you and me both
― apparently not the band, but the lifestyle (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:04 (thirteen years ago) link
certainly a sign that a 10.0 in pfork GUARANTEES ENDLESS SUCCESS AND RICHES
― apparently not the band, but the lifestyle (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link
btw if you hadnt noticed 20% of musical perfection comes from minnesota!
vote "yes!" for relaxation of the asshole!
― blair x-soul (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:16 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― mizzell, Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:24 (thirteen years ago) link
write-in for blueberry boat which they didn't have the GUTS to tennerise
― Mark Ronson: "Led Zeppelin were responsible for hip-hop" (acoleuthic), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:27 (thirteen years ago) link
even though it's like the quintessential pfork 10/10 album and also very very awesome
12 rods and suggest ban ilxor for me.
― Lil' Lj & The World (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
I've never even heard of Walt Mink or 12 Rods... what are these peerless slices of musical nirvana?
― Duran (Doran), Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link
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!
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― ImprovSpirit, Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:55 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― tylerw, Thursday, 10 June 2010 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
voted for Amon Tobin, Bricolage is pretty incredible
― some dude, Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i've always had a soft spot for that trail of dead album
― ciderpress, Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link
all the cool kids now Madonna was better tho
― Jamie_ATP, Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:43 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh, so this is how you get people to talk about 12 Rods...
― Evan, Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:56 (thirteen years ago) link
12 rods deserved it the most. i see a darkness is probably my favorite. voting 12 rods.
― I am an old guy, and I prefer the late 90s. (Matt P), Thursday, 10 June 2010 22:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Only 12 Rods I have ever heard is "Split Personalities," but that is some top-notch music.
― breaking that little dog's heart chakra (Abbott), Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Split Personalities is stronger than that EP, but what would it get, an 11?
― Evan, Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:02 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― the british must pay for this (HI DERE), Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Uh... Its a little better than that...
(Whats there to hate about it?)
― Evan, Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm sure the dylan boot is great, but i've never heard it. went with i see a darkness.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:47 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:51 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:52 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Evan, Thursday, 10 June 2010 23:54 (thirteen years ago) link
wotta bunch o shit
― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 11 June 2010 00:39 (thirteen years ago) link
http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/1813/tapes.jpg
― ksh, Friday, 11 June 2010 01:20 (thirteen years ago) link
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."
― Sundar, Friday, 11 June 2010 01:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Hey. Make Out Music (at least the version on Split Personalities) is one of my favorite songs.
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 01:40 (thirteen years ago) link
"OK Computer" of course. Still a marvellous album.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 11 June 2010 01:43 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Sundar, Friday, 11 June 2010 03:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Should I listen to all of these?
― billstevejim, Friday, 11 June 2010 04:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Yes. Absolutely. (I say this having not heard, oh, four of them myself.)
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Friday, 11 June 2010 06:05 (thirteen years ago) link
The Amon Tobin one is the only one of these I could imagine myself listening to, so I guess it wins by default.
― Tuomas, Friday, 11 June 2010 06:34 (thirteen years ago) link
ayo whiney I know you think the 12 rods album is better than OK computer but newsflash dude, it isn't
― the mom most likely to comprehend juggalos (J0hn D.), Friday, 11 June 2010 06:38 (thirteen years ago) link
i haven't heard any of these albums straight thru
that said i voted for trail of dead
― gonjasufi smacker (J0rdan S.), Friday, 11 June 2010 07:03 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Duran (Doran), Friday, 11 June 2010 08:05 (thirteen years ago) link
i see a darkness
― groovemaaan, Friday, 11 June 2010 08:06 (thirteen years ago) link
xxpost: You're wrong. Rocky Raccoon is one of the most magnificent songs on the white album.
― Moka, Friday, 11 June 2010 08:23 (thirteen years ago) link
jeez why are people so obsessed with a site peddling the terrible aesthetic with that bunch of shit as the crème de la crème
― billstevejim, Friday, June 11, 2010 4:27 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark
absolutely not!!
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 11 June 2010 08:36 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 11 June 2010 08:38 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― anagram, Friday, 11 June 2010 09:28 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Duran (Doran), Friday, 11 June 2010 09:33 (thirteen years ago) link
uh none of them?
If I had to pick, I'll go with The Soft Bulletin but that so ain't a 10, brah.
― Look out, lovers of fads: it's Louis Jagger in cricket pads! (King Boy Pato), Friday, 11 June 2010 10:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Seems like they were less cautious with the tens back in the late 90s/early 00s. Maybe some backlash from the Source Tags rating.
― President Keyes, Friday, 11 June 2010 10:47 (thirteen years ago) link
this thread doesn't just invite discussion of the rating system, it demands it.
Let's please not.
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Friday, 11 June 2010 12:26 (thirteen years ago) link
10.0: Essential9.5-9.9: Spectacular9.0-9.4: Amazing8.5-8.9: Exceptional; will likely rank among writer's top ten albums of the year8.0-8.4: Very good7.5-7.9: Above average; enjoyable7.0-7.4: Not brilliant, but nice enough6.0-6.9: Has its moments, but isn't strong5.0-5.9: Mediocre; not good, but not awful4.0-4.9: Just below average; bad outweighs good by just a little bit3.0-3.9: Definitely below average, but a few redeeming qualities2.0-2.9: Heard worse, but still pretty bad1.0-1.9: Awful; not a single pleasant track0.0-0.9: Breaks new ground for terrible
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 14:00 (thirteen years ago) link
In terms of the Dylan album I think anyone would be hard pushed to deny that it is indeed essential, it more or less documents the moment at which rock music was born and IMO you can't get much more essential than that. Plus "bootleg" is a misnomer (as it is for the whole Dylan Bootleg series), of course there were always bootlegs of the show but this was the official live recording which Columbia had been sitting on all those years for reasons best known to themselves.
― anagram, Friday, 11 June 2010 14:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Doran thats the rating system they came up with. The White album is "essential" because of how influential/important it, along with the other Beatles albums, is to pop music since then. Your argument reminds me of my friend saying "The Velvet Underground are so terrible... if they put out those albums now everyone would hate them." That theoretical scenario is impossible because they were so influential on music, that you would be comparing them with a musical landscape/bands that wouldn't exist without them. And I think that Pitchfork currently understands that nothing really deserves a ten without a proper amount of time to measure its cultural importance.
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 14:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Sad people!
― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I remember NME giving a Wolfsbane live album 10/10 once. Doesn't get more culturally important than that, huh?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I cant remember any other NME 10/10 albums. Did the strokes first album get a 10?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:52 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Sundar, Friday, 11 June 2010 14:54 (thirteen years ago) link
oh wait , Doran, did you give the last flaming lips album a 10/10 in nme?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Bollocks
― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:55 (thirteen years ago) link
btw how many suggest bans will I get when I start 'Best Album Rated 9.9 by Pitchfork Media Upon Its Initial Release'
― Mark Ronson: "Led Zeppelin were responsible for hip-hop" (acoleuthic), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:57 (thirteen years ago) link
NME gave Asian Dub Foundation's 'Community Music' 10/10. it then failed to appear on their EOY list iirc.
― mdskltr (blueski), Friday, 11 June 2010 14:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Whether you like the White Album or not, denying that it has cultural relevance is a laugh.
― kkvgz, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― anagram, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Lots of people were playing loud rock music in 1966
― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), Friday, 11 June 2010 15:05 (thirteen years ago) link
"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.
― scott seward, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Especially in Paisley.xp
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 11 June 2010 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Varying levels as in lots of disagreement, too.
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:10 (thirteen years ago) link
...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.
― Duran (Doran), Friday, 11 June 2010 15:13 (thirteen years ago) link
ah okay. i didn't read that right.
― scott seward, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:19 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Duran (Doran), Friday, 11 June 2010 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― Worth waiting for the fannypunch at 4.02 (stevie), Friday, 11 June 2010 15:34 (thirteen years ago) link
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.)
― Sundar, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:51 (thirteen years ago) link
(Actually, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was released earlier than "Like a Rolling Stone", duh.)
― Sundar, Friday, 11 June 2010 15:59 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 11 June 2010 16:28 (thirteen years ago) link
― 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 ArtEve-ScorpionSupergrass-Supergrass is 10The Bug-Pressure
I seem to remember reading one of the early 90's Fall albums got a 10, maybe Shift-Work?
― Kitchen Person, Friday, 11 June 2010 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Kitchen Person, Friday, 11 June 2010 16:44 (thirteen years ago) link
you know what still rules? Source Tags & Codes
― m@tt h (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 11 June 2010 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I agree.
― Evan, Friday, 11 June 2010 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
So close to a 10.0 with this vintage Save Ferris piece!:
Save FerrisIt 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
― Becky Facelift, Friday, 11 June 2010 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
james p wisdom gave mansun's first album 9.3 which was pleasing if charitable
― Mark Ronson: "Led Zeppelin were responsible for hip-hop" (acoleuthic), Friday, 11 June 2010 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― anagram, Friday, 11 June 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
some of the newport stuff was on no direction home
― m@tt h (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 11 June 2010 17:56 (thirteen years ago) link
The white album is a 10. Fuck off.
― billstevejim, Friday, 11 June 2010 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link
it is very hard to choose as these are in fact the eleven greatest albums ever.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 11 June 2010 18:50 (thirteen years ago) link
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...
― next post sez gtfo (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 11 June 2010 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 16 June 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 17 June 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Nabisco's 10.0 to Disintegration was OTM!
― the one corey (Pillbox), Thursday, 17 June 2010 23:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Poor Walt Mink. Would have voted for that to give it a little love if it weren't for 12 Rods being there.
― Evan, Friday, 18 June 2010 00:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Would have given Walt Mink's Miss Happiness a ten but I think its showing here is fair.
― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 18 June 2010 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
(El Producto's showing, of course)
― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 18 June 2010 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― scooter (CaptainLorax), Friday, 18 June 2010 00:16 (thirteen years ago) link
I always thought he meant inexperienced or immature.
― breaking that little dog's heart chakra (Abbott), Friday, 18 June 2010 00:19 (thirteen years ago) link
total votes for radiohead discs: 46total votes for any other of 8 discs: 91 (so roughly 11 votes per non-radiohead disc).
o_0
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 18 June 2010 00:44 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Evan, Friday, 18 June 2010 04:10 (thirteen years ago) link