The other night I was hanging out with a few friends, and the conversation turned to what we would pick if we had to make a list of top five perfect albums. We ended up having quite the varied list, and it was so fun! Plus it reminded me of so much good music I haven’t taken the time to listen to in a while. So I thought it might be fun to share what I said, and hear what you think, Sister. The pressure is on!
Emma’s Top Five:
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
The Blue Album by Weezer
The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
You guys should try listing your top five in the comments—it’s really hard! If you get too stressed out, just add a few honorable mentions. 😉
Emma’s Wearing: Dress/Oui Fresh (sold out but we have other great stuff avail), Boots/ModCloth, Purse/Rebecca Minkoff (similar here), ‘E’ Charm c/o Fossil, Choker c/o Bauble Bar, Tights/Target (similar) + hat/Target, Jacket/Levi’s, Pins/Big Bud Press and Frank Norton, Eye patches/M&J Trimming.
Take it away, Sister!
OK, this is a fun idea, but it’s also REALLY tough. Jeremy and I are always talking about how Spotify (which we love and use daily) has kind of made us listen to full albums less and less. When we were growing up (in the 90s) and CDs were the thing, I would often buy a CD where I only knew one song, and in those days I feel like I really got to know albums in a deeper way. I miss those days of knowing every word of every song.
Thank God for Vinyl, because this is a great way to still listen to albums start to finish. So I’ll do a few of my most-listened-to vinyl.
Elsie’s Top Five:
Back To Black by Amy Winehouse
Fly By Wire by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake
Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes
Nevermind by Nirvana
Elsie’s Wearing: Top/OuiFresh, Mom Jeans/Swedish Hasbeens, Bag/Madewell (similar here), Sunnies/ZeroUV, Banana Charm/Kate Spade (thanks, Claire!), Louise Clogs/Swedish Hasbeens.
Can’t wait to hear some of your favorite albums as well! xx- Emma + Elsie
Credits//Author: Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson. Photography: Janae Hardy and Amber Ulmer. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
Loving the plaids!!!!! So cute!
I love Elsie’s outfit!
The overknee socks are so amazing and the jeans jacket a really must have for sure.
Great outfit and colours combination.
Love it so much. well done.
Screenshotting so many lists!
In no particular order:
Morning Phase: Beck
Static & Silence: The Sunday’s
Everybody’s Doing it So Why Can’t We? The Cranberries
Good Morning Bad Day: TEAM
This Is Acting: Sia (or any album really)
What a fun comment section! I’m excited, too, to listen to some other top 5 albums 🙂
– David Gray: White Ladder
– Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club
– James Vincent McMorrow: Early In The Morning
– Alabama Shakes: Sound & Color
– Stevie Wonder: The Definitive Collection
I actually think I listen to more full albums because if Spotify! I think boaster/iTunes made it more about just the singles for me.
My top five are:
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Taylor Swift – Red
The Format – Dog Problems
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Viva La Vida- Coldplay
Live at Java Joe’s- Jason Mraz
Carencro- Marc Broussard
So Jealous- Tegan and Sara
Horrorscope- Eve 6
Love this, you girls both have great lists with a good amount of variety.
So tricky! My top 5 albums would probably be something like:
Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
Green Day – Dookie
Broken Bells – After the Disco
CAKE – Prolonging the Magic
Taylor Swift – Speak Now
(OK NEVERMIND top 8 lol too hard!)
Phases – For Life
Weezer – The White Album
Taylor Swift – 1989
Led Zeppelin albums I-IV
Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
U2 Achtung Baby
Beatles Abbey Road
Appetite for Destruction by Guns N’ Roses (I was 14 when it came out) is still so great! 🙂
Top 5:
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Black Kids – Party Traumatic
CSS – CSS
Beck – Guero
The Shins – Wincing the night Away
Honourable mentions:
Death Cab – Transatlanticism
Kings of Leon – Youth and Young Manhood
I would say:
Say Anything – …is a real boy
Brand New – The devil and god are raging inside me
Jenny Lewis and The Watson twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Bright Eyes – I’m wide awake its morning
Cursive – The Ugly Organ
Love Emma’s dress, needs to be in stock haha! Love the top 5 idea too, good way to get to know people 🙂
Top 5 all-time favorites (in no particular order)
1. Hatful of Hollow – The Smiths
2. Picaresque – The Decemberists
3. Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie
4. Under the Blacklight – Rilo Kiley
5. Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
Ahh, love knowing everyone’s favorite albums!
Electric Lady – Janelle Monae
Graceland – Paul Simon
The 20/20 Experience – Justin Timberlake
The Wild Heart – Stevie Nicks
Good Grief – Lucius
This is fun to think about!
Radiohead / A Moon Shaped Pool
Talking Heads / Stop Making Sense
Lauryn Hill / The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Patrick Watson / Love Songs for Robots
Sigur Ros / Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust
I never comment, but am always following. I love reading your blog!
I’ve been in such a music rut lately – I love this and seeing everyone else’s favorites!
My top 5 would probably be…
1. I And Love And You | The Avett Brothers (really any album by them)
2. Sigh No More | Mumford and Sons
3. Barton Hollow | The Civil Wars
4. Rumours | Fleetwood Mac
5. Stories Don’t End | Dawes
Elsie, your bag is so cute! And I agree, I hardly ever listen to full albums now. Back in the 90s/early 2000s I’d listen to alllllll of Britney’s and N’Sync’s songs. ;p Difficult to pick some now, but I love anything that Regina Spektor does.
www.wonderlandsam.com
OMG! Love this! Here is my (mostly european) top five!
One Breath – Anna Calvi
We were here – BOY
If you wait – London Grammar
Trouble will find me – The National
Quantum Leap – Serafyn
Give ’em a listen. They. Are. Good. 🙂
Wow, I’ve not listened to most of everyone else’s picks. I grew up with Beatles and a few other bands, but the ones I listen to now are mostly small, independent(ish) artists.
David Bazan, Strange Negotiations
Lucie Thorne, Black Across the Field
Devon Sproule, Colours
And then oldies like every Beatles album for nostalgia sake
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
If you’ve got time (who does!) i’d highly recommend a look at both Burrows and Cracked Actor, both from Canberra Australia and both brilliant!
More than indulging in super stardom I definitely prefer to listen local and support talented individuals (rather than multinational record companies!) So going to small gigs around town is such a huge deal to the artists and a great way to discover music that generally flies under the radar.
Nice!!! Ours was “I’ll follow you into the dark” 🙂