the greatest, the best, numero uno

My friends, At the Crossroads, check them out if you are into metal and the like, posted a question - What is the greatest album of all time?

Wow, this is a huge question, and if you are into the whole music thing it is something that can be debated endlessly. Such a bigger question than the Greatest Song, because a great song can come from a reasonably rubbish album. Obviously you then get the dichotomy that if the album has a great song on it then it must be a great album , which you can go around endlessly in the argument in the ouroboros circle until the time vortex chews you up, or you go insane. As we are close enough to the whole irksome insanity thing anyway, let's not go there today, let's give those guys in white coats a break.

So then, what are the rules? Because you need rules to define this huge subject matter.

1. Album has to be on general release and cannot be so obscure that only I have heard of it (or only you have heard of it)

2. It has to be an actual album and not a best of, or a self-created album, Xtreme hardcore mix 5 is not allowed because it is made by you

3. It is not by U2 because of this

So then , although that didn't narrow down the field that much, it at least did make it clear as to where to start. It is very tempting at this stage, to start breaking down categories, best Metal, best Prog, Electronica etc. But no, not this time my obsessive music loving pals, this time we go for the top and nothing else.

Aenemia by Tool
Kid A by Radiohead
Led Zeppelin IV
It Takes a Nation of Millions by Public Enemy
Endtroducing by DJ Shadow
Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction...

...are some albums that immediately spring to mind. Well if you have a mind like mine that likes this sort of stuff, I guess the rest of you are thinking about sex. That would make a good post wouldn't it, best albums to have sex to . . will do that.

Some thinking music for you

The thing that becomes immediately clear from the 6 albums above is that it is a very 'me' centric list , by this I mean that any list like this is going to be extremely subjective. Kid A is there and not OK Computer because I like Kid A more. I also think that it is a much more interesting and ground-breaking album than OK Computer. I love the lyrics in Paranoid Android as I wrote here (ADD LINK) , but does it get across the isolation and bleakness as well as this?

No it doesn't, that is a very scary song actually.

So why those albums and not say Thriller or Rumours? Well, the music is better and they are better paced and more interesting collections of music. Aenima is amazing because just about every song is brilliant. It is the same for all of them, some are ground-breaking and able to move you on every listen.

But which is the best? Well, the only way to really establish this is to dip in the first circle of obsessive insanity and establish what makes them great. How obsessive was my playing of them? Unfortunately I can honestly say I listened to them all so many times that I have at least two copies of each , and then have them digitally as well because I listened to them so much. I had Aenima on a mini disc, (anyone else go into that technology?) . and walked around Tokyo with the album on repeat to the point I was starting to lose my mind over it.

I played this song by Jane's Addiction so much , that when I hear it now I still have the same image of listening to it in a park and watching the plane go overhead at 35 000 feet and match the guitar bit after the first verse.

You get the point. How many times you listen to it is not a deciding factor.

Maybe then, we can use the ground-breaking idea. It Takes a Nation of Millions is a great album, but was it ground-breaking? Well I guess it was a bit because it took the genre to new heights, but it is a positive evolution rather than a revolution. Zep IV? Not really, although it was certainly very different from anything else around at the time. It just isn't that different from Zeppelin II and III. I mean it is, because it is better, but it isn't that much of a departure. Aenima, again, brilliant but not a massive departure. So Kid A and Endtroducing are left. Well both are different from everything else around at the time. They are also ground-breaking in their style and their concept.

I love sitting down and listening to them both. I posted ' How to Disappear Completely' above and here is Midnight in a perfect world from Endtroducing

Great, brilliant and I love it. But Endtroducing is not the best album of all time. It just isn't. It has too many samples, too many unexpected changes of pace. Kid A isn't the best either. It is too dark, not uplifting enough. Too much reliance on electronics and computer generated sounds. I know that it is the point, I know that with both of them. I really do get it. But, I know they are brilliant albums and I need to come up with reasons to convince you. It Takes a Nation of Millions is also not the best album. I am sorry say just because I said so. No, seriously, it isn't because while it lifted the game of Hip Hop, it is the best album of that genre. It doesn't have enough crossover appeal to everyone.


Nothings Shocking is too underground. I know you know it. I know it, but very few people do. Even with Jane's releasing a new album this year, they are not ever going to be mainstream enough. I am sorry to say that the same has to be true of Aenima. I would like to say it is the best album of all time. I think that it possibly is, but Tool are too underground and as such if I am going to exclude Nothing's Shocking on this basis... well you get the idea.


So there you have it Zeppelin IV is the best album ever. Not ground breaking, but the best.

I am faintly dissatisfied with this answer if I am honest. Perhaps you can suggest some alternatives?