Now I have to know. Anyone who is interested, please list your ten favorite albums of all time in this thread. A few requests:
We assume innocence on the part of all posters - this is not a pissing contest. I want you to be honest, and I don’t want you to be accused by others of posturing.
This ain’t the Pit, so if you think someone else’s choice sucks, try to frame it as something more like “Why that one?” than "That sucks!"I promise to be good.
All lists are subject to revision at any time. We all know how capricious these lists can be.
I hope you all believe me this time when I say I’m genuinely curious, and uninterested in criticizing anyone else’s choices. That said, my list as it stands now:
…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
Hum - Downward Is Heavenward
bis - This Is Teen-C Power!
Shudder to Think - Pony Express Record
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
blink182 - Enema of the State
My Bloody Valentine - Tremolo EP
The Spinanes - Strand
Note: After the top 3, the order gets a little shaky, but I think it’s a good start.
Spirit – 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Blood, Sweat, and Tears – Child is Father to the Man
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross – The Hottest New Group in Jazz
The Youngbloods – Elephant Mountain
Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die
It’s a Beautiful Day
Flash and the Pan
Lyle Lovett – Live in Texas
(At the moment. On other days, things would be different.)
I’ll just post what I posted in the thread from two months ago:
My top 10:
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Those two are pretty much immutable for me. Everything below is in constant flux. I’ve had the Zombies, X-Ray Spex, Radiohead, and the Pixies make the list, but they get shuffled in and out depending on my mood.
The problem with a Top 10 list is that, for me, about 8 of them would be Beatles albums. So I’m going to leave the Beatles out entirely and give a list of my favorite 10 non-Beatles LPs which I created back in 1993. It’s still valid, as each of these has major personal meaning for me from way back. As others have said, there’s easily another 10 or 20 that could displace these on any given day, but it’s a reasonable approximation. I list them in alphabetical order.
David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust…
Cream: Disraeli Gears
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
It’s a Beautiful Day: It’s a Beautiful Day
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
Jethro Tull: Stand Up
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Who: Tommy
A lot of great albums have fallen off my list simply because I’ve heard them too many times- that’s why ***Who’s Next ***(which was #1 on my list for many years) isn’t here. That said, I envy the kid who hears ***Who’s Next *** (or Disraeli Gears or Back in Black or Led Zeppelin II) for the first time.
Aerosmith -*** Rocks***
Beatles -Revolver
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory
Deep Purple - In Rock
Dire Straits - Making Movies
Dubliners- A Drop of the Hard Stuff
Enya - Watermark Fiddler on the Roof Soundtrack (original Broadway cast) The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Small Faces - Ogden’s Nutgone Flake
Yes - Close to the Edge
The Allman Brothers Band
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Jeff Beck - Truth
Blood, Sweat, and Tears – Child is Father to the Man (Excellent call, Reality Chuck!)
Steve Earle – El Corazon
Procol Harum – A Salty Dog
Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet
Paul Simon - Graceland
Thunderclap Newman – Hollywood Dream
Warren Zevon – Sentimental Hygiene
Check back with me in a half-hour or so and the list will have changed!
In no particular order, and the answer could be very different on a different day! Also, I’m consciously limiting it to rock-ish albums; couldn’t really find an adequate way to directly compare jazz and other stuff.
Get Happy! - Elvis Costello & the Attractions Let it Bleed - Rolling Stones Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement Marquee Moon - Television Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground Revolver - Beatles What Is?! - King Khan and the Shrines Double Nickels on the Dime - Minutemen Cure for Pain - Morphine Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
(What?? No Pixies? Bowie? Kinks? Replacements??? This list is terribly flawed and I just made the damn thing!)
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
John Zorn - Kristallnacht
Girls Aloud - Chemistry
Bjork - Homogenic
Natalie Imbruglia - Left of the Middle
DJ Spooky - Riddim Warfare
Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
Meg & Dia - Here, Here and Here
Natural Born Killers Soundtrack
Astor Piazzolla – Tango: Zero Hour
The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Roots to Branches – Jethro Tull
Songs from the Wood – Jethro Tull
Sweet Warrior – Richard Thompson
Disraeli Gears – Cream
Sugar Tree – The Franc Graham Band
Something There – Michael Mantler
The Division Bell – Pink Floyd
We Want Miles – Miles Davis
In no particular order and subject to change upon reflection: Thunder Perfect Mind- Current 93 Cosmologamma- Lunar Abyss Quartet Who Can I Turn to Stereo- Nurse With Wound Force the Hand of Chance- Psychic TV Not Available- The Residents Illness of Green Color- Bardoseneticcube Songs for Swinging Larvae- Renaldo & The Loaf Music to Play in the Dark Vol. 1- Coil Escape From Noise- Negativland Greatest Hits- Throbbing Gristle
Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Nirvana - Nevermind
Johnny Cash - Live at Folsom Prison
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Led Zeppelin - IV
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Mmm, probably changed since the last time I did this, so here goes (no particular order)
Isn’t Anything -** My Bloody Valentine**
Various Failures - Swans
Century Flower - Shelleyan Orphan
MTV Unplugged - 10,000 Maniacs
Aion - Dead Can Dance
Psychocandy - Jesus and Mary Chain
Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
No Angel -** Dido**
Talking With The Taxman About Poetry - Billy Bragg
L’Eau Rouge -** The Young Gods**
Honourable mentions should go to Siouxie & the Banshees’ Hyæna, Hole by Jim Thirwell (as Scraping Foetus off The Wheel**), Aloha Sayonara by the** Honolulu Mountain Daffodils**, Victorialand by Cocteau Twins and The Smiths’ Meat is Murder
Wow this is hard, and subject to change from one hour to the next. I feel like it’s cheating to include “Greatest Hits” albums, so I won’t.
U2 - Achtung Baby
The Beatles - The White Album
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Led Zeppelin - IV
Bob Seger - Live Bullet
Pearl Jam - Ten
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction