The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Mine for yours: My favorite record albums of all time

* (one per artist/in no order)

Destroyer YOUR BLUES

 

Glenn Branca SYMPHONY NO. 1 (TONAL PLEXUS)

 

Butthole Surfers LOCUST ABORTION TECHNICIAN

 

The Ramones THE RAMONES

 

Guided by Voices UNDER THE BUSHES, UNDER THE STARS

 

Cecil Taylor Alms/Tiergarten (Spree)

 

Jefferson Airplane AFTER BATHING AT BAXTERS

 

Chic RISQUE

 

Cheap Trick SEX AMERICA

 

Vår NO ONE DANCES QUITE LIKE MY BROTHERS

 

Public Enemy IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS

 

Pinback THIS IS A PINBACK ALBUM

 

Yasunao Tone AI DEVIATION #1, #2

 

Sonic Youth SISTER

 

Eno TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN (BY STRATEGY)

 

Autechre AE

 

John Fahey AMERICA

 

Sparks LIL BEETHOVEN

 

Kurt Weill & Bertholt Brecht/Richard Foreman THREEPENNY OPERA

 

Laura Nyro NEW YORK TENDABERRY

 

William Basinski THE DISINTEGRATION TAPES

 

The Quick UNTOLD ROCK STORIES

 

Fugazi IN ON THE KILL TAKER

 

Family HISTORY

 

Melvins HOUDINI

 

Spirit THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER

 

Sebadoh III

 

Sly & the Family Stone THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON

 

Randy Newman GUILTY: 30 YEARS OF RANDY NEWMAN

 

Jesus and Mary Chain PSYCHOCANDY

 

Death Grips THE MONEY STORE

 

Echo and the Bunnymen HEAVEN UP HERE

 

Andy Pratt ANDY PRATT

 

My Bloody Valentine LOVELESS

 

Pavement BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS

 

Nina Simone NINA SIMONE IN CONCERT

 

The Shangri-Las MYRMIDONS OF MELODRAMA

 

Pink Floyd PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

 

Wire CHAIRS MISSING

 

The Kinks WE ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY

 

New Pornographers ELECTRIC VERSION

 

The Velvet Underground & Nico VU&N

 

ABBA THE VISITORS

 

Wall of Voodoo CALL OF THE WEST

 

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY

 

Van Dyke Parks SONG CYCLE

 

Robert Pollard KID MARINE

 

The Left Banke THERE’S GONNA BE A STORM

 

Buffy Sainte Marie LITTLE WHEEL SPIN AND SPIN

 

Bow Wow Wow SEE JUNGLE! SEE JUNGLE! GO JOIN YOUR GANG, YEAH! CITY ALL OVER, GO APE CRAZY

 

Loudon Wainwright III 40 ODD YEARS

 

Alice Cooper KILLER

 

Love FOREVER CHANGES

 

Crystal Castles (III)

 

David Ackles AMERICAN GOTHIC

 

The Fall THIS NATION’S SAVING GRACE

 

The Incredible String Band THE HANGMAN’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER

 

Neil Young TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT

 

Eliane Radigue TRILOGIE DE LA MORT

 

Superchunk ON THE MOUTH

 

Robert Wyatt ROCK BOTTOM

 

Anthony Braxton FOR ALTO

 

Donovan GREATEST HITS

 

The Flaming Lips THE SOFT BULLETIN

 

Richard Hell & the Voidoids BLANK GENERATION

 

Swans SOUNDTRACKS FOR THE BLIND

 

Dwight Twilley Band SINCERELY

 

Aki Onda BON VOYAGE!

 

Lou Reed BERLIN

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. So, I got in a mood the other day and decided to update my all time favorite albums list and share it with you in hopes that you would pony up and tell me some of your favorites in return. Would be nice, thanks. I’m sure I forgot a bunch of stuff. ** Jim Pedersen, Indeed! Hi, Jim, how’s Morocco if you’re still there? xo, me. ** Robert, Hi. Thanks. No, I’ve never played DND. I did go to university with the guy invented it. ‘The Man Without Qualities’ is one of the toughest of the toughs. I don’t think I actually made it all the way through, but I was dazzled as far as I went. Happy Tuesday. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yay, the signal reached your sweet spot. In my closet too, definitely. It seems to smell more and more like a thrift store. Like one that’s been abandoned for years. Putin is a pretty ideal candidate. It’s very American of me to say, but maybe Trump too, please. See, I’m too practical a person, so if I think about shrinking someone I like, I immediately think of how horrible their life would be, and how careful I’d have to be, and how I’d have to carry around a magnifying glass and wear hearing aids to be able to talk with them, and stuff like that. I’m no fun, iow. Oh, it’s so boring, but I think I would shrink Trump and ‘accidentally’ stomp him to death. Aw, what an extremely nice love, wow, thank you. Love turning your all time favorite record album into an amusement park, G. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Wow, I didn’t know about that adaptation of ‘Happy Days’. It’s my favorite Beckett play. I’ll devour it. Thank you. ** Nightcrawler, Hey there, Nightcrawler! I highly encourage you to go back to painting miniatures and sharing the outcome with at least me. I know that must be intensely laborious, but it’s so exciting to think about. ** Bill, Awesome. Time for another Charles Matton show in Paris. Sorry you were feeling shit. I read that you guys got the hottest temperature in your history yesterday. I hope you’re okay re: that. True horror. ** Sypha, Yes, the jest was present and tenable. Your vacations go so fast, but I guess that’s vacations in a nutshell. Jesus, Maine is a mouth killer too. Dress your dad up like a pirate maybe? I figured that project would hit its goal, and yay, congrats! ** _Black_Acrylic, Yeah, I saw that show. ‘Apocalypse’, I think was called? Speaking of, whatever happened to Chris Cunningham? He was such a thing back then, but I don’t feel like I’ve heard anything about him in ages. My regrets and sympathies about Truss. ‘Prayers’ that she gets decimated in the next election, duh. ** Steve Erickson, I’ll check out that new Packard. I can imagine he does Covid denialism proud, ha ha. Everyone, Mr. Erickson: ‘For Slant Magazine, I reviewed Oliver Sim’s debut solo album.’ I’ve never found The xx or Jamie thereof remotely interesting. ** Misanthrope, Then I really could be the America Genet. Highest hopes re: the MRI today. Ai yi yi, hope y’all test negative. It’s weird, we’re so over Covid here. I think it’s down to, like, 2000 cases in the whole country now. Well, it’s not completely impossible that the post’s goods were the result of gargantuan photographers, but it’s pretty borderline impossible. ** Okay. If you have favorite albums to list for me/us, please do, and, otherwise, see if you can find some kind of enjoyment in discovering mine, I guess. See you tomorrow.

32 Comments

  1. _Black_Acrylic

    I always enjoy making these lists!

    Nico – The Marble Index (Elektra, 1968)
    Serge Gainsborg – Histoire de Melody Nelson (Phillips, 1971)
    Virgo Four – Virgo (Trax, 1989)
    Dr Dre – The Chronic (Death Row, 1992)
    Dopplereffekt – Gesamtkunstwerk (International Deejay Gigolo, 1999)
    Whitehouse – Bird Seed (Susan Lawly, 2003)

  2. T

    Excellent list!! Love so many of these albums.

    My list in no particular order:
    How I Loved You – Angels of Light
    You Forgot It In People – Broken Social Scene
    Grace – Jeff Buckley
    And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out – Yo La Tengo
    Red House Painters I – Red House Painters
    Beautiful Midnight – Matthew Good Band
    What Ends When the Symbols Shatter – Death in June
    The Age of Adz – Sufjan Stevens
    Horse Rotorvator – Coil
    Great Annihilator – Swans

    P.S. Have you ever seen the 2016 film As You Are? I watched it recently and it made me think of you. Though, this is my first time writing in.

  3. politekid

    i can’t believe it dc, you’ve already nicked some of my fave albums for your list. esp. _New York Tendaberry_ which i listen to practically weekly. so my list is going to be Swiss cheese. i’ve avoided classical recordings and soundtracks (…for the most part), cos this would be twice as long. the one per artist thing killed me. but:

    Gavin Bryars (with Philip Jeck & Alter Ego) — THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC
    Weather Report — I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC
    Al Stewart — PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
    Harry Partch — THE WORLD OF HARRY PARTCH
    The Caretaker — AN EMPTY BLISS BEYOND THIS WORLD
    The Kinks — ARTHUR (OR THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE)
    Simon and Garfunkel — BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
    Bob Dylan — BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
    Eric Dolphy — OUT TO LUNCH
    Nick Drake — PINK MOON
    J.B. Lenoir — ALABAMA BLUES!
    Farrah Abraham — THE PHONE CALL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
    David Sylvian — SECRETS OF THE BEEHIVE
    Ry Cooder — CHAVEZ RAVINE
    Aphrodite’s Child — 666
    Loren Connors — AS ROSES BOW: COLLECTED AIRS 1992-2002
    The Magnetic Fields — 69 LOVE SONGS
    Stevie Wonder — SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE
    Laurie Anderson — BIG SCIENCE
    Alice Coltrane — TRANSLINEAR LIGHT
    Monastic Choir of Kiev Pechersk Monastery — 1000 YEARS: SELECTED CHANTS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
    Terry Riley & Don Cherry — LIVE IN KOLN (FEBRUARY 23, 1975)
    John Fahey — DEATH CHANTS, BREAK DOWNS & MILITARY WALTZES
    Alice in Chains — JAR OF FLIES
    R.L. Burnside — 1ST RECORDINGS
    Steve Roach — STRUCTURES FROM SILENCE
    Sufjan Stevens — CARRIE & LOWELL
    Nina Simone — PASTEL BLUES
    The Future Sound of London — DEAD CITIES
    Big Star — RADIO CITY
    Otis G Johnson — EVERYTHING – GOD IS LOVE 78
    Henry Flynt — YOU ARE MY EVERLOVIN’ / CELESTIAL POWER
    Neil Young — AFTER THE GOLD RUSH
    Frank Sinatra — NO ONE CARES
    Dead Can Dance — THE SERPENT’S EGG
    Akiko Yano — I’M HOME
    Diamanda Galas — LA SERPENTA CANTA
    James Cleveland & The Angelic Choir — PEACE BE STILL
    Mary Margaret O’Hara — MISS AMERICA
    Albert Ayler — SPIRITUAL UNITY
    Jane Siberry — THE WHITE TENT THE RAFT
    Fela Kuti — ZOMBIE
    Ornette Coleman — THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME
    Judee Sill — JUDEE SILL
    Duster — STRATOSPHERE
    Pauline Oliveros — ACCORDION & VOICE
    The Kyoto Nohgaku Kai — JAPANESE NOH MUSIC
    Sebadoh — BAKESALE
    Billie Holiday — LADY DAY: THE COMPLETE BILLIE HOLIDAY ON COLUMBIA (1933-1944)
    Horace Tapscott — DIAL B FOR BARBRA
    Yamashiro Shoji — AKIRA SYMPHONIC SUITE
    Pixies — DOOLITTLE
    Jethro Tull — THICK AS A BRICK
    Cat Stevens — MONA BONE JAKON
    Lou Reed & Metallica — LULU
    The Raincoats — THE RAINCOATS
    Duke Ellington — NEW ORLEANS SUITE
    Fleetwood Mac — RUMOURS (i know, i know, i’m sorry)
    Patti Smith — HORSES
    Digable Planets — BLOWOUT COMB
    Lingua Ignota — SINNER GET READY
    John Coltrane — MY FAVORITE THINGS
    Miles Davis — ON THE CORNER
    Laura Nyro — CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT (cos you took NYT from me)
    Dalek — FROM FILTHY TONGUE OF GODS AND GRIOTS
    Sun Kil Moon — BENJI
    Swans — FILTH
    John Cage — 44 HARMONIES FROM APARTMENT HOUSE 1776 / CHEAP IMITATION
    The Peter Brotzmann Octet — MACHINE GUN
    Vangelis — BLADE RUNNER
    Charlie Parker — YARDBIRD SUITE: THE ULTIMATE CHARLIE PARKER COLLECTION
    Scott Walker — TILT
    Stephen Sondheim — A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (1973)
    GZA — LIQUID SWORDS
    Minutemen — DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME
    Art Tatum — THE COMPLETE PABLO SOLO MASTERPIECES
    Carpenters — GOLD
    Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth — MECCA AND THE SOUL BROTHER
    Philip Glass — EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH (1993)
    Vince Guaraldi — THE CHARLIE BROWN SUITE & OTHER FAVORITES

    • politekid

      (whoops, some important additions:)
      Bjork — VESPERTINE
      Talking Heads — REMAIN IN LIGHT
      Beverly Glenn-Copeland — KEYBOARD FANTASIES
      Akira Yamaoka — SILENT HILL 2
      Frank Zappa — UNCLE MEAT
      Lou Reed & John Cale — SONGS FOR DRELLA
      Cocteau Twins — HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS
      Galaxie 500 — ON FIRE
      Luna — PENTHOUSE
      The Who — QUADROPHENIA
      The Cure — DISINTEGRATION
      Silver Jews — AMERICAN WATER
      Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — SKELETON TREE
      Julee Cruise — FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT
      David Bowie — BLACKSTAR
      Liz Phair — EXILE IN GUYVILLE
      The Roches — THE ROCHES
      Ulver — PERDITION CITY
      The Mountain Goats — TALLAHASSEE
      Roy Harper — STORMCOCK

      • Damien Ark

        yessss perdition city <3

        • Brendan

          Seconded! Though I put ‘Blood Inside’ on my list

  4. Sypha

    Ha, my dad has that Donovan’s Greatest Hits CD as well… remember listening to it a bit as a kid… some of these other ones look interesting, maybe I’ll keep an eye out when I visit the local CD store later this week.

    My current Top 50 albums list is at home so I can’t repost here, but I can at least do a Top Ten:

    A KISS IN THE DREAMHOUSE (Siouxsie & The Banshees)
    THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL (NIne Inch Nails)
    THE MARBLE INDEX (Nico)
    THE HOLY BIBLE (Manic Street Preachers)
    IMPERIUM (Current 93)
    HORSE ROTORVATOR (Coil)
    DEAD CAN DANCE (Dead Can Dance)
    TUSK (Fleetwood Mac)
    A BELL IS A CUP… (Wire)
    SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92 (APHEX TWIN)

    A few others off the top of my head would be LIKE A VIRGIN (Madonna), BLACK CELEBRATION (Depeche Mode), CHROMATICA (Lady Gaga), DAYS OF OPEN HAND (Suzanne Vega), DAYDREAM NATION (Sonic Youth), TRILOGY (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), CLOSER (Joy Division), FILTH PIG (Ministry), THE SOUL CAGES (Sting), THE THIRD REICH & ROLL (The Residents), etc. etc.

    The weather is supposed to clear up this afternoon so I might go into town, maybe check out the local bookstore as I usually do when I’m up here.

    • Damien Ark

      Manic Street Preachers! Woohoo!

  5. Jack Skelley

    Rock me, Dennis Amadeus! This list and your readers’ are killer. Too slammed to make my own but one note on The Quick — My son saw The Dickies perform last Friday at The Whiskey and brought back a video of them playing “Pretty Please Me.” That very superior power pop song by Steven Hufsteter, originally recorded by The Quick. Red KRoss had a version too…. THANX!!

    • Brendan

      Love this, Jack!

  6. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Nothing is impossible. Or is it?

    Hey! You forgot The Doors. 😉

    We’re pretty much over covid here, too. Well, people are, but our institutions and workplaces aren’t. You get exposed and you have to put your life on hold still. Well, if you find out you’ve been exposed. I’m sure we get exposed all the time and don’t know it.

    Thanks. I think the MRI will be fine, as will we re: this latest ‘ro “exposure.”

    Oh, and you may remember how I used to get this clusterfuck of a headache every 3 months or so that was almost debilitating. Almost. Well, it’s been years, but it’s back. Ugh. Started yesterday. It’ll take a few days and some acetaminophen and ibuprofen, but man, it’s not fun.

    Onward and upward.

  7. David Ehrenstein

    Song Cycle — Van Dyke Parks
    Pet Souns — TheBeach Boys
    Italian raffirri — Nic De Caro
    Randy Newman — Randy Newman
    Autosalvage — Autosalvage

  8. Dominik

    Hi!!

    Thank you for the treasure trove above! There’re quite a few albums up there I don’t know, and I’m more than happy to investigate! I think I’ll need a moment to collect all my all-time favorites, but the ones that come to mind right now are:

    Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik

    Courtney Love – Nobody’s Daughter (demo version)

    Mac Miller/Delusional Thomas – Delusional Thomas mixtape

    Soko – I Thought I Was an Alien

    Placebo – Sleeping with Ghosts or Placebo

    You approached this shrinking issue with way more empathy than I had. And it’s true too – being the size of a Euro coin wouldn’t be too much fun. Nor would being around a loved one that tiny. Let’s just go with Trump and Putin then, yes. Safe bets.

    So, Blood Sugar would definitely be the most fun as an amusement park. But I’d be more curious about I Thought I Was an Alien or Delusional Thomas (that one would be a fucked-up thing, haha). Which album would you turn into an amusement park? Love trying to look like Sid Vicious, but he only manages the look of the guy from Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia music video, Od. (No shaming, though; I loved it so much when I was a young teen. I still do, actually, haha.)

  9. Dr. Kosten Koper

    Man, so difficult. Going to go for 15 stone cold classics off the top of my head. Totally random. Have listen to them all at least a million times.

    Bing Selfish & The The Ideals – Meet …
    Die Tödliche Doris – Unser Debut
    Соломенные Еноты (Straw Racoons) – Недостоверные данные о счастье (False Data on Happiness)
    Shock Headed Peters – Not Born Beautiful
    Various – There Are Too Many Fools Following Too Many Rules (Irdial Discs comp)
    L. Voag – The Way Out
    The Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
    Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defense) – Instruktsiya po vyzhivaniyu (Instructions For Survival)
    Disco Inferno – D.I. Go Pop
    Zero Kama – The Goatherd and the Beast
    Stretchheads – Pish In Your Sleazebag
    Various – Virtualsex (Carl Craig – Stefan Robers – Derrick May et al)
    Opal – Happy Nightmare Baby
    Felix Kubin – Filmmusik
    The Last Resort – A Way Of Life

  10. fervorxo

    thanks for the drop, I’m gonna check out the Public Enemy and John Fahey. Some of these guys have such a huge discography, I wonder about the particularities of your picks. Like, damn you really narrowed it down to one Guided by Voices album hahaha. but ya thanks.

    here’s some of my all-time top plays
    Duster – *Stratosphere*
    my bloody valentine – *loveless*
    Xiu Xiu – *A Promise*
    Loma Prieta – *Last City*
    Liturgy – *Aesthethica*
    Charli XCX – *Vroom Vroom*
    Low – *I Could Live In Hope*
    Prefab Sprout – *Steve McQueen*
    Palm – *Rock Island*
    Bladee – *333*

  11. Tosh Berman

    I would love to say the Covid world is over, but the truth is, I’m dealing with a Covid issue as I write. Things are ok, and I’m not sick, and I tested positive numerous times, but these are not fun days. And dealing with the heat, oh my, not a walk in the park!

    Dennis, your album list is excellent. Some of the titles would be on my list. Song Cycle is an album that I have bought, sold, bought again, re-sold, and then finally bought it for keeps, like forever. I hear something new all the time. Also, when I take a walk on my street I would run into Van Dyke, and i would always say hello, and he would say hi back to me. But it would take a final or full moment to realize that it was Van Dyke Parks I just said hello to.

    My list as of today:
    Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
    David Bowie – Black Star
    All albums by Scott Walker
    The Kinks – Preservation of the Village Green
    Lou Reed -Lulu
    The Honeycombs first album
    Lotte Lenya – Brecht /Weill songs
    Almost any Miles Davis album
    All Thelonious Monk albums
    All Tom Recchion albums
    The Stone Roses
    Any Jun Togawa album
    Almost any Haroumi Hosono album
    There’s more, I think I’ll do something on my blog about this. My brain power is about to go asleep due to heat.

  12. Tosh Berman

    Oh and Sparks and the Quick! All Sparks albums.

  13. Steve Erickson

    I posted a list of my 150 favorite albums on my blog years ago, but if I made the list now, it’d be quite different. Off the top of my head, here goes with another one:

    Patti Smith-HORSES
    the Verlaines-JUVENILIA
    FKA Twigs-MAGDALENE
    Brian Eno-HERE COME THE WARM HETS
    Doctors of Madness-LATE NIGHT MOVIES, ALL NIGHT BRAINSTORMS
    Nirvana-MTV UNPLUGGED
    Tim Buckley-LORCA
    Miles Davis-ON THE CORNER
    Bhundu Boys-THE SHED SESSIONS
    Eric B & Rakim-PAID IN FULL
    Various Artists-ACID: CAN YOU JACK?
    Various Artists-THE HOUSE THAT JACKIN’ BUILT
    Van der Graaf Generator-PAWN HEARTS
    Beyonce-s/t
    Shirelles-ANTHOLOGY 1959-1964
    Fleetwood Mac-RUMOURS
    Polo G-DIE A LEGEND
    Danny Brown-ATROCITY EXHIBITION
    Slowdive-SOUVLAKI
    Vangelis-L’APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX
    Klaus Schulze-IRRLICHT
    Yellow Magic Orchestra-BGM
    Jay-Z-REASONABLE DOUBT
    Chet Baker-MY FUNNY VALENTINE
    Cyndi Lauper-SHE’S SO UNUSUAL
    Young Marble Giants-COLOSSAL YOUTH
    Curtis Mayfield-SUPERFLY
    the Fall-singles box set
    James Brown-IN THE JUNGLE GROOVE
    War-THE WORLD IS A GHETTO
    Adverts-CROSSING THE RED SEA WITH THE ADVERTS
    X-Ray Spex-GERM-FREE ADOLESCENTS
    Black Sabbath-SABOTAGE
    Entombed-WOLVERINE BLUES
    Chills-SUBMARINE BELLS
    This Kind of Punishment-IN THE SAME ROOM
    Parliament-MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION
    Funkadelic-COSMIC SLOP
    Donald Byrd-FANCY FREE
    Herbie Hancock-SEXTANT
    Aphex Twin-SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92
    B12-ELECTRO SOMA
    Rolling Stones-EXILE ON MAIN STREET
    Howlin’ Wolf-ROCKIN’ CHAIR
    Pink Floyd-WISH YOU WERE HERE
    Metallica-MASTER OF PUPPETS
    Burial-s/t
    Talking Heads-STOP MAKING SENSE
    Jacques Brel-EN SCENES
    David Bowie-HUNKY DORY
    John Cale-PARIS 1919
    Dadawah-PEACE AND LOVE
    GZA-LIQUID SWORDS
    Gravediggaz-SIX FEET DEEP
    Congos-HEART OF THE CONGOS
    Chic-C’EST CHIC
    Velvet Underground-VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
    Richard & Linda Thompson-I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT
    R.E.M.-AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE

    I know I’m leaving out a great deal, and if I revised the list on my website now, it would probably run to several hundred albums.

    What’s the Quick album you selected? I’m only familiar with MONDO DECO. Bow Wow Wow are an interesting choice. Annabella had a great voice, but the fact that the band were puppets of Malcolm McLaren to a far degree than the Sex Pistols has always been a barrier to appreciating them, especially when he put his sex fantasies in a teenage girl’s mouth.

  14. Damien Ark

    We do have some in common. Soundtracks for Blind and Eliane’s Trilogie de Mort. Do you mean Disintegration Loops as a compilation of all of them or just the first volume ?? My favorite loop is the one that doesn’t disintegrate, lol. It seems to always put me into a creative mood when I’m uninspired. OKAY, don’t judge me. I made this list of favorites a long time ago, and some of them are nostalgia teenhood based.
    “Trilogie de la mort” Elaine Radigue (best drone album ever?)
    “Feldman Edition 6 String Quartet No 2” FLUX QUARTET (FELDMAN of course, best version of it)
    “Debussy l’œuvre pour piano” Aldo Ciccolini
    “Somnium” Robert Rich (from my fav ambient musician)
    “November” R. Andrew Lee
    “Insurgentes” Steven Wilson
    “Constance” Southpacific
    “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull” Earth
    “Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue” Kayo Dot
    “Live in Chicago 2017” King Crimson
    “Sunset Mission” Bohren & der Club of Gore
    “Perdition City” Ulver (listen to this and sunset mission back to back like I did as a 12-14 year old almost every night for ultimate pleasure)
    “Time Machines” Time Machines / Coil
    “Obey” Brainbombs
    “Narcotic Story” Oxbow
    “Whorse’s Mouth” Rozz Williams
    “Liberal Cunt” Pogrom
    “Metalvelodrome” Merzbow
    “Mass IIII” Amenra
    “Animale(s)” Celeste
    “Special Wishes” Harvey Milk
    “Soundtracks for the Blind” Swans
    “Grandeur of Hair” Goslings
    “Doll Doll Doll” Venetian Snares
    “Daughters” Daughters
    “Heroin Man” Cherubs
    “Journal for Plague Lovers” Manic Street Preachers
    “I Will Always and Forever Hold You in My Heart and Mind” Aidan Baker
    “Slugabed” Nikos Veliotis & Klaus Filip
    “By the Throat” Eyedea & Abilities
    “From a Basement on the Hill” Elliott Smith
    “The Mantle” Agalloch
    “The Downward Spiral” NIN

  15. Toniok

    Hello Dennis!

    – EL ETERNO FEMENINO – La mode
    – KIKÍ D’AKÍ – Kikí d’Akí
    – POLVO DE ÁNGEL – El Ángel y Los Volcánicos
    – THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN – Pink Floyd
    – THE MADCAP LAUGHS – Syd Barrett
    – TODO LO QUE VENDRÁ DESPUÉS – 091
    – FORMAS DE MATAR EL TIEMPO – Lapido
    – FIVE LEAVES LEFT – Nick Drake
    – TOWN AND COUNTRY – Humble Pie
    – LA CUENTA ATRÁS – Los enemigos
    – THE BEST OF PETER GREEN’S – Fleetwood Mac
    – UNHALFBRICKING – Fairport Convention
    – ENEMIGOS DE LO AJENO – El último de la fila
    – BAILANDO EN EL ALAMBRE – Polanski y El ardor
    – GP – Gram Parsons
    – THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN – The Flying Burrito Brothers
    – THE DOORS – The Doors
    – THE BEST OF LITTLE WALTER – Little Walter
    – SLEEP – Little Willie John
    – THE ANTHOLOGY – Jimmy Reed
    – EL AMIGO DE LAS TORMENTAS – Surfin’ Bichos
    – KONIEC – Chucho
    – HONEY’S DEAD – The Jesus and Mary Chain
    – PILGRIMAGE – Om
    – CHELSEA GIRL – Nico
    – LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE ARE FLOATING IN THE SPACE – Spiritualized
    – TORMENTA DE TORMENTO – Corcobado
    – GREATEST HITS – Little Richard
    – SIGN O’ THE TIMES – Prince
    – DOG MAN STAR – Suede
    – HORSES – Patti Smith
    – EL ACTO – Parálisis Permanente
    – FIGURE 8 – Elliott Smith

    Greetings!

  16. Nightcrawler

    I probably should (and hopefully will) get back to painting sometime soon. Maybe after the current heatwave hitting the western US is finally over…

    In regards to today’s post, some of my favorites in no particular order are:
    -“Sketchbook” — Tom Griesgraber
    I first heard this guy when I was in my young teens (I think) at the local county fair, where his unique mixture of classical, rock, jazz, and ambient music played on a Chapman Stick really taught me for the first time that not all music sounds like the stuff played on the radio.

    -s/t and “Master of Puppets” — Metallica
    While these were given to me as gifts a few years after I first heard Griesgraber, they still represented an important development for me. No one else in my family was interested in metal at all (I know, these are not the most “metal” of their albums), so these represent my first steps into defining my own taste in music.

    Fast forward some years and then I found:
    “2010” — Golden Rain
    Through metal I had found industrial, noise, and power electronics. While getting a feel for these genres and identifying what I like/dislike about them, I found this tape and it amazed me to no end. Perfect minimal synth, just the right vocal tonality.

    Something that will probably be on this list sometime in the future (I need to give it a few more years of listening) are the live portions of Atrax Morgue’s “Close to a Corpse,” which continue down the path of ultra-minimal synth industrial.

  17. Nightcrawler

    Hopefully I will get back to painting sometime soon, I just need to make it through the heat wave hitting the western US first!

    A short list of my current (and perhaps future) favorites:
    -“Sketchbook” — Tom Griesgraber
    -s/t and “Master of Puppets” — Metallica
    -“2010” — Golden Rain
    “Close to a Corpse” — Atrax Morgue

    • Nightcrawler

      Darn, I guess the website finally loaded my initial post, I had thought it was deleted. Ignore this one!

  18. Bill

    Hey Dennis, I don’t know if our temperatures have broken records, but it certainly is brutal today (by our wimpy standards). We’re hotter than Chicago! A good day to stay indoors, eat popsicles, and watch chess streams. And read and make lists. I see lots of favorite items in your and the DL’s.

    I’m terrible at these all time lists. Mine always skew to certain periods of my misspent youth. But here are some:

    Butthole Surfers, Rembrandt Pussyhorse
    Cecil Taylor, Conquistador!
    Brian Eno, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy
    Talking Heads, Fear of Music
    Wire, 154
    Velvet Underground, VU + Nico
    Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica
    Art Bears, The World as it is Today
    DNA, DNA on DNA
    Lindsay Cooper, News from Babel
    Guillermo Gregorio, Faktura
    Gastr del Sol, Mirror Repair
    Fred Frith, Speechless
    Leandre/Graewe/Houle, Live at Banlieues Bleues
    Last Exit, Koln
    Schlippenbach Trio, Elf Bagatellen
    Magnus Lindberg, Kraft
    Brian Ferneyhough, La Chute d’Icare/Superscriptio/Etudes Transcendentales etc
    Michael Finnissy, Verdi Transcriptions (Ian Pace)
    Eric B & Rakim, Follow the Leader
    Sonic Youth, Bad Moon Rising
    Bill Dixon, Son of Sisyphus
    Coil, Black Antlers
    Psychic TV, Dreams Less Sweet
    Paul Bley, Tango Palace
    Annette Peacock, I Have No Feelings
    Califone, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
    John Butcher, London and Cologne
    Derek Bailey/Evan Parker, Arch Duo
    Sly and Robbie, Rhythm Killers
    Shriekback, Oil and Gold
    Dance Craze (best of British ska)
    English Beat, I just can’t stop it
    Gang of 4, Entertainment!
    Peter Gabriel, 3rd album
    Tuxedomoon, Desire
    Microstoria, snd
    Henry Threadgill, Too Much Sugar for a Dime
    Lennie Tristano, Intuition

  19. OneTime

    Here’s the 20 I coughed up

    Kanye West- The Life of Pablo
    Frank Ocean-Blonde
    Silver Jews- The Natural Bridge
    The Flying Burrito Bros- The Gilded Palace of Sin
    Labi Siffre-Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying
    World’s End Girlfriend- Air Doll Soundtrack
    The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground
    Townes Van Zandt- Townes Van Zandt
    Janet Kay- The Definitive Hits Collection (1977-1985)
    Taylor Swift-1989
    Sibylle Baier- Colour Green
    Paris Hilton-Paris
    Astor Piazolla-Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night
    Nirvana- Unplugged
    Playboi Carti- Whole Lotta Red
    Mr. Fingers-Introduction
    Drake-Honestly, Nevermind
    David Bowie-The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
    Altered Images-Pinky Blue
    Joni Mitchell-Blue

  20. Brendan

    Dennis your list is so epic and wonderful with so many unexpected gems. I’ll do my best. Things that blew my mind at some point in my life and probably still do:

    Isis – Oceanic
    Om – Conference of the Birds
    God is my Co-Pilot – I Am Not This Body
    Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker
    John Coltrane – Sun Ship
    Ornette Coleman – The Shape of Jazz to Come
    Yob – Clearing the Path to Ascent
    The Nation of Ulysses – Plays Pretty For Baby
    Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small Hours
    Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
    Los Lobos – Kiko
    Muddy Waters – The Real Folk Blues
    Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings
    Ulver – Blood Inside
    Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
    Black Sabbath – Vol 4
    De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
    Blossom Dearie – Once Upon a Summertime
    Janes Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual
    Pinebender – Things Are About to Get Weird
    And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
    The Mars Volta – Deloused in the Comatorium
    Bad Religion – Suffer
    Gangstarr – Daily Operation
    Baroness – The Red Album
    Metallica – Ride the Lightning
    Big Brother and the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills
    Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy
    Big Business – Here Come the Waterworks
    Butthole Surfers – Rembrandt Pussyhorse
    Carcass- Heartwork
    Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
    Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger
    Converge – Jane Doe
    Das Racist – Shut up, Dude
    Ultramagnetic MCs – Critical Beatdown
    Dwarves – Blood, Guts and Pussy
    Sleep – Dopesmoker
    Iron Tongue – The Dogs Have Barked, the Birds Have Flown
    Jeru The Damage – The Sun Rises in the East
    Turbonegro – Ass Cobra
    At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command
    The Jesus Lizard – Head
    Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold as Love
    Team Dresch – Personal Best
    Judy Garland – Judy Live at Carnegie Hall
    Shellac – At Action Park
    Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun
    Toots and Maytals – Funky Kingston
    Master of Reality – S/T
    Melt Banana – Charlie
    Melvins – Houdini
    Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve
    James Brown – Please Please Please
    Ministry – In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up
    Pussy Galore – Dial M for Motherfucker
    Nachtmystium – Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1
    Napalm Death – Harmony Corruption
    Neurosis – Times of Grace
    Jucifer – L’Autrichienne
    Opeth – Blackwater Park
    Oxbow – An Evil Heat
    Pinback – This is a Pinback (Recommended by a certain famous author I like)
    PJ Harvey – Dry
    Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
    Mr. Bungle – Disco Volante
    Sleater Kinney – Dig Me Out
    Shining – Blackjazz
    Clipse – Hall Hath No Fury
    Clutch – Blast Tyrant
    Slayer – Reign in Blood
    Stereolab – Dots and Loops

  21. Robert

    Ooh boy! Love to see the John Fahey on there. Alright, here goes. I’m gonna stay true to the stuff I liked back in high school so I’ll probably incriminate myself a fair amount.

    Car Seat Headrest- Nervous Young Man, or Monomania, or Twin Fantasy? Toughie. I was a moody preteen.
    Angel Olsen- Phases
    Genesis- Foxtrot? Or Lamb, or Nursery Cryme maybe–also a hard one.
    Black Marble- A Different Arrangement
    Brian Eno- Music for Airports
    Grizzly Bear- Yellow House (I’m a sucker for Blue Valentine)
    For classical music the Leonard Bernstein recording of Mahler’s second, and also the Vladimir Ashkenazy recording of the Rachmaninoff preludes, and the Khatia Buniatishivili Rachmaninoff concertos.
    Jessica Pratt- On Your Own Love Again
    Simon and Garfunkel- Bridge Over Troubled Water
    Khruangbin- Con Todo El Mundo
    King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- Polygondwanaland, and Flying Microtonal Banana, which is another high school pick.
    Shannon Lay- Living Water
    Sharon Van Etten- Epic
    Yes- Close to the Edge

    This’ll probably drive me nuts all night as I think of more stuff or get embarrassed about what I have there but it was sort of a fun exercise, looking through all my old albums, sort of activated a lot of dormant vague past emotional memories. You’re a hero for making these sorts of posts–I bet sifting through all the comments takes a godawful amount of time.

  22. Dalton

    So many good albums, sheesh. Seeing as how there are so many lists that have already mentioned some of my favorites I’m gonna be a cheater and just mention some of my favorite albums that might be more obscure or possibly overlooked.

    Triad God-Triad
    Eduardo Mateo-Mateo Bien Se Lame
    Iosonouncane-DIE
    Mercury Severinsen-Planet Amerika
    Dirty Beaches-Drifters/Love is the Devil
    Current 93-Black Ships Ate the Sky
    The Revolutionary Arm of the Infant Jesus-The Gift of Tears
    Failure-Fantastic Planet
    Christian Kjellvander- I Saw Her from Here/ I Saw Here
    Sigh- Imaginary Sonicscape

  23. Travis (fka Cal)

    Swans – To Be Kind
    Magma – Attahk
    maudlin of the Well – Part the Second
    Hanson – Middle of Nowhere
    Grace Jones – Slave to the Rhythm
    David Bowie – Young Americans
    Pink Floyd – The Wall
    Glenn Yarborough – The Hobbit (1977) Ost
    Coven – Witchcraft
    Dr John – Gris Gris
    mewithoutYou – It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright
    Murder by Death – Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?
    Scott Walker – Scott 3
    Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy
    Native Construct – Quiet World
    Others by No One – Book 1
    Lou Reed – Berlin
    Marillion – Brave
    Yes – Fragile

    Honorable mentions: David Grey’s White Ladder for the first three tracks; the discographies of The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Dear Hunter. Couldn’t pick one album for any of them without feeling shame for not picking another lol

    There are probably more but this is what came to mind while I’m drunk lol

  24. Flop Clop

    Dennis, I love your site and work. Here are some of my favorites.

    Bruce Hornsby – Spirit Trail
    Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw
    Peter Wolf – A Cure for Loneliness
    Todd Rundgren – Something/Anything?
    Swamp Dogg – Total Destruction to Your Mind
    Biffy Clyro – Puzzle
    Joe Jackson – Look Sharp!
    The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
    Grey Eye Glances – Eventide
    Jason Isbell – Southeastern
    Lightnin’ Rod – Hustler’s Convention
    Suicide – Suicide
    Eli “Paperboy” Reed – Roll With You
    Judee Sill – Heart Food
    Tim Buckley – Starsailor
    Ryan Bingham – Mescalito
    Tonio K. – Life in the Food Chain
    Happy Rhodes – Warpaint
    Iron City Houserockers – Have a Good Time (But Get Out Alive)
    Wendy Waldman – Strange Company
    Snarky Puppy – We Like it Here
    Ted Hawkins – On the Boardwalk
    Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

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