Best Albums By Women

[poorpete]

It deserves it's success. You got yourself an all-time-great opening track, a hip and cool upbeat dance ballad that parents and grandparents and tweens can adore. Only a self-hating hipster would dismiss this song from their soul after welcoming it earlier. Though it would be difficult to match the magic of Rolling in the Deep, the rest of the album tries its best to keep the quality high. Even the lesser tracks are sequenced well to make this feel like a whole statement. A fun album to sing along too, to dance along to, to relax to. That makes it pretty great. Also, I'm still impressed by the cover. So simple, so elegant, I wonder if they knew how iconic it'd be.

[poorpete]

A jaw-dropping mix of hits, dance numbers, rock numbers, ballads (side 3), electronica, soul, and future pop. AKA Disco. Unlike it's stereotype, this disco is not cheese and it's not soulless. OK, "Hot Stuff" is pretty cheese, but it's also a great disco / rock hybrid. The song above is a prime example, a moody take on a one-night-stand, or something similar (the line "I gave in without fighting" does raise eyebrows in the metoo era, but I'd defend it as it's a story, not a defense)

This album does a top-notch job at sequencing, and reminded me of the best Beatles tracklistings. I also liked how three of the four sides are all upbeat, with each song seamlessly moving into the next, with no pauses or fade-outs. Side 3 is the only one different, dedicated to ballads including the monumentally awesome and cheesy (ok, there's lots of cheese -- but aren't all ballads) slow jam of "All Through the Night". It's great.

[poorpete]

Down to 16. The first eight have one loss, the others are still spotless.

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[poorpete]

Gimmee All the Feels
Here's the final 12 by tracklisting/flow/the journey/story the listener gets taken on. A note: these all do it well in this categorization. And this isn't the final ranking.

Beyoncé – Lemonade - the tops of what's here. A story of being cheated on, at its most simple. Or taking that cheating and making cheating-ade. The story of strength, even when being worn down, knowing that you deserve better. Of, as the film says, taking her torturer and making him her savior. But she was always her savior, love God herself after all. And not just the story, but the flow through genres and moods too, near perfect. Although I was surprised that the album ends on such a banger like Formation instead of the more poingant conclusion of All Night Long, I didn't get that it really is both about Beyonce and about us (or at the very-least about black women). And now that she's gone through this personal hell and come out a more solid and strong family and soul, she's taking her superpowers to now move everyone forward. So get in formation.

Iris DeMent – My Life - mainly stays in the country-tinged folk genre, sequenced great, and puts together an incredible assessment of middle-age, figuring out how to navigate this valley in the shadow of death, while also feeling way too busy to process it all. Dedicated to her late-father, it reminisces to childhood memories, sings a waltz to her parents, reacts to his death, and to all death, in fear and distraction and joy. It's moving.

Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love - Very well sequenced, different yet similar moods, with side 1 being electro pop danceable entertainment and side 2 being a dramatic short story on drowning. It packs a wollop.

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - a journey of love, the joys and sadness and mistakes of love, and love of not just a human, but of music, of culture, of family. Laid pretty clear in a hip-hop and neo-soul sound.

Aretha Franklin – Young, Gifted and Black - her most complete album, eclectic from gospel to disco to soul to singer-songwriter. Mostly here, like her other album here, are songs about love and strength.

Joanna Newsom – Ys - five stories told through a singular style and vision. Bold.

Björk – Post -- knows how to start and end an album, takes listeners on a journey through mood (tho mostly melancholy/depressed) and genre (tho mostly trip hop)

Joni Mitchell – Blue - if there's a story, it's of yearning to be here and somewhere else at the same time. To be in Crete but yearning for California. To be in California but yearning to skate on rivers in Saskatchewan. To be back at the Mermaid cafe with the Cretan doused with fancy french cologne. To be home alone, with your lover out of town and your child given up for adoption, and you still hoping for their best because you still love them so much. As for the flow, it's good, pretty much moving back and forth between the piano and the dulcimer, though a slight-minus for putting my least favorite track last. That's where you're supposed to seal the deal!

Janis Joplin – Pearl - if there's a story, it's about the pride of going out alone, and proving you're one of the best. Songs go together wonderfully. Then, though obviously intentional, it being her last will and testament for us, to live and love life to the fullest.

Carole King – Tapestry - well sequenced. if there's a story, it's about her journey from songwriter to singer-songwriter, from 50s to the 70s, and from marriage to single life. And to no fault of it's own, it's often a story of waiting in a waiting room, possibly for dental work.

Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color - tightly sequenced, not a dud in sight, wonderful tracks, but I dunno if there's any story, except maybe I AM BRITTANY, a strong black woman.

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You - knows to put the hit at the beginning and the poignant one at the end. Otherwise seems to be a random selection of tracks that showcase how wonderful Aretha was with at least 4 classics. If there's any story, it's I AM ARETHA, a strong black woman.

[poorpete]

From the beginning, with the great opening track "Move Over" that is loud and screamy and full of pathos and rhythm and blues, to the last song, "Get it While You Can", this album does not let up!

A lot has to do with the perfect rockin' funky blues band that's happy to play aggressively and soulfully, matching the fire and soul of Janis. The band, Full Tilt Boogie, is tight, and all instruments get their due, but the organ really rules over much of this. They even get a sweet instrumental track.

But really, most has to do with Janis. For a woman who struggled with depression and addiction and died from the later, there's a whole lot of love-of-life and optimism in this album. Feeling good is easy when she sings the blues. Also fuck heroin.

[Phoebe]

What's the procedure for the last ones on the list?
Are you going through each one singly, or just the ones that lose the round?
It's an amazing list, this last set.
I'm not sure what I would do with this.

[poorpete]

I don't know what I'm doing!



Of all these songs, though, even though they work well, and all are very good to great, only two or so I'd rate as some of my favorite songs. The sum here is bigger than its parts. This is unlike what "I Never Loved A Man…" has, which is a competent but unexciting tracklisting marked by four or five stone cold classics. This is always the difficulty between a best album and a best collection of songs. "Hounds of Love" plays like a complete artistic work (an album, if you will), "I Never Loved a Man" plays as a greatest hits album. Both are impressive, but "Hounds" needed one or two more home-runs to defeat Aretha.

That is all to say that "Hounds" is a great album, sequenced greatly, with a story to tell (well at least on Side 2). Moody, fun, depressing, weird, goth and new-wave and 80s and modern. The production work, solely by Kate Bush, is a triumph. It's amazing. She should have been an in-demand producer. Wikipedia only lists one song of another artist she ever produced, and she denied a request from Erasure to produce an album. Maybe she just was a producer so she had complete control over her art, or a lack of confidence working with other artists, but if it's due to sexism, it's a huge missed opportunity. But she's still kicking and out there, so maybe there's still a chance.

[poorpete]

Final 12 ranked by girl-power and influence
Again all these do fantastic overall. Just trying to rank em for fun.

Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love
Produced, written and performed by herself. Stories beyond I-need-a-man stories. Her guest performers are mostly men, so I guess that's a negative, but overall a big feminist win here.

Beyoncé – Lemonade
Beyonce coproduces the entire album, tells a personal story with strength and anger and a level of forgiveness rare to hear in song-form. Feminism plays a huge part in the album, even if she returns to her two-timing husband.

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You
Ushered in a golden age of R&B. Proved an inspiration to 1000s of women singers, belters, screamers, melismas-ers, and the like. Loses points for her all-male backing band. Brought feminism clearly into the rock n roll mainstream.

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Inspiration to modern female rappers/soul singers. Strong female lead. A negative I guess would be that a lot of the songs seem to have a yearning for male companionship. But that's a small negative. Oh, first rap album to win the Best Album grammy!

Aretha Franklin – Young, Gifted and Black
Right there in the title. Proud religious young gifted black woman. Loses points for her all-male backing band.

Carole King – Tapestry
Inspired pretty much all 70s and 80s female singer-songwriters. She literally steps out of the shadows to create one of the biggest albums of all time.

Björk – Post
Co-producer of the album, as well as singer and songwriter. A great statement of individuality but takes the lead as the dominant creative musician of her era.

Joni Mitchell – Blue
Very few ladies in her backing band, but most of the songs are just her and the dulcimer or piano. Exudes powah.

Joanna Newsom – Ys
Singer-songwriter-harpist who definitely had final say in the album, but loses a little bit because some of the credit for the album should go to Van Dyke Park's quirky and moving orchestrations that appear and disappear throughout the album.

Iris DeMent – My Life
Autobiographical songs, does just fine, femnist-wise.

Janis Joplin – Pearl
Shhh, did you know that the album was originally credited to Janis and her (male) band, and only in rereleases has it been considered a solo effort? So, she gets deducted a little bit for that.

Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Mixed race and mixed gender band, but only thanks to Brittany Howard. So, it gets lots of props for its diversity, but we talking women here, so at-the-very-least we can't reward a band that's only 20% woman, even if that 20% exudes 80% of its importance.

[poorpete]

Ehhh, I probably shouldn't have mixed influence and feminism, not my best ranking.

I think I was deducting a little for albums that were so obviously two different moods/stories, like Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. But it's sometimes hard to remember that albums, for 50 years, including most (1967-1992) of it's dominant era (1967-1999) was mostly split into two. Sure there were the rare 4 tracks and 8 tracks and two-albums on a 90min tape, but it was mostly two sides of a record, that an artist would be lucky if you flipped the record over after 20ish minutes. It wasn't until the CD that main mode of listening was all-the-way-through-non-stop. And that only lasted a decade until the download/streaming era that made albums mostly unnecessary except for two key things, and those are the best things about albums: a great collection of songs and/or a great story.


Move over the one remark I made about MIA's Kala, this joins the hall-of-fame first three tracks of an album, it's insane. After 15ish listens, the other tracks start shining just as well as the classics, which I guess this is often in the running for best album ever (I'd give it this, a top 100 album list without this isn't a list worth considering). It's #10 on the NPR list and #2 on the reader's list, and I'm probably going to split the difference all said and done. I once considered this to twee to really get into my soul, but I can now appreciate both its tweeness and it's soulfulness.

I was thinking about making a list of the last 12 albums by songs, and it would be near the top--- ehh why not i do that now

TOP SONGS, aka greatness in any order aka listening to the album on random could equal listening in order:

1. Joni Mitchell – Blue
2. Carole King – Tapestry
3. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You
4. Beyoncé – Lemonade
5. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
6. Aretha Franklin – Young, Gifted and Black
7. Janis Joplin – Pearl
8. Iris DeMent – My Life
9. Björk – Post
10. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
11. Joanna Newsom – Ys
12. Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love

[poorpete]

Two albums have strucked me as made for my mid-30s self, Bonnie Raitt's "Nick of Time" and Iris Dement's "My Life". Both have to deal with what it's like to be older, to lose family, to reflect on the past and try to sort out (or ignore) the present and to ponder what the future might look like. Ok, maybe I've always been this way. My Life is both honest and hopeful. It doesn't ignore the elephants in the room. As I stated earlier it's "an incredible assessment of middle-age, figuring out how to navigate this valley in the shadow of death, while also feeling way too busy to process it all. Dedicated to her late-father, it reminisces to childhood memories, sings a waltz to her parents, reacts to his death, and to all death, in fear and distraction and joy. It's moving." Not much more to add then that. I'm glad it made the list and hope it only increases in stature, as it should.

[poorpete]

There are times throughout this where I go either "get away from him, he's awful!" or "Aretha, you are being a little bit overdramatic here", but I think that's the part of the point here.

RESPECT
No drama, just respect. 10/10

DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS
"I guess I'll drown" -- this is the first where she really overdramatic. 9/10

I NEVER LOVED A MAN
Friends tell her he ain't no good, and she knows it, but he's a good lover so he stays. 10/10

SOUL SERENADE
Dramatic here, against people who say they love her, and for the person she loves. But he didn't promise you devotion like they did, Aretha! 9/10

DON'T LET ME LOSE THIS DREAM
"I don't know what I'm gonna do" "I might as well hang it up" oh boy! 8/10

BABY, BABY, BABY
"I'd rather hurt myself" woah, Aretha. Going full 11 on the drama. Aside: she hits some Whitney notes at the end that is my favorite part of a song I otherwise usually skip 8/10

DR FEELGOOD
Again shunning family and friends to be with her lover. Aside: took me 8 listens to really start appreciating this one 10/10

GOOD TIMES
"I might not feel this good again" woah, harsh, you're still in your 20s. 8/10

DO RIGHT WOMAN - DO RIGHT MAN
No drama, just feminism. 10/10

SAVE ME
"Love leaves us cold and hurt" Finally seeking rescue from the do-bad man she's with. Makes up for stealing a Van Morrison lick 9.5/10

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME
"Too hard live but I'm afraid to die" back to 11 on the drama scale. Aside: This took me 13 listens to appreciate fully, the intro alone in re-s-p-e-c-t to her old friend Sam. 9.5/10

101/110: 91% Flow 9, influence 10. Pretty much a 9.5/10 album here.

[poorpete]

INTRO
Brings us into this original album, getting us ready for the skits (finally, some skit prep!) which are pretty great skits considering. Pretty darn smart that this album is about learning but also how Lauren is absent, doomed to make the mistakes they're learning to avoid. But I'd skip this immediately if it comes up on random. Great opening, useless track. 7/10

LOST ONES
A great true-opening track with fabulous lyrics, with that old school repeat the last-word in a rap thing that I never get tired of. 10/10

EX-FACTOR
Reciprocity The Song! This song grows in stature with each listen. 10/10

TO ZION
This one too, esp once I realized this is about a child. 9/10

DOO WOP (THAT THING)
All time classic. Maybe best song by a solo vocalist that merges R&B singing with Hip Hop rapping. 10/10

SUPERSTAR
You know you are, but not as good as his Fugee-mates' Ghetto Supastar, which she seems to homage and semi-hate-on too. James Poyser rocks the harpsichord on this so good. 8/10

FINAL HOUR
Just fine, good instrumentation good lyrics. 8/10

WHEN IT HURTS SO BAD
Might be my least fav one just for the chorus tho the harp is fun. 8/10

I USED TO LOVE HIM
Love the beat in this, 9/10

FORGIVE THEM FATHER
Backstabbers, ammiright? 8/10

EVERY GHETTO, EVERY CITY
Awesome, might her best merging of lyrics and music here. Love that clav! 10/10

NOTHING EVEN MATTERS
Damn D'angelo 9/10

EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING
She put all the EVE songs together. This is the reason I bought the album in the first place. I've always loved this song and still do. 10/10

THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL
Great end of the albu--- wait there's two mores songs? This is a long album! 8/10

CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
Great end of the albu--- wait another song? Great cover-- at best gets right at the soul of the original, at worst sets the template for the pentatonix sound 8/10

TELL HIM
Great end of the albu--- m! 9/10


Songs average: 8.8. Flow 10, importance 10, girl power 9.

[poorpete]

[poorpete]

Lemonade improves and improves and I now have little doubt it's one of the greatest albums of all time. The only things wrong, other than the little things wrong with every album, is a disappointment and the unknowables.

The disappointment is only that I can't play this to my kids or family easily. It's a headphone album. The unknowables: Who knows what the future bodes, whether these fresh and seemingly-timeless songs become embarrassing. Also, the mostly-autobiographical story might be altered as her life continues, and fairy-tale or not. Something could happen that undercuts the whole story and message of this album.

PRAY YOU CATCH ME
Wonderfully weird opening. Not quite a whole song, but gives a mysterious tinge to what we're going to get in this album. "I can't stand the dishonesty it's all over your breathe" -- induct Beyonce into the songwriting HOF already. 9/10

HOLD UP
"I'd rather be crazy" takes down the king and really sets the tone of this album, remixing "Maps" and "Can't Get Used to Loving You" into something wholy new, but also being honest about everything. Not just coyly honest, but my goodness, she walked right up to the edge of "this is about Jay-Z " but not saying his name is almost a bigger diss at that point 10/10

DON'T HURT YOURSELF
As a White Stripes fan, this has long been my favorite track here. "Love God herself" is a wonderful diss to his Jehovah-complex, a reversal (she's the true lord), and of course you'd never do this if God was a woman. Also, in the video she makes clear that neither she nor anyone but God is God, so she pretty much burns to a crisp Hova forever. 10/10

SORRY
Deservedly stands the test of time (two years is still time!) and will probably be the song everyone will be playing decades from now. Did someone do you wrong, we got a song for you. Sorry not sorry the song. Becky and her hair get the most attention (honest and mysterious, gossipy and unknowable), deservedly, but love the "Big homie gotta grow up" that starts the coda. Boy, bye! 10/10

6 INCH
Damn. She's just really good at codas here. A final line, about f'kin becky that is bigger than everything that precedes, can't think of a similar overwhelming ending. 9/10

DADDY LESSONS
New Orleans Jazz and country and hip hop and rock. She probably could have said "Texas" once or twice less in the beginning. Seemingly less about Jay at this point, but it's there, in particular the great great great line "if men like me come around, shoot". The men in her life seem to be heroes and villains all at once. 9/10

LOVE DROUGHT
Nice electronic whistling, reminds me of Good the Bad and Ugly, but mostly the song moves back to the dance/electronic sound. Also "will you still feel me on my worst day" sounds also like "will you still feel me oh Morris Day."
8/10

SANDCASTLES
Has gotten only more potent in repeat listens. Love the rhyming of "counter" with "encounter". 9/10

FORWARD
I long considered the weakest track, I mean Beyonce only sings briefly and in harmony. 8/10

FREEDOM
A buzzing masterpiece. The end of her progression into her new being. Her story ends here, now we're in the present. 10/10

ALL NIGHT
The conclusion to the cheating story line, as this is making-up making-out anthem that makes the point that they've made it out the other side, and things might not be perfect (she says-- wonderful bass line, wonderful little groove. 9/10

FORMATION
She has defeated the poison in her relationship and in herself and she's more powerful then ever with her focus now on beyonslaying the racist patriarchy. 9/10

Songs average 9.0, Flow 10, Girl power 10, importance 7 and rising.

[poorpete]

I'm debating how I'll approach the final album on the list (as expected, Joni Mitchell's Blue). I've got a lot to say about it, but debating just letting it go because I'm excited to be done with the elimination-part of my 2018 project.

So since NPR's Turning Tables have been such a nice companion, I thought I'd treat every album with respect and relisten to the two albums I decided to only listen to once and never again.

The first, and the only one I actually hated:
Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band
You know, side 1, though overall uneventful, is sometimes interesting, and certainly not terrible.
The beginning of side 2, AOS, can go fuck itself. I believe it's purposely made to annoy the hell out of the listener, and so uhhh, great job? Ok, it has some neat orchestral moves, but seriously, go fuck yourself, AOS. You don't respect me, I don't respect you!

Looking back, I said "Yoko, who seems inspired to irritate the listener", I think that's only right about "AOS", the other ones she's just vocalizing and experimenting, no harm. Look, even "AOS" is trying to experiment, but that experiment sucks.

Also, also I didn't give a track recommendation for the two albums. Here's the one for Yoko: the only one I kinda like, "Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City" <- good title too

[Phoebe]

There is still nothing to compare to Titus andronicus on Kimmy Schmidt recreating hold up.

[poorpete]

I need to watch that episode again after immersing myself in the album, visual and otherwise



All I Want - 10/10
Starts with the key instrument to this album, an Appalachian Dulcimer: sweet, open tuned, droning and rhythmic. Rarely if ever featured in popular music before now, and rarely ever again (even by Joni). All I Want exudes the wonderful joy and wonderful sorrow that touches nearly every song on this album. "And we both get so blue…" her and him and us too. So many perfect lines in this song, but I think my favorite is "I wanna to talk to ya, I wanna shampoo ya." Honest and humorous, far away and so close. It may not be the perfect first song, usually those get you up and moving, but a near-perfect opening for this near-perfect album.

[poorpete]

Revisiting Diamanda Galas' Litanies of Satan, which I ranked #149, listened three times, it's not as scary as it was the first time. Sure, she might be discussing terrible subjects and (whether honest or not) glorifying the dark lord, and shrieking in pain and misery, but I've been finally able to hear the musicality of it. It's not just wails and murmers but it's not quite a full song either. It's definitely challenging and definitely something I wouldn't listen with others, unless I'm at a concert, or as a laugh (to see how quickly they would tell me to turn it off). Anywho, heard snippits of her other work, which surprised me (shouldn't) at it's less-challenging and more-beautiful nature. So... good job Diamanda!

Also revisited #148, which needed only one relisten to get the necessary three listens to give appropriate respect to an album.... Britney Spears' "........Baby One More Time". And... it's fine. It's got the too-good opening track, a bunch of other harmless songs, and some other ones that didn't annoy me. I'm trying my best not to rerank my original reranks, but I'd probably put DIamanda above Britney at this point. But this list will always change, and by next month, next year, next decade, I'd rank them differently.

[poorpete]

[poorpete]

Final results of the reranking
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... ingle=true

Working on a solid playlist of some of my favs, it started with 95 and I narrowed it to 42. Hope to get it down to 20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbbUeLk ... ujYphRNaig

Thanks Phoebe, and anyone else who listened/read!