After performing the exhausting task of narrowing down some 6,000 songs into a very short list of 20, I have received my "second wind" and move on to headier issues; Greatest full albums of all time (for me). How do I even begin to make this list. There are a few obvious choices, and several difficult decisions. Some albums on this list, for instance, may receive minimal play now. But in past years they were the bread and butter of road trips and good times. Often these albums were played until the CD was too scratched to work in the old Pioneer CD player in my '93 Ford Explorer, aptly named Dora. So which albums make my cut? Based on continuous CD & MP3 plays along with vinyl turns, I can focus in on true classics and toss out the short term phases. Let's all pretend that my short-lived infatuation with System of a Down never actually happened.
So here are my top 10 albums of all time:
10. Dookie - Green Day
This signifies my earliest memory of modern rock music. Not so strange then that this album has been played so many times, I could pick right up on the lyrics. At least I think I know the lyrics. I've found over the years that I was way off on them. Thanks to the internet, I now know. I can also moan them much like front man Billy Joe, sans drug use and the addiction to trashing hotel rooms.
9. Keasbey Nights - Catch 22
Anybody who knows anything about modern ska knows that this album changed everything about the genre in the late 90s and early 2000s. Selecting all the good elements from ska, Catch 22 forged a style free from adolescent themes and took a serious approach to ska-core music that was in many ways far more advanced than the vast majority of their "Third Wave" ska contemporaries.
8. Take Off Your Pants And Jacket - Blink-182
No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. You're actually seeing a Blink-182 album cover here. While I may not give a royal rip about the trio now, there was a lengthy span of time during my college years, when nothing else got any playtime. Perhaps I was using the album to channel my inner rebellious fury or maybe it was the big dreams of a pop-punk lifestyle that seemed so desirable then. Whichever it was, it really doesn't matter now. Some things last, while others start out strong and slowly die. I can't expunge this one yet due to the social significance that it played in my life.
7. Sublime - Sublime
Truth be told, I've never been to California, let alone Los Angeles. In fact, I haven't traveled west of St. Louis. But I put this album on with some headphones, I close my eyes, and suddenly I'm walking the streets of Long Beach. Lou dog is trotting along side me and Bradley Nowell is skateboarding on the sidewalks and create a public scene. It paints a backdrop of slummy yet glamorous scene-scapes that only a surfer/skater/stoner could love. I fill two out of the three categories. The ska/reggae/punk/rap blend just clicked for me. It did then, and it still continues to work. RIP Bradley Nowell.
6. Is This It - The Strokes
I remember listening to this album for the first time. My mind was blown. Aside from ska, I had no exposure to independent music up to that point. It was pure, gritty music that had this amazingly positive, bouncy rhythm. The lyrics were decidedly dark, though. The band presented a picture of New York City, a place that they loved, but in which they were also fighting to survive. Living in a big city is something for which I have little experience. I can, however, vouch for the fact spending two days in New York was nearly enough to drive me insane. Their "pain" is our gain. Whether they were the saviors of rock or not, This Is It provides the 21st century and myself an album to be played again and again.
5. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
This is one of newer additions, which makes it all the more impressive that it falls into the thick of the top ten. There's no doubt left that this album is brimming with pure music. Minimalistic, but not to the point that it's "Pitchfork Media Perfect" minimalistic. You can almost feel the cold breeze blow in the door of the cabin that Justin Vernon was living in. He paints sad, yet beautiful pictures of lost love and the pain that goes along with it. But somehow through the fog of heartbreak, sunlight appears and washes each song out with a victorious BELLE JOURNEE! Listening to For Emma start to finish is not even remotely laborious. Listen in the winter or listen in the summer. The effect is the same. Audio elation.
4. Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
I'll admit that I'm a latecomer in the Sufjan camp. But better late than never, right? After avoiding listening to a single song by Stevens for years, I finally broke down and bought this album. This album single-handedly altered my taste in music instantly. I've asked myself, "how could anybody listen to Chicago and NOT be effected emotionally?" It truly is a musical masterpiece. From the horns to the banjo, from backing choirs to Sufjan's solitary whispering vocals, you journey through time and space. Looking for a history lesson on the state of Illinois? This record provides unique cross-sections of the state's good and bad. This album will always be on repeat. Guaranteed.
3. Turn The Radio Off - Reel Big Fish
This is another one of those "HE MUST BE OUT OF HIS FREAKING MIND" kind of selections. But let's keep it real. No ska album has had a greater effect on me that Turn The Radio Off, and no band has driven me to perform terrible thrash-like dances like Reel Big Fish has. I've worn out two CD copies of this album and have listened to digital versions of it countless times. It represents the music of summer or just the music for when the sun comes out. From Sell Out to Everything Sucks to Alternative Baby, Turn The Radio Off is a turning point for me from commercial music into the crazy and often strange world of ska. Sure, the music is adolescent (Band members are in their late 30s now) but who really care about maturity when you're needing a good pick-me-up? Everything sucks, but hey, it'll be alright...
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
A modern classic. The most beautiful thing ever conceived. Perfect. These are descriptives that I've unabashedly used to in conjunction with Fleet Foxes' first full length album. Fleet Foxes takes you to another universe where everyone sings in harmony all you need is a good flannel shirt and a respectable beard. Start to finish, this album is euphoric. They're so good at it and they lay on the gorgeousness like it frosting on a cake. This album actually served as a musical safety net. In early 2008 I was feeling depressed and alone. I stumbled across an article in Rolling Stone discussing the upcoming release of Fleet Foxes album. Out of curiosity, I bought it on its release date. Since then, nothing has come close to matching its shear beauty and majestic flourishes. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about Fleet Foxes.
And finally...
1. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Growing up, I loved the "golden oldies" more than any other era of music. This attributes to the fact that Green Day was my introduction to modern rock in 1994. No band affected me more than Hawthorne, California's Beach Boys. The imagery of the beach, sweet cars, and beautiful girls was appealing to me, who by all counts was and still isn't the epitome of a "beach boy." Through their music, I would slip into a dreamworld of surf, sand, and women in cars.
I was in early junior high when one day my sister came home from the public library with The Beach Boys Greatest Hits. All of the songs were fun, but two of the tracks really stuck out. Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows were like diamonds in a pile of dull colored rocks. It wasn't until later that I discovered that they were from Pet Sounds, one of the band's least successful albums at its release. It was then that I learned how brilliant Brian Wilson truly was. Sure, he wasn't a natural performer on stage. He was shy and quiet. But put him in a studio with a pad full of lyric, he'll shine like the brightest star in the sky.
What makes this album so great is 1.) it has recognizable "singles" and 2.) that it honestly has no low spots. No plateau in energy. Even the instrumental tracks are brilliant, especially considering the methods that they developed during the recording, methods still used to this day. It's the concept album that spawned a thousand concept albums. But it's also the concept album to end them all. It's my favorite concept album and it's my favorite album, period. I've downloaded it. I've bought the CD. I have two vinyl copies (both in the original MONO pressing). Albums come and go, but Pet Sounds always remains.
