Coming onto the music scene as someone with John Lennon’s voice, with a Supertramp sound, Kevin Parker’s music project, Tame Impala, created a new look in the music landscape. Today, we will rank every Tame Impala album from worst to first!
Using his multi-instrument talents and incredible producing mind, Parker was able to create one of the most unique sounds and interesting music projects over the past decade. From psychedelic to hip hop to heavy rock, Tame Impala albums have continued to rank towards the top of the charts when they are released. With his impact starting to play music at three years old to now aiding in producing full-length albums for artists in the rock, hip-hop and pop scene, Parker has become one of the biggest artists since 2000. Even though Tame Impala has not released an album since 2020, they continue to total 26.4 million monthly followers on Spotify. With an anticipated album (hopefully) coming out in 2025, Tame Impala has currently released four full-length albums.
Delving into his music, the following Power Rankings from FlurrySports will rank all four Tame Impala albums based on listenability, production and songwriting in general. Tame Impala, and Kevin Parker in general, is my favorite musical artist of all time and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one of his songs.
Click below for the first Tame Impala album!
Innerspeaker is certainly not the greatest debut album in music history, but for someone taking on such a big task as to make psychedelic music the main theme in a band, Innerspeaker is an incredible start. After listening to his other three albums, you can certainly tell this album is raw, but it introduces key elements of Parker’s music that we have so much love for. Innerspeaker brings in a great mix of psychedelic, folk and lo-fi to produce that sound that hadn’t been popularized since the aforementioned Supertramp.
Even though Parker is a strong component of including many different instruments throughout his albums, Innerspeaker is certainly the strongest when it comes to putting an emphasis on the guitar. That guitar sound, especially on the intro song “It is Not Meat To Be” introduces you to what Tame Impala is at its core – a hippy making psychedelic music that will make you float while listening to it – think acid-era Beatles. While the album continues on with the seedlings of that raw sound, the song “Solitude is Bliss” is really the tunnel that leads you to Lonerism, Currents and The Slow Rush.
Click below for the next Tame Impala album!
Parker’s latest full album creation came during widespread wildfires in California. From there, Parker created his most complete “Tame Impala-esque” album to date. He takes certain sounds from each of his previous three albums and molds them all into The Slow Rush. Using a 90’s techno sound, Parker expanded on the psychedelic theme, using less guitar sound and more electronic and synthetic beats.
There is a certain anxiety sound that you can feel while listening to Parker’s vocals, which given the state of the world in 2020 (when the album was released) during the Covid-19 pandemic, seemed very relatable to many listening. Even so, songs like “Borderline” and “Is It True” keep listeners with a smile on their faces as they scratch that pop itch that so many people love. In regards to that mind-bending sound, the intro track “One More Year” is as bizarre as Parker has ever been on a record and it works out incredibly, as I would put that song up against any song as the best intro track on an album.
I don’t think The Slow Rush will top anyone’s Tame Impala album ranking, but I don’t know if that is a bad thing. It is so what Tame Impala is to the band’s core. Parker is a musical genius and to me The Slow Rush to Kevin Parker is what a pull-up midrange jumper from Kevin Durant is – an incredible piece of art from someone who has perfected their craft.
Click below for the next Tame Impala album!
While I do not think this is Parker’s greatest album ever released, it is not only my favorite Tame Impala project, but it might be my favorite music project of all time. Lonerism is certainly Parker’s darkest album to date, just based upon the content and themes heard throughout the album. From heartbreak to being alone, to proving yourself, Lonerism is quite the ride. In many interviews, Parker stated that drums is truly where his heart lies in regards to playing instruments and that is certainly displayed through records like “Elephant” and “Music To Walk Home By.”
What plays so well with the mix of the drums and electric guitar is his uses of synths. Immediately on the opening track, “Be Above It” the synths reign supreme and open listeners ears and eyes to understand that this going to be a much different journey than Innerspeaker. After “Be Above It” comes a four-song stretch of some of the best music that you will ever hear. The production of “Endors Toi” and “Apocalypse Dreams” makes you question how someone even thinks to create something like this. Listen to these songs in a dark room with headphones on – it feels like you are getting blasted with different sounds from every single angle all at once – like your ears are getting jumped in a one-on-five bar fight of music.
Finally, it would be careless of me not to mention “Mind Mischief.” My favorite song of all time brings an incredible drum backing that will have your head bobbing the entire time. Included with an incredible guitar riff and as John Lennon as Parker has ever sounded and “Mind Mischief” is about as perfect as a psych-rock song can be.
Click below for the best Tame Impala album!
To state it bluntly, Currents is Parker’s Magnum Opus. It is his Led Zeppelin IV, it is his Illmatic, it is his Thriller. Currents is what brought Parker into the mainstream and made him a superstar and it is easy to see why. Continuing to develop his work with synths, Currents adds extra flare with disco beats and vulnerable vocals. No matter what kind of music you are a fan of, I find it hard to believe that you will dislike this album.
There are some strong standouts on this Tame Impala album including “Let it Happen”, “The Less I Know the Better” and “Cause I’m A Man”, but in order to truly understand what Tame Impala is, you have to listen to this record in full. Starting with “Let it Happen”, it feels like this whole album builds on itself to create this work that is as technically sound as it is beautiful. Using the guitar sound that we fell in love with on Innerspeaker and fuzzing it up, while partnering that sound with the electronic synths that we heard on Lonerism and Currents almost plays like a linear movie.
You can feel the emotion and all of the hard work that went into this album that Parker completed entirely by himself. If you are a music fan, Currents is a must-listen before you die. You may want to listen to Innerspeaker and Lonerism before to hear how he evolved to this sound. Either way, Currents is a 10/10 album for me and, for whatever my money is worth, it is one of the greatest albums and pieces of art ever created.
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This post was last modified on March 6, 2025 10:54 PM
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