What was the last great album to be released?

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I have no idea. Any thoughts?

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)

new album leak alert thread

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)

What's that got to do with it?

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe I should rephrase the question.

What was the last totally great album that is will become classic and canonized?

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

anyone who says outkast or interpol loses my respect and admiration for all time

― the surface noise made by people (electricsound), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Missy Elliot - Under Construction

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Carina Round - The Disconnection

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:36 (twenty-two years ago)

No such thing as great or classic, only personal favourites that people agree on. So Outkast! (Sorry Jim.)

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Pet Sounds.

― hmmm (hmmm), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:43 (twenty-two years ago)

this thread is innately flawed

― the surface noise made by people (electricsound), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Well I was hoping to spark discussion.

And that's kind of the point. Can an album be judged as worthy of classical status before it's deemed classic? Can we predict the canon?

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:50 (twenty-two years ago)

What albums released in recent years will be considered great in the future?

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:53 (twenty-two years ago)

how far in the future?

― jubal harshaw (jube), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 07:53 (twenty-two years ago)

In the future women shall rule the Earth (musically):
http://www.blackmailmag.com/images/MUSICA/cat-power-cover.jpg http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005208Y.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://deroojankovic.xs4all.nl/proxis/covers/vespertine.jpg

― jubal harshaw (jube), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

just to get it out of the way: the streets (either one)

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

15 years in the future

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Are we talking Q/Mojo/VH-1 type canon? Or something a bit more ILM-y? Canons be fragmenting.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I see zebedee has beaten me to it, but the point can't be stressed enough.

A Grand Don't Come For Free = Classic Classic Classic.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

<em>Are we talking Q/Mojo/VH-1 type canon? Or something a bit more ILM-y? Canons be fragmenting.</em>

Hmmm... that's tough. A bit more ILM-y. Maybe it would appear in a Mojo record guide though.

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Kish Kash innit. Best thing the Jaxx have ever done, best thing they'll ever do, nothing really like anything else ever, end of.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Basement Jaxx definitely occurred to me as well. I'm not sure if I'd take Kish Kash over Remedy or Rooty though.

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Kish Kash is amazing but not a Q/Mojo type canon album, it wasn't received with a great deal of enthusiasm. It's A Grand Don't Come For Free, unfortunately.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 09:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Kish Kash might qualify for Q/Mojo type canon. It's got the cross-over appeal. It's dance music that's owned by people who don't really listen to dance music much.

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 09:12 (twenty-two years ago)

'Since I Left You' may be the last album I am COMPLETELY happy with

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 09:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I think my own personal canonical album is probably Sound Of The Underground, Boy In Da Corner or The Disconnection.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.perrific.com/cds/covers/williams.jpg

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

The New Pornographers' 1st album!

― stumpyjoe (stumpyjoe), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 11:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Pole: "1".

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

whatever came out yesterday

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Whatever Wolf Eyes released most recently.

― 24 hours with the King of Snake. (SNAKE!) (ex machina), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I vote for "The Meadowlands." Nobody gives that album enough cred for being the OK Computer of indie rock.

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

ummm, what was OK Computer "the OK Computer of"?

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Second Since I Left You and add Leaves Turn Inside You and Murray Street to the mixxx.

― Rubberband Man (Rubberband Man), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Rubberband Man, I kiss you 3 times. (PS LTIU IS TEH BESTEST EVAR. SOMETHING ABOUT HOW JAWESOME IT IS REMINDZ ME OF LUVLEZZ)

― 24 hours with the King of Snake. (SNAKE!) (ex machina), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Machina, the machines of God, OBVIOUSLY!!!

― Billy C., Wednesday, 19 May 2004 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

http://icarus.cc.uic.edu/~bsaund1/cold%20vein.jpg

― autovac (autovac), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Discovery
Pig Lib*

*I wish

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Realistically, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and "Speakerboxx/Love Below" are the two recent albums most likely to show up on VH1 countdowns yet unborn, but future ILMers will gush over first Decemberists album in future C/D threads. Even if you're not about them now, believe me, this band is just going to get better and better.

Hopefully my children won't still be hearing about "Loveless," though.

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

indie suqz you are all gay

― 24 hours with the King of Snake. (SNAKE!) (ex machina), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

This thread goes against everything Tom has struggled to inculcate in us

So carry on

― de, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

ABBA Gold the DVD edition!

There, that's better.

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Echoes
Satan's Kickin' Yr Dick In
Fever
Voodoo

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

whatever came out today

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg300/g324/g32492kwhes.jpg

Came out today. How is this record possibly "Parental Advisory"?

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

http://home.clara.net/antoni/kj2003.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

everyone knows it's dEUS' Worst Case Scenario.

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

"Suds! SODA!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Of the ones mentioned so far, Lucinda Williams is one of the great singer/songwriters/performers and 'Car Wheels' is her career highlight. 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' comes close but isn't the best that Wilco can do. The Streets new album is great, but doesn't a classic have to be something you can listen to often?

― dymbel, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

doesn't a classic have to be something you can listen to often?
quite the opposite, if anything

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Prefab Sprout "Andromeda Heights"

― Gary Shipes, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 71 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Ah, just saw the "last three years" bit. Late Registration.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

Late Registration has somewhere in the vicinity of 3 songs that don't make me want to strangle the life out of Kanye West. (and/or Jon Brion. I'd settle for killing either one.) Grandiose twee-rap is a hateful thing. College Dropout, hot steamy shits, etc.

(Those three songs are muy excellent and quite possibly better than anything on his first, btw.)

The most recent great album is the <i>Hyphy Hitz</i> comp, obv.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

My guesses how "the canon" will treat 2003-2007

Automatically canonized:
The Black Album
American Idiot
The College Dropout

I think people are gonna realize Speakerboxxx/Love Below was overrated, and Stankonia will rise like Paul's Boutique.

Also, I think in 20 years, Animal Collective's Feels and Lightning Bolt's Ride The Skies will be regarded with the same "cult classics" connotation that Pink Flag and Entertainment! get now.

Just guesses. See you in 20 years.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 07:31 (nineteen years ago)

Its interesting that a few years ago a canon could be described by Q/Mojo.
These days a Q Canon would be very different from a Mojo one. Was this always true? Maybe its not, but I self identify as a Mojo Reader but make it clear I don't read Q (as if anybody else cares about micro - nuances in 40-something retro rock fans' reading material).

Anyway: from the recent suggestions

Is This It - No, "last night" will always fill a dancefloor of born-in-the-late-80s but the album isn't strong enough to canon-ise

A Grand Don't Come for Free - Nope, too gimmicky which makes it dated already

Stankonia - yeah, just might be. Still sounds great to me anyway

XTRMNTR. - christ No, this will be remembered, if at all, as a 'huh, people liked these talentless junkie recyclers - why?'

Predicting a canon in 20 years time is always tricky because the canon itself is subject to current fashions.

For instance the ignored at the time The Zombies Odesey and Oracle is widely regarded as a classic and rightfully so, yet other albums which would surely have been future candidates for canon when they were current, are quite marginalised. Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells spent several years in the charts, yet I can't think of any recent interest in it from Mojo or on here (or, in my house come to think of it, it was maybe the third or fourth album I bought, but I've never replaced it with CD actually I'm not very sure I still have my copy).

― Sandy Blair, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 07:33 (nineteen years ago)

oh and my outside bet for something that will be regarded as canon in 20 years time is 'Ys'

― Sandy Blair, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 07:34 (nineteen years ago)

watching as mediocrity gets canonised around you in this inevitable, grinding fashion is even more dispiriting than dealing with the monolith of the existing canon of mediocrity

i hope none of the music i love best gets canonised

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 09:03 (nineteen years ago)

The still rather new Apples In Stereo. So far, that is.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 10:12 (nineteen years ago)

I used to love A Grand Don't Come for Free but I've listened to it a couple times recently and I can't stand it anymore. Most of the choruses are so fucking irritating.

So true. I can't listen to any Streets stuff anymore. Can't think of anything which has aged so quickly.

― Venga, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 10:48 (nineteen years ago)

whiney otm

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000M3452Y.01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V43753610_.jpg

― stephen, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

i hope none of the music i love best gets canonised

Unlikely to happen with Paris Hilton, I suspect.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

Songs for the Deaf
Bubblegum

― grap-fu, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

Lucinda Williams-West
Outkast - Idlewild (seems to have been overlooked by most)
NY Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us....

― outdoor_miner, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

I for one think the new LCD Soundsystem album is TERRIBLE.

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

I would hope one of the first three Outkast albums would be the future-canonical one, because Stankonia is kind of meh beyond the singles,

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

Stankonia meh beyond the singles? No way! I haven't played it in a couple of years, but plenty of songs spring to mind beyond Miss Jackson, BOB (which is, along with Get your Freak On, the greatest single of the decade) and So Fresh, So Clean. Like, er, y'know! I can't remember the titles. But they're good! The rumble in the jungle one. The drum n bassy one. Slum Beautiful. Gasoline. Ah yes, it's all coming back to me now.
Aquemini is equally good - I'll give you that. Probably a more cohesive and consistent album, but nothing quite matches BOB.

Tinariwen's new one is fucking amazing. An instant classic.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Blues Du Jour (a masterpiece, seriously)
Animal Collective - Feels
Anything by Fanfare Ciocarlia
Richard Youngs - Sapphie
Gillian Welch - Time The Revelator
Giant Sand - Chore of Enchantment
Cat Power - You Are Free

I can't join in your praise for The Streets though. I've never liked his vocals and always thought Dry Your Eyes was a Drugs Don't Work for the noughties - mawkish shite.
Xtrmtr sounds awful now - rebel chic at its most transparent and sad.

― Stew, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

I agree that BOB is probably the single best thing they've done, but getting all the way through Stankonia is a chore, as opposed to say, ATLiens which I can put on and get lost in forever. I guess I kind of feel that Aquemini does what Stankonia does a lot better, and I'd even take Speakerboxxx/The Love Below over it on the basis of having a lot more songs I like.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

Now I think about it Aquemini is indeed the better album. I certainly never found it difficult to listen to right though - it flows beautifully and packs a real emotional punch. It's got George Clinton on it! And Raekwon! And those amazing grooves - Spottieottiedopaliscious must the most chilled out song about going clubbing on E ever written. And the footstomping harmonica breakdown in Rosa Parks pwns Beck at his own game. I'd love to hear an extended outtake of Hold On Be Strong - it's gorgeous. Aw yeah! I can't have listened to it in about three or four years. All this shall change in the morning... Yay for this thread!

― Stew, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

And the footstomping harmonica breakdown in Rosa Parks pwns Beck at his own game.

rather an odd comparison! beck is roughly 948429933th in the list of artists who spring to mind as relevant to 'rosa parks'...

yeah, aquemini >>> stankonia but i'd be sad if any outkast album ended up as the token canonical hip-hop 95-05 album, which one of them inevitably will.

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

I beg to differ. The song itself is nothing like Beck, granted, but the breakdown is kinda like some things he's done, only better. Less self-conscious, funkier. Of course, it's not like Beck isn't the first person to bust out the blues harp, or that he necessarily influenced Outkast, but y'know, hip-hop + blues - it's not that odd a comparison.

― Stew, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:30 (nineteen years ago)

The comparison makes sense enough to me.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

Last three years? Hmmm. Maybe:

Sun City Girls 'Carnival Folk Resurrection Radio'
Fennesz, 'Venice'
Califone, 'Roots & Crowns'
R. Kelly 'Happy People/U Saved Me'

― Mike McGooney-gal, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

Kate Bush Aerial no brainer ; )

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 02:28 (nineteen years ago)

sleater-kinney - the woods (the best rock record of the past five years)
arcade fire - funeral (because no matter what anyone says, it's a fantastic record that basically everyone loves, and with good reason)
madvillain - madvillainy (a perfect album)

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 03:39 (nineteen years ago)

The Wrens--Meadowlands

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

according to my 100 + favourites/friends rateyourmusic users, these are the combined top rated albums from the 2000s

Radiohead - Kid A
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
Maudlin of the Well - Leaving Your Body Map
Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye
Isis - Panopticon
Ulver - Perdition City
Maudlin of the Well - Bath
The Notwist - Neon Golden
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Damnation
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms
Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
Sigur Rós - ( )
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

― djmartian, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

Build your own canons, dude.

― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 11:17 (nineteen years ago)

"Rock Steady" - No Doubt

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

Moratorium on usage on "canon" as a superword on ILX, stat.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

sleater-kinney - the woods (the best rock record of the past five years)

iawtc

― stephen, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 23:00 (nineteen years ago)

"Canon" isn't a superword -- people agree on what it means and entails in a specific, objective way.

― nabisco, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

If, for instance, I were playing billiards...

― unfished business, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

I'd lay my money on Whiney being right, especially about Lightning Bolt. I brought it in for a "close listening" thing in my audio production class, and it turned out that three guys (+me) who I wouldn't have guessed already had it, out of a class of 10 people.

― I eat cannibals, Thursday, 22 March 2007 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

Agalloch - The Mantle

A dissonant perfection of Folk Black Metal

― anthony, Thursday, 22 March 2007 04:53 (nineteen years ago)

There's no answer to the thread question, but I can already tell that I'll be listening to the new Adult. record for a while. Once I put it on, I can't take it off, and I find something new in it every time. Usually a new level of bile.

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 05:30 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry to be a broken record, but Shiina Ringo's Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is definitely a candidate.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 24 March 2007 11:17 (nineteen years ago)

(It may take some time actually getting into the canon though.)

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 24 March 2007 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

Why do I think the album would eventually make it (despite being Japanese and by an artist not marketed in the west, and hardly marketed outside of Japan even)? Because in addition to being just another great album (not that I think that's such a small thing at all), it has a uniqueness that is going to be hard to ignore.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 24 March 2007 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

― M.V., Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yes. I agree. Even if it isn't my favourite album, of recent times (it is very close though) I think it's got too much going for it not to be remembered as great. Especially with the O'Rourke/Albini/Parks trinity which will, I think look great on paper for a new generation discovering it in years to come. It's very canon-friendly in other words, but it is also very beautiful and is just odd enough to be on the same page as Trout Mask Replica on Mojo's Top 100 2020.

― I know, right?, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

I know, right? OTM

― Drooone, Saturday, 24 March 2007 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

looks great ON PAPER.

― fandango, Saturday, 24 March 2007 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

seemed like a good idea AT THE TIME

― fandango, Saturday, 24 March 2007 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

The Weirdness

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 24 March 2007 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

Mine.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

Ned Raggett OTM.

― The Reverend, Saturday, 24 March 2007 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

It may be heresy to some, but conceivably π would be at its best if it were Ϡ.

― M.V., Sunday, 25 March 2007 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

Trust me. Hilarious.

― M.V., Sunday, 25 March 2007 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

I don't get it.

― I know, right?, Sunday, 25 March 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

The last great album to be released was more than likely within the last few months, seeing as how there have been usually a mimimum of 3 great albums released every year since the 1950's.

― billstevejim, Sunday, 25 March 2007 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

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