My top 17 albums revised

[Guest Kinetic]

A few months ago, I posted an article on the site listing my top seventeen favorite albums at the time. As can be expected, much has changed since then and I feel compelled to update the list. Some things have been added, some things have been eliminated, and a dark horse non-entry into the first list has shot to the #1 spot.

 

Here's a link to the previous list: Old top 17

 

And here's the new one:

 

17. Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

 

16. Outkast- Aquemini

 

15. Pixies- Doolittle

 

14. Bob Dylan- John Wesley Harding

 

13. Neil Young- After The Gold Rush

 

12. Bob Dylan- Bringing It Al Back Home

 

11. The Beatles- Revolver

 

10. Elvis Costello & The Attractions- Get Happy!

 

9. The Beatles- Rubber Soul

 

8. Bob Dylan- Blood On The Tracks

 

7. The Velvet Underground & Nico

 

6. Radiohead- OK Computer

 

5. The Clash- London Calling

 

4. The Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

 

3. Bob Dylan- Blonde On Blonde

 

2. The Beatles- Abbey Road

 

1. Neil Young- Tonight's The Night

[Guest Incandenza]

I hate making lists, but they're fun to talk about. Everyone at the radio station had to do a Top 20 of 2002 list last week, and, while I don't recall everything I put down, N.E.R.D.'s In Search Of was #1, with Wilco's Yankee Foxtrot Hotel at #2. Yeah, I put the "fun" record over the "serious, artistic" one. So what?

 

Anyway, I'm surprised to see so recent a release as that Wilco album on there. It takes me at least a couple of years to acknowledge a disc's true greatness. (If I were to do a Best of All Time list, the most recent release would be Outkast's Aquemini.)

[Guest Kinetic]

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot hit me immediately and I know it's one of my favorite albums, so there's no sense in not including it. When I make another revision, it may or may not still be on there. It could be higher. Who knows? It all depends on what I'm into at the time and what I buy between now and then. I didn't even own Tonight's The Night the last time I made the list, for instance.

[Guest LooseCannon]

Sadly, I have yet to sample the pleasures that Aquemini may offer. I think the most recent album I would include on my list would be Clinic's Internal Wrangler. I fell in love with that album almost immediately, and my opinion on it hasn't changed a bit. I'm in eternal debate about what my number 1 would be. Doolittle is the only album that is at all times in my top 5 though, so I usually give that the nod, just for consistency's sake.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Easily the most recent thing on my list would be Lateralus. I love that cd more every time I listen to it.

[Guest Choken One]

Me? Stripped-Christina...Nah...Joking.

 

Believe-Disturbed.

[Guest Ozymandias]

Dropping IN UTERO~! alltogether? That's cold, brotha....

[Guest Kinetic]

I was trying to be a little more honest with this one...adhering less to conventional rock wisdom and more to the simple facts involved in what I listen to more often. In Utero and Nirvana in general suffers from having been in my collection as long as I've had an interest in music, so its impact is a distant memory for me. That said, from a cold and critical perspective In Utero has a few glaring weak spots--a spotty second half, for instance--that might eliminate it altogether from consideration. In this case, it did. On the list that I compile on my death bed, it could very well be included.

[Guest godthedog]

i always thought that 'in utero' didn't really get kicking till the second half.

 

pennyroyal tea + tourette's + milk it + very ape + radio friendly unit shifter + all apologies > scentless apprentice + rape me + heart-shaped box + serve the servants + frances farmer will have her revenge on seattle + dumb

[Guest goodhelmet]

i love making lists!!! with that siad, your first list was better. i am still disappointed there is no who's next on there or beggar's banquet but it's your ears.

[Guest LooseCannon]

The first list was more diverse, for sure, but I can't decide which is better.

[Guest Incandenza]

This one's more personal, which I like. It also doesn't include the terribly overrated My Aim is True, which I also like. However, it's missing Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, which is often considered one of the best albums of the 90s because it IS one of the best albums of the 90s. Still, I must give the edge to this list.

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

I don't particularly agree with either list, but it's kind of fun to see what other people think.

[Guest LooseCannon]

What would your list look like?

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

Well, frankly, it wouldn't have any of those albums on it. I am more interested in listening to people who can really play their instruments than folks who are artsy or good songwriters or whatever. Towards the top I would probably have Nevermind, Ten, Dirt, Metallica, Surfing With The Alien, Colma, Core... Well as you can see I'm into more modern music than Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Beatles etc. Then again I've only heard maybe half of the albums on his list, so I might agree, who knows. Anyway, I'll try to work out a list and post it.

[Guest LooseCannon]

I was just curious. My list would probably look rather different as well, but there would probably be an overlap of about five albums or so.

[Guest Incandenza]

We at WOSP have cooked up a collective Top 20 for 2002. I don't have the list handy (I'll post it as soon as possible), but it's a fairly respectable lot, with Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots nabbing the top spot.

 

HOWEVER, there are two grievous errors: the Vines somehow made it on--into the top 10, no less--and Wilco is nowhere to be found. A lot of my co-workers are also inordinately fond of Har Mar Superstar, so I have to accept that not everything about them is sensible.

[Guest LooseCannon]

I'd like to see that list.

[Guest Kinetic]

As would I. My top three for 2002 are Wilco, Trail of Dead, and The Flaming Lips. In that order. I'm not too terribly fond of that Interpol album, for whatever reason. Other than that, I haven't picked up many 2002 releases.

[Guest Kinetic]

i always thought that 'in utero' didn't really get kicking till the second half.

 

pennyroyal tea + tourette's + milk it + very ape + radio friendly unit shifter + all apologies > scentless apprentice + rape me + heart-shaped box + serve the servants + frances farmer will have her revenge on seattle + dumb

Wash your mouth. "Milk It," "Very Ape," and "tourette's" are throwaway tracks. The rest of the songs on side 2 are as good as anything on side 1, but that's a ratio of 6 great songs to 3. Side one gets the nod and the mid-album lull eliminates it from consideration for my list. Were I to expand, it would probably make the top 25. I'd put it above Nevermind for sure.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

As would I. My top three for 2002 are Wilco, Trail of Dead, and The Flaming Lips. In that order. I'm not too terribly fond of that Interpol album, for whatever reason. Other than that, I haven't picked up many 2002 releases.

For me the Interpol album blows all that stuff out of the water, with Wilco a very close second.

 

I like the Flaming Lips album, but it always leaves me exhausted. By the end of listening to the Lips I'm usually frustrated or tired with the loping weirdness. The album also sort of fades out after "Do You Realize??", and I never really feel compelled to listen further.

 

I too find the original 17 more suited to my tastes, but then again I've never listened to a Neil Young album.

[Guest Kinetic]

i love making lists!!! with that siad, your first list was better. i am still disappointed there is no who's next on there or beggar's banquet but it's your ears.

I don't own Beggar's Banquet as of yet, so there's the explanation for that. Of the three Stones albums I do have, Between The Buttons is my favorite. I'm of the mindset that less 10 minute blues songs=better album, personally. I do have Who's Next and I don't really like it much. The singles are good, but the rest has yet to do anything for me. I think the first list was more diverse, but quite intentionally so. I said to myself, "Well, I know I like this album better than that one, but I need an album from that band in there." Hence the inclusion of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain at the expense of, say, John Wesley Harding even though I much prefer that Dylan album to anything Pavement ever recorded. With this list, I decided to be honest with myself. Then again, I've only owned Tonight's The Night for about two months and Rubber Soul for about one, so I don't know that those will place as high next time. This is like a time capsule mixed with the four or five albums that I regard as being my eternal favorites. I don't know of any other way to compile these things. It's not a pure art.

[Guest Incandenza]

I liked Yoshimi, but I thought too much of it was a retread of The Soft Bulletin, with little in the way of expansion. If I recall correctly, I put it at #15 on my list, but that, by no means, is concrete.

 

Only six of the 20 albums I voted for made into the final top 20: the Lips, both of Tom Waits' releases, Interpol (hush, Kinetic; it's that good), Trail of Dead, and another which escapes me at the moment. It would probably would've been higher than six if I had been exposed to as much as music as the staff had. I had to search everything out for myself; they had everything brought to them.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

So where'd Andrew WK's I Get Wet end up, Incandenza? I really do hope it made it on.

 

And a Kinetic question: what made you pick 17? At the time of the original list, were there 17 you knew you wanted on there, or did you just find it a delightfully charming and non-mainstream number?

[Guest LooseCannon]

I have by no means Inc's knowledge of music in general and of this year's crop of music in particular, but my list is shaping up like this:

 

1. Trail of the Dead

2. Wilco

3. Spoon Kill the Moonlight

4. Yoshimi

5. Interpol

6. Ugly Casanova Sharpen your teeth

 

I've got 6 other albums from this year, but I don't feel good enough about any of them to round out a top ten list.

[Guest Incandenza]

So where'd Andrew WK's I Get Wet end up, Incandenza? I really do hope it made it on.

It didn't make it on. I voted for him, though.

 

By the way, I'm really hating this Har Mar Superstar guy. If he experiences ANY mainstream success, I may have to start killing again.

[Guest Incandenza]

OH! I just remembered the sixth album I voted for which made the list! Elvis Costello's When I Was Cruel. I can't believe I forgot that.

[Guest Kinetic]

Kill The Moonlight is pretty good, actually. That would probably round out my top 5.

 

If I recall correctly, 17 was chosen because I didn't think 15 was enough and 20 was too much work. I made the list because I hadn't written anything for the site in ages and felt obligated to do something. Now I'm sort of bound by it. In retrospect, 17 works in my favor because whenever someone points out a good album that I excluded, I can tell them that it would have made the top 20. Whether I mean it or not.

[Guest Kinetic]

Double post.

[Guest godthedog]

i always thought that 'in utero' didn't really get kicking till the second half.

 

pennyroyal tea + tourette's + milk it + very ape + radio friendly unit shifter + all apologies > scentless apprentice + rape me + heart-shaped box + serve the servants + frances farmer will have her revenge on seattle + dumb

Wash your mouth. "Milk It," "Very Ape," and "tourette's" are throwaway tracks. The rest of the songs on side 2 are as good as anything on side 1, but that's a ratio of 6 great songs to 3. Side one gets the nod and the mid-album lull eliminates it from consideration for my list. Were I to expand, it would probably make the top 25. I'd put it above Nevermind for sure.

au contraire, 'serve the servants', 'scentless apprentice' and 'frances farmer' always felt like throwaway tracks to me. they just don't seem to have the emotional "oomph" that 'milk it', et al have. and i know 'tourette's' is a throwaway track, but it's my favorite nirvana song just cause it's so fun.