And here it is. My top ten favorite albums of all time. I love some of these albums more than I love breathing. And I love breathing. Enjoy.
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10. Midnight Vultures (Beck) – I don’t even know where to start. Beck gets sexy the only way he knows how. I would say the whole album is a parody of club music and R&B, but it’s so well produced that it isn’t less than the material that it might be poking fun at. I think it’s just Beck saying, “Here’s what I would say if I was doing this kind of music. But it IS hilarious. “Debra” is particularly good.
9. Whatever and Ever Amen (Ben Folds Five) – This came out when I was living in Chicago. If BF5′s first album represented my best years, this one represents my worst. Except that it came out way before I experienced them. It’s mostly about the lower moments of life. Loss and debilitating loneliness, failed relationships and even the undeserved sense of entitlement I sometimes feel. While I am getting better, this one is who I’ve been for a long time.
8. My Aim is True (Elvis Costello) – Oh, Declan MacManus. Why are you so angry? I don’t even care. The way you rage against the waves is more inspired than any golden joy other artists try to sell me.
7. Madman Across the Water (Elton John) – I was first introduced to Madman by my friend, Jason Buck, who had “Indian Sunset” as part of his song stylin’ repertoire. I enjoyed “Tiny Dancer” and fell madly in love with “Levon.” The album itself was actually one of his lowest selling efforts. It makes me proud to think I found a gem that most people passed over.
6. Small Change (Tom Waitts) – I fucking love “Tom Traubert’s Blues.” It’s so low and lovely. And, of course, “The Piano has been Drinking” is like an encyclopedia of clever phrases that I use all the time to seem funny and smart.
5. Little Earthquakes (Tori Amos) – This one is heavy. Somehow I latched onto to it during the big bummer that was my senior year in high school. It’s always felt like a ghost in the machine, haunting every cd player I’ve owned. Amos is not a chick you want to get on the wrong side of. Not that she’s mean or vengeful. She’s just a little pixie with something to say.
4. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie) – Ziggy Stardust represented Bowie’s “I’m a funky, funky alien” period. It tells a cute little fable of the end of us and the hope we find before then. But the music is much better than the story it tells. “Starman” is great, as is “Five Years” and “Moonage Daydream” and… well, pretty much all of it.
3. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) – Wish You Were Here doesn’t get the trippy love that Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall gets. And maybe those are better albums. Wish You Were Here helped me evolve. I was still listening to Def Leopard and Culture Club and Huey Lewis (yes, I listened to Huey Lewis) when I stumbled onto WYWH. It made me want to expand my musical experiences. It opened the door to smarter music. Music that was about broader life topics than the usual 1980′s… shit. I owe it a great debt.
2. OK Computer (Radiohead) – I sort of dismissed Radiohead when they first emerged from the grunge soup. I liked Pablo Honey and The Bends showed that they could evolve, but I figured that was where it ended. OK Computer was so vastly different from anything they had done. I was not really a fan of the electronic rock “thing.” People kept trying to get me into Portishead, but I would have none of it. OK Computer changed my mind. I call it distance music because I used to put it on whenever I started a long journey. I get so entranced by the music that I don’t seem to notice how far I’ve driven.
1. Abbey Road (The Beatles) – I love every song on Abbey Road. Well… maybe I occasionally skip past “Octopus’s Garden.” They manage to be trippy and hard and sentimental and brilliant. I’ve mentioned before that McCartney is my favorite Beattle. This is another album where I feel like his stuff is the best. “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and “Oh! Darling” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” are all great in different ways. And “Golden Slumbers.” A minute and thirty-one seconds of sweet sad lullaby. I don’t think it’s meant to be sad, but it breaks my heart every time.
That’s it. Stay tuned for my next list. 30 Favorite tv shows ever.
