Rank The Albums!

I'll start with one of my favourite artists, Iron & Wine. I'll include the major EPs and collaborations, too, but not B-sides collections or singles.

1. The Shepherd's Dog
2. Woman King EP
3. Our Endless Numbered Days
4. Beast Epic
5. In the Reins (w/ Calexico)
6. Weed Garden EP
7. Ghost on Ghost
8. Love Letter for Fire (w/ Jesca Hoop)
9. Kiss Each Other Clean
10. The Creek Drank the Cradle
11. Sing Into My Mouth (w/ Ben Bridwell)
12. The Sea & the Rhythm EP
 
U2

Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
All That You Can’t Leave Behind
Unforgettable Fire
War
Pop
Boy
Songs of Innocence
Rattle & Hum
No Line On The Horizon
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Zoospore
October
Songs of Experience
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
I'll start with one of my favourite artists, Iron & Wine. I'll include the major EPs and collaborations, too, but not B-sides collections or singles.

1. The Shepherd's Dog
2. Woman King EP
3. Our Endless Numbered Days
4. Beast Epic
5. In the Reins (w/ Calexico)
6. Weed Garden EP
7. Ghost on Ghost
8. Love Letter for Fire (w/ Jesca Hoop)
9. Kiss Each Other Clean
10. The Creek Drank the Cradle
11. Sing Into My Mouth (w/ Ben Bridwell)
12. The Sea & the Rhythm EP
Click to expand...

this is WILD to me, but I appreciate a difference of opinion. Dang!

I'll do one! uhhhh ... Sonic Youth!

1. Sister
2. Daydream Nation
3. Sonic Nurse
4. Murray Street
5. Dirty
6. Evol
7. Goo
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Washing Machine
10. Rather Ripped
11. Confusion is Sex
12. The Eternal
13. A Thousand Leaves
14. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
15. The Whitey Album
16. NYC Ghosts and Flowers
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Lemme see yours, then!
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alright alright alright

1. The Creek Drank the Cradle
2. In The Reins (w/ Calexico)
3. The Shepherd's Dog
4. The Sea and the Rhythm EP
5. Woman King EP
6. Our Endless Numbered Days
7. Beast Epic
8. Weed Garden EP
9. Kiss Each Other Clean
10. Ghost on Ghost

I don't know enough about the other collaborative albums to rank them. Mainly I was so surprised about Creek being so low, but that album is straight up magic to me.
 
kickerofelves said:
alright alright alright

1. The Creek Drank the Cradle
2. In The Reins (w/ Calexico)
3. The Shepherd's Dog
4. The Sea and the Rhythm EP
5. Woman King EP
6. Our Endless Numbered Days
7. Beast Epic
8. Weed Garden EP
9. Kiss Each Other Clean
10. Ghost on Ghost

I don't know enough about the other collaborative albums to rank them. Mainly I was so surprised about Creek being so low, but that album is straight up magic to me.
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Haha I should have prefaced that he's my favourite artist and I love all of them. Creek just hasn't stayed with me as much as some of the others. Apart from Lion's Mane, Upward, and Faded From the Winter I think there were a lot better songs from his 4-track days they could have put on there. I probably listen to it as much as I do the first Archive Series.
 
kickerofelves said:
this is WILD to me, but I appreciate a difference of opinion. Dang!

I'll do one! uhhhh ... Sonic Youth!

1. Sister
2. Daydream Nation
3. Sonic Nurse
4. Murray Street
5. Dirty
6. Evol
7. Goo
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Washing Machine
10. Rather Ripped
11. Confusion is Sex
12. The Eternal
13. A Thousand Leaves
14. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
15. The Whitey Album
16. NYC Ghosts and Flowers
Click to expand...

Woah... I don't know if I would have put some of these as high/low as this, but I also have a soft spot for some of these lower-ranked albums (Confusion Is Sex and Washing Machine in particular).
 
kickerofelves said:
this is WILD to me, but I appreciate a difference of opinion. Dang!

I'll do one! uhhhh ... Sonic Youth!

1. Sister
2. Daydream Nation
3. Sonic Nurse
4. Murray Street
5. Dirty
6. Evol
7. Goo
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Washing Machine
10. Rather Ripped
11. Confusion is Sex
12. The Eternal
13. A Thousand Leaves
14. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
15. The Whitey Album
16. NYC Ghosts and Flowers
Click to expand...

Whoa, I feel like I should chime in:

1. Daydream Nation
2. Murray Street
3. Goo
4. A Thousand Leaves
5. Rather Ripped
6. Sister
7. Dirty
8. Washing Machine
9. Evol
10. Sonic Nurse
11. The Eternal
12. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
13. Bad Moon Rising

I've actually never listened to Confusion is Sex, The Whitey Album, or NYC Ghosts and Flowers, so those are unranked.

I feel weird ranking Daydream Nation as the #1 album because it's never been a favorite of mine. However, if I had to only listen to one SY for the rest of my life, that would probably be it because it covers so much ground. In contrast, my picks 2-5 are albums I had pretty intense phases with. I can't say I've listened to much SY in my 30s, but they were a huge band for me in my early 20s.
 
bettim84 said:
Whoa, I feel like I should chime in:

1. Daydream Nation
2. Murray Street
3. Goo
4. A Thousand Leaves
5. Rather Ripped
6. Sister
7. Dirty
8. Washing Machine
9. Evol
10. Sonic Nurse
11. The Eternal
12. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
13. Bad Moon Rising

I've actually never listened to Confusion is Sex, The Whitey Album, or NYC Ghosts and Flowers, so those are unranked.

I feel weird ranking Daydream Nation as the #1 album because it's never been a favorite of mine. However, if I had to only listen to one SY for the rest of my life, that would probably be it because it covers so much ground. In contrast, my picks 2-5 are albums I had pretty intense phases with. I can't say I've listened to much SY in my 30s, but they were a huge band for me in my early 20s.
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Confusion is a top 5 of mine, but probably because of the time I heard it.
When I bought it (an SST copy) in 1994, I was just 13. As a guitar player and songwriter, I was still new to a lot of things. It never occurred to me that a lot of what I was hearing might be improvised or by chance as opposed to rehearsed and deliberate. To me, at the time, the exact note/tonal configurations of what Thurston and Lee were doing were irreplaceable: any other sound in its place must not work.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what they were doing and mimicking it and ruining a lot of drumsticks and strings in the process.

It's a very, very moody album, some would say downright noisy. It's easily their second most challenging listen (after NYC Ghosts & Flowers), but a worthwhile one.

Unfortunately, as I am reading this, I am also noticing that EVOL and Bad Moon Rising are near/at the bottom of your list. If you don't like those, you might HATE Confusion... but I invite you to listen with an open heart :)
 
I had some good rankings in the old thread that I liked looking back on to see how my tastes had changed over time. oh well, time to re-rank all the bands!

The National
  1. Alligator
  2. Boxer
  3. Trouble Will Find Me
  4. High Violet
  5. I Am Easy To Find
  6. Sleep Well Beast
  7. Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
  8. The National
Radiohead
  1. OK Computer
  2. Kid A
  3. The Bends
  4. In Rainbows
  5. Hail to the Thief
  6. Amnesiac
  7. A Moon Shaped Pool
  8. King of Limbs
  9. Pablo Honey
Sufjan Stevens
  1. Michigan
  2. Seven Swans
  3. Illinoise
  4. Carrie & Lowell (it's absolutely fucked that Carrie & Lowell is so goddamn good but still Suf's 4th best album)
  5. The Age of Adz
  6. Songs for Christmas
  7. The Avalanche
  8. Silver & Gold
  9. All Delighted People
  10. Enjoy Your Rabbit
  11. The BQE
  12. A Sun Came
Bjork
  1. Homogenic
  2. Vespertine
  3. Post
  4. Debut
  5. Vulnicura
  6. Biophilia
  7. Medulla
  8. Volta
  9. Utopia
Talking Heads
  1. Speaking in Tongues
  2. Remain in Light
  3. Talking Heads 77
  4. More Songs About Buildings and Food
  5. Fear of Music
  6. Little Creatures
  7. Naked
  8. True Stories
New Order
  1. Low Life
  2. Power, Corruption & Lies
  3. Technique
  4. Brotherhood
  5. Substance 1987
  6. Music Complete
  7. Movement
  8. Waiting For the Sirens' Call
  9. Get Ready
  10. Lost Sirens
  11. Republic
 
MadLucas said:
Confusion is a top 5 of mine, but probably because of the time I heard it.
When I bought it (an SST copy) in 1994, I was just 13. As a guitar player and songwriter, I was still new to a lot of things. It never occurred to me that a lot of what I was hearing might be improvised or by chance as opposed to rehearsed and deliberate. To me, at the time, the exact note/tonal configurations of what Thurston and Lee were doing were irreplaceable: any other sound in its place must not work.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what they were doing and mimicking it and ruining a lot of drumsticks and strings in the process.

It's a very, very moody album, some would say downright noisy. It's easily their second most challenging listen (after NYC Ghosts & Flowers), but a worthwhile one.

Unfortunately, as I am reading this, I am also noticing that EVOL and Bad Moon Rising are near/at the bottom of your list. If you don't like those, you might HATE Confusion... but I invite you to listen with an open heart :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a shot. But you are right that I generally don't like the mid-80s stuff nearly as much the more polished, later-career sounds. Their discography covers A LOT of ground.
 
I have been trying for a half hour now to rank the Sonic Youth albums, and I just cannot do it.

I know what is supposed to be near the top (EVOL, Sister, and Daydream Nation) because of their "importance" in the Sonic Youth cannon, and I know I know I KNOW perceived/accepted ideas about a number of their albums:

Experimental Jet Set... - lukewarm.
NYC Ghosts & Flowers - unnecessary.
Dirty - overproduced, over-full.
Bad Moon Rising - a superfluous addition to their discography.

And yet, I find my brain wandering here:

Experimental Jet Set... - a welcome change from the barrage of loud that their albums had crescendo'd to, reactionary to the "grunge" of the era by turning it down, possibly influenced by Pavement?
NYC Ghosts & Flowers - recalling the dissonance of their early work, but far more controlled, and lyrically is a wonderful tribute to Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, two very influential beat writers who had passed within the previous years. If anything, an album like this was long overdue, especially as Lee was the only one historically contributing pieces like this.
Dirty - I love the wall of sound! I am not sure they were ever captured more ferociously in the studio, and the songwriting/arranging is some of their most mature ever. The bridges/cadenzas/explorations in songs like "Chapel Hill," "Purr," and "On The Strip" were so perfectly performed that they are irreplicable. Truly undervalued in their discography.
Bad Moon Rising - I get that people fawn over EVOL, but to me it has always felt two songs short of being a complete album (the first side is amazing, while the second side takes two or three songs to get going and by that point you're at "Expressway To Your Skull"). I have the theory that a lot of people love EVOL because it's the first album with the powerhouse of a drummer that is Steve Shelley. Let's say that Steve Shelley had played on Bad Moon Rising... grant me this: it would be a different, possibly better or at least "on par" album?

I can tell you my five favorites: Confusion Is Sex, Washing Machine, Dirty, Sister, and Murray Street.
I can tell you the ones I recommend to people initially getting into them: Daydream Nation, Goo, and Rather Ripped.
I can tell you what I have listened to the least: The Eternal, Sonic Nurse, and Sonic Death Live (which I consider part of their official cannon, but it's soooooooo difficult to find... I have an SST CD copy, but I haven't seen one in stores since '94).

Someone should start a Sonic Youth thread.

Hmmmmm....
 
kickerofelves said:
this is WILD to me, but I appreciate a difference of opinion. Dang!

I'll do one! uhhhh ... Sonic Youth!

1. Sister
2. Daydream Nation
3. Sonic Nurse
4. Murray Street
5. Dirty
6. Evol
7. Goo
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Washing Machine
10. Rather Ripped
11. Confusion is Sex
12. The Eternal
13. A Thousand Leaves
14. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
15. The Whitey Album
16. NYC Ghosts and Flowers
Click to expand...

My SY list changes often, but I’ll give it a go:
1. Daydream Nation
2. Dirty
3. Sonic Nurse
4. Sister
5. Murray Street
6. A Thousand Leaves
7. Evol
8. Rather Ripped
9. Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star
10. Washing Machine
11. Goo
12. Bad Moon Rising
13. The Eternal
14. Confusion is Sex
15. NYC Ghosts & Flowers
 
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