The Chorus.Fm Users Definitive Albums List • Page 22

I very much intended on listening to less new albums this year, but then... (gestures). The #MWE project every year is so valuable to fleshing out my gaps, but I don't really attempt catalog dives as a general rule, even when I find an album/artist that I love. Not sure why.

I'm very drawn to Notes now! It's like 4 different sections of albums that flow together well once you're used to it.

Let me know what records you haven't heard and I'll steer you! I find my own lists so boring lol.

 

Fuck yeah The Wrens let's get it. That record ended up much lower on my list than I thought it would (#14) but it's super important to me

 

1. The Gaslight Anthem -- The '59 Sound
2. The Beatles -- Abbey Road
3. Green Day -- American Idiot
4. Tom Waits -- Rain Dogs
5. Kanye West -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
6. The Menzingers -- On The Impossible Past
7. The Hold Steady -- Separation Sunday
8. Bruce Springsteen -- Born to Run
9. Modest Mouse -- The Moon and Antarctica
10. Radiohead -- OK Computer

11. Rise Against -- Siren Song of the Counter Culture
12. Pixies -- Doolittle
13. The Wonder Years -- Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
14. The Hotelier -- Home, Like NoPlace is There
15. Father John Misty -- I Love You, Honeybear
16. Ween -- The Mollusk
17. The Cure -- Disintegration
18. Green Day -- Warning
19. The Menzingers -- After the Party
20. The Beatles -- Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

21. The Beatles -- Revolver
22. Rise Against -- The Sufferer and the Witness
23. Tom Waits -- Bone Machine
24. The Smiths -- The Queen is Dead
25. Neutral Milk Hotel -- In the Aeroplane over the Sea
26. The Wonder Years -- The Upsides
27. The Dangerous Summer -- Reach for the Sun
28. The Hold Steady -- Boys and Girls in America
29. Jack's Mannequin -- Everything in Transit
30. Built to Spill -- Perfect From Now On

31. Sonic Youth -- Daydream Nation
32. Green Day -- Dookie
33. U2 -- The Joshua Tree
34. David Bowie -- The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
35. Modest Mouse -- Good News for People Who Love Bad News
36. Prince -- Purple Rain
37. Radiohead -- Kid A
38. Kanye West -- Graduation
39. Butch Walker -- Letters
40. Rise Against -- Revolutions per Minute

41. Modest Mouse -- The Lonesome Crowded West
42. The XX -- XX
43. Weezer -- The Blue Album
44. The Hotelier -- Goodness
45. Kanye West -- College Dropout
46. Bruce Springsteen -- Darkness on the Edge of Town
47. R.E.M. -- Automatic for the People
48. Kendrick Lamar -- Good Kid M.A.A.D. City
49. Jimmy Eat World -- Bleed American
50. At the Drive-In -- Relationship of Command


This is based on a floating list I've had for years where I just move albums up or down every so often. It has a balance between the albums I reach for most, the most influential albums on my music listening, and the classics I don't listen to as much but acknowledge are stellar whenever I do give them a spin. I hadn't gone through the list properly in a LONG while (just shifting a random album here and there when I fell in/out of love with one). In fact this exercise made me realise I still had Devil and God in it, and that would have been ranked highly a few years back. I have decided to leave it out as I do not want to promote that band or its work, and have not listened to the album in a long time. I've also made a real concerted effort to listen to more styles and especially more female artists in recent times, and expect several to make their way into my favourite albums. But for now it's tough to compete with the albums that soundtracked my life for so many years before I even thought to place any emphasis on diversity in my consumption choices,. For now it is what it is, a true reflection of the albums I have loved most to this point. Thanks to those running this little initiative. I can't wait to see how it all shakes out (top 100?) and would bet money on Born to Run being a worthy winner. But we will wait and see!

 

certain wrens songs would probably be on my top 50 or 100 songs but I was never huge on the Meadowlands as a whole tbh

 

Sad you don't like Meadowlands but I get what you're saying kinda, there are some songs on Secaucus that just absolutely rip (Built in Girls, Dance the Midwest, Rest Your Head, Jane, Made Enough Friends, etc) but then like half the record is just there

 

And then there's that EP between those two records that has some gems on it, cannot remember the name and it wasn't on streaming services for the longest time

 

It's been awhile since I did a full discography deep dive of a new-to-me artist. But that's how I got into Springsteen initially, just listening to almost nothing else for the better part of a year.

I'll let you know when I get a chance to sit down with everyone's lists and start pulling out records. Looking forward to that.

I think I love just about every record on this list.

 

i don't dislike it, just some peaks and valleys for me

 

Hounds is first to crack 200 points

 

Thanks Craig -- you got me into two of these, Everything in Transit (which has been in my car CD player for a month now as the weather warms up in South Australia) and Reach for the Sun (which I loved so much I went to TDS RFTS tour when it came to Adelaide). Only listened to both for the first time last year but probably my top two most played since then.

One artist I included which I'm guessing is not a favourite of yours would be Rise Against. I feel like I might have aged out of them but can't deny that trilogy of albums from '03 to '06 absolutely blew my mind and opened my ears up to so much other great music, including Minor Threat and Black Flag (which then got me into all of the '80s punk and indie music I really love now).

The album on my list I've only gotten into most recently would be The Joshua Tree. Had held off on U2 for so long but gave it a shot and my first thought was 'this might be the best album of the 1980s'. So it had to go on there. Can't wait to keep discovering more and more music and seeing which other albums can force their way in amongst these old favourites.

 

That's awesome to hear. I love those two records so much.

I've never spent a ton of time with Rise Against, actually. One of the few records on here that I'm not as familiar with.

The Joshua Tree, since I was very young, has always been one of those undeniable classics to me. I get why U2 rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but I don't know how you don't get amped up on "Where the Streets Have No Name."

 

I very much recommend Rise Against‘s The Sufferer and the Witness. Both ambitious and accessible

 

That would be the best one to start with I agree. It's a pity they have played it so safe ever since.
Song for song I'd still give Siren Song the edge though.

 

Sufferer and the Witness holds up, can confirm

 

"The Approaching Curve" is really something. Always fear I'll go back to it and it'll lose some of that spark for me but...nope.

 

It's a shame they veered towards more standard radio rock fare after that record but yeah, I listened to it a year or so ago for the first time in ages and was floored by how good it is

 

Siren Song as their absolute peak, Sufferer right behind. Early stuff was fun punk, but everything after Sufferer got reallllll safe. Wolves is underrated though, they found a little bit of fire left somewhere

 

I honestly enjoy all their recent albums, but they're definitely a lot more straightforward.

 

I like Sufferer a bit more, the catchy/pop side of the singles really works and isn't as safe as the later stuff. But yeah Siren Song is good too, although I don't really go back to it much

 

I ummed and ahhed about '..Bright Lights'

 

Revolutions Per Minute was the album that made me want to pick up bass, so that one is super significant personally, but I think Siren Song and Sufferer have held up a bit better. The hooks on those are great.

 

Can't possibly argue against any record with "Calvary Cross" and "End of the Rainbow"

 

Used the sorter. I absolutely hate this order already, but I'm pretty cool with the overall batch and to try and rank it more accurately would be excruciating:

1. Damien Rice - O ("Cannonball")
2. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle ("Incident on 57th St.")
3. Billy Joel - 52nd Street ("Until the Night")
4. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run ("Jungleland")
5. Averi - Drawn to Revolving Doors ("When You Gracefully Creep In")
6. Dan Fogelberg - Nether Lands ("Dancing Shoes")
7. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain ("Purple Rain"/"I Would Die 4 U")
8. Mary Chapin Carpenter - Stones in the Road ("Keeper for Every Flame")
9. Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This to Memory ("Hold Me Down")
10. Bob Cleary - Free Spirit ("I'll Be Blind")
11. Chad Perrone - Release ("Anything or Anyone")
12. Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon ("The French Inhaler")
13. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk ("I Know I'm Not Wrong")
14. Prince - Sign O the Times ("Adore")
15. Bruce Hornsby and The Range - The Way It Is ("Every Little Kiss")
16. Toto - IV ("Rosanna")
17. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver ("Perth")
18. Sara Bareilles - Kaleidoscope Heart ("Basket Case")
19. Nina Simone - Sings the Blues ("In the Dark")
20. Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit ("Rescued")
21. Chad Perrone - Wake ("Awake in the Morning")
22. The Beatles - Abbey Road ("Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End")
23. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman ("On the Road to Find Out")
24. The Dangerous Summer - Reach for the Sun ("Surfaced")
25. Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age ("Stolen Moments")
26. Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On, Come On ("The Hard Way")
27. Taylor Swift - Red ("Everything Has Changed"/"All Too Well")
28. Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees ("Georgia")
29. Heart - Dog and Butterfly ("Mistral Wind")
30. The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site ("Plea from a Cat Named Virtue")
31. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds ("God Only Knows")
32. Michael Jackson - Thriller ("P.Y.T.")
33. The Beatles - Let It Be ("Two of Us")
34. Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 ("The Light and the Glass")
35. Billy Joel - Glass Houses ("Sleeping with the Television On"/"All for Layna")
36. Fall Out Boy - Folie a Deux ("What a Catch, Donnie")
37. Original Broadway Cast - Godspell ("Finale")
38. Metallica - S&M ("No Leaf Clover")
39. Al Green - Call Me ("Have You Been Making Out OK?")
40. Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn ("True Companion")
41. Commodores - Midnight Magic ("Gettin' It")
42. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - What Love Has...Joined Together ("And I Love Her")
43. Billy Joel - Turnstiles ("Summer, Highland Falls")
44. Journey - Frontiers ("Faithfully")
45. Dessa - A Badly Broken Code ("Mineshaft II")
46. Gratitude - Gratitude ("Feel Alright")
47. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound ("The '59 Sound")
48. Prince - Dirty Mind ("When You Were Mine")
49. Goo Goo Dolls - Superstar Car Wash ("Stop the World")
50. England Dan and John Ford Coley - Nights Are Forever ("Nights Are Forever Without You")


The Next 20:
The 1975 - I Like It When you Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware of It
The Velvet Underground - Loaded
Joe Cocker - Unchain My Heart
Counting Crows - Hard Candy
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Harry Belafonte - Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Chvrches - Every Waking Eye
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Hard Promises
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Genesis - Invisible Touch
Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record
Judy Garland - Judy at Carnegie Hall
The Moody Blues - A Question of Balance
As Tall As Lions - As Tall As Lions
Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross

 

Just had a flashback to when we made lists like these about 10 years ago and that was my introduction to Averi/Chad. Excited to go through and pick out the ones I haven't heard.

 

I’ll be curious to see which you haven’t heard. I imagine you have the bulk

I’ll be hitting Keane this week to get that 50/50 on yours.