Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Album-by-Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Jmac1979, Sep 19, 2021.

  1. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    As KJTC just started a thread counting down the most recent Rolling Stone 500 songs list, I figured to join him and have a sister thread that counts down last years' similarly controversial updated 500 albums list. I plan to post one a day (hopefully usually in the morning before work) .

    Like his rules, all opinions are welcome, but keep it to the album and not your opinions on the makings of the list as there's been plenty of discussion of that.

    I'll try to post one or two tracks from the album in question as well as (legal) links to hear the album
     
  2. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    #500. Arcade Fire "Funeral" (2004)
    Producer: Arcade Fire
    Funeral

    "Funeral is the debut studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on September 14, 2004 by Merge Records. Preliminary recordings for Funeral were made during the course of a week in August 2003 at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, and the recording was completed later that year all in an analogue recording format.

    The album produced five singles, with "Rebellion (Lies)" being the most successful, having peaked at #19 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Alternative Music Album. It received widespread critical acclaim and topped many year-end and decade-end lists. According to the website Metacritic, the album had the second most appearances on end-of-decade Top 10 lists, only behind Radiohead's Kid A.[4] In the 2020 updated version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it was ranked at number 500."

     
  3. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Personally I prefer Arcade Fire's mid-period albums (The Suburbs which won them a Grammy in 2010 and the more controversial Reflektor from 2013), but I get why this is their most important album.

    "Wake Up" is perhaps the greatest thing they ever recorded
     
  4. danasgoodstuff

    danasgoodstuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Not an album I know at all, so I'll refrain, but thanks for starting this and I will chime in later.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2021
  5. Jamsterdammer

    Jamsterdammer The Great CD in the Sky

    Location:
    Málaga, Spain
    Arcade Fire - Funeral:

    Terrific album! I prefer The Suburbs as well, but as their first full length it's hard to beat and the impact was enormous. 4/5.

    By the way, 2004 is probably my favorite year of music of the 21st century so far. 2003 was also excellent. A lot of exciting new music being released after a bit of a lull in the late 90s and early 00s.
     
  6. Wild Horse

    Wild Horse Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    I give you guys credit ... 500 ... that's commitment. A song or album a day, that's about a year and a half.

    Arcade Fire was interesting for a while, and then they weren't anymore. That lyric about their parents and "hey, remember them?" was pretty funny, though.
     
  7. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    God, they got so boring after this (Neon Bible is among the most overwrought second albums ever made and its one good song was done better on their debut indie EP) and even here it's obvious that Win Butler has little in the way of modesty. But this does retain the feel of its time and place. 4/5

    Favorite song: "Neighborhood #3: Power Out" -- Hardest-rocking glockenspiel part this side of vintage Phil Spector.
     
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  8. prymel

    prymel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    I bought "Funeral" when it first dropped after hearing several songs on alternative radio. It's a good album, not great, but I liked it plenty at the time. I lost interest with their second album, "Neon Bible", it had none of the spark that drove the debut. Sounds like "The Suburbs" was worth waiting for based on critical response, but Arcade Fire was totally off my radar by that time, and I have no interest in revisiting them.
     
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  9. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    The Suburbs is at least better than Neon Bible and "Sprawl 2: Mountains Beyond Mountains" is probably my favorite song they ever did. But like the suburbs I grew up in, it just goes on forever and it's all exactly the same. I've dipped into the following albums, but they're dull as dishwater.
     
  10. RudolphS

    RudolphS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rio de Janeiro
    Arcade Fire - Funeral

    Excellent debut, with an original sound, by Arcade Fire. One of the defining alt./indie rock albums of the 2000s. Surprised 'Funeral' is only placed at #500 on the RS list.

    4/5
     
  11. EyeSock

    EyeSock Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    This will be a great way to find albums to listen to.

    Good album, but I’ve never gotten why so many people hail it as a masterpiece. It does have a fair amount of touching moments, but every song after track 4 is underwhelming to me. Even Rebellion (Lies).

    7/10
     
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  12. ARK

    ARK Forum Miscreant

    Location:
    Charlton, MA, USA
    Arcade Fire - Funeral

    I’ve heard Funeral through Everything Now. Popular opinion is that Funeral is a masterpiece and they got worse as time continued. I am the complete opposite however. I’m tepid on Funeral and feel they got better and better, peaking at Everything Now.
    3/5
     
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  13. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    I agree. I know the later albums divide people but I thought they got better when they began to experiment their sound more
     
  14. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2021
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  15. Exitmusic

    Exitmusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leicester U.K
    Arcade Fire - Funeral 4/5

    Arcade Fire are one of my all time favourite bands but if I was ranking their albums then Funeral would be behind Neon Bible and Reflektor. The high points are outstanding, Wake Up and Rebellion (Lies) are probably the two best songs of their career but while there's no real bad tracks,there's a few which are just OK like Neighborhood #4 and Hati. Overall it's an excellent debut.
     
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  16. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Arcade Fire - Funeral

    Very good album. I like the band overall, and I like their offshoot stuff a lot, too--Will Butler's solo albums, for example. They're currently a 4th tier, top 1000 artist for me. (Which isn't a knock, lol--that makes them better than a 90th percentile artist for me.)

    They're a good example, though, where being overhyped was a bit detrimental--it took longer than normal for Funeral and the band in general to grow on me, because it was hyped like the best thing since sliced bread, and I tend to have a "chip on my shoulder" reaction in those situations. So it took some time for that to wear off and for me to appreciate its more subtle charms.

    I know people grew tired of the U2 comparisons, but they're such an obvious influence, at least on this album. Not the only prominent influence, of course, but the U2 influence is as big as any.

    Top 500 candidate for me? No, not quite, but I can easily see someone ranking it that highly.
     
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  17. wellhamsrus

    wellhamsrus Surrender to the sound

    Location:
    Canberra
    Their best album, on my list of great albums, so 5/5.
     
  18. pig bodine

    pig bodine God’s Consolation Prize

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY USA
    I'll participate here and the singles threads when there are albums/songs that I like, but I will refrain from commenting on the ones I don't. There's little point in trashing something that most people like.
     
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  19. Like the band a lot and I’d put both The Suburbs and Reflektor in my Top 500 I would think.
    Not Funeral though.
     
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  20. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    #499. Rufus And Chaka Khan "Ask Rufus" (1977)
    Producer: Rufus
    Ask Rufus

    "Ask Rufus is the platinum-selling fifth studio album by funk band Rufus (and their third album featuring singer Chaka Khan), released on the ABC Records label in 1977. The album spent three weeks atop the Billboard R&B Albums Chart in 1977."

     
  21. Jamsterdammer

    Jamsterdammer The Great CD in the Sky

    Location:
    Málaga, Spain
    Rufus And Chaka Khan "Ask Rufus":

    Now this is interesting. Platinum in the US? I don't think this album made any impact in The Netherlands. I checked the charts and indeed, the album didn't chart at all. So this one has passed me by completely.
     
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  22. prymel

    prymel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    Ask Rufus is an excellent slice of 70's R&B. Chaka Khan is one of a kind and can out sing all of today's divas with half a vocal cord tied behind her back.
     
  23. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I hope we're not doing more than one album per day. I'll have to bow out if we do that.
     
  24. pig bodine

    pig bodine God’s Consolation Prize

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY USA
    This album was fairly popular in my jr. high in 1977. I liked it well enough, but it lacked a killer hit like Once You Get Started or Tell Me Something Good. It was a little to quiet storm in parts for me, but it was good enough. 3/5, wouldn't make my top 500.
     
    Jmac1979 likes this.
  25. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    I'm doing one a day, I started late yesterday but for the most part will post subsequent albums in the morning. If I'm out of town or something and can't post, I'll let it known in advance
     
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