Wow… didn’t know anyone else had heard of The Rainmakers. I was a huge fan when they were touring around the flyover states. Saw them half a dozen times in Wichita. I still listen to their first three albums pretty regularly.
I happened on them when they put out their first album and have been a fan ever since, and that's even without ever getting a chance to see them live. Bob Walkenhorst is easily my favorite songwriter.
Flirting with the Universe is their fourth album - after a bit of a recording hiatus after The Good News and the Bad News, and it's far and away my favorite. It's obvious that they took their time and carefully crafted an album designed to showcase their talent. It's unfortunate that it still didn't manage to bring them the recognition they've always deserved, but I appreciate it.
Mostly replying as a personal challenge; I doubt anyone cares about my opinion. I think this is a hard but interesting challenge and I could probably spend a lifetime perfecting it, but this is my unadulterated first pass:
“Stardust” - Willie Nelson
“Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” - Smashing Pumpkins
“Blue Lines” - Massive Attack
“Kind of Blue” - Miles Davis
“Wildflowers” - Tom Petty
“Blind Melon” - Blind Melon
“Loaded” - The Velvet Underground
“At War with the Mystics” - The Flaming Lips
“Dire Straits” - Dire Straits
“Pretty Hate Machine” - Nine Inch Nails
Fuck. How do you make a list like this without regretting every decision you made?!
Linda Ronstadt - What’s New (that will throw a few folks off the trail)
Not really, your tastes are very similar to mine. Although "What's New" was just a gateway drug and now my music library is full of albums by Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Carmen McRae, Joao Gilberto, Frank Sinatra and more.
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
James Booker - Classified
The Meters – Rejuvenation
Darondo - Listen to My Song
James Brown - Live at the Apollo
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Janelle Monae - ArchAndroid
Anderson .Paak - Malibu
Controversial I know. There was a point where I listened to that album everyday at work for months. Could be swapped for Hail Mary Mallon - The Bestiary
I'll hate myself in a couple weeks for this selection because my taste varies week-to-week, but right now it'd be:
Devin Townsend: Ziltoid the Omniscient, Empath
Gojira: From Mars to Sirius, Magma
The Ocean: Phanerozoic I, Phanerozoic II (can I count these as one album?)
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (I think they were going for a record for the longest album title ever).
Voivod: The Outer Limits
Mastodon: Leviathan and Crack the Skye
If Phanerozoic I and II count as a single album, then I'd ask if I can leave the last one open to be filled by a single random studio album of an artist of my choosing, replaced weekly/monthly.
Wow, a fan of the later Rush albums! I also dug those. It's always felt like unpopular opinion for me to tell anyone, even other Rush fans, "I looove Presto." (I know that's not "later" Rush, but still.)
Mariya Takeuchi - Love Songs (I've never actually listened to this in full but I love "September" off this album)
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (Same as above, I love "Stan" but have never actually listened to this in full, I picked the last two because I wanted some non-rock picks but I'm not much of an album guy in genres that aren't rock.)
I don't know how to appreciate Fall of Troy outside of F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. and its unpronounceable original version. Even seeing them live (they opened for Alexisonfire) left me feeling like i was missing something.
Doppelgänger has some reasonably accessible tracks outside of FCPREMIX. Try ‘act one, scene one’ or ‘mouths like sidewinder missles’. Your mileage may vary of course.
Aly & fila - beyond the lights(already own it)
Craig Connelly - believe in magic
Silicon soul - staring into space
Jazzanova - In between
Deep dish - junk science
Nuspirit Helsinki – Nuspirit Helsinki
Giuseppe Ottaviani - alma
Dj patife - no Estrada
Kevin Yost – One Starry Night
Can't think the last one.
Pete Seeger-If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle
Cream- strange brew
Dave Brubeck- time out
This is wild, I didn’t realize how dated my music taste skewed. I wanted frank turner, cistem failure, modest mouse, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, but I couldn’t cut anything else.
Holy shit, one of these lists where I see albums I listen to haha. Why that particular Trivium album? Also, the black album gets all the love, but I'll take And Justice For All over it every day of the week.
I really like the whole composition of In Waves. It really feels like it's telling a story and all the songs flow so well into one another. I generally prefer albums that are whole and not just a collections of songs or singles. In Waves is probably one of my favorite albums for it's cohesiveness.
And yeah black album is great but I think MoP is just bangers all the way through. If I want thrash metal I want Metallica and I don't want to slow down haha.
1 & 2 - The Beatles (White Album) (1968) by The Beatles
3 - La Invasión de los blátidos (1992) by Cuca
4 - In Utero (1993) by Nirvana
5 - Historias (1994) by Arjona
6 - Insomniac (1995) by Green Day
7 - Version 2.0 (1998) by Garbage
8 - Dónde están los ladrones? (1998) by Shakira
9 - Americana (1998) by The Offspring
10 - Enema of the State (1999) by Blink 182
Bro I honestly can't even name 10 albums. I've never liked listening to albums because after the singles are over most of the songs suck imo. I basically have one playlist and it's just all of my favorite songs from every genre mixed into one thing, and it's basically the only thing I listen to lol.
Not going to downvote you because your tastes are your tastes. But it's kind of sad that the artists you like can't come up with more than one or two good songs per album. Or maybe it's the industry itself since so few people buy albums. When I used to buy albums my favorite song was never the hit single.
Haha yeah people always bash on me because all my favorite songs are always just the top 100 or whatever... but that's why I like them, they're normally the bands upbeat, catchy songs lol.
I can name a lot more than 10 albums, but yes in some cases many of the songs are not interesting. In some extreme cases I have regretted not just buying the single instead.
There are a few albums, though, where I like every single song. But I couldn't be constrained to just them for my whole life, as that would exclude some really good stuff.
10 times the first and last self-titled album of our school punk band "Auswurph" ! The bass had one string. The guitar 5, on a good day, on all other days more 3 to 4. The drums were stolen here and there -ask me how I know, I was the drummer - and our frontman was a certified psycho. No really, he was. Several stays in the psychiatry. I think there weren't even 10 cd's made... I can't remember exactly. Now as I think of it I can't remember anything of that time in detail, all a bit blurry, but one thing I can remember: it was the best album anyone had made since the invention of noise.
Madvilliany - Madvillian
Drukqs - Aphex Twin
To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
Since I Left You - The Avalanches
The Glow, Pt. 2 - The Microphones
Late Registration - Kanye West
Remain In Light - Talking Heads
Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
The Money Store - Death Grips
Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus
What kinda music have you listened to? Bands/artists who compose albums with a central concept and/or sound are a lot easier for me to listen to than albums that are collections of unconnected songs. For an example, Devin Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient, and Empath, or King Gizzard's PetroDragonic Apocalypse are way more listenable as a full album than some pop-music album designed to hit the top charts with maximum radio/streamablility.