My Favorite Albums Evar: 10-1

Episode 10-1

100-91 / 90-81 / 80-71 / 70-61 / 60-51 / 50-41 / 40-31 / 30-21 / 20-11

Well, this is it.

10 Carole King - Tapestry (1971)

One of the most intimate and emotional albums ever, delivered with a pure and unaffected sincerity that only the early 70’s could provide. This one has special status with me for a few reasons, but one of them is the fact that it can float in and out of regular rotation with me but still reappear as a favorite, and even though I grew up listening to it, it always hits me like a ton of bricks. Big, emotional bricks.

09 Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975)

Springsteen’s third album reflected on the fading memories of a street-tough lifestyle with a much louder and more full sound, but got a little more angry and depressing. Yet, songs like “Thunder Road” kept that strange Midwest via New Jersey optimism alive, mixing last chance scenarios with hopeful endings.

Heaven’s waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it’s late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road sit tight take hold
Thunder Road

08 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)

I love all of his work, but this is my favorite. Don’t think I didn’t struggle with this one, either. Like a lot of the albums I love, Morrison mixed genres and influences and came out with a pure and gorgeous collection of songs that are still just as impressive as they must have been then. And as is the case with a lot of these albums near the top, the choice is my favorite by an artist that I hold in high regard, but I can honestly say that even if I didn’t give two shits about Morrison, I’d still hold this one near and dear.

07 The The - Dusk (1993)

Forget all that dance shit, we’re bringing in Johnny Marr and singing red, shimmering and dusky songs that sound and feel like their subject matter. Matt Johnson sang about lust, desperation, sadness and hope in ways that I have never been able to completely understand or discover anywhere else, and the sheer depth and longing of the entire album makes it totally irresistible, even if you’re sitting right on top of cloud 9. If this is one that you’re no familiar with, I beg you to track it down.

06 New Order - Power Corruption and Lies (1983)

What can I say about this record? It’s been in my pretty elastic top 10 list for years, and I never grow weary of it. “Blue Monday” aside, this record mastered the genre, emerged from the Joy Division shadow, and brought its subject matter to a new and innovative spotlight. One of the best albums start to finish ever recorded. I can’t think of a moment on it that I’d skip.

05 Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate (1971)

There are a lot of really incredible singer/songwriters to unearth from the never-ending basement of records that is the 1970’s, but for my buck, Cohen is the master. Not only do the songs read like poetry (well, they are poetry, adapted), but Cohen’s gently intimidating voice is the centerpiece amidst highly reflective and even philosophical songs. “Avalanche”, “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “Joan of Arc” are my standout favorites, but the entire album is incredibly dense and stunning. Even the “hate” songs reflect undeniably indentifiable feelings, the feelings of someone who was capable of a great love, an astounding care, dethroned. No one matches Cohen. I’ll fight you on that.

04 Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (1977)

Here’s 1977 again, rearing it’s beautiful head. Buckingham’s bittersweet “Go Your Own Way” against the loveably cheesy “You Make Loving Fun” and everything in between make this one a classic. This album is another one that I had around a lot growing up, but only came to know intimately as a teenager, driving around with my girlfriend, learning to drive stick and smoking in empty parking lots. One of my fondest memories of my late teen years involves dancing on the roof of a ‘78 Cadillac to “Don’t Stop”. Now I know that’s not what makes an album great, but I really shouldn’t have to argue for Fleetwood Mac.

03 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain /Gold Soundz Single (1994)

Immediately engaging and (to their chagrin) more accessible than Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked brought Malkmus’ roots in classic rock and obscure British noise into a whole new landscape. Everything that makes Pavement incredible is featured here: so-what transitions, head-scratching wordsmithery and multi-genre play amidst the familiar Pavement fuzz. I could write an epic about this one. Oh, why is the “Gold Sound” single included? Well, maybe you’ve heard of it, “Strings of (Fucking) Nashville”?

02 Red House Painters - Ocean Beach (1995)

Man, this one fucking wrecks me. Every. single. time. Kozelek’s capabilities as a songwriter and composer were never more evident, as the album floats through disaster after disaster, ray of light after flickering, distant ray of light. Still deeply nestled in the sparing and sort of droning melodica that fans knew him for, the sprinkling of Simon and even Cohen-ish compositions made this one a high point. I’m not sure we’ll ever hear anything this beautiful again.

01 Beatles - Revolver (1966)

I’m a Beatles girl, I guess. And I’m one of those Beatles girls that doesn’t grow tired of the songs she loves. Sure, White is incredible, and yeah, there’s a lot of incredible stuff out there that the Fab Four are responsible for, but what can I say, this is my favorite. “Eleanor Rigby”, “Taxman” and come on, one of the greatest songs ever, “Tomorrow Never Knows” … come on! Besides that, the theme of groups experimenting with different genres comes to full fruition on this one, as it stands as one of the most successful attempts at playing with different sounds evar.

Wow you’re still really into that RHP,huh? I thought that was a phase.

Delightful ride, the whole way through. I’m honestly interested in how you came to love what you did - we are roughly the same age, and my list would match yours relatively closely. But how did we get here? We didn’t *really* grow up with some of this stuff - we were too young.

Mercifully, when I was in my formative early-teen years, I dated a guy who would later grow up to be a record exec, and I think he was solely responsible for getting me to figure some of the good shit out and get me to zip up the other crap.

How did you get here?

Love to see Dusk so high on the list! That’s my favorite after 3 AM album…

Great list from top to bottom, Paige!

You made it! The first top 100 albums list to ever be completed by a blogger!

Go patience! Go focus! Go Ridalin!

MP - You were with me when I first purchased that CD, I figured you knew how much it meant to me.

Jonniker - It’s always interesting to see how a collection of fond memories and great music can shape a person’s taste!

Crouton - Yay, someone else loves Dusk!

Robert - I wish I could take credit as being the only one, but there are far more anal retentive geeks out there.

My spidey-sense heard “anal retentive geeks” and I knew it was time to drop my pithy comment.

All fine selections, but suffice it to say that none of your top 10 are in my top 10… or my top 100. So we’ll be surprised together, and by together I mean just you.

Stellar. This was quite the ride, Paige.

I guess I just didn’t keep track. I still listen to it all the time, for such a sad cd I do have good memories associated.

I need to go back and read all of your countdown, now Im curious.

[…] Paige has closed out her Top 100 list over at Flux=Rad. Go check it out and tell her how great her taste is. […]

Dude, you haven’t even read the rest of the list?

FRISBIE!

now i know why i like you so much, nevermind the fact that half your list i’ve never heard or am not terribly familiar with. the other half is just that good.

Great work, all the way through. I’ve been looking forward to your lists every single day - so now what am I supposed to do?

Anyway - glad to see Cohen so high on the list. That guy is a fucking genius. I’m with you on the RHP too - stellar album. Though I think Crooked Rain is sort of implied in any list like this and doesn’t really need to be included

You’re good, Paige Maguire. Real good.

is this it? (hahah get it ???)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tvmVeYgMpLM&search=yacht%20rock

is this it? (hahah get it ???)

oh shit hailey i can’t believe you found that. holy fucking shit mcd.

also the end of that christopher cross song is bordering on not smooth!

this is it! make no mistake.,

so when are you gonna put up #101-200?

[…] Okay, I was inspired by Paige, but as to the rules - I made my own. - No classical stuff. I could do a “Sarah’s 100 Favorite Oratorios and Masses” but I would bore you all to tears. - Stay honest. I don’t like Kelly Clarkson or Kraftwerk, I’m not that into Springsteen or Zappa and I’m not going to say I do or that I am. On the other hand I am admitting how much I truly like Marilyn Manson’s older music, and that causes me pain. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell the children that I like the worst Celtic Frost album the best. This is really a lose/lose rule. - Don’t talk about Fight Club - No compilations or Soundtracks. I’m okay with it if you use them. It just complicates my list too much. This was tough, since some of my favorite albums are “Greatest Hits” albums. This caused me to leave off some artists that I really love (Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, The Doors, Ozzy, ABBA, The Police etc.) - Like Croutonboy, I just can’t live with the one CD per artist thing. If I can only choose one Alice in Chains CD, I’ll start lying about what I like, and that violates rule #2. […]

I was betting on Crooked Rain as #1. Thanks for putting this list together. I had a lot of fun reading it.

Grey on pink? Ugh! Where’s my Advil? Oh, the headache!