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Bobbery's Bombastic 2015 (Favorite Albums: 5-1 NOW)
Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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Album Highlights: Parachute, I’d Rather Go Blind, Tennessee Whiskey, and Sometimes I Cry
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Favorite Lyric: “Jenny slipped something in his Tennessee whiskey no law man was ever gonna find, and how he died is still a mystery, but he hit a woman for the very last time.”
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This update brought to you by Tennessee Whiskey and American Idol  Maybe there's just something in the water when it comes to these things.
Every album that I have listened to this update was good to excellent, and that includes every album except for Ashley's which I just didn't find the time for even though I loved Like A Rose.
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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Never been a big fan of Adam Lamber but I loved Ghost Town and Another Lonely Night so I might check out that album!
Honeymoon is alright 
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Originally posted by jose168
Carly <3 she should be higher tho  |
Yeah, I'm starting to think I should have bumped it up two or three spots, but oh well too late now.
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Originally posted by Bloomers
This update brought to you by Tennessee Whiskey and American Idol Maybe there's just something in the water when it comes to these things.
Every album that I have listened to this update was good to excellent, and that includes every album except for Ashley's which I just didn't find the time for even though I loved Like A Rose.
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I'm loving your commentary tbh  . And yes you do need to get around to listening to Ashley's it's so good.
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Originally posted by AshleeSimpsonFan
Never been a big fan of Adam Lamber but I loved Ghost Town and Another Lonely Night so I might check out that album!
Honeymoon is alright |
Yeah, Adam's album was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Number 25!
Paradise by The Woods Brothers
Favorite Lyric: “I wanna make peace but I don't have the skills, when I feel pain I reach for the pills
I wish I had a body of steel but I'm over the hill.”
Album Highlights: Without Desire, American Heartache, and Never and Always.
This album is such a throwback. Like it’s very very old-school and unlike a few other old school leaning albums on here there’s not really any sort a contemporary feel to this album at all. While I would usually consider that a bit of a detriment to an album, it really works with this album and just this group in general. Probably because this album manages to be enticing the whole way through.
As was already said the music here is very old school. It very folk and country, however there are also some blues and southern rock influences here too. It’s a very nice mixture of American root genres. They also spice up this mixture with great rhythms and energetic moments. It’s an album that has bite to it. One thing that really this this album in that regard are the voices of the two brothers. They possess a grittiness and edge that really makes them compelling especially when they harmonize.
Lyrically this is probably one of the strongest albums on the list. They are so fleshed out and are so good a painting a picture of what’s going on in the songs. Most songs off this album are depressive in nature. For example American Heartache is about longing for things that seem out of reach. Heartbreak Lullaby paints a picture of a very unhealthy relationship and so on. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Touch of Your Hand is a very nice love song. This is just a very great album for those who love folksy music.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Number 24!
Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd
Favorite Lyric: “In my dark times I've still got some problems I know, Driving too fast but just moving too slow, And I've got something I've been trying to let go, Pulling me back every time”.
Album Highlights: In The Night, Shameless, and As You Are
There is no denying that this has been a huge year for The Weeknd. With this album he has broken through to the mainstream. I have to say it’s a pretty good album to breakthrough with. It’s undeniably more pop than his other efforts however it still have that vibe that makes Abel well Abel.
Musically this record is very much a blend of dark R&B with pop, with some songs being more balanced towards one genre than the other. (Ex: In The Night is unabashedly pop while songs like Tell Your Friends are more on the R&B side.) Because of this mix of genres there are a lot of interesting melodies and musical moments on this album. It manages to combine some of the best aspects of both genres into one nice neat package.
Lyrically this album’s fairly good. Though I will admit some of the subject matter sometimes can be a bit problematic I guess. However, that has always been The Weeknds thing, so why would that change now. I don’t really mind it that much from him for some reason. I guess it’s because he paints himself in a negative light too and acknowledges his messiness and doesn’t seem to glorify himself (well all that much anyway). I think it’s that sense of self-awareness that really makes him stand out for me. It adds a layer to this character he’s crafted for himself that’s make it a lot more interesting. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorites this decade so I’m eagerly await for more from him.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Number 23!
Beneath the Skin by Of Monsters and Men
Favorite Lyric: “I am sorry for the trouble, I suppose, My blood runs red but my body feels so cold
I guess I could swim for days in the salty sea, But in the end the waves will discolor me.”
Album Highlights: Thousand Eyes, Wolves Without Teeth, and Hunger
Here we have the follow up album to their breakout debut My Head Is An Animal, which is one of my favorite albums of the decade. I was apprehensive about this at first because there has been a thing with me and bands this decade, I wind up loving their debuts only for them to disappoint me with the sophomore album. I’m glad to say that this wasn’t the case here. While I do think this album is not as good as their first I do think that this is a very good follow up.
With this album they kept their trademark folk/pop sound but this time they came back a mellower version of it. Unlike their first album which had a few up-tempo songs this album is pretty much devoid of that. It’s all ballads and mid-tempo songs. Which in and of itself is not a bad thing but I do think that causes this album to blend together a bit because there’s very little variance in the tempo of this album. That is probably this album’s major weakness with me, it’s all a bit too similar. However, that doesn’t mean this album does not have it’s standout moments that are on par with their previous album.
However, I do think that one thing this album does have over its predecessor is it’s lyrics. This album is a step above My Head in that regard. I’m guessing that they wanted a more slowly paced album to let the lyrics sink in more. This album does have a lot of great lyrical moments and I do like that they didn’t rely on “la, la, la’s” and other such filler words and syllables like they did on their debut.
Just like with the first album I love the way Nanna and Ragnar’s voices sound and the way they can come together. Both of their voices are just so beautiful and really bring to life the emotional lyrics of the album. This is a more somber outing than their debut to be sure but it’s still a very good album.
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Member Since: 7/10/2008
Posts: 13,417
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Beauty Behind the Madness  is awesome! Hope to it Win a lot of Grammys 
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Number 22!
Delirium by Ellie Gounding
Favorite Lyrics: “Cause this is devotion, I am lost, you're the only one I see. Our bodies in motion, I am caught, floating in your gravity.”
Album Highlights: Lost And Found, Devotion, and Don't Panic.
With Delirium Ellie has brought to us her transition to more mainstream pop. At first I was a bit skeptical about her doing this as I feared that she would lose that special Ellie spark and become another faceless generic act. A repeat of Halcyon Days was basically what I was fearing as that was Ellie without the special Ellie spark (in most songs, but not all). I have to say that my fears have been averted as, while this is more mainstream oriented than her last two albums, it still has those special quirks that make Ellie’s music Ellie’s.
However, I have to say that out of all of her albums, Delirium is by far the weakest (I count Days as separate from the rest of Halcyon). It’s not a bad album at all, if it was it wouldn’t be making this list or be this high up on it. But it does have some problems that drag it down for me. One of which is the length of the track list. While most of the Ellie base seems to be into longer track lists, they tend to make me skeptical as a longer track list tends to leave room for not so great material to make it onto the album. That is the case here as about a fourth of the songs are mediocre with two of those actually being bad (which in my opinion is a rarity in Ellie’s discography). Also, the length of the album makes it kind of a chore to listen to for more casual play sessions.
Though this album does have more lows than Ellie’s other albums, this album does have a lot of great songs on it. At it's core it has many great pop songs on it some of which rank among my favorites of her discography. This album also does have a lot of variety in terms of sound on it so that while being fairly cohesive, has just enough various influences to keep the album from sounding too monogamous (which considering the amount of songs there are that is a good thing).
Lyrically, this album may actually be her strongest. It does have some great lyrics, even in the songs that are nowhere near being my favorites, like Codes (puts on flameshield). In fact for the songs that I don’t like, it’s typically production choices and melodies that drag them down.
In all, this is a good pop album packed with athematic choruses and sweeping melodies packed with Ellie’s trademark lyricism and vocals that just unfortunately has to be weighed down by some mediocre material.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Number 21!
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful by Florence and The Machine
Favorite Lyric: “It's been so long between the words we spoke, Will you be there up on the shore, I hope
You wonder why it is that I came home, I figured out where I belong.”
Album highlights: Queen of Peace, What Kind Of Man, and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Finally Florence and her band came back to us with their third album. With this one they strip back the bombast that they showed with 2011’s Ceremonials (it’s still there but not to the extent it was on that album) and goes in a more classic rock and pop direction. They also ditch the more colorful fantasy imagery for a more straightforward one. As Florence herself said this album is much more about living in the real world instead of constantly trying to escape it, and that shows with this album. More so than ever her words get straight to the point of the matter and Florence sounds all the more emotional for it.
This album as quite a few great melodies that get stuck in my head. They just sound very classic especially the more classic old school pop/rock leaning ones like Ship To Wreck. This album also has a lot of songs that just like to build up on themselves, such as the title track, I love the ending where all the horns come in. That’s another thing I really love about this album the use of horns they employ. Because of all of these elements described above, which combined with Florence’s vocals, make this album sounds very cinematic at times. This is of course balanced out by more intimate sounding tracks such as St. Jude and Long & Lost which keep the pace and flow of the album interesting, though I will admit it does kind of lag just a little bit in the middle.
Above all Florence really delivers with the vocals on this album. In fact I’d say this is her second strongest album vocally behind Ceremonials. This record is filled with great moments vocally. In all I’d say this is this band’s second strongest outing behind their debut Lungs.
Well that's it for this week, the top twenty begins on Sunday.
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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I've never heard of The Woods Brothers 
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As was already said the music here is very old school. It very folk and country, however there are also some blues and southern rock influences here too. It’s a very nice mixture of American root genres.
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I will definitely have to check out the Woods though. I'm pretty sold by the description.
is a highlight. It's a fully realized pop song that's a lot of fun
I'm honestly just getting into Ellie, but Devotion is my favorite off Delirium. 
Great lyrical highlight for the Weeknd, Dark Times is one of my favorites on there and I also agree that In The Night
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Member Since: 3/26/2012
Posts: 37,592
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Relapse 
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Member Since: 3/26/2012
Posts: 37,592
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Storyteller should be higher
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 61,634
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Don't Panic is one of my favorites
BBTM has some bops 
Florence Queen Of Peace
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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Delirium is a good album! and I like Florence's album too! not her best, but I like it.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,512
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Originally posted by Bloomers
I've never heard of The Woods Brothers
I will definitely have to check out the Woods though. I'm pretty sold by the description.
is a highlight. It's a fully realized pop song that's a lot of fun
I'm honestly just getting into Ellie, but Devotion is my favorite off Delirium.
Great lyrical highlight for the Weeknd, Dark Times is one of my favorites on there and I also agree that In The Night |
Yeah, I came across The Woods Brothers by complete accident. I think I was lurking in the country discussion thread one day and they were talking about Carrie's album reviews or something and one person was mad about some comments about Carrie, it was something along those lines. Either way I found myself looking through the comment section for that review to see what people were saying and saw someone lamenting country/pop's popularity and they mentioned this act so I checked them out to see if they were as good as they claimed, they were.
Also, cool for giving Ellie a try, she really is great.
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Originally posted by Tylerbv
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Originally posted by Tylerbv
Storyteller should be higher |
Yes, stan for Carrie  .
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Originally posted by K$Ellie
Don't Panic is one of my favorites
BBTM has some bops
Florence Queen Of Peace |
Queen of Peace and Don't Panic are awesome!
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Originally posted by AshleeSimpsonFan
Delirium is a good album! and I like Florence's album too! not her best, but I like it.
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Thanks for commenting.
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Member Since: 10/5/2009
Posts: 137,162
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35. Know-It-All
33. EMOTION 
31. Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz (half of it)
29. Honeymoon
26. The Original High
24. Beauty Behind the Madness (half of it)
22. Delirium
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Nice albums list so far!!!
Plenty of great songs here 
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 37,294
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HBHBHB is superb! Delirium is also good, but a bit too generic
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Member Since: 2/20/2012
Posts: 24,225
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Don't Panic is one of my faves on Delirium!
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One of which is the length of the track list. While most of the Ellie base seems to be into longer track lists, they tend to make me skeptical as a longer track list tends to leave room for not so great material to make it onto the album.
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Agree completely. If four songs were cut, the album would definitely be excellent. Right now, it's just "great" for me. It's a shame, really.
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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Originally posted by Admiral Bobbery
Yeah, I came across The Woods Brothers by complete accident. I think I was lurking in the country discussion thread one day and they were talking about Carrie's album reviews or something and one person was mad about some comments about Carrie, it was something along those lines. Either way I found myself looking through the comment section for that review to see what people were saying and saw someone lamenting country/pop's popularity and they mentioned this act so I checked them out to see if they were as good as they claimed, they were.
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I need to be more involved in that thread  I've been missing out.
Cool find though.
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Member Since: 7/10/2008
Posts: 13,417
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Ellie and Florence Albumes
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