Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t I? Rate Ray’s Favorite Albums

I didn’t realize 50 was the limit, which is why Spoon’s Ga X 5 and a few other things came off the list.

Tribe by a mile

Journey in Satchidananda

I like seeing Further Down the Spiral, that was the first NIN record I owned.

I didn't even know that Miles release existed, it's streaming though so I will definitely listen.

Goo was my favorite SY album until 2006, when Rather Ripped came out. So many people claim to hate Goo and seem ambivalent about Rather Ripped that I didn't expect to see either pop up during this exercise.

I think all those Double Image tracks are on the Complete Bitches Brew set, but not 100% sure xp

Would have voted Spoon and going with MBV.

VU, Exile, Madonna.

Fiona a solid pick.

Wowee Zowee!

Yeah Wowee

If I was ranking these, Fugazi, Pavement, and Silver Jews would be in the top ten.

Sleeve, I think you’re right about the Double Image cuts

12 favorite albums of mine? I'm surprised how many have been picking Tortoise albums.

great list. i think i voted for exile, cause why not

Wowee Zowee

Exile

Voting Confield - the Autechre album I sometimes swear nobody but me likes, but "Vi Scose Poise" is so fucking beautiful.

I almost made it LP5 but revisiting last night I knew it had to be Confield. That’s just a special, special record.

gotta be Alien Lanes. so many artists here i keep meaning to get into but haven't yet.

i keep seeing Autechre on these lists - seems like one of the biggest common threads. what am i missing? where does one start?

Unless you are Josh Peterson, how on earth is Josh Peterson on your list?

🤣

I just like that album a LOT. I don’t imagine many people know it or have heard it.

i keep seeing Autechre on these lists - seems like one of the biggest common threads. what am i missing? where does one start?

LP5, EP7, Confield, and Sign are all good single-album entry points. Each is different from the others but you'll get a general idea and can either keep going or stop right there.

It’s great and they’re a friend. Just cognitive dissonance to see it with the rest mentioned.

I have a weird thing where I’m not-a-fan of Autechre but find Tri Repetae to be undeniable; same goes for OPN and Rifts

funny I'm def a fan of Autechre and think Tri Rep is one of their least good albums

I think of Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide as their least inviting albums — lots of crunching sounds, relatively little melody — and it's weird that CS has never been released on CD in the US.

(Avoid Boring People, please tell JP that people were bummed out at how fast the CD version of this record sold out. He made something powerful.

I need to seek out his books at some point.)

Voted alien lanes, continuing my habit of voting for albums I’m pissed I missed putting in my list.

^^^ I almost forgot to add it!

Great list. Obligatory "choose an album you coward!" complaint for picking Immaculate Collection. Voted Music Has The Right to Children which just turned 25 and is still ahead of its time.

The thing about Madonna is that for the most part, I was a singles listener, not an albums one. (This would change by around the mid-90s, for albums after that point, never before.) So Immaculate Collection is basically a lasso around a childhood/adolescence of hearing Madge bangers everywhere but never knowing the non-singles on the earliest records.

TLDR: I wouldn’t have been able to pick an album!

Likewise, and I know this will be sacrilege to some: I’ve never heard a complete Elton John record! Just lots of singles out in the world, and eventually I asked for Greatest Hits as a birthday or Christmas gift and got a lot out of it.

Great list. Obligatory "choose an album you coward!" complaint for picking Immaculate Collection.

what's wrong with compilations?

love seeing The White House on here. That era of the Dead C was just so remarkable.

Right?

I might throw that on at bedtime tonight

I have it cued up after Miles' "Double Image" which I got from one of the other threads

Number of albums heard: 20

Favourite: Tago Mago

Least-favourite: The Immaculate Collection (don't like the 'Q Sound' remixes of the older songs)

Nicest surprise: Adore

Unheard, but most want to hear: Silver Jews or Stereolab

voted 4 steve reich, music for 18 still blows me away

Tago Mago, Confield in 2nd place

voted tago mago but could've picked at least four others

I've resisted the urge to vote for Stereolab in every poll, but I'm voting for them here.

I am pleased to see that Eno there as it’s one of my favorites of his as well

The Eno gets played around here relentlessly, more than probably anything else on this list

I hadn’t voted in my own poll yet, voted for Reflection just now

A bit upset that Yo La Tengo didn’t make the list. There are 3-4 YLT records that deserve to be here

Somehow I missed that Cobra and Phases got a deluxe reissue?!? Will have to investigate.

it's soooo good, full length Blue Milk and lots of other extras

#IVoted

The Amps - Pacer
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Brian Eno - Reflection
Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Stereolab - Cobra and Phases Group…
Tortoise - TNT
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico

really tough to choose between these. but i think i'm gonna throw a curveball to myself and vote THE AMPS.

Tons of great records on the list but I had to vote for the Dead C, personally one of the most important bands to me ESPECIALLY in my teenage year0/twenties but still today.

Velvets (and Nico) pretty easily; but there's a ton of fab sounds there.

I wasn't aware of the existence of "Double Image" until now, but figured it was probably recordings from that post-Bitches Brew period

insomniac is a sentimental fave and there will always be a place for its oddly bracing fun/bleak vibe - but if you put grouper in your poll it's not a fair contest and TMWDIHB is one of the best

That’s the best Grouper in my mind (and the best Green Day)

what's wrong with compilations?

I can't imagine choosing any single Madonna album over IC (or any single Pet Shop Boys album over Discography).

Was tempted by Confield but went with Lift Your Skinny Fists. It really is fascinating how Autechre seems to be one of the more common threads on these 50 lists. Their music has consistently aged more gracefully than most bands regardless of genre. Also interesting how most lists feature very different albums from them.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

Damn, Can walked away with this one!