Guest BLOG! Saba’s Favorite Albums (2 of 2)
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A couple notes before I continue my list of “Alltime Favorite Albums.” I list my top four songs per album because I really can’t help ranking things (they are listed in order of love). Also, I didn’t want to repeat bands so I made a note of albums I considered for the list as well. So that’s why that’s there. I have guilt issues.
10. The National – Alligator (2005)
I managed to never even hear of The National until I saw them open for Arcade Fire in 2007, and I was mesmerized. I immediately went out and bought the Alligator record and was impressed all over again (I didn’t know this at the time, but Boxer was released two weeks later). Hypnotic and heartfelt, The National struck a perfect balance in this album. How the hell did I miss this for two years?
Key songs: Baby, We’ll Be Fine; Abel; Secret Meeting; Mr. November
Their other classic: Boxer
9. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha (2007)
Listening to Andrew Bird makes you cooler. Before Armchair Apocrypha there were individual songs such as “Fake Palindromes” and “I” to prove this, but it wasn’t until this release in 2007 that I could hand someone an entire album and say “Listen to this, it will make you cooler,” and be confident about it. It also has led to a sharp increase in his popularity, selling out Radio City and Carnegie Hall. Andrew Bird makes everyone cooler.
Key songs: Plasticities; Imitosis; Darkmatter; Heretics
Just about as cool: The Mysterious Production of Eggs
8. Soundgarden – Superunknown (1994)
Even as a sixth grader I realized how epic this album was. It was the first album I bought on my own – I didn’t know if it was any good, it wasn’t recommended to me. I heard “Black Hole Sun” on the radio and promptly biked to the nearest CD store. I let the seventy plus minutes of the album resonate in my teal basement room and it was the first album that completely got me. Not surprising from the band that was the spark plug for grunge and Sub Pop.
Key songs: Spoonman; The Day I Tried to Live; Superunknown; Head Down
A little more badass: Badmotorfinger
7. The Roots – Game Theory (2006)
Dark (without being depressing), political (without being Bono), the rap band was able to put together a cohesive record that plays like a story (without being a heavy-handed concept record). Add that to ?uestlove’s percussion and Black Thought’s flow and you have an instant classic. Also, I always tried to time my then constant drives to Rehoboth Beach to the line “somewhere between Jersey and Delaware” while I was crossing the bridge the connects the two states. Nailed it.
Key songs: Long Time; Game Theory; In the Music; Baby
Can’t argue with: Things Fall Apart
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell (2003)
Is This It may have been the savior, but Fever to Tell solidified NYC’s reemergence as the most important music scene in the United States after quite a long absence. Ruckus, driving, and lovely, this modern punk album was the musical turning point for me in college. I cared again after Fever to Tell, I began to once again actively seek out new bands and new sounds. And thank you Karen O., for bringing a little glam back to music.
Key songs: Maps; Y Control; Black Tongue; Modern Romance
Sarah went with: Show Your Bones
5. Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen Funeral pop up on more of these lists. I mean, do you remember when you first heard the album? The sound was like nothing else. They made you want to play hand bells in band! My first exposure to Arcade Fire was in a friend’s car, playing softly, with people talking over it. I pulled her aside after we parked, and asked her to borrow the CD. One of my smarter life decisions when it came to her.
Key songs: Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Haiti, Rebellion (Lies), Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
4. Pearl Jam – Vs. (1993)
Two singles for Vs. were released in 1994 so I’m going to count this. The perfect grunge album and easily its most timeless. I bought this at the same time as Vitalogy and I think I left the cellophane on that album for two weeks (not to take away from Vitalogy, but Vs. is just that good). When I’m down I still love to play the nostalgic “Elderly Woman…” on guitar.
Key songs: Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Rearviewmirror, Glorified G, Animal
Worth unwrapping: Vitalogy
3. OutKast – Stankonia (2000)
This was the album that made me take rap seriously as an art form. OutKast opened my world to all the good hip-hop I missing (A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, etc.). In my senior year of high school, I had a shitty turd-gold ’84 Toyota Corolla and this album was the only thing that bumped in it for months. Eventually the car’s bass was replaced with a hideous buzzing noise but that never deterred me; it was Stankonia, and I was its citizen.
Key songs: B.O.B.; Ms. Jackson; Humble Mumble; So Fresh, So Clean
The follow-up: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
2. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene (2005)
I was lucky, I heard this album live (including a rare Emily Haines appearance) before I heard the recording. It’s still the most memorable concert I’ve been to. More impressive was that the sound and energy I saw that night translated perfectly on the album. The lush horns, the magnetic percussion, the women (Haines, Feist and Amy Millan) all add too the cool, laid-back vibe that never hits too many highs or lows, but masters the in-between.
Key songs: 7/4 (Shoreline); Superconnected; Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day); Swimmers
Another must have: You Forgot It in People1. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
I first heard “I’ll Believe in Anything” in a Delaware grocery store parking lot. My response? Play it again. Two weeks later I was driving five hours to Syracuse (Go Cuse!) to hear Wolf Parade play that one song live. I didn’t know music could sound like that. Apologies is a careful balancing act between Spencer Krug’s lunacy and Dan Boeckner dirty riffs that creates the most appealing sonic tension, especially as the vocals are traded between Krug and Boeckner from track to track. This is the album I was waiting for since 1995.
Key songs: I’ll Believe in Anything; Shine a Light; Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts; Grounds for Divorce
Listen to anything Krug and Boeckner touch.
