One of mine is Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack. I basically took the title verbatim and know the album word for word. And while I would love if it did, the rest of MCS’s stuff just doesn’t hit the same way.
And if you’re not an album person, maybe a period of time in the artist’s work? Whatever works for you.
*Lots of mentions of hit debut albums that subsequently petered out, which follows with the dreaded sophomore slump that hits many artists. Anyone with mid or even later career albums that stand alone? Those always intrigue me.
Live-Throwing Copper. It’s an absolute masterpiece. Their other albums have some gems, but the rest of the discography is nowhere near the quality of TC.
M83. “Hurry up we’re dreaming” may not be perfect but it’s a great album all their other stuff pales in comparison to.
“Wolfmother” by Wolfmother. Period.
“Cruelty and the beast” by Cradle of Filth, although they had a good run around that time.
“Origin of symmetry” by Muse. It is the almost perfect sweet spot between too rough and too polished in their discography.
“Seeds” by TV on the radio.
“Boy King” by Wild Beasts.
“Passage” by Samael was peak song writing and composing. A text book concept album. Brilliant.
“The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. Absolute banger, not an album though.
I’m kind of curious, I’ve tried Seeds over and over, but it’s unlistenable to me. Especially compared again Dear Science or Desperate. What is it you like about that album? I really want to like it because it’s probably the last of what we’ll get from them. Got any tips on appreciating it?
“Passage” by Samael
I’m just going to assume you have never heard Ceremony of Opposites. That’s the only explanation.
I did (and sometimes still do). It’s okay, too doomy and far from being refined. Passage takes the stomping doom metal parts and surrounds them with the right amount of electronic sound, great lyrics, and interesting composing and arrangements. Without Ceremony, Passage wouldn’t exist, tbf, but it gets out maneuvered by its (indirect) successor in every aspect.
Sorry but Return to Cookie Mountain fromTV on the Radio is great, and staring at the sun was on their first album. But I was at peak concert going age in 2003 when that came out so I’m biased toward that.
Seeds is my second favorite album (after Cookie) and still pretty underrated though.
Are you a fan of the Four Seasons Recomposed, by Max Richter? I discovered it this past year and have been loving it.
Linkin Park.
Hybrid Theory was amazing, but most of their other albums were mostly “meh” for me. Meteora had a couple of good songs, but that’s about it.
I just can’t agree. I wish having a different opinion didnt just mean people downvoted you to hell, you should be allowed to disagree with a popular opinion.
So, instead, i will just counter with: i think hybrid theory and meteora were written around the same time, ive always held that both albums are start to finish bangers. When one song finishes and im just “catching a mental breath”, but another one starts and im like “oh shit!” Because i know its another great track i cant help but think both albums are amazing.
They did, however, fall off a cliff after those albums. (Save for maybe reanimation, that was a fun album)
Also im not even particularly a fan. I know them second hand from my younger brother who is/was more die hard. Im more into Muse, dear hunter, radiohead and things like that.
Songs for the Deaf. A very brief moment QOTSA existed in that form and nothing before or after even gets close.
I respect your opinion, but hard disagree - SFTD is good but both Villains and (especially) …Like Clockwork are better musically and lyrically imo.
How about we take it a step further: Gotye’s song “Somebody That I Used to Know” is sooooo different from the rest of his discography. The rest of that album is great but is stylistically very different and never blew me away like that one single.
Lol. I’m the opposite. Love his other stuff. I can sing along to most of the songs on two albums, but that hit… It’s an instant classic, but very much a pop song. His other stuff is almost antipop
The track where he sings about his new keyboard tech goes harder than it should. That whole album is great.
Antipop is definitely a great way to describe all his other stuff. And to be clear, I kinda went against the theme of this discussion because I genuinely quite like his other stuff, just not to the degree that I like that one hit.
Until very recently, I thought that the whole track was an original production. Turns out Gotye is something of a sampling genius - mad respect for the craft in STIUtK, and what a killer set of melodies on top of everything else.
I heard a story once that he made that song to show how easy it is to have a mega hit song even though he didn’t like it himself, kind of like the guys that formed MGMT. Unsure of the source on that and it could very well be untrue but it would make sense.
MGMT is another good one! First album was amazing, 2nd one was really good, everything else is meh except Little Dark Age (just the song).
What’s most impressive are his animations. This is on his main YouTube channel. Really good stuff.
