Band's Best Albums:

[Kensterberg]

Up is better than Pet Sounds.

[pauledwardwagemann]

I like the Beach Boys, but I really get tried of hearing how great they are. I think they are good, not great.

kenholzman said:

Yeah, if The Beatles had just been one album, it would've been pretty hard to argue with. But both Revolution #9 and Good Night are (at best) throwaways.

I'd rather listen to nothing but heyfoxymophandlemamma (that's me) for a week than suffer through Revolution #9 again. Ugh.

I sing 'Good Night' to my kid every night when I rock him to sleep...I would sing him Revolutin #9, but quite frankly I just cant compete with Yoko's vocal range....

[skvorisdeadsorta]

For me it's this:
The Beatles:Revolver
The Rolling Stone:Exile On Main Street
The Who:A Quick One
Pink Floyd:Final Cut
REM: Nothing, they are bloody awful. I'm waiting with glee on the day they announce their retirement.
Led Zeppelin:Ack, who cares......
The Kinks: almost everything from 65 to 75

[Thorngrub]

Man, it's awesome to see someone cite The Final Cut as Floyd's best. Right on

[Ayinger]

thorny said:

Man, it's awesome to see someone cite The Final Cut as Floyd's best. Right on

I had that SAME fuckin' thought!!! I'd always enjoyed The Final Cut more than the overblown/played Wall.... Now as far as being their best...ummmmm,,,,,, dammit, I should probably think this over more but I'm so tempted to go with Dark Side Of The Moon.... Screw the popularity opinion towards it as a 'classic' album, I just think it works better than Wish You Were Here and certainly Animals or Meddle. Piper has a special place but I think DSOM is just such a realized moment.

Beatles - Abbey Road
Stones - Sticky Fingers
Who - Quad (just a favorite as expressed elsewhere)
REM - Murmur (god the first time I heard the band here....piss on the later stuff in comparison IMO)
Zeppelin - Graffiti
Kinks ~no opinion~

[kool]

Beatles - Revolver
Velvet Underground - zzzzzzzzz
The Who - zzzzzzz
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Pink Floyd - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
REM - Automatic For The People
Talking Heads - I like 'em, I only own a couple of their albums but never was a huge fan. 'Naked', by default. Since it's the better of the 2 I own. And it's got "Facts Of Life" and "Blind". Although "Psycho Killer" is their best ever song IMO. What album is that from? I've always wanted to check that one out...
Led Zeppelin - II
The Kinks - I'm sick of their big 'classic' hits so I've never really bothered with any of their albums....

Oh, and for what it's worth, the one Floyd album I own is 'Piper'... I've given it about 4-5 spins and always come to the same conclusion. It's psychedeli-crap.

[JACkory]

Beatles - Revolver
Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Who - Who's Next
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Pink Floyd - Animals
REM - Fables of the Reconstruction
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings & Food (I like this one and Fear of Music about the same, but MSAB&F takes the crown on the strength of "Got a Job")
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
The Kinks - FUCK THE KINKS.

HA!
that felt SO good...

[Kensterberg]

Kool - Psycho Killer is from the Heads' debut album, '77. It's also on both their live sets (The Name of This Band is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense: in fact, it's on The Name of This Band twice!). Great song. And '77 is a great album.

[Kensterberg]

Nice picks JAC! More Songs About Buildings and Food is a great record, but Fables as the best R.E.M. record? Really? Well, to each his own, I guess. It does have the gorgeous and sublime Green Grow the Rushes.

[kool]

kenholzman said:

Kool - Psycho Killer is from the Heads' debut album, '77. It's also on both their live sets (The Name of This Band is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense: in fact, it's on The Name of This Band twice!). Great song. And '77 is a great album.

I might just pick up '77. But I won't be checking out the live albums. The majority of Live albums suck. Apart from very few exceptions of course.

[Kensterberg]

I think you'll like '77 a lot, I know I do.

But if you get a chance to check out either of those live Heads releases, do so! They both rate as among the best live albums ever made, right up there with Springsteen's '75 set, Dylan's '66 "Royal Albert Hall" show, and the Who's thunderous Live at Leeds.

Stop Making Sense is also one of the best live rock and roll movies, directed by Jonathan Demme. Well worth the cost of a rental.

[Weeping_Guitar]

Beatles.................................. Abbey Road
Velvet Underground.............. The Velvet Underground
The Who................................ Who's Next
Rolling Stones ....................... Exile on Main Street
Pink Floyd ............................. Dark Side of the Moon
REM ...................................... Automatic For the People
Led Zeppelin ........................ III
The Kinks ............................. Kink Kronikles

[pauledwardwagemann]

For some reason Loaded seems to be the most under appreciated VU album. Eventhough Reed left VU a month before Loaded was actually released, he is without a doubt the dominant force behind the album (Mo Tucker had just had a baby and wasn't really available so most of the percussion was covered by Doug Yule and a series of studio bums).
I think some people's reluctance toward Loaded is that it is very different from their previous efforts; not only does the album cover have a pink and smokey hue (with disco/sesame street-looking lettering) but the band photo on the back has them suddenly converted from black turtlenecks and cool shades to flower and paisley wide-collared button down dress shirts. And on top of that the music (and arguably the lyrics) are not as edgy or (at times) as energetic as VU's earlier stuff. It's as though Reed has dropped the art scene cool veneer somewhat and the songs on Loaded are pretty tuneful at times, which perhaps harkens back to Reeds days as a staff songwriter with Pickwick Records (where he had been employed to come up with Top 40 hits before he ever formed the Velvet Underground). But for folks who can get past all of that this album really is a treasure.
This album in fact is the only time In Reed's career where I find that what I call his 'theatrical-side' is actually working (as opposed to the boredom this theatrical side produces at times in his solo career, for example the snore-inducing stuff he did in his critically acclaimed album Berlin). In Loaded there's a glimpse of that theatrical-style on songs like 'New Age' and 'Oh! Sweet Nuthin' but fortuneately it's only a glimpse, and its not overblown--which actually works for me, because it not only adds another layer (or dimension) to the music along with some variety in tempo and instrumentation But it also creates a shape-shifting juxtaposition where the song will take a turn into a brilliant chorus (New Age) or a an extremely cool riff (Oh! Sweet Nuthin).
As for the rest of the album, most people agree that 'Sweet Jane' and 'Rock & Roll' are Rock classics. I also place 'Who Loves the Sun' and 'I found a Reason' at the top of VU's catalog. Which leaves 'Cool it Down', 'Head Held High', 'Lonesome Cowboy Bill', and 'Train Round the Bend'. If I was forced to pick a weak track on this album I'd probablly go with 'Train Round the Bend' but as for the others I find them all to be solid cuts--not ingenious, but genuine toe tappers. There's no filler here at all IMO.

[Fuzznuts]

I thought Billy Yule did the drumming, not Doug. Doug was the one who took over bass when John Cale left.

[rockysigman]

Billy played some, Doug played some, the engineer (Adrian something-or-other) and a drummer named Tommy that they got from the musician's union played some. Billy played their live dates at Max's Kansas City that summer.

I have a breakdown of who played what on that album somewhere if you're interested. A lot of it is pretty interesting to see...Doug played a lot more guitar on that album than you probably think, including the two great guitar solos ("Rock and Roll" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'").