Astronomer

Me too! Pretty sure it was my first CD. Love the list keep up the posts.

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Son of JayJamJah

You're so close, get to work and finish this thing.

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Me, Myself and I United as One

If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

My Van Morrison Discography Thread

Crowe

44. The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)
Who missed The Postal Service's Give Up when she was released? Who missed the tons and tons of people spawn who turned this so-so release into the mega-hit that it became? Now... liking this album automatically has some people lumping me into that group who called TPS "teh mostest or1iginal band of our timezz!" yeah well, I'm not one of those people. I am one of those people who grew up with this album being played at every turn. Hell, it's infectious! Forgetting the weird hype it inspired and sitting down and listening to the album - I mean, yeah... this is what I slow danced to at more than one high school dance. This is the laid back album that I used to put on to go to sleep to when I went to summer camp... this is the album that I played in my car when I was driving my high school girlfriend around that I could have at a low enough volume to talk. This is one of those albums that is on the list because of it's meaning in my personal history. But I'm not going to lie, I love the music on this album. It inspires that nostalgia that invokes images, smells, tastes and emotions that made up your formative years. In that sense, Give Up is something I treat myself to from time to time just for the feeling, you know?

Check out: Clark Gable, Such Great Heights, Nothing Better... and of course your high school year book/college diploma/scribbled on middle school binder.


43. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984)
Where did I first hear Talking Heads? Honestly, I don't remember. Perhaps it was some bad (read: awesome) 80s movie, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that this album absolutely hooked me into Talking Heads - and, why don't we face it, the two big tracks on this album that really grab you are Psycho Killer and Take Me to the River... oh well... and Burning Down the House, arguably their most well-known track... oh yeah, and what about... Slippery People? Holy hell, what an album! David Byrne sings "Psycho Killer, ques que sais! Fa fa fa fa fa fa ...." this is a fun album. This is a really fun album. I wish I had grown up during the 80s so they would have played this at those really awesome (read: bad) high school dances. Instead I was limited to the random play on the radio as a kid. I picked up the entire discography a few years ago, and while I enjoy the Heads' earlier works, I feel like this is the one that has really received more play time. Listen to this album if you wanna dance... have fun, throw it on at a party instead of Kanye for f's sake. Byrne's unique (sounds like Bowie a bit now that I'm revisiting) voice and the electronic/rock/dance sound of this album is just so clutch in a time of need.

Check Out: Psycho Killer (live version, eh?), Take Me to the River, Burning Down the House (of course). Also the movie!


42. Eric Clapton - Crossroads (1988)
That's right. I'm going to be a big d___k and be lazy and pick Crossroads as my favorite Clapton album(s). You know why? Well... to be quite honest there is so much Clapton to pick from and I didn't wanna be the guy who has 3-4 Clapton projects on a top 100 list. So, where do we start with this massive boxed set? Well... what do you like? We have Cream, The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers... Derek and the Dominos... Clapton's massive solo career. This was what got ME into Clapton personally. When I was still discovering the classics, I picked this up off of one of those earlier file sharing programs (I remember, because this took me almost 2-3 days to download)... before that time I'd never really heard of The Yardbirds, I knew Cream by name only... the only Clapton I KNEW was his constantly played radio singles - Cocaine, Tears in Heaven (not in this collection) Crossroads of course and Wonderful Tonight (although I'm not quite sure I realized this was Clapton at the time). I say use this album to find what Clapton you like and continue to explore... chances are, if you're like me, using this album as a launching point will allow you to find some great music that you otherwise might have missed; which is why I have included it in my Top 100. This set allowed me to discover the artists I mentioned above... and it was a one stop shop for everything Clapton (before 1988). This is not the perfect set - I don't like some of the songs on here, but there is so much that I do like that the pros outweigh the cons by a hefty margin.

Check out: ... hmm... check out all of it and then explore on your own, I guess.


41. Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On (1998)
I never knew how these guys didn't catch on in my little piece of suburbia. Maybe... maybe we were just a little after their "time"? I like this release better than Diary, to be honest. It feels a little more put together, a little... more cohesive if you will. This was the album they made after they had reunited following some earlier disputes. I enjoy the relaxed vibe of this album to the musical ADD of Diary and even the Pink Album. Known as the liberators of "emo" from the murky depths of the sub-genre underground, SDRE certainly doesn't sound like what we consider emo now - and I hate that label being stuck to them. God forbid I try to introduce them to a friend calling them "emo" - but that's what you get when you MUST put a label on everything. I think they sound a bit more BritPop than emo in some cases and might even attempt to pass them off that way. Discovered these guys the way you should... hearing them play in a record store and asking the guy behind the counter who it was, and picking up the CD. I downloaded Diary and the Pink Album when I let this little fella play in my stereo for awhile.

Check out: Days Were Golden, Roses in Water, Pillars

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Crowe

MILESTONE ALBUM: RAISED BY THE CLASSICS

40. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
So we've reached our first Milestone Album. Since I can't say anything you haven't heard about this album musically, we'll just talk about the MA position on my list. As I've mentioned in blurbs before... I was raised on this album. My grandparents always, always had this on... the only thing my grandma thought I should listen to was this and other rock groups from the 50's and 60's... she also thought Hootie and the Blowfish was acceptable. Aside from that glaring musical taste issue, my grandmother and grandfather taught me to appreciate the classics from a young age. While some kids were learning how to clean up and love each other from Barney the Big Purple Dinosaur - I was already learning the classics. I do not listen to a Beach Boys song and not think of my summers with my grandparents, and I thank them everytime I see them for playing The Beach Boys instead of the Celine Dion of which they have a large collection.

Check out: It's Pet Sounds... listen to the whole thing over and over again.


39. The Moldy Peaches - S/T (2001)
Alright, so unlike most people I've met. I knew The Moldy Peaches before Juno. OH, I'm sooo coool. Actually, I couldn't stand this album when I first heard it - I mean, I reallllly couldn't stand it. I stumbled on a review on some music review site back then (maybe epitonic.com) and gave this a shot... I did not appreciate the bad advice from that particular site. Fast forward about 5 or 6 years and I'm working at a (wannabe/has been) trendy sandwich shop in a small college town filled with hipsters. I get to listen to Kimya Dawson's solo stuff being played and I was aware that I recognized the voice but couldn't place it... later, a friend of mine would go on to have me listen to Kimya Dawson, and I re-discovered the Moldy Peaches. I love it. Some people do not, however, and it is here that I sometimes am called upon to deliver the flat vocals and odd-ball lyrics. I don't care. I'll do it. It's arguably unique, it's arguably a pile of talentless ****. I can see both sides - but I lean towards unique. You never really know what to expect on this album it takes so many turns from just... tiny acoustic sounds, uber-repetitive lyrics to a Brian May-esque guitar solo on "Nothing Came Out" to talking about sucking a **** in another song... it's a fun ride with the Peaches and that's why I love them so much. Well - and yeah - fast forward a year later and Juno makes popular Anyone Else But You giving anyone and everyone some pretty sweet indie cred digs. W/e. It's not important.

Check out: Nothing Came Out, Ballad of Helen Keller and Rip Van Winkle (gorgeous), Anyone Else But You (of course)


38. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
Ugh, hello beautiful. This is one of those artists, and subsequently albums that I really have to thank musicbanter for. I had never heard of Nick Drake before I visited these forums. I had heard the song Pink Moon somewhere, sometime as I recognized it after downloading his three albums... but phew. The sheer simplicity of this album is so indicative of the talent of Mr. Drake. I am pretty demanding when it comes to the instrumental aspect of what I'm listening to - I guess, for me - a voice and an acoustic guitar can only get you so far. But not Monsieur Drake. The touching lyrics, the wonderful lush sounds he teases out of his guitar - the marriage of these two aspects is perfection. This album would undoubtedly have been higher had I heard it earlier in life. I had a super hard time picking between Pink Moon and Bryter Layter - I do love the full orchestral arrangements of BL... but the fact that this was Nick's final album... his swan song is really quite moving, and I feel like it gives it that extra impact when I'm listening. What would he have become? We are all punished by his early death - but we can rejoice in what little he left us here. K, i'm stopping before this turns into a sappy obit.

Check out: Pink Moon, Which Will, Parasite


37. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
Yeah, man. This was THE album that you could bring up in conversation and everyone seemed to have happy things to say. This is/was an album that I've really never heard anyone give an argument against its merits as a breakthrough, class album. This is an old album, for sure. I remember hanging out after school (elementary school, mind you) with the 6th graders and hearing them talk about this album. I knew about it because I watched MTV (and MTV was still MUSIC television at this time) and RHCP had their videos all over MTV. I always felt like I was breaking rules listening to this when I was young. Suck My Kiss did not sound like something I wanted my mom heard me listening to - after all, when I was 7, "suck" was a bad word! But I could always join the older kids and sometimes even the younger teachers - and they were so surprised I was listening to RHCP, I felt so f'n cool. That might be my first time being a "poser" as I'd only really heard the 2 or 3 songs they played on the radio or on MTV, but I acted like I was on first name terms with everyone in RHCP. But even now... Blood Sugar Sex Magik is some how... a great unifier when you are talking about music with someone. And it's great, it's just a great - classic - album that was so different when it came out - and I feel like it stands the test of time, unlike some of the grunge acts that were starting to rise out of the great pile of rubble that was 80's hair metal. It still sounds fresh to me.

Check out: Suck My Kiss! Give It Away, Sir Psycho Sexy

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debaserr

have you heard the name of this band is talking heads?

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Last.FM

Crowe

36. The Black Keys - Rubber Factory (2004)
Man this album rocks. This particular albums contain a few songs that would probably make my top 100. And what about the band? What about the album? I heard this group through some internet radio back in fall 2005, I remember because it was my first semester in college and I needed to f'n relax and tried looking for some blues. "The Lengths" starts working its way slowly through my speakers and I knew that I had found what I had been looking for. You tell me then that the music was a couple of white dudes and I woulda laughed at you. A friend revealed to me that it was indeed a couple of white dudes... and I laughed at him.

Check out: Act Nice and Gentle (!!!), The Lengths, Girl is On My Mind, When the Lights Go Out


35. Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986)
Look... I know this is a horrible album. I know that this music is god awful 80's hair metal that seems like it was made to be some sort of inside joke. I DON'T CARE. I was partially raised on bad 80's metal and can safely say that; if it hadn't been for bands and music like Poison, I might not have been born. This was baby makin' music! I kid, I kid... sort of... anyway - I was raised on this stuff and I absolutely love and know every song on this album. This is... classic glam, and it's beautiful You can start chipping away at my credibility....nnnnow!

Check out: Talk Dirty to Me, I Want Action, #1 Bad Boy


34. Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)
Typing this up... I cannot believe that I heard this album for the first time seven years ago. I know some of you codgers are old, but I'm starting to feel it. Lifted is the album that made me feel like I could "suffer" as a teen and have someone sing my life story to me... now surely, I wasn't that bad off. Re-listening to the album does conjure up some old memories, some old heartbreaks some of that trite sh!t, but you know, this album was there for me when I thought I needed it. Plus the lyrics are still wonderful - "Waste of Paint" has such a great set of stories built in - you just can't deny the wordsmith of Conor Oberst. Or, I guess you can, but... you know what I mean. Back in the days where Ethan posted pretty much ONLY about Bright Eyes and Conor, this would've been a smash hit on MB haha.

Check out: Bowl of Oranges, Waste of Paint, False Advertising


33. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
OHhhh yeah. Another album that defines the beginning of my college career. When I heard this album, some 4 years ago, I felt like I hadn't really ever heard anything like it. This was one of the albums/artists introduced to me by my first roommate and I haven't let it go since. I was drawn into the album especially because there is a song about a little town called Jacksonville, a small Illinois town where my grandparents live. It has become something of a sensation in that little town - and my grandparents love it! Even though... it doesn't really have anything to do with Jacksonville despite some of the names dropped in the verses. I have played at the playgrounds in Nichol's Park since I was a whelp! The lyrics are great, the music is great and the titles are long enough to make Tolstoy jealous :P

Check out: Jacksonville, The Blackhawk War..., John Wayne Gacy Jr., Casimir Pulaski Day, Chicago

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jackhammer

About bloody time too. WB

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Crowe

I'm trying to be around, old friend - working on completing 2 majors at the moment!

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swim

Get your priorities straight.

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http://nakednaps.bandcamp.com/

Urban Hat€monger ?

That's the spirit

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