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Post by onehitwonder on Nov 10, 2020 22:32:23 GMT 1
207 Lana Del Rey - Born To Die (2012)
The second studio album and major label debut by the New York American singer-songwriter born Lizzy Grant, whom kick started her career with this sadcore template of stylized, cinematic quality; themes of sadness, tragic romance, glamor, and melancholia; and references to pop culture, particularly 1950s and 1960s Americana with this baroque pop and trip hop album.
She kicked her persona revamp with the haunting, enigmatic "Video Games"; and followed it up with the singles "Born To Die"; "Blue Jeans"; "Summertime Sadness" (the peerless original, not that godawful dance remake); "National Anthem"; "Dark Paradise". But a number of the non "single" cuts are equally as strong.
"Off To The Races" is the Nancy Sinatra original of Sheryl Crow's "Leaving Last Vegas" which you never heard; "Diet Mountain Dew" sounds like a Katy Perry song given a Leonard Cohen makeover; whilst I can't believe "Radio" was never a single.
If you wanted to be picky, the problem with this album is Emile Haynie production is possibly too immaculate so being over powering making the album a bit too sonically samey for its own good.
I bought The paradise edition and really enjoy pretty much most of it. Took me so long to get into her, only after Born to die (the song) was released and debuted at #1 on my chart. Ride is probably my favourite song, followed by Dark paradise and Gods & monsters. Saw her live once, maybe not someone I would see again on a big venue, maybe a small intimate venue instead.
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Post by onehitwonder on Nov 10, 2020 22:40:58 GMT 1
214 P!nk - I'm Not Dead (2006)
Alecia Moore's fourth studio album reversed the commercial decline of her misfiring third album Try This (2003), and ultimately set her up as a dependable pop rock artist for the next fifteen years with elements of electronica, r&b, & country chart star there after on what I regard as her career best effort.
The quirky opening single "Stupid Girl" was a Black Eyed Peas sounding feminist statement with an entertaining slightly bonkers parodying video which was really bold in a pre-Gaga landscape after her patchy third album. But we did not know, but the record company did know was this album had stone cold bankers on it to rescue the campaign if needed (not that it needed saving, as "Stupid Girls" worked as an opening gambit).
With the Xtina like ballad "Nobody Knows"; the solid driving pop rocker "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)"; to three infectious P!nk/Max Martin/Dr Luke collabs: the proto I Kissed A Girl stomper "'Cuz I Can"; the Since U Been Gone like "U + Ur Hand"; and the best thing she has ever done about a male friend (not a boyfriend) she lost to drug abuse "Who Knew". Plus the rest of the album cuts are pretty sturdy efforts, especially the folky "Dear Mr President"; and my favourite non single from it "Runaway"
After Try this underperformed I didn't know what was going to happen, but she bounced back with a fantastic album. I didn't like Stupid girls at all, it seemed a bit desperate to get attention with making fun of others, but with follow up single Who knew, that mad me bawl my eyes out and the album and then seeing her on tour. I was blown away!
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Post by smokeyb on Nov 10, 2020 23:07:25 GMT 1
205 Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
I was late to the party with Oasis, it's not that I didn't like their music I did, but in the 90's I preferred Blur, Suede, James, Manics & Pulp. Many many years later a did finally buy this album. It's good.
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Roo.
Member
Posts: 17,866
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Post by Roo. on Nov 11, 2020 0:00:40 GMT 1
I love Born To Die, and I don't think she's ever come close to matching it. It's the only one of her albums where everything has a strong melody, my favourites are the title track and Off To The Races.
As a Mancunian 90's kid, I... actually don't like Oasis much. But Morning Glory is the best of the bunch.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 11, 2020 19:53:37 GMT 1
204 The Corrs - Forgiven Not Forgotten (1995)
The debut studio album by Irish family Celtic pop folk-rock group from Dundalk. The album was primarily produced by David Foster.
Signed to Atlantic Records, it features six instrumentals as well as nine easy listening Radio 2 friendly tracks usually featuring Andrea Corr on lead vocals aided by her "beautiful" sisters Sharon (violin, fiddles, etc) & Caroline (drums, percussion, etc) on vocal harmonies augmented by their older far right nutcase brother Jim (guitars, keyboards programming).
This album became a moderate success in North America, before becoming a huge success in Australia before the UK belatedly took notice of Terry Wogan cheerleading of them.
The singles released from it were "Runaway"; "Forgiven, Not Forgotten"; "The Right Time"; "Love To Love You"; & my favourite "Closer".
They would go on to have more successful albums, but personally, I don't think they came close to surpassing their debut album.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Nov 11, 2020 20:14:03 GMT 1
'Talk on corners' is my favourite Corrs album, but I do love that debut too. They went more poppy after that but they still had a few decent songs - including 'Breathless' and 'Long Night' which I adore.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 12, 2020 20:40:30 GMT 1
203 The Weeknd - After Hours (2020)
The fourth studio album by the R&B dream pop Canadian singer saw Abel Tesfaye achieve what he has always threatened to, but never quite achieved until now .. namely make a great cohesive album. Aided by Max Martin, Metro Boomin, IllAngelo, DaHeala, & Ricky Reed he delivered a very modern cinematic yet pulsating sounding psychedelic R&B album with dance & dream pop influences over a set of 14 good to great songs highlighting his vulnerability but pushing the boundaries of self indulgence, but in a good way.
It contains the USA #1 singles "Heartless"; "Blinding Lights"; the instant classic "In Your Eyes"; & "Save Your Tears"; and I suspect a couple more will reveal themselves comes Album Year End Polls and the Music Awards season.
(I had this planned for this position honest,and the timing of the announcement that he will perform the coveted half-time show at next year's Super Bowl, which the NFL has confirmed is just a coincidence).
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 13, 2020 20:37:05 GMT 1
202 Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman (1970)
The 4th studio album by the London born singer/songwriter. This album includes many of his Best Of album essentials such as "Where Do the Children Play?", "Hard Headed Woman", "Wild World", "Sad Lisa", "Into White", and "Father and Son".
This 11 track album saw him gain critical acclaim to go with his earlier commercial success over 3 years earlier; with "Father & Son" & "Wild World" becoming international hits. They were also hits again the former for Boyzone; & the latter for Jimmy Cliff; Maxi Priest, and Mr Big.
This Paul Samwell-Smith production highlighted the songwriting to capture a British spin on the whole Laurel Canyon (Crosby Stills Nash & Young; Joni Mitchell; James Taylor; Carole King; etc) scene so allowing its acoustic spirituality and transcendence to breathe among the lyrics and hooks.
He would keep that momentum going for most of the 1970s until he initially disappeared from popular music due to his religious beliefs.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 14, 2020 22:56:03 GMT 1
201 Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York (1994)
The only live album in my list is by the Grunge Rock band from Seattle (FYI: I rate Thin Lizzy's Live & Dangerous as the 2nd greatest live album; with U2's Under A Blood Red Sky in 3rd). It features a non typical features a non typical acoustic performance recorded at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993, for the television series MTV Unplugged. It works in its own right, as they played mainly lesser-known material and covers of songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie, Lead Belly, and Meat Puppets. Co-Produced by REM producer Scott Litt it was the first Nirvana album released after the death of singer Kurt Cobain in April 1994, and their only album to win a Grammy Award.
For me it without question their finest album, as their debut album Bleach is a patchy affair (something shared with all three studio albums) and hindered by the poor unfocused production; their blockbuster "Nevermind" is comparable to the similar impacting Zeitgeist "Never Mind The b****cks Here's The Sex Pistols" in so far as the four singles are brilliant, but a lot of the rest of the songwriting does not stand up to the great rock production, especially on the latter half of the album; and "In Utero" is the more extreme (raw and candyfloss sounding) sibling. Yet in truth it is actually more consistent than "Nevermind" even though it is a far more challenging album to listen to.
I certainly think this album contains the definitive versions of "About A Girl"; "Pennyroyal Tea"; "Dumb"; "Polly"; "All Apologies"; & "On A Plain". Easily the best version of "The Man Who Sold The World"; whilst the closer "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" is emotionally chilling in its restraining emotional ragged glory. Indeed for me I got a sincerity from Kurt's voice from the band turning to a sympathetic mercurial folk rock sound that I never got from his band's three studio albums.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 15, 2020 20:22:40 GMT 1
200 The Divine Comedy - Casanova (1996)
The fourth studio album by Neil Hannon's Northern Ireland's chamber pop band released at the height of BritPop. Hence his Scott Walker meets Noel Coward abilities were given a Blur/Pulp makeover.
You'll recall the singles UK #14 "Something For The Weekend"; UK #27 "Becoming More Like Alfie"; & UK #15 "The Frog Princess". But its most famous track is "Songs From Love" aka its instrumental version was the theme to (the best comedy show ever) Channel 4's Father Ted.
The rest of the supporting cast veer from Scott Walker-esque chamber pop "The Dogs & The Horses", to the Jarvis Cocker fronting 2nd to 4th album era Blur knock offs "In & Out Of Paris & London". But throughout Neil's humourous Noel Coward lyricism always raise a smile to make this an enjoyable vignette album to listen to.
Neil Hannon's outfit released their 12th album "Office Politics" in 2019 and as ever it could be relied upon to come up with a few minor gems worth repeated listening. Indeed its "Norman & Norma" I'd rate among his top ten if not top five songs.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 16, 2020 20:30:00 GMT 1
199 10cc - The Original Soundtrack (1975)
The third studio album by Stockport based art rock quartet of Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley, & Lol Creme saw the foursome at their most cohesive, least erratic, and was in truth the final album they made before the two main songwriting teams (ES & GG, & KG & LC) before the friction & fractures between the two camps was too apparent (on their follow up 1976 "How Dare You" - their last before the Godley & Creme bailed out taking their oddball experimentation with them, to the detriment of both sides).
The album's opening track, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme's "Une Nuit a Paris", is a nine-minute, multi-part "mini-operetta". In English, the title translates as "One Night in Paris" and the suite is divided into three separate parts, and was a massive influence on Freddie Mercury. Not least as the band first debuted the song on tour, with their support band being .... Queen.
The next track was the UK #1, USA #2, Australia #3, Canada #1 soft rock classic "I'm Not In Love" penned by Eric Stewart & Graham Gouldman. The same pair composed the Steely Dan meets the Eagles rocker "Blackmail". Therest of the album is at a similar strong standard.
"The Second Sitting For The Last Supper" is a weird hybrid of Wings, Roxy Music & Led Zeppelin. "Brand New Day" is a standard Godley & Creme otherworldly ballad; "Flying Junk" sounds like Supertramp; the other single "Life Is A Minestrone" is a ridiculously catchy Frank Zappa type singalong with nonsense lyrics and features Creme's only lead vocal; "The Film Of My Love" features Gouldman's only lead vocal on a superb earworm that sounds like Monty Python affectionately parodying Demis Roussos; "Channel Swimmer" sounds is a midtempo ballad that is classic early-mid 1970s McCartney's Wings; whilst the ridiculous mellow closing track "Good News" sounds like it was designed to be played to put you to sleep in a good way.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 17, 2020 20:39:24 GMT 1
198 Duran Duran - Medazzaland (1997)
Not on Spotify, but full album is on youtube in one sitting:
This is a classic example of the right album album, at the wrong time. The ninth studio album by the Birmingham new wave band was never officially released physically in Europe, and was solely released in North America, Latin America and Japan.
The album is the follow-up to the poorly received, largely dreadful covers album Thank You, and bassist John Taylor left the band in January 1997 before recording of this album was complete. With only three members remaining – Nick Rhodes, Simon Le Bon and ex-Missing Persons guitarist/songwriter Warren Cuccurullo – Duran Duran wrote and recorded several new tracks for the album, and re-recorded 4 songs previously done with Taylor. The dismal performance of the album led in part to the dissolution of the by now Taylor-less band's contract with EMI after almost two decades. EMI gave the band ownership rights and the master tapes to the Medazzaland album.
The heavy layered electronica music varies from the humourously sleazy "Electric Barbarella"; dance rock "Big Bang Generation", to Smashing Pumpkins like Grunge Rock "Who Do You Think You Are"; through the Gothic bitter austerity of "Silva Halo" and the emotional simple acoustic sweetness of "Michael You've Got a Lot to Answer For" written for Simon's good friend who was the lead singer of INXS who died a month after this album's release, Other notable songs on the album include "Medazzaland", the first DD song to feature Nick Rhodes, not Simon Le Bon, on vocals, and the quiet verse-loud chorus "So Long Suicide", a reaction to the death of Kurt Cobain; "Buried in the Sand", with lyrics by Rhodes, was written about John Taylor's departure from the group; and likewise "Midnight Sun" with lyrics by Le Bon, was written about John Taylor's departure from the group, and his unhappy feelings about the remaining state of the band. Whilst the album concluding with the self-deprecating swagger of "Undergoing Treatment" on their most adventourous, indie alternative sounding album of their 40 year career.
If only they'd not released the appalling "Thank You" and put this out a year or two earlier, things could have been so, so different as this album really is a gem.....
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Post by smokeyb on Nov 17, 2020 22:32:53 GMT 1
199 10cc - The Original Soundtrack (1975)
I bought this album on it's release and played it to death, I don't think there is a bad track on it.
10CC at their finest.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 18, 2020 20:57:01 GMT 1
197 Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)
The seventh album by the Brooklyn born singer/songwriter, was recorded in London, produced by Richard Perry, which was released by RCA Records in November 1971, peaking at USA #3 & UK #4 early in 1972.
You know his power ballad global #1 hit "Without You", written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group Badfinger; as well as his USA #27 self penned hard rock psychedelic wig out "Jump In The Fire" including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a detuned bass part by Herbie Flowers; plus his surreal USA #8 calypso earworm "Coconut". Other highlights included his proto-Billy Joel upbeat piano opener "Gotta Get Up"; and his takes on the standards "Early In The Morning" & "Let The Good Times Roll"; as well as a song John Grant surely has heard "The Moonbeam Song".
After the success of this album, and a couple of others released in its slipstream Nilsson moved back in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, the two were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers, and also Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord. (He had bought 9 Curzon Place, London in 1972 a flat on 4th floor, at top right belonged to Nilsson; where both Cass Elliot (1974) and Keith Moon (1978) died whilst renting it from Nilsson. He pretty much retired from making music after 1980, until his death in 1994.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Nov 18, 2020 21:07:28 GMT 1
I love Harry Nilsson. There is so much more to him than the covers 'Everybody's Talkin' and 'Without You', although both are exceptional. I have considered entering him in Haven Factor before but thought I'd be knocked out too early so haven't had the nerve yet.
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Post by smokeyb on Nov 18, 2020 21:51:38 GMT 1
197 Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)
This was an album I always intended to buy, but never got round to it. Then a few years ago I finally picked up a copy on Record Store Day.
Glad I did, well worth the wait.
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Post by Jordan on Nov 19, 2020 12:25:17 GMT 1
Know very little of Harry Nilsson, but Gotta Get Up is a repeat offender on many of my playlists.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 19, 2020 20:27:48 GMT 1
196 Abba - Super Trouper (1980)
The seventh & penultimate studio album by the Swedish pop legends which features the UK #1 singles "The Winner Takes It All" - the sad ballad about the end of a marital relationship (Björn and Agnetha divorced in 1979 - Bjorn wrote the lyrics, sung by Agnetha) and the Frida sung "Super Trouper" about the famous Stadium strobe light as a metaphor to being a performer & fame. The album became the biggest-selling album of 1980 in the UK.
Probably due to the disco backlash of the time, the album saw ABBA returning to a more straightforward pop sound, as opposed to the preceding (and noticeably more dance-oriented) Voulez-Vous album.
The other tracks on the album include the uptempo "On and On and On"; the electro-dance released on 12" single only "Lay All Your Love On Me"; the melancholic seasonal perennial "Happy New Year"; and the dramatic beginning of the end "Our Last Summer". It also contains the more traditional Nordic sounding "Andante, Andante" & "The Way Old Friends Do". "Me & I" which sounds like an outtake from their last album, but given a sound makeover from their final album "The Visitors"; plus my favourite non single cut "The Piper".
Plus the CD release mops up two B-sides of which "Elaine" is a minor uptempo pop gem.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 21, 2020 11:53:06 GMT 1
195 Take That - Beautiful World (2006)
The fourth studio album by the Manchester pop group who were the biggest teen sensations between 1992-95. Released on 24 November 2006, it was the band's first studio album in 11 years after their unexpectedly successful reunion tour minus Robbie Williams, who had quit the group in 1995 and did not rejoin them until 2010.
Instead of being a throwback to their earlier teen pop dance numbers & Gary Barlow penned midtempo ballads; the group made a very contemporary sounding adult pop rock album produced by John "Goo Goo Dolls; Melissa Etheridge; Alanis Morissette; Sheryl Crow; Michelle Branch; Anastacia; etc" Shanks with all original material.
As of before Gary Barlow dominated the vocals (6 out of 12 if you include the hidden track "Butterfly") not least on the chart topping Bee Gees meets Razorlight rewriting Radiohead's Karma Police sounding lead single "Patience"; the classic Barlow emotional piano ballad "I'd Wait For Life"; and the mature Bon Jovi meets a-ha sounding opener "Reach Out"; Mark Owen supplies 3 lead vocals with the highlight being the triumphant chart topping ELO knock off "Shine"; Howard Donald supplies two lead vocals on the title track; and "Manchunian Way" written about the 1996 Manchester bombing which he was caught out in whilst shopping in the Armdale Centre; and Jason Orange delivers the charming lead vocal on the Nick Drake folk like closer "Wooden Boat".
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Post by Whitneyfan on Nov 21, 2020 15:26:51 GMT 1
'Super Trouper' is a fantastic album. Every single song on the original 10 track album is a 9/10 or a 10/10 for me.
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