Best Album Rated 10.0 by Pitchfork Media Upon Its Initial Release

whoa that walt mink album got a 10?

If you don't vote for 12 Rods or suggest ban ilxor, you should find a new message board to post on

pfork was around when ok computer came out? (also: lol pfork)

If you don't vote for 12 Rods or suggest ban ilxor

Well since most ppl here have already done the latter...

IMO that is easily the worst Walt Mink album, but I only have played it once (because I hated it)

you and me both

certainly a sign that a 10.0 in pfork GUARANTEES ENDLESS SUCCESS AND RICHES

btw if you hadnt noticed 20% of musical perfection comes from minnesota!

vote "yes!" for relaxation of the asshole!

in case everyone assumed, like i did, that 12 rods is the worst band name ever, you should know they were origanally called Ryan'z Bihg Hed.

write-in for blueberry boat which they didn't have the GUTS to tennerise

even though it's like the quintessential pfork 10/10 album and also very very awesome

12 rods and suggest ban ilxor for me.

I've never even heard of Walt Mink or 12 Rods... what are these peerless slices of musical nirvana?

I have also never heard of either.

I wish Destroyer's Rubies got the rumored 10, I'd have voted that, but in lieu of that, Pollard in a landslide. That shit's hilarious!

Dylan. That's one of the best live recordings ever, by anybody.

But it did hurt me a little bit not to vote Flaming Lips because I feel its on the list of (relatively) recent discs that ranks among the all-time quintessential rock rekkidz.

yeah, i'd vote dylan too -- but that set probably belongs more in the "classic reissues pitchfork gives 10.0s to" category. i know this was its first official release, but it was pretty much the most famous bootleg in the world before that.

voted for Amon Tobin, Bricolage is pretty incredible

i've always had a soft spot for that trail of dead album

all the cool kids now Madonna was better tho

Yeah; I still dig Source Tags & Codes, and they killed live when I saw them in Toronto around the same time (almost literally: the drummer went nuts in the crowd at the end and flung an empty beer bottle at great speed in my general direction) but there's no way that album was ever worth a 10.

Oh, so this is how you get people to talk about 12 Rods...

12 rods deserved it the most. i see a darkness is probably my favorite. voting 12 rods.

Only 12 Rods I have ever heard is "Split Personalities," but that is some top-notch music.

Split Personalities is stronger than that EP, but what would it get, an 11?

re: Walt Mink, IMO their only essential album is the first one, Miss Happiness (which IMO would have deserved 10/10 had Pitchfork existed when it was released). Bareback Ride is good, but not as good as MH. El Producto is a steaming bag of goat sick.

Uh... Its a little better than that...

(Whats there to hate about it?)

i'm sure the dylan boot is great, but i've never heard it. went with i see a darkness.

i think hi dere is a little harsh but yeah walt mink was waaaay past their prime

lol i always forget pitchfork started in st louis park, two local bands getting 10

man i gotta find this old local comp that has i believe the first 12 Rods recorded song...it sounds EXACTLY like jane's addiction

El Producto is a pretty solid record as far as I'm concerned. If it is a lot worse than their other albums, than hey I can't wait to check them out.

wotta bunch o shit

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/1813/tapes.jpg

From "Red", we ease into "Make Out Music", a wistful recollection of hometown boredom and school bullies that takes a lyrical turn through an old Ziggy cartoon (no, you read that right) before plowing into the awesome lyrics, "I realize what I gotta do/ Nyah nanny boo boo/ Nanny nanny boo boo."

Hey. Make Out Music (at least the version on Split Personalities) is one of my favorite songs.

"OK Computer" of course. Still a marvellous album.

Man, old Pitchfork reviews were pretty ridiculous: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8082-supermodified/

(I know that's not on this list but I ended up looking at the Amon Tobin reviews.)

Bricolage might get my vote. Otherwise, one of the Radioheads.

Should I listen to all of these?

Yes. Absolutely. (I say this having not heard, oh, four of them myself.)

The Amon Tobin one is the only one of these I could imagine myself listening to, so I guess it wins by default.

ayo whiney I know you think the 12 rods album is better than OK computer but newsflash dude, it isn't

i haven't heard any of these albums straight thru

that said i voted for trail of dead

Of all of the albums I've heard out of these, I like all of them but this just exposes the weaknesses in P4k's rating system.

As a site mainly concerned with new music, it seems perverse to say that a live bootleg of Dylan playing a gig in England 45 years ago is as good as it gets and you might as well not bother as you're not going to be as good as this or most of the Beatles albums (more 10.0s). Which means that you might be SunnO))) and record Monoliths and Dimensions or you might be LCD Soundsystem and record the Sound Of Silver or you might be Arcade Fire and record Funeral or you might be Mastodon and record Leviathan or you might be Burial and record Burial or you might be The Bug and record London Zoo but you will never come close to the self titled 'White Album' with its Rocky Racoon, Piggies, Ob La Di, Ob La Da, Bungalow Bill and songs about fucking sheepdogs.

It's not comparing like with like and it reveals the essential conservatism at the core of what they're doing.

That said, there is nothing wrong with this list at all. Most of the albums are great and if most people were to choose their best ten albums of the last decade, they would struggle to come up with a list that looked better to most others than this. It's just: why bring fractions into it, or even points, it's senseless, pointless and slightly daft.

i see a darkness

xxpost: You're wrong. Rocky Raccoon is one of the most magnificent songs on the white album.

jeez why are people so obsessed with a site peddling the terrible aesthetic with that bunch of shit as the crème de la crème

Should I listen to all of these?

― billstevejim, Friday, June 11, 2010 4:27 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

absolutely not!!

the kindest thing i can say about any of those is that the bonnie prince billy album does have one terrific track on it iirc (the title track i think). albeit one i haven't listened to in years and am not sure i even own in any format any more, and i'm not enthused enough to rectify that in the way i immediately went to itunes last night when i realised i didn't have an mp3 of 20 fingers ft. gillette's "short dick man"

radiohead really are THE WORST

Doran I wouldn't worry about the ratings overmuch, if you don't like them you don't have to take any notice of them. I wouldn't say they were senseless or pointless either, they're just a bit of fluff around the edges of the review for people who can't be bothered to read the whole thing and just want to skim it, see if the record is worthy of further investigation.

This list wouldn't come even close to my top 11 albums of all time but the Dylan is pretty epochal and I would say OK Computer is a damn fine album as well. Voted Dylan then.

Moka: But you take my point that there is no way in fucking hell that The Beatles ST is a 10 out of 10 album and by reducing it to an unbeatable score (this is essentially what all album reviews with scores are doing), you can't really discuss it's perceived importance with any great clarity because you've already declared 'Wild Honey Pie' and the backing vocals on Ob La Di, Ob La Da as good as it gets. I mean, even the version of Helter Skelter isn't the best one by the group there is.

Whatever you think about Radiohead though Lex, I bet you can understand why someone would like those albums (I can understand why people like Bonnie Prince Billy and I wouldn't have the bald Mormon sex pest or any of his tedious records in my house)... that's a matter of taste.

Ob La Di, Ob La Da on the otherhand is demonstrably risible. Comedy cod reggae? One hundred percent for effort!

Anagram: Yeah, you're right and I like Pitchfork etc but this thread doesn't just invite discussion of the rating system, it demands it.

I feel sorry for anyone under the age of 60 who thinks that the white album is "culturally important".

In what way is it essential? I know Beatles obsessives who don't think it's that good.

if the beatles aren't culturally important I dunno wtf is

No one can ever decide which tracks would make the "greatest ever single album"
xp

it's better than sgt peppers, but that's no great compliment

Who actually cares if something is culturally important or not?

the same people who care about whether pitchfork gave something a 9.9 or a 10

Sad people!

I remember NME giving a Wolfsbane live album 10/10 once. Doesn't get more culturally important than that, huh?

I cant remember any other NME 10/10 albums. Did the strokes first album get a 10?

9xposts

it more or less documents the moment at which rock music was born

I haven't heard the Dylan album but why would a 1966 Bob Dylan concert be the moment at which rock music was born?

I haven't listened in a while but I always really liked the white album the whole way through, including the goofy tracks.

oh wait , Doran, did you give the last flaming lips album a 10/10 in nme?

it more or less documents the moment at which rock music was born

Bollocks

btw how many suggest bans will I get when I start 'Best Album Rated 9.9 by Pitchfork Media Upon Its Initial Release'

NME gave Asian Dub Foundation's 'Community Music' 10/10. it then failed to appear on their EOY list iirc.

Whether you like the White Album or not, denying that it has cultural relevance is a laugh.

Well maybe it doesn't but it sure sounds that way to me. The way he plays solo acoustic on disc 1 and then just plugs in and lets rip on disc 2 sounds totally seismic, like a massive turning point. I mean I'm not going to start going all Geir here but it seems to me that if anyone can be said to have invented rock music (as opposed to pop, or to rock'n'roll), then Dylan did it when he went electric. The Beatles certainly didn't do it.

xxxp

Lots of people were playing loud rock music in 1966

"if most people were to choose their best ten albums of the last decade, they would struggle to come up with a list that looked better to most others than this."

oh man i think almost anybody could come up with a list that looked better than this.

Especially in Paisley.
xp

Just giving the MOST CURRENT Pitchfork.com a little credit. None of the reviews in the poll are current. so a disclaimer: I am not saying the albums above are culturally important, and I don't think Pitchfork is right about anything. There are only varying levels of agreement I can apply to everything they say.

Varying levels as in lots of disagreement, too.

...as with any publication.

Pfunkboy: No, that was something that was flying round on ILX for some reason a year or so ago... I gave it 9/10 but like I say, it's pretty meaningless without the text and when left to my own devices I don't score albums. It's pointless and misleading. (I stand by how I feel about that album... and there were other things to take into consideration such as the fact that anything less than 9/10 would have suggested the magazine felt that At War and Pink Robots were better albums, which they aren't.)

Scott: That's not what I mean. I mean if you came up with your list now, as many people would disagree with it.

ah okay. i didn't read that right.

I hate BPrinceB but I understand why that album means a lot to a lot of people. It's not like they've given 10/10 to Hot Hot Heat's second album.

would vote the soft bulletin because i am a sentimental wuss

the white album has helter skelter, julia and i'm so tired, and is therefore godhead

I don't get that at all, anagram, especially considering that "Like a Rolling Stone" had already gone Top 10 in 1965, one year before this concert, not to mention that the Rolling Stones had released several albums by that point. (And I'm not sure I see it as obvious that the Beatles had less to do with the emergence of rock than Dylan.)

(Actually, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was released earlier than "Like a Rolling Stone", duh.)

But you take my point that there is no way in fucking hell that The Beatles ST is a 10 out of 10 album

No, but "A Hard Day's Night", "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper" all are.

I cant remember any other NME 10/10 albums. Did the strokes first album get a 10?

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, June 11, 2010 2:52 PM (1 hour ago)

The Strokes album did. The first Arctic Monkeys album also got 10 and was listed at number 5 in the best British albums of all time the week it came out.

Others I can remember getting 10..
Pet Shop Boys-Pop Art
Eve-Scorpion
Supergrass-Supergrass is 10
The Bug-Pressure

I seem to remember reading one of the early 90's Fall albums got a 10, maybe Shift-Work?

Pfunkboy: No, that was something that was flying round on ILX for some reason a year or so ago... I gave it 9/10

― Duran (Doran), Friday, June 11, 2010 3:13 PM (1 hour ago)

I remember asking you about that as the NME website had it listed as 0/10 then in the comments it said why is it listed as getting zero instead of 10? Metacritic and Wikipedia also say it was rated as a 10. I think 9 is a spot on grade though.

you know what still rules? Source Tags & Codes

I agree.

So close to a 10.0 with this vintage Save Ferris piece!:

Save Ferris
It Means Everything
(Epic)
Rating: 9.5

If you're lucky, really lucky in life, you might be able to occasionally catch sight of a band that has reached their perfect groove. It's when they're tight and unified, playing music for the sheer fun and love of it, far before the cynicism sets in. They give off a special energy that is meant for the smaller venues. They record CD's that become "keepers", the mainstay of your collection, though they may go "out of style" someday.

Save Ferris' It Means Everything knocked my socks off. I was in bed, the changer had just changed over from Meat Beat Manifesto and off in the distance this CD pulled me awake with its clean bouncin' groove. Its tight, unpretentious, energetic ska led by the rich and soothing voice of Monique Powell opened my eyes to a beautiful day. Yes, a band in their perfect groove. I reached bedside to my DC City Paper and began to frantically search for them live. That's when their cover of "Come On Eileen" came on. I think I came. Great music that won't be soon forgotten by anyone who's heard them.

-James P. Wisdom

james p wisdom gave mansun's first album 9.3 which was pleasing if charitable

I don't get that at all, anagram, especially considering that "Like a Rolling Stone" had already gone Top 10 in 1965, one year before this concert, not to mention that the Rolling Stones had released several albums by that point. (And I'm not sure I see it as obvious that the Beatles had less to do with the emergence of rock than Dylan.)

You're right about Dylan in '65, of course. I guess the Newport Folk Festival is the pivotal moment I'm really groping for, when he plugged in live for the first time. But there's no official live album of that, and the Free Trade Hall show just sounds so earth-shattering to my ears that I tend to think of it as the key document of his going electric. As for the Beatles and the Stones, I think I'd argue they were both pop, as opposed to rock, groups until '66, with Revolver and Aftermath respectively being their first out-and-out rock records.

some of the newport stuff was on no direction home

The white album is a 10. Fuck off.

it is very hard to choose as these are in fact the eleven greatest albums ever.

I'm thinking about my top 10 records and the only one I would ever give a 10 to is Fun House (if any record deserves a 10.0...)

of course Pitchfork gave it a 9.4...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nabisco's 10.0 to Disintegration was OTM!

Poor Walt Mink. Would have voted for that to give it a little love if it weren't for 12 Rods being there.

Would have given Walt Mink's Miss Happiness a ten but I think its showing here is fair.

(El Producto's showing, of course)

Evan, you put 12 Rods - I Wish You Were A Girl on your spring mix. I love how the song sounds but I can't figure the lyrics out. When he says "cause I feel green, if you know what I mean" I don't know what he means. Is bisexuality the theme of that song?

I always thought he meant inexperienced or immature.

total votes for radiohead discs: 46
total votes for any other of 8 discs: 91 (so roughly 11 votes per non-radiohead disc).

o_0

Oh CaptainLorax thanks for listening to it! Yes, the lyrics are about learning that you are gay because you wish this person was a girl so your feelings would be normal etc. The green feeling equals queasiness I assume.