The Bus

It took a bit over three five hours to catalog and input all the data, but here it is...



Polled from lists by almost forty MusicTalk members, from a list of over 300 artists, here's the best of the best in 2005, as decided by us, the only people who matter!

Click on the image to take you to the Amazon.com page of the album.

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[ #25 ]

The National - Alligator


[ #24 ]

Ivy - In the Clear


[ #23 ]

Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins


[ #22 ]

Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel


[ #21 ]

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

The Bus

[ #20 ]

The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute


[ #19 ]

White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan


[ #18 ]

Spoon - Gimme Fiction


[ #17 ]

Dangerdoom- The Mouse and the Mask


[ #16 ]

Doves - Some Cities


[ #15 ]

Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth


[ #14 ]

Death Cab for Cutie - Plans


[ #13 ]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah


[ #12 ]

System of a Down - Mesmerize


[ #11 ]

British Sea Power - Open Season

The Bus

[ #10 ]

Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution



[ #09 ]

Gorillaz - Demon Days



[ #08 ]

Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs



[ #07 ]

Beck - Guero



[ #06 ]

Decemberists - Picaresque



[ #05 ]

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cold Roses



[ #04 ]

Coldplay - X&Y



[ #03 ]

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning



[ #02 ]

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois



[ #01 ]

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

The Bus

Note to mods. Although these are links to copyrighted material, there are freely available officially through the artist or label.



OK, so what's the point of having this list if you can't check out some of these bands?

Officially Free Direct-Download MP3 and WMA Files (from the artist or label)

• Bloc Party - "Banquet"
  
• Sufjan Stevens - "All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace" (from 'Michigan')
  
• Bright Eyes - "We Are Nowhere and It's Now"
  
• Decemberists - "The Engine Driver"
  
• Andrew Bird - "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left"
  
• British Sea Power - "Oh Larsen B" (WMA)
  
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood"
  
• Death Cab for Cutie - "Title and Registration" (from 'Transatlanticism')
  
• The National - "Slipping Husband" (from 'Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers')
  
• Of Montreal - "Wraith Pinned to the Mist"

Not Quite an Audio File:

• Ivy - "Thinking About You" (Quicktime Video)
• White Stripes - "My Doorbell" (link to Quicktime video)
• System of a Down - "BYOB" (QuickTime Video)
• Nine Inch Nails - "Only" (multitrack files for remixing)
• LCD Soundsystem - Various songs (flash audio player)
• Dangerdoom - "ATHF" (links to this video and others)
• Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On" (flash: link to videos and download

Any bands not listed are lame and don't want us to sample their music.

benedict

Nice job!

atlantamoi

I didn't participate, but it's cool to read. Can't disagree with much of the list. Heading out of the thread to go hear this Andrew Bird guy.

maxfisher

Nicely done, The Bus. I'm surprised that I only own 13 of the top 25, considering I bought around 75 albums this year. I'm also nearly shocked that both My Morning Jacket and Wolf Parade failed to crack the top 25. I thought I recalled quite a few people here liking both of those.

Anyway, I didn't get the chance to update my list in the other thread before it was locked, so even though it obviously won't affect the final rankings, here's how my top 20 ended up...

1. The National - Alligator
2. Doves - Some Cities
3. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
5. Flotation Toy Warning - Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck
6. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
7. The Frames - Burn the Maps
8. My Morning Jacket - Z
9. Embrace - Out of Nothing
10. Kasabian - Kasabian
11. Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
12. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
13. Engineers - Engineers
14. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
15. Editors - The Back Room
16. Ok Go - Oh No
17. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
18. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
19. Why? - Elephant Eyelash
20. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Jason

Wow, there's actually an album on this list that I will eventually buy.

jimdrix

Don't know if this was posted yet, but Target has Sufjan and Danger Doom on sale this week for $ 8.99...Can't go wrong with either purchase for this price.

Tscott

I didn't follow the rank them thread as I tend to like to listen to a CD many times over a period of time before making a final judgment and it can be tough to keep track of all my purchases. Still I would've liked to have added my vote for this, if I had known about it. After giving a little thought, my personal 2005 list would look something like this:

1. Sigur Ros - Takk
2. Sleater Kinney - The Woods
3. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
4. My Morning Jacket - Z
5. Brian Eno - Another Day On Earth
6. Kate Bush - Aeriel
7. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
8. Decemberists - Picaresque
9. They Might Be Giants - Venue Songs
10. Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
11. The Kills - No Wow
12. Sarah Blasko - The Overture & the Underscore
13. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
14. Eliza Carthy - Rough Music
15. Feist - Let it Die
16. Gorillaz - Demon Days
17. Annie - Anniemal
18. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
19. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
20. Dar Williams - My Better Self

Best song of 2005 from an album not released in the US yet:
Nine Million Bicycles - Katie Melua

Best release of older material in 2005:
Bob Dylan - No Direction Home (The Bootleg Series 7)

Worst release of older material in 2005:
Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill (Acoustic)

Most likely CDs from the offical list to be my next purchase:
Ivy - In the Clear
The National Alligator - Alligator

Grimfarrow

Can't believe SILENT ALARM is #1. SO OVERRATED. Sufjan should be #1. At least Andrew Bird is in the top ten.

Jason

System of a Down, maybe. That's it.

Rypro 525

surprised that "Extrodinary machine" isn't on the list as it topped many mainstreme critics lists.

The Bus

I updated both lists but there wasn't really much of a difference. For the sake of my sanity I will keep it like it is unless we get another half dozen people or so adding new information.

Bloc Party did well because it just plain got the most votes. Three people gave it top honors, but most people had it round out the bottom of their Top 10 at best. But just because of the sheer number of good votes it received, it made it to #1. It is not a perfect system, but that is one of its faults. On the other hand, an album that a handful of people really really like gets put on the list very quickly (most everyone that voted for Angel of Retribution gave it top honors).

The worst Best Album? Kaiser Chiefs - Employment. Most people didn't even rank it in the top 10, but a lot of people voted for it.

dadaluholla

Thank god for Bloc Party. Woooo!
Even at #1 it's still underrated.

Flashback

What vote was this please...because, in my opinion, almost half of this is, well I will refrain.

cactusoly

Sweet! Judas Priest was in the Top 10 !

System of A Down Mezmerize was cool too

Rocketdog2000

See, and I would say just the opposite. While I appreciate the 'artistic statement" and work put into the Sufjan album - I just couldn't get into it. I could barely make it through a complete listen without being bored. About halfwalf through, I'd be wondering if the damn thing was ever going to end. But, that's just me. Sufjan, as you may have guessed, didn't even make my list (nor come anywhere close).

Bloc Party, on the other hand, became more addicting with each listen. If there was a 'Top 25 songs of the year' poll, "This Modern Love" would be right near the top of my list. But overall, as much as I liked the album, it only made it to #9 of my Top 20.

Glad to see I at least had about 5 or so albums on my list make it - and VERY happy to see that Ivy made it at all (my #4).

The Bus

It was as voted by us in the "Rank 'Em as You Hear 'Em 2005" thread that has been up since April as a sticky.

wendersfan

Even though I didn't participate, I have few qualms with the tally. That Bloc Party album does get better with every listen.

(It's still not as good as the Spoon album, though... )

Mordred

Well it didn't take many votes to put it there

I'm still pissed Opeth's Ghost Reveries didn't crack the list. Talk about a travesty.

DJLinus

Thanks! I'm off to Target. I only know Sufjan from his Christmas albums, but if Illinois is half as good, I'm going to have to revise my "Best of 2005" list...

joeblow69

I'm not surpised. It just wasn't that good, IMO.

iggystar

I've got you beat. I actually own two albums on the list...Coldplay X&Y and Bloc Party and will be buying Playing the Angel - Depeche Mode.

I'm proud of myself

My personal favorite of this year was Garbage - Bleed Like Me.

The Bus

I have 17...