definitive Top 5 album list

[soapymongoose]

Any band, 1 album per band. I spent about an hour last night "updating" mine. It was a tough list to make. I make lists when I am bored

Sorry if its been done before, i did a search and couldn't find anything.


1) Nirvana - In Utero. Just because it has been at the top of every album list I've made since 1994 and probably will be forever
2) Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time. Because it is perfect in every way (apart from it being at number 1)
3) Hope of the States - The Lost Riots. It has the strange ability of making me feel sad, yet happy to be sad. That's quite a unique feeling that I haven't yet got from any other album.
4) Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding. This is the album that caused me to update my list. I bought it a few weeks ago and, after 3/4 listens, decided I really liked every track. A few weeks later it has almost consumed my life
5) The Cure - Wild Mood Swings. In a parralell universe this album is issued to people as counselling instead of them having therapists

 

[Forostar]

There are so many great artists and albums which can be named in the same vein as this top 5, but in order to make it less complicated I decided to only mention the classic influential artists. Here goes:

1. Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time* (1986)

I shamelessly copied the following piece about SIT from an older post of mine, hope that's OK, I don't think my opinion has changed much:

On this album Adrian brought the best out of himself. He delivered three excellent tracks, which had more of a melancholic feel than most other Maiden songs. The sound on this album really does it for me. What I like about the production is the drum sound which seems to blend so well with ‘Arry's bass and the rest of the music. There’s a big chance that Nicko’s playing and his drum sound might influence my total appreciation for Somewhere in Time. Like on Powerslave we can hear that Adrian does a lot of different things than Dave. There’s so much melody on this album and the production fits perfectly to that. All studio versions of these songs I like better than all the live versions I have ever heard. This says enough about how special this album is, doesn't it?

2. Judas Priest – Painkiller (1990)

Best combination of aggression & melody ever. The riffs, the solos, the vocals, the songmaterial, it's spellbinding. I was incredibly lucky that Priest decided to play Between The Hammer And The Anvil on the current tour. I advise everyone to hear this album with headphones as well. Those guitars on the left and right side are interesting to follow.

3. Black Sabbath – Headless Cross (1989)

Ozzy? That zombie? Dio? That midget? Alright, I'll be more serious now. Tony Martin did 5 studio albums with Black Sabbath. I like them all very much. Headless Cross I find the best. This album keeps you at the edge of your seat, from the first moments, when you can hear the sissing pits of hell till the dying seconds of Nightwing, an excellent atmospherical track featuring several guitar solos (including an acoustic one) and a really nice vocal melody.
I remember, when I bought this album in Paris, that I played it non-stop on repeat in the train on the way back to Holland. From then on I knew that I had to get all Black Sabbath albums.

4. Bruce Dickinson – Accident Of Birth (1997)

Very melodic and well produced album. Lately I started to appreciate his last album very much, but right now it doesn't top Accident of Birth yet. Many people (including Bruce himself) prefer The Chemical Wedding and that album has some of my favourite tracks ( e.g. King In Crimson) but as a whole album I find AOB more enthralling to listen to. It has quite some nice moody moments as well.

5. Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)

Superb combination of excellent musicianship and songwriting. This is the only Rush album with all songs being very strong. Besides the stable and subtle playing of Neil Peart, the production of his drums is done nicely as well. His patterns are so iconic that I could listen to these while erasing the rest of the music from my mind.
You could see this album (and also its predecessor Permanent Waves as Rush's move from very progressive music towards more compact and catchy music.

*This is so difficult, I love Powerslave as much, or sometimes even more, can't choose.

 

[____no5]

the problem with those lists is that every single time are different than 5 minutes before /later

so a list from all music genres would be :

1. The Who -Tommy : I'm not a huge Who fan but this is my favourite alboum of all time I think. what a density in music, nothing is odd here, what a concept and the lyrics so metaphoric -HUGE !! the first rock opera ever and still the best. Probably the only album in that list that will remain always inside, and probably always on the top...a must for every one

2. Gene Krupa -Buddy Rich : Krupa and Rich : two huge jazz drummers meet together and a giant of an album is born with an all star lineup : Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and more

3. Jethro Tull -Thick As A Brick : the most notable Tull work as an album . Maybe Aqualung has some more classical moments, but this album i find it more accomplished with a wonderfull concept and a genious musical crescendo.

4. John Mayall -A Hard Road (expanded 2CD version 2003) : John Mayall meets Peter Green and a mastepiece is born. I am a huge Green fan and this record represents for me the absolout Peter Green sound, plus it was his VERY FIRST recording - 21 years old he was !!

5. Serge Gainsbourg -Histoire de Melody Nelson : One of the most important records of French discography, and one of the first concept albums generaly. Gainsbourg was a veritable poet, and it's a pity that is not so well known outside France

conclusion : wow, no Maiden, Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, Harum, Hawkwind or Floyd in that list, but here I'm judging albums in their totality as completed works with a beggining a middle and an end
and so I let out my two most beloved bands : Maiden -Zeppelin
....and as I mentioned before this is not a safe list, tommorow it will be different

also that list can't conclude some HYPER favourite artists like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Arthur Blake,
and mostly mighty Elmore James for other reasons (their best numbers are released as singles)

 

[Anonymous]

To make sure that this thread won't turn as stupid as the rest, I strongly suggest you explain why you chose those albums as your top 5 (____no5 did a great job of it).

Simple lists with no explanations will mercilessly be deleted.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

3. Gene Krupa - Buddy Rich : Krupa and Rich

That does sound interesting. I've always loved Krupa, though I think Rich is a bit overrated. But the real gem there would be Oscar Robertson, who is astounding.

And I'm glad to see Nirvana at the top of soapymongoose's list. Seems like sometimes they get short shrift on this forum. Us "grunge" fans gotta keep the fire burning.

(For the record, I hate the term "grunge" to describe "Seattle-based bands of the late 80s thru late 90s", but 'grunge' is much shorter to type.)


My list:

Iron Maiden, Live After Death
Metallica, Master Of Puppets

These two get listed together because, working in tandem, they cemented my transition from a young pop music fan to a teenage metalhead. In that respect, they changed my life like no other albums have. Steve's playing on LAD was my primary inspiration as a beginning bassist, and the complexity of Metallica's songs initiated my love for progressive metal.

Genesis, Foxtrot

This album is the old-1970s-style progressive rock album that I keep coming back to as my favorite. Before I discovered old Genesis, I had only had exposure to Yes and Tull - both good, but Genesis seemed to have more color and subtlety to their music and a better use of dynamics. I think, somewhere in my head, every progressive rock album (not progressive metal) gets compared against this one.

Pearl Jam, Ten

The energy and emotion of this album blows me away every time. It's a textbook on how to play hard rock with integrity.

J. Geils Band, Freeze Frame
Something off the beaten path for my last choice. One of the first albums I ever bought (to be exact, the third IIRC). Brilliant soul-influenced pop music. It's been one of my favorite albums for about a quarter-century now. And the complexity of the arrangements is probably the biggest reason for that; catching my attention at age 12, it foreshadowed my love for progressive music. The interplay of the instruments - including keyboards and harmonica - is quite impressive from a musical standpoint, but it all melts together so well that it sounds completely natural, and funky as hell.

Some bands that I love - notably Zep, Rush, The Who, The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Yes - are bands where I love too many albums to select just one.

 

[Invader]

If we're talking about albums which have had the most effect on my life, then...



Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death

The second Maiden album I bought, the first "new" (at the time of buying) album I bought, and the first Maiden studio album I bought.  It's also in my opinion their best album.  It took me a while to start liking it, but now it is without doubt my favourite album of all time (so far... let's see what they come up with next).

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

The opening track of this album (Holy Wars... The Punishment Due) is what makes this album special for me.  Never has a song caused such a strong reaction from me on the very first listen.  The fast heavy opening riff, the political lyrics, Dave Mustaine's snarling voice...  It was all of those combined to make this one of my life's most influential songs.  Megadeth are still a special band for me that of all their material that I have (with one exception), I bought before downloading.  I didn't listen to Holy Wars from this album originally (it was the first track of a greatest hits album also), but Rust in Peace is also by far the best Megadeth album, so it earns this place.

Guns 'n Roses - Greatest Hits
Deep Purple - 30: Very Best of Deep Purple

Together like SMX: They were the two albums that got me listening to music.  After these, I moved over to metal over time.  Yes, they're both "greatest hits", but I don't hold that against them.  Though I rarely listen to either of the two bands any more, these two albums had a profound effect on my life.

Iced Earth - Alive in Athens

It's not so much influential as it is just an awesome live album.  It surpasses Live after Death and Rock in Rio because of the three discs, though I have to admit that LAD and RIR are better because Bruce is simply a better frontman than Matt Barlow.  It never seems to lose its flavour, and it has kept me hoping for two years already that Iced Earth would one day have a gig in Finland.

 

[Albie]

This is damn difficult and changes over time. Nevertheless, the top five albums I seem to be drawn to at this moment are (in no particular order) as follows:

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son: This is probably my favourite album by Maiden. Good consistency throughout and not a dull track in sight.

Onslaught - Killing Peace: I have had this playing in my car for around a year now. Every so often I take it out, play another - but I end up putting the Onslaught CD back in. To me, this album is as close to metal perfection as it can be.

Blaze - Blood & Belief: Another one of those albums that just seems to be consistently good. This is the best effort by Blaze whether it be in Maiden, Wolfsbane or solo.

Anathema - A Natural Disaster: This is, as you can see, a bit out of place in comparison to the other four, but this album (very Radiohead/Pink Floyd inspired) is absolutely brilliant. The perfect album to just simply sit back, relax, listen and absorb.

Slayer - Reign in Blood: OK, the shortest album of the bunch. I spent a fortune getting this on CD as it was, at the time, not available in the UK on CD other than on import. It cost me (around 1990ish) £17 for 28 minutes of music - but worth every friggin' penny.

Trouble is, a few years ago I may well have had something like Heaven & Hell by Sabbath in there, the brilliant Powertrip by Monster Magnet, or even ...And Justice by Metallica (yes, I do actually like this album). A few years from now - I may include them back in, but as I say, my opinion is as changeable as the British summer weather.



EDIT: OK, so who did this? This is the best effort by Blaze wehI'M TOO FUCKING LAZY TO SPELLCHECKr it be in Maiden, Wolfsbane or solo. Seriously, it's not like all my posts are riddled with bad spelling.

 

[Forostar]

Albie, have you heard Blaze's first album "Silicon Messiah"? I recall that you didn't know it a while back. If not, it's about time! 

 

[Albie]

I do have Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension, I got them a few months back as a 2CD package. I have listened to them both - but they have not grabbed in the way that Blood & Belief did. A bit like been totally blown away with Chemical Wedding and then listening to Tyranny of Souls.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

EDIT: OK, so who did this? This is the best effort by Blaze wehI'M TOO FUCKING LAZY TO SPELLCHECKr it be in Maiden, Wolfsbane or solo. Seriously, it's not like all my posts are riddled with bad spelling.

You have fallen into Perun's trap, intended to catch those who misspell 'the' as 't e h'.

The fact that it caught you on a different misspelled word is complete coincidence. 

But it brings up the issue that any word containing 't e h' will suffer. I wonder how many legitimate words contain that sequence...

 

[Albie]

If that is what it is, then I must admit it's a brilliant idea.

It did seem odd that there was no « Last Edit: note and I know it will not come up if you modify a post within a few minutes of posting it, so someone must have proof read it, made the change then saved it lightning quick - or it was an automated function.

Very good.

 

[Perun]

The only other word I found was the Iranian capital.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't forget T e h e's Bar.

 

[____no5]

hmmmm, happy to see headless cross in Foro's list -I used to like it a lot  

about Krupa -Rich, I 'm VERY happy to see someone prefer the delicate and technical Krupa than thounderous Rich -althought Rich is by far my all time fav
this remark made by SMX pleased me a lot, because seriously one must have a really developed taste to prefer Krupa than Rich

so here is two samples for the rest judge by themselves :

the classic sing sing sing that made Krupa famous by his brilliant and clever playing* : http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=j9J5Zt2Obko

*look his moves guys (ie 0:37 -0:41) !! I M LOST FOR WORDS   1:55 is fucking awesome too

drum battle between Krupa and Rich : http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=dwJAAlXom ... ed&search=

 

[Invader]

Onslaught - Killing Peace: I have had this playing in my car for around a year now. Every so often I take it out, play another - but I end up putting the Onslaught CD back in. To me, this album is as close to metal perfection as it can be.

Slayer - Reign in Blood: OK, the shortest album of the bunch. I spent a fortune getting this on CD as it was, at the time, not available in the UK on CD other than on import. It cost me (around 1990ish) £17 for 28 minutes of music - but worth every friggin' penny.

or even ...And Justice by Metallica (yes, I do actually like this album).

Wow, quite a lot of "heavy" stuff there.  Somehow I wouldn't have expected so much thrash metal from you Albie.  You just didn't seem like the kind of person.   Great albums all, by the way.

Don't forget T e h e's Bar.

Another one I can think of is Kaapelit e h das which is a venue in Helsinki. I fell for that at least once.

 

[Albie]

Wow, quite a lot of "heavy" stuff there.  Somehow I wouldn't have expected so much thrash metal from you Albie.  You just didn't seem like the kind of person.   Great albums all, by the way.

What you need to remember is that when I was in my early 20's, I was going down to the Marquee in London almost weekly and thrash was also at it's peak (late 80's).

Although it took me a few years to get into these bands (I didn't start listening to Metallica, for example, until around '88ish - something to do with my total ignorance of US bands), aside from Maiden, thrash was my favoured choice of music.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

I do have Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension, I got them a few months back as a 2CD package. I have listened to them both - but they have not grabbed in the way that Blood & Belief did. A bit like been totally blown away with Chemical Wedding and then listening to Tyranny of Souls.

Interesting. The first Blaze songs I ever heard were from Blood And Belief (although the first complete Blaze album I ever heard was Silicon Messiah). While the later two are both very good, I've always thought that Silicon Messiah was easily the best of the three.

 

[Natalie]

Here are mine.

Death on the Road. This was the first Maiden album of any kind that I bought. It was instrumental in getting me to explore more Maiden (apart from stuff out of Brave New World and Dance of Death). To this day it remains one of my favorite Maiden albums (sentimental value no doubt).

Couldn't find a picture of the next one but it's a Gidon Kremer album where he plays the double concerto and the violin concerto's by Bach. It's one of my alltime favorite classic albums and probably the reason why I love Bach so much (heard this even before I was born). Might also have led to me wanting to play the violin.

The Chemical Wedding. This got me really into Dickinson's work although I had heard Tyranny of Souls prior to getting this album. While I liked the other album which got me to look into The Chemical Wedding, I really consider this a better album and it really fostered in me a respect for his solo work (both musically and intellectually). Ever since hearing The Chemical Wedding I've been completely into his solo works and have gotten my hands on his earlier stuff (my particular favorite being Accident of Birth of course).

Glory to (of) the Brave. Was never too clear on which it actually is, but anyway. First other than Maiden album I heard which encouraged me to venture into the wider realm of metal outside Maiden. Still enjoy it, but mostly it has sentimental value.

Ghost in the Ruins. My favorite album from my second-favorite band Savatage. Naturally it was the first thing I heard from this band and it got me obsessed, or at least very eager to get my hands on all their albums. Still working on that, but making headway. The thing I like about this album is not only that it's live and has that quality but also that it presents a wide range of works from earlier to later stuff. So it gives a very good idea of the band as a whole musical entity. Brilliant album that I recommend to any friend of metal.

 

[Cosmiceddie]

Ghost in the Ruins. My favorite album from my second-favorite band Savatage. Naturally it was the first thing I heard from this band and it got me obsessed, or at least very eager to get my hands on all their albums. Still working on that, but making headway. The thing I like about this album is not only that it's live and has that quality but also that it presents a wide range of works from earlier to later stuff. So it gives a very good idea of the band as a whole musical entity. Brilliant album that I recommend to any friend of metal.

'Post Script' is an amazing guitar track, I do adore it.

 

[Glory2Hypnotoad]

1. The Who - Quadrophenia - A brilliant, well-realized concept and and the strongest collection of songs I've heard in any album.
2. Iced Earth - Alive in Athens - For me this is the definitive live album. The performance is flawless and almost every song surpasses its studio version.
3. Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death - While Piece of Mind and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son are stronger albums song for song, this will always hold a special place for me because it's the album that got me into Maiden and metal in general.
4. Pyramaze - Immortal - I know it's less than a year old but every aspect of the music stand out in one way or another Barlow's vocals are amazing as usual, the melodies are extremely catchy, and the riffing and solos are great. To me this is the perfect balance of heaviness and beauty.
5. Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos - Dream Theater's best balance of great songwriting and accessibility, and one of very few albums I've heard that feels short at over 70 minutes