Best Albums By Women

[poorpete]

Fiiiiine, you're right. Mrs. Darcs didn't think she knew Tapestry, I predicted she'd know five songs from it. Turned out to be six. Would have been seven if she watched any Gilmore Girls. I mean, you add Beautiful and Way Over Yonder and Sweetwater--- look, every song is between very good and a masterpiece, except for maybe the title song, which has yet to hook me after ~10 listens.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a tribute to the fallen, so Beauty and the Beat was one of the most surprising albums I heard last year, and is still one of my new favorite albums, no matter that it's out in the round of 64. I mean it has that cheerleader feel at times, but mostly it's cool 80s rock and roll, reminding me often of Elvis Costello and especially their label-mates R.E.M. The songwriting, the hooks, the guitars (oh especially the guitars), the singing. Their a cohesive band, bleeding impressiveness, on their debut. Love it, and I'll remain a cheerleader for this album. Gooooooooo Gos!

Aretha Franklin – Amazing Grace
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... xDv2JPMm6E
X – Los Angeles
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... kBf4A_j0UA

[Phoebe]

[poorpete]

When Exene is on, and she's on in Nausea, she's on. First of all, Exene as short for Christine I love, like X-Mas, but X-ine, but Exene. Full on five stars album. Getting the organist for The Doors to play on the above song (as well as produce the album) didn't hurt either. Songs are fun or angry or fun and angry. But then again, half the songs are sung by a guy. And those songs are fun, and she sings a fab backing, but, ya know, when you're up against Aretha, it's just not enough.

I think this is the last of the male/female led bands that remained, and I think it's fair they can only go so far. So long B-52s, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac. So Long X. Only lady singers remain.

Nina Simone – I Put A Spell on You
https://open.spotify.com/album/0NJwp4usn5T5PPURpwLDDD
Sinead O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... pK7g76e0cE

[poorpete]

Another close one. Pretty much they're all going to be close going forward. Sinead has a more cohesive album, with the benefit of ace production work and a fantastic voice, and good lyrics. Musically, it hovers between Celtic folk, Stone Roses rock, and a hip hop beat that seems to point the way for Trip Hop and the emergence of Bjork. OK, as I'm writing this, maybe this album is a little bit better than Nina Simone's. I dunno. Close one. I should say something bad about it. Uhhh... it's not perfect? Ok, next!

Adele – 21
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... PFMdqDC8Oo
Blondie – Parallel Lines
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... HjJkmHicEE

[poorpete]

In the Pretenders vein of an album that wants to be punk and pop, and tries hard to split the difference. I really like most of what they try here, I'm not bothered by any selling out. Btw, is Blondie the Hootie of the 80s? It's not Debbie Harry, right? Blondie is her name, right? Anywho, these are fun little songs, for the most part, and has improved on each listen. But Adele, as NPR ranked it, is just a tad better.

The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Choir – Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... NkVMMoqhZk
Iris DeMent – My Life
https://open.spotify.com/album/7HFafIRKcw2mfQqGAAadzc

[Phoebe]

Am big Blondie fan but yeah, Adele's albums are powerful.

[poorpete]

Here's a powerful song. I guess it's about the harvest? Sounds like a bittersweet ode to getting your crops in before winter comes. I dunno! Sounds of pain, sounds of joy. This album is great. Relaxing and weird and meditative and other-worldly. I'm happy to have been introduced to it. If anything, I'm sometimes disappointed some of the songs are short. They really could have stayed in the mood of some of these. But maybe in Bulgaria these are so well known that going more than 90 seconds would be grating. I dunnooooo...

Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 6GgE67ZQf4
Meredith Monk – Dolmen Music
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... BCV30bTE9M

[poorpete]

Tough one, yup yup. I really like this album, it's full of interesting vocal uses, and thankfully doesn't feature the dolphin sound until 2 minutes left in the album. Otherwise it's a ton of experiments, most of which are a jaw-dropping success to my ears. My favorite is above, which I've noted in the music thread. I love how it's about growing old and slightly-to-very crazy and loving every minute of it! There is quite a bit of seriousness, sadness, and death in the album, but I like the playful side here, and the playfulness of the vocal stylings. Anywho, it isn't the greatest album of all time because..... it can get annoying, and I need to be in the mood for the rest of the album. That and my favorite track my family doesn't like. Well to that I say ha ha haha ha ha ha ha I still have my memories!

Beyoncé – Lemonade
https://listen.tidal.com/album/59727856
Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... LjZxmDwkYM

[poorpete]

My first girlfriend, in college, was previously engaged to a woman. So, as much as I supported her bisexuality (and still do), I was a jealous and confused and scared 19 year old in his first romantic relationship. So when it came to her music, I'd get all knotty in my tummy and it wouldn't be enjoyable to me. Also, I think, I was a sexist little jerk (though not as bad as others and always working on it). Does this mean I had a bit of homophobia, in that I worried that listening to gay music would return her to her gay lifestyle? Anywho, Ani took a hit from this. So did the Indigo Girls. And of those two, I really enjoyed the Indigo Girls album better. It's very very good. I think if I was just told "hey, REM plays on two of these songs, and they're big fans, maybe you should be too" -- nah probabliy wouldn't have worked on stupid me. This is a solid collection of tunes, that are folky, lillithfairy, and 80s alternativy. I always liked folky ad alternativy and now that lillithfairy no longer is an imaginary fear of mine (wtf, me?), I'm all in. That said. Lemonade I enjoy more. Ok, it's been fun to be proven wrong!

Odetta – It’s a Mighty World
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 4zhJQkr9FA
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... kkqjKZG9xs

[poorpete]

I really dig this. Odetta has a wonderful voice for folk songs, and her appreciation and reverence for those songs. She's a good mix between Bob Dylan folk and Harry Belafonte folk. There's nothing wrong with this album, every song is either good or very good. That said, I don't know if any song is a masterpiece. So, we're talking Best Albums here, and this is mearly a solid album by a lady with a wonderful voice.

The next match is
Dolly Parton – Coat Of Many Colors
Donna Summer – Bad Girls
which I'm going to nix...

NPR was right that this might be the best of the 60s 70s 80s era country albums on the list. I wish they included two of my favorites, the Trio album (Emmylou, Rondstadt, and Dolly) is wonderful and I've already said how great Van Lear Rose is. What I will say is that I really liked this album. I may have liked it more than Dolly's greatest hits I listened to last year, which is always good praise for album quality.

If there's any misstep, it's thematic. The first song, the classic "Coat of Many Colors", is about a wonderful mom, maybe the most wonderful mom. The second song, "Traveling Man", is about how her mom stole her man and maybe she never really knew her mom. It's jarring. I would have preferred a bit of space between those songs. Think how John Lennon put the peace-and-love "Imagine" as the first song on his album, then put the song of opposing feeling, the Paul-is-shit composition "How Do You Sleep", near the end. Better idea, I mean a better idea would have been not to write "How Do You Sleep" but meh! Anywho, I've said before this that I think Dolly is the dueter/background-singer. Everytime she appears behind a lead vocalists on a song, that song inevitably becomes one of my favorites. Thankfully, she harmonizes with herself here too.

Next:
Sade – Diamond Life
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... WD9nr0_bcM
M.I.A - Kala
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... ICOf5sN6iY

[poorpete]

This album has an hall-of-fame first three songs. Hmm, probably "Sgt.Pepper-With A little Help-Lucy in the Sky" is more impressive, but it's crazy good: Bamboo->BirdFlu->Boys. The album fades a bit in the second half, before hitting on Paper Planes, every hipster's favorite song with shotgun sounds in the chorus. But I always preferred "Bird Flu" which is truly wild and fun and exciting, and doesn't have shotgun sounds. Also, if we are talking best MIA songs, IMO "Galang" is MIA at her best. But "Bird Flu" is the best on the album. Well, that fade in the late-middle bit made me realize it should be out of the running, and although it might not be the best album either, Sade's debut has no lulls, almost every song I think is my favorite. Not for MIA. It's Bird Flu. How much more clear can I be?

This ends the round of 64! Only 32 albums are left with 0 losses, and after a few days I will be down to 16 songs with only 1 loss. Any advice?

[poorpete]

It's pretty much down to 48 (if I could add Last Splash and Pirates back in, that would be a good top 50)
https://challonge.com/2h99qng4

So let's get moving again with two classics...
Joni Mitchell – Blue
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... aFJt4qlIjE
Björk – Post
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... nqzj0SGDIU

[Eliahad]

Oh this one just isn't fair.

[poorpete]

Agreed!


This is the first album that Blue has faced that I could see people pick as the greatest album of all time. I love Bjork, and I especially like this Bjork that plays with styles more than her later stuff which stays relatively within avant-electronic. Both on Debut and Post she takes a break from the dance to make a beautiful song in a jazzy style. And no one can shush like Bjork on "It's So Quiet." And also the joy. I've heard a lot of her post-Post stuff and almost all of it is creative but rather down too. But I get it, it's the music she wants to make, I respect that. Anyhow, Post. Bjork hits the right mix of experimental and trip-hop dance and confessional and depressing and joy. I can only imagine the Radiohead jump to Kid A sounds could be traced back to Bjork here <<looks it up>>>... she was an influence, yup! Anyhow, a great album: yes. The greatest album: not sure but not definitely not. Better than Blue? Oooof, so few things are.

Mercedes Sosa – Mercedes Sosa en Argentina
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 67281B0C2D
Aretha Franklin – Young, Gifted and Black
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... ZErqYH6OtM

In Losers round, Post faces off against M.I.A.'s "Kala". Ooof. Leaning "Post" but not 100% there.

[Phoebe]

I really like the Bird Flu song you link to above, and your links to M.I.A. tracks have led me to some musically interesting ones I didn't know before, but overall I'm not that impressed by her and think she's more of a hipster idol for a certain time period. The revolution doesn't seem very revolutionary, let's put it that way; meanwhile we have Post as one of the all-time greatest. So I'm biased here, yes, but I can see why any of these could go either way now that you're down to the last few. Would also pick Aretha in the contest above...

[poorpete]

Yay for Bird Flu! I like to think I like how wonderfully weird and creative it is, or maybe I just dig songs that have roostery noises in it.

[poorpete]

Agreed!


Speaking of shushing!

This has a great shush 1 minute in, but then the silencers are soon overwhelmed by the crowd, which gets louder and rowdier after each successive chorus. This is a magical live double album, full of folk (but not boring folk) and beautiful singing. If they cut this down to the top tracks on one disc I could see this as one of the best albums (but, then again, is a live album sorta cheating?). There's a good 10 songs that I love on this, but there's like 20 overall, and it never goes bad, but that means it's out of the running for best ever. Also, Aretha.

Janis Joplin – Pearl
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... jmEZ-8nkk0
ESG – Come Away With ESG
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... E8VbrLho6E
(loser of this one faces Roberta Flack's "First Take")

[poorpete]

Four black sisters from the Bronx get backing from Manchester rock titan Tony Wilson to make a garage punk rock disco hip hop album and it's great. I mean it's super sloppy, but so is some of the best punk. And some of the songs aren't that great. But when it's on it's on and when it's sloppy it's still fun, and when it grooves it grooves -- you get it. Laving at 32 seems to make sense. But what a weird fun joy this album is. I was especially happy to dance around to it with my 2yo son yesterday.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 512LtuqVoM
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... OA5RGSiLUs
(loser faces Sinead O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got)

[poorpete]

Rehab has always been a troublesome song. It would be great as part of a fictional musical (or in the inevitable Amy musical/biopic -- end of Act 1, obviously) but as a non-fiction song it would always make me sad, and only sadder when her addictions took her life. And the song was so popular I was always worried (and still am worried) that she took its success as meaning she was right. I don't begrudge anyone absolutely hating this song, and it's only taken me years to be semi-ok with it (because otherwise, it's true, it's fantastic).

Great voice, great throwback sound, ushered in a load of great artists, most notably Adele. Made Marc Ronson huge. Gave the Daptones their biggest platform (though I'd rather have seen them, then and now, them get that platform with Sharon). Some of these songs are sick good, but some are just good and is thus out of the running. Also Tracy.

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... ntiLbxPOQI
Grace Jones – Nightclubbing
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... t-S8e1C-RY
(loser faces The Go-Gos Beauty and the Beat, dang!)

[poorpete]

There were a few points where I was leaning towards Nightclubbing, because it's very very good, and every song is solid. I think my enjoyment of this album goes beyond its trend-setting and coolness and my pride in an Upstate girl becoming an international cultural icon. All of the songs are playful and serious. I love how her statement "I'll never write my memoirs", at the beginning of the song above, is so iconic and believable, and of-course-playfully becomes the title of her memoirs. The androgynous mix of genders and music styles and contradictions. Love it.

Joanna Newsom – Ys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ1yFhjRnNc
Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... EQ4RVyZ2QA