Favorite Albums: 104 - 103

104. Stunt by Barenaked Ladies (1998)

This is probably BNL's least funny and most musically accomplished album. They finally decided to try to be serious musicians, and the result was one of their best albums. Other than "One Week" and "Alcohol," there really aren't any smart-ass songs here, just good solid tunes. "One Week" is the opener, just a crazy speeding rap rant. "It's All Been Done" and "Light Up My Room" follow, the former being one of the best pure pop songs the band has ever done, the latter being one of the best pure ballads the band has ever done. "I'll Be That Girl" is all about being in love with someone who is so stuck on herself that the only way to get her to notice the guy is for him to become a clone of her. Pretty good stuff. "Leave" and "Alcohol" are both okay but nothing special. "Call and Answer" is one of my favorite Barenaked Ladies songs, very defensive at first then going into full on attack mode. "In the Car" is kind of just there, not a great song, but not a horrible one either. "Never Is Enough" seems to get better every time I hear it. "Who Needs Sleep" is an ode to insomnia that is just a great fun song. The final three songs, "Told You So" "Some Fantastic" and When You Dream," are decent, but again, nothing special. Basically, half the album is really good, the other half is just... there. Not great, not bad, just good. But they really grew up on this album, and it is a lot better than I'm making it sound.
5 Best Songs:
5. "It's All Been Done"
4. "Light Up My Room"
3. "One Week"
2. "Who Needs Sleep"
1. "Call and Answer"

"One Week"


"Who Needs Sleep"


"Call and Answer"



103. Only By the Night by Kings Of Leon (2008)

I had absolutely no idea this was their fourth album until a couple months ago. The previous three are pretty good to, for the record, but I don't own any of them. I love love love love love this album. I just got it at Christmas and it has already surpassed almost 800 other albums I own. This album is actually going to start a trend where I probably put videos for all 5 favorite songs from the album instead of just 3. If I can find them, of course. Fucking YouTube. Anyway. The first song, "Closer," is just bad ass. One of my favorite opening songs on any album. "Crawl" follows, and completely changes the mood from the atmospheric mellowness of "Closer" and just rocks out with its cock out. The next two songs I'm sure everyone has heard, "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody." Both very good, but as much as I liked them they weren't enough to make me go get the album. It was only after I heard the whole thing at a poker game that I really wanted it. (So thank your brother for this one being on the list, Leah.) I usually stay away from any songs that mention anything having to do with New York City, but "Manhattan" is just a killer song. Great groove, great song. "Revelry" slows the pace back down again, a nice mellow tune. "17" is the only song on here that I don't care for. Just kind of annoying. "Notion" is a cool song, fast drums mixed with slow guitar riffs plus probably my favorite vocals on the album. Not necessarily best lyrics, just best vocals. "I Want You" is another killer tune, kind of a slow chant more than anything, but a great song. "Be Somebody" could not possibly be more different than "Use Somebody" both in style and quality. "Be Somebody" is just a great song from start to finish, no weaknesses whatsoever. "Cold Desert" brings the album to a close on a nice mellow note, probably my second favorite vocals. Another great song. Overall, in case you can't tell, I love this album. If I'd had it longer than four months at this point it probably would have been way higher on this list, but for now this is a good spot for it. Just a bad ass album.
5 Best Songs: (Only 5? Really? Grrr.)
5. "Notion"
4. "Manhattan"
3. "Closer"
2. "Crawl"
1. "Be Somebody"

"Notion"


"Manhattan"


"Closer"


"Crawl"


"Be Somebody"

Favorite Albums 148 - 147

There are a lot of greatest hits albums and singles collections at this end of the list. Here are the first two.

148. Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001) by Barenaked Ladies (2001)

Barenaked Ladies actually used their Greatest Hits album to help change their status from novelty comedy act to serious musicians. While the obvious funny songs are here - "If I Had $1,000,000," "Brian Wilson," "One Week," and "Pinch Me," the other 15 tracks show that they are, indeed, fine musicians who write some very good songs. "Brian Wilson" and "What a Good Boy" are both live versions, as the band wanted to showcase their real strength, which is their live shows. It has a good balance of hit singles and some of the better album tracks. One of the cool things about this collection is that they actually had the fans vote on which songs were included. Otherwise, some of the stronger songs, such as "Jane," "Shoe Box," and "Lovers In a Dangerous Time" (one of the few cover songs by the band) may not have made it onto the disc. Overall, it's a very solid showcase of the band's first decade.
The flow of the music is very good from start to finish on this album. Not too many slow songs grouped together, bogging it down, and the "silly" songs are spread over the whole album. The two new songs on the album are "It's Only Me (The Wizard Of Magicland)" which would fit more in the "silly" category, and the extremely beautiful closing track, "Thanks That Was Fun."
5 Best Songs:
5. "Falling For the First Time"
4. "Jane"
3. "Lovers In a Dangerous Time"
2. "The Old Apartment"
1. "What a Good Boy"

"Lovers In a Dangerous Time"


"The Old Apartment"


"What a Good Boy"


147. ...Hits by Phil Collins (1998)

This is probably one of the more incomplete Greatest Hits albums around, simply because there is so much left off of it. While the really huge songs are here, like "Sussudio," "One More Night," and the biggest hit of Collins's career, "In the Air Tonight," there are some other pretty big hits missing, most notably "Don't Lose My Number," "I Missed Again," and "I Don't Care Anymore." The omission of that last song alone, at the expense of the previously unreleased cover of "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, gives the album a bit of a bad taste. In the end, though, it is a decent album. Great? Not by any means. But good.
One of the big problems with this album is that the Phil Collins solo music and the Phil Collins as member of Genesis music sounds so similar. You keep expecting to hear certain songs, only to realize that they are, in fact, Genesis songs. Also, starting the album off with "Another Day In Paradise" just seems like a bad idea. I mean, really, who wants to hear this depressing ass song right when you put the album on? And if you do want to start off with a slow depressing song, why not put "In the Air Tonight" first instead of burying it as the second to last track? Other than that, the songs flow very well, since they aren't in chronological order, just logical order, for the most part. "Easy Lover" and "You Can't Hurry Love" go together very well, as do "Separate Lives" and "Both Sides Of the Story," and "Take Me Home" is a pretty obvious choice as the closing track. Overall, a solid album but not as good as it could have been.
5 best songs:
5. "Both Sides Of the Story"
4. "Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)"
3. "I Wish It Would Rain Down"
2. "In the Air Tonight"
1. "Take Me Home"

"I Wish It Would Rain Down"
Never actually saw this video. The part at the beginning about him being the drummer in a "pretty good band" then taking over after the singer left is pretty funny.


"In the Air Tonight"


"Take Me Home"


I just realized how much I have bitched about 2 of the 4 albums I've done so far. You'd think I was doing a list of my least favorite albums. Ha ha. It'll get better, I promise.