Collaborators' Top Albums of 2012

Thanks for putting this all together. Great format. Great job. As for the poll itself. The cadillac of fanboyism. Mention Steven Wilson and frost it with some Opeth. Storm Corrosion is a mediocre album at best. Rush must be good. Mars Volta, come on. The inclusion of popular bands with mediocre albums to the  exclusion of less popular bands with great albums is a trademark of the collaborators poll. For any newbie the place to get an idea of an albums worth is the regular top 100 albums of the year. At least there the fanboyism does not try to justify itself

Thanks for the work Andy. 

Edited by richardh - February 04 2013 at 08:31

Well done Andy on this feat of endurance. I think I was pleased overall with the result as it features albums that I rated highly. Still not a fan of Storm Corrosion but that is becasue my expectations were so high. Mars Volta was a decent album but I was hoping Neal More might get in there. Also Shadow Circus deserve more recognition but too obscure I guess. 

Any Colour You Like, I voted for 5R6, who are Kharkiv pals with Drudkh, let's share some kvlt here!

Andy's the man I have to admit this is the first top-3 in years I'm completely agree with - fantastic comebacks and amazing records, expecting my "echolyn" 2LP to arrive soon! A bit disappointed with Magma and Storm Corrosion being on Top-10 (the "i-put-on-a-list-popular-bands-only" syndrome from fellow collabs, eh?) and pi$$ed off with The Mars Volta there, IMO this is their weakest effort. Glad for The Tea Club underdogs, what an excellent album they got! Shame Marillion didn't make it, STCBM is their best since "Marbles" I guess

Edited by Prog-jester - February 03 2013 at 01:11

Andy Webb wrote: ^I'm happy my soundclouding is being put to good use.

Here's my take on the top 10 from the clips -

1 Viljans Oga - Anglagard: My first time sampling the band.  Put that one my to get list.

2 English Electric Part One - Big Big Train: Already got one, verry nice.

3 Echolyn - Echolyn: Sampled this one a few months ago on Progstreaming.  Already interested,

4 Banks of Eden - The Flower Kings: I've got one album already, still can't get into them.

5 The Death Defying Unicorn - Motorpsycho: I was expecting metal.  Pleasantly surprised.

6 Felicite Thosz - Magma: I've sampled Magma before on this site.  Still not interested.

7 Noctourniquet - The Mars Volta: I've sampled TMV on this site and wasn't impresses.  This intrigues me.
8 Quickly Quickly Quickly - The Tea Club: Interesting.  This one is at the bottom of the Progstreaming set, so won't be around much longer.  I'm going to have to try out the whole album.

9 Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion: The first I heard of this was in a recent Steven Wilson interview.  I was already curious.  This is on my must get list now.

10 Clockwork Angels - Rush: I only have the albums with the Cygnuses in my collection and used to have a VHS of the Grace Under Pressure tour live.  Of course I am familiar with more of their stuff it's just never been a high priority to add more albums for me.  However I may have to get this one.
 

I'm working my way through the soundcloud clips right now.  Lots of good stuff.

Thanks Andy.  The list is always a great opportunity to make new discoveries.  Plus it's a pretty good quick reference for all the new releases.  I spotted several album by artists that I knew but didn't know they had new stuff out.  2012 has been my driest year for new acquisitions due to unemployment since April.  Looks like that will change soon and I'll have some catching up to do.  Currently taking a chronological trip back in my collection.

So of the seven I got, one made top the top ten - Big Big Train.  All the others are the list of 200.  Note to self, try to find more obscure stuff.


Edited by Slartibartfast - February 02 2013 at 10:34

As expected, nobody but me voted for my #1 - I'm just into music that obscure! Clearly I am the insider here =P but in seriousness, avant heads are missing out, check out Volcano the Bear!

Overall great list, nice variety!

 Great work again, Andy! The 2012 vintage was on par with that of 2011, both being very good prog years.