I'd been a fan of Frusciante's since Shadow's Collide With People, which blew me away at the time. Soon after that he was releasing albums pretty quickly, he did six or seven in a year, and they were all great. I was surprised his most recent album was taking so long, ultimately it ended up being a clear step up from anything he'd done till that point, and he's taking just as long on the follow up, even without his RHCP duties, can't wait.
So GAF, enlighten me.
EDIT: omgkitty is right, pictures are pretty!
I'll be using a two entry per decade format, please don't feel tied to that, if you want to do three, five, ten, just one, that's all cool, whatever you want. If you want to talk about the album that's great too, if you do just want to post cover art that's fine but try not to make it huge.
I was initially thinking of starting with the fifties, but I'm skipping that personally, I'd probably pick Kind of Blue and Blue Train, but I really don't listen to much from then so it's hardly an informed choice.
The Sixties
Winner: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
In an ideal world SMiLE would have come out and dethroned it, but as it stands Pet Sounds is my favorite album of the sixties. That mid to late sixties period was really exceptional for pop music, along with these two, The Zombies released Odessey and Oracle, Hendrix made Axis, it's the pinnacle of pop music for me. While I do like the two 'real' Beach Boys albums that preceded Pet Sounds, PS was an artistic leap that was pretty stunning in retrospect. It was essentially a Brian Wilson solo album in it's composition, it was almost entirely composed without oversight from the band. One song did get a slight rewrite on request of Mike Love because of it's allusions to drugs, although the song still has them.
Runner Up: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
One of the issues with Pet Sounds for the Beach Boys was having to perform the material live, something Brian Wilson didn't have to be concerned about as he'd quit playing live. In 1966 The Beatles also quit performing live, which meant their next album could be a lot more elaborate, and it was. Purely in terms of the songs, it's not my favourite Beatle album, I'd favour Rubber Soul in that regard, but as a complete package it's the best.
The Seventies
Winner: Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Both of my Seventies choices are very much extensions of that same late Sixties influence. BOTW, like my last two choices is a meticulous record. It's actually a fairly depressing set of songs, even when it wonders into something energetic it becomes more angry than happy. Unlike the first two, we didn't get to see S&G peak and decline, they went out at their best, and the Seventies best for me.
Runner Up: Roy Harper - Stormcock
Despite the hilarious name, it's a somber folk affair, with only four songs in fact. It's really stunning stuff, and about the most 'English' album I've ever heard, it also happened to inspire my favourite album, so hats off to Roy Harper...
The Eighties
Winner: The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
There's not a great deal to say about this one, most people know it very well I'd imagine. The Smiths didn't make a bad album, I could have picked any of them, but this is my favourite. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side is my favorite track.
Runner Up: Daniel Johnston - Songs of Pain
I think like a lot of people I was introduced to Johnston's music from the awesome documentary about him. Although he's made a very impressive amount of albums, the first is still my favourite. He has an uncanny ability to write songs I feel I've been hearing for years from the very first listen. His music is like a comfort blanket.
The Nineties
Winner: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Above I said Pet Sounds was a significant artistic leap, and it was, but this was obscene. From having done virtually nothing I care about to one of the best albums I've ever heard out of no where. This is specifically the US version I'm selecting though, that's not to say the UK one isn't great, but the US was much nicer.
Runner Up: Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
I have it on right now actually. Like Daniel Johnston I think it's easy to love the story surrounding an artist before you really care about their music. I was put off by this album for that reason actually, the admiration for it always appeared to be linked to it's legend more than anything. When I did finally get around to listening to it I was pretty blown away, it's beautiful.
The 2000s?
Winner: Joanna Newsom - Ys
My favourite album. Newsom's first album was a charming and gnarly rasp thru an eclectic song book, it was great but it's not cohesive. Ys feels like a single, continuous thought. This time she decided to have orchestration, and instead of writing the arrangements herself, she recruited Van Dyke Parks, the co-writer of SMiLE who himself released an incredible album called Song Cycle. He also co-produced Ys, well, he's credited as having done it. Lots of albums I've chosen are densely produced pop records, and while I love that for it's sense of magic, this is a really intimate album, while inspired by Stormcock mentioned above, it's very much the odd one out on this list I think.
Runner Up: John Frusciante - The Empyrean
This was the hardest choice, it's this or Frances The Mute, if I made this thread tomorrow I might have changed my mind. I'd been a fan of Frusciante's since Shadow's Collide With People, which blew me away at the time. Soon after that he was releasing albums pretty quickly, he did six or seven in a year, and they were all great. I was surprised his most recent album was taking so long, ultimately it ended up being a clear step up from anything he'd done till that point, and he's taking just as long on the follow up, even without his RHCP duties, can't wait.
So GAF, enlighten me.
EDIT: omgkitty is right, pictures are pretty!
