Favourite album by a band though you know it isn't their best

Prompted by the reappearance of the Beach Boys POO thread, and the realisation that Holland is, and always will be, my BB fave, though i guess Pet Sounds, Wild Honey and Surf's Up (at least) are all probably 'better'.

BB's love you might be my fave! so there.

although i probably love wild honey and 20/20 as much as love you, so....i dunno. but even those other two wouldn't be considered their best albums. (not that i don't love pet sounds i do)

Whenever I pull out Wings' "Back to the Egg," I end up listening to most of it 2 or 3 times in a row. My love/hate relationship with that album has settled on love.

"Their Satanic Majesties Request" by Rolling Stones. Hard to claim it is their best, but I like it better than anything else because it sounds like The Beatles.

Please Please Me
Black Market Clash
Bleach

..come to mind right away. All those seem like the set where the members were having the most fun of their careers. In the case of Bleach and Please Please Me, I like how strong the ties are to the previous era the artists were just about to wipe away. And the bands are just so excited to be playing.

Replacements "Stink," since it seems excessively revisionist to rank it over Let It Be, even though I'd argue that they'd have been much better if they'd stayed more hardcore or whatever.

Ride's "Carnival of Light," since it seems like spoiling for a fight with horrified early fans of the band to rank it over the early stuff.

I'm pretty sure that a lot of jazz fans rank Larry Coryell's "The Real Great Escape" poorly, but to hell with them.

Any number of Fleetwood Mac albums probably qualify...

Giant Steps over A Love Supreme

Scritti Politti - Provision

The Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul

Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One

I honestly believe it's their best, but don't have much company.

pavement - terror twilight

Faces - oh la la
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Guided By Voices - Under the Bushes Under the Stars

Velvets s/t (with the Another View comp getting an honorable mention)
Pink Floyd - Meddle
JAMC - Automatic
Echo & tha Bunnymen - s/t
Spiritualized - Pure Phase
Wire - A Bell is a Cup..
L. Cohen - I'm Yer Man
Dylan - Desire (depending on which day of the week)
Eno - Apollo..

others too, I'm sure

The Jam, In the City. Cos it's raw, naive, with a hard-hitting groove, though it lacks the polish and range of All Mod Cons.
So many great songs too: I Got By in Time, Non-stop Dancin, Sounds from the Street. Even the more ham fisted stuff at teh snd of side 2 still has a freshness.

Moby Grape - "Wow"

pavement - terror twilight

― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 24 November 2008 03:49 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Seconded. I understand that holding this view is a capital offence in some circles.

Trompe Le Monde

All Summer Long
And Justice For All

I think that Trompe Le Monde is the Pixies best.

thing is, if it's your favorite, how can you say it's no their best?

Deep Purple-Burn

oh, that reminds me:

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!

Great call, I love that one too.

Giant Steps over A Love Supreme

I always felt Supreme was overrated. Just among the classic quartet records I can think of about 10 I prefer to Supreme.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Sorry, wrong board.

Hard to describe it as his "best", but Zappa's Over-Nite Sensation retains the sentimental aura of a comfortable old pair of jeans, undoubtedly because it was the first Zappa I owned. At the least, it's probably my favourite of the post-Verve albums.

YLT, Fakebook

So far, "Face to Face" by The Kinks...

soundpieces:da antidote is my favourite madlib album, even though champion sound and madvillainy are both probably "better". i think what i love about it is that while he hadn't yet grown into the mad scientist he is today, there is something weird about every beat on the album, as if he was hinting at what was to come. also, the beat on "20 questions" is without a doubt the best he has ever made. also i think i like wildchild better than mf doom or j dilla, lyrics-wise.

Favorite: The Bends
Clearly the best: OK Computer

soundpieces if my favorite madlib-produced album from front to back

if=is

but "break dat party" is his best beat

A different kind of tension

xp or maybe whenimondamic

Grant Lee Buffalo--Jubilee over, I guess all of the other ones
Shudder to Think--50,000 B.C. over, I guess Pony Express Record?

Manic Street Preachers: Know Your Enemy
Elvis Costello: Trust

Arthur by the Kinks.

the curtain hits the cast by low.

Wasted ... Again by Black Flag

Pretenders II
16 Lovers Lane -- the Go-Betweens
Don't Cry Now -- Linda Ronstadt
Tusk -- Fleetwood Mac
Mr. Natural -- the Bee Gees
Everything's Coming Up Dusty -- Dusty Springfield
Sign "O" the Times -- Prince

Tusk?!?!?!?!?!

O_o

How is this not FM at their best?!?!?!?!?!

Well, I think it's FM at their best, but I always thought common wisdom gave the nod to Rumours. Or maybe even English Rose.

welcome to ILX!

Sorry, you've probably been here way longer than me but people be likin' Tusk here!

Mr. Natural -- the Bee Gees

^^^voted for this in the Bee Gees poll

I come and I go. And I always speak of Michelangelo.

pavement - terror twilight

Thirded... but it is their best record, though no one admits it.

I could do this all night, but here's what immediately comes to mind:

Yo La Tengo - Painful
The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
Echo and the Bunnymen - self titled
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
Daft Punk - Human After All
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Pulp - We Love Life
Massive Attack - 100th Window

Painful isn't YLT's best? I've always thought it was their definitive record.

pixies - trompe le monde
my bloody valentine - isn't anything
dinosaur jr - hand it over
wu-tang clan - the W
wilco - sky blue sky

Painful isn't YLT's best? I've always thought it was their definitive record.

The critical consensus is nearly always on I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.

Clearly the best: OK Computer

In what universe?

The critical consensus is nearly always on I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.

Hmm.. I dunno. There seem to be a lot of people (on ILX & elsewhere; myself included) ready to step up to bat for Painful being their best.

Blur - Think Tank.

I wonder if Painful isn't a bit overshadowed, as I think it's the album directly preceeding I Can Hear the Heart... anyhow, it's my favorite by a mile.

Actually, Electr-O-Pura is in between those two (and it's my fave)

[quote]
Blur - Think Tank.

― mike t-diva, Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:19 AM (1 hour ago)
[quote/]

Second this one. Also agree with Painful being YLT's best.

Um...my HTML coding seems to be off.

I'll second the vote for Don't Tell A Soul..take the Mutt Lange production off it and it's Westerberg's first (and best) great solo album. I'll never understand the critical mauling it took, when considering the studied approach the band were taking especially post-Tim/firing Bob - PTMM seemed to be a middle ground between even Hootenanny-style rave-ups and all over the map songwriting and the Can't Hardly Waits (leading on to I'll Be You and so on). Given that this is the last album the whole band plays on from start to finish it's fascinating with hindsight the quandary they were in at the time- the best chance of anyone 'making' it after REM yet it didn't happen, pressure from Sire to deliver a single hit never mind a successful album, yet the sense that if it didn't happen soon it probably wouldn't, ever...add in the usual ongoing hedonism and it's quite the story.

DTAS = Goo Goo Dolls entire career

Still prefer Let It Be, Hootenanny and Tim though.

Pacer over anything by The Breeders

(I know, I know...*breaks into sobs*)

Love "four sail"

all you terror twilight apologists are blowing my mind.

The Fall: Domesday Pay-Off Triad-Plus (US version of Bend Sinister, sorta), The Real New Fall LP.

assuming singles and EPs don't count...

Yo La Tengo - Ride The Tiger

Graham Parker - The Up Escalator