Best Albums of 2005

I haven't spoken with everyone here, so can't answer than one.

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:

Originally posted by Etan de Balzac, Footie Ball Player:
[qb]

but i do know that everyone here agrees that they're fantastic live, right rhett?

a bit like commenting on a show you never saw??

(sorry Rhett!)

Originally posted by Etan de Balzac, Footie Ball Player:
Putting an album on your list that you haven't even bought yet? Sounds pretty damn sketchy to me.

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:

Originally posted by kcjones119:
Broken Social Scene - "Broken Social Scene" should be on there

haven't bought it yet, for some reason, but i'm guessing it would be on my list, from what i've read about it

i'll admit i haven't listened to even a fourth of your original list, but some possible nods to the following (at least in your honorable mention set, if not atop the heap):

kraftwerk-minimum/maximum live set
swervedriver comp-juggernaut rides
the new eno cd-another day on earth
stones-a bigger bang
rtx-transmaniacon (tailend of 2004)
x-live in LA

but thanx for the daunting list of stuff i should at least try to track down and hear a song or two from…where to begin?!

I liked these records quite a bit…
Dead Meadow – Feathers
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Constantines – Tournament of Hearts

I also really enjoyed Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary, the live Queens of the Stone Age - Over the Years and through the woods, Beck - Guero, and Frances the Mute by the Mars Volta. And I can't stop listening to the new Living Things record Ahead of the Lions. Just a few off the top of my head.

i'll admit i haven't listened to even a fourth of your original list,

yeah Hoya, does your journo status get you access to promos, do you borrow liberally from friends, or did you actually buy all those CDs….?

In particular order:

1. The National: Alligator
2. Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress: Self-Titled
3. Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die
4. CYHSY: Self-Titled
5. Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake Its Morning
6. Stars: Set Yourself on Fire
7. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
8. John Vanderslice: Pixel Revolt
9. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
10. Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeney: Superwolf
______

Honorable mention to:

Rogue Wave
My Morning Jacket
Ryan Adams (A+ for effort)
Death Cab for Cutie
Paul Duncan
Bloc Party
BRMC

Originally posted by brennser:

i'll admit i haven't listened to even a fourth of your original list,

yeah Hoya, does your journo status get you access to promos, do you borrow liberally from friends, or did you actually buy all those CDs….?

a little bit of all of that … i'd say i bought about 15 of those in CD format (maybe more?), got a bunch more (15? 20?) via emusic, maybe 10 promos, and the rest are stolen

Originally posted by allmy$to930:
In particular order:

i really need to get that wolf parade album, too, thanks for reminding me … i like the vanderslice, but not as much as his previous ones … is the ryan adams cd worth getting?

Not ready to make a list yet, but I'd throw The Dead 60's on there and De Novo Dahl, but you're all probably just deferring that one to Kosmo.

1. The National: Alligator

I have tried and tried and tried with this album I do not see the greatness that most other people ascribe to it….I much prefer Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

Originally posted by vansmack:
The Dead 60's

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
Brendan Benson: "The Alternative to Love"

These two should be on my list as well.

I've listened to it several times as well and I'd have to say…I much prefer Tindersticks.

Originally posted by brennser:

1. The National: Alligator

I have tried and tried and tried with this album I do not see the greatness that most other people ascribe to it….I much prefer Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

… is the ryan adams cd worth getting?

I think that both Cold Roses and Jacksonville are strong releases…a bit of a return to form. Heartbreaker is one of my favorite albums ever.

I assume that many people on this board can't stand him.

I've listened to it several times as well and I'd have to say…I much prefer Tindersticks.


quote:
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Originally posted by brennser:

quote:
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1. The National: Alligator
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I have tried and tried and tried with this album I do not see the greatness that most other people ascribe to it….I much prefer Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

yeah, that one recently got deleted from the itunes. just didn't quite get it.

that list is magnet-o-riffic.

Originally posted by vansmack:
Not ready to make a list yet, but I'd throw The Dead 60's on there and De Novo Dahl, but you're all probably just deferring that one to Kosmo.

nope, don't have either of those, despite kosmo's constant harping about DND

the Lindsay Lohan album comes out next week, this list is far too early!

Damn, you listen to some shitty music!

I would agree with the good but not great assessments of 2005 - there were quite a few albums I liked but not many that I loved.

I managed to buy/borrow about 70 CDs which is definitely the most I have ever listened to in a given year

It was quite difficult to assemble a top 10 list - there are quite a few albums not in the top 10 that have some stellar tracks and some less than stellar tracks

anyway, Top 10, more or less in order

1 Andrew Bird
2 The New Pornographers
3 Josh Rouse
4 The Go Betweens
5 Brendan Benson
6 Teenage Fanclub
7 The Decemberists
8 Sleater Kinney
9 The Hold Steady
10 Sufjan Stevens

other stuff I liked but were less consistent as albums

The Frames
Doves
The Wedding Present
50 Foot Wave
Ed Harcourt - this is a potential top 10 album
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - excellent B-Sides and rarities comp
My Morning Jacket
Franz Ferdinand
Archer Prewitt
Low
The House of Love
Elbow - some amazing songs, others just kinda slide by
Clem Snide
Okkervil River
Shout out Louds
Of Montreal
John Doe
Paul Weller - mixes the sublime with the (almost) ridiculous
Radar Bros
Bloc Party - another potential top 10 album

The best record in my opinion was the Sleater Kinney one. Their San Francisco show was mind-blowing.

Basically in order:

Arctic Monkeys - downloaded album
Ladytron "Witching Hour"
Sufjan Stevens "Illinois"
Shout Out Louds "How Howl Gaff Gaff"
Antony & the Johnsons "I am a Bird Now"
Kasabian
New Pornographers "Twin Cinema"
My Morning Jacket "Z"
Sleater-Kinney "The Woods"
Raveonettes "Pretty in Black"

Bottom 20:
Goldfrapp "Supernature"
LCD Soundsystem
Franz Ferdinand "You Could Have It…"
Black Mountain
Gorillaz "Demon Days"
Hard-Fi "Stars of CCTV"
David Bowie "Stage reissue"
Dungen "Ta Det Lungt"
Babyshambles "Down in Albion"
Maximo Park "A Certain Trigger"