Naming a top 5 is a difficult thing. I have a top 3 lined up, but only due to their tremendous staying power.
1. Frank Zappa - We're Only in it for the Money
My favorite album of all time. When I first listened to it, I listened to it over 100 times in a month. It's very experimental in design, but doesn't forget the value of composition and momentum. The songs flow into each other in ways that build on the previous and so few of the songs are alike. When they are, that's the result of Zappa carrying themes around, both musically and lyrically. In bringing that together, it makes a unique cohesive product of an entirely disjointed sound. It's like listening to a radio break down. Instead of fearing that quality, the album revels in it. The lyrics are also pretty top notch, too, connecting vaguely through the theme of society in the 60s and how pop culture likes to trample its roots. Picking out a favorite moment is hard, since the album feels like one big moment, but I think "What's The Ugliest Part of Your Body" characterizes the experience. It's short, hilarious, bizarre and feels like something is wrong.
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2. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
This is a close second for me. Growing up with Frank Zappa, I realized quickly how tired, clichéd and stupid the ground got for love songs… Until this album. This was my first exposure to the Mountain Goats and still stands out as my favorite from them. Thematically, it centers around a married couple with a rocky relationship. They love one another one minute and are at each others throats the next. John makes you believe it. With his brilliant lyricism, he paints a love story, simple, real and brutal, deeper and better-written than any aisle of romantic dreck found at your local book store. This is music, though, and I must comment on that as well. This was John's first hi-fi effort and he showed us the value in his shift in style. By expanding his sound and production, he was able to write moments so much quieter and closer than he did before as well as make the hard-hitters hit harder. As ever, though, he writes melodies that are able to express the emotions carried by his lyrics. "No Children" is the real standout here by any measure, which is absolutely crushing and gleeful at the same time.
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3. The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
This album is so free. That's the best way to put it. It embodies the freedom that punk has always spiritually desired, but easily loses sight of. They are what they are when they want to be. Songs take influence from all over; jazz, polka, Spanish guitar, funk, Steely Dan, whatever they want. Lyrically, they can be political, societal, historical, dumb, poetic or some combination of those qualities. I love this album so much because I appreciate its soul in all of its idiosyncrasy. They don't get wrapped up in defining themselves and instead just be themselves. And it all works fantastically, because no matter what they're playing, they're the Minutemen and no one else. My favorite tune on the album has to be "It's Expected, I'm Gone." It's both laid back and has attitude, and it's attitude is against attitude.
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I'll come up with another two to post later. Not out of obligation, but prog and metal, my favorite genres, are not really represented here. I'm going to pick one album from each and edit this.