I cannot get out of my head how good these albums are. The reputable source here is me. If you don't believe that I am reputable, you will change your mind when you listen to these albums. Also, this isn't rankings, this is just some albums that are good.
10. Dream Theater - Images and Words. If you know anything about my music taste, which you didn't until just now (which is misleading), then you know that I criticize DT night and day. Frequently I discuss just how laughable some of their material is (for example, "Dark Eternal Night", which is the worst song ever invented). I would say that DT is the most disappointing thing since it was discovered that Kate Beckinsale is a man. Now, Kate was not discovered to be a man, so you just have to imagine how disappointing it would be if that was discovered, and then think that DT is even more disappointing than that.
So why this album? It's really good. Take the Time is without any doubt the best song DT ever put out, and I'm half convinced that someone else wrote it. Probably Jon Anderson (Yes), but in the 70s.
But seriously, incredible drumming from Portnoy (as always), but this time everything else is good too, except the lyrics which are still kind of cheesy but that's ok because they fit. 80s metal meets prog, but not ala Queensryche, ala something that sounds really good. I don't know why DT stopped being artists after this album.
9. Aerosmith - Rocks Now, Aerosmith has put out a lot of terrible material. That is obvious. They are also not musically genius. That is obvious. But this album Rocks. that was a lame joke but it does. "Back in the Saddle" full of swagger and sex, but the good kind. With Steven Tyler? No, that's not what I mean. I mean this whole album just grooves. Really good, way better than anything else from these boys.
8. Soundgarden - Superunknown I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "cmon man black hole sun is not even that good". You're right, it's not. But this album as a whole is stellar. Chris Cornell's vocals are probably the best there ever were, as far as its usefulness in rock music. Some people fantasize about Kate Beckinsale (now you feel weird about that dont you), I fantasize about what it might be like to sing like Chris. I don't even know how it would feel. That much power, energy, range, emotion... Good album, more versatile than their earlier stuff, more rocking and useful than their last album following it.
7. Tool - Lateralus Incredible album. I don't want to have to convince you, if you disagree than you've probably misunderstood tool. I think most people have, actually. They're so much better than that.
6. Genesis - Selling England By the Pound I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "isn't that the band with phil collins from tarzan". Yes, but he's playing drums at this point. If you like prog (you should), then there is no reason that you should not like this album. "Firth of Fifth" alone is worth the price of admission (which is free these days, ruckus.com). Really creative exciting and overall great musical experience.
5. Jeff Buckley - Grace Is this the greatest album ever? Maybe. Incredible album. Every single song, maybe with one or two exceptions, is perfected. Take Eternal Life for example. At first its just a killer rock song, but then you listen to it more and more and you have no idea how to make it better. In fact, you have no idea how it got so good. Answer? Jeff Buckley is the most amazing singer ever. Does that contradict my claims about Chris Cornell? No. They are both the greatest ever. And they were friends too (wikipedia.com), imagine that.
4. Opeth - Blackwater Park Opeth is my favorite band. I don't like death metal. How is this possible? I don't know. If you aren't surprised by how good Opeth is, then you haven't listened to enough songs. Sit through this album and if you aren't convinced then throw away every t-shirt you own, not for any reason, just because you need punishment of some sort. if you have no tshirts you are off the hook (but still an idiot)
3. Opeth - Still Life This is the same album as above but better. It's more ethereal or something, in a way its more metal in a way its less. It sounds like mozart, wagner, and the cookie monster all got together and put together beautiful, dark, exciting music.
2. Yes - Close to the Edge It this album good? Yes.
1. Temple of the Dog This isn't really my favorite album i don't think, but it gets the #1 spot because I think everyone should own it. Everyone. There is no excuse. Chris Cornell's vocals are at their all-time high. So much emotion here. Beautiful album, its grungy which might turn some off or others on for the wrong reasons, but it is worth your time
Led Zeppelin - I Led Zeppelin - II Led Zeppelin - IV
Black Sabbath - Paranoid Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Thats what i can think of now : - ). But yes, Opeth is great. Havent got into tool actually, whats so special about them? I think they play so strange.
On May 07 2008 05:00 Kaotu wrote: 80s metal meets prog, but not ala Queensryche, ala something that sounds really good.
I want to punch you in the face.
haha well mindcrime is an ok album (i dont belieeeeeeeeeve in love) but it must be admitted that queensryche failed to become the prototypical progmetal band precisely because they lacked the overall creativity (ignoring that album for a minute, that is). they were too much an 80s metal band.
On May 07 2008 05:34 Jibba wrote: No White Album...
no abbey road, either (which is 10x better than white album i don't know why you even bring that one up).
not because those aren't great albums, but rather just because this is a short list. these are not actually my top 10 favorite albums or what i would consider to be the greatest 10 albums ever, just 10 albums which mean a lot to me personally, listed in a somewhat arbitrary order
actually the order is mostly just so i could put DT on the bottom of the list, to distance myself from them even though they had 1 great album
On May 07 2008 05:00 Kaotu wrote: 80s metal meets prog, but not ala Queensryche, ala something that sounds really good.
I want to punch you in the face.
haha well mindcrime is an ok album (i dont belieeeeeeeeeve in love) but it must be admitted that queensryche failed to become the prototypical progmetal band precisely because they lacked the overall creativity (ignoring that album for a minute, that is). they were too much an 80s metal band.
You are way off. There is nothing about the music that they released after Empire that could be described as being 80s metal. Of course, there isn't much that came out after Empire that can be described as being good...
And the ranking seriously lacks some Pain Of Salvation (Be probably).
It's definitely lacking Pain of Salvation, but I don't know if Be is the correct album. One Hour by the Concrete Lake, The Perfect Element pt.1 and Remedy Lane are all fucking awesome.
if i made a list of songs, i would include PoS "King of Loss"
however, this is a list of albums, so pain of salvation does not belong here. actually i like them but i despise them for making a band so good with a name so bad. "Pain of Salvation" sounds way too "epic" for a band as artistic as they are...
I don't understand the Tool hype, they don't seem overly special from what I've heard of theirs. Can anyone recommend me a Tool song that showcases what they're about?
The best album of all time is Freak Out! by Frank Zappa & the Mothers. Dirt by Alice in Chains is quite good too. Actually my favourite album of all time changes every week, I am so musically fickle -_-
I have a 15 hour dream theater playlist on my comp though so I guess we don't have the same taste
Superunknown kicksaaaaaaaass too, seriously. Fell on Black Days and 4th of July are like my favourite songs of all time (this week)
On May 07 2008 07:53 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: I don't understand the Tool hype, they don't seem overly special from what I've heard of theirs. Can anyone recommend me a Tool song that showcases what they're about?
Just kidding. Some of their more popular songs are Sober, Prison Sex, Aenima, Lateralus, and Schism. Personally, I like some of Tool's stuff, but they put out a lot of crap too.
On May 07 2008 07:53 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: I don't understand the Tool hype, they don't seem overly special from what I've heard of theirs. Can anyone recommend me a Tool song that showcases what they're about?
It's a stupid video, but all the others on youtube are live performances. Forty-Six & 2 is the song that made me like Tool.
Although it angers and saddens me that people give Opeth albums such great praise and never mention Orchid or Morningrise, I defend your right to have wrong opinions.
On May 07 2008 05:54 Kaotu wrote: if i made a list of songs, i would include PoS "King of Loss"
however, this is a list of albums, so pain of salvation does not belong here. actually i like them but i despise them for making a band so good with a name so bad. "Pain of Salvation" sounds way too "epic" for a band as artistic as they are...
On May 07 2008 06:31 HamerD wrote: Omg kaotu I really find your 'if you don't like this you don't understand it/ have a good taste in music' approach annoying. So fucking ignorant.
Good albums but you have a REALLY blinkered sense of music so i wouldn't be so bloody preachy.
I also hope you aren't one of these complete idiots who think prog music requires more creativity and musicality than other genres.
It should be obvious from most of what I said on that list that I was only half serious in my ramblings. I mean I do really enjoy all of the albums that I posted, don't get me wrong. But I certainly don't think so highly of my musical taste that I think everyone should dig all or even any of that stuff (except Jeff Buckley; I have no respect for anyone who has no respect for Jeff, period).
And on that note, 6/10 albums were prog to some degree or another, sure, but there's also AEROSMITH, buckley, soundgarden, and temple of the dog - not prog by any definition that I am aware of.
You'll also notice that of those albums, I gave the most flattering praise to Grace. Most certainly not a prog album.
In short, I appreciate your assault on all things musically pretentious. But I was not trying to express anything of that sort seriously, only as a rhetorical vehicle. But I do apologize if I gave the impression of being serious. The fact that I included an Aerosmith album on this list, however, should clue anyone in that I'm not actually that pretentious.
But if you're going to assault anyone for their pretention, it should be indie kids, not the proggers. They're the worst.
On May 07 2008 09:01 Ancestral wrote: Although it angers and saddens me that people give Opeth albums such great praise and never mention Orchid or Morningrise, I defend your right to have wrong opinions.
If tracks 1-6 on Morningrise were all The Night and the Silent Water, then it would be the only album on my list. Unfortunately, there are other songs on that album too, including that one "epic" track which is basically 50 minutes or so of sequenced random riffs, whatever the first thing that came to Opeth's head during recording was.
Orchid would make the list if the whole album were that one really evil sounding part on the first track... you know, that part somewhere around 11 minutes I think in (could be way off actually) where there's that really slow gothic sound riff, followed by a sudden thumping bass (sounds like he's just hitting the low e over and over or something)... Point is, if Orchid was just that riff for 50 minutes, I would listen to it all the time. As it is, I think I have only sat through that whole album 1 time. Maybe I should give it another listen. My first impression was that it's too... hit and miss, in the sense that you have a nice line of music for about 10 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of incoherence, through each and every song.
Oh, and speaking of how pretentious indie kids are...
One of my roommates blares like 3 albums night and day, (I think) Stars, Flaming Lips, and Devotchka... Anyway, he thinks he has really refined music taste (3-4 albums all the time, that's it).
Me and my other 2 roommates had an awesome goal, to listen to an entire album non stop for the entire semester. It was to be on repeat in our apartment for the entire duration of the semester. The album? Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA, absolute masterpiece...
None of us are actually bruce fans, we just knew it was an awesome idea and really enjoyed it during the duration. But one day, my pretentious roommate with "refined taste" just came in and turned off The Boss because he is too "musically sensitive"!!!!
I actually like the unrefined "chaotic" sound of those two albums. I do like newer stuff from them too, but the old stuff is exploratory, and has a lot more old school "European" sounding riffs.
The bands I like are generally more like this sound, but I like the more produced and progressive sound as well. It's just those albums never get any love. The fact that you've heard them though is good, most people who praise Opeth endlessly haven't.
EPT
