The Top 5 Albums of All Time: In my honest brutal opinion, these are the best 5 albums to ever exist.. ever. Tool, The Mars Volta, and More! Amazingly, the best albums were all released in a 37 year timeframe.
The Top 5 Albums of All Time (in my opinion)
5. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (1975)
Since Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, Tool, Carina Round, and Early Winters are all restricted by my “one album per artist” rule, there must be a Pink Floyd piece on the Top 5 Albums of All Time list. Note some People Under the Stairs, Maynard, and Mars Volta works would’ve beat Pink out here, but this is Floyd's best stuff. The impact this CD had on my life is hard to put in words. It swallowed me whole. While “Animals” and “Dark Side of the Moon” were considered, "Wish You Were Here" takes the cake with “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (both parts) – hot damn.
Featured Track: “Welcome to the Machine” – track 2.
4. The Idler Wheel is Wiser… by Fiona Apple (2012)
Full title: ‘The Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do.” I think every single one of Fiona’s songs have some element of musical genius, but this is the only one of her albums where she ties all of the great songs along together perfectly and each one packs a heavy punch. The vocals are haunting and the words themselves are a leviathan.
Featured Track: “Regret” – track 8.
3. OST by People Under the Stairs (2002)
No, not the original soundtrack for the movie “People Under the Stairs,” which I still have yet to see. This is the 2002 hip-hop album. The way Thes One and Double K weave together the rap culture of the early 1990s, the lyrical artistry of hip-hop’s greatest, and the altogether “chill” vibe… it’s the most underappreciated collection 20 hip-hop songs by a DJ and a rapper. Their live shows were unbelievable – RIP Double K.
Featured Track: “The Outrage” – track 8.
2. Ænima by Tool (1996)
All I can say about this one is that it is a gateway to another spiritual world. Aenima is a combination of “Anima” (Carl Jung’s term for the feminine half of the soul) and “Enema.” Basically, cleansing the soul through one’s anus. And that is what these 15 tracks did for me. If not for the one album per artist rule I imposed on myself, this list would’ve been 2 Tool albums (Fear Incoculum included) and Carina Round’s “I Want to Break Your Heart” along with Frances the Mute.
Featured Track: ‘Pushit’ – track 11.
(This is one of the greatest musical achievements of the 1990s and Rock in general… possibly humanity as a whole.)
1. Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta (2005)
Everything on this album is a masterstroke from the twisted lyrics to the thundering drums to the mesmerizing guitar work. If I wasn’t restricting this list to one album per artist, Mars Volta’s first full length record, “De-Loused in the Comatorium,” would definitely be in the top 10, possibly top 6. ‘Cicatriz ESP’ is fantastic.
Featured track: "Cassandra Gemini" (Faminepulse i) – track 6 on the CD. It is technically part of the whole song “Cassandra Gemini” (32 minutes, 32 seconds) – the 2nd best song ever, in my opinion.
list written by BW Derge, 2024
