Best Albums By Women

[Phoebe]

Excited to listen to Iris' whole album. For Whitney it's all about the Bodyguard soundtrack. I don't know if it qualifies because it's got a lot of other stuff, but that album is a monster. They must have all pulled together as a team, lol...

[poorpete]

Ooof Side 2 of The Bodyguard is so disapointing.

[poorpete]

There's a half dozen solid pop songs here, but there are a good 4 or so duds, and we're talking best albums here. I liked this album. It's an easy album to put on, and I get why Bidi Bidi Bom Bom is a classic: it's fun. The above song is probably my favorite, mainly because I can understand most of the chorus. And as much as Dolem Music isn't perfect (I can only stand dolphin vocalizing if it's "Rock Lobster" in which the dolphin vocalizing is done to portray a frickin' dolphin), it is a solid piece of work, a solid album if you will. Ok ok, now to maybe the toughest match yet:

Beyoncé – Lemonade
https://listen.tidal.com/album/59727856
Solange – A Seat at the Table
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... Pf6y17_uxU

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

Amen to this: "I can only stand dolphin vocalizing if it's "Rock Lobster" in which the dolphin vocalizing is done to portray a frickin' dolphin"

I would say Lemonade on this next one, but I also never really got into Solange and suspect her stuff is more interesting than I have given it credit for.

[poorpete]

I think you'll be the influencer here. I asked on Facebook and Twitter and to living people walking around and got nothing! Everytime I listen to each album I think it's better than the other. It's like Lemonade is Casablanca and A Seat at the Table is Citizen Kane.

Anywho, I found the liner notes to Cris Williamson's Changer and the Changed...
https://www.queermusicheritage.com/olivia-cw3.html
The album was created entirely by women (!!!) and for the purpose of creating a studio just for women (!!!). And it succeeded(!!!!!!!). I'm not doing a Girl Power ranking, but if I did, that's a 10 out of 10!

[poorpete]

Input from Phoebe and a few others and a barista and Starbucks overcomes my thoughts going into this week and the thoughts of one random guy on a facebook group I'm part of.... I'll let Lemonade move on.

It's so close. Like one might be the greatest pop drama and the other might be the greatest sound of what it's like to be black and a woman in America today. Anyways, Solange's A Seat at the Table is great, and if it wasn't facing her sister's opus now, it would have gone far. NPR readers named it #41 on their list, which is much closer to my opinion than #134. When I give my rerankings at the end of the year, I expect A Seat at the Table to be in the top 20. Ah well. Anyways Lemonade is like Casablanca, a wonderfully emotive and delicious love triangle with an ending that leaves the hero stronger and more whole than at the beginning. Solange is like, I dunno, Hoop Dreams, a document of what it's like to be black (and a woman) in America today, yearning for the American Dream, or at the very least, a seat at the table.

Dolly Parton – Coat Of Many Colors
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... qnRythESLg
Chaka Khan – I Feel for You
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... Oe_MnY55ro

[poorpete]

This was close as both albums have a bunch of gems and a couple missteps. Chaka is dance fun, especially when, like above and the title-track, she blends R&B, hip hop, and modern-for-the-80s production values. But Dolly surprised me, and NPR makes a decent point about it deserving more recognition (though I'm still iffy about whether it deserves to be #11 all-time) and maybe I feel bad about nixing so many country albums that I'm letting this one continue. Tie goes to Dolly... and I might be wrong. Phoebe you can overrule this if you have an opinion on it

Sade – Diamond Life
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... WD9nr0_bcM
The Roches – The Roches
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... -yGYgwBbEg

(Either of these would have beat the records on the previous list, and another close one)

[poorpete]

Roches were the favorite coming into this round, and a top reason I wanted this competition to be double-elimination, because I didn't not want them to go up against Joni Mitchell in round one and that be it (I later realized that the first round would not have been 1 vs. 150). Anywho, it's a beautiful and silly album, and I seriously adore four of the tracks. I recommended "Hammond Song" earlier this year, and that would still be my pick, but this one, above, is a great opening! Of course losing to Sade and going up against Alice Coltrane in the losers bracket might mean they are out too soon, but they were almost out of the NPR list, and I'm so glad they included it.

So that brings us to the end of Round 2 and the start of Round 3 with 64 undefeated teams. But before I start there, I really want to get down to 32 teams in the losers bracket. That means attacking this list.

They're all my babies, I don't want any of them out this early.

[poorpete]

Winning Losers, full of regret:
Fanny Hill beats NY Tendaberry is great, Laura too but a tad too sleepy for me, but I will keep listening to her.
Rumors beats Pirates though I may regret that. My main issue with Pirates is that I can't listen to it anywhere! It's not on any streaming or mp3 buying service, not pirated on youtube (anymore), not at my local library, and only available on old CDs on Amazon. Anywho, if I get any Amazon cash for my birthday, it might go to buying this, and I might reopen the game if I decide that Pirates is really as great as it feels. Bagh.
Like a Prayer beats Aaliyah but they are both great, and Aaliyah is proving to be endlessly listenable, and not just because of Timmy's beats
Cut beats It's My Way so tough, this one, and I originally gave Buffy the go-ahead before re-opening the game. As much as I'd not mind ridding Cut with it's nude photo cover (I'm still prudish in some ways), the music inside is fab.
Horses beats Blacks' Magic another close one. I didn't expect an album with "Let's Talk About Sex" to be so engaging, but I also didn't realize how good "Let's Talk About Sex" was. Quite a feminist album, with great production and raps.
Last Splash bests Little Earthquakes nothing against Tori. Her album is great, but after 8 listens now I'm still fascinated with Last Splash.
Satchidananda beats Roches Heartbreak for the Roches, but at 150 they weren't supposed to win squat. And they certainly won't be 150 on my final reranking.

Next:
Joni Mitchell - Blue
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... Vyk6LDtwcc
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light Til Dawn
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 2OitWk79dk

[poorpete]

This good album full of loungy songs sprinkled with R&B, Blues, and in the case above, South African rhythms (unless I'm wrong, in which I meant to say "world music"). A solid collection, but I wouldn't say the greatest album by women ever, so off to the losers round you go.

Björk – Post
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 5uDJ3kO4bY
Queen Latifah – All Hail The Queen
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list ... 4GKfoaHf3c

[poorpete]

I'll get to this round in a few (it's been an unusual week and these two albums are fab so I want to give it time) but I'm going to skip to the next game, featuring two albums I've heard at least nine times each, and pick Aretha's Young Gifted and Black over Laurie Anderson's Big Science. Just seems apt.


So I love this album. It's quirky fun and quirky depressing. It's interesting in an snobby art kind of way, but accessible (O Superman might be the most successful avant-garde pop song ever). I highlight "Walk the Dog" because it's so joyous and silly and features her playing around with tempo and sound effects and voice modulation and music styles (some of which might not exist other than in this song). Anywho, hard to beat my favorite (though maybe not the best) Aretha album, especially this week.

[Phoebe]

Laurie Anderson is wonderful, but yeah. Although I think "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" or "Lady Soul" might be a better entry for Aretha in this particular contest, what with the big hits and other gems. So much to choose from though.

[poorpete]

Hail to the Queen is fun and impressive throughout. The first that always hits is the music and Mark the 45 King is impressive in his assembled samples and beats. Latifah is a solid old school rapper, and the album is a great companion piece to Paul's Boutique. Its feminism and black pride is potent throughout, it's singing choruses we're obv influential on the future of hip hop and at time sounds very 90s for an album out in 89. This Latifah, she's talented!

[Phoebe]

Love her but Post is out of this world original greatness.

[poorpete]

Yeah Bjorks album is an obv inspiration for Kid A. I'm On vacation so hard to update. The next up are
Mercedes Sosa – Mercedes Sosa en Argentina
https://youtu.be/zlDF0i1kcBA?list=PLB048DC67281B0C2D
Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
https://youtu.be/4XXEw7C8O7c?list=OLAK5 ... V3z0u36e00

In the loser bracket it's Queen Latifah vs. Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" -- a tough one

[poorpete]

Going to skip ahead again and nix Roseanne Cash's King's Record Shop, which has a good amount of catchy tunes, at times great, but it has no chance against Aretha's I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You.

[poorpete]

I have to be honest after repeated listens, Sleater is getting better and better, and their kixk ass album would win, and might do fine in the losers bracket... and maybe should win this match... no, I should but I won't. The Sosa double live album puts a spell on me, even though I dunno the hell she's talking about. Love and peace I think. At least that's how I feel. It's the kind of relatively obscure album these lists are great at highlighting. I won't stop listening to S/K tho

Next:
Janis Joplin – Pearl
Mary J Blige - What's the 411?

[poorpete]

A much easier competition here. I did like this album, she has a great voice and Puffy shows his talents here as a producer. Ummm 5 listens and it's mostly washed over me. Maybe I should have paid attention more, but not much here past the singles. Unlike the incredibly solid Pearl. I might also have a general distaste for 90s R&B, especially those who overthrew my beloved-as-a-tween grunge from the charts and MTV. I'm over it now, but there's still a chance that bias is still in there subtly.

Next:
ESG – Come Away With ESG
The Staple Singers – Be Altitude: Respect Yourself

[Phoebe]

Agreed; I love Mary J Blige but Pearl is on another level. Listened to a LOT of Janis in college, high school... She really speaks to that zone of life, or did for me.