I’ll nominate Layla (and other assorted love songs) by Derek and the Dominos.
I’d thought for sure that Nevermind, We’re Only In It For the Money, Never Mind the Bollocks…, and OK Computer were sure to be mentioned by now! As soon as a contrarian comes in and nominates Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (or maybe Mirror Man), the circle will be complete. :dubious: 
The Stooges Fun House is the greatest pure rock record of all time.
I was thinking of that. Certainly one of the greats, but no way does it beat out Abbey Road, Dark Side, and Zep IV.
Parts of Abbey Road seem too poppy, though. Octopus’s Garden? Here Comes the Sun?
This, along with VU and Nico, Are You Experienced, and Marquee Moon (all mentioned above), I can really get behind. And their first album isn’t too shabby either. Certainly far better than any LP that fellow Detroiters the MC5 ever cut.
The first three that popped into my head:
AC/DC – Back in Black.
Led Zep – IV
G n f’n R – Appetite for Destruction
Depends on your definition of “rock”.
Even though some would say they don’t really “rock”, the one album not mentioned yet that’s at the top of my list would be Steely Dan 's Katy Lied .
In your more conventional rock genre:
Quadrophenia – While Who’s Next is truly a magnificent effort, nothing starts my head a-shakin’ like “The Real Me”.
Dark Side of the Moon – goes without saying.
Rocket to Russia – No love yet for The Ramones ? Their influence cannot be dismissed. Although Road to Ruin is probably better from a technical standpoint, Rocket launched punk into the mainstream consciousness (at least I think so-YMMV.)
Every Picture Tells a Story – Wore this one out when I was a teenager and still love it today! Rock on, Rod !
War – I am shocked (shocked!) that no one has mentioned U2 yet!
As far as The Beatles are concerned, being a huge fan, there’s just too much excellence in their body of work to choose one album, but if I had to, I’d go with Abbey Road .
Zeppelin IV, without doubt.
I’ll add my name to the London Calling list as #1. I’ll also add U2 The Joshua Tree to the others on the list of contenders.
Over in the Fuddrucker’s thread, Trunk posted something I kind of agree with, and I would alter it slightly to apply to music:
The day I agree that a bunch of magpies like Led Zeppelin made the ‘best rock album ever’ is the day that I agree that Fuddrucker’s makes the best burger in the world. :eek: (although judging from Trunk’s response below, he might not agree 
)
But for what it’s worth, and to perhaps stir up a little discussion, I would say that as far as mainstream artists go, David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World rocks harder and heavier, and is more of a mindf*ck, than pretty much anything Zeppelin ever did. And this comes from someone who likes LZ and has all their albums. I just don’t think they’re on the same level as, say, Black Sabbath, whose first five albums IMHO also put LZ in the shade.
Of course, it’s all subjective…
All of my contenders but one have been named already.
George Harrison, All Things Must Pass.
It isn’t exactly rock n’ roll, but whatever it is, it’s great.
I was born after Led Zep and the Beatles, so my personal pick has to be Nevermind
I think that, in general, you have Nirvana people and Pearl Jam people, and while I’m not a fan (at all) of Pearl Jam, I do respect their contribution to getting the 80’s hair metal off the airwaves, but it takes “Even Flow”; “Alive”; and “Jeremy” all combined to even approach what “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is alone. I can’t speak for the Pearl Jam album as a whole, because I’ve never listened to the non-single tracks, but there really isn’t a bad song on Nirvana’s album. There are some that I generally skip when I listen to In Utero but none that I skip on Nevermind.
Oddly, I don’t think Nevermind is Nirvana’s best work, though. Their genius album was Unplugged.
Obviously, the above is all MHO.
I’ll stay away from my usual nomination of British folk-rock for this thread.
Most of the best have already been mentioned, but I’d have to include The Byrds, probably “Younger Than Yesterday” or “Greatest Hits.”
Also, “Live at Yankee Stadium” by NRBQ.
And “Benefit” and “Thick as a Brick” by Jethro Tull.
And with all the mentions of “Abbey Road” and “Revolver” (the latter of which I love; the former not so much), how about “Rubber Soul?”
Why? Fairport, Davy Graham, Forest, ISB, Trees and Comus need love too! Especially Comus–evil, dark Comus…
For the Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday is a real nice choice. Even though a lot of folks will try to push *Sweetheart of the Rodeo *(which is good and all), to me *The Notorious Byrd Brothers *has to top the list, thanks in no small part to Gary usher.
I’m with you on Abbey Road. It’s just not as good as their best, which to me are Revolver, A Hard Day’s Night, Rubber Soul, and Please Please Me (in pretty much that order).
Mmmmmm . . . Thick as a Brick is one of my all-time favorites.
pops it in the CD player
I know it’s been said already, but there are so many genres that have their genesis in “rock and roll,” that it’s pretty hard to come up with the best.
In the prog category, I would definitely nominate The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis as #1.