Jordan's 50 Favorite Albums

lots of greatness, considering shorter, crimson, reich, and d'angelo. the combined power of the selection and the honorable mention might put d'angelo over the top

There are about 10 albums here that I would consider for a "favorites" list.

geez, how do you guys do this? I would agonize. at least you didn't actually rank them

I don't know that Fela comp, but I bet that's pretty damn formidable. still, I can't say I've ever listened to it as it. all the jazz is great, very hard to choose among it. good dub picks.

somewhat surprisingly I think Homogenic is the one. also thought about TNT. both are the things on here I've liked the longest and would still be into hearing

I went with Music for 18 Musicians but almost went with Tortoise or Fela.

I voted for TNT, but nice to see some non obvious choices like Burning Airlines and Rustie

OK, I could easily vote for a third of these, but as in all things, it's ultimately Bjork vs. Badu

geez, how do you guys do this? I would agonize. at least you didn't actually rank them

i did a list of "favorite" songs, basically just going through itunes and last.fm play histories and picking 50 that stood out to me. no way could i accurately list or rank or collect my 50 favorite songs or albums, but a sample 50 from a long list of favorites, i could do that in a second

It wasn't too hard because a lot of it has to do with making music, thinking back to records I was obsessed with and tried to chase/rip off/recreate some element of (either on drums or on the computer).

Realized I forgot two huge touchstones, the first Telefon Tel Aviv album and the Bad Plus 'These Are the Vistas'. :(

xp I also have an (unranked) 50 Songs list that I made for fun, in the wake of a Rolling Stone list a year or so back. I’ve juggled the lineup a bit, but kept it to a strict 50 (if a song gets added, something else comes out). I would poll it, but don’t think anyone cares…

(but I don't know what I would knock off so oh well)

nice list but tortoise tnt is the only one here that would also be on mine so that

Loads in here by acts I love that I haven't heard. Must check out Mingus x5 and No Bones For Dogs.

First instinct is to vote for Chiastic but I might wade through and give a few others a listen first.

Nice work!

Jesus H but my second favourite album on this list is a Metallica album haha. Voted Erykah ofc

I don't think I could ever make a top 50 list myself

Top 50 songs? maybe

Lol fgti. Is Bjork #3?

Voted Coltrane over TNT

Cash Money Records: Platinum Hits vol. 1

Lots of goodness, lots to check out. One question,why hasn’t Mirel Wagner released an album since 2014?

Prince, Miles, Fela and Coltrane would be #3

Homogenic will always be half-classic, half-filler to my ears

We talked about this once on the brass band thread, but I play Spodie's Back quite often. So that one.

cash money vs james brown

Monk

I get the impression from interviews that she does things at her own pace and isn't really doing music as a career? I just hope we get another album someday.

xp (re: Mirel)

get up offa that project bitch

Homogenic will always be half-classic, half-filler to my ears

Which half, the strings or the drums

Tempted to vote Best of Fela without even knowing which tracks are included. Voting Sharrock over Fela and Tortoise.

(although I prefer Guitar to Ask the Ages)

hot venom vs rock with the hot 8... hot venom i think? that record just sounds really good, v muscular

Scientist

@ Jordan, my being a teen in the 90s means that a great number of canon-classic-90s-albums were listened-to by me on repeat, intensely, as I owned most of them on CD. A by-product of this listening experience means that many of the albums yielded songs that, to me, are indelible classics (“Hunter”, “Joga” and “Pluto” on Homogenic, “Airbag”, “Paranoid Android” and “Electioneering” on OKC, half of Little Earthquakes etc); the songs that surrounded them overstayed their welcome after repeated listening.

Other albums revealed themselves to be *cough* “no skips”: Post, Geek The Girl, Boys For Pele, Baduizm

I love Badu as much as anyone here, I'd reckon, and even I'd say there's a couple skips on Baduizm.

Art Blakey jumps out for me.

went for steve reich, not sure why, maybe because it's almost fall

None of these would be on my personal top 50, although there are artists which I’d probably have but with different albums.

I’ll pick either Mingus or Badu which are the two I’d actually love to listen again at the moment.

No Bones For Dogs isn't on Spotify so I may need to track it down the old fashioned way.

Jordan have you heard Joe Gibbs' 'Majestic Dub' album? That very nearly made my list

Yeah that one has always been elusive (I believe it was an old ILM recommendation), I only have it on CD currently.

I don't think I've heard Majestic Dub but I will listen for sure.

this is probably homogenic, followed by voodoo, but i'm gonna go with glass swords

Votes TNT (before scrolling and reading that everyone else is voting TNT).

Honourable mention: Hail to the thief? Shocking

Voted TNT (before scrolling and reading that everyone else is voting TNT).

Honourable mention: Hail to the thief? Shocking

We need everyone to make one of these, then we can have the poll of all polls where we poll everyone’s poll.

Good list Jordan

I’m working up my own list right now, poll to come

Great idea.

Hey why not. It's got people talking about their favourite albums, and that's sort of what this board is about.

I have voted Chiastic Slide.

Runners up would have been Scientist Rids The World, King Crimson, Radiohead.

Turns out I have heard that Mingus album and it's so great. I need to get a vinyl copy to go next to my other ones of his.

You've reminded me to revisit sd laika

voted for Drums & Guns

thumbs up for the 3 brass band albums in the list

I've always been an inveterate Hail to the Thief defender, it has at least 3 of my fave tracks in their catalog, and I like the rest just fine.

The brass band albums are my bread & butter, I've undoubtedly listened to them more times than anything on here except maybe Metallica, just because I got that tape in middle school. Easily hundreds of times, I'm sure.

Admittedly “Wolf at the Door” gets a lot of spins from me, but besides that I don’t listen to anything else on that album these days. What are your 3?

I voted for Spodie's Back just because who even knows about that album besides the two of us??

I like Hail To The Thief a lot and it includes a lot of my favourite songs by them, but I find the sequencing a bit bumpy. 'There There' is easily their best song.

I also almost considered AMSP as my own Radiohead choice but my heart told me to go OKC

Haha thank you, I appreciate Adam voting for Rebirth too.

HttT: the opening 1-2 punch, and Backdrifts.

OKC is one of those albums that I can't even hear for what it is anymore, and I have no desire to listen to even though it meant a lot to me at one point (similar to Nirvana maybe).

Yup. I've listened to it way too many times. It's undeniable though. I almost always listen to the Easy Star Allstars version instead these days

I'm gonna do one, I guess, might be fun

Thought I’d do one too but then remembered I already did 5 of these - one for each decade starting at the 60’s - for ilm to endure.

Almost 10 years ago huh… I think I wouldn’t change much of these but there’s some albums I discovered along the way that would probably outrank some of these:

Moka's 50 Favorite Albums of the 90's - Pick the Best One.

Moka's 50 Favorite Albums of the 70's - Pick the Best One.

Too lazy to link all 5 polls. I could maybe do a 6th one 10 years later for my top 50 of the 2010s…

The opening of Moanin' is written in my soul.

If I knew that Fela Kuti comp, I'm sure that would be a contender.

I voted for Spodie's Back just because who even knows about that album besides the two of us??

― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Monday, August 21, 2023 5:34 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

We talked about this once on the brass band thread, but I play Spodie's Back quite often. So that one.

― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Monday, August 21, 2023 12:26 PM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

!

I went for No Bones For The Dogs. Gorgeous, sonically adventurous roots.

The Fela's pretty handy, I think it's also known as Black president.
It does a similar thing to the Pharoah Sanders Anthology I've been listening to recently. Takes much longer tracks and gives edited cuts so you can fit several on a single cd disc. They're still about 10-12 minutes so you don't get many but you do get a few. So good introduction to his work and good way to listen if you don't want to immerse yourself for a half hour or so per track. I know taht there were several sets released on cd pairing 2 of his lps.

Ha I clearly remember looking at those cd reissues of the paired albums and doing the value calculation vs the best of.

Miles Smiles feels like the pick (Kind of Blue is my favourite though)

Crimson

Also wish I could have included Check Your Head as a Beasties pick, just in terms of high school impact.

Went for Mingus x 5. That opening track will jump your heart right out of your chest.

I think it was like a proto-brass band gateway drug, I loved that intensity and eventually found the straight dope.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

a lot of good things to choose from but I voted for Art Blakey as he deserves a vote and its a different one that I chose in my 1st poll list

I thought about putting Free for All (like you did) or Mosaic, but Free for All is a more recent love (got into it while going through Wayne Shorter's discography) while Moanin' is foundational.

Also 'The Drum Thunder Suite' doesn't get enough love.

Number of albums heard (not including honourable mentions): 10

Favourite: Radiohead over King Crimson

Least-favourite: Speak No Evil (Odyssey of Iska is much scarier)

Nicest surprise: Fela

Unheard, but most want to hear: Voodoo

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nice spread!

(lol at the idea of judging Shorter albums from most to least scary - also can't believe you haven't heard Voodoo! It's never too late)

Love the 4-vote Low through Autechre block.

If I knew James Blake wasn’t getting a vote (which I should have known), I would have thrown it some sympathy.

BORING RESULT. But last time I listened to homogenised I was 17? Guess I’ll figure out what all the noise is about

I feel like early James Blake is now underrated? A lot of people know who he is and have no idea the first three EPs even exist.

I figured Bjork would win as the biggest record on the list (aside from Prince), but I read the 33 1/3 book last year, that and the Bjork podcast rekindled her records for me.

Should’ve thrown a bone to the Evelyn EP that one is great.

Yes! <3 Truly a post-dubstep high water mark.

I resent him because he’s taller, handsomer, more talented and richer than myself (and yet we look similar). He has a couple of good songs! they are both covers

Ahahaha

His other best song is the Untold remix

95 votes

Apparently Neanderthal did NOT vote for Cash Money as promised

Special shout out to the Photek and Rustie voters

Mission: Control! is maybe a perfect record and while I like some of his subsequent projects J’s never come close to topping it. Pretty nice run there from Sweetheart > s/t > M:C!

Agreed, it's a perfect rock record (with incredible drumming), and weirdly I've never clicked with any of his other albums.

(I also think of this one as another old school ILM classic)