ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Bono_U2_360_Tour_2011.jpg

"DID YOU PEOPLE NOT READ THE ROLLING STONE LIST???"

The battle for the top spot was hard-fought, and amazingly ended in a tie...

http://i.imgur.com/STg5Qq2.jpg?1

TIE-1 CANNONBALL ADDERLEY The Black Messiah [7,498 points, 142 votes, 141 first place votes]
TIE-1 VARIOUS ARTISTS Billboard Top Hits 1989 [7,498 points, 142 votes, 141 first place votes]

black messiah #1

DJP I still haven't gotten past "Pendulum" :)

lol, fka twigs.

Rev - I didn't say I wasn't part of the problem.

I've never gotten the whole fascination with "Two Weeks" above and beyond the rest of LP1. It's just another track on the album to me, the whole thing is so of a piece I'd have a hard time declaring highlights.

ha ok xp

hmm. these numbers don't look right.

And I've got a whole year to work on my hand-wringing when it comes to the Ear Bummers.

xpost

I've never gotten the whole fascination with "Two Weeks" above and beyond the rest of LP1. It's just another track on the album to me, the whole thing is so of a piece I'd have a hard time declaring highlights.

― The Reverend, Thursday, January 29, 2015 4:14 PM (13 seconds ago)

just on a basic level it's the easiest to get into, if you come at the album from an r&b-fan perspective, as i do, you're going to be drawn to the one that sounds like a ciara song. not to say there aren't some great other songs

Honestly, I don't even play "Pendulum" that much. I spend a lot of time jumping between "Video Girl" and "Give Up", the latter slowly becoming my secret favorite when I'm not humming "Pull out the incisor/Give me two weeks/You won't recognize her" to myself

That's one of the few albums I've heard that makes floaty vaguely psychedelic sad submarine Ecco the Dolphin R&B actually seem like a good idea.

― Matt DC, Thursday, January 29, 2015 3:28 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is very true but also she can really sing ... she has really strong vocal moments ("bated breath") but they don't break the glass so to speak, it's kind of a tricky thing they pull off

the bridge on "two weeks" is just unfairly sublime

Yeah, I've never gotten why it's a stronger song or more r&b than anything else on there. xxxp

was waiting for the u2 zing :-)

DJP otm. To me LP1 evokes much the same emotional state as the Marina Topley Bird tracks on Maxinequaye, only with present UK bass sonics and more coherence as an album, and that's no small feat. I also think, song for song, EP2 is stronger.

Or maybe the real touchstone is, what if Nearly God wasn't made by a lazy stoner.

I went back to EP2 thinking "omg I WAS WRONG" after loving LP1 so much and... well, I liked it more than I did initially, which is to say I didn't think it was monochromatic boring nonsense this time, but rather a dry run for the album that didn't work for me.

Prob my favorite Twigs song is still "Papi Pacify" tbh

this is very true but also she can really sing ... she has really strong vocal moments ("bated breath") but they don't break the glass so to speak, it's kind of a tricky thing they pull off

Wish she had more of these tbh, I love her lower register and she doesn't use it that much. I also prefer the more conventional second half to the floatier first half.

ha i went back to EP2 as well and still thought it was boring wispiness

Haven't heard any taylor swift since the first track to place on an EOY poll. People seem super into her though. Good luck to 'em.

YES to praising tinashe's lower register

i'll have to revisit ep2. I loved 'water me' but wasn't so in to the others.

Water Me and Papi Pacify are still the two best Twigs songs imo, but LP1 works so well as it is that I'm glad they weren't repurposed for it.

But FKA Twigs isn't someone who really works well for me on a song-by-song basis. Way better to just put it all on and immerse.

I've spent a lot of time listening to EP2 and LP1 back to back. For some reason I've never gone back to the first EP tho.

we should just stop the poll here and leave the top 2 a mystery

CROZ

If that averts Taypocolypse, it works for me.

https://38.media.tumblr.com/b98745eb565e85c79c4814165af6806f/tumblr_n7cfzxWpFL1tq2qiuo1_500.gif

http://i.imgur.com/GI5m3tp.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ZEZWSSy.jpg

2 TAYLOR SWIFT 1989 [1,624 points, 40 votes, 8 first place votes]
1 D'ANGELO AND THE VANGUARD Black Messiah [2,105 points, 58 votes, 8 first place votes]

why even bother with 1-2?

you could listen to 3-4-5 on repeat forever and just generally be a happier person

xp haha nvm i guess the cat is etc

58 votes!! WOW

good job running thus guys. Thanks.

holy shit

2105! I noticed that we crossed 1000 as far back as YG.

Yessss!

record-breaking points total

i havent listened to the record yet since it came out so late in the year but that is an impressive % of the voter base

sort of relieved taylor didn't win with her worst album, even though i'm likely to play the best songs off 1989 more than black messiah, which also has its flaws

Thx Fever and Sean.

http://i.minus.com/izlIafbXI9G7h.gif

also haha tie for first place votes!

D'Angelo is a worthy winner. Thanks JF. Sorry for shitting it up briefly.

cheers JF and crew for the effort, tis much appreciated.

so glad that was a blowou

lol Taytay gif is perfect