Topic: The Music Thread

That’s Kylie got a number one album in 5 different decades. Crazy achievement considering she’s only 52 but she’s a total icon.

MMISL, @nessisonett? What did you think of them? If you've listened yet. What else have you been listening to over the weekend?

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Yeah, I listened to that album and actually really enjoyed it! They’re one of those bands I always knew about but had never given a listen. I listened to The Suburbs by Arcade Fire and Man of Aran by British Sea Power, both of which I really enjoyed. I was introduced to British Sea Power through Disco Elysium as they were another band that I had heard the name of but their OST for Disco Elysium is fantastic so I’ve been working my way through their back catalogue.

@nessisonett Yeah, it's interesting isn't it? Heavy but not too heavy, or heavy without being heavy. I'll listen to Disco Elysium on spotify.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Unfortunately the Disco Elysium soundtrack isn’t on Spotify but I think it’s up on YouTube. It’s worth listening to in the context of the game as well, dunno when it’s coming to PS4 though.

@nessisonett Someone's posted a playlist of it on Spotify, luckily - you just have to search hard enough!

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Well, there are a couple of tracks from the OST there but the full thing’s like an hour and a half long and most of it isn’t on there!

RateYourMusic’s new charts algorithm has finally been implemented and to be honest, I’m relatively happy with the result. Part of me wishes I was a subscriber as I’d adjust the popularity weighting to be quite low as I value consistent ratings from a small group over albums prone to review bombing, positive or negative. At least the new album charts have seen some major shifts, Dark Side of the Moon has dropped all the way to 10th, below Wish You Were Here which I personally prefer anyway. It’s pretty interesting, the top 10, as there’s possibly only 1 or 2 I’d put in my personal top 10. Obviously more popular albums will be the ones rising to the top but it’s good that this new algorithm might help some great bands be rediscovered by a new generation.

The new top 10 is:

1. OK Computer - Radiohead
2. In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
3. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
4. Kid A - Radiohead
5. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
6. The Velvet Underground & Nico - ditto lmao
7. Abbey Road - The Beatles
8. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - David Bowie
9. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
10. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

Not a bad list of albums by any stretch of the matter, although it does feel that if you got a group of middle-class guys in their mid 30s to create a list, that would be it. I reckon To Pimp A Butterfly will creep in at number 10 in the next couple of years, as more users join from a younger generation. It continues to be a fascinating site of interest to anyone who loves music, both to find new and interesting music and to revisit older classics.

That top ten list is bang out of order.

@nessisonett Bleurgh, Revolver is better than Abbey Road. I have an aversion to Radiohead because my Dad used to play it on repeat in the '90's and it did my head in.

I'm listening to this DDR Extreme 2 song.

@Kidfried Do you like In Rainbows? They played Bodysnatchers off that album on 6music this morning, I loved it and added the album to my Wishlist.

@nessisonett I have been listening to JW Francis today, a New York tour-guide influenced by film and literature, hence the name (like C.S. Lewis) I think you would enjoy his debut We Share A Similar Joy. Have a listen and let me know what you think if you can.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic
Now i'm listening to this song.

@johncalmc The problem is that when these things are decided by an algorithm that collects public votes and sorts them through some sort of magic/maths, more people will rate the albums that are near the top creating a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. The Radiohead albums have way more ratings than most albums on the whole site for example. It’s a flawed concept and personally I find most of the albums in the following hundreds a lot more interesting than the top 10 but it is what it is.

@Kidfried I really like parts of In Rainbows but there are other parts where it kinda drags for me. Kid A is still probably what I consider my favourite of theirs, it sounds so incredibly ahead of its time even now, 20 years after it released. It’s also their most coherent whole, most of their other albums have a strange song or two which don’t quite fit the tone or sound of the rest of the album, like when they decided to drag OK Computer down with songs like Electioneering. I wouldn’t say I’ve really been ‘into’ Radiohead since I was like 15 though, they’re a good gateway into a whole bunch of other genres but not a band I feel like I have to revisit on occasion.

@nessisonett Yeah, it's the same with any system like that. It's pretty much the same with any list ever. Nobody ever agrees with a list. If you agree with a list of the best albums ever it'd be pretty boring. The last thing we need is everyone agreeing on the White Album etc.

@johncalmc I think the only thing everyone agrees about the White Album is that if those bloody long-haired tw*ts made the album a bit shorter then it wouldn’t cost over £35 on vinyl.

@nessisonett Nicolas Cage buys a copy of the White Album on vinyl for like $100 in The Rock so it could be worse.

@johncalmc Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f*** the prom queen.

The Rock is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.