Wednesday, December 7, 2005

flawless top ten

you guys on myspace? i saw this posted as a bulletin and i began to get excited, because a flawless top ten list is different than just a top ten of all time or something, because a great album can have lulls and problems and still be great, but there's something i truly value about an album that's a front-to-backer, an album you can put on and listen to all the way through and feel like you've gone someplace. so rather than bothering with doing it on myspace, i'm starting it here. so reply with your own top ten flawless front-to-backers:

1. jimi hendrix :: electric ladyland
2. boards of canada :: music has the right to children
3. jeff buckley :: grace
4. d'angelo :: voodoo
5. radiohead :: the bends
6. deftones :: white pony
7. dj shadow :: endtroducing
8. death cab for cutie :: the photo album
9. spoon :: a series of sneaks
10. miles davis :: porgy and bess

note: these are not in any order, really, and how could they be? how can you order ten flawless things?

4 comments:

admin said...

bravo on sunny day real estate's LP2. how it feels to be something on narrowly missed my list and that pedro is great as well.

it seems like, looking through the original and quite voluminous post on myspace, that neutral milk hotel's masterpiece seems to be on everyone's list. it's also a near miss for me and could easily be right up there.

i'm not familiar with julie doiron or david fischoff. i'll have to check them out.

admin said...

the how it feels.../LP2 difference is much like transatlanticism/photo album difference. transatlanticism is the better album, i think, but whenever i put on the photo album, i always feel like it's over too quick because every single song is great.

admin said...

i downloaded that julie doiron from itunes the other day. it's pretty spectac. kind of reminds me of a french, female pedro the lion circa it's hard to find a friend, especially in the way it sounds. very live and present. so: thanks for the rec.

Anonymous said...

I’ve been meaning to weigh in on this for awhile. Sorry it took me so long:

Flawless Front-to-Back Albums

Love-cars – I’m Friends with All Stars
Radiohead – OK Computer
Sunny Day Real Estate – How it Feels…
Hum – Downward is Heavenward
Death Cab for Cutie – The Photo Album
Pedro the Lion – Control
Guster – Lost and Gone Forever
Further Seems Forever – The Moon Is Down
Denison Whitmer – Philadelphia Songs
Bill Mike Band – Better News

These are roughly in order of length. A CD such as Love-cars’ IFwAS is an impressive front-to-backer because it’s 50 minutes long. It’s easier to make every song on an EP good.

I would say SDRE’s How it Feels to Be Something On is the flawless album, but LP2 reaches higher highs and lower lows.

Here are some near-misses:
Muse – Origin of Symmetry
Jump, Little Children – Vertigo
Cloud Cult – Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus

Cloud Cult is the closest of these to make the list, which is impressive considering it is 70+ minutes and 20+ tracks.

I’ll have to check out some of the groups I don’t know from your lists.