...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's So Divided is a pretty good album. A shit ton better than Worlds Apart, their worst IMO (that part may be popular opinion around here). Admittedly, it took me a long time to appreciate So Divided, but even the first time it was better than Worlds Apart.

^

My favorite will probably always be Source Tags and Codes...it's what I started on and it's what I still reach for whenever I feel like listening to them.

Snap. I think that's a popular opinion though.

I'm sure it is...I was just commenting on sidewinder's post. I haven't actually listened to So Divided yet and I trust sidewinder's taste. I might have to check this album out.

meh, there's a reason it's obscure hehe. it's not horrible but it's not that great either. she doesn't vary her singing style or stretch out and from what i remember the musical accompaniment is a lot more folky acoustic.

the words 'Beth Gibbons doing a Mazzy Star style album' offer great possibilities, but the result doesn't quite live up.

Alright, my unpopular opinion:

Worlds Apart is a really good album.

Worlds Apart starts good but fizzles out after a couple songs.

Compare the R&B/black charts from 1965-75 to the R&B/black charts from 2000-10. What happened?? Are there any great singers anymore? And does every song today have to "feature" someone else.

Musical evolution and the increasing commercialism of music of that type of music happened. Yeah the whole collaborating thing is really a result of the major record labels trying to make a single appeal to both artist's sets of fans, maximising the market for the single and thus maximising profits. I'm looking at our current singles chart right now and the amount of someone's featuring whoever the f**k is ridiculous. It probably wont end until we see a single by Miley Cyrus feat. Gaahl hit number 1.

It's where I started too, but I think I reach for Madonna more than that one.