Your Album of the Years for 2005-2023

I did two topics recently, first on the "winners" of the Prog Archives official Album of the Year event (and then a runners-up one), which goes back to 2005. I posted my alternate list with one album per act and not covering the albums in the list. Essexboy made me think that maybe I should start a topic for people's lists to compare to the officia winners (and runners-up). You don't have to do it the way I did (just one album per act, not duplicating any of the winning albums) to participate.

essexboyinwales wrote: FOABP gets my vote, seeing as Resistance was the album that finally showed IQ to be fallible….. But none of the albums that I have listened to from this list would get anywhere near my top 50 from these years!😊

I know choosing and looking up can be rather tough. Easy for me due to earlier topics I made. I just had to do a little working it out.

Here is mine (and I added a youtube playlist with a favourite track off each because that is what I do, and it's helping me to get set up for a video blog/podcast).

My List (excluding AOTY winners and just one album per act)

2005: Coil - The Ape of Naples
2006: OOIOO - Taiga
2007: William D. Drake - Briny Hooves
2008: Secret Chiefs 3 - Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9
2009: Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
2010: Kayo Dot - Coyote
2011: North Sea Radio Orchestra - I a Moon
2012: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
2013: Kosmischer Läufer - Volume One
2014: Swans - To Be Kind
2015: Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs
2016: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
2017: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland
2018: Anna von Hausswolff - Dead Magic
2019: black midi - Schlagenheim
2020: Ciśnienie (with Lód 9) - The Brass Album
2021: Squid - Bright Green Field
2022: Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
2023: Sprain - The Lamb as Effigy

And a playlist of one track per album as is my wont just in case:



The Winners of PA's official AOTY

2005: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
2006: Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue
2007: Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
2008: Opeth - Watershed
2009: Magma - Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré
2010: Univers Zero - Clivages
2011: Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning
2012: Anglagard - Viljans Öga
2013: Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories
2014: Opeth - Pale Communion
2015: Anekdoten – Until All the Ghosts Are Gone
2016: David Bowie - Blackstar
2017: Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere
2018: All Traps On Earth - A Drop of Light
2019: IQ - Resistance
2020: Zopp - Zopp
2021: Shamblemaths - Shamblemaths 2
2022: black midi - Hellfire
2023: Agusa - Prima Materia

The Runners-Up for the official AOTY

2005: Van der Graaf Generator - Present
2006: PFM - Stati di immaginazione
2007: Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
2008: Il Bacio della Medusa - Discesa agl'inferi d'un giovane amante
2009: maudlin of the well - Part the Second
2010: Frogg Café - Bateless Edge
2011: Opeth - Heritage
2012: Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One)
2013: Haken - The Mountain
2014: IQ - The Road of Bones
2015: Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
2016: Gösta Berlings Saga - Sersophone
2017: Accordo dei Contrari - Violato Intatto
2018: Far Corner - Risk
2019: Izz - Don't Panic
2020: Wobbler - Dwellers of the Deep
2021: black midi - Cavalcade
2022: Motorpsycho - Ancient Astronauts
2023: Zopp - Dominion

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Love to see your lists and how they compare to the official lists. A number of those in those official lists were my albums of the year. In the polls I made, I voted for David Bowie - Blackstar and black midi - Cavalcade .

Edited by Logan - February 02 2024 at 18:19

Seems like we've done this before.

05 - Pat Metheny Group - The Way Up
06 - Frost* - Milliontown
07 - Anti-Depressive Delivery - Chain Of Foods
08 - Thieves' Kitchen - The Water Road
09 - Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
10 - Helmet Of Gnats - High Street
11 - The Aristocrats - s/t
12 - Thank You Scientist - Maps Of Non-Existent Places
13 - The Aristocrats - Culture Clash
14 - Animals As Leaders - The Joy of Motion
15 - Echolyn - I Heard You Listening
16 - Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail
17 - Bubblemath - Edit Peptide
18 - FAT - #awesome
19 - Marco Minnemann - My Sister
20 - Pat Metheny - From This Place
21 - Ske - Insolubilia
22 - Wippy Bonstack - 22
23 - Rascal Reporters - The Strainge Case of Steve

2005 The Decemberists - Picaresque

This was easy for me to do because I've already set up polls and voted in them for all the years. 

No winners and no repeat artists:

I don't remember when I first started voting in the AOTY on this site. I think I might have done a couple a long time ago, but only took it more seriously in 2019. Anyways, below is what I would pick now, not necessarily what I would have picked back in those years.

Not sure if this is supposed to be what was my top pick at the time, or what it is now. Some have changed. I suppose it would have to be now if I plan on playing with the 1 album/artist restriction.

Thanks for all the lists, those are insightful for me to peruse.

Tapfret wrote: Not sure if this is supposed to be what was my top pick at the time, or what it is now. Some have changed. I suppose it would have to be now if I plan on playing with the 1 album/artist restriction....

It's up to you, but I prefer now. I would not expect forum members to know which they were most into then. With me, it can change so often, even from day to day or moment to moment. It would be easier for some PA old-timers to remember what they were into then by searching, but I would not expect most members to remember. Had I not opted to exclude winners then I would have included David Bowie's Blackstar for 2016, which was my album for 2016. Had I not done it one per artist, Swans' The Glowing Man would have been very tempting.

From the winners and runners-up collab list, I voted in the AOTY for (I did not vote every year): Magma's Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré, Univers Zero' Clivages, David Bowie's Blackstar, black midi' Hellfire, maybe? (I got more into black midi early this year), Robert Wyatt's Comicopera, Far Corner's Risk maybe.

People can list as many alternate lists as they like, and if people want to post another list of what they recall being most into then, I would find it interesting to compare. My lists would be almost constantly in flux as there is much I love from the past 60 or so years and I often discover and become infatuated by new-to-me music from those years. Some people's preferences are more static than others.

There are a number of years like 2014 and 2018 that had 4 or 5 albums that would have easily knocked any of the other years' albums off the thrown. And some those other years are hard to pick for the opposite reason.

Tapfret wrote: There are a number of years like 2014 and 2018 that had 4 or 5 albums that would have easily knocked any of the other years' albums off the thrown. And some those other years are hard to pick for the opposite reason.

I have years like that as well.