But before I get to that...
The zeitgeist of conversation between me and a couple friends of late has been "The Album." We've been listening to some "classics" and talking about the album as an artform.Which of course always comes around to discussion of the influential ones in your own life, regardless of(or at least not entirely dictated by)the likes of Rolling Stone, The Onion, Pitchfork Media or whatever critics tell you you should like.
So, not typically being a listmaker, I thought I would at last put my list together. This is roughly in order of preference, yet not very scientific and I feign very little critical detachment. But here are my 107 favorites, (because I can't narrow it down to just 100. In fact I thought of a couple more about three hours after sending this to my friend.) Anyway, these are the albums that have brought comfort, defined a season of life, forced me to sing along, to cry, and made me see life and music differently. I still thrill to see their album covers and enjoy listening to all of them.
Feel free to chasitise me for ommissions or gross miscalculations in ordering:
1. The Beatles Abbey Road
2. The Beatles The Beatles (White Album)
3. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
5. Radiohead OK Computer
6. Led Zeppelin ZOSO
7. King Crimson Discipline
8. Elvis Costello & the Attractions Imperial Bedroom
9. Pink Floyd The Wall
10. Paul McCartney Ram
11. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
12. Van Halen Van Halen
13. Jellyfish Spilt Milk
14. Frank Zappa The Grand Wazoo
15. Weezer Weezer(Blue)
16. Stereolab Dots & Loops
17. The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour
18. Adrian Belew Op Zop Too Wah
19. Wilco Sky Blue Sky
20. Genesis Foxtrot
21. Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
22. The Beatles Revolver
23. The Beatles Rubber Soul
24. Ben Folds Rockin’ the Suburbs
25. Bob Dylan The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
26. The Beatles Help!
27. Garbage Version 2.0
28. Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts
29. Paul & Linda McCartney Band on the Run
30. They Might Be Giants Factory Showroom
31. The Zombies Odessey and Oracle
32. Rush Moving Pictures
33. XTC Nonsuch
34. Elvis Costello & the Attractions Armed Forces
35. Wilco A Ghost is Born
36. Fountains of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers
37. The Cardigans Life
38. Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out
39. Sixpence None the Richer Divine Discontent
40. Beck Sea Change
41. Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway
42. Wynton Marsalis Standard Time
43. Wynton Marsalis Think of One
44. REM Automatic for the People
45. Queen A Night at the Opera
46. Sheila Divine New Parade
47. Frank Zappa Hot Rats
48. Radiohead The Bends
49. Yes Close to the Edge
50. David Gray Flesh
51. REM Life’s Rich Pageant
52. Wilco Being There
53. Yes Going for the One
54. They Might Be Giants John Henry
55. Sixpence None the Richer Sixpence None the Richer
56. Genesis Nursery Cryme
57. The Who Who’s Next
58. Dave Matthews Band Before These Crowded Streets
59. The Police Synchronicity
60. King Crimson Three of a Perfect Pair
61. Genesis Wind & Wuthering
62. Brian Wilson Smile
63. Elvis Costello & Burt Bachrach Painted From Memory
64. Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind
65. XTC Apple Venus
66. Bloomsday Bloomsday EP
67. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
68. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
69. Phish Billy Breathes
70. Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head
71. Rush Permanent Waves
72. Miles Davis Kind of Blue
73. Pedro the Lion It’s Hard to Find a Friend
74. U2 The Joshua Tree
75. Josh Rouse Dressed Up Like Nebraska
76. They Might Be Giants Flood
77. Led Zeppelin II
78. Radiohead Pablo Honey
79. Paul Simon Graceland
80. The Cardigans First Band on the Moon
81. Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend
82. Of Montreal Aldhils Arboretum
83. Pink Floyd Meddle
84. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms
85. Stereolab Sound-Dust
86. Fountains of Wayne Fountains of Wayne
87. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life
88. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds
89. The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night
90. The Beatles For Sale
91. King Crimson THRAK
92. MxPx Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo
93. Red House Painters Songs for a Blue Guitar
94. Tom Petty Wildflowers
95. John Coltrane A Love Supreme
96. Portishead Live at the Roseland Ballroom
97. Ivy Apartment Life
98. High Llamas Hawaii
99. Jeff Buckley Grace
100. Tom Waits Rain Dogs
101. Elliott Smith XO
102. Metallica …And Justice for All
103. Old 97s Satellite Rides
104. Weezer Pinkerton
105. Blink 182 Enema of the State
106. Eric Clapton From the Cradle
107. Liz Phair Whitechocolatespaceegg
posted by Mike @ 3:22 PM
1 Comments:
M-
Here's the list (and explanation) I did 5 years ago. If I did this again today it would be very different.
-Mystery Guest
To make this list, an album had to be both great and a personal favorite. I did not include anything I am not familiar with at least somewhat intimately. Hence the absence of Bob Dylan, the Band, Rolling Stones, etc. There are no greatest hits collections but I did include a few compilations of various artists. These are not ranked by anything other than personal preference, regardless of historical merit or public contention. I tended to approach this from the two criteria that matter most to me: craft and evocativeness. This seemed to “ruin” some classic albums for me. For instance, if I heard an album’s component songs on KRXO for 20 years before I heard the album as a whole, it doesn’t resonate with me as well as an album that I first listened to in its entirety. The strongest example here is Led Zeppelin 2, which I can barely stand to listen to. And the biggest exception is the number-one album on my list, Dark Side of the Moon.
1 Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
2 David Bowie – Heroes
3 Beatles – White Album
4 REM – Murmur
5 The Doors – Eponymous
6 Kate Bush – The Hounds of Love
7 Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
8 Beatles – Abbey Road
9 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin 1
10 The Buggles – The Age of Plastic
11 David Bowie – Bowie at the Beeb
12 Pink Floyd – The Wall
13 Michael Jackson – Thriller
14 David Bowie – Low
15 Radiohead – OK Computer
16 Derek and the Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
17 The Doors – Strange Days
18 Nirvana – Incesticide
19 Tears for Fears – Songs From the Big Chair
20 David Bowie – Station to Station
21 Laurie Anderson – Big Science
22 AC/DC – Back in Black
23 Police – Synchronicity
24 Motley Crue – Dr. Feelgood
25 The Smiths – Eponymous
26 Kate Bush – The Dreaming
27 Sting – Dream of the Blue Turtles
28 Massive Attack – Mezzanine
29 The Smiths – Meat is Murder
30 The Best of James Bond: 30th Anniversary
31 Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's, Vol. 5
32 Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
33 Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman
34 Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
35 Radiohead – Kid A
36 REM – Out of Time
37 Culture Club – Colour By Numbers
38 Devo – Freedom of Choice
39 Bjork – Post
40 George Michael – Faith
41 Genesis – Invisible Touches
42 Tubeway Army – Replicas
43 Joy Askew – Tender City
44 Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
45 Dwight Yoakum – Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc, Etc
46 Joe Jackson – Night and Day
47 Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack
48 Butterflies – Bored Room
49 Ice Cube – Death Certificate
50 Weird Al Yankovich – Dare to Be Stupid
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