Depressing albums that make you feel good

We have looked at feel-good songs and feel-good albums...I remember writing a post called Because Sad Songs Say So Much; a post that also looked at how a sad song can actually - sometimes - make you feel good. And while we may have looked at some depressing albums, I don't think we have ever looked at depressing albums that you enjoy listening to. Depressing albums that can make you feel good. We have yet to do that, right? Correct me if I'm wrong (you usually do).

And when I talk about depressing albums - I don't (just) mean ones like this guy makes.

I mean albums that have a tone about them, usually a lyrical tone - often carried out across several songs - sometimes it is backed up (echoed) in the musical tone. Some of these albums are even the dreaded: concept album. Some just spell it out in the title, you know you are in for a wild ride: Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate would be one example; Lou Reed's Magic and Loss is probably another...

I remember reading a review when Magic and Loss was released; it said something along the lines of "it'll bum you out the first couple of times you listen to it" and went on to suggest that you might actually dig it after all that. I did. That review spoke to me - so much so I remember the gist of it close to 17 years after it was written.

And I did (and do) feel that way about Magic and Loss. Lou Reed's paean to the loss of two friends - due to Cancer - is a bit of a bum trip. But the songs about loss contain plenty of magic.

Sometimes an album is depressing due to the circumstances, more so than the actual songs. Take John Hiatt's Bring the Family as one example. And I know a lot of people would probably list some of the final Johnny Cash albums from the American Recordings series; The Man Comes Around perhaps? Being that it was the swansong.

One for me that fits that category is Elliott Smith's From a Basement on a Hill. It's a posthumous release; it's a version of the album he was working on. Now songs like Pretty (Ugly Before) were probably always going to have a gorgeously sombre tone about them; a beautiful sadness. But when the writer and singer is coming to you in a voice beyond the grave (being that he stabbed himself in the chest) you can't help but carry some of that weight with you as you listen. Well, that's how I take that song and album. And it's probably my favourite of Smith's albums - and definitely my favourite song of his.

There have been plenty of lists of depressing albums - often naming the usual suspects: Morrissey, The Smiths, The Cure, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Nine Inch Nails, Joy Division, Fat Freddy's Drop...

But, thing is, so often I look at those lists and think the albums can't be that bad; I would still listen to a lot of them.

It's horses for courses - some people would find Massive Attack and Portishead's albums depressing. Some would find Smashing Pumpkins albums depressing. I definitely find Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chilli Peppers albums depressing (though that's more for the fact that they keep happening rather than assessing whether they're singing about sad stuff or playing in D minor - the saddest of all keys).

So I'm going to list my Top 10 Depressing Albums That Make Me Feel Good - and by feel good I mean I enjoy the experience of listening to them. I might feel a bit bummed out for a bit, but it's worth it:

1) Lou Reed, Berlin: easily the most beautiful album of songs about star-crossed drug-addict junkie lovers divided by the wall that used to divide the titular city (okay, okay, it is the only album of songs about star-crossed drug-addict junkie lovers divided by the wall that used to divide the titular city - but anyways...)

2) Nick Drake, Pink Moon: many have taken this as Drake's musical suicide note; there's certainly some evidence to back that up. I love it though. It's a dessert-island disc for me (just me, this album, a stereo and a home-baked lemon cake!)

3) Anthony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now: I could take or leave the other Anthony albums - this is the one for me. That voice is just sublime on this record. And Rufus Wainwright's cameo on the one minute and forty seconds of What Can I Do? is as good as anything Rufus has released under his own name.

4) Dimmer, There My Dear: referencing Marvin Gaye's divorce album with the title, I feel close to bummed out every time I play this album - in the very best way. The last track is one of my all-time favourite album closers.

5) Neil Young, On the Beach: death to the 1960s, an end to the hippie era; so says Neil, laughing/sneering at the folkie scene that he was very much part of. My favourite album of Neil's - without question (or anything close to competition - and yes, I know I could have just as easily picked Tonight's the Night).

6) Pink Floyd, The Final Cut: I have not listened to this album in a very long time (so maybe it doesn't deserve to be on the list). I can't guarantee I'll ever listen to it again. But I thrashed this album; it took me right through high school. Is that sad? I thought so - in the best possible way!

7) Richard Hawley, Cole's Corner: it's not so much depressing, it's just my favourite Sunday afternoon album; and Sunday afternoons are often depressing. Beautiful album. Any Hawley fans out there?

8) Richard & Linda Thompson, Shoot Out the Lights: an album that deserves its own post pointing out the complexities and layers of darkness in the songs, the way they were composed and the mostly matter of fact way they were recorded by a couple whose love had died. The lyrics are so grim, painfully honest, but I love the writing (and of course Richard's playing and Linda's singing).

9) Joni Mitchell, Blue: she couldn't hold down a relationship...but boy did it give her something to write about!

10) Lou Reed, Magic and Loss: I'll bookend the list with Lou; seems fair.

So - that's ten from me. And yes I could have named a few more - but that's a list of albums I know I will always listen to (except for maybe The Final Cut).

What would your list be? And why? What depressing albums do you love? And are there albums you figure depressing but can't convince others that they are? Or are there albums you simply do not find depressing, even when friends and family are trying to point out to you that, as Lou would say in his Sad Song, it's a bum trip?

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