# Top ten favorite albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716 "2007-03-05T19:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/41 "2007-03-07T08:04:50Z")
> [@Autumn Almanac](#): > > Everclear - Sparkle + Fade > [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy > [@straun](#): > > My Blood Valentine - Loveless > [@interfacex2](#): > > Depeche Mode - Violater Yup, yup, yup + yup. I’ll also add Tool - Ænima, Interpol - Antics, and Popa Chubby - One Hundred Broken Guitars to my list of personal favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/42 "2007-03-07T12:23:54Z")
Some I’ve not seen mentioned yet: Underwater Moonlight - The Soft Boys Remember - Doll by Doll (now coming out on CD after 25+ years hooray!) Barrett - Syd Barrett International Velvet - Catatonia And the usual suspects: Rubber Soul - that band from Liverpool Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd Physical Graffiti - Zeppelin Who’s Next - The Who. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/43 "2007-03-07T16:54:02Z")
1. Radoihead - OK Computer 2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon 3. Radiohead - Kid A 4. Pulp - Different Class 5. Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin 6. Tripping Daisy - I am an Elastic Firecracker 7. Sigur Ros - ( ) 8. The Shins - Chutes too Narrow 9. Syd Barett - (culmination of solo work) 10. Air - Moon Safari ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/44 "2007-03-07T17:21:31Z")
I did the “100 albums” thread first, but I changed it around a bit for this (to only have one album per artist). 1. Universal Hall Pass - Mercury 2. Venus Hum - Big Beautiful Sky 3. The Decemberists - Picaresque 4. Splashdown - Blueshift 5. Piñataland - Songs for the Forgotten Future, vol. 1 6. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha 7. Barenaked Ladies - Gordon 8. Bruno Pelletier - D’autres rives 9. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman’s Woman 10. Laura Veirs - Year of Meteors (yes, I know #6 doesn’t come out legally until later this month; I promise I really will buy it when it does. And #4 was never actually released, I don’t think.) ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/45 "2007-03-07T17:38:52Z")
_Poses_ - Rufus Wainwright _from the choirgirl hotel_ - Tori Amos _Soviet Kitsch_ - Regina Spektor _Tidal_ - Fiona Apple _For Adeline_ - Adrianne _Cobblestone Runway_ - Ron Sexsmith _3121_ - Prince _More Adventurous_ - Rilo Kiley _Tragic Kingdom_ - No Doubt _God Shuffled His Feet_ - Crash Test Dummies Probably not entirely accurate, but I feel like that’s what I’d take if I had to leave today. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/46 "2007-03-07T18:01:32Z")
Mine also change regularly, but these are a safe bet to make it and echo what a lot of folks have already shared: 1. Beatles - Revolver 2. Rolling Stones - Exile (my favorite Stones song is Can’t you Hear me Knockin’ of Sticky Fingers, but Exile is the better album…) 3. Prince - Sign O’ the Times 4. David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 5. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti - for Kashmir alone, but solid throughout 6. The Ramones - Ramones 7. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On 8. Jeff Beck - Truth - some of the best lead guitar work anywhere 9. AC/DC - Highway to Hell 10. Big Star - Radio City (for Mod Lang, Back of Car, She’s a Mover and September Gurls - man, what a great run of songs…) There are so many categories I don’t access with this - jazz, older blues, classical, harder rock stuff, let alone metal. Aerosmith Rocks is fighting for a place on this list, next to Social Distortion, Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, and so many others… ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/47 "2007-03-07T18:08:49Z")
Standard jive about how it’s tough to really put all your musical likes and loves into a list only 10 slots long. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin The Format - Dog Problems The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Bright Eyes - Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things Tilly & the Wall - Wild Like Children The Fugees - The Score The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Subject to change in, oh, three minutes 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/48 "2007-03-07T18:20:49Z")
Rush - 2112 Pink Floyd - The Wall Collective Soul - Collective Soul Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears Ugly Kid Joe - America’s Least Wanted Allman Brothers - Where It All Begins Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run Sister Hazel - Somewhere More Familiar Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/49 "2007-03-07T19:09:07Z")
Hard to narrow down without using mostly all **Queen** albums,but I will only include **Queen II** **Queen** -_News of the World_ **Queen** -_A Day at the Races_ Others include **Wall of Voodoo** -_Seven Days in Sammystown_ **Marillion** -_Fugazi_ **Marty Robbins** -_Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs_ **Pink Floyd** -_The Final Cut_ (hard to chose a top Floyd album,but this is my current favorite) **O Brother Where Art Thou** -_Soundtrack_ **Blue Oyster Cult** -_Fire of Unknown Origin_ **John Denver** -_Greatest Hits_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/50 "2007-03-07T21:09:38Z")
My list is a bit canonical in parts, but a lot of these records are a part of the critical canon for a reason. And I’ve just narrowed this to rock records, otherwise, I’d have records like _Kind of Blue_, _Three Feet High and Rising_, _Criminal Minded_, etc. probably somewhere in there. 1. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys 2. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine 3. Revolver - The Beatles 4. Chairs Missing - Wire 5. London Calling - The Clash 6. Oddessey and Oracle - The Zombies 7. OK Computer - Radiohead 8. The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks 9. Entertainment! - Gang of Four 10. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin Huh. I never noticed that. I’m always defending modern music and how there’s still plenty of great stuff out there, and yet there’s only two albums (Loveless and OK Computer–I’m sure many would argue Kid A the better record, but I just don’t really like Kid A) listed made in the last two decades on my list. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/51 "2007-03-07T21:15:36Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] 1. The Magnetic Fields - _69 Love Songs_ - I can honestly say with full conviction that Stephin Merritt is the greatest living songwriter and that these are his best songs. [/quote] Speaking of Stephin Merritt, have you seen this recent interview with him]([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ob9TJueBQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soundopinions.com%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D9946%26hl%3D](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ob9TJueBQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esoundopinions%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fshowtopic%3D9946%26hl%3D)). Just cracks me up. What an awkward interview. 🙂 But, yeah, I could definitely get behind 69 Love Songs. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/52 "2007-03-08T00:27:45Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Huh. I never noticed that. I’m always defending modern music and how there’s still plenty of great stuff out there, and yet there’s only two albums (Loveless and OK Computer–I’m sure many would argue Kid A the better record, but I just don’t really like Kid A) listed made in the last two decades on my list. [/QUOTE] Almost the same fir my list (post #36). The thing is, I hesitate to call anything a real favourite until it’s had a chance to properly ferment. If I can still return to an album several years after I first heard it and still get my groove on, then I’ll think about adding it to the list of personal classics. Looking back, I see that Neko Case’s _Blacklisted_ and Sex Mob are the only ones recorded after 2000. That said, my recent listening time has been almost entirely devoted modern indie pop/rock like Destroyer, Olivia Tremor Control, Apples In Stereo, Broken Social Scene, The Shins, Spoon, OOIOO, and The Constantines. Right now, any of those could have easily made my list, but they’re just too new to me and I want to see if they grow with me or whether I’ll eventually leave them behind. -Hodge (feeling guilty for leaving out Wilco’s _Summerteeth_) ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/53 "2007-03-08T19:37:24Z")
In no particular order and subject to change before I brush my teeth/finish this post/exhale… Radiohead - OK Computer Elliott Smith - XO Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs The Guitar Trio - Friday Night in San Francisco The Beatles - Abbey Road Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Led Zeppelin I Jeff Buckley - Grace Paul Simon - Graceland The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/54 "2007-03-08T19:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Speaking of Stephin Merritt, have you seen this recent interview with him]([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ob9TJueBQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soundopinions.com%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D9946%26hl%3D](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ob9TJueBQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esoundopinions%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fshowtopic%3D9946%26hl%3D)). Just cracks me up. What an awkward interview. 🙂 But, yeah, I could definitely get behind 69 Love Songs. [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, that’s already legendary among his hardcore fans. The thing about Stephin, if you’ve met him, is that’s _how he really is all of the time_. I think a lot of people think he’s putting them on. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/55 "2007-03-08T19:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] Oh yeah, that’s already legendary among his hardcore fans. The thing about Stephin, if you’ve met him, is that’s _how he really is all of the time_. I think a lot of people think he’s putting them on. [/QUOTE] I could believe it. His voice certainly goes with that persona, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Webner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Webner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Webner)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/56 "2007-03-08T20:07:24Z")
Oh boy, I love making these lists. At the moment (subject to change within a few months): **Kraftwerk** - _Minimum-Maximum_ - highlights from their 2003 tour, great remixes of most of their best songs **Prince** - _1999_ - My favorite Prince album. “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” in particular has never received the attention or respect it deserves. **Tangerine Dream** - _Dream Sequence_ - Their greatest hits. **Pink Floyd** - _The Wall_ - I hesitated to put this on here because I think it has many flawed tracks, but I’ve been listening to it and enjoying it too much lately not to. **Stereolab** - _Oscillons from the Anti-Sun_ - Every song on this greatest-hits collection is great. **Lindstrom** - _It’s a Feedelity Affair_ - I am honestly, sincerely amazed this electronic artist doesn’t receive more recognition. His allmusic artist page length to quality of music ratio has to be the lowest of all time. **The Who** - _Tommy_ - Sort of like the wall, there’re a lot of low-quality tracks, but ones like “Overture” and “We’re not Gonna Take It” make up for them. **The Beatles** - _Rubber Soul_ - This album will be on every top-ten albums list I ever make in my life. That’s all I have to say. **Brian Eno** - _Another Green World_ - Great album from beginning to end. “Everything Merges with the Night” is the highlight. **The Cars** - _Candy-O_ - I had trouble thinking of a tenth one, but this albums deserves to be here. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/57 "2007-03-08T20:53:52Z")
Somewhat in order: **Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black** My favorite album of all time, and the best album of one of my favorite bands… No-brainer. **Opeth - Still Life** The best album by my other favorite band… another no-brainer. **Anathema - Judgment** Absolutely the most brilliant single work I’ve ever heard. **Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness** Absolutely brilliant, still gives me chills. Probably the greatest prog rock/metal album I’ve ever heard. **Antestor - Martyrium** Greatest [Christian] black metal album ever!? **Iced Earth - Alive In Athens [3 disc set]** Am I cheating by taking a 3-cd set? I can’t say I love any one of their albums enough to bring it, but if I can get all of their best stuff in one set? Absolutely. **Ayreon - Human Equation** More cheating, it’s a two disc set, but it’s great and encapsulates an entire sub-genre. **Empyrium - Weiland** The best in acoustic folk music; indispensible. **Novembers Doom - The Pale Haunt Departure** Perhaps the greatest pure Doom album I’ve ever heard. **Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors** Absolutely the second most brilliant single work I’ve ever heard. Ones that I wish I could take, but just don’t have the room for **Extol - Synergy** Nothing particularly special about this one per say, I just love every track on it. **Spock’s Beard - Octane** A moving prog-rock album… damn, I wish I had room for this one too. **My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans** I’m very disappointed I didn’t have room for this, but I decided against it because even though “Turn Loose the Swans” is probably the greatest single Doom song ever written, I don’t like the entire album enough on it’s own to outway “The Pale Haunt Departure”. **Shape of Despair - Angels of Distress** Much the same with TLtS. Some amazing tracks, but there are some weak points, that make it not as good as TPHD. Further, it is only listenable in certain moods. **Nightwish - Once** I absolutely love this album, but I just can’t justify putting it above anything I included. **Rhapsody - Power of the Dragonflame** As much as I love this album and as much as I love power metal, it just gets a little repitious over time, so it just doesn’t have the replay value to the point where I could make it one of only ten albums. …okay, I’ll stop listing ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/58 "2007-03-08T23:36:14Z")
My favorite albums are all 60s and 70s folk/folk rock: Unhalfbricking - Fairport Convention Liege and Lief - Fairport Convention Hark! The Village Wait - Steeleye Span Below the Salt - Steeleye Span Now We Are Six - Steeleye Span No Roses - Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band Battle of the Field - The Albion Country Band Fotheringay - Fotheringay Planxty - Planxty Best of the Bothy Band - Bothy Band Getting into the more popular stuff: Revolver - The Beatles Rubber Soul - The Beatles Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones Kinks Kronikles - The Kinks Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy - The Who Led Zeppelin (IV) - Led Zeppelin Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen Tea for the Tillerman - Cat Stevens And then there’s Richard Thompson, who’s a class all by himself. Of his albums, I don’t think I could survive without “Henry the Human Fly” and “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight.” ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/59 "2007-03-08T23:54:36Z")
1. Radiohead - OK Computer 2. Arcade Fire - Funeral 3. The Clash - London Calling 4. The Wrens - The Meadowlands 5. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People 6. Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift For You 7. Prince - Purple Rain 8. Girl Talk - Night Ripper 9. The Beatles - Revolver 10. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin The problem is that this list leaves out a lot of _singles_ I would hate to live without hearing, like Good Vibrations, Born To Run, Be My Baby, and many, many others. If I were off to a desert island, I’d actually be more likely to burn 5 compilation CDs of my favorite songs and pick 5 albums from the list above. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716/60 "2007-03-09T00:15:21Z")
**kelly5078** … **you** I could hang with! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-favorite-albums/394716.md?page=4)