Music RedCafe's Favourite Albums Of All Time Contest (Round 5)

Solius said:
@Dirty Schwein you could do a mini 2020-2024 round for people who don't reject anything newer than the 90s.
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altodevil said:
That's the best solution. Then only make say the top 2 progress.
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I was trying to avoid this as it adds an extra stage of work for me but if this is a solution that works for everyone, I'll adjust it now.

Extra round (2020-present) where everyone (who wants to vote) gets 3 votes each and the top 3 go through (and 2 as usual to the resurrection round).

The resurrection round will then move up from 5 progressing to 7 progressing, totalling the final to a round 40 albums.
 
Wibble said:
Really? I can't think of a single one.
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I can. Those are all good enough I'd consider them worth buying on vinyl, which I only do with stuff that merits repeated playing as whole albums over years to come.

Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool
Arcade Fire Reflektor
Angel Olsen My Woman
Julia Holter Have you in my Wilderness
Antony and the Johnsons Swanlights
Tim Hecker Ravedeath 1972
Parquet Courts Wide Awake!!!
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
Perfume Genius No Shape
Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the city
Jon Hopkins Singularity
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Max Richter Sleep
Current 93 The Light is Leaving Us All
A Silver Mt Zion feck off Get Free We Pour Light Into Everything
Weyes Blood Titanic Rising
Parquet Courts Human Performance
Perfume Genius Too bright
Nils Frahm No Melody
Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
Mogwai Rave Tapes
Mitski Be the Cowboy
Night Beds Country Sleep
David Bowie Blackstar
Weyes Blood Front Row Seat to Earth
Austra Feel it Break
Steve Mason/Dennis Bovell Ghosts Outside
Swans The Seer
Angel Olsen All Mirrors
Arcade Fire Everything now
First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar
Hypnopazuzu Create Christ, Sailor Boy
Tim Hecker Love Streams
Brian Eno The Ship
And Also The Trees Born into the Waves
Blouse Blouse
Destroyer Kaputt
Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire for No Witness
Mogwai Hardcore will never die, but you will
Julia Holter Aviary
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Mogwai Les Revenants
Mogwai Every Country's sun
Current 93 I am the Last of all the Field that Fell
Mary Ocher Eden
Slowdive Slowdive
Sleaford Mods Key Markets
Grapetooth Grapetooth
Foals Holy Fire
Hospitality Hospitality
Mutual Benefit Love's Crushing Diamond
Girls Broken Dreams Club
Aidan Wells/Bill Moffat Everything's getting older
The National High Violet
Black Country, New Road Ants From Up There
Lana Del Rey Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Mitski The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Julia Holter Something in the Room She Moves
Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us
Lankum False Lankum
Black Country, New Road For the first time
The Avalanches We Will Always Love You
Black Country, New Road Live at Bush Hall
Jockstrap I Love You Jennifer B
Boygenius The Record
Olivia Rodrigo Guts
Antony & The Johnsons My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Arcade Fire WE
Hudson Mohawke Cry Sugar
Current 93 If a City is Set Upon a Hill
Caroline Polachek Desire, I want to turn into you
The Smile Cutouts
Beyonce Cowboy Carter
Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Tim Hecker No Highs
Jessie Ware That! Feels Good!
Victoria Monet Jaguar II
The Smile Wall of Eyes
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works II
And Also The Trees Mother-of-Pearl Moon
Sault Untitled (Rise)
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ Destiny
Death's Dynamic Shroud Darklife
Sault 11
The Murder Capital Gigi's Recovery
Jon Hopkins Ritual
Lambchop The Bible
And Also The Trees The Bone Carver
A.G. Cook Britpop
Bill Fay Countless Branches
Gia Margaret Mia Gargaret
James Holden Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities
Slowdive Everything is Alive
Zuli Lambda
Angel Olsen Big Time
Fever Ray Radical Romantics
Fleet Foxes Shore
Hudson Mohawke Airborne Lard
James Ellis Ford The Hum
Tems Born in the Wild



 
Dirty Schwein said:
I was trying to avoid this as it adds an extra stage of work for me but if this is a solution that works for everyone, I'll adjust it now.

Extra round (2020-present) where everyone (who wants to vote) gets 3 votes each and the top 3 go through (and 2 as usual to the resurrection round).

The resurrection round will then move up from 5 progressing to 7 progressing, totalling the final to a round 40 albums.
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Good compromise!
 
Solius said:
Oh mate there's so many. Possibly not to your taste maybe? But there's been some incredible stuff.
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justsomebloke said:
I can. Those are all good enough I'd consider them worth buying on vinyl, which I only do with stuff that merits repeated playing as whole albums over years to come.

Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool
Arcade Fire Reflektor
Angel Olsen My Woman
Julia Holter Have you in my Wilderness
Antony and the Johnsons Swanlights
Tim Hecker Ravedeath 1972
Parquet Courts Wide Awake!!!
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
Perfume Genius No Shape
Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the city
Jon Hopkins Singularity
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Max Richter Sleep
Current 93 The Light is Leaving Us All
A Silver Mt Zion feck off Get Free We Pour Light Into Everything
Weyes Blood Titanic Rising
Parquet Courts Human Performance
Perfume Genius Too bright
Nils Frahm No Melody
Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
Mogwai Rave Tapes
Mitski Be the Cowboy
Night Beds Country Sleep
David Bowie Blackstar
Weyes Blood Front Row Seat to Earth
Austra Feel it Break
Steve Mason/Dennis Bovell Ghosts Outside
Swans The Seer
Angel Olsen All Mirrors
Arcade Fire Everything now
First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar
Hypnopazuzu Create Christ, Sailor Boy
Tim Hecker Love Streams
Brian Eno The Ship
And Also The Trees Born into the Waves
Blouse Blouse
Destroyer Kaputt
Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire for No Witness
Mogwai Hardcore will never die, but you will
Julia Holter Aviary
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Mogwai Les Revenants
Mogwai Every Country's sun
Current 93 I am the Last of all the Field that Fell
Mary Ocher Eden
Slowdive Slowdive
Sleaford Mods Key Markets
Grapetooth Grapetooth
Foals Holy Fire
Hospitality Hospitality
Mutual Benefit Love's Crushing Diamond
Girls Broken Dreams Club
Aidan Wells/Bill Moffat Everything's getting older
The National High Violet
Black Country, New Road Ants From Up There
Lana Del Rey Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Mitski The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Julia Holter Something in the Room She Moves
Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us
Lankum False Lankum
Black Country, New Road For the first time
The Avalanches We Will Always Love You
Black Country, New Road Live at Bush Hall
Jockstrap I Love You Jennifer B
Boygenius The Record
Olivia Rodrigo Guts
Antony & The Johnsons My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Arcade Fire WE
Hudson Mohawke Cry Sugar
Current 93 If a City is Set Upon a Hill
Caroline Polachek Desire, I want to turn into you
The Smile Cutouts
Beyonce Cowboy Carter
Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Tim Hecker No Highs
Jessie Ware That! Feels Good!
Victoria Monet Jaguar II
The Smile Wall of Eyes
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works II
And Also The Trees Mother-of-Pearl Moon
Sault Untitled (Rise)
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ Destiny
Death's Dynamic Shroud Darklife
Sault 11
The Murder Capital Gigi's Recovery
Jon Hopkins Ritual
Lambchop The Bible
And Also The Trees The Bone Carver
A.G. Cook Britpop
Bill Fay Countless Branches
Gia Margaret Mia Gargaret
James Holden Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities
Slowdive Everything is Alive
Zuli Lambda
Angel Olsen Big Time
Fever Ray Radical Romantics
Fleet Foxes Shore
Hudson Mohawke Airborne Lard
James Ellis Ford The Hum
Tems Born in the Wild



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I've heard lots from there (but of course not all) and while there are good songs on many albums none of those are great whole albums imo.
 
Wibble said:
I've heard lots from there and while there are good songs on many albums none of those are great whole albums imo.
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There's also stuff like Blonde, TPAB which are basically considered masterpieces. It might not be your taste but that doesn't mean they aren't great.
 
Wibble said:
I've heard lots from there and while there are good songs on many albums none of those are great whole albums imo.
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Also this is a favourites competition, not best ever.
 
justsomebloke said:
I can. Those are all good enough I'd consider them worth buying on vinyl, which I only do with stuff that merits repeated playing as whole albums over years to come.

Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool
Arcade Fire Reflektor
Angel Olsen My Woman
Julia Holter Have you in my Wilderness
Antony and the Johnsons Swanlights
Tim Hecker Ravedeath 1972
Parquet Courts Wide Awake!!!
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
Perfume Genius No Shape
Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the city
Jon Hopkins Singularity
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Max Richter Sleep
Current 93 The Light is Leaving Us All
A Silver Mt Zion feck off Get Free We Pour Light Into Everything
Weyes Blood Titanic Rising
Parquet Courts Human Performance
Perfume Genius Too bright
Nils Frahm No Melody
Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
Mogwai Rave Tapes
Mitski Be the Cowboy
Night Beds Country Sleep
David Bowie Blackstar
Weyes Blood Front Row Seat to Earth
Austra Feel it Break
Steve Mason/Dennis Bovell Ghosts Outside
Swans The Seer
Angel Olsen All Mirrors
Arcade Fire Everything now
First Aid Kit The Lion's Roar
Hypnopazuzu Create Christ, Sailor Boy
Tim Hecker Love Streams
Brian Eno The Ship
And Also The Trees Born into the Waves
Blouse Blouse
Destroyer Kaputt
Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire for No Witness
Mogwai Hardcore will never die, but you will
Julia Holter Aviary
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Mogwai Les Revenants
Mogwai Every Country's sun
Current 93 I am the Last of all the Field that Fell
Mary Ocher Eden
Slowdive Slowdive
Sleaford Mods Key Markets
Grapetooth Grapetooth
Foals Holy Fire
Hospitality Hospitality
Mutual Benefit Love's Crushing Diamond
Girls Broken Dreams Club
Aidan Wells/Bill Moffat Everything's getting older
The National High Violet
Black Country, New Road Ants From Up There
Lana Del Rey Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Mitski The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Julia Holter Something in the Room She Moves
Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us
Lankum False Lankum
Black Country, New Road For the first time
The Avalanches We Will Always Love You
Black Country, New Road Live at Bush Hall
Jockstrap I Love You Jennifer B
Boygenius The Record
Olivia Rodrigo Guts
Antony & The Johnsons My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Arcade Fire WE
Hudson Mohawke Cry Sugar
Current 93 If a City is Set Upon a Hill
Caroline Polachek Desire, I want to turn into you
The Smile Cutouts
Beyonce Cowboy Carter
Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Tim Hecker No Highs
Jessie Ware That! Feels Good!
Victoria Monet Jaguar II
The Smile Wall of Eyes
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works II
And Also The Trees Mother-of-Pearl Moon
Sault Untitled (Rise)
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ Destiny
Death's Dynamic Shroud Darklife
Sault 11
The Murder Capital Gigi's Recovery
Jon Hopkins Ritual
Lambchop The Bible
And Also The Trees The Bone Carver
A.G. Cook Britpop
Bill Fay Countless Branches
Gia Margaret Mia Gargaret
James Holden Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities
Slowdive Everything is Alive
Zuli Lambda
Angel Olsen Big Time
Fever Ray Radical Romantics
Fleet Foxes Shore
Hudson Mohawke Airborne Lard
James Ellis Ford The Hum
Tems Born in the Wild



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Your point is good, but some of those you have listed are from past decades. I'm assuming you've bought reissues.
 
Wibble said:
I've heard lots from there (but of course not all) and while there are good songs on many albums none of those are great whole albums imo.
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Well, I disagree. Albums where every single song is good, or that worked as a conceptual whole in the way that it was greater than the sum of its parts have always been rare. I don't think it's much different now than before.

Besides, you wrote you couldn't think of any good albums from after 2010. Or well, you wrote both "not good" and "not great". So then reasonably the lowest threshold applies. :)
 
justsomebloke said:
Well, I disagree. Albums where every single song is good, or that worked as a conceptual whole in the way that it was greater than the sum of its parts have always been rare. I don't think it's much different now than before.

Besides, you wrote you couldn't think of any good albums from after 2010. Or well, you wrote both "not good" and "not great". So then reasonably the lowest threshold applies. :)
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There were loads of great whole albums in the 80's and 90's.

I also think an album needs to be good all the way through. I love Bowie but only think of Hunky Dory as being a really great album as most of his others mix genius with meh, and Nevermind has only 3 brilliant tracks.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Yeah but you all still laugh at my choices.
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Your opinions always serve to remind me that not everything people recommend on here is actually good. I basically only trust Massive Spanner and Rooney in Paris.
 
Wibble said:
There were loads of great whole albums in the 80's and 90's.

I also think an album needs to be good all the way through. I love Bowie but only think of Hunky Dory as being a really great album as most of his others mix genius with meh, and Nevermind has only 3 brilliant tracks.
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There are different ways of looking at that. With Bowie for example, I agree that Hunky Dory is the only album I can think of that hasn't got at least one meh track on it. But that doesn't make it the best Bowie album, and that criterion doesn't make much sense to me. How about OK Computer, is that not a great album because of the two minutes of utter nonsense on "Fitter Happier"? To me, a meh track counts as a zero towards the albums greatness, not as a minus. What matters is the sum total of good, not whether there's some bad in there or not. If there's only three good songs, that's not enough (and I totally agree with you about Nirvana). But ten good ones and 3 bad ones is pretty much the same as ten good ones and no bad ones, in my book. The point is it's ten good ones.

Then there's the ones where it's not just about the songs individually, but also about how it all comes together as a whole. I guess Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is an example that springs immediately to mind.

But I really don't think there were loads of either kind in the eighties or nineties either. Well, apart from The Smiths, who only ever released two weak songs, and they were both covers. And I do think there have been some in the past 15 years. For example, I consider "A moon shaped pool" Radiohead's best album, and I say that as someone who is still putting OK Computer on his top 5 for the Nineties. Or Kate Bush's "50 words for snow" - it's not "Hounds of Love", but it's fully on par with other of her releases from the 80s that are rightly regarded as classics. Or Angel Olsen's "My Woman", I dare you to name a meh track on that. Or Tim Hecker's "Ravedeath 1972", which is as even and whole as anyone could ask.

The 80s and 90s are my home decades so to speak so it's only natural that most of my favorite music is from there, but I don't really see a divide when it comes to this.
 
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Dirty Schwein said:
Nah I know I have shit taste, never hidden from it. But I like what I like.
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Exactly, you'll get gentle ribbings but you like whatever you like. Always better to own it than be embarrassed.

20 year old me would've probably been self-conscious to admit I listen to someone Chappel Roan but now I own it and just openly say I enjoy it. Way more freeing to just enjoy stuff without prejudice.
 
justsomebloke said:
I highly doubt there are two albums on that list that were released in the mid-90s. But we won't know until you specify which ones you mean.
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Why two? I said some, because I know that Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II was a mid-nineties album.
 
You don't need to look further than 2010 to find My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is a masterpiece.
 
altodevil said:
Why two? I said some, because I know that Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II was a mid-nineties album.
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Aaaah...

:lol: I read "saw 2" not as short for "Selected Ambient Works 2", but as "I saw two"!

And there I do seem to have fallen into the reissue trap. Sorry about that, thanks for correction. I had no idea - I missed it the first time but picked it up on the recent reissue, and there were singles released ahead and everything. I think that should be the only one though.
 
justsomebloke said:
Aaaah...

:lol: I read "saw 2" not as short for "Selected Ambient Works 2", but as "I saw two"!

And there I do seem to have fallen into the reissue trap. Sorry about that, thanks for correction. I had no idea - I missed it the first time but picked it up on the recent reissue, and there were singles released ahead and everything. I think that should be the only one though.
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:lol:

Does read that way!!
 
Solius said:
No. Keep it changed.

Just because Cheimoon is an old fart who hasn’t listened to much new music. A lot of us have!
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Good point. Couldn't have put it better myself.
 
New Kendrick, ignore previous instructions
 
1. Songs For The Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age
2. Discovery - Daft Punk
3. Stankonia - Outkast
4. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
5. Hymn To The Immortal Wind - MONO

Ahhhh, I want to get Fever To Tell - YeahYeahYeahs in there, but I can't drop one of those albums for it. Damn. Amazing era, again.
 
1. Tool - 10,000 Days
2. Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks
3. 2 Many DJs - As Heard on the Radio Soulwax Pt.2
4. Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom
5. William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
6. Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song
7. Gregory Isakov - This Lonely Northern Hemisphere
8. Burial - Untrue
9. Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven
10. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
 
justsomebloke said:
There are different ways of looking at that. With Bowie for example, I agree that Hunky Dory is the only album I can think of that hasn't got at least one meh track on it. But that doesn't make it the best Bowie album, and that criterion doesn't make much sense to me. How about OK Computer, is that not a great album because of the two minutes of utter nonsense on "Fitter Happier"? To me, a meh track counts as a zero towards the albums greatness, not as a minus. What matters is the sum total of good, not whether there's some bad in there or not. If there's only three good songs, that's not enough (and I totally agree with you about Nirvana). But ten good ones and 3 bad ones is pretty much the same as ten good ones and no bad ones, in my book. The point is it's ten good ones.

Then there's the ones where it's not just about the songs individually, but also about how it all comes together as a whole. I guess Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is an example that springs immediately to mind.

But I really don't think there were loads of either kind in the eighties or nineties either. Well, apart from The Smiths, who only ever released two weak songs, and they were both covers. And I do think there have been some in the past 15 years. For example, I consider "A moon shaped pool" Radiohead's best album, and I say that as someone who is still putting OK Computer on his top 5 for the Nineties. Or Kate Bush's "50 words for snow" - it's not "Hounds of Love", but it's fully on par with other of her releases from the 80s that are rightly regarded as classics. Or Angel Olsen's "My Woman", I dare you to name a meh track on that. Or Tim Hecker's "Ravedeath 1972", which is as even and whole as anyone could ask.

The 80s and 90s are my home decades so to speak so it's only natural that most of my favorite music is from there, but I don't really see a divide when it comes to this.
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I don't think a single meh track disqualifies an album from being great. I think I tend to include albums where I'll happily listen to the whole thing, which is a rarity. A matter of taset of course, personally I don't like A Moon Shaped Pool at all.

For context my playlists include about 1/3 tracks from 2000 to 2024 - just great albums are getting rarer and rarer. Of course it doesn't help that most modern music is far more packaged product than music, and albums are far less important commercially than they used to be.
 
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