Greetings, reader!
Music Month continues, and today I'm discussing my favorite albums of all time. They're ranked based on how much I like them overall, with every possible factor factoring in to my decision - how well the album is made from song composition to mixing and production, how solid the quality of songs is and how the final product works as a whole, how much emotional value the album has et cetera. For me, these masterpieces are the best of the best.
Here are my honorable mentions: Awesome Snakes - Venom, Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast, The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once, The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed.
10. Rush - Moving Pictures (1981)
While I absolutely love thematic concept albums, and Rush has some amazing work in that category, my #1 favorite album from the legendary prog rock band is Moving Pictures - very much not a concept album but rather a more traditional collection of songs. The group's eighth studio album doesn't need to be conceptual to be an amazing work of progressive rock, because the songs are just so excellent.
It opens with Tom Sawyer, an intense high-concentration banger that has earned its stature as the band's best-known song and one of prog rock's greats. We're then taken on a colorful journey through a complex array of songs, from the touching lyrics of Red Barchetta and the genius rhythms of YYZ to the beautiful melodies of Limelight and the refreshing, reggae-influenced Vital Signs. Rush's off-the-charts creativity, coupled with the trio's absurd ability to be so musically talented that they can have fun and groove even when they're playing insanely complex rhythms, is on full display throughout Moving Pictures, which barely beats out other favorites like 2112 (1976) and Farewell to Kings (1977) as my favorite Rush album.
9. Ursus Factory - Pinkki Pilvi (2019)
The only Finnish album to make it into my all-time top 10 was a slow burn for me. I remember listening to this Helsinki rock duo's sophomore album for the first time, and thinking "hey, this is pretty good". Then it just got better and better with each listening, until sometime last year I realized that it's my favorite Finnish album of all time. There's just something about the unique type of chaotic energy that the band creates, with every song simultaneously feeling like a carefully crafted work of art but also a spontaneous brainfart that was put together in just a few minutes. It's neat yet careless, it's punk yet pop, it's silly yet deep, and it's just amazing.
While the album's predecessor Älä Lopeta Uskomista Rakkauteen Baby (2017) and its follower Onnellinen Sukupolvi (2021) are great as well in their own right, there's just no beating Pinkki Pilvi. Half of my top 10 favorite Ursus Factory songs come from this one magnificent record, that just keeps on giving - touching ballads like Askel Keveä and Mä En Tiedä Mitä Rakkaus On, rocking bangers like Sydän On Suuri and Pakko Mennä Keskukseen, and beautiful anthems like Tähdistöön! and Pinkki Pilvi ensue.
8. AC/DC - High Voltage (1976)
Most rock n' roll fans would choose the iconic Back In Black (1980) as their favorite album from this Aussie group, and I can see why. Back In Black is one of a kind, and it's amazing how the band was able to bounce back from the tragedy of lead singer Bon Scott's death by hiring next-best-thing Brian Johnson and continuing to make loud and dirty rock n' roll that would've surely made Scott proud. But for me, the Scott era trumps the Johnson era quite clearly - out of AC/DC's 16 studio albums, five were made with Scott on vocals, and they are on places #6, #5, #4, #2 and #1 in my ranking. And I don't mean this as a point to discredit the fantastic work of the band's later years, but rather to highlight how the Bon Scott AC/DC was some of the very best rock n' roll ever made.
And that can be heard most clearly in the band's debut international release, 1976's High Voltage. The album opens with It's a Long Way to The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll), and as the readers of last week's post will know, it's literally my #1 favorite rock song of all time. The rest of the album continues in the same rocking spirit, ranging from classic-classics like T.N.T. and The Jack to cult classics like Can I Sit Next to You Girl and Rock N' Roll Singer. The umatched raw energy of early AC/DC is just something else, man.
7. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975)
"You play a chord, and stay on that chord for such a long time, that when eventually the chord changes, your whole world is turned upside down"
- A rough translation of my friend Olli describing Pink Floyd
This magnificent description of Pink Floyd fits a multitude of their songs, but the one it especially resonates with is Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This game-changing album opens with the first five parts of that behemoth, after which we're treated to the soul-shattering psychedelia of Welcome to the Machine, the trance-like groove of Have a Cigar, and the deeply emotional title track Wish You Were Here - after which the album goes full circle and ends with the last four parts of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
It's all woven together in a dreamlike atmosphere, that will make you want to listen to the album again and again. Pink Floyd fans might ask you, "Which is better, The Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall?", and with no disrespect to said albums, I strongly see "Wish You Were Here" as the correct answer.
6. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)
For some bands, the best songs are sprinkled evenly across their discography - for example, my list of the all-time Top 10 Iron Maiden songs features songs from nine different albums. In the other extreme, there are cases where almost all of the band's greatest songs are piled on to one album - hence my list of the all-time Top 10 Rage Against The Machine songs, and the staggering eight songs from their debut album that made it onto the list.
By the way, this doesn't mean that RATM's other albums are one bit bad or even average - there are some truly fantastic songs on The Battle of Los Angeles, and it hurts that only two of them are represented in my Top 10. But the debut album is such a masterpiece, that 80 per cent of its ten songs are thoroughly worthy of the band's all-time top 10 (and even the two missing ones would make my top 15).
Rage Against The Machine's debut album took America by a storm in the early 90's, as suddenly everyone was discussing this group that was as much a societal phenomenon as a mere rock band. In the blink of an eye, the disenfranchised minorities and frustrated activists had a megaphone echoing all of their most passionate thoughts, and the Fox News crowd had a new boogeyman to attack every night on television and to blame all of America's problems on. This one album, with its ten amazing songs, tackles pretty much everything wrong with American society from biased media outlets and greedy corporations to police brutality and systemic racism, and does so with a one-of-a-kind combination of high-pitched rap vocals, brutal heavy metal sounds, and a sick groove.
5. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
For a teenage Veikko Hoffman, this album was nothing short of life-changing. American Idiot's emotionally charged, rock-opera-like storytelling resonated with my creative soul that yearned for cool concepts and large stories, while the socially charged lyrical themes resonated with a youth who was just starting to realize that war is bad, equality is good, and punk rock is amazing.
The album contains modern classics like American Idiot and Holiday, the lyrics of which feel like gigantic middle finger to the American leaders of the time (and gained a newfound relevance in the Trump era). There are songs like Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Are We The Waiting, where our fictional main character (although he's more or less based on Billie Joe Armstrong's own experiences) ponders his place in the world to the backdrop of some great music. There are the two nine-minute behemoths Jesus of Suburbia and Homecoming, where the pop punk trio goes full Broadway in a magnificent fashion.
There's also the tear-jerking Wake Me Up When September Ends, where Armstrong diverts from the album's story to sing honestly about the trauma of his own father's untimely passing, which strangely fits the rest of the thematic album perfectly and makes it feel more whole. And there are the underrated masterpieces Letterbomb and Whatsername, where Armstrong's dramatic storytelling and his explosive songwriting make for wildly emotional moments that will have you banging your head with a a tear in your eye. What a journey.
4. Less Than Jake - Anthem (2003)
And now we arrive at the 'Big Four' - four albums, that have been the best of the best to me for a long time, but are extremely hard to put into order as they all have such a strong case for being #1. After long consideration, I barely ended up ranking Less Than Jake's Anthem as the least of the four, but bear in mind that it still is a part of the quartet that trumps all other albums in my view, and is just inches away from the #1 spot.
The ska punk band based in Gainesville, Florida (as witnessed by the very Gainesville-heavy lyrics in about 96 per cent of their songs) has been very dear to me ever since I discovered them at an early age. I was playing Tony Hawk's Underground 2 with my brother, when one of the songs in the soundtrack was so good that I had to SoundHound it and look the band up. And while the song in question, That's Why They Call It A Union, is so good that hearing it in a video game soundtrack inspired me to get to know the band, not to mention the immense nostalgic value it will always hold, I can still honestly say that it's one of the least excellent songs on Anthem. The quality of songs, for a listener who enjoys this sort of music, is off the charts.
Anthem is chill, carefree and fun music at its best. It's the perfect album to listen to on a Friday night after getting done with the week's workload with the weekend ahead of you. It's the perfect album to listen to when taking a walk in beautiful spring weather, looking at the melting snow and thinking of the summer days ahead.
3. Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)
In the category of debut albums, Guns N' Roses are in a league of their own. To make this point via statistics, I could point to the fact that my list of the Top 10 greatest Guns N' Roses songs has six songs from Appetite for Destruction and just four from any other album of theirs - this debut album has 12 songs on it, meaning that half of its tracks are in my top 10 from the whole band. To make this point in a more powerful manner, I plead you to simply listen to the first 35 seconds of Welcome to the Jungle while considering that it's the first track from the band's first-ever album. No band has introduced themselves to the world in a manner as exciting and badass as Guns N' Roses.
Appetite for Destruction is raw and real, it's dirty and dangerous, and it rocks harder than words can describe. Pretty much every track rocks in their own specific way, from the bluesy fun-time rock of Nightrain and the hypnotic groove of Mr. Brownstone to the fast-paced adrenaline of Out Ta Get Me and the anthemic stadium rock feel of Paradise City.
2. Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
In 2000, George W. Bush controversially won the U.S. Presidential Election in the aftermath of the infamous Florida recount. In 2002, Bush and his administration lead an aggressive campaign to send troops into Iraq under false pretenses. In 2003, U.S. troops invaded Iraq, in what is best described by Michael Moore as 'a fictitious war being fought by a fictitious president'. In 2004, as Bush was campaigning for re-election under the nuanced and complex strategy of 'Let's make sure that everyone in America is scared shitless so they'll have no choice but to vote for the familiar idiots instead of the less familiar idiots', punk rock band Rise Against released this 41-minute 'fuck you' to the Bush administration and the Iraq war.
While Rise Against's first and second albums had been hardcore enough, their third and greatest studio release kicked things off with unforeseen fury, as the opening track State of the Union is one of the most aggressive songs I've ever heard - musically it would be a bit too heavy for my taste, but considering the context behind the song and the point the band was making, it's perfect that it's so blistering. From thereon out, we're treated to a multitude of intense and tight songs that combine beautiful melodies and powerful lyrics with a fast-tempo hardcore punk feel that Rise Against does best.
After ten songs of non-stop intensity, first-time listeners are treated to a surprise - the band's first acoustic ballad, which takes the listener straight to Nirvana (the concept of liberation from the activities of the worldly mind in Buddhism, not the band). Swing Life Away is the last thing you'd expect to hear on such an album, but it's the perfect piece to the puzzle, and just the breath of fresh air one needs at that point. The social themes of Siren Song of the Counter Culture are still there, but they are dealt with in a more positive manner - the song is a love story between two lower-class citizens, who don't have much but they have each other.
After this moment of serenity is over, the band treats us to one more punk rock masterpiece, Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, which is filled to the brim with motivational fist-pumping energy, making it my favorite song to listen to when struggling to write the last few paragraphs of a long essay or mustering the strength to keep running for the last stretch of a long jog. With these two final songs, as well as the hidden track cover of Black Flag's Fix Me, the band turns the narrative on its head and makes sure that their furious and explosive album ends, against all odds, on a positive and hopeful note. As a whole, it's nothing short of majestic.
1. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
Here's the thing with Abbey Road, the final album that the Fab Four recorded together - it contains all the different ways in which music can be good. If you don't think of different types of good music in relation to genre, but rather in relation to what a good piece of music can accomplish, you can find many different ways in which music can be good. A great song can be a creative and barrier-breaking piece of art, a touching piece that resonates with you emotionally, a lyrically genius piece of poetry, a show of skills for the musicians involved, a catchy and memorable tune, a funny track that makes you smile and/or laugh, an epic larger-than-life experience, or just something that sounds really neat and is fun to listen to. And Abbey Road by The Beatles is the only individual album I can think of that contains all of these.
No matter what makes your taste in music click, I'm sure you'll find something on Abbey Road that you'll enjoy. You have the rocking banger energy of Come Together, the moving emotionality of Something, the mind-boggling vocal performance in Oh! Darling, the silly entertainment value of Octopus' Garden, the experimental creativity of Because, the ultimate feel-good comfort of Here Comes the Sun, the structural songwriting genius of You Never Give Me Your Money, the soothing calm of Golden Slumbers, and the Shakespearean epicness of The End, all on the same album. And nothing can beat that.
Thank you for reading! Music Month will continue next week, with a ranking of the music genres that are dearest to me.
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