Sounds Like... The Greatest Albums Ever! (suggestions desperately needed)

Submitted by lukeprog on Sat, 02/26/2005 - 04:46
Tags: 
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Technorati
Author Comments: 

My knokwledge of music is horrible, so I need your help to fill out this list. What are some decent or great albums that sound like these landmark albums? For great albums that sound alike, I've only listed on album (which is why The Beatles latter half is represented by one album, and Radiohead has 3 albums listed).

Please suggest corrections, additional 'greatest albums' and additional 'soundalike recommendations'.

russa0302/26/2005

A good one for 'Daydream Nation' is My Bloody Valentine's 'Isn't Anything'. Wilco's 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' for 'OK Computer'.

lukeprog02/26/2005

Thanks! I need all the help I can get, so keep suggesting as they come to you, please!

Figarocatboy02/26/2005

Might I suggest the "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" and "Let It Bleed" and "Begger's Banquet" by the Stones? Also, "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis, and "White Light White Heat" by the Velvets? Oh, and definetly put in "Electric Ladyland" by Jimi Hendrix. Ciao!

lukeprog02/26/2005

I've read about some possible similar albums. Can someone who has heard them verify that they truly sound alike? Some of them look pretty suspect to me. Here's what I've read:

Pet Sounds: Arthur by The Kinks, Something Else by The Kinks, Kind of a Drag by The Buckinghams, Traffic by Traffic.

Born to Run: Rough Mix by Pete Townsend, Beautiful Loser by Bob Seger, Night Moves by Bob Seger, My Aim is True by Elvis Costello,

Highway 61 Revisited: Changes by Jim & Dean, Live/Dead by The Grateful Dead, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield Again by Buffalo Springfield.

Trout Mask Replica: Clear by Spirit, The Family That Plays Together by Spirit, Volume Two by The Soft Machine, Volume One by The Soft Machine, A Salty Dog by Procol Harum, Desertshore by Nico.

London Calling: No More Heroes by The Stranglers, Spitballs by Spitballs, Max by The Rumour, Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty, Horses by Patti Smith.

stooky02/26/2005

Yankee Foxtrot sounds like OK Computer?

:?)

lukeprog02/26/2005

I've heard about half the album, and I too am wondering. Russa?

russa0302/27/2005

If 'Sea Change' sounds like it then 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' does. I think you should have both or neither. 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' sounds like a mix between Radiohead and Flaming Lips.

'Isn't Anything' is 1988. Have you heard any My Bloody Valentine?

lukeprog02/27/2005

I have a hard time hearing the similarities between Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and OK Computer. I haven't heard Sea Change - I just read everywhere that it sounds like OK Computer. Thoughts?

Thanks for the correction on 'Isn't Anything'. I've heard two tracks off Loveless, and am looking forward to hearing more shortly.

stooky02/27/2005

In the mail Luke, in the mail.

:?)

lukeprog02/27/2005

That's what I was referring to, yes. Can't wait!

stooky02/27/2005

Okay, Sea Change sounds less like OK Computer that Yankee does. I think people find similarities in arc, mood or structure of songs, which I don't honestly believe is true either.

I have heard Isn't Anything, and it sounds something like the guitar on OK Computer but more like Spacemen 3 or Dream Syndicate.

Anywho, Radiohead & The Flaming Lips? I can sort of hear that, but you'd need a dash of 70's country thrown in for flavour, like Gary Stewart or someone like that.

I'm confused.

:?)

stooky02/27/2005

London Calling = Rancid: Life Won't Wait

Born To Run = The River

Ziggy = Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Eno-Here Come The Warm Jets, Mott The Hoople-All The Young Dudes

Are You Experienced? = Kravitz-Mama Said

Radiohead-Kid A = Bjork-Homogenic

Daydream Nation = Jesus & The Mary Chain-Psychocandy

Nico = White Light/White Heat

:?)

lukeprog02/27/2005

Thanks!!! The only one I've heard is Homogenic, and I agree. I'll put the others up there until somebody disagrees with them :-)

baker02/27/2005

El Cielo is an absolute masterpiece by Dredg. This album deserves far more recognition than it has gotten to date.

Lateralus is Tool's best album. Tool is considered the greatest hard rock/heavy metal band by a very wide following.

Siamese Dream is an awesomely uplifting album by The Smashing Pumpkins. Grunge Rock at its finest.

Led Zeppelin II I feel is better than Led Zeppelin IV. Led Zeppelin IV does have the gorgeous "Stairway to Heaven" as well as "The Battle of Evermore," but I honestly feel the rest of the album feels like weak, generic rock. Led Zeppelin II is a much stronger album as a whole, even though "Heartbreaker" and "Whole Lotta Love" can't compare to the epic quality of "Stairway to Heaven."

The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails is heartwrenching perfection when it comes to expressing melancholy, loss, and anger.

lukeprog02/27/2005

Thanks for your suggestions. I've heard El Cielo and can understand why people love it, but I don't think it's anything too special.

Lateralus and The Fragile are more good suggestions, but for this list I'm mostly sticking to widely acknowledged masterpieces on a level just a bit above Lateralus and The Fragile.

Led Zeppelin II (1969): I sadly haven't heard much Led Zeppelin, but I think you're right. Changed. Do you think Led Zeppelin (debut album), Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti also sound very much like Led Zeppelin II? I haven't heard them at all.

AJDaGreat02/27/2005

Well, I'm not really sure exactly what you're going for here, but if you're going for a more definitive list of acclaim, IV is definitely the way to go. It's wildly acclaimed by critics and it's one of the best-selling albums of all-time.

As for sound-alikes, I think the debut is a bit of an anomaly, but Physical Graffiti could count as sounding like II. I haven't heard Houses of the Holy yet.

lukeprog02/27/2005

Yes, let me explain myself further. Sgt. Pepper's, Revolver, Abbey Road, and The White Album are all hailed as masterpieces to great extent. I chose Sgt. Pepper's not because it was the most widely hailed of them (even if it is, I don't know), but because I felt it adequately represented the sound of their latter half of work.

Likewise, Led Zeppelin IV and II are both widely celebrated as masterpieces, but I think II better represents the 'sound' I'd like to represent on this list through Led Zeppelin's work (and hopefully, others').

Does that makes sense?

AJDaGreat02/27/2005

So this is a list of the albums that best represent acclaimed sub-genres of music?

lukeprog02/27/2005

No. This is a list of albums that regularily appear on 'greatest albums of all time' lists (except for the 90s and 00s, which must be represented by lists for those decades). From that 'starting list', similar-sounding albums are excised to be placed under representative albums. For example, both Sgt. Pepper's and Revolver are among the best albums of all time. I just decided (somewhat arbitrarily) to put Sgt. Pepper's down as a 'header album' and 'Revolver' as a sound-alike album.

So, the situation of this list is very messy because my mind is messy.

Tangent: wouldn't it be royally groovy for someone to compile a list of the '1000 greatest albums' based on individual critics' and musicians' lists (as with the 'They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?' movie list). Sorta like a Village Voice poll for 'all-time best albums'. Of course, older albums and the rock genre would be overrepresented as always, but that would be very interesting and probably more useful than any currently existing list that I'm aware of.

D'ya think music critics and famous musicians around the world would respond if I asked them to send me a list of what they think are the 10 best albums of all time? Probably not. Sounds like a job for an established and respected music critic.

AJDaGreat02/27/2005

Your wish is my command.

Well, it's not exactly what you're talking about, but it's pretty close to what They Shoot Pictures is doing.

lukeprog02/27/2005

Nice! I know shit about music compared to what I like to think I know of film, but the Acclaimed Music all-time list has me worried about the wisdom of crowds far more than the They Shoot Pictures list does (only considering the top 100 from each). But it's a good reminder that like the Oscars, the They Shoot Pictures and Acclaimed Music lists are, in the end, popularity contests.

The 1948-1959 list is pretty funny and quite disturbing: thank God for the 60s!

AJDaGreat02/27/2005

I know what you mean. I mean, I like the Sex Pistols, sure, but 9th best album of all time? I think not.

baker03/01/2005

I think Led Zeppelin II captures the essence of the band the best. I realize that Led Zeppelin IV is one of the most acclaimed and best-selling albums, but if you took "Stairway to Heaven" off the album, it wouldn't have gotten a fraction of the same popularity. As for the rest of their albums, each one has it's own flavor, but none of them depart too far from Led Zeppelin II. Here's my ranking of favorite Zeppelin albums:

Led Zeppelin II
Houses of the Holy
Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin III
Presence
In Through the Out Door
Coda

lbangs03/01/2005

Your statement reminds me of one I read recently claiming that nobody ever listens to side 2 of Led Zeppelin IV. I suppose the writer may largely be right, but I personally find the entire album to be a great listening experience, not just Stairway. In fact, I'd choose to listen to When the Levee Breaks over Starway to Heaven every time...

Again, though, that just might be me and me alone.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

Cosgrove02/27/2005

I just have to say, "In Utero" does NOT sound like "Nevermind" in my opinion. At all.

lukeprog02/27/2005

Strange, it does to me. Not as similar as Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, but I can't really think of anything that sounds more like Nevermind than In Utero. Can you?

stooky02/28/2005

Bossanova sounds a lot like Nevermind. As does Eve 6 and about 400 more mournful alt band (but please don't add them) like Bush (ew).

:?)

lukeprog02/28/2005

Fair enough, I'll put those up there in favor of In Utero.

russa0302/28/2005

I don't think 'Bossanova' sounds like 'Nevermind', less so than 'In Utero'. It sounds more like 'Daydream Nation'.

Have you heard Pink Floyd's 'Meddle'?

lukeprog02/28/2005

I will soon hear Bossanova and In Utero and Daydream Nation, so then I'll just decide on all that by myself, self-righteous knowitall that I am. :-)

Haven't heard 'Meddle'. What did you want to say about it?

professor03/06/2005

Meddle includes the fantastically amazing, ahead of its time (Kraftwerk, New Order) 'One Of These Days'.

lukeprog03/06/2005

Can't wait to have a listen.

stooky03/04/2005

The obvious "sounds like" for Joshua Tree is of course Rattle And Hum + Unforgetable Fire.

:?)