Best Albums By Women

[poorpete]

Woah did Iris DeMint's "My Life" album creep up on me! Tito and La Lupe's album is very good though, for an album that looks unheralded outside of this list (it's not on any of the major streaming sites, no wikipedia article, and no one is clamoring for it on youtube -- I had to create a playlist for the album myself). But there's some gems, again it's good(!), including the above, which has a break that sounds so familiar I feel it must have been sampled somewhere.

Next:

Miranda Lambert - Platinum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBdUk_I ... NLxD6G9MJB
Meredith Monk – Dolmen Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyC6W_Q ... 3WJEaOO4_I

(one of my favorite unusual albums on this list vs. a solid collection of pop country songs, who will win?)

[poorpete]

As expected, it's no contest. Again, good album though. These are 147 good albums.



Next:
Solange – A Seat at the Table
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyRYwXH ... A8VuqW9q7D
Cris Williamson – The Changer and the Changed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix5_TBU ... d5t_bzlkta

(This is a high-quality competition -- and the winner faces Beyonce's Lemonade in the next round. I've already noted my adoration for Solange, my favorite Knowles, but Cris' album is pretty great)

[Phoebe]

I'm so excited you created a playlist for La Pareja! It is giving me life, as these kids say, but I mean it more literally, like I might be able to drag my carcass around in some very basic ways despite its resistance and breakdown.

[poorpete]

Thanks!


Cris Williamson's album is sweet and hippy and feminist and creative and fun and -- just great.
Solange's album is feminist and mournful and hopeful and creative and serious and -- just great.
Solange by a hair.

Next:
The Bangles – All Over the Place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAbYsxd ... ApDLJLmF_n
Chaka Khan – I Feel for You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TefsJKj ... RPHxO9bks0

[Phoebe]

I don't want to unfairly influence your process so I don't want to go overboard with enthusiasm or anything, but

CHAKA KHAN

[poorpete]

I want you to influence!
I do like The Bangles album, which is getting catchier with each listen. I'm pretty even on both so I think you'll tip the scale here.

[poorpete]

Honestly, without your influence I'd might've picked The Bangles. But I want to be influenced and there's a lot to like about Chaka. Also a good reminder, that there's a losers bracket and I think this will do well there. I will keep listening to this.


Last of Round 1:
The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipJOa1U ... r3aMsMabtD
The Roches - The Roches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgQITW ... uX5FMKaiaB

(Leader of the Pack, another one where I had to create a youtube playlist. The album is half classics, half live covers, I dunno if that's enough for it to beat the precious Roches)

[poorpete]

Round 1 done
https://challonge.com/2h99qng4

Leader of the Pack is a fun album, even with the unnecessary covers on side 2, but hey, The Beatles had a few of those kind of albums too.


Björk – Post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaLfiKq ... yw&index=1
Mariah Carey – Daydream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq09UkP ... wdFzBeVmdB

[Phoebe]

As much as I appreciate Mariah Carey's voice, there is NO WAY that an album with an Open Arms cover competes with the work of absolute GENIUS that is Post. That is one of my all-time most played albums. On every level, musically innovative, musically pleasing to listen to, whatever, it's perfect.

And then the lyrics! Every song is capturing something you didn't quite realize needed capturing, and afterward realize was the very thing needed. For a long time after the album came out my favorite was Hyperballad, for the music but also because it captured the feelings about an important but "stuck" relationship. Different songs rose up; lately if I had to pick a favorite it would be one I didn't even much like at the beginning - Headphones!

[poorpete]

Agreed! Now, Mariah's album is better than many of the 90s pop albums that ended up on this list (or at least Brittany's entry). And I have come to appreciate her voice, which I admit I was not a fan of previously.
I've been a fan of Bjork's "Debut" since college and after 3 listens to "Post" I think it might be just as good. I shouldn't have sat on this, although I always loved "It's Oh So Quiet" (and now my kids do too!)

Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGMmuEn ... NnVtTbhmAj
Laurie Anderson - Big Science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL2a8fo ... FdXu86DKLC

(I am biased to Big Science, probably my fav avant garde album)

[poorpete]

Ok slowed things down in order for me to breathe and to give Pirates a chance. And it's very close. Pirates really grew on me on the third and fourth listens. It is great. What a wonderful voice and honest and catchy songs. And I really hope I'm not making a mistake kicking it to the losers bracket, where I hope it continues to do well.

It's just Big Science is a quicky messy masterpiece of peace and trouble and anxiety and humor. And I might not always be in the mood for it, but when I am it's transcendent!



Next:
Etta James Rocks the House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr1wZSBM ... lGHkBDOYTC
Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XXEw7C8 ... oe68am8qRR

(I think it'd be a tougher fight if it was against Etta James' At Last album, which is great, but we'll see)

[Phoebe]

Ya, Laurie Anderson is in a whole class apart. I wonder where she is now? Oh wow that became a little trip down the rabbit hole! She's done so much more than I even knew. Wow. And now a half dozen things on the must-see, must-listen lists!

Hey, you know something about recording, yes? And Eli obviously... I'm looking for a way that a dumbass can record and edit at least one track, and ideally to three or four tracks at once. I have this Audiacity or whatever it's called, but I'm too stupid to use it without help. Maybe there is a way to find help with that that would make it easy or maybe there's an easier program where I can just record something on my phone, and upload a couple of those into the same file, and edit them and be done. Perfection not needed, just getting the gist down.

[akiva]

[Phoebe]

Yeah sometimes I feel like they just wanted to recognize a particular artist but didn't pick the album that I would consider their best work.

[poorpete]

Agreed!! Forgot that NPR cutoff their list at 1964, so 1960's "At Last" could not be included, which seems absurd, because it's great. Anyways, Rocks The House is filled with some same-old covers and at times poorly recorded. But sometimes, like above, it really got me good.

And evidence that "At Last" is wonderful


Mary J Blige - What's the 411
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReWhx2D ... YbdUUPLI-8
The Runaways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9y0pI6 ... Jvkg5a524z

(no clear cut fav here, but none of these, after two listens each, have grown on me yet)

[poorpete]

Ok, four in and it's pretty much a tie. Both grew on me, but hard since both play to a different audience. Well produced 90s era hip hop full of hits vs. a quality punk record with Lita Ford absolutely kicking ass at lead guitar. Tie goes to NPR, which picks Mary, unless anyone can sway me otherwise in the next few hours.

[poorpete]

If I have anything negative to say about The Runaways, it would be that some of their songs sound like based on the same template. Eh!

Next:

Ani Difranco - Little Plastic Castle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfa36wP ... 0mwQfpEP_p
ESG - Come Away with ESG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RQ3_-E ... dz3l5meZse

(I had a negative reaction to Ani for a long time, but now appreciate her, and my favorite song of hers is the first song on this album. But "Come Away" is an effin' super fun album, so Ani might have trouble here)

[poorpete]

Good album, the above song is great. ESG is a delight.

Next:

Loretta Lynn - Coal Miner's Daughter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOlil6k ... Vm9J-ICjcX
Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsUPQUh ... bBJmCjkqua

(oh boy. another tough one. Glamorous Life is a fun album. Loretta Lynn is a great artist but unsure if the album is a top-tier album (her "Van Lear Rose" would win easily -- i get why they went with a "classic" album because she's always been good but it's just such a compliment to her that an album she did in her 70s would turn into one of the greatest albums of the previous decade -- address lack of women on these lists is great but they could've addressed ageism in these lists too -- missed opportunity))

[poorpete]

Yeah, I love Loretta. And some of these songs are catchy. They are also same-old-same-old, for better and worse. A better list would swap in Van Lear Rose.


Next, a gay 90s soul-off!
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=721JQZw ... jiCMCdmsd9
k.d.Lang - Ingenue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhS_ADe ... SJAp_vqQKb

[Phoebe]

Scrolling up backwards from the page bottom, at first I was like, who beat out Loretta Lynn? Damn. And then I was like, OH WELL OF COURSE!