Your All-Time Favorite Album

[transformer_99]

Dido ?

 

[dags]

Many favorite classic albums but I'd have to go with Fleetwood Mac, the Rumours album from 1977.
It reminds me of a time in life when things were much different, good times.

 

[D_Sheffield Thongbynder]

Exodus -- Bob Marley

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile

In part because it is the perfect example of what an album should be- a cogent block of music connected thematically and musically that really shouldn't be chopped up into singles and needs to be listened to as a whole to be fully appreciated.

In part because, even chopped up into singles, every song on here is one of the single best I've ever heard.

In part because, as cogent and flowing and connected as the entire album is, Trent still manages to have the kind of range and scope in the breadth of his work that other artists could only dream of. From somber, slow instrumentals, at once both melancholy and achingly beautiful, to harsh quasi-metal fight songs... Trent does it all and, to his credit, does it all well. There have been many imitators who have tried to do the same thing, but usually they are only good at one thing and suck at everything else. Trent pulls it all together and excels in every area.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Closer - Nine Inch Nails

Do you mean The Downward Spiral?

Or are you talking about halo 9- closer to god?

 

[B_Hickboy]

Who's Next, by The Who. It'll dial you in tight.

 

[basketbulge]

Roxy Music's Avalon (the song and the entire album are killer sexy IMHO)
Make love or have sex through the whole thing and you'll know what I'm talkin' 'bout. If it's a CD version, put it on repeat play and just keep goin'...

 

[Andresito]

"Antichrist Superstar" - Marilyn Manson.

Great songs, perfect lyrics, excellent production by Trent Reznor. Conceptual record at it's best, yes sir.

 

[scanjock8]

All you Zeppelin fans, you'll get no disagreement from me of their rightful legend status--timeless music. Hands down my favorite rock band. And about the only one I enjoyed listening to. You see, unlike most American boys, I just couldn't fully embrace hard rock. Great at parties or out with friends doing fun and illegal things in high school, but one on one it never appealed to me. Every guy I hung out with was an authority on their particular favorite band, arguing the merits of drummers and guitarists, while I was indifferent--but beginning to feel somewhat uncool not having a signature band of my own (oh the joys of peer pressure).

The Police were the first and most prominent band I identified with, from which I started to develop my musical preferences--coexisting with my rock and roll friends quite nicely. Even though I love their early reggae influenced stuff, Ghost in the Machine is the album I listened to the most. Lush and surreal instrumentally, sometimes dark utopian lyrics, it was a departure for The Police. I used it to zone out puberty the way other kids listened to The Wall.

What can I say, I'm gay. My sisters and I put some serious wear on Michael Jackson's Thriller too!

 

[Ethyl]

Do you mean The Downward Spiral?
http://www.nin.com/halo/08/cover.jpg

Or are you talking about halo 9- closer to god?
http://www.nin.com/halo/09/cover.jpg

No, I meant The Downward Spiral. I just happened to be listening to "closer" when I wrote that. "Ruiner" is my favorite song on that CD.

 

[drumstyck]

merc, "Ruiner" is my fave song on that album too


since a bunch of other people already broke the rules & listed more than one, here i go:

#1 - U2 "The Joshua Tree" - its just beautiful, pure & simple...it came out when i was 5, so i've been listening to it for most of my life, and it just always hits this certain spot in my mind & my heart & my soul...

others in no order: MeatLoaf "Bat Out of Hell", Tool "AEnima", NIN "The Downward Spiral", jimmyeatworld "Bleed American", Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath", Pearl Jam "Vs", Beastie Boys "License to Ill", Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced?", Led Zep "Houses of the Holy"...and more, but i'll leave it at that

 

[rob_just_rob]

Hard to narrow it down.

For the last couple of years, it's probably been "Elephant" by/par The White Stripes.

 

[Mulebear]

I'll play.

English Settlement - XTC

I never play just one or two songs from it. I always play the entire album. To this day I hear something different everytime.

Runner ups:

Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello
Welcome To The North - The Music
Undertow - Tool
Floodland - Sisters Of Mercy

 

[AlbertCunning]

I'll play.

English Settlement - XTC

I never play just one or two songs from it. I always play the entire album. To this day I hear something different everytime.

Runner ups:

Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello
Welcome To The North - The Music
Undertow - Tool
Floodland - Sisters Of Mercy

I like the first half of 'English Settlement' particularly.
'No Thugs In Our House' and 'Senses Working Overtime' are just brilliant.
The second half is a bit too all-over-the-place, I find.

I think I'll regard 'Black Sea' and 'Skylarking' as XTC's most excellent albums, with '....Wires', '....Settlement' and '.....Lemons' one step behind.

'Fear of Music' is great, but I still prefer 'Remain In Light'.

I've started to get into Costello, but have so far only bought his first three albums, so I think I'll need some more time before I broadcast any preferences on his output.

 

[vinny_spiruccino]

Exodus -- Bob Marley

Men and people will fight ya down
When ya see Jah light.
Let me tell you if you're not wrong;
Everything is all right.
So we gonna walk - through de roads of creation:
We the generation
trod through great tribulation.
Exodus, Movement of Jah people!

Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied (with the life you're living)?
We know where we're going,
We know where we're from.
We're leaving Babylon,
We're going to our Father land.


Close race Colonel; this one's awesome too - every song.

 

[Yorkie]

But first, a couple of rules (yeah, I’m smashing the vibe a bit):

1) You must choose only one. No ties or cop-outs, no “it’s too hard to choose just one” whining. I know—life is tough all over. Be a man (or woman!) and make the tough choice.
2) Tell us why. Here’s your chance to win us all over and make everyone want to listen to the soundtrack of your life!

OK,no ties or cop-outs.
The Velvet Underground And Nico produced by Andy Warhol.
This album was (and still is) the blueprint and inspiration for so much great music that followed....David Bowie (early'70's),early Roxy Music,the mid-70's punk scene in New York and the UK,The Jesus And Mary Chain,The Wedding Present,Nirvana,The Strokes...and many more.

 

[Mulebear]

I like the first half of 'English Settlement' particularly.
'No Thugs In Our House' and 'Senses Working Overtime' are just brilliant.
The second half is a bit too all-over-the-place, I find.

I think I'll regard 'Black Sea' and 'Skylarking' as XTC's most excellent albums, with '....Wires', '....Settlement' and '.....Lemons' one step behind.

'Fear of Music' is great, but I still prefer 'Remain In Light'.

I've started to get into Costello, but have so far only bought his first three albums, so I think I'll need some more time before I broadcast any preferences on his output.

All are excellent albums.

As for Elvis Costello... His 3rd album, Armed Forces, was one of his best, but I haven't been able to listen to him after Punch The Clock.

Senses Working Overtime was the song that first drew me to English Settlement. Thugs, Ball and Chain, and English Roundabout kept me coming back, but eventually the other songs started drawing me in. Runaways, Jason and The Argonauts, Melt the Guns, Fly on the Wall and several of the others are heavily layered with subtle detail.

I even had an extended version of Down in the Cockpit featuring additional work by an uncredited John Cleese. Unfortunately someone stole my copy of it. Fortunately I still have my 45 of No Thugs In Our House. The cover folds out to make a small theatre and includes "cutouts" of the various charcters in the song. This includes the "insect headed worker wife".

Dog, I'm old.

Time to go listen to Gnarls Barkley and Mars Volta.

Oh, and be on the lookout for a South African band called the Parlatones. They are not available in the United States yet, but they recently signed a deal for Europe, Australia, and Japan.

 

[Mulebear]

Also, 'Hjernen Er Alene' by the Norwegian group DeLillos is just brilliant, but as it's entirely in Norwegian, I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone not so inclined. Non-Norwegians I mean...

Citizens singing in their native languages? What has the world come to? It's a shame.

Stranger still... I have several albums by artists from non-english speaking countries in which all the songs are in english. Breathe and The Angela Test (both by Iceland's Leaves), Tenderfoot by Without Gravity (also Iceland), and Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low by Finland's Lodger come to mind. I think Garmana's Vengeance (Sweden) is the only non-english album I have outside of several Putamayo compilations I own.

 

[mephistopheles]

Danzig II - Lucifuge...

Blues-Metal.

 

[Ethyl]

I think Garmana's Vengeance (Sweden) is the only non-english album I have outside of several Putamayo compilations I own.

I love their music. Ethereal, haunting, and edgy. Vengeance is my favourite album.