BEST songs on each of a favo[u]rite artist's albums

"Zonked Out on Hashish" - Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives
"No Beast so Fierce" - Never is Forever
"Turbonegro Hate the Kids" and "Denim Demon"- Ass Cobra
Everything but "Desolation Street" - Apocalypse Dudes
the whole album - Darkness Forever Live 1998
"TRBNGR Must Be Destroyed" - Scandinavian Leather

Show No Mercy - Fight Til Death
Haunting The Chapel - Captor Of Sin
Hell Awaits - At Dawn They Sleep
Reign In Blood - Altar Of Sacrifice
South Of Heaven - Read Between The Lies
Seasons In The Abyss - War Ensemble
Divine Intervention - Sex, Murder, Art
Diabolus In Musica - Bitter Peace
God Hates Us All - Exile

Tick, Nicole, LMLYP - God Ween Satan
Dr. Rock, She Fucks Me - The Pod
Pumpin' 4 The Man, Poop Ship Destroyer - Pure Guava
A Tear For Eddie, Voodoo Lady - Chocolate & Cheese
Powder Blue, Piss Up A Rope - 12 Golden Country Greats
Blarney Stone, Buckingham Green, Golden Eel - The Mollusk
The Pawns Of War, Monique the Freak - Craters of the Sac
Bananas and Blow, The Grobe - White Pepper
Hey There Fancy Pants, ZOLOFT - Quebec

Er?

This was a lot harder than picking the worst song.

fuzzy logic: hometown unicorn
radiator: down a different river
out spaced: don't be a fool, billy!
guerrilla: night vision
mwng: ymaelodi a'r ymylon
rings around the world: sidewalk serfer girl
phantom power: slow life

Slanted and Enchanted: "In The Mouth A Desert"
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: "Gold Soundz"
Wowee Zowee: "We Dance"
Brighten The Corners: "Type Slowly"
Terror Twilight: "The Hexx"

Piper At the Gates of Dawn: Astronomy Domine
A Saucerful of Secrets: Jugband Blues
More: More Blues
Ummagumma: Careful With That Axe, Eugene
Zabriskie Point: The Country Song
Atom Heart Mother: Atom Heart Mother
Meddle: Echoes
Obscured By Clouds: Free Four
The Dark Side of the Moon: Time
Wish You Were Here: Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V
Animals: Dogs
The Wall: Is There Anybody Out There?
The Final Cut: Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
A Momentary Lapse of Reason: Learning to Fly
The Division Bell: Keep Talking

BEST NON-ALBUM FLOYD SONG: Embryo

Led Zeppelin:

Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused
Led Zeppelin II: Bring It On Home
Led Zeppelin III: Friends
Led Zeppelin IV: When the Levee Breaks
Houses of the Holy: Over the Hills and Far Away
Physical Graffiti: The Wanton Song
Presence: Hots On for Nowhere
In Through the Out Door: Fool in the Rain
Coda: Bonzo's Montreaux

BEST NON-ALBUM ZEPPELIN SONG: Traveling Riverside Blues

Hitchhike to Rhome - "Stoned"
Wreck Your Life - oh, hell, there are at least six strong contenders - I'll go with "Doreen"
Too Far To Care - "Big Brown Eyes"
Fight Songs - "Lonely Holiday"
Satellite Rides - "Weightless"

Chronic Town: Wolves, Lower
Murmur: Laughing
Reckoning: so central Rain (i'm sorry)
Fables of the Reconstruction: Driver 8
Lifes Rich Pageant: I Believe
R.E.M. No. 5: Document: The One I Love
Green: Pop Song 89
Out of Time: Losing My Religion
Automatic for the People: Nightswimming
Monster: What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
New Adventures in Hi-Fi: E-Bow the Letter
Up: Airportman
Reveal: Imitation of Life

Pod - "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"
Last Splash - "No Aloha"
Title TK - "The She"
Amps - Pacer - "Bragging Party"

1039SOSH -  "Going to Pasalacqua"
Kerplunk - "80"
Dookie - "She"
Insomniac - "86"
Nimrod - "Hitchin' A Ride"
Warning - "Blood, Sex & Booze"

Velvet Underground -

VU & Nico - "Femme Fatale"
White Light/White Heat - "I Heard Her Call My Name"
VU - "Pale Blue Eyes"
Loaded - "I Found A Reason"

(this is way too fun)

STEVIE WONDER ('70s stuff):
Music of My Mind: "Seems So Long"
Talking Book: "Big Brother"
Innervisions: "Golden Lady"
Fulfillingness' First Finale: "Bird of Beauty"
Songs in the Key of Life: "Summer Soft"
Secret Life of Plants: "Voyage to India"
Hotter Than July: "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me"
Original Musiquarium: "Do I Do"

PRINCE:
Dirty Mind: "Dirty Mind"
Controversy: "Private Joy"
1999: "Let's Pretend We're Married" & "Something in the Water" equally
Purple Rain: "The Beautiful Ones"
Around the World in a Day: "Pop Life"
Parade: "Girls & Boys"
Sign o' the Times: "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
Lovesexy: "Glam Slam"
Graffiti Bridge: "The Question of U"
The Hits/The B-Sides: "Pink Cashmere"/"Erotic City"
Come: "Come"
Gold Experience: "319"
Emancipation: "Sleep Around"

Sleater Kinney
I wanna be your Joey Ramone
Turn it on
Banned from the End of the World
Was it a lie?
One Beat

Mogwai
Mogwai Fear Satan
CODY
2 Rights make 1 wrong

Plaid
Rakimou
Pimo Pomo
Eyen

Massive Attack
Five Man Army
Heat Miser
Group 4

Portishead
Sour Times
Western Eyes

Bardo Pond
Adhesive
Dragonfly
Tantric Porno
Aldrin
This Time
Two Planes
Every man

Depeche Mode:
Photographic
Leave In Silence
The Landscape Is Changing
Blasphemous Rumours
Black Celebration
The Things You Said
Halo
Walking In My Shoes
The Love Thieves
Freelove

Considering I am a huge Paul fan, it is kind of surprising how few of McCartney's compositions are among my faves. But I have to add that Lennon really lost it after "Sgt. Pepper" ("Across The Universe" was an old song, after all)

XTC:
This Is Pop?
Are You Receiving Me?
Making Plans For Nigel
Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
Ball And Chain
Great Fire
All You Pretty Girls
The Mole From The Ministry
Grass
You're a Good Man Albert Brown
Here Comes President Kill Again
The Smartest Monkeys
Your Dictionary
I'm The Man Who Murdered Love

Gish: Rhinoceros
Siamese Dream: Cherub Rock
Pisces Iscariot: Starla
Mellon Collie: Through the Eyes of Ruby
Adore: For Martha
Machina I: The Imploding Voice
Machina II: Cash Car Star

Best Non-Album Track: Apathy's Last Kiss

My Bloody Valentine-
Isn't Anything - (When You Wake) You're Still In A Dream (i only wish the instrumental section at the end went on for half an hour)
Loveless - When You Sleep (ditto)

Smashing Pumpkins-
Gish - Crush
Siamese Dream - Soma
Mellon Collie (dawn to dusk) - Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
Mellon Collie (twilight to starlight) - 1979
Pisces Iscariot - Starla
Adore - For Martha
MACHINA/Machines of God - Stand Inside Your Love
Machina II - Cash Car Star

Pixies-
Come On Pilgrim - Levitate Me
Surfer Rosa - Bone Machina
Doolittle - Debaser
Bossanova - The Happening
Trompe le Monde - Motorway to Roswell

Leisure - Wear me Down
Modern Life is Rubbish - Oily Water
Parklife - Trouble in the Message Centre
The Great Escape - The Universal
Blur - MOR
13 - Tender Song
Think Tank - Jets

Best Non-Album track: tie- Magpie/Hanging Over

Little Earthquakes - Precious Things
Under The Pink - Yes Anastasia
Boys For Pele - Horses
From The Choirgirl Hotel - iieee
To Venus And Back - 1000 Oceans
Strange Little Girls - 97 Bonnie & Clyde
Scarlet's Walk - Pancake

PJ Harvey:

Dry - Dress
Rid Of Me - 50ft Queenie
4 Track Demos - Easy
To Bring You My Love - C'mon Billy
Dance Hall At Louse Point - Taut
Is This Desire? - Is This Desire?
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - This Wicked Tongue

Bjork:

Debut - Play Dead
Post - Enjoy
Telegram - Hyperballad (Brodsky Quartet version)
Homogenic - Jóga
Selmasongs - I've Seen It All
Vespertine - Pagan Poetry

s/t - lora's song
call the doctor - good things
dig me out - turn it on
the hot rock - quarter to three
all hands on the bad one - #1 must have
one beat - light rail coyote.

Reproduction - 'Blind Youth'
Travelogue - ' Gordon's Gin'
Dare - 'Love Action'
Love and Dancing - 'Do Or Die'
Hysteria - 'The Lebanon'
Crash - 'Love Is All That Matters'
Romantic? - 'Kiss The Future'
Octopus - 'Tell Me When'
Secrets - 'Never Give your Heart'

Aphex Twin:
SAW85-92 - "Heliosphan"
SAWII - Disc 1, Track 3
Richard D. James Album - "Yellow Calx"
Come To Daddy EP - "Come To Daddy"

Crumbling the antiseptic beauty - Cathedral
The splendour of fear - A preacher in New England
The strange idols etc - Whirlpool vision of shame
Ignite the seven cannons - Primitive painters
Let the snakes etc - Song for William S Harvey
Forever breathes the lonely word - Gather up your wings and fly
Poem of the river - Riding on the equator
The pictorial jackson review - Christopher Street
Train above the city - Book of swords
Me and a monkey etc - Down an august path

Compilations:
Absolute Classic Masterpieces 1: Penelope Tree
Absolute Classic Masterpieces 2: There's no such thing as victory

and then on to:
"Everyday Is Like Sunday"
"Sing Your Life"
"Glamorous Glue"
"Now My Heart Is Full"
"The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils"
"Maladjusted"

6 out of my 12 picks are album-starters, showing my impatient nature.

"Tender Object"
"Untitled Melody"
"Tenterhook"
"Bridge"
"Salmon Fishing In New York"

(counting Ostrich Churchyard as a first album)

Kinks - 'So Mystifying'
Kinda Kinks - 'Tired Of Waiting For You'
Kinks Kontroversy -'The World Keeps Going Round'
Face To Face - 'Too Much On My Mind'
Something Else - 'Waterloo Sunset'
VGPS - 'Animal Farm'
Arthur - 'Shangri-la'
Lola vs.. - 'This Time Tomorrow'
Muswell Hillbillies - 'Here Come The People in Grey'

AMIADK - 'Fiction Romance'
Love Bites - 'Nostalgia'
ADKOT -'I Believe'
TTT - 'Crystal Night'
All Set - 'Your Love'

Time's Up - 'Breakdown'
Peel Sessions - 'Lipstick'
Chronology - 'Runaway From Home'

Magazine -

Real Life - 'Definitive Gaze'
Secondhand Daylight - 'I Wanted Your Heart'
Correct Use Of Soap - 'You Never Knew Me'
Play - 'Permafrost'
MM+W - 'About the Weather'

ACR -

Graveyard and Ballroom - 'Oceans (live)
To Each - 'Loss'
Sextet - 'Crystal'
ILTSYA - 'Axis'
Force - 'And Then She Smiled'
Good Together - 'Your Little World'

Early - 'Flight'

1st - Ladytron
For your pleasure - In every dream home a heartache
Stranded - Streetlife
Country life - All I want is you
Siren - Love is the drug
Manifesto - Angel eyes
Flesh and blood - Over you
Avalon - Avalon

Archer Prewitt
Good Man
Final Season
Another Piece of Mind
Two Can Play

Steely Dan
Reelin' In The Years
Your Gold Teeth
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Doctor Wu
Kid Charlemange
Deacon Blues
Glamour Profession
West Of Hollywood
Pixeleen

Donald Fagen
I.G.Y.
Snowbound

Real Life -- "My Tulpa"
Secondhand -- "I Wanted Your Heart"
Correct Use -- "Stuck"
Magic -- "The Garden"
Scree -- "Give Me Everything"

Japan:

Adolescent Sex -- "The Unconventional"
Obscure Alternatives -- "Automatic Gun"
Quiet Life -- "Alien"
Gentlemen -- "Swing"
Tin Drum -- "Visions of China"

(I didn't give that enough thought, but...)

Julius caesar - chosen one
Wild Love - bathysphere
Burning Kingdom - Renee died
Red Apple Falls - to be if use
Knock Knock - I could drive forever
Dongs of Sevotion - Permanent Smile
Neath the Puke tree - I was a stranger
Rain on Lens - Song
Accumulation:none - I break Horses
Supper- Truth Serum

Screaming Life/ Fopp - "Nothing to say"
Ultramega Ok - "Nazi Driver"
Louder than Love - "No wrong No right"
Badmotorfinger - "Jesus Christ Pose"
Superunknown - "The day I tried to live"
Down on the Upside - "no attention"

Please - "Opportunities"
Actually - "Rent"
Introspective - "I want a dog"
Behavior - "This must be the place I waited years to leave"
Very - "Dreaming of the queen"
Relentless - "Forever in love"
Alternative - "Hey, headmaster"
Bilingual - "Discoteca"
Nightlife - "I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore"
Release - "Here"
Disco 3 (Cuz it has mostly new songs) - "Somebody else's business"

Wow, that was hard!

Lullaby (Hope)
Shame (Long Division)
Over the Ocean (Curtain)
Hey Chicago (Songs)
Over the Ocean (One More Reason)
Blue Christmas (Xmas)
Two-Step (Secret Name)
Sunflower (Things)
Down by the River (Fishtank)
The Lamb (Trust)

XTC
Scissor Man
Respectable Street
Jason and the Argonauts
(still don't have Mummer!)
Seagulls Screaming
Season Cycle
Chalkhills and Children
Peter Pumpkinhead
I'd Like That
You and the Clouds

I should note that Geir picked three of my least favorites in a row on his. :)

PSB:
West End Girls
It's a Sin
It's Alright
This Must be the Place
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing (god, this one's a toughie)
Se a Vida e
Don't Know What You Want

Killing Joke - "The Wait"
What's THIS for... - "Tension"
Revelations - "Chop Chop"
Fire Dances - "Harlequin"
Night Time - "Eighties"
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns - "Rubicon"
Outside the Gate - "Beautiful Obsession"
Extremities... - "Money Is Not Our God"
Pandemonium - "Whiteout"
Democracy - "Aeon"
Killing Joke [2003] - "Blood On Your Hands"

Devo
Q:Are We Not Men? - "Jocko Homo"
Duty Now for the Future - "Wiggly World"
Freedom of Choice - "Gates of Steel"
New Traditionalists - "Going Under"
Oh No, It's Devo - "Big Mess"

...and they kinda stopped matering to meafter that album, at least in a studio capacity.

My Gen - 'The Ox'
A Quick One - 'See My Way'
Sell Out - 'I Can See For Miles'
Tommy - 'Underture'
Leeds - 'Shakin' All Over'
Who's Next - 'Behind Blue Eyes'
Quad - '5.15'
By Numbers - 'Slip Kid'
Who Are You - 'Who Are You'
Kids - 'My Generation'
Face Dances - 'You Better You Bet'
It's Hard - 'Eminence Front'

Isle OF Wight Live - 'I Can't Explain'
BBC Sessions - 'Disguises'
Maximum R&B box - 'The Relay'

s/t EP - "Party at Ground Zero"
In Your Face - "Movement in the Light"
Truth and Soul - "Ma and Pa"
Reality of My Surroundings - "Fight The Youth"
Give a Monkey a Brain... - "Drunk Schitzo"
Chim Chim's Badass Revenge - "In the Cube"
The Familyhood Nextperience - "Karma Tsunami"
Live at the Temple Bar & More - "Demon In Here"

Ween:
GodWeenSatan - "Tick"
The Pod - "Straight to the Ways and the Means of the World"
Pure Guava - "Pumpin' 4 the Man"
Chocolate and Cheese - "Freedom of '76"
12 Golden Country Greats - "Piss Up a Rope"
The Mollusk - "Buckingham Green"
Craters of the Sac - !!!! (never heard of this!)
White Pepper - "She's Your Baby"
Quebec - "Transdermal Celebration"

Mr. Bungle:
s/t debut - "Girls of Porn"
Disco Volante - "Desert Search for Techno Allah"
California - "Goodbye Sober Day"

The Stranglers (Hugh era)
Rattus Norvigicus - "Hanging Around"
No More Heroes - "Bring on the Nubiles"
Black & White - "Tank"
The Raven - "The Raven"
The Gospel According to the Meninblack - "Just Like Nothing on Earth"
La Folie - "Non Stop"
Feline - "The European Female"
Aural Sculpture - "Ice Queen"
Dreamtime - "Always the Sun"
...and then it stopped mattering, really.

Cop Shoot Cop
Headkick Facsimile - "Shine On, Elizabeth"
Consumer Revolt - "Lo.Com.Denom."
White Noise - "Heads I Win Tails You Lose"
Ask Questions Later - "Nowhere"
Release - "Two At a Time"

Firewater
Get Off the Cross... - "Some Strange Reaction"
The Ponzi Scheme - "So Long, Superman"
Psychopharmacology - "Car Crash Collaborator"
The Man on the Burning Tightrope - "Anything at All"

The Beautiful South:
Welcome To The Beautiful South, I'll Sail This Ship Alone.
Choke, A Little Time.
0898 Beautiful South, Old Red Eyes is Back.
Miaow, Worthless Lie.
Carry On Up The Charts, One Last Love Song.
Blue is The Colour, Alone.
Quench, Losing Things.
Painting It Red, The Mediterranean.

Paul Heaton / Biscuit Boy AKA Crackerman:
Fat Chance, Poems.

The Wedding Present:
George Best, A Million Miles.
Tommy, My Favourite Dress.
Bizarro, Bewitched.
Seamonsters, Suck.
Watusi, Gazebo.
Mini, Sports Car.
Saturnalia, 2,3 Go.

The Eight Legged Groove Machine - So many to choose from , but I'll go with "Unbearable"
Hup - "Can't Shape Up"
Never Loved Elvis - "Grotesque"
Construction for the Modern Idiot - Not their finest hour, but I'll go with "On the Ropes."

Luna:
Lunapark: "Slide"
Bewitched: "Into the Fold"
Penthouse: "Rhythm King" [the hardest choice here]
Pup Tent: "IHOP"
The Days of Our Nights: "Sweet Child o' Mine"
Romantica: "Black Postcards"

I'll pay money for someone to do Fela

Why? Most of his albums have, like, three songs.

btw, Shakara: "Lady"

ha ha. that's great.

*kisses miloauckerman for naming her favorite Breeders song*

Adolescent Sex -- "The Unconventional"

You know, Patrick, during ILX's absence I listened almost exclusively to Adolescent Sex, and I do have to say that your choice is absolutely beyond amazingly good. But I think if I were to change my mind about my own selection, I think I'd go for the album's OTHER funk 'n soul track, "Performance", which I was totally grooving on last night on my way to visit relatives.

btw, I love you ALL for participating in this! It's been great finding out your selections.

Queen - "Liar"
Queen II - "Ogre Battle"
Sheer Heart Attack - "Now I'm Here"
A Night at the Opera - "The Prophet's Song"
A Day at the Races - "Somebody to Love"
News of the World - "Fight from the Inside"
Jazz - "Mustapha"
The Game - "Dragon Attack"
Flash Gordon - "Flash"
Hot Space - "Calling All Girls"
The Works - "Hammer to Fall"
A Kind of Magic - "One Vision"
The Miracle - "I Want it All"
Innuendo - "The Show Must Go On"

Circle Jerks
Group Sex - "Behind the Door"
Wild in the Streets - "Letter Bomb"
Golden Shower of Hits - "When the Shit Hits the Fan"
Wonderful - "The Crowd"
VI - "Fortunate Son"
Oddities... - "Brick"

FRANK ZAPPA:

freak out!: "hungry freaks, daddy"
absolutely free: "brown shoes don't make it"
we're only in it for the money: "let's make the water turn black"
cruising with ruben and the jets: "you didn't try to call me"
uncle meat: "dog breath, in the year of the plague"
hot rats: "peaches en regalia"
burnt weeny sandwich: "little house i used to live in"
weasels ripped my flesh: "the eric dolphy memorial barbecue"
chunga's revenge: "transylvania boogie"
fillmore east: june 1971: "the mud shark"
200 motels: "lonesome cowboy burt"
just another band from LA: "billy the mountain"
waka/jawaka: "big swifty"
the grand wazoo: "for calvin (and his next two hitchhikers)"
over-nite sensation: "zomby woof"
apostrophe: "cosmic debris"
roxy and elsewhere: "cheepnis"
one size fits all: "inca roads"
bongo fury: "muffin man"
zoot allures: "the torture never stops"
zappa in new york: "titties and beer"
sleep dirt: "filthy habits"
sheik yerbouti: "flakes"
orchestral favorites: "pedro's dowry"
joe's garage: "watermelon in easter hay"
tinsel town rebellion: "tinsel town rebellion"
you are what you is: "dumb all over"
ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch: "valley girl"
the man from utopia: "tink walks amok"
them or us: "stevie's spanking"
thing-fish: "the mammy nuns"
jazz from hell: "g-spot tornado"
broadway the hard way: "jesus thinks you're a jerk"
frank zappa meets the mothers of prevention: "porn wars"
the yellow shark: "the girl in the magnesium dress"
civilization phaze III: "waffenspiel"

no, no, it's absolutely The Idiot Kings.

First And Last And Always - "Marian (version)"
Floodland - "Lucretia My Reflection"
Vision Thing - "Ribbons"

That said, the finest Sisters moments were non-album tracks like "Adrenochrome" and "Alice," but wha'ever.

Movement - 'Doubts Even Here'
PCL - 'Your Silent Face'
Low Life -'Subculture'
Brotherhood -'As it was when it was'
Technique - 'Vanishing Point'
Republic - 'Regret'
Get Ready - 'Slow Jam'

Substance - 'Lonesome Tonight'
Live (Glastonbury 1987) - 'Touched By The Hand Of God'
Peel Sessions - 'Turn The Heater On'
Retro - 'Cries and Whispers'

SECTION 25

Always Now - 'New Horizon'
Key Of Dreams - 'Visitation'
From The Hip -'Looking From A Hilltop'
Love and Hate -'Warhead'

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN

Crocodiles - 'Pictures On My Wall'
Heaven Up Here - 'A Promise'
Porcupine - 'Heads Will Roll'
Ocean Rain - 'The Killing Moon'
EATB - 'Bombers Bay'
Evergreen - 'Evergreen'
WAYGTDWYL - 'Lost On You'
Flowers - 'Flowers'

Calla:
calla: only drowning men
(the beat, the beat, clacking steady underneath, this slow gentle buildup of sound and you could swear there was no voice to any of it, and the 'suzanne' loop at the end crackling away into irregular pauses and silence.)
scavengers: fear of fireflies
(slinking bassline, dark evening-cicada hum, major thirds in the guitar and the scrape of strings.)
televise: monument
(it's not their best album by any means, but that dull thud of programmed beat and bass and then sharp-edged guitar crashing over the top.)

Ride:
smile: drive blind
(the shine in the guitar as it starts.)
nowhere: vapour trail
(it sounds like its name; those artless vocals, still surprisingly charming, and the simplicity of the strings at the end.)
going blank again: twisterella
(it's just so. indie.)
carnival of light: crown of creation
(nigh impossible, this: I've loved this album too long and too hard. But 'crown of creation' is the cutest song ever, and I played it to death when I first got the record.)
tarantula: ride the wind
(the rest of the album suxx0rz. This at least has a sweet chorus, even if the vocals are egregiously out of tune. And I've a soft spot for the hammond.)