The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 1

As I mentioned in my previous Month in Review post, I don't blog nearly enough about music considering how hugely important it is to my life. The concept of this post, a discussion of my favourite albums of all time ("desert island discs," if you will), has been banging around inside my head for a few months, but it was only recently that I started putting it down on "paper."

The following list would be somewhat different if I took a Soundtrack to My Movie approach to it, but what I wanted to do was actually talk about my favourite albums now, not albums that were awesome in their day. If I can still listen to the album as a whole today and love nearly every minute of it, it belongs on this list. I had one simple rule, only one album by any given band, which gave me a hell of a challenge at times.

The list is more or less presented in opposite order of preference--so the best is saved for last, of course!--although that is a little absurd when they are all albums I love. I will attempt to justify each album's placement in the list with a short discussion of its merits. After each entry, I have also listed: the four best songs on the album, in order of their appearance; the one song that I could take or leave (ignoring short instrumentals and hidden tracks); and, if I had a tough choice picking only one album from a given band, I cheated and listed that band's second best album along with its highlight track, just to confuse the matter. You should not be surprised to see a lot of overlap with the Soundtrack to My Movie (and I do strongly recommend starting with that post before reading this one).

20. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil (2005)

I only started listening to Avenged Sevenfold in 2009. Every other band and album in this list has been a part of my life for years. This made it tough for me to decide whether they deserved a spot in the top twenty. Will I still be listening to Avenged Sevenfold in the years to come...? The recent release of Nightmare is good evidence for "Yes, definitely."

It was Avenged Sevenfold's 2007 self-titled fourth album that first got my attention, and for the longest time, I preferred its straightforwardness to City of Evil's progressive thrash metal sound. (Their previous two thrash metal albums do little for me, so they are irrelevant.) But over the course of 2010, I have found myself going back to City of Evil much more than the self-titled album. It is something truly special. The last half of the album, in particular, is insanely good.

Essential Tracks: "Bat Country," "Seize the Day," "Sidewinder," "Strength of the World"
Filler Track: "Blinded in Chains"

19. Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein (2003)

There was a time that I hated Third Eye Blind. Stephan Jenkins has a unique vocal style that took me a while to appreciate. "Semi-Charmed Life" was such an overplayed song that it was years after its 1997 heyday that I actually appreciated its brilliance. But, in 1999, 3eb released awesome single "Never Let You Go" from their second album and I decided that maybe I should check them out. And I was shocked to learn that their self-titled debut album was actually fantastic from beginning to end. Songs that I had never wanted to hear ever again on the radio sounded perfectly acceptable in the context of the complete album. Their second album, Blue, was also quite good, although much less consistent.

Third Eye Blind's popularity had waned by the time Out of the Vein was released, but sales never reflect quality. Out of the Vein is unquestionably 3eb's best album, diverse, never boring, and frequently catchy and singalong worthy. I didn't even really appreciate it until a few years after its release, when I listened to it again on a whim and was blown away. Although it starts off strong with "Faster" and "Blinded," the album really hits its stride with "Crystal Baller" and especially "My Hit and Run," which is arguably the best 3eb song.

Essential Tracks: "Crystal Baller," "My Hit and Run," "Misfits," "Palm Reader"
Filler Track: "Can't Get Away"

18. Our Lady Peace - Gravity (2002)

Before Gravity was released, I was sure that Our Lady Peace's best days were behind them. I was a big fan of OLP from the very beginning when "The Birdman" and "Starseed" took MuchMusic by storm. Naveed and Clumsy were both awesome in completely different ways. But the two following albums had been mostly disappointing.

Gravity was like a rebirth for a band. Original guitarist Mike Turner had been replaced with Steve Mazur, and a new guitarist meant a new guitar sound. And what a great new sound it was. "All For You" and "Not Enough" are the best examples of Mazur's influence.

Essential Tracks: "All For You," "Innocent," "Not Enough," "A Story About a Girl"
Filler Track: "Made of Steel"
Runner-Up: Naveed (1994) - "Naveed"

17. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

There are times that Amazon.com's recommendations are shockingly good, such as the time that the site recommended that I check out Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica. I sampled a couple of tracks, was intrigued, and bought the album mostly unheard. This was my first exposure to Modest Mouse's unique guitar sound and song structure. And, for me, it is still the best album they've ever released.

Essential Tracks: "3rd Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything," "The Stars are Projectors," "Lives"
Filler Track: "I Came as a Rat"

16. Queensryche - Rage for Order (1986)

Rage for Order is the oldest album on this list, and Queensryche is one of only four bands in the top twenty that even existed before the 90s. If there are older folks out there reading this, you may now be grumbling about all of the awesome albums from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I am missing out on (there's nothing good before the 60s), but it should be no surprise that the music that sticks with me is the music that I have grown up with. The only older albums that were in contention were something from The Beatles and some classic Rush (see next entry!), but there ultimately isn't a single The Beatles album that I enjoy from start to finish. And it should also be no surprise that most of the music I listened to in the 80s is not worthy of this list, because it was mostly garbage. (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard's Hysteria came closest, almost making the Honourable Mentions section in part two--yeah, I copped out again and made this top twenty an unofficial top thirty.)

And now I have to somewhat embarrassingly reveal that the first time I heard Rage for Order was in 1996, ten years after it was released. (So, none of the music that I listened to in the 80s made the list.) Actually, this is a testament to its quality. It is an unapologetically 80s metal album, but unlike nearly all of its peers, it hasn't aged miserably. It definitely helps that the subject matter is never partying and rarely girls. It is political. It is dramatic. It is awesome.

Essential Tracks: "Walk in the Shadows," "The Killing Words," "Neue Regel," "Screaming in Digital"
Filler Track: "Gonna Get Close to You"
Runner-Up: Operation: Mindcrime (1988) - "The Mission"

15. Rush - Counterparts (1993)

It's a bit blasphemous for a Rush fan to give the top nod to Counterparts, Rush's surprisingly successful reinvention of their sound for the 90s (technically, this reinvention started in 1989 with Presto, but that's a minor detail), over their numerous classic albums from the 70s and 80s. But that's simply the way this Rush fan feels. I can't pretend that this doesn't have a lot to do with the fact that it was Counterparts that made me a Rush fan.

It's even more blasphemous to then give the runner-up nod to their newest album instead of Moving Pictures or Hemispheres or Signals. But, shit, Snakes & Arrows is awesome, the best thing Rush has released in more than ten years, and it very nearly bumped Counterparts off the top.

Essential Tracks: "Cut to the Chase," "Nobody's Hero," "Double Agent," "Everyday Glory"
Filler Track: "The Speed of Love"
Runner-Up: Snakes & Arrows (2007) - "The Way the Wind Blows"

14. Anberlin - Cities (2007)

Cities is the newest album in this top twenty. If you haven't heard it, this may seem like a bold choice on my part, but it's really not. There are a few minor missteps in the first half of the album, but everything from "Alexithymia" on is breathtaking, and you may recall that its amazing album-ending "(*Fin)" made my Soundtrack. Anberlin's Stephen Christian has one of the best voices in alternative rock, and I mean that both in terms of his strong (albeit Christianity-infused) lyrics and his unique vocal tone.

Essential Tracks: "The Unwinding Cable Car," "Inevitable," "Dismantle. Repair," "(*Fin)"
Filler Track: "Adelaide"
Runner-Up: Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) - "Paperthin Hymn"

13. Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)

Deja Entendu is the second album on this list that I discovered because of Amazon.com's recommendations. Like with Modest Mouse, I bought the album mostly unheard. (Lest you think based on two examples that this practice always turned out well, there are just as many times that a recommended album was a disappointment. This is also a practice that I've long abandoned in these days of easy access to free downloadable music.)

Unlike Modest Mouse, Brand New isn't really a unique sounding band. They have a pretty standard alternative rock sound, with a couple memorable song exceptions. Deja Entendu is awesome mostly because of the quality of the song-writing. The song titles are ridiculously long and pretentious but still somehow work, and the songs are all fantastic in their own ways.

Essential Tracks: "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades," "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis," "Good to Know That if I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do is Die"
Filler Track: "Tautou"

12. Weezer - Weezer (1994)

Weezer's "Blue Album" is a classic. Everyone owns it; everyone loves it. And we all shit our pants the first time we saw Weezer interacting with the cast of "Happy Days" in the brilliant "Buddy Holly" video. While Pinkerton is arguably the better Weezer album, I'd rather listen to their debut on most days.

Essential Tracks: "My Name is Jonas," "Undone - The Sweater Song," "Say It Ain't So," "In the Garage"
Filler Track: "Surf Wax America"
Runner-Up: Pinkerton (1996) - "Butterfly"

11. Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993)

I don't know if there's a band that has squandered more of their potential in my life time than Pearl Jam, but once upon a time when I was in high school they were the shit. Vs. was my favourite album for a long time. It has slipped a little over the years, but it's still a great goddamn rock record. "Go" is the perfect album opener, clearly establishing what type of album it is going to be, and that energy rarely lets up.

Essential Tracks: "Daughter," "Glorified G," "Rearviewmirror," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
Filler Track: "Leash"
Runner-Up: Ten (1991) - "Black"

To be continued...

I'm--of course!--saving the top ten albums for part two, which should be up early next week. For a tease, the top ten includes five albums from the 90s and five albums from the 00s, where: 10 begins with hypnosis; in 9 the summer is always slipping away; 8 has no percussion; 7 ends with a question; 6 is from a band that didn't have any representation in my Soundtrack, not even the honourable mentions; 5 feels that it's at 45 degrees; 4 is from a band that made the honourable mentions in my Soundtrack with a song from a different album; 3 pretends to have ten songs by splitting one long song into two tracks; 2 has an album-ending track that refuses to end; and 1 is the best album from 1994.

Edited to add: part two is here.