Who are the groups with the least consensus as to what the best album is?

Autechre - I see Tri Repeatae as their "canon" album or whatever, but hardly anyone says it's their favorite. I have literally heard every album/EP they've ever released as someone's favorite

Tangerine Dream - seems to be like 7-8 common answers and some really far out ones

The Police - every album was roughly the same quality, I've seen fans of all of them

Was going to list Ween here too, but a huge section of their fanbase would just say "The Mollusk", and well they should

Kraftwerk?

was going to list them too, but it's almost always TEE, Man-Machine, or Computerworld isn't it?

Went looking for a K album poll, but there's not been one.

Ghostface (Ironman, Supreme Clientele or Fishscale?)

Go-Betweens (Liberty Belle, Tallulah or one of the reunion records?)

New Order

U2

for New Order I would think it's Substance, but that one doesn't really count.

Probably be someone with a huge discography, like The Fall maybe. Or Zappa.

Kinks, Sabbath, LZ, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Byrds, Dylan, Sonic Youth, Hawkwind, Can, basically any act who has a bunch of classic records.

for Can , I have yet to hear anyone say anything outside of Tago Mago/Ege Baymasi/Future Days is their beast

Weeeeeelll let's be clear: although few people will agree on Dylan and the Stones' best album, everyone agrees on their best period.

xp haha, I actually prefer Monster Movie and Delay 1968 to all of those.

R.E.M.

pretty much every noise artist in history except Throbbing Gristle and Kevin Drumm

Neil Young - who is also a kinda interesting version of this bc I think an album a lot of ppl think is his best album, a lot of other ppl barely rate at all

xp haha, I actually prefer Monster Movie and Delay 1968 to all of those.

well, that's new

although few people will agree on Dylan and the Stones' best album, everyone agrees on their best period.

probably should have made the OP more clear but I guess I kind of wanted to avoid that - probably should add "period" in the thread title. for example almost everybody agrees that Eno's four vocal albums are great, though they may squabble about which is the best. I'm more interested in groups like Autechre, where every fan has their own set of personal favorites.

also kind of feel like Green Day sorta fits this paradigm since your favorite work by them likely depends on what album they were releasing when you were in sixth grade (and particularly dookie period v. american idiot period)

Who fans are generally split between preferring early or later Who (Tommy is usually the dividing line). But they all agree their 80s records were middling-to-awful.

I've got a friend who loves Face Dances best.

"for Can , I have yet to hear anyone say anything outside of Tago Mago/Ege Baymasi/Future Days is their beast"

In addition to the Mooney contingent there are also people who think Soundtracks is their best.

"although few people will agree on Dylan and the Stones' best album, everyone agrees on their best period"

Really? I mean unless you define period as pre-1972 or something I don't see how this is true.

Most people would say Dylan's best work is between 1963 and 1975; with the Stones it's 1966-1972.

i also prefer the malcolm mooney can albs to the damo and after can albs (but I like em all)

oh here's one: Public Image Ltd.

What's the beatles best record again?

yeah so I'd say Dylan counts. Stones, ehh, not really

oh here's one: Public Image Ltd.

^ couldn't find an album poll when I looked for one, assuming that Metal Box would win it by some margin here though?

Yikes. For reasons that might have to do with not rehydrating myself, I interpreted the thread title to mean the opposite re PiL. Carry on!

Most people would say Dylan's best work is between 1963 and 1975; with the Stones it's 1966-1972.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, April 18, 2012 9:50 AM (14 minutes ago

That's a date range I've never seen before for the Stones...isn't it usually 1968-72?

after you already posted an accurate list? drink something, dude! xpost

I think the interesting split is artists who made a ton of adored albums that would likely be ranked over any hits comp (Stones, Dylan, etc), and groups who made a bunch of well-liked albums but for whom a compilation to could take the trophy if considered (New Order).

obv ymmv but you're far more likely to hear "get Substance first" than "get Forty Licks first"

That's a date range I've never seen before for the Stones...isn't it usually 1968-72?

Aftermath has its partisans!

Miles Davis?

Aftermath has its partisans!

rightly so!

this is a cool discussion idea but I think actually it's better suited to bar/IRL talk because otherwise ppl are just gonna list artists about whom there isn't 100% consensus as to their best album, i.e., it will end up being a list of acts who have several albums

for Can , I have yet to hear anyone say anything outside of Tago Mago/Ege Baymasi/Future Days is their beast

You haven't been reading your ILM Can threads then! I mean, there's "Monster Movie" and "Soon Over Babaluma" (voted for the latter in the last (of many) Can best album polls)

DEFINITIVE CHICAGO ALBUMS POLL

To add a bit more to the discussion, with Miles there are clearly many distinct eras, which divide opinion, but within each era there are very highly thought of albums, so even each era doens't have a key piece. Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way and Birth of the Cool are all so different, and so good, that it's hard to choose between them because it's like comparing apples and oranges.

That doesn't make any sense.

I get the feeling that there is little consensus as to who the group with the least consensus as to what the best album is is.

yeah Miles was definitely the kind of guy I was looking for, now I'm starting to think Can may fit the bill, b/c I had no idea people actually preferred the Mooney stuff (and unjustly forgot about Soundtracks)

Stooges? I like the first three but everyone else seems to love The Weirdness :(

I thought Raw Power was the consensus pick?

^no way.

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

Fun House over Raw Power in my world of old people.

Neil Young for sure--I can think of seven or eight that would all draw significant support in a poll.

Outside of ILM and the various venn-diagram of music forums and sites that connect with it, I think Bowie would be a key figure; here Low rules the roost, but in the outside world I get the idea that Hunky Dory and Ziggy would be of equal esteem. And, like Miles, they're three very different albums artistically / aesthetically, they're good for different reasons.

Pavement and Pixies only have a few albums between them, but each has a significant piece of the pie among fans.

R.E.M. is a good answer: the R.E.M. album poll here

Best R.E.M. Album

had substantial support for five albums, with the one that would probably win an outside-world poll (Automatic for the People) at #6.

Best answers here probably acts with long careers who had several different phases and groups of fans who got on and off the bus at different times. E.G. for Mountain Goats there are clearly the Zopilote Machine people and the All Hail West Texas people and then the Sunset Tree people (though I wonder if there's a consensus best record for each phase?)

For short-career bands, Pavement might be pretty good! Poll here has substantial support for everything except Terror Twilight:

Best Pavement/Malkmus album

a lot of those groups are lifer cult college acts in a time where there's not likely to be a hits comp a la Standing On A Beach, Catching Up With Depeche Mode, Once Upon A Time or Substance for new freshmen to lock onto.

oooh, maybe Swans can fit the list, "Children of God" is probably the most talked about but I don't think there's really a consensus at all on this

Radiohead, White Stripes, Wilco, etc. have different tentpole albums for fans of different eras but there's still a pretty strong concensus over what those 2 or 3 albums are

or maybe i was misreading caulk's post, nvm

i get the sense that everyone who thinks stankonia is the best outkast album basically discovered outkast when stankonia came out

Or maybe the first time you heard/saw "Bombs Over Baghdad" on The Box and it blew you mind way more than "Rosa Parks" or "Da Art Of Storytelling" ever could.

so some people discovered outkast when aquemeni came out but didn't get enthusiastic about them until stankonia came out

Rolling Stones and Steely Dan are good choices here (and two of my favorite bands ever) since I really can't buy Exile and Aja as "obvious" picks. also, would anyone recommend (this is a different thing, I know) Exile/Aja as the first Stones/Dan album to check out?

is this a relevant source in any way?

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/

Yes, only the best album from an artist deserves enthusiasm.

yeah @some dude, i was saying all those artists have one or MAYBE two albums that you could argue is their greatest

though i contradict myself as a proud member of the In Rainbows Is The Best Radio Album Coalition

In Rainbows Is The Best Radio Album Doesn't Know How To Spell "Radiohead" Coalition

Watched a documentary on the Mothers of Invention tonight, and when I checked this thread --

Best Mothers of Invention Album

-- there's an 11/11/10 split at the top between their three most famous albums.

And with Zappa, there are definitely some of his other records that would probably score as high as the earlier Mothers albums.

"Hot Rats" is what i feel like the consensus is, or at least was when i was getting into him.

Beefheart is good example. My own favorites had changed from Troutmaskreplica to Decals to Strictly to Ice Cream to Doc to Clear Spot over the years.

Plastikman?

beefheart is a little weird though, since most people's knowledge starts and ends with that one album

Beatles arguments are made for Pepper, Rubber Soul, White Album, Abbey Rd

I don't own Trout Mask Replica despite owning four others. Shiny Beast would be my clear favorite.

I thought consensus on Beefheart for a long time has been Trout Mask

Seems the blogging and downloading (and the fading esteem of the album and rock in general) have done a lot to break up consensus. People hear more, and realize all of Beefheart is pretty unique, and quite different between the albums too. Records like Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, and London Calling (even OK Computer) had this aura of "they could never possibly top this" that hung around until folks were snagging whole discographies and there were endless listicles putting CHALLENGING OPINIONS at number one to get conversations and page views rolling.

I think a Radiohead album poll would show a lack of consensus

Between my friends: Radiohead / Pink Floyd / Beatles

Ghostface (Ironman, Supreme Clientele or Fishscale?)

rong, rong, and rong

My picks for them are Kid A / Meedle / Rubber Soul

they'll either go for OKC, The Bends / The Wall, DSOTM, Animals / Revolver, White Album, Abbey Road

Radiohead, White Stripes, Wilco, etc. have different tentpole albums for fans of different eras but there's still a pretty strong concensus over what those 2 or 3 albums are

― some former lust object you've shamefully forgotten (some dude)

Don't agree for Radiohead on this one. I've seen people defending the 90s 'rockier' sound as their best era (bends, okc) people who loved them at their most electronic (kid, amnesiac) people who love both and prefer an equilibrium (HTTT, In Rainbows) and the oddballs or trolls who will pick Pablo Honey or TKOL as the best album.

you'd have to be crazy to go earlier than that though, as amazing as ATLiens and Southerplayalistic are

― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:20 AM Bookmark

I know TONS of people who would say ATLiens (inc. myself for a while).

Like p much everyone I know who was really into rap in the 90s is an ATLiens obsessive.

Come to think of it, if anything, ATLiens is the rap nerd's Outkast album.

Yeah, there's been at least 4 Rhead album polls, and Kid A has won every one, easy

Radiohead, White Stripes, Wilco, etc. have different tentpole albums for fans of different eras but there's still a pretty strong concensus over what those 2 or 3 albums are

― some former lust object you've shamefully forgotten (some dude)

Don't agree for Radiohead on this one. I've seen people defending the 90s 'rockier' sound as their best era (bends, okc) people who loved them at their most electronic (kid, amnesiac) people who love both and prefer an equilibrium (HTTT, In Rainbows) and the oddballs or trolls who will pick Pablo Honey or TKOL as the best album.

― Moka, Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:12 PM (12 minutes ago)

Yeah, there's been at least 4 Rhead album polls, and Kid A has won every one, easy

― Mark G, Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:23 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i suspect that the only artists about who this would really be true are very long-lived, antipop and obscure, where different cults cohere around different eras or objects for different reasons, but there's no clear breakout moment. people like merzbow and jandek seem like they might be good examples, but i don't really know.

also, people upthread otm about artists like miles davis and david bowie. artists that had periods of popularity and influence that were long and varied enough to attract different audiences in different eras to whom they meant very different things. john coltrane's another jazz example, though he wasn't around as long as davis.

Radiohead, White Stripes, Wilco, etc. have different tentpole albums for fans of different eras but there's still a pretty strong concensus over what those 2 or 3 albums are

― some former lust object you've shamefully forgotten (some dude)

Don't agree for Radiohead on this one. I've seen people defending the 90s 'rockier' sound as their best era (bends, okc) people who loved them at their most electronic (kid, amnesiac) people who love both and prefer an equilibrium (HTTT, In Rainbows) and the oddballs or trolls who will pick Pablo Honey or TKOL as the best album.

― Moka, Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:12 PM (12 minutes ago)

Yeah, there's been at least 4 Rhead album polls, and Kid A has won every one, easy

― Mark G, Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:23 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

mark g otm re radiohead. thing is, there's always going to be some lack of consensus. the groups/artists with the least consensus would be those where there really is basically no agreement about what their best work is, neither among critics nor fans.

i suspect that the only artists about who this would really be true are very long-lived, antipop and obscure, where different cults cohere around different eras or objects for different reasons, but there's no clear breakout moment. people like merzbow and jandek seem like they might be good examples, but i don't really know.

― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer)

Oh you mean on ILM? Then Kid A is their definite favorite album over here.

I went to the concert on Tuesday with 6 different friends and none of us agreed on their best album. The rockist friends had only heard three or four songs past OKC, I picked Kid A, another friend said Amnesiac was miles better than Kid A (even tho I think of it as one of the best b-sides album ever recorded, but still, a b-sides album) and the younger ones in the group picked HTTT and IR.

So on one hand of the spectrum I had two friends that didn't really care for Kid A or anything done past that point and on the other one two friends who were late listeners and thought OKC was too angst-y for their taste and thought Kid A / Amnesiac were too sterile and cold.

The late listeners did love The Bends which I found interesting as I've always thought of In Rainbows as connected to The Bends more than any other album of them in terms of moods and style.

prince, stevie wonder, queen, the who... these are all guesses that seem correct at the moment

but the least consensus is prolly beatles

other categories where often there isn't much consensus:

1) iconic pop artists with a number of extremely successful albums, where critics and audiences celebrate the entirety of their output (perhaps during a period) more than any single representative release. billstevejim has this pretty well covered. definitely include james brown here, maybe johnny cash, though folsom prison looms large.

2) less popular artists with a fairly consistent sound and success rate during their generally acknowledged peak years. few big pop hits, few real failures, often purveyors of grooves/vibe more than hooks/melody. as mentioned upthread, can's a good example of this. parliament/funkadelic, maybe?

3) uneven and cult-beloved artists with long and varied careers, where obsessive fans glom onto this or that not-quite-perfect album more for personal reasons than for overall perfection or the presence of big hits. thinking of weirdo bands like blue oyster cult and sparks. agents of fortune and fire of unknown origin are BOC's best-selling studio albums, but they're both arguably kind of patchy, critics and dedicated fans often prefer others.

lol, my references date me...

on second thought, maybe parliament goes in group 1, funkadelic into group 3 (though i hate to call them "uneven")

How about Elvis Costello? Fans pretty divided over the first three or four and "Imperial Bedroom".

And Bruce Springsteen? Can see people going for "Born To Run", "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", "Nebraska", Born In The USA" or "Tunnel Of Love".

Also, more locally here in Norway, Motorpsycho fit in very much here.

Madonna?

every Outkast fan loves ATLiens.

Rev hurt me in my heart for dissing Supreme Clientele.

The correct answer is Pavement. I've even been thinking Terror Twilight is my favourite recently.

Jay Z? Reasonable Doubt vs. Blueprint

Rev hurt me in my heart for dissing Supreme Clientele.

― aboulia banks (Noodle Vague), Friday, April 20, 2012 3:17 AM Bookmark

not dissing, just pointing out that some of us (especially on ILM!) are all about the Pretty Toney Album

I thought consensus on Beefheart for a long time has been Trout Mask

the Captain's pretty strange in this regard since I would think most people who own a Beefheart album ONLY have Trout Mask. it's got by far the biggest rep of any of them but most people who actually own all the albums will usually say his best is something else.

I still think this is miles davis and no rock group would be close

Like miles bop stuff is revered by ppl that actively hate and feel like his electric stuff destroyed jazz

dylan?
orbital i think too
trane in the same vein as miles

lol trane in vein