The Year 1995 Albums Calendar and Rankings

1995 was a weird year for me. I discovered many artists that became the foundation of my taste.
May of 1995: Marillion and Dream Theater. And I want to say within a year, Fates Warning, King's X, Galactic Cowboys and some others.

It was among the time of neo-prog and 90's Prog Metal.

Good year. Kevin;'s album by default is #1, but to see Marillion right in there, maybe my favorite Spock's Beard album, The Tea Party and Echolyn says a lot for it.

I.e. many favorites put out among if not their best albums of their catalogs/careers in 1995. How it compares to other years in the 90's? it's pretty good. There possibly wasn't a better year that followed actually.

1. Kevin Gilbert - Thud
2. Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight
3. Spock's Beard - The Light
4. The Tea Party - The Edges of Twilight
5. Echolyn - As the World
6. Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons [EP]
7. Faith No More - King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime
8. Savatage - Dead Winter Dead
9. Saigon Kick - Devil in the Details
10. Shadow Gallery - Carved in Stone
11. Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways
12. Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Jean-Luc Ponty - Rite of Strings
13. The Gathering - Mandylion
14. White Willow - Ignis Fatuus
15. Anekdoten - Nucleus
16. Jeff Buckley - Live from the Bataclan [EP]
17 sElf - Subliminal Plastic Motives
18. King Crimson - Thrak
19. Various Artists - Supper's Ready
20. Savatage - Japan Live '94
21. Metropolis - Behind Mysterious Walls
22. Van Halen - Balance
23. Various Artists - Tales from Yesterday
24. Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
25. Screaming Headless Torsos - 1995
26. Opeth - Orchid
27. Without Warning - Believe
28. Pink Floyd - Pulse
29. The Flower Kings  - Back in the World of Adventures
30. Kevin Gilbert - Kashmir [EP]
31. Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad
32. Various Artists - The Moon Revisited
33. Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab - Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party
34. Seventh Sign - Perpetual Destiny
35. The Police - Live!
36. Alanis Morrissette - Jagged Little Pill
37. Various Artists - In from the Storm
38. Royal Hunt - Moving Target



Van Halen - Balance
rel January 24, 1995


Spock's Beard - The Light
rel January 1995


Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways
rel February 1995


Ulver - Bergtatt: Et eeventyr i 5 capitler
rel February 1995


Echolyn - As the World
rel March 7, 1995


Radiohead - The Bends
rel March 13, 1995


Death - Symbolic
rel March 21, 1995


Kevin Gilbert - Thud
rel March 21, 1995


The Tea Party - The Edges of Twilight
rel March 21, 1995


Faith No More - King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime
rel March 28, 1995


King Crimson - Thrak
rel April 3, 1995


Bela Fleck - Tales from the Acoustic Planet
rel April 11, 1995


Stratovarious - The Fourth Dimension
rel April 11, 1995


Seventh Sign - Perpetual Destiny
rel April 26, 1995


Opeth - Orchid
rel May 1, 1995


The Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker
rel May 2, 1995


Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
rel May 12, 1995


Chris Isaak - Forever Blue
rel May 23, 1995


Ron Thal - The Adventures of Bumblefoot
rel May 23, 1995


Without Warning - Believe
rel May 24, 1995


Pink Floyd - Pulse
rel May 29, 1995


The Police - Live!
rel May 29, 1995


Floater - Glyph
rel May 1995


The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q.
rel May 1995


Bjork - Post
rel June 13, 1995


Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
rel June 13, 1995


Screaming Headless Torsos - 1995
rel June 13, 1995


Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
rel June 18, 1995


Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight
rel June 24, 1995


Theatre of Tragedy - Theatre of Tragedy
rel July 4, 1995




Shadow Gallery - Carved in Stone
rel July 11, 1995


Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Jean-Luc Ponty - Rite of Strings
rel July 17, 1995


Various Artists - The Moon Revisited
rel July 21, 1995


The Gathering - Mandylion
rel August 22, 1995


Various Artists - Supper's Ready
rel August 22, 1995


Various Artists - Tales from Yesterday
rel August 22, 1995


Jethro Tull - Roots to Branches
rel September 4, 1995


Switchblade Symphony - Serpentine Gallery
rel September 11, 1995


Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons [EP]
rel September 19, 1995


October Project - Falling Farther In
rel September 19, 1995


The Flower Kings  - Back in the World of Adventures
rel September 1995


Royal Hunt - Moving Target
rel September 1995


Savatage - Japan Live '94
rel October 9, 1995


Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
rel October 10, 1995


Tears for Fears - Raoul and the Kings of Spain
rel October 10, 1995


Saigon Kick - Devil in the Details
rel October 17, 1995


Anathema - The Silent Enigma
rel October 23, 1995


Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
rel October 23, 1995


Savatage - Dead Winter Dead
rel October 24, 1995


Jeff Buckley - Live from the Bataclan [EP]
rel October 25, 1995


Ayreon - The Final Experiment
rel October 27, 1995


sElf - Subliminal Plastic Motives
rel October 1995


Queen - Made in Heaven
rel November 6, 1995


Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
rel November 17, 1995


Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad
rel November 21, 1995


Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery
rel November 27, 1995


The Wondermints - The Wondermints
rel December 1, 1995

 
Savatage - Ghost in the Ruins: A Tribute to Criss Oliva
rel December 15, 1995


Anekdoten - Nucleus
rel December 1995


Deus ex Machina - De republica
rel 1995


Kevin Gilbert - Kashmir [EP]
rel 1995


Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab - Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party
rel 1995


Ilúvatar  - Children
rel 1995


Malicious Mischief - Tell It Like It is
rel 1995


Metropolis - Behind Mysterious Walls
rel 1995


Various Artists - In from the Storm
rel 1995


White Willow - Ignis Fatuus
rel 1995

"Bohemian Rhapsody" Film casts Rami Malek (per November 2016)

I know this is kind of old news as I alluded to from the copied/pasted forum post I made a bit ago.

But this guy, Rami Malek is going to play Freddie? I guess if it got the Queen guys approval...I mean they are having Adam Lambert as well (and Paul Rodgers a few years back), so I guess a skeptical casting can't be shocking.

And I imagine it can't be any worse than Penn Badgley playing Jeff Buckley.

But, it goes back to, if you're going to do it, get the right person for the role. And they obviously waited for many years here given how long Sacha Baron Cohen was attached to this thing. 10 years maybe or more.

Blech.

I suppose I don't want to fully judge a book by its cover. I may not care for him in Mr.Robot (which honestly, has become more popular than Psych probably, which is baffling. At least from an Awards standpoint. Probably because it's a drama. But it has Christian Slater even, a guy who seemed cursed with tv shows for many years. They always got canceled. Emmy/Globe? lol..never. But only since Tony Shaloub and Monk, has a  USA Network show/actor received so much attention, whereas year after year it seemed Psych and Roday deserved recognition and NEVER did.).

And he has a somewhat prolific career that goes back to Glmore Girls in 2004, so maybe this will surprise me.

But on the surface, I still wonder if there was someone else who would make more sense.

Maybe they won't fuck up the Syd Barrett and Keith Moon biopics that are also long overdue.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727824/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

just saw Rami Malek,  the lead actor from USA Network's show "Mr. Robot" on Stephen Colbert. And I know it's kind of old news (November), but they talked about him starring as Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" the Freddie biopic; the one that Sacha Baron Cohen was attached-to for a long time, but ultimately dismissed.

I honestly am not all that crazy about this casting, really, not any more than Sacha Baron Cohen. I suppose his height might be closer to Freddie's (SBC was WAY too tall), but he doesn't look all that much like Freddie (loosely, his dimples and facial expressions I guess I can see); I guess once they show some production pics, maybe that could help. 

But I'm still skeptical as I don't find Rami Malek all that amazing in the clips I've seen from Mr.Robot and some of his other work (Short Term 12, I honestly didn't find his character all that memorable in just revisiting some clips online).

2016-2017 Midseason Albums List

So 2016-2017, while a year that has had a fair number of albums come out, and many more of course anticipated, I guess at this point, being midseason, has only seemed like a luke warm year thus far.

I mean there have been some good albums certainly, if you look at the rankings below. Anakdota, Pain of Salvation and 22 all are albums I have listened to and plan to keep listening to as the rest of the year goes on and further.

Mew as well as those The Reign of Kindo songs, which I'm including just purely on numbers and quality. I suspect the band will put them into some actual, proper release of some kind, and it may ultimately get released after Halloween 2017, per within this years best releases, it won't likely remain. But for now, it seems like it should be included, just purely on how much I've been listening to all 5 of those songs.

As far as the list below it, it's as I point out, a list of records I either have not gotten to checking out, or meant to, but have shyed away per reviews, priorities and expectations. But I would likely have included the albums from Esperanza Spalding and Bent Knee last year into that as well, so I'm not ruling out and/or may still end up spending some time and be surprised.

Then there's the scheduled releases, which to be frank, stuff like Bubblemath and now even Anathema I have heard and do enjoy quite a bit; per they would likely find their way into this rankings mix if they already were released, and quite likely will place pretty high come early November.

And of course the ones I've bolded are currently the biggest hopes for that I'm certain will be released. The Ours album obviously is a big deal to me given my love and appreciation for them.

And of course the anticipation list which has some very likely titles, and then a lot of thinking/hoping will come, but no guarantee even in 2017, let alone by Halloween.

All in all though a decent, but not incredible 1st half of the year, but like pretty much every year, there's both a lot of potential albums that will raise that bar for the entire year. And of course many records I have not spent time with, or enough time, or heard yet as well. It could be from a band I've never even heard of yet of course.

Also to note, like it has been in many recent years, my full attention and ability/interest to listen to a lot of new albums at work has not been what it was at 1 time. It does go through phases, and this current year has been very busy with life things like health, moving, taxes, plus of course listening to older music or of course podcasts, talk radio and youtube audio rips. I guess things may settle down both outside of and at work come July/August/September, devoting a little more time to the new releases may happen for me and some of even the albums on my list below may be seen differently and higher/better, etc.

edit: Also time permitting, I'll try and make a video or 2 about this of course.


1. Anakdota - Overloading


2. Pain of Salvation - In the Passing Light of Day


3. 22 - You Are Creating: Limb 1


4. Mew - Visuals


5. The Reign of Kindo: Patreon Songs

City of Gods 6:13
Human Convention 3:34
One in a Million 4:09
Smell of a Rose 3:50
About Love 4:49


6. Persefone - Aathma


7. Big Wreck - Grace Street


8. Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Caesar


9. The Family Crest, - Prelude to War [EP]


10. Tuxedo - Tuxedo II


11. Blackfield - V


12. Moonloop - Devocean


13. Rachel Flowers - Listen


14. The Barnum Meserve - When All is Lost

 
15. Waaktaar and Zoe - World of Trouble


16. Umphrey's McGee - Zonkey


17. Black Map - In Droves


18. Radical Face - SunMoonnEclippse [EP]


19. Thundercat - Drunk


20. Klimt 1918 - Sentimentale Jugend

Singles:
1. Fjokra - Sick Kids
2. 1000Faces - Sleeping for Dreamers (ft. Jimmy Gnecco)
3. Bend Sinister - Get Along
4. Kimbra and Young Dreams - Oban (Rework/Remix)
5. Hotel of the Laughing Tree - Electric City Rivalry
6. For the Imperium - We Cannot Face It


Listened to Once and was not all that into/Haven't Listened to Yet but mean to/Am shying away from per reviews and general interest in the band's recent music/But may get around to before the end of the year

Cloud Caverns - Collective Memory
Cynic - Uroboric Forms: The Complete Demo Recordings
KXM - Scatterbrain
Mastodon - Empire of Sand
Meridian Incident - Istology
Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct
Minus the Bear - VOIDS
Mute Gods, The - …tardigrades will inherit the earth
New Pornographgers, The - Whiteout Conditions
Nova Collective - The Further Side
Peter Silberman - Impermanence
Temples - Volcano

Scheduled Releases:

May
5: At the Drive-In - in·ter a·li·a
19: Bullet Height - No Atonement
19: Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions
19: The Night Flight Orchestra - Amber Galactic
19: Scale The Summit - In A World Of Fear
19: Roger Waters - Is This the Life We Really Want?
26: Bubblemath - Edit Peptide
26: Solstafir - Berdreyminn


June
2: SikTh - The Future in Whose Eyes?
9: Anathema - The Optimist
9: Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly and James McAlister - Planetarium
23: Bent Knee - Land Animal
27: Ours - Spectacular Sight



Confirmed Titles:
Antemasque - Saddle on the Atom Bomb
Broken Social Scene - Halfway Home
Chic - It's About Time
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pacifisticuffs
Joey Eppard - Word to the Wise
Dave Kerzner - Static
Fish - Weltschmerz
Sculptured - The Liminal Phase
Textures - Genotype
U2 - Songs of Experience

Confirmed/Likely to be Released (but no Title or Release Date Yet)
Barren Earth
Bend Sinister (2 albums coming, 1 may be an EP, the other full-length)
Flying Colors
For the Imperium
Galactic Cowboys (Fall)
In Vain
Live
Major Parkinson: (I just backed their already successful Kickstarter)
George Michael
Native Construct
Pillorian (John Haughm, ex-Agalloch)
Reign of Kindo, The
Small Leaks Sink Ships
Soundscape
Spock's Beard
Subterranean Masquerade
Tiny Giant
Typhoon

------------------------------

*speculation/hope*


Bruce Peninsula
Capital Cities
Chromeo
Disillusion
dredg
East of the Wall
Extreme
The Faceless
Fjokra
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Hotel of the Laughing Tree
Jazzkamikaze
Journal
Karnivool
Kimbra
Spencer Ludwig
Mutemath
Ne Obliviscaris
Neverending White Lights
Pepe Deluxe
Ramona Falls
Red Paintings, The
Sigur Rós
System of a Down
Tears for Fears
Steven Wilson