Payn's Ponderings... Top 10 Essential Albums

[Cadence]

@Cadence So good to see some Warren Zevon appreciation here. My band (actually more of a coffeehouse duo akin to Tenacious D) covered several of those songs. We played "Excitable Boy" at our religious college's talent show, which raised a few eyebrows. Probably the strangest moment was playing "Gorilla You're a Desperado" while I was wearing only boxers, a cape, and a Viking helmet in a pool hall.

I hadn't heard that one before
I obviously need to expand beyond the two albums of his I have.

 

[Retreater]

My top 10, in no order and without giving it too much thought ...
1. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
2. The Beatles - Revolver
3. Pink Floyd - Animals
4. Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
5. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
6. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
7. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
8. Rush - Moving Pictures
9. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (if I can also include Bambu as the double album version, so be it.)
10. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

Edit: Had to put George Harrison on here.

 

[Retreater]

I hadn't heard that one before
I obviously need to expand beyond the two albums of his I have.

He's got a great catalog, well worth diving into.
His self-titled "Warren Zevon" is excellent, of course "Excitable Boy," then I'd probably add "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" and "Sentimental Hygiene." His later albums "Life'll Kill Ya" and "The Wind" are also great, but there's a sadness to them knowing he was facing death.

 

[Cadence]

He's got a great catalog, well worth diving into.
His self-titled "Warren Zevon" is excellent, of course "Excitable Boy," then I'd probably add "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" and "Sentimental Hygiene." His later albums "Life'll Kill Ya" and "The Wind" are also great, but there's a sadness to them knowing he was facing death.

The Wind is the other one I have. I know what you mean.

 

[Malmuria]

Hmm, hard to choose.
Here’s a few more than 10, in no particular order

Outkast - Atliens
Prince - Purple Rain
The Clash - London Calling
Nas - Illmatic
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Atari Teenage Riot - Burn Berlin Burn
Tricky - Maxinquaye
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid M.a.a.d City
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

 

[Eyes of Nine]

No order. The way I consume music now is no longer at the "album" level; but instead at the "song" level. So most/all of the works on this list are older pre-2000 except one.

1. Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy - Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury (Angry, political, woke decades before being woke was a thing)
2. David Bowie - Low (as someone said up thread - this one is the present crashing into the future (or maybe the same car))
3. Dag Nasty - Can I Say (Minor Threat's oeuvre is greater, but they don't have a standout album - but every song on this one is a banger)
4. Metallica - Ride the Lightning (Until I heard the transition from classical music into full on crunch in Fight Fire with Fire I didn't know I liked metal - I thought I liked punk (which I still do). But this is the album that turned me onto metal 4-evah )
5. John Coltrane - My favorite things (I just love the loops in My Favorite things, where the music gets recursive and comes back to the same refrain)
6. Dead Can Dance - The Serpent's Egg (The Host of the Seraphim is probably the greatest song to play really loud when I'm feeling emotionally bad)
7. The Prodigy - Songs for a Jilted Generation (There are some EDM songs I like better; but end to end this album has great music on it; and No Good is just one of my top 10 dance songs)
8. Hole - Live through this (Courtney Love's unabashed anger on Violet is so refreshing and in contrast to the societal roles placed on women)
9. Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill (Speaking of pissed off women - I think we know the key song on this multi-platinum album that fits that mold. But so many others on here are just tunes that stick in my head. Just saw her perform for the 25th anniversary of the release, and she still rips)
10. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (I was torn between this and the eponymous Fleet Foxes; but this one edged out as there are at least 3 tracks including the most popular Little Lion Man that I love.)

I didn't get into classic rock much, The Who - The Who; Led Zep Houses of the Holy; Boston Boston; Beatles White Album; etc etc. Could have an entire other list there. But others have covered those better and earlier in this thread.

Anyway, fun exercise.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I see the work of a lot of great bands being listed, and it’s nifty to me that I‘m not necessarily agreeing that a particular album is the best by certain ones.

 

[Lanefan]

In no particular order and with occasional overlap of artists:

Cars - Panorama (or Candy-O, or Shake It Up - pick one)
Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust (or Earth and Sky and Moon - pick one)
Dio - Holy Diver
Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
Lordi - Monsterman
Blackmore's Night - Fires at Midnight
Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers
Patrick O'Hearn - Ancient Dreams (or pretty much any - pick one)
Billy Squier - Emotions in Motion

Might change my mind later - who knows. ...ETA...and did, replacing ACDC Back in Black with Lordi.

 

[nyvinter]

Hmmm. This is problematic and will change every minute but let's give it a go.

1. Anaïs Mitchell - Young Man In America
2. The Band - Last Waltz
3. Beth Orton - Comfort Of Strangers
4. CunninLynguists - Dirty Acres
5. Mekons - OOOH
6. The Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree
7. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
8. Thea Gilmore - Avalanche
9. Unbunny - Black Strawberries
10. William Elliott Whitmore - Ashes to Dust

This still feels wrong. Only ten? TEN?! Didn't even get The Shape Of Punk To Come in there. The premise is faulty, yes, that must be it,

 

[payn]

Findings so far;

George Harrison All Things Must Pass a narrow lead for EN World favorite.
Metallica (I mean c'mon its a gaming site), Warren Zevon, Fleetwood, and U2 (for two different albums) coming up in second place.
Pink Floyd has the most selections, but no repeats
Midnight Oil mentioned twice for different albums