10/10 Albums

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Some of my 10/10 have already been mentioned (Disintegration, The Queen is Dead and Rain Dogs). Some of the others I can think of right now include:

Mississippi John Hurt: The Complete 1928 Sessions -- not quite delta blues, not quite folk, highly original finger-picking guitar technique and gentle voice that somehow always makes me smile. Favourite song: Stack O'Lee
Johnny Cash: With His Hot And Blue Guitar -- contains most of the early classics and the boom-chicka-boom sound. Favourite song: Folsom Prison Blues
The Ronettes: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica -- the quintessential album by the quintessential 60s girl group, with Spector's "wall of sound" treatment. Favourite song: Be My Baby
The Stooges: Raw Power -- my favourite proto-punk record, the name says it all. Favourite song: Search and Destroy
Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain -- Davis playing (in part) Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla (whom I love). Favourite song: Will o' the Wisp
Nick Drake: Bryter Layter -- a personal favourite out of his three haunting dream folk records. The sound of autumn that lasted forever. Favourite song: Northern Sky
Ramones: Ramones -- Extremely funny, extremely melodic, in a way a combination of The Ronettes and The Stooges. Favourite song: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures -- the sound of urban decay, Hook's unmistakable bass lines and Curtis' bass-baritone vocals (when I first heard him, I thought he had to be close to 50). Favourite song: New Dawn Fades
Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy -- more or less invented the noise pop formula by combining extreme feedback with Beastie Boys style melodies. Simple but super-effective. Favourite song: The Hardest Walk
Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique -- extremely inventive sampling combined with trademark BB delivery and humour. Favourite song: The Sounds of Science
Pixies: Doolittle -- perfects everything they're known for, from the silent-loud dynamics to strong melodies and lyrical weirdness. Favourite song: Gouge Away
The Clash: London Calling -- Combined all their influences to move beyond just punk. Favourite song: Guns of Brixton
Nirvana: MTV Unplugged in NYC -- largely reinterpreted their work up until that point with partly unexpected and very strong set of songs. Favourite song: Pennyroyal Tea
CunninLynguists: A Piece of Strange -- my all time favourite hip-hop record. Superb sampling by Kno and rapping that always puts consistency and nocturnal atmosphere of the record first. Favourite song: The Gates

Edit: linked the songs I could find, added Miles Davis

Modest Mouse: Good News for People Who Love Bad News



Madvillainy

Well I don't rate albums with numbers. For me there are albums which I enjoy listening in their entirety and albums from which I pick only a few songs. Some of the former:

Pink Floyd: The Wall. My dad made me listen to this when I was 8. Mind asploded.


Biohazard: No Hold Barred. This is a live album they recorded in Germany circa 1997.


The Donnas: Spend the Night. An all-chick rock'n'roll band. Great fun.


Tool: Ænima. Duh.


Sepultura: Roots

NOFX: So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes


Coal Chamber: Coal Chamber


Garbage: Bleed Like Me. Their most rocker album.


Agnostic Front: Something's Gotta Give


Madball: Set It Off

Haters gonna hate.

Wrong, Modest Mouse's 10/10 album is clearly The Lonesome Crowded West!

I love all of their stuff pre Good News, but every song on that album is wonderful. I hate to sound like a hipster but afterwards they became rich and famous and have 1 or 2 decent songs per cd, and their live shows fucking suck.

Interesting thread, some bands I'll definitely be checking out. Missing something, though:





edity edit: Sure, there's great albums. But 10/10 for me is basically "could I listen to this album for the whole day, every day?" I left this particular one on repeat for a month, and (beside a few minor moments), I feel I could keep it that way indefinitely. So, there.

I have also had Awaken the Guardian on repeat for about a month*. Amazing album, definitely my favorite Fates.

* Kind of. I usually have 2-3 albums on repeat at a time.
Right now it's Anathema - Weather Systems (10/10), Swallow the Sun - Emerald Forest and the Black Bird (8/10) and Moonspell - Alpha Noir/Omega White (7/10).

The Spectre Within shouldn't be ignored, though. It's just as solid and timeless as Awaken the Guardian even though the latter is probably my personal favorite. John Arch fucking ruled on those albums. It seems that every winter there's a period when I have to take a walk in the woods and play those albums over and over and over again because of how incredibly cool they are. They're right up there with the best stuff of Priest and Maiden and the best USPM albums.

Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" and others, Bonnell, Dutoit, de Larrocha, Decca DDD Ovation

Martinu, "Epic of Gilgamesh," Naxos

Brahms, Hungarian Dances Nos. 1-21, Naxos

Haydn's Symphonies, Dorati, Decca box set

Britten's "Curlew River," Marriner, Philips

Have you heard Arch/Matheos (from last year I believe)? It's pretty good. Not nearly as good as old Fates, but Arch still has it.

and

Zed: Not a fan of Arch/Matheos. It has the vocals but it lacks the riffs.

I stole my name from the prog metal outfit, Arcturus. Good call on Thunder Perfect Mind and Disintegration, though I'm not sure I'd name either one 10/10. I wasn't too surprised to see Neurosis top the lists, but the mention of Godflesh blew me away. Not too bad! I have to admit, I hate 80's metal, so Judas Priest is not me, but I was surprised to see a King Diamond mention, as that is my best friend's favorite band. For a while, he considered being a roadie for Diamond as he was planning on moving to Texas.

I'm still sticking with my picks, though I'll add that I seriously considered adding Pixies' "Doolittle" to my list, though if I do that, it suddenly expands from three favorites to 15 different bands. I'd also have to add Gary Numan, Switchblade Symphony, and In Flames "The Jester Race/Black-ash Inheritance," and then probably a few others.

Also, going to recommend Death in June as a recommendation if you like Current 93.

No Aphex Twin, people?

Oh well, sh!t on it.

Tool - Aenima (I stole the song from Undertow, but the live performance is too great to pass up on!)



Jeff Buckley - Grace



Immortal Technique - Revolutionary, Vol. 2



No pretty pictures for these ones!

Menckenstein
King Diamond - Abigail is a classic for sure. "Them", though? I find The Puppet Master and The Eye to be far superior.

Dat riffage.

ArcturusXIV
The Jester Race is a damn fine album. But, like you say, adding that would make me have to expand even further; Dissection (Storm of the Light's Bane), At the Gates (Slaughter of the Soul), Dark Tranquility (???) and more.

Zed - Aside from House of God and Abigail 2 I don't think there's a King Diamond album I wouldn't consider at least a 9/10

Mercyful Fate all 10/10

I'm gay for King Diamond and concept albums in general.

Operation Mindcrime is my masturbation soundtrack.

I actually prefer the debut from King Diamond, even though it's not a perfect album by any means. Abigail and Them are good too. This is one of the greatest albums ever, though:

Carrion

I am terribly tempted to brofist the above, though King Diamond is not really up my alley. My friend bought me Melissa for one of my birthdays, as well as King Diamond's Abigail.

I didn't really mention it, but Meddle is possibly favorite Pink Floyd, though for Epic Songs, Echoes would have to go against Shine on You Crazy Diamond. I think Echoes would win, though I enjoy the latter album on the whole at least equally for the arrangement. I've actually never heard anyone mention Meddle before, usually Animals comes up as a favorite, or Dark Side, which is a great entrance to Floyd. For Wall fans, I enjoy the movie more than the actual album. In context, it makes a lot more impact!