The Nicsperiment's Favorite Albums of All-Time (A-K)
Now that I am done reviewing over 2000 albums, it only feels prudent to list my fifty favorites. Here they are, in alphabetical order, with a blurb from and a link to the orignal review for each. There are even a couple I didn't initially review. This entry covers A-K. I'll release M-Z tomorrow. Sorry, L.
Alice In Chains -- Jar of Flies
"Layne Staley almost always took the blame for his actions in the lyrics he and Jerry Cantrell came up with, but at the same time, he was never apologetic. This probably helped Alice in Chains to be as listenable as they were (in their original form). This oxymoron is perfectly spelled out in what is arguably their best effort, and arguably one of the best EP's ever released, Jar of Flies. For the uninitiated who simply think of Alice in Chains as heavy, depressing music, Jar of Flies fits neither description, nor is it grunge..."
The Appleseed Cast -- Low Level Owl 1+2
"You realize this is your life, and this is probably everyone's life, but there is no one near to ask. You feel you have reached an epiphany, but then it is over, and you find its ephemerality more significant than its actual content. You somehow find yourself where you began, but your old town looks completely different in darkness. This is no longer your home, but when you turn to enter the forest again, it has already burnt away..."
Beck -- Sea Change
"Beck's voice sounds deeper and more resonant than ever, and despite the scaled back arrangements, the music is still inventive, enjoyable, and full. As a testament to the enjoyability of this album, I just listened to it four times straight (the session with headphones was by far the best), starting in a particularly good mood, and 208-minutes later, I am still in a good mood. I needed Sea Change shortly after its release when I wasn't doing so hot myself, but it is just as good a friend in sunny weather..."
Blindside -- The Great Depression
"...The change in sound may not have been expected either. While there was a huge sound change between the first two independent releases, and the two major-label releases, the two major-label albums are pretty similar in style. For a lot of the newer fans, the major-label version was the only Blindside they knew. This isn't major-label music. This music is raw, desperate, and wounded..."
Björk -- Vespertine
"So to conclude my badly organized rantings, Vespertine is a beautiful, complex album. It's not the type of thing that can be summed up by buzzwords and generalizations. As you would expect, considering the artist, it's a complete original, something that has to be experienced to be interpreted, not something that can be accurately described. And that's it..."
Bohren & Der Club of Gore -- Black Earth
"Bohren & Der Club of Gore's Black Earth presents the kind of fine de siècle doomjazz that reminds me of sitting in my car on a rainy night, listening to Portishead, and waiting for the world to end. Y2K never happened, but the music that best reminds me of that time lives on..."
Brave Saint Saturn -- The Light of Things Hoped For
"I'm not going to spoil the ending to the song, but above are the lyrics up to the bridge. People talk about "J"s per minute, but I don't think it matters because often it doesn't mean anything but marketing. Few modern songs, or albums for that matter, have earned or mean their "J" count like this one. The Light of Things Hoped For is one of the best Christian albums of all time, and a great album all around. I highly recommend it, and I suggest anyone who likes their music honest and full of feeling should check it out immediately..."
Bruce Springsteen -- Nebraska
"I am convinced that every non-Springsteen fan has an inaccurate image in their head of who Springsteen is and what he sounds like. Nebraska is that image breaker. Whatever you think Bruce Springsteen sounds like, it is probably not this..."
Craig's Brother -- Lost At Sea
"This album said everything I felt, carried all the punk-rock attitude that I wanted, but was, for its majority, not punk rock. The overarching musical style was pretty hard to describe. Punk influenced rock?..."
Deftones -- White Pony
"White Pony originally received a three star out of five review from aging baby-boomer collective, Rolling Stone magazine. The same magazine that gives Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon a retrospective every single year, harping on and on about how groundbreaking Clare Torry's vocal work was on "The Great Gig in the Sky," failed to notice an equal greatness and importance in the otherworldly Rodleen Getsic vocal track that blows into "Knife Prty," or in Maynard James Keenan's monumental guest spot on the hallucinatory "Passenger." That's right you Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance-loving fogies, I just said Deftones' White Pony is as good and as important to rock music as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon."
Demon Hunter -- Summer of Darkness
"This is one of those albums in a genre where the vocalist growls and screams, most often in the verse, and sings soaringly, most often during the chorus, but Demon Hunter aren't bound by those rules. Vocalist, Ryan Clark, uses whatever means necessary to get his emotions across."
The Dismemberment Plan -- Emergency & I
"Because this is literally the music of my life, I am probably biased about its greatness. Then again, there is a reason people are still talking about, listening to, and connecting to Emergency and I thirteen years later, while much heralded, over-hyped tripe like Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion gets tossed aside for whatever the next big thing is just three years after its release..."
Dredg -- El Cielo
"Strangely, the inside of the house is well kept, magical, and a little haunted. Every room, photograph, and painting takes you to another time and place. It is as if you have entered the home of a mad scientist who has left to travel back in time to save the Earth. He succeeded, but now his house is abandoned, and its wonders lost to the world, except to you, lucky, inquisitive visitor..."
Drive-By Truckers -- Brighter Than Creation's Dark
"As I look back on some of my previous "Best of the Year" lists, there are many things I would change. Labeling Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creation's Dark as 2008's best album is not one of them. 2008 was an epic time for me, one of those year's where everything just seemed a little bigger and more important. Brighter Than Creation's Dark was released January of 2008, and there wasn't a month of peaks and valleys that passed that it didn't get multiple spins from me (and seeing their incredible set at the end of that September was icing on the cake)..."
Echo and the Bunnymen -- Heaven Up Here
"Heaven Up Here is the coolest album ever made. The rhythm section have just arrived by train to kill you. The drummer pounds out an avalanche of tom-toms and snare falling around the noose of basslines that drag through the depths. A thirty-one year old album is not supposed to sound this good. Ian McCulloch's jangling rhythm guitar cuts through thin chords as Will Sergeant's lead sets off bombs in its wake. McCulloch howls and wails in the tempests, sings moodily through the quiet moments, and generally wreaks havoc. All manner of freaky echo and sound follow behind. By only their second album, Echo and the Bunnymen are at the top, and they know it."
Embodyment -- The Narrow Scope of Things
"So let's see: Thematically deep. Innovative, well-written, expertly performed. Perfectly sequenced into a complete, rewarding experience. Timeless, fun to listen to. Looks like we have a perfect album..."
Face to Face -- Ignorance Is Bliss
"Here is the line that divides those who like good music from those who simply like genres. Before Ignorance Is Bliss, Face to Face were only known as a punk band who played punk music. Ignorance Is Bliss is not a punk record. If a punk rock fan takes the angle, "This band completely sold out, this is just regular old rock music," though, they are admitting they don't enjoy one of the greatest rock albums ever made because the tempos aren't fast..."
Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
"The 80-minutes fly by as Godspeed explore just about every emotion a human is capable of feeling. Sadness, anger, fear, happiness, joy, they're all here, and they all flow together as naturally as any album that's been put together by anyone..."
Gorillaz -- Demon Days
"Imagine everything has gone wrong for you and you feel like life itself has abandoned you. You can't sleep at night, and you are haunted by how awful things have gone. Suddenly, on the longest night of all, you are visited by fifteen consecutive spectral visitors. Each one performs an exorcism on some small part of you. By the time they're gone, your demons are too, and the sun is up and you feel incredible. What happened in the past doesn't matter. You can do anything. That is Gorillaz' Demon Days."
Interpol -- Turn On the Bright Lights
"In true rock fashion, the rhythm section is turned up loud, emanating inescapable movement. Finally, Paul Banks' often pained lyrics are ideally conveyed by his wounded singing. I mean "wounded" as a high compliment, and I use "ideally" again because it is the most fitting word for this album. Everything is just as it should be..."
Joanna Newsom -- Ys
"Instead of attempting to convince, I will let Joanna speak for herself. If you think you would enjoy a song that climaxes with the lyrics:
We could stand for a century,
staring,
with our heads cocked,
in the broad daylight, at this thing:
Joy,
landlocked in bodies that don’t keep —
dumbstruck with the sweetness of being,
till we don’t be.
...if you think you would enjoy something like that, give Ys a listen...."
Johnny Cash -- Live At Folsom Prison
"At Folsom Prison's greatest quality is its transformative transcendance. I don't even know if that made sense. I just know that I definitely feel better during the final notes of At Folsom Prison than I did before I put the album in my player..."
Kent -- Du & Jag Döden
"Du & Jag Döden is the quintessential Kent album. Most of the five albums Kent released before Du & Jag Döden are great, but when a Kent fan thinks of the "Kent" sound, they invariably imagine how Kent sounds on this record..."
* * *
Alice In Chains -- Jar of Flies
"Layne Staley almost always took the blame for his actions in the lyrics he and Jerry Cantrell came up with, but at the same time, he was never apologetic. This probably helped Alice in Chains to be as listenable as they were (in their original form). This oxymoron is perfectly spelled out in what is arguably their best effort, and arguably one of the best EP's ever released, Jar of Flies. For the uninitiated who simply think of Alice in Chains as heavy, depressing music, Jar of Flies fits neither description, nor is it grunge..."
The Appleseed Cast -- Low Level Owl 1+2
"You realize this is your life, and this is probably everyone's life, but there is no one near to ask. You feel you have reached an epiphany, but then it is over, and you find its ephemerality more significant than its actual content. You somehow find yourself where you began, but your old town looks completely different in darkness. This is no longer your home, but when you turn to enter the forest again, it has already burnt away..."
Beck -- Sea Change
"Beck's voice sounds deeper and more resonant than ever, and despite the scaled back arrangements, the music is still inventive, enjoyable, and full. As a testament to the enjoyability of this album, I just listened to it four times straight (the session with headphones was by far the best), starting in a particularly good mood, and 208-minutes later, I am still in a good mood. I needed Sea Change shortly after its release when I wasn't doing so hot myself, but it is just as good a friend in sunny weather..."
Blindside -- The Great Depression
"...The change in sound may not have been expected either. While there was a huge sound change between the first two independent releases, and the two major-label releases, the two major-label albums are pretty similar in style. For a lot of the newer fans, the major-label version was the only Blindside they knew. This isn't major-label music. This music is raw, desperate, and wounded..."
Björk -- Vespertine
"So to conclude my badly organized rantings, Vespertine is a beautiful, complex album. It's not the type of thing that can be summed up by buzzwords and generalizations. As you would expect, considering the artist, it's a complete original, something that has to be experienced to be interpreted, not something that can be accurately described. And that's it..."
Bohren & Der Club of Gore -- Black Earth
"Bohren & Der Club of Gore's Black Earth presents the kind of fine de siècle doomjazz that reminds me of sitting in my car on a rainy night, listening to Portishead, and waiting for the world to end. Y2K never happened, but the music that best reminds me of that time lives on..."
Brave Saint Saturn -- The Light of Things Hoped For
"I'm not going to spoil the ending to the song, but above are the lyrics up to the bridge. People talk about "J"s per minute, but I don't think it matters because often it doesn't mean anything but marketing. Few modern songs, or albums for that matter, have earned or mean their "J" count like this one. The Light of Things Hoped For is one of the best Christian albums of all time, and a great album all around. I highly recommend it, and I suggest anyone who likes their music honest and full of feeling should check it out immediately..."
Bruce Springsteen -- Nebraska
"I am convinced that every non-Springsteen fan has an inaccurate image in their head of who Springsteen is and what he sounds like. Nebraska is that image breaker. Whatever you think Bruce Springsteen sounds like, it is probably not this..."
Craig's Brother -- Lost At Sea
"This album said everything I felt, carried all the punk-rock attitude that I wanted, but was, for its majority, not punk rock. The overarching musical style was pretty hard to describe. Punk influenced rock?..."
Deftones -- White Pony
"White Pony originally received a three star out of five review from aging baby-boomer collective, Rolling Stone magazine. The same magazine that gives Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon a retrospective every single year, harping on and on about how groundbreaking Clare Torry's vocal work was on "The Great Gig in the Sky," failed to notice an equal greatness and importance in the otherworldly Rodleen Getsic vocal track that blows into "Knife Prty," or in Maynard James Keenan's monumental guest spot on the hallucinatory "Passenger." That's right you Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance-loving fogies, I just said Deftones' White Pony is as good and as important to rock music as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon."
Demon Hunter -- Summer of Darkness
"This is one of those albums in a genre where the vocalist growls and screams, most often in the verse, and sings soaringly, most often during the chorus, but Demon Hunter aren't bound by those rules. Vocalist, Ryan Clark, uses whatever means necessary to get his emotions across."
The Dismemberment Plan -- Emergency & I
"Because this is literally the music of my life, I am probably biased about its greatness. Then again, there is a reason people are still talking about, listening to, and connecting to Emergency and I thirteen years later, while much heralded, over-hyped tripe like Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion gets tossed aside for whatever the next big thing is just three years after its release..."
Dredg -- El Cielo
"Strangely, the inside of the house is well kept, magical, and a little haunted. Every room, photograph, and painting takes you to another time and place. It is as if you have entered the home of a mad scientist who has left to travel back in time to save the Earth. He succeeded, but now his house is abandoned, and its wonders lost to the world, except to you, lucky, inquisitive visitor..."
Drive-By Truckers -- Brighter Than Creation's Dark
"As I look back on some of my previous "Best of the Year" lists, there are many things I would change. Labeling Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creation's Dark as 2008's best album is not one of them. 2008 was an epic time for me, one of those year's where everything just seemed a little bigger and more important. Brighter Than Creation's Dark was released January of 2008, and there wasn't a month of peaks and valleys that passed that it didn't get multiple spins from me (and seeing their incredible set at the end of that September was icing on the cake)..."
Echo and the Bunnymen -- Heaven Up Here
"Heaven Up Here is the coolest album ever made. The rhythm section have just arrived by train to kill you. The drummer pounds out an avalanche of tom-toms and snare falling around the noose of basslines that drag through the depths. A thirty-one year old album is not supposed to sound this good. Ian McCulloch's jangling rhythm guitar cuts through thin chords as Will Sergeant's lead sets off bombs in its wake. McCulloch howls and wails in the tempests, sings moodily through the quiet moments, and generally wreaks havoc. All manner of freaky echo and sound follow behind. By only their second album, Echo and the Bunnymen are at the top, and they know it."
Embodyment -- The Narrow Scope of Things
"So let's see: Thematically deep. Innovative, well-written, expertly performed. Perfectly sequenced into a complete, rewarding experience. Timeless, fun to listen to. Looks like we have a perfect album..."
Face to Face -- Ignorance Is Bliss
"Here is the line that divides those who like good music from those who simply like genres. Before Ignorance Is Bliss, Face to Face were only known as a punk band who played punk music. Ignorance Is Bliss is not a punk record. If a punk rock fan takes the angle, "This band completely sold out, this is just regular old rock music," though, they are admitting they don't enjoy one of the greatest rock albums ever made because the tempos aren't fast..."
Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
"The 80-minutes fly by as Godspeed explore just about every emotion a human is capable of feeling. Sadness, anger, fear, happiness, joy, they're all here, and they all flow together as naturally as any album that's been put together by anyone..."
Gorillaz -- Demon Days
"Imagine everything has gone wrong for you and you feel like life itself has abandoned you. You can't sleep at night, and you are haunted by how awful things have gone. Suddenly, on the longest night of all, you are visited by fifteen consecutive spectral visitors. Each one performs an exorcism on some small part of you. By the time they're gone, your demons are too, and the sun is up and you feel incredible. What happened in the past doesn't matter. You can do anything. That is Gorillaz' Demon Days."
Interpol -- Turn On the Bright Lights
"In true rock fashion, the rhythm section is turned up loud, emanating inescapable movement. Finally, Paul Banks' often pained lyrics are ideally conveyed by his wounded singing. I mean "wounded" as a high compliment, and I use "ideally" again because it is the most fitting word for this album. Everything is just as it should be..."
Joanna Newsom -- Ys
"Instead of attempting to convince, I will let Joanna speak for herself. If you think you would enjoy a song that climaxes with the lyrics:
We could stand for a century,
staring,
with our heads cocked,
in the broad daylight, at this thing:
Joy,
landlocked in bodies that don’t keep —
dumbstruck with the sweetness of being,
till we don’t be.
...if you think you would enjoy something like that, give Ys a listen...."
Johnny Cash -- Live At Folsom Prison
"At Folsom Prison's greatest quality is its transformative transcendance. I don't even know if that made sense. I just know that I definitely feel better during the final notes of At Folsom Prison than I did before I put the album in my player..."
Kent -- Du & Jag Döden
"Du & Jag Döden is the quintessential Kent album. Most of the five albums Kent released before Du & Jag Döden are great, but when a Kent fan thinks of the "Kent" sound, they invariably imagine how Kent sounds on this record..."
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