Top 5 Favorite Albums?

[Legion]

So I was looking through the top 5 songs thread and thought it would be interesting to see how people respond to this question. Albums have a lot different criteria to be good in my mind than songs, anyways. So much is just a collection of songs, very few albums manage to attain a sense of coherency and continuity throughout. I'll start and write way more than I need to because it's fun:


1. The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

This is my favorite album of all time. Everything about it flows together perfectly, and every song is incredible. I love concept albums, and this is the best concept album since Pink Floyd and The Who IMO. Plus, as I've said before, Welcome to the Black Parade is my favorite song of all time. I'm gushing, but this album deserves all the gushing I can give it.

2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West

I've always been a gigantic fan of West's, and he outdid himself here. He managed to turn himself around from the whining and self-pity of 808's (as much as I loved the album) and turned it around into whatever this twisted piece of brilliance is.

3. Viva La Vida – Coldplay

I honestly can't stand every other album these guys have put out before or since, but this album was incredible. It took a common theme and tied every song in, making sure no song was the same (if I remember right, their producer challenged them to make no song similar to another, and they removed Life In Technicolor because it would have been too obvious of a single). This is a rare case of a band being ambitious and actually succeeding in those ambitions.

4. By The Way – Red Hot Chili Peppers

This may not be their best album, but it's their tightest. Not a single song seems like filler, and the entire album just makes sense musically, instead of lyrically like the other albums on this list.

5. Griffin Village – I shouldn't need to say who.

Can I even list an album that's not even finished? I don't know or care. Jackle is one of the artists that inspired me to become the producer I am, and each song he has put out so far has blown me away. Even if the theme seemed a little gimmicky at first, he's pulled it off beautifully so far.

Edit: Replaced Cudi with MCR and moved it to #1. Knew I was forgetting an important album.

[soup2504]

This is in no particular order.

Drinks on da house special deluxe edition (Silva Hound)
Equestrian lover (Silva Hound)
Party cannon EP (Silva hound. EP's count, right?)
Pony OC EP (Silva hound)

These four because, um, silva hound. Oh, and, like probably some of the best house out there.

And finally

UKF Drum and Bass 2011
2-3 hours of delicious drum n bass, for $6.

I almost put another Silva Hound EP on here, and almost put "Hold your colour" by Pendulum, but I just did this. It was a hard choice.

[the4thImpulse]

I no order.

Great White Whale - Secret and Whisper
Teenage Fantasy - Secret and Whisper
Common Dreads - Enter Shikari
A Flash Flood of Colour - Enter Shikari
Leveler -August Burns Red

[Facade]

for lack of a better name - deadmau5
4x4=12 - deadmau5
Divergent spectrum - bassnectar
timestretch - bassnectar
sigh no more - mumford and sons

[PrincessAddictia]

Smack - The Pitcher
Cross the Line - Camo & Crooked
Fastfall (Dustforce Soundtrack) - Lifeformed
Music Made Addict - D-Block & S-Te-fan
Okami Soundtrack - ???

[colortwelve]

5. Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy
4. Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
3. deadmau5 - Meowtingtons Hax 2k11 Toronto
2. Example - Playing in the Shadows
1. Between the Buried and Me - Colors

[vladnuke]

Fav albums thus far:
Because maybe!- Renard
Congratulations- MGMT
Manic meat- tobacco
Red white and crue - Motley Crue
In the Aeroplane over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel.

[Versilaryan]

In no particular order:

Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
It's so overwhelming, emotionally. Seriously, even though this is one of the few Pink Floyd albums I own, it's enough for me to say Pink Floyd has significantly influenced my musical style.

Freak In by Dave Douglas
It's what lead me into electronic music. I fell in love with synths and electronic weirdness solely because of this album.

Return of the Brecker Brothers Live by the Brecker Brothers
Few other albums reach the same emotional highs, rocking grooves, and musical complexity of this album. It's some of the best Brecker Brothers songs in one live performance. And fusion jazz bands are SO much better live than they are in studio. More genres of music need to look to the wonderful standard jazz sets in terms of live performances.

The Incident by Porcupine Tree
Like Dark Side of the Moon, this is one of those albums you need to listen to the whole way through. The way the songs lead into each other is amazing and the story the album tells is really chilling. Porcupine Tree really did an amazing job of letting the music tell the story.

Ives: Symphonies No. 1 & 4 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
I really only listen to Ives' Fourth. >.>
Ives' Fourth Symphony is a prime example of a musical journey that you'll never get without the sheer size and variety of a symphony orchestra. It explores the relationship between consonance and dissonance and in the end leaves me with chills like no other piece has ever left me with. Did I mention I really love Ives?

[colortwelve]

The Incident by Porcupine Tree

Excellent choice, bro. I consider it their second best, behind In Absentia (which also tells a chilling story, because Steven Wilson loves to do that for some reason).

[LunchBagMusic]

In no particular order:

Dan Kelly's Dream - Dan Kelly
A great album for no reason other than I love all the tracks on here. They're so... alternative.

Viva La Vida – Coldplay

^Yes.

Save Me San Francisco - Train
Man, this album. This album.

The Philosopher's Stone - Van Morrison
Van Morrison has always had this place in my heart. He was the one artist I grew up listening to as a kid, and this album is so fucking nostalgic I can't even. It's so beautiful. I can' even...too much soul...sdkfjhkdjfghkdfjhg

The Finding Nemo Score/Soundtrack - Composed by Thomas Newman
Oh man, this score. It's just so...simple and beautiful. I love soundtracks and scores, and this is what drives me, this is my Ira Glass

[meletric]

Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack
This is the album that made me want to make music. Plus these guys' music in general has just stuck with me over the years and still manages to be interesting and relate-able. It's not groundbreaking or pioneering, but it's highly enjoyable.

American Football by American Football
I'm not really sure what it is about this album, but for some reason it's extremely calming. It's easy to listen through the whole thing without even realizing it because you've just been lost in thought the whole time.

Between the Heart and the Synapse by The Receiving End of Sirens
I love how each song transitions into the next so perfectly, it's a very cohesive album. The layering of the multiple vocal parts is brilliant. Plus I have a weird love for concept albums so that's probably part of it ;D

Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron and Wine
Another very calming album. This album fostered my love for acoustic guitar and folk music. Sam Beam writes some great lyrics as well.

Bon Iver by Bon Iver
It's only been out for like half a year, but it's just that awesome. I didn't think Justin Vernon could top For Emma, but he did. There's just so much going on at once in every song that it seems each time I notice something new or something I'd forgotten about. The production is great too. Regardless of what speakers I'm using, I feel like I'm being enveloped by the sound.

tl;dr- I like these albums, they are cool.

Congratulations- MGMT
In the Aeroplane over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel.

Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
It's so overwhelming, emotionally. Seriously, even though this is one of the few Pink Floyd albums I own, it's enough for me to say Pink Floyd has significantly influenced my musical style.

Kind of geeked out when I saw these. Love these albums as well

[Glitchhog]

I find it really hard to choose JUST five, but here we go anyway, in no order:

1. Death of A Dead Day - SikTh [Djent/Technical Metal]
This is the standard of perfection that every album should strive for. It's emotional, intense, sedating, energetic, eclectic, technically-proficient and an absolute experience to listen to.



2. Colors - Between The Buried & Me [Jazz/Technical Metal/Adult-Contemporary Progressive Metal]
Yet another album that I feel is utterly perfect (and was actually titled 'Album of The Decade'. Essentially one long track, Colors takes you on a journey through the most extreme anger, the most desolate loneliness, the most relaxing ambiance, the highest points of joy and the lowest depths of depression. This album got me through a lot of hard times in the past 5 years, and I still cherish it to this day.



3. Blomljud - Moon Safari [Progressive Rock/Folk]
Swedish Prog rockers, Moon Safari's double album, Blomljud, is perhaps the best argument against double albums being pretentious and drainingly-excessive. With upbeat themes, the happiest soundscape you'll ever hear, flooring vocal harmonies and haunting atmosphere, this is an album you'll never forget.



4. Sleeping in Traffic: Part 1 - Beardfish [Progressive Rock/Eclectic]
The perfect gray skied rainy day album. Some of my most solitary moments driving through the countryside, with an overcast sky above me, just thinking were spent listening to this album. It's melancholy, it's sad and it's become part of a time in my life in which I was struggling to find who I was. I'm glad it was by my side the whole time.



5. Fear of A Blank Planet - Porcupine Tree [Progressive Rock/Metal]
By far the most depressing album I've ever heard in my life, and that says a lot. The album details a young boy's struggles with bipolar disorder and his attempts to escape and control his disease with drugs, delinquency and violence. The album delves into his personal life, with very literal, haunting lyrics that really draw you in; "Xbox is a god to me, my finger on the switch, my mother is a bitch, my father gave up ever trying to talk to me", "Don't try engaging me, The vaguest of shrugs, the prescription drugs, you'll never find a person inside", "Never want to be old, and I don’t want dependence, it’s no fun to be told that you can’t blame your parents anymore."

Very harrowing stuff, and definitely one of the greatest albums I've had the pleasure of listening to.



EDIT: I do have to say, ^that song almost brings me to tears, it's that beautiful and sad. Reading the lyrics as it plays is something indescribably surreal.

[CWeissRun]

Hmmmm... Been listening to more singles lately (and as others have said, only 5?), but why not. No particular order.

Ænima - Tool
The Bioshock 2 Soundtrack
Fallout - Front Line Assembly
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
Welcome Reality - Nero

I think that's maybe... half my favourites? It mostly depends on my mood. Throw in some Depeche Mode, "Taking Up Your Precious Time" by Pretty Lights... I could go on for a while...

[Peak Freak]

...

[Freewave]

I haven't listen to non-pony music in soooo long but I'd have to list my 5 as:

Rock
1. Radiohead - Ok Computer Very cliche but I just love the concept, the tracks, the production of this and I'm not alone. What's great is there's a bit of a puzzle to be solved in this album and once you "get it" it makes the album worth all the difficult initial listens.

2. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless I'm a huge sheogaze fan and this is THE best album from the scene even if not perfectly representative of its sound. Making vocals unintelligable and more of an instrument with noise as beautiful warmth makes it such an awesome album.

3. Coldplay - Viva la Vida Unlike Legion I do like all of Coldplay's catalog as I was a massive fan early on (X+Y was a letdown of course) and this really is their best. Eno made them reinvent themselves and I can enjoy this every time i hear (although i do skip #42) and the production is amazing.

4. The Strokes - Is This It I just adore the simple catchiness of this album. It's just so simple, energetic, and fun.

5. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead I'm a Smiths fan and their lyrical wit and their passion to the music and their fanbase is pretty legendary. I think pony fans know how much insular and connected a fanbase can be and yet be ignored by the mainstream. Few fanbases are like that.

Electronic
1. Depeche Mode - Violator I don't think many electronic albums can meet the level of perfection that this one can. The fact they made massive songs inbetween these more ambient tracks is what gives it it's ryhtm and like any DM album its dark and sexy. If you like d.notive and Avaitors you should own this.

2. Leftfield - Leftism Progressive House's birth came from Leftfield before it blurred with Trance and this is STILL an amazing album and pretty diverse. Just an amazing listen.

3. The Postal Service - Give Up A one-time collab that really payed off. DCFC's vocals and insanely great lyrics plus amazing IDM and electronica. Unlike a lot of IDM this doesn't try that hard to be weird and its gorgeous pop married with IDM which I think only Bjork has done as well.

4. The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust I love the Chems and their first is still my favorite. The fact that its electronic that rocks and its basically one long mixtape makes it a wonderful listen that's solid throughout.

5. Portishead - Dummy Sexy, dark, amazing, and touching. Still the best album to have sex with. Beth's voice works because she uses more voices than Axl Rose and each song introduces a different feel to it.

Pony Music
1. Foozogz - My Mind is Full of Pony I love this album so much. I don't think any pony album has been this consistent, long, and amazing. Such a unified approach to his speedcore and yet it doesn't feel repetitve.

[Legion]

only 5?

Well, 5 is just a nice, even number. More or less, it doesn't matter.

[LeafRunner]

Dude, Glitchhog, I though I was the only one who had ever heard of Beardfish! I really enjoy that album as well!

Also cool to see so many Porcupine Tree fans

As for me, my musical tastes change pretty frequently as to what I'm "into" at the time, but I'll try to list up some of my favorites, from all over my spectrum of tastes:

Rush - Permanent Waves

It's REALLY hard for me to pick a top Rush album. They are, and will always be, my favorite band of all time, and there's just so much good music to go through that's so diverse and yet keeps a style. I'm just picking this one currently because it's a good transitional piece between 70's and 80's Rush. I love the progressiveness of the 70's, but the songwriting in the 80's was just phenomenal. That, and anytime I hear Spirit of Radio it INSTANTLY makes my day awesome.

The Beatles - Revolver

I grew up to my mom playing this album on the stereo almost everyday. I guess you can say it's always been a part of my life So much experimentation that continued on with Sgt. Pepper and the following albums. I love Abbey Road too, but I just have more of a history with this one.

Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth

I don't care what anyone says, I love Jamiroquai. At least on the early albums, the perfect blend of funk, jazz, disco. I just put them on when I want to have a good time.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Phenomenal jazz album. Enough said.

Great Big Sea - Up

Love traditional music and more contemporary music inspired by it, like Great Big Sea.

So yeah, my music tastes are pretty broad. These may not be exactly my top 5, but more of 1 of my tops from around the wide range I listen to. I didn't put Dream Theater on here because I don't really listen to them anymore, but they were a HUGE influence on me long ago.

[colortwelve]

The more I listen to complete albums, the more I realize that EDM is an entirely different thing, so to that end I'm going to post two lists - one for electronic music, and one for everything else. Also, this gives me a chance to fully pontificate like I love to do.

EDM
5. Datsik - Vitamin D. I never fully realized until this album how skilled Datsik is as a producer; this album definitely demonstrates his famous mechanical brand of dubstep filth, but also takes time to show off how well the man can flesh out a track. It also features my favorite Messinian track thus far.

4. [voodoopony] - Beyond Equestria. Seriously, this album is glorious. Lush soundscapes, tight, well-produced beats, and melodies that make up for what they lack in complexity with their ability to make you completely unaware of anything and everything outside of the music.

3. Example - Playing in the Shadows. This album is probably one of the best things one could hope for out of the good ol' UK - it's a perfect blend of poppy vocals and addictive hooks with grimy bass and a few impressively filthy dubstep breakdowns here and there. And appropriately - the man works with producers like Skream and Feed Me.

2. deadmau5 - Meowingtons Hax 2k11 Toronto. I realize that it's a live album, but contained within this one set is nothing short of the best tracks produced by Zimmerman, everything good from 2006 to stuff that remains unreleased in 2012. Not to mention that he turns up his usual live epicness to 11, specifically during the track 'Arguru.' So much emotion...

1. Pendulum - Immersion. No, not Hold Your Colour. Immersion. Because not only does it meander from drum and bass into dubstep, deep house, electro house, and whatever the hell The Prodigy is, but it effectively saved Pendulum from whatever the hell they were doing in In Silico. The blend of rock with dnb is much stronger in this album, even when the dnb isn't very apparent ('Self vs. Self'). I also loved their collaboration with one of my favorite figures of progressive rock, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. Weird collab, but massively good.

Everything Else
5. Transatlantic - The Whirlwind. This 'album' is actually a single, 77-minute song. And it's glorious. It flows perfectly from one section to the next, utilizes reprises to brilliant effect, and shows off the technical skill of each musician, even while each member provides vocals as well. Simply put, it's pure, proggy goodness.

4. Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound. These guys used to be my favorite band, and still hold a special place in my music library for being my first encounter with music I had any capacity to greatly care about. And this is their best album. In places, it's their heaviest; in others, their lightest. Its lyrics perfectly combine emotional dilemmas with the sort of logical questions that have to follow from them - in a sense, it's 50 minutes of philosophy in music.

3. Megadeth - United Abominations. Who knew that the Big Four would continue to kick ass even in the 2000s? But, of course, nothing compares to this achievement. None of Megadeth's other recent albums, nothing by any of the other three bands. It's just a massive, solid block of rage-infused thrash-metal with just a hint of emotion dropped in here and there, most notably when Lacuna Coil's female singer shows up to do a duet with Dave Mustaine.

2. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. I don't know why this album wasn't more warmly received. 'Dashboard' is a better single than 'Float On' ever could have been, 'Florida' sees the band almost dipping into metal for a few intense bars, 'Spitting Venom' is an excellent return to the form of such old epics as 'The Stars Are Projectors' and 'Night on the Sun,' and 'Little Motel' is opulent, haunting, and depressing as hell, but somehow uplifting once all is said and done. And while it does have a few filler tracks, they aren't as annoying as the ones on The Moon & Antarctica or Good News and can actually become pretty solid tunes after the first listen.

1. Between the Buried and Me - Colors. It's been said - it goes all over the place, smashing genre boundaries and giving every member of the band more than enough room to display their intense levels of respective talent, from Tommy Rogers' tortured screaming and impossibly sweet singing to both guitarists' absurdly intricate riffs and solos. It's just perfect, every damn track on the album. Also, 'Prequel to the Sequel' has a better riff than 'Sunshine of Your Love.' Just throwing that out there.

[Glitchhog]

Dude, Glitchhog, I though I was the only one who had ever heard of Beardfish! I really enjoy that album as well!

Also cool to see so many Porcupine Tree fans

I thought /I/ was the only one! Beardfish are one of my absolute favourite bands. Sleeping in traffic Part II is great as well (however, it lacks the serious, melancholy side Part I has... it's a bit too Frank Zappa at times, if you know what I mean), but I've found myself REALLY enjoying Destined Solitaire.

And yeah, Porcupine Tree are utterly astounding. How Steven Wilson manages to pull of amazing album after amazing album, I'll never know.

Also, I do have to say, you like Rush and Miles Davis? Absolute respect from me, man.

5. Transatlantic - The Whirlwind. This 'album' is actually a single, 77-minute song. And it's glorious. It flows perfectly from one section to the next, utilizes reprises to brilliant effect, and shows off the technical skill of each musician, even while each member provides vocals as well. Simply put, it's pure, proggy goodness.

1. Between the Buried and Me - Colors. It's been said - it goes all over the place, smashing genre boundaries and giving every member of the band more than enough room to display their intense levels of respective talent, from Tommy Rogers' tortured screaming and impossibly sweet singing to both guitarists' absurdly intricate riffs and solos. It's just perfect, every damn track on the album. Also, 'Prequel to the Sequel' has a better riff than 'Sunshine of Your Love.' Just throwing that out there.

And you also have my utmost respect. The Whirlwind is an astounding album, and never dulls for a second, and Colors... well, I've had the album since it was released, and I'm STILL nowhere near tired of it and I listen to it almost daily. You guys rock.

[soup2504]

1. Pendulum - Immersion. No, not Hold Your Colour. Immersion. Because not only does it meander from drum and bass into dubstep, deep house, electro house, and whatever the hell The Prodigy is, but it effectively saved Pendulum from whatever the hell they were doing in In Silico. The blend of rock with dnb is much stronger in this album, even when the dnb isn't very apparent ('Self vs. Self'). I also loved their collaboration with one of my favorite figures of progressive rock, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. Weird collab, but massively good.

Brb, crying. As much as I loved alot of the stuff in that album(not to mention, it was the album that got me interested in electronic music in the first place, where all I would listen to before was rock and consider everything else shit), I just don't think it holds up to the amazingness of "Hold Your Colour". I mean, you would expect someone that listened to rock for most of his life, and rock only(up until about a year ago) to like "Immersion" the most, but nope, Hold Your Colour.

Also, I don't think "In Silico" was all that bad... Mutiny was great, Showdown was great, 9000 miles was great, the tempest was fucking amazing, holy shit, different was great, the other side was great, PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING IN IT WAS GREAT, except "Visions" (up until around the ending-ish area).

To be completely honest, I actually think "Immersion" is my least favorite out of their albums, despite how amazing some of the songs on there are(The fountain = <333)

BUUUTTT THESE ARE ALL OPINIONS, SO DON'T MURDER ME, PLEASE.

[Flinckie]

I hate myself for having such a one-sided taste in music. But since discovering you guys, I've found myself listening to stuff I otherwise wouldn't have touched.

1. The Wall - Pink Floyd
2. Led Zeppelin III - Led Zeppelin
3. Animals - Pink Floyd
4. The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
5. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin

[ChromaticChaosPony]

These are my top 5 favorite albums of all time. Notice how almost all of it is progressive metal.

1. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater
This is my favorite album of all time because of the flow of the concept throughout the album. It is one of the best progressive metal albums out there. I especially like how there is a solo for every instrument in almost every song.

2.Colors by Between the Buried and Me
Second best progressive metal album ever. This album completely shatters genre barriers and is just amazing.

3.Blackwater Park by Opeth
Very great album, progressive death metal from Sweeden. This is some truly amazing stuff.

4.Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson
For those who listen to Porcupine Tree, this album is a solo project of band frontman, Steven Wilson. This album is very progressive and is very progressive.

5.Reflections by Seneca
This is my favorite non-progressive album. Seneca is a hardcore metal band. This album also has very little mention because Seneca is probably the least mainstream band of all time. Here is an example of one of their best songs, since I'm sure nobody here has ever heard of it:


I notice this is a limited list, so here are some notable mentions: Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden, Master of Puppets by Metallica, Periphery by Periphery, Reign in Blood by Slayer, Deadwing by Porcupine Tree, Weightless by Animals as Leaders, Waking the Fallen by Avenged Sevenfold, Count Your Blessing by Bring Me the Horizon, Tomb of the Mutilated by Cannibal Corpse, Heartwork by Carcass, The Harvest Floor by Cattle Decapitation, Suspended Animation by John Petrucci, Nevermind by Nirvana, The Poison by Bullet for my Valentine, Iowa by Slipknot, Antichrist by Akercocke, Rareform by After the Burial, Eclipse by Veil of Maya, Ressurected Through Carnage by Bloodbath, Spiritual Healing by Death, Hours by Funeral for a Friend, The Somatic Defilement by Whitechapel, Omnivium by Obscura, Scurrilous by Protest the Hero, Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? by Megadeth, and One by Tessaract.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I'm actually impressed by the numbver of progressive music fans on MLR. You guys rock! Woohoo!!

[colortwelve]

I'm actually impressed by the numbver of progressive music fans on MLR. You guys rock! Woohoo!!

I think that would be because progressive rock (and metal) is awesome. Or it could have something to do with their attitude towards genres being similar to many of us - which is to say, screw genre barriers.

Also, very very nice on picking Blackwater Park as the best Opeth album. Only one that even comes close imo is Ghost Reveries.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

Also, very very nice on picking Blackwater Park as the best Opeth album. Only one that even comes close imo is Ghost Reveries

I love every Opeth song, but Blackwater Park just stands out as being the best album. I love playing songs from Ghost Reveries on guitar because of the bizzare guitar tuning (D minor open tuning/ drop D).