EDIT: See page 4 for an explanation and the start of the official countdown.

108 Voters, 3031 Albums voted for.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think we had about twice as many people voting this time as we did in 2004. It should be interesting for everyone to see where the board's tastes have changed. There are a couple trends I've noticed that I think are indicative of simply just having more people voting, but I don't want to spoil anything.

We're going to countdown the top 500 albums. For this first batch, I'm going to post five at a time just to give each one some context. Also, as we get closer to the top, I'll be adding more information into each posting about the album, but for now we're just getting the important stuff.

We have 500 albums to get through, so this will take a little while. I mentioned this in the voting thread when I closed the poll, but next week from Monday until most likely Friday, I won't be able to post any results. I am hoping to get through the first 100 by then, but this poll is a little different than the end of year ones in that it isn't quite as time-specific, so we'll finish it when we finish it.

The first five will be up shortly. Just putting the finishing touches on my formatting.

first

Thanks for doing this Paul,

I am psyched like a rhino chasing an ostrich!!

I'm excited for this.

Bring it, Paul!!!

and also: thanks for doing this.



Early predictions:

#500- Ten- Pearl Jam

shit, I forgot to vote in this. oops

For some reason I feel it'd be a little higher. How many votes did Abandoned Luncheonette get?

One quick note, things that had tied point totals are sorted alphabetically. Also, when I'm posting these in batches, teasers are for one of the albums, but not necessarily related to the album right under it.



I'm Like Lee Perry, I'm Very





#500.




Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
(450 Points, 1 Vote)

All Music Review: "It may have taken Comets On Fire three albums to pull all the parts together -- something that was very common with acts that developed over time in the 1960s and '70s but is almost unheard of today -- but with Blue Cathedral, they've realized that there are no boundaries and no limits. This album just may signal the beginning of an exciting new era in rock music." (4/5)

Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: castana (#2)





#499.




Come - Don't Ask, Don't Tell
(450 Points, 1 Vote)

All Music Review: "Come is basically an exceptionally intense blues-rock band. They aren't simply lifting old Chess Records riffs in the manner of theJon Spencer Blues Explosion, though; their music is basically a neurotic-'90s urban take on the roots of the blues: guitar music as catharsis. Zedek's lead vocals have the sensuous drawl of a blues mama, but her lyrics are expressions of alienation, pain, and general pissed-offedness that are more than matched by the dual lead guitars, which play intertwining lines that bounce off of each other at unexpected angles. The combination of those two elements and the extended song lengths -- nearly half of the ten songs are over six minutes -- makes Don't Ask Don't Tell a particularly intense and emotional experience. " (4.5/5)

Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: theminimumcircus (#2)






#498.




Coalesce - 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening
(450 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "Coalesce's sound is difficult to describe; it's not quite hardcore punk, not quite alternative metal, not quite grindcore or death metal -- just extreme and furiously chaotic. But, at the same time, 012: Revolution in Just Listening is quite musical, its progressive song structures and odd time signatures revealing themselves more and more with each listen." (4/5)

Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: throughsilver(#5)






#497.




Bob Marley & the Wailers - African Herbsman
(450 Points, 1 Vote)

All Music Review: "To Bob Marley's emotionally charged music and lyrics, add the tight riddims and harmonies of the Wailers and then put all of that talent into the ceaselessly creative hands of production wizard Lee "Scratch" Perry. What you get is a 16-track reggae masterpiece capturing what is perhaps some of the best music Bob Marley & the Wailers ever committed to tape. The songs range from beautiful love songs like "Don't Rock the Boat" to cathartic political anthems like "Brain Washing," but even with the broad scope, no tracks miss the mark. They all cut straight to the heart and burn with an urgency rarely felt in music of any genre." (5/5)

Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Vivian Darkbloom (#2)






#496.




Autechre - Draft 7.30
(450 Points, 1 Vote)

All Music Review: "Something less than a radical reinvention, Draft 7.30 does return the duo to the more inviting climes of past masterpieces like Tri Repetae (if not Basscadet). The record is immediately more compelling than Confield, with less focus on their trademarked random-beat-making software. A few melodies, suitably obtuse and wispy, creep in as well. "V-Proc" is an excellent production, somehow spacious and claustrophobic at the same time, with stuttered percussion and a hip-hop beat pounding away in the background. "61e.CR" and "P.:Ntil" also have glimpses of a repetitive beat, even if the usual recycle bin of percussion noise nearly overwhelms them near the end." (4/5)

Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: vamos (#2)

The one album where I'm really curious where it will place is Blood Visions. It's probably been the most talked about album since the last time we made this list, and I'm wondering where it will fall.


EDIT: Also, looking at early results, I'm very happy that Flood will finish somewhere on the list, even if I was the only one who voted for it.

A Marley record (that is not Legend) cracked the Top 500!

My work here is done.

Pretty intresting way to start this off.

I need to listen to both the Come album and the Comets on Fire disc more.

lame so far.

1989 - The Number, Another Summer / Sound Of The Funky Drummer





#495.




Aluminum Group - Happyness
(450 Points, 1 Vote)

All Music Review: "The first installment of a proposed trilogy, Happyness (misspelling theirs) boasts a cinematic flair that conjures a Chicago nightlife much too stylish and cool to actually exist. Rarely, if ever, have synths sounded so truly urbane, and the cumulative effect is postmodernist pop music that sounds simultaneously cutting edge, retro, and utterly timeless." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: TheGregWitul (#2)





#494.




Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One
(451 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "If the preceding Dusk at Cubist Castle was the Olivia Tremor Control's very own White Album, then the labyrinthine Black Foliage is their SMiLE -- it's an imploding masterpiece, a work teetering on the cliff's edge between genius and madness. Torn at the seams between pop transcendence and noise radicalism, the group attempts to have it both ways, meaning teenage symphonies to God like "A New Day" rest uneasily alongside musique concrète-styled tape pastiches such as "Combinations" (which, along with the similarly styled, multi-part title track, is one of the many sonic motifs snaking its way throughout the record). There are at least enough ideas for five albums here, which is both Black Foliage's strength and its weakness -- it's impossible not to get lost inside of the OTC's swirling schizophrenia, and too often snatches of brilliance flash by too quickly to savor the moment." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): #478

Ranked Highest By: Agrimorfee (#11)





#493.




Paperclip People - The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich
(455 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich possesses a clean, technical, utterly scientific approach to the dynamic, sometimes dirty world of dance music, and Craig blends the dual aesthetics excellently, pitting raw samples against precise beats and studio effects. The nod to Kraftwerk's robots -- instrument credits belong to the Japanese numerals Eich, Me, Son, and Sche -- is a good pointer to Craig's style; if Kraftwerk had been active during the early '90s, this is the musical response they may have offered to early-'80s Chicago house and Detroit techno, an era just before Larry Heard, Derrick May, and Marshall Jefferson took electronic dance into deep territory. Craig keeps the groundwork very simple, relying on a four-four beat and rarely changing the drift of the production in mid-track." (8/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Rajexico(#7)





#492.




James Brown - In The Jungle Groove
(455 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "All the numbers here are as in the pocket as you will ever hear in soul and funk. And while many of these tracks are found on various packages like Polydor's Funk Power and Foundations of Funk, In the Jungle Groove has the upper hand with its unequaled coverage of Brown's transformation from soul brother number one to funk originator. " (4.5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Vivian Darkbloom (#12)






#491.




cLOUDDEAD - cLOUDDEAD
(455 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "With background textures that rival Boards of Canada in pastoral, tree-lined opacity and an obvious predilection for boggy atmospherics, Clouddead handily distances themselves from the rest of their hip-hop brethren. Indeed, this is something more considered and sinister -- less about wayward braggadocio than it is about keeping your doors deadbolted at all hours of the night. Even their less-is-more approach to vocalism eventually starts playing tricks on your mind; when lyricists Dose and Why? emerge, it's usually to puncture the pleasant fog of some dulcet, wavering sample. The whole album reads like that; the sonic equivalent of your first legitimate drug trip as narrated by two jittery but triumphant kids who can't bear to keep their choice hiding place a secret any longer." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: i-c (#4)

cool. Never heard of that Come record, it sounds interesting.

OTC!!!

Should be higher.

A Special Shot Of Peace Goes Out To All My Pals, You See / And A Middle Finger Goes For All You Punk MC's.




#490.




Deerhoof - Apple O'
(456 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "It doesn't matter that the parts of Deerhoof's music don't seem to go together at first -- their music aims directly at the right side of the brain, and is nearly successful as the Shaggs' work in making chaos sound cuddly and even kind of beautiful. Apple O' brings some order to Deerhoof's spontaneity, offering plenty of sweetness without forgetting their bite." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: James D (#5)





#489.




Tom Waits - Closing Time
(460 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "Tom Waits' debut album is a minor-key masterpiece filled with songs of late-night loneliness. Within the apparently narrow range of the cocktail bar pianistics and muttered vocals, Waits and producer Jerry Yester manage a surprisingly broad collection of styles, from the jazzy "Virginia Avenue" to the up-tempo funk of "Ice Cream Man" and from the acoustic guitar folkiness of "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" to the saloon song "Midnight Lullaby," which would have been a perfect addition to the repertoires of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett." (4.5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): #156

Ranked Highest By: wh1tep0ny (#10)






#488.




Junior Boys - Last Exit
(461 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "Call the group bedroom dance-pop, a boy band conceived by The Wire, sophisti-pop as produced by Germany's Timbaland analogue — whatever. The group's ability to synthesize so many elements with such subtlety really isn't their greatest asset; it's that their music can be enjoyed with or without all of the analysis and context, whether you're tucked inside a snowbound outpost or winding your way through some vast metropolis during nighttime." (4.5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Chronodiggity (#13)






#487.




A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
(462 Points, 7 Votes)

All Music Review: "The productions behind these tracks aren't quite skeletal, but they're certainly not complex. Instead, Tribe weaves little more than a stand-up bass (sampled or, on one track, jazz luminary Ron Carter) and crisp, live-sounding drum programs with a few deftly placed samples or electric keyboards. It's a tribute to their unerring production sense that, with just those few tools, Tribe produced one of the best hip-hop albums in history, a record that sounds better with each listen. The Low End Theory is an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing raps to nuanced, groove-centered productions." (5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): #347

Ranked Highest By: powernotgreed(#24)






#486.




Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Blood and Chocolate
(465 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "The main difference between the reunion and the Attractions' earlier work is the tone -- This Year's Model was tense and out of control, whereas Blood & Chocolate is controlled viciousness. "Tokyo Storm Warning," "I Hope You're Happy Now," and "I Want You" are the nastiest songs he has ever recorded, both lyrically and musically -- Costello snarls the lyrics and the Attractions bash out the chords. Blood & Chocolate doesn't retain that high level of energy throughout the record, however, and loses momentum toward the end of the album. Still, it's a lively and frequently compelling reunion, even if it is a rather mean-spirited one." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Duff. (#17)

The Low End Theory is way too low.

had to be said...

hip hop will not be fairing well [/obvious statement]

I'm pretty surprised at the low placement of Black Foliage. I'd have thought it'd be higher than Dusk at Cubist Castle, so it'll be interesting to see where that places, if at all.

So far it's great. It's going to be a joy to follow 500 to @200. Little consensus and lots of anarchy. Should be good stuff.

Awesome that this is underway. I'm pretty sure #1 will be no mystery, but everything else will be freakin' interesting.

An incredibly small sample size when you think about it.

Well, I threw out about 60 ballots because they voted for Pink Floyd albums. Figured those people must have made a mistake.

bahahaha

I think these are going to be the last ones for tonight.


And When She Talked About About The Fall / I Thought She Talked About Mark E Smith






#485.




Bob Dylan - Another Side of Bob Dylan
(465 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "The other side of Bob Dylan referred to in the title is presumably his romantic, absurdist, and whimsical one -- anything that wasn't featured on the staunchly folky, protest-heavy Times They Are a-Changin', really. Because of this, Another Side of Bob Dylan is a more varied record and it's more successful, too, since it captures Dylan expanding his music, turning in imaginative, poetic performances on love songs and protest tunes alike." (5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: davidortiz (#8)






#484.




King Crimson - Discipline
(466 Points, 2 Votes)

All Music Review: "Highlights include Tony Levin's "stick" (a strange bass-like instrument)-driven opener "Elephant Talk," the atmospheric "The Sheltering Sky," and the heavy rocker "Indiscipline." Many Crimson fans consider this album one of their best, right up there with In the Court of the Crimson King. It's easy to understand why after you hear the inspired performances by this hungry new version of the band." (4.5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Joe Lindbloom(#3)





#483.




Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
(466 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "What they do sound like is breaking up. Although there was a schism apparent between Bob Mould and Grant Hart on Candy Apple Grey, they don't even sound like they are writing for the same band on Warehouse. But the individual songs on the album are powerhouses in their own right, as both songwriters exhibit a continuing sense of experimentation -- Hart writes a sea shanty with "She Floated Away" and uses bubbling percussion on "Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope," while Mould nearly arrives at power pop with "Could You Be the One?" and touches on singer/songwriter-styled folk-rock with "No Reservations." Warehouse doesn't have the single-minded sense of purpose or eccentric sprawl of Zen Arcade, but as a collection of songs, it's of the first order." (5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): #277

Ranked Highest By: theminimumcircus (#11)






#482.




Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
(468 Points, 5 Votes)

All Music Review: "Although its incandescent harmonies, lazily immediate songs, and crunching guitars earned it endless comparisons to vintage Big Star, Bandwagonesque is in every way a product of its own time — the thick, grungy sound of the Fannies' debut A Catholic Education remains intact for gems like "What You Do to Me" (arguably the most brilliantly simpleminded love song ever penned) and the instrumental "Satan," while the lyrics of other standout moments like "Star Sign" and "Alcoholiday" reflect a laissez faire irony and unassuming genius even more emblematic of the moment in question." (5/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): #381

Ranked Highest By: bunk (#18)






#481.




The Fall - Grotesque (After the Gramme)
(468 Points, 3 Votes)

All Music Review: "Kicking off with the thrilling bite of "Pay Your Rates," on Grotesque, the Fall really started hitting its stride, with Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon now a devastatingly effective combination, somehow managing to sound exactly placed between random sloppiness and perfect precision. The sharp rockabilly leads and random art rock racket thrived on both counts, with Smith as always the mad jester ripping into anything and everything while having a great time doing so. The final song of the album was especially fierce -- "The N.W.R.A.," short for "the north will rise again," Smith's own take on the long-standing "soft south/grim north" dichotomy in English society given extremely bitter life." (4/5)

Previous Rank on SOMB 500 (2004): n/a

Ranked Highest By: Badger (#3)

Just make sure In Rainbows makes the list. There's no question that will be making "all time lists" 40 years from now. Also, I'm an animal trapped in your hot car, Paul.

How did I manage to miss voting for this? For shame, Elia. For shame.

And wowza when Low-End Theory is already gone. That's a top 250 LP, easy.

Damn, five great albums there.

really? that's too bad it really is their bestest.

Interesting that so far any of those that made the 2004 list have dropped quite a bit. Makes sense though.

Or does it?

Bonita Apple BaOm

i didn't have tim eto put togethr a list this time, so each Blur record will probably go lower and PGMG probably didn't make the list.

Paul, this was my #4.

Some stuff that looks good just sneaking in, others that have been lowballed. Nice to see this rolling out, very intrigued at any shift in past few years.

Thanks go to Paul.

first list i' ve been involved in, but not the first i've watched unfold.
it's like watching a match you have a bet on - far more interesteing!

good work paul

Shittyness of the cover art for that Teenage Fanclub album never ceases to amaze me.

i always think that that album has to be the worst album ever because i always saw
that album at used cd stores with about 5 copies for sale.
hate the cover.
but have never listened to it.

you are missing out. fantastic record.

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque

thanks
ill try it out when i get to a computer i can download

Surprised that a King Crimson album scored so lowly. Then again, I think I utterly forgot about KC when I voted, so I can't talk.

I feel the same way, I thought they'd all go top 100.

Haven't seen anything I voted for yet. Early prediction, six of my albums will show.

Partially my fault for not voting. Probably would have been a top 20 album for me.

i only did a top ten and i believe i had one waits album in there, if i'da done a top 30
basically 11-20 would have been him

Sounds like we could have shared a list.

Yes, troubling.

Thanks! Despite the crappy "artwork," that review intrigued me.



Red probably will, although it only has 2 good songs.

always thought we had similar and great taste

Which two? I can think of three great ones and the others are still good.

Really, Red? I wouldn't think it would even chart.