Top 10 Albums ever - Gaslight Anthem come out top (Top 10 Albums)

Member Name: Palmer89

Product:	Top 10 Albums
Date:	25/06/09 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gaslight, Green Day, Brilliant music

Disadvantages: Only 10 choices?

I love doing these types of lists, although I feel last year it would be completley different to what it is now, likewise in a years time I wonder how similar my list would be, but forget the ramblings, lets get on with my top 10 albums, ever, the majority, in fact all I believe are fairly new and all but one are post late 90's.


10 - Transatlanticism (Death Cab For Cutie)

Released in 2003 by indie/alternative rock band Death Cab For Cutie, the lead vocals of Ben Gibbard are once again masterful in this album, the lyrical nature and voice he has are quite honestly almost 2nd to none at this time in the music industry.

The album starts of with classics such as The New Year and Title and Registration, T&R is one of my favourites from the entire Death Cab catalogue, I love the opening verse and the analogy that Gibbard uses suggesting that the glove compartment should be renamed, since "there's nothing to keep your fingers warm", the entire song as a monotonic melody in the background but the vocals and lyrics are just perfect for the song itself. The Sound of Settling is another stand out track, purely for the bouncy chorus "Ba ba, this is the sound of settling" is pretty uplifting and, well, bouncy.

The title track is obviously many peoples favourites and having been lucky enough to hear it live it's understandable, the emotion running through it through the music and the lyrics makes it one of the best melodic songs in the world. The album finished off with A Lack of Colour, a song which doesn't sound to far from a Turin Brakes song (not that many DCFC songs don't), it's a brilliant finale with a simple yet effective guitar in the background and the sound of what sounds like the sea it once again relies on the lyrics and vocals from Ben Gibbard which are produced brilliantly.


9 - Bleed American (Jimmy Eat World)

This album came out in 2001 around the time of the twin towers being struck, this mean the album was eventually renamed to simply, Jimmy Eat World a short time after its release.

The opening track is of course one of their best known and most powerful songs, Salt Sweat Sugar has a chorus so powerful and energetic it's extremely difficult not to sing or do a little jig to, it's the perfect opening for the album and sets up the tone perfectly before the next track, A Praise Chorus which is slightly more relaxing with a fairly melodic tone towards the end but still with a punch in a fairly pop punk style that fits well. The next track is one of the stand out tracks, anyone who hasn't heard The Middle yet, get on it right now, similar to the opening track in that it has a kick ass chorus which never gets old with any amount of listens.

I won't go through the entirety of every album but will explain why to me they are the best albums, Bleed American has the advantage of having 2 of the greatest songs of the decade on it with Salt, Sweat, Sugar and The Middle, both have powerful choruses and verses that are huge anthems. Sweetness is another great track on the album, I believe it was added to the album after being released on an earlier album, it certainly goes with the album well. Hear You Me is a melodic song on the album and a vast change from the previous 5 songs, it turns into a power ballad towards the end. Finally which tops this album of is The Authority Song, a great all round song before ending on the ballad My Sundown.

This album is 9thth of my top 10 because it has 4/5 stand out tracks which can be listened to at any time, it highly unlikely that I get bored with this album, the album is a brilliant bunch of songs which go together and just click, although I am unsure on the final track

8 - The Photo Album (Death Cab for Cutie)

Released 2 years prior to Transatlanticism, I think this is the bands best album and so do many people, named the photo album for the entire cover looks like a photograph taken from a Polaroid camera.

The opening track A Movie Script ending is an easy track to begin the album on, it's nothing out of the ordinary but is a good setup for the rest of the album and the chorus has a kick to it and for some reason I just love the 'highway' bit where Gibbard just repeats the word over and over. Blacking out of Friction is a favourite of mine, opening with a mixture of instruments all coming in at different times before Gibbard once again takes over and produces more great lyrics, this song is a little bouncier than the opening track. Coney Island is one of my favourites also, again back to a more melodic tone for the track which tells us that "everything was closed at Coney island"

Information travels faster is another brilliant song but it only sets us up for the best song from the entire back catalogue from Death Cab, Styrofoam Plates, the song is simply brilliant with the best lyrics from a song I can think of currently, especially the ending lyrics of "you were a bastard in life, thus a bastard in death", talking about a father who used to continuously drink and abuse people and who died, Gibbard states that "I won't join in the procession, that's speaking their peace, I'll stand up and scream, if the mourning remain quiet"

For me that song just makes the entire album, the rest is quality but the sing takes it up a few places in my ranking of albums.


7 - The Optimist (Turin Brakes)

A very easy listening album by Turin Brakes released in 2001 (which seems like a good year for albums what with this, DCFC and Jimmy Eat World all releasing stand out albums)

The album starts with a soft tone with Feeling Oblivion which continues throughout although Underdog has a slightly more upbeat tempo with brilliant vocals and acoustics behind but it's Emergency 72 which adds to this album in one of the greatest ways, a very slow song until a minute or so in when it turns fairly calming and relaxing but in a very upbeat way.

Future Boy is brilliant as the band tell us over and over that "I am the future boy", State of things follows on soon after. This album doesn't have a lot to say about it which hasn't been said by me in the past, it's a very easy listening album, an album that is very difficult to get bored or and whilst its an album where a lot of the songs are similar they are all different in their own ways.

Much like Death Cab, but for me just a little better, better vocals with something more upbeat about them with their melodies and music, The Optimist is at number 7 on my list.


6 - Love, Ire and Song (Frank Turner)

Frank Turner was originally born in the far east but moved to London at a young age, Love, Ire and Song is his most recent album backed up by the success of Sleep is for the Weak. I was lucky enough to see Turner live a few months ago supporting Gaslight Anthem, but onto them later.

The album is a great acoustic folk album, a great singer songwriter with superb lyrics and great analogies that also gets the crowd going when seeing him live, the opening track does that almost as good as any with I Knew Prufrock Before he got Famous, the "I don't remember details but there were English boys with Banjos" is a brilliant sing along as is towards the end of the track and it becomes more angry and emotional as Turner tells us that the only thing that's left to do is live.

Reasons Not to be an Idiot is a song that talks about people pretending to be someone who they're not and someone who has gone into a lull in their life and not getting out of it, telling them to get up, get down and get outside. Photosynthesis is another great sing along track, the main single from the album that has a brilliant bounciness to it and the chorus is a statement to those telling him to act his age and telling him to do something before going into the first love song of the album, Substitute where he tells us that he would "substitute my singing for the sound of someone sleeping next to me".

The title track is another angry portrayal at life before Take me Home goes on about how a French kiss from a Parisian girl can capture and English boy in what is another love song done in a non soppy way. The album ends on Jet Lag, an agonising tale of having to leave his friends and travel 14,000 miles last year, a depressing tale to end on but a brilliant folk album

5 - Stop, Drop and Roll (Foxboro Hot Tubs)

The debut album from Rock and Roll band Foxboro Hot Tubs (yes, ok, it is pretty much Green Day), released in 2007/8 as a side project, it has turned into so much more and one of the best debut bands/albums ever.

The title track is also the opening track is a barrage of guitars and drums, the lyrics obviously have the familiar Billie Joe style to them but they sound much like older Green Day which is no bad thing. Mother Mary has a brilliant chorus and Ruby Room which is probably my favourite of the lot has just an epic chorus with verses which fill in between with such little effort but a sound that just makes the song brilliant, towards the end of the track the guitars, drums and vocals all combine to create an energetic and powerful ending. Broadway is another huge favourite of mine, the verse rolls into the chorus with such ease and the lyrics and vocals as well as the background sound is too good, I've listened to this song a remarkable number of time, I love the way the lyrics such as "I" and "you" are repeated before each line.

27th Ave Shuffle is a song towards the end of the album that has great vocals in it, especially the backing vocals that add to the old sound of this record, this is an album that has been made by a band that just wanted to have a little bit of fun, they've somehow surpassed what they wanted to do and created one of the best album of all time from my opinion, it's a great mixture of new and old songs, each and every song deserves it's place on the album, dare I say it's one of Green Days best albums.


4 - 1,039/Smoothed out slappy hours (Green Day)

The debut album from one of the best bands on the planet also happens to be one of their best, a combination of 2 earlier albums that were never quite released in the main, released in 1991 almost 20 years ago now and it's still one of the top top albums around.

At the Library opens up with energy mentioning a girl who seems to have caught Billie Joes attention "staring across the room, are you leaving soon, what is it about you that I adore", very much a punk love song. I was there is another great song, especially the chorus before Going to Pasalaqua kicks in and it one of the best on the album, the vocals are sometimes indistinguishable from words and just sounds but they superb and a true headbanging song, Road to Acceptance and the Judges Daughter carry on the tone throughout the album from brilliant punk and lyrics that range from giving up on life, accepting life and going insane over love. Why do you want him was written by Billie Joe about his mothers boyfriend who he despised is another kick ass song.

The album slightly trails off towards the end but 1,000 Hours picks it up again, the album is full of youth and punk that just streams through the ears into the blood stream and becomes highly addictive, the vocals from Billie Joe sound so much better than his current music, although both albums are great and highly different so uncomparable.



3 - Sink or Swim/Senor and the Queen (Gaslight Anthem)

I have added Senor and the Queen onto this review since it's not so much and Album than it is an EP, but it deserves stature and credit as one of the best 4 track albums ever produced.

Boomboxes and Dictionaries is a kicking song to begin on, as singer Brian Fallon feels like he is losing a loved one and tells them to take it a step at a time, trying to cling on to her, We Came to Dance is about just having a good time, partying late into the night with friends and family. The Navesink banks is the first mellow song on the album tucked in with a load of hard rock and roll songs it fits perfectly and Brian has a voice that perfectly fits these types of songs and he lists a number of sins he has committed or been through, mainly to do with a young girl called Maria.

The rock and roll songs come back into show now with a song dedicated to their respect and love for former Clash member Joe Strummer, before Angry Johnny and the Radio kicks in which is a throw back to the good old times of rock and roll which has been mastered for current times as good as any band could manage. Drive is one of the most popular on the album with it's gritty vocals and energetic chorus and vocals, a favourite played live, a true punk rock song as the driving theme continues through the album before ending on Red at Night which turns out to be a slow song telling us about Fallons routes, the vocals and lyrics of this song are superb and is one of the best Gaslight Anthem songs and ends the album making the listener begging for more, the melodic voice of Fallon sounds innocent and full with emotion, listen to some of his acoustic stuff if you get the chance.

As for Senor and the Queen, you won't find a better 4 track EP anywhere, each and everyone is better than the last and the last 2 songs are pure classics.

2 - Warning (Green Day)

Released in 2000 by now veterans of the punk rock industry by 10 years+ gives us a change from the usual sound by Green Day, more of a pop punk record than any previous albums doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

Opens up on title track Warning which is an immediate anthem on the album that gets people up dancing and singing along to the chorus, Blood Sex and Booze starts with the sound of a woman screaming and a man being struck and is another very good song full of energy which most of the album seems to be, Church on Sunday is one of the most energetic however with guitars, drums, vocals and bass a constant throughout the song with little time to breathe, one of the best on the album, the chorus is another sing along anthem and similar to castaway in that aspect before we meet the first time we catch a break with Misery, a brilliant yet unique song from Green Day, a huge favourite of mine out of all Green Day songs with it's slow and powerful lyrics and intermittent guitars and drums. The next 4 songs all follow the same sort of structure with bundles of energy flowing through the lot of them before we hit 2 of the best ending songs of any album.

Minority is a fuck you to everyone who tells people what to be, it's a brilliant ending song and for me is the real ending on the album, it fits to be at the end of the album, after the whole album its basically a fuck you, I can be what I want to be song with more of the old green day coming out before ending finally on Macys Day Parade, another slow song on the album, very different to the song we've just heard but equally powerful in a different sense.

The album is a little different to old green day, it's slightly in between their old stuff and new music and since I like both maybe this is the best compromise, a mixture of both, Billie Joes vocals start becoming more mature, the songs are of a great maturity and a greater mix with very very little wrong with this album.

1 - 59' Sound (Gaslight Anthem)

Having read about this fantastic new band in Kerrang I was a little sceptical (it's Kerrang afterall) I decided to take a listen though...it's without a doubt the best decision I ever made and have now ended up seeing this band 3 times hopefully a 4th coming up within the next few months.

This is their sophomore album following on from Sink or Swim, the sound is a little less rusty and gritty with more emphasis on the storytelling in this album. It starts of with Great Expectations, a song starting with the sound of an old record player starting up before kicking in with the guitars and chorus where lead singer Fallon gives up on love before it's even began with the lyrics "everybody leaves so why, why wouldn't you?"

The title track is full of energy and emotion, a story about a young kid Fallon knew when he was younger being run down, the chorus is truly chilling and emotional yet also extremely energetic, Fallons screaming adds something extra to this chorus, you can almost feel the pain flowing through him. Old White Lincoln in the next song which ended up being the 3rd single on the album (after the first 2 tracks on the album) which has another energetic chorus likewise with High Lonesome before heading into Film Noir which has less guitar in the verse and relies on Fallon again to carry the song which he does superbly before the chorus kicks in and the guitar takes us on, the drums after each chorus are brilliant as well. The Patient Ferris Wheel and Casanova Baby are just superb songs which no words can really describe before flowing through yet more energetic and emotional songs before ending on the Backseat, which usually leads us onto the encore when played live, it's a brilliant final song which can be heard in the chorus, especially played live this song is something special.

The 59' sound is a roll back to the good old times of classic Rock and Roll, too much have been put on the similarities with Bruce Springsteen, there's similarities there but The Gaslight Anthem will soon make their music their own and not anyone elses, they're the best band to come out of the last 20 years, and since I am 20 years young they are my favourite band and the band I can relate to the most, they have a barrage of superb songs that just don't die down any number of times you listen to it.

Seeing them live has just made me addicted to them more, you will not find a better band nor a better album no matter how hard you look, that's my honest opinion, here's to the Gaslight Anthem and their 3rd album, who knows, perhaps this list may include another new album this time next year.

Summary: Gaslight are by far and away the best band i've ever heard