Added by blue_skies on 20 Mar 2010 05:05

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album of the year (1957-2018)

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8.7

Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins

1957

Favourite song: "St. Thomas"

blue_skies's rating:

Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar - Elizabeth Cotten

1958

blue_skies's rating:

267

8.7

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis

1959

Favourite song: "So What"
Favourite moment: I took a long vacation from this record only to recently re-discover how the beginning of "So What" is one of the most magical moments in 20th century music.

blue_skies's rating:

8.4

Blues & Roots - Charles Mingus

1960

Favourite song: "Moanin'"
Favourite moment: The absolutely tiny moment at 3:28 in "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" when the saxophone solo begins.

blue_skies's rating:

8.1

Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman

1961

Favourite song: N/A (it's only one song)
Favourite moment: The last fifteen minutes or so. It suddenly quiets down to a most awesomely peculiar double drummer/basist solo with the horns making sudden furious attacks on the listener. Oh, and the drum solo is so simple, yet so brilliant. One of the coolest album closings ever.

blue_skies's rating:

John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard

8.4

John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard - John Coltrane

1962

Favourite song: "Spiritual"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

8.8

Money Jungle - Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach

blue_skies's rating:

7.5

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

1964

Favourite song: "It Ain't Me, Babe"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

161

8.5

A Love Supreme - John Coltrane

1965

Favourite song: "Psalm"
Favourite moment: The percussion throughout "Psalm".

blue_skies's rating:

304

8.3

Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

1966

Favourite song: "God Only Knows"
Favourite moment: The coda of "God Only Knows"; the massive vocal harmonies on "You Still Believe in Me".

blue_skies's rating:

8.5

Songs of Leonard Cohen - Leonard Cohen

1967

Favourite song:
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

112

8.4

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison

1968

Favourite song: "Sweet Thing"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

8.1

Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart

1969

Favourite song: "When Big Joan Sets Up"
Favourite moment: Well this is a 28-track album full of crazy, mostly short songs and passing moments so it's impossible to pick one. Let's say the insane drum solo of "Sugar 'N Spikes".

blue_skies's rating:

127

8.3

Fun House - The Stooges

1970

Favourite song: "Fun House"
Favourite moment: Any of those Iggy Pop's intense screams. Like the one at the beginning of "T.V. Eye" or the "IFEELALRIGHT!" thing going on in "1970" or the entire title track. Also, the madness unleashed in "L.A. Blues".

blue_skies's rating:

168

8.1

Blue - Joni Mitchell

1971

Favourite song: "River"

blue_skies's rating:

8.8

Transa - Caetano Veloso

1972

Favourite song: "Nine Out of Ten"
Favourite moment: Whenever it gets so emotional he bursts singing in his mother tongue.

blue_skies's rating:

8.5

Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson

1973

Favourite song: "Easy Money"
Favourite moment: The way the main theme comes back in "Easy Money" or the way the band goes crazy in "Larks Tongues in Aspic (Part One)".

blue_skies's rating:

122

8.6

Red - King Crimson

1974

Favourite song: "Starless"
Favourite moment: The heavenly guitar melody of "Starless" and everything that comes after the one note solo of Robert Fripp on that track. Sublime.

blue_skies's rating:

Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison

9.5

Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison - Harmonium

1975

Favourite song: "Dixie"
Favourite moment: The reprise of the theme melody of "Histoires sans paroles".

blue_skies's rating:

107

8.5

Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder

1976

Favourite song: "Another Star"
Favourite moment: The "doo-doo-doo" part in "I Wish" makes me jump like an idiot.

blue_skies's rating:

Sorrow Tears and Blood [VINYL] - Fela Kuti

1977

blue_skies's rating:

9.5

Al final de este viaje - Silvio Rodriguez

1978

Favourite song: all of them
Favourite moment: all of them

blue_skies's rating:

7.8

Entertainment! - Gang of Four

1979

Favourite song: "Damaged Goods"
Favourite moment: The grooves on "I Found That Essence Rare" or "Contract" kicks off.

blue_skies's rating:

168

8.1

Remain in Light - Talking Heads

1980

Favourite song: "Once in a Lifetime"
Favourite moment: The bleeping whatever-that-instrument-is solo on "Born Under Punches".

blue_skies's rating:

8.2

Computer World - Kraftwerk

1981

Favourite song: "Computer Love"
Favourite moment: The last few minutes of the said track. The closest Kraftwerk ever came to sounding human. One of the most romantic songs ever written.

blue_skies's rating:

8.9

Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1981) - Glenn Gould,Johann Sebastian Bach

1982 (recorded in 1981, I gather)

Favourite moment: The first Aria.

blue_skies's rating:

Yasimika - Djeli Moussa Diawara

blue_skies's rating:

8.9

Tabula Rasa - Arvo Pärt,Dennis Russell Davies,Keith Jarrett,Gidon Kremer,Stuttgart State Orchestra,Tatiana Grinden

1984 (I think it was originally released then)

Favourite song: "Fratres (for violin and piano)"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

219

8.4

Rain Dogs - Tom Waits

1985

Favourite song: "Tango Till They're Sore"
Favourite moment: Another hard pick. From the banging sounds of "Big Black Mariah" to the barking vocals of "Singapore", the heavenly accordion intro of the title track and the salvation army band fading out on the last track, this album is a rollercoaster ride of favourite moments.

blue_skies's rating:

427

8.3

The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths

1986

Favourite song: "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"
Favourite moment: The strings on that song, the coda of "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side", etc.

blue_skies's rating:

8.3

Children of God - Swans

1987

Favourite song: "Beautiful Child"
Favourite moment: The crazy, evil trumpets apparently played by Satan on "Like a Drug".

blue_skies's rating:

8.3

Spirit of Eden - Talk Talk

1988

Favourite song: "I Believe in You"
Favourite moment: The harmonica on "The Rainbow" or the percussion of "Desire" or the divine choir type of thing in "I Believe in You"

blue_skies's rating:

7.9

Floating Into The Night - Julee Cruise

1989

Favourite song: "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart"
Favourite moment: The saxophone solo on the said track - such a brief, beautiful and perfectly clumsy little moment.

blue_skies's rating:

7.8

Heaven Or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins

1990

Favourite song: "Heaven or Las Vegas"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

120

8.2

The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest

1991

Favourite song: "Scenario"
Favourite moment: Busta Rhymes' verse on "Scenario"; the snare on "Jazz (We've Got)".

blue_skies's rating:

110

8.3

Bone Machine - Tom Waits

1992

Favourite song: "That Feel"
Favourite moment: The "drunken emperor Nero" vocals on "In the Colosseum", the cool lyrics to "Black Wings", the desperation of "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", the apocalyptic feel on "Earth Dies Screaming"... could pick anything.

blue_skies's rating:

185

8.5

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang Clan

1993

Favourite song: "Bring da Ruckus"
Favourite moment: Oh boy, I could make a list of the best moments on the Wu-Tang debut. Let's say the verses of Inspectah Deck and GZA on "Bring da Ruckus"

blue_skies's rating:

174

8.6

Illmatic - Nas

1994

Favourite song: "N.Y. State of Mind"
Favourite moment: Just one example - I love how he delivers this line:

Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain
And be prosperous, though we live dangerous
Cops could just arrest me, blaming us, we're held like hostages

blue_skies's rating:

Muovi antaa periksi - Absoluuttinen Nollapiste

1995

Favourite song: "Sivulla jatkuu"
Favourite moment: The genious melody of the chorus of "Sivulla jatkuu". How melancholy can a song about brushing your teeth sound?

blue_skies's rating:

109

7.8

Richard D. James Album - Aphex Twin

1996

Favourite song: "Girl/Boy Song"
Favourite moment: The gorgeous 'chorus' of "Fingerbib".

blue_skies's rating:

1341

7.5

OK Computer - Radiohead

1997

Favourite song: "Let Down"
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

311

8.4

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

1998

Favourite song: "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
Favourite moment: And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see

blue_skies's rating:

9.5

Suljettu - Absoluuttinen Nollapiste

1999

Favourite song: "Suvannossa ylpeä ilme"
Favourite moment: I love how the story comes together on the last track. The playful mood occasionally present on the album gradually turning into pure mourning is just amazing. The best Finnish song ever.

blue_skies's rating:

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

144

8.6

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven... - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

2000

Favourite song: "Antennas to Heaven"
Favourite moment: The priest speech on "Static" or the very last minutes of "Antennas to Heaven" or the beginning of "Storm" or the climax of "Sleep" or

blue_skies's rating:

402

8.2

Lateralus - Tool

2001

Favourite song: "Reflection"
Favourite moment: The reprise of the "Disposition" guitar melody on "Reflection".

blue_skies's rating:

212

8.2

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

2002

Favourite song: "Jesus, etc."
Favourite moment:

blue_skies's rating:

8.8

Mount Eerie - The Microphones

2003

Favourite song: "The Sun"
Favourite moment: This album is basically a continuous favourite moment but I'll just mention the 'scary trumpets' on "The Sun".

blue_skies's rating: