This may have been posted before, I’m not sure (and if there’s a way to find out, please enlighten me), but quick! Before you think twice! What is, in your opinion, the best album you’ve ever heard?
Without knowing what sort of music you’re into makes suggesting new stuff difficult.
Unless of course you’re just a fan of music and enjoy listening to it for it’s own sake, rather than adhering to specific genres.
With that possibility under advisement, and assuming (hopefully incorrectly) that your current library consists of nothing but commercially acceptable bands who’re played to death, I offer some alternatives considered a bit more independent (album suggestions are my personal favorites of the possibilities, not necessarily the best):
Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Power Milk
Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
Sigur Ros - []
Built to Spill - Keep it Like a Secret
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Picking one album as the best is troublesome, for me at least, because that assignment tends to change according to my mood and what I’m listening to at the time.
That’s enough to get you started. Covers a fairly broad spectrum of music. Hope it helps 
Please give us some impression of your musical tastes and current listening habits.
I’ll suggest Genesis. If you like Peter Gabriel, try* Selling England By the Pound.* If you’d rather hear Phil Collins, try A Trick of The Tail.
These cds are both in print.
Hot Rats and The Grand Wazoo by Frank Zappa
Anything by Medeski Martin and Wood.
I can’t help you if you’re looking for Death Metal Speed Punk. Or Country. Or Opera. Or Jazz. Or Blues. Or Caberet. Or Show Tunes. Or Barbershop. Or Grunge. Or Folk. Or Rap. Or Hip-Hop. Or Classical. Or Folk. (what are you looking for anyway?)
Do you like female vocalists, along the lines of Kate “no relation” Bush, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan? If so, I’d recommend Happy Rhodes, an indie singer/songwriter/musician with 11 albums and an amazing voice. I keep a Samples page at http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples if you (or anyone) wants to check out a few of her songs.
I do a podcast featuring female vocals in the ecto/modern rock/alternative/cracked folkish-type genres. You can listen to samples before you check out the whole shows at http://suspended-in-gaffa.com
I recommend this site. You can search for bands or artists you like, and it will show you, graphically, other groups that are similar.
To answer this specific question, I wouldn’t presume to say anything is the best, but my favorite album of all time is Kate Bush’s The Dreaming, followed closely by Peter Gabriel’s 3rd album (also known as Security).
Damn, I meant to say Peter Gbriel’s 4th album (Security), although the 3rd is my 2nd favorite album by him.
Sigh
The best album ever recorded is The Shape Of Punk To Come by Refused.
A close second is Combat Rock by The Clash.
Notable mention is dubnobasswithmyheadman by Underworld.
Obviously previous posters have not heard of Tapestry by Carole King. 
Blur - Parklife (or 13)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
The Vandals - Hitler Bad Vandals Good
The Clash - Sandinista!
Yo La Tengo -* I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One*
Air - Moon Safari
Stereolab - Cobra & Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Sky
Pet Shop Boys - Very
Esthero - Breath From Another
deep breath
Nah, that’s it, I’d have to go look. Those are off the top of my head.
:smack:
Beat me to it. Ah, well, there you go, two recommendations for that one. 
The Best album I’ve ever heard?
There are a few.
One of them is Abbey Road, by the Beetles. I wouldn’t call this an album so much as an experience - it’s like a musical adventure that tells some kind of strange story. Once, I started telling my friend, completely out of nowhere, that the transition between “You Never Give Me Your Money” and “Sun King” was supposed to remind the listener of walking from a crowded party into the house’s backyard. I said, “ok…you’re walking out of the party…you’re out on the porch…you’re walking into the backyard” as the noisy fade-out of "one two three four five six seven, all good children go to heaven " was overtaken by the soft chirping of crickets and the sound of wind chimes (which the ‘protagonist’ of the song was obviously brushing against as he stepped out onto the porch, I claimed…then that little octave-jump bass intro to “Sun King” comes on, and I just felt this feeling of intense relaxation sweep over me…ok, I was high!
You can’t have an experience like that with any album except for Abbey Road.
Yes, I’m obsessed with the beatles. Sue me!
Orchestra Baobab, Pirate’s Choice. A Senegalese band playing Cuban dance music, with one of the best sax players in the history of music doing his thang.
Some favorites:
Tom Waits - Nighthawks At the Diner
The Clash - London Calling
The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
Portishead - Dummy
Neko Case - Blacklisted
The Cure - Disintegration
Smeghead - Wow. :eek: Brilliant site. Thank you much.
Soulmurk and Equipoise - Apologies. My post was misleading, I mentioned that I was looking for recommendations but I didn’t actually want anyone trying to fit what I already listen to. So I just asked for others’ favorites. Sorry for any confusion.
For anyone wondering, I’m mainly into alternative/experimental artists. Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, Plastikman, and Rasputina are a few recognizable ones. I try not to hold anything against Commercially Acceptable Bands just by their nature, but in general they annoy me. The Postal Service, The Arcade Fire and Nine Inch Nails being the big exceptions.
And a gracious 
to everyone who took the time.
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
I was going to recommend this one to begin with, but since I read your last post I’m doubly recommending it. If you’re into alternative and experimental music and you haven’t heard this album, you’re missing out on a major album of the '90s.
Wow, Yo La Tengo fans! This thread is really shaping up to be good.
I’ll list only one album by my favorite bands/artists to make things easier. This will be really hard in some cases.
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Beatles - Revolver
Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Cure - Staring at the Sea: The Singles
The Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
Depeche Mode - Violator
Dinosaur Jr. - You’re Living All Over Me
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Johnny Cash - At San Quentin
Joy Division - Substance
Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Radiohead - Amnesiac
The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One