Greatest albums of all time

[Prospero]

Over the weekend one of the BBC music stations, radio two, devoted hours to a countdown of what listeners had voted to be the "best albums of all time." Pretty controversial choice and surely influenced by your age and generation.

What would you have chosen as your top three maybe - and what is sorely missing from the list. Oh and why?

The Top 100 Favourite Albums in full:
1 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
2 Keane - Hopes & Fears
3 Duran Duran - Rio
4 Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
5 Dido - No Angel
6 The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
7 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
8 The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
9 U2 - The Joshua Tree
10 Queen - A Night At The Opera
11 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
12 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
13 The Police - Synchronicity
14 Madonna - True Blue
15 James Blunt - Back To Bedlam
16 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
17 Adele - 21
18 Oasis - Definitely Maybe
19 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
20 George Michael - Faith
21 Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
22 Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue
23 Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
24 Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
25 Kylie Minogue - Fever
26 Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
27 Michael Jackson - Thriller
28 Paul Simon - Graceland
29 Billy Joel - An Innocent Man
30 Kinks - The Kinks
31 Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
32 Pulp - Different Class
33 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
34 Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life
35 Take That - Beautiful World
36 Blondie - Parallel Lines
37 ABBA - Arrival
38 Prince - Purple Rain
39 The Eagles - Hotel California
40 The Human League - Dare
41 Supertramp - Breakfast In America
42 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
43 Wings - Band On The Run
44 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
45 Joni Mitchell - Blue
46 Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
47 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
48 Robbie Williams - I've Been Expecting You
49 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
50 Neil Young - Harvest
51 Carole King - Tapestry
52 The Verve - Urban Hymns
53 Celine Dion - Falling Into You
54 The Who - Tommy
55 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
56 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
57 Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
58 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus
59 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
60 Gerry Rafferty - City To City
61 David Bowie - Let's Dance
62 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu
63 Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
64 Roxy Music - Flesh and Blood
65 Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill
66 Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
67 David Gray - White Ladder
68 Bryan Adams - Reckless
69 Neil Diamond - Beautiful Noise
70 Phil Collins - Face Value
71 Genesis - Invisible Touch
72 Barbra Streisand - Guilty
73 Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
74 Simply Red - Stars
75 Van Morrison - Avalon Sunset
76 Rod Stewart - Atlantic Crossing
77 Sade - Diamond Life
78 Buddy Holly & The Crickets - The Chirping Crickets
79 Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
80 Michael Bublé - Crazy Love
81 Shania Twain - Come On Over
82 Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events
83 Elvis Presley - Moody Blue
84 Bee Gees - Spirits Having Flown
85 Eric Clapton - Slowhand
86 The Pretenders - The Pretenders
87 Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
88 The Carpenters - A Song For You
89 John Lennon - Double Fantasy
90 Don McLean - American Pie
91 Chic - C'est Chic
92 Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
93 Daryl Hall & John Oates - Private Eyes
94 Earth, Wind & Fire - I Am
95 The Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute
96 Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down
97 Diana Ross - Diana
98 Paul McCartney - Pipes Of Peace
99 Dionne Warwick - Heartbreaker
100 Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer

[ralyear56]

Led Zeppelin 4 followed by Dark side of the Moon.

[Prospero]

For me the paucity of Dylan is a severe omission.. plus no Tom Waits. And only one Beatles album. And where are the great soul singers - like Aretha or Otis?

And I cannot beleive so many people love the whiney dirgy songs of Coldplay. But, there we are....

[BalconyMan]

Rainbow - Rising and their 1977 live album On Stage is definately missing :)
Why? They are deep, timeless and extremely melodical.

[DrinksMcGee]

Frank zappa- overnight sensation
The residents- commercial album
Meatloaf- bat out of hell
Kraftwerk- radioactivity
Celtic frost- to mega therion

Those are the top five for me

[Prospero]

Never heard of celtic frost - but will check them out

Two Springsteen albums that I'dlike to have seen in there "The Rising" and "The River" plus only one Joni Mitchell?

[DrinksMcGee]

Never heard of celtic frost - but will check them out

Two Springsteen albums that I'dlike to have seen in there "The Rising" and "The River" plus no Joni Mitchell?


Yeah they're not like the other 4 on my list

[robertlouis]

That's the easy listening maybe the lazy listening top 100. No Revolver, Rubber Soul or the White Album. One Joni Mitchell, One Dylan. Nothing from The Band.

And Dido - DIDO! - in the top five. It's bollocks. Predictable, but bollocks nevertheless.

[Prospero]

Youdon't care for that music then RL? Don't hold back....

well it is Radio 2 which means middle class, early middle aged and white...

if I did a top 100 - impossible - it would have very few of those albums on it. It would have folk, jazz and classical and the order would be damn nigh impossible.

[robertlouis]

Youdon't care for that music then RL? Don't hold back....

well it is Radio 2 which means middle class, early middle aged and white...

if I did a top 100 - impossible - it would have very few of those albums on it. It would have folk, jazz and classical and the order would be damn nigh impossible.

Spot on. No Doors, no Forever Changes and the only Neil Young is the maudlin Harvest, only one Springsteen ( though it is the best).....

Agree with you about broadening the definition. Mine would probably be about 50% classical. I've recently acquired a new collection of Mahler's Symphonies conducted by the mercurial and often brilliant Ghergiev. Wonderful interpretations, especially the sweepingly melancholy 9th and a version of the often turgid 8th which makes it live anew.

And I would also have Schubert's String Quintet, Sibelius 5th by Rattle and his 7th by Ashkenazy. Quite a lot of Beethoven, and just as much Shostakovitch, a smidgin of Vaughan Williams and a ton of Brahms. Plus a lot of oratorio. Of the modernists, only Ives and Stravinsky. My ears just can't tune into wilful cacophony.

[The Piper]

Duran Duran - Rio...............:bs:

[buttslinger]

When I used to download music, I downloaded what I liked and damn the critics!!! But all in all, they are pretty close on rating quality of music.

[Dino Velvet]

First Black Sabbath album

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Full Album) 1970 HQ - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4m79oGDT_I)

[Dino Velvet]

Dio - Holy Diver (full album, 1983) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kO6FVqeoW8)

[Dino Velvet]

Judas Priest - British Steel (full album) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvlZA6syO-U)

[Dino Velvet]

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (Original 1982) + Bonus Tracks (Full Album) - HD - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXuACtVSZ8)

[Dino Velvet]

Motorhead - Ace of spades (Full album)1980 + Bonus tracks - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVecmhNYbuQ)

Motorhead - Classic Album Documentary (FULL) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnUOpIZwDC0)

[Dino Velvet]

RUSH -- 2112 -- 1976 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KUEy_LB0jQ)

[Dino Velvet]

SEPULTURA ( CHAOS A.D ) Album Full HQ 1993 Roadrunner - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJXT-8zRW68)

[Dino Velvet]

Deep Purple Machine Head 40th Anniversary (Full Album) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYmhamWgHo)

[Dino Velvet]

Slayer - Reign In Blood [Full Album] - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-5qMHaA5_0)

[Prospero]

I see that very few of your albums are on that list Dino.

But do teenagers even think in terms of albums these days? It's surely all downloads - so in the end it was always going to be slightly older listeners 9the station's demographic anyway) who took part in the poll.

[Dino Velvet]

I see that very few of your albums are on that list Dino.

But do teenagers even think in terms of albums these days? It's surely all downloads - so in the end it was always going to be slightly older listeners 9the station's demographic anyway) who took part in the poll.

Most of those type of lists are horribly incomplete. Hall & Oats is on that list. Was Let's Dance David Bowie's best album? Is ABBA better than David Bowie also??? Hope that list comes in two-ply.

I think people are more into individual songs than albums these days too.

[NightmareX0666]

Boston - Boston
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Rush - Moving Pictures
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Mr Bungle - Mr Bungle

[Merkurie]

Just got to say "Sgt Pepper's" is NOT the best Beatles album at all.
Coldplay? -- well that is just silly.
Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" -- Must be on any list of best albums of all time.
Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" is on the list but "Exile on Main Street" is not?
Mile Davis "Bitches Brew" -- creates a new genre of music but not on the list?

[NightmareX0666]

Just got to say "Sgt Pepper's" is NOT the best Beatles album at all.


Could have been worse...could have been talking about the movie.

[Nikka]

mine

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/edonis

:rock2

[Dino Velvet]

mine

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/edonis

:rock2

Nicole Montero's Edonis > Pink Floyd The Wall:rock2

[luvs2lick1385]

1. Are you Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
2. Riding With The King - BB King & Eric Clapton
3. Journeyman - Eric Clapton
4. Wheels on Fire - Cream
5. Led Zepplin 1

[Nikka]

Nicole Montero's Edonis > Pink Floyd The Wall:rock2

:rock2 :rock2

[speedking59]

Bad Brains - Bad Brains

[Prospero]

Nikka... a star!

[Jericho]

No Johnny Cash on the list...Wot fukkery is this?

[Prospero]

If everyone on this site compiled their own lists I'll warrant no other one person here would agree with everything on it. But yeah no Johnny Cash - and those last five albums he made were majestic.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

This is a thread that could NEVER accumulate a Top 100 List that everyone would agree upon!!!!

[stan.smith]

This is a thread that could NEVER accumulate a Top 100 List that everyone would agree upon!!!!

Is there ever a thread like that?! lol

[stan.smith]

Music is too vast to put down on a list.

[timid1]

Number 1 for me , Definitely Maybe, Oasis ...... Brilliant IMO . Saw them at Wembley , best concert I've been to.

[Willie Escalade]

No hip-hop albums = bullshit list.

These "greatest-of-all-time" lists are pure opinion.

[Stavros]

A question raised by the list is whether or not albums match the performing abilities of the recording acts -there is no doubt that the biggest acts of the last 60 years have been Presley, The Beatles, The Stones, Pink Floyd, Dylan, Michael Jackson and Madonna -it is hard to know if The Beatles were any good live because noone could hear them; the Stones were revealed as mediocre when you could hear them; Pink Floyd developed a 'concept show' that moved music out of the clubs to the detriment of rock music generally until the advent of Punk, so choosing albums doesn't necessarily privilege the same acts as performers, Dylan isn't much of a singer, for example, but has written some enduring songs, as is also true of Leonard Cohen. These lists are created for the most part by nostalgia rather than artistic merit. As is my own.


If one sets aside Jazz and Classical Music, my choice would not reflect any trends but merely the ones I still listen to with pleasure.

Leonard Cohen -The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen -Songs from a Room
Incredible String Band -The 5000 Spirits
Van Morrison -Astral Weeks
Bob Dylan -John Wesley Harding

What unites these albums is the quality of songwriting, because over time it is the songs that matter most.

[Dino Velvet]

No hip-hop albums = bullshit list.

Yeah, you're right. Where's the representation of that? I empathize as a Metalhead.

[Abartig]

Pyromania!

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 01)
http://youtu.be/d98UWiQi-Nw

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 02)
http://youtu.be/UYvkoIStSGw

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 03)
http://youtu.be/a0oI5BPx31A

Full Album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7PF-rrxsxU&list=PLLbzZ5FIKZYKn_kpXSAdzI72URkWpth_j&index=1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngQXAT3zBTI&playnext=1&list=PLLbzZ5FIKZYKn_kpXSAdzI72URkWpth_j&feature=results_main)

I've forgotten how to embed videos again, DOH!

******

Honorable Mention :) High 'N' Dry: http://youtu.be/qbUS4ZZYW3U (http://youtu.be/qbUS4ZZYW3U)

[Dino Velvet]

Pyromania!

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 01)
http://youtu.be/d98UWiQi-Nw

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 02)
http://youtu.be/UYvkoIStSGw

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (part 03)
http://youtu.be/a0oI5BPx31A

I've forgotten how to embed videos again, DOH!

When there is a locked symbol on the top left of the YouTube link I don't think it will work here. I Google the title of the video and click when I see it on the Google page.

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (Part 1) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d98UWiQi-Nw)

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (Part 2) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYvkoIStSGw)

Ultimate Albums: Pyromania (Part 3) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0oI5BPx31A)

[Abartig]

Thnx Dino :rock2

[Dino Velvet]

Thnx Dino :rock2

Not a problem. I never have trouble posting my videos anymore.

[Prospero]

That ISB album really is a neglected classic. And their best

Lists are pointless but fun

[EZWind]

Very interesting list from those BBC listeners. Must be something in the water over there cuz I don't get it. Coldplay #1 and Tommy #54? WTF?
And Clapton way down at #85, five spots below Michael Buble? That's just wrong. No Miles? No Allman Bros? No Cream?

My votes would have been:
1 Miles Davis Kind of Blue
2 Dylan Blonde on Blonde
3 Allman Bros Eat a Peach or Fillmore East
4The Dead weren't exactly an album making kinda band, but American Beauty and Workingman's were pretty dam good
5 Santana...whatever that first album was called

[EZWind]

Just got to say "Sgt Pepper's" is NOT the best Beatles album at all.

...maybe so, but when that thing came out it was so totally different from everything before it that it just blew everyone away....among the musicians as well as listeners...very influential


Coldplay? -- well that is just silly.
...you're right on about that


Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" -- Must be on any list of best albums of all time.

...who?


Mile Davis "Bitches Brew" -- creates a new genre of music but not on the list?
...amen to that, man....and don't forget Kind of Blue...I could listen to that any time of day any day of the week

[Jimmy W]

Nothing worse than the guy who wants to be obscure and interesting although he is in fact making a list, but after agreeing with most of the other posts, here are a couple of albums I like pretty much from track one to done:

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies
Bob Dylan - Desire
The Jam - The Gift
The Knitters - Poor Little Critter in the Road
Regina Spektor - Fidelity

[robertlouis]

A question raised by the list is whether or not albums match the performing abilities of the recording acts -there is no doubt that the biggest acts of the last 60 years have been Presley, The Beatles, The Stones, Pink Floyd, Dylan, Michael Jackson and Madonna -it is hard to know if The Beatles were any good live because noone could hear them; the Stones were revealed as mediocre when you could hear them; Pink Floyd developed a 'concept show' that moved music out of the clubs to the detriment of rock music generally until the advent of Punk, so choosing albums doesn't necessarily privilege the same acts as performers, Dylan isn't much of a singer, for example, but has written some enduring songs, as is also true of Leonard Cohen. These lists are created for the most part by nostalgia rather than artistic merit. As is my own.


If one sets aside Jazz and Classical Music, my choice would not reflect any trends but merely the ones I still listen to with pleasure.

Leonard Cohen -The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen -Songs from a Room
Incredible String Band -The 5000 Spirits
Van Morrison -Astral Weeks
Bob Dylan -John Wesley Harding

What unites these albums is the quality of songwriting, because over time it is the songs that matter most.

I like your criteria, Stavros, both in terms of listening pleasure and the delight in a well-crafted lyric, so in the most-played-and-still-listened-to category I would have The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell, Blood on the Tracks by Dylan, Still Crazy and Graceland by Paul Simon, Not Till Tomorrow by Ralph McTell, Homeless Brother by Don McLean, Country Life by Show of Hands (Steve Knightley), Ziggurat by Steve Tilston, Handful of Earth by Dick Gaughan, Let Me Paint You A Picture by Billy Bragg, King of America by Elvis Costello, Harmonograph by Boo Hewerdine, Late for the Sky by Jackson Browne, Nebraska by Springsteen, Faultlines by Karine Polwart, and The Back o' the North Wind by Brian MacNeill.

[Merkurie]

.

...who?

k

Just a couple of tracks off one of the groundbreaking albums in modern music. "It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back" 1988 Public Enemy
Public Enemy - "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos" - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jc9VeMC6rg)

Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause [HD] - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djuc0kg97yo)

Bring The Noise - Public Enemy ( Original Video ) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Jeyif7bB4)

Public Enemy - Night Of The Living Baseheads - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84ny5gj6nk)

[Idt20082008"]

I understand that lists can be made to start debate and can be influenced by personal preferences, however for me there are some serious issues with this one - and these might have been mentioned already but I didn't bother reading all the other responses. First, having Dido in front of most of these albums is silly, but in front of Sgt. Peppers is absurd as is Coldplay at #1. Second, Michael Buble is on here. Third, The Beach Boys Pet Sounds is much too low, and Who's Next isn't even on here. Forth, these seminal albums are not even on the list:

1. The Clash - London Calling
2. Nirvana - Nevermind
3. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Those three albums have had more impact on popular music and culture than most of those on the list

[hippifried]

In no particular order, & incomplete of couyrse:

Santana - Abraxas
Tim Buckley - Greetings from LA & Look at the Fool
David Bromberg - Wanted Dead or Alive
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow & After Bathing at Baxter's
Moody Blues - 7 album series from Days of Future Passed (1967) through 7th Sojourn (1972)
War - The World is a Ghetto
Rolling Stones - (trilogy) Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, & Sticky Fingers
Laura Nyro - The First Songs, Eli & the 13th Confession, New York Tendaberry
Jimi Hendrix - Have yet to grow weary of anything he did.
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow, Wired, Guitar Shop, Who Else, etc...
Joni Mitchell - Court & Spark , Hejira
Janis Ian - Between the Lines
The Beatles - Everybody knows the list. My personal faves are Rubber Soul & Abbey Road.
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool, Spain, Bitch's Brew
Orianthi - Violet Journey
Christina Aguilera - Stripped
Tal Wilkenfeld - Transition
Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen - Hot Licks, Cold Steel, & Trucker's Favorites
Firesign Theater - Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers

Okay, getting tired. There's more. But just for shits & giggles, since I'm pretty sure she doesn't have an album of her own out, I'm tossing in this single piece video of my latest musical amazement. This is viofiddlinist extraordinaire Ann Marie Calhoun, playing an original composition called "Bach or Whatever".
YTSO Launch Event: Ann Marie Calhoun - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxL3b3UOO5Q)

[nelly07]

As pointless as a list of top ten colours.

[Prospero]

As pointless as a list of top ten colours.

naaahhhh red is way better than blue. But green is the best.

and what abut oceans. I prefer the Pacific. but I'd have to say the Atlantic might be a contender.

[hippifried]

As pointless as a list of top ten colours.

red
blue
green
orange
yellow
purple
mauve
sepia
rhodamine
aqua marine

[Nikka]

Nikka... a star!

Edonis stats

[dafame]

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers

[txjr3]

Obvious ommission of entire genres, eg Rap/Hip-Hop, and I'm sure someone likes country even if I don't. Maybe this was top 100 Rock albums?

Either way, some weird choices within individual artists (apparently only one album allowed per artist?). I mean David Bowie "Let's Dance" instead of "Ziggy Stardust"?! and The Who "Tommy" not "Who's Next". It's all personal taste of course, but that seems plain wrong

[Merkurie]

I mean David Bowie "Let's Dance" instead of "Ziggy Stardust"?!

I noticed that one too.

[Prospero]

Or two even better Bowie albums "Hunky Dory" and "Heroes"

[bluesoul]

What would you have chosen as your top three maybe - and what is sorely missing from the list. Oh and why?

The Top 100 Favourite Albums in full:


so, with the exception of abba and bob marley, the greatest albums of all time come from either the united kingdom or america?

obviously the criterion here is that the music must be in english which discounts a rather good portion of the planet.

[Stavros]

so, with the exception of abba and bob marley, the greatest albums of all time come from either the united kingdom or america?

obviously the criterion here is that the music must be in english which discounts a rather good portion of the planet.

Although I sympathise to some extent with your point, are there any Hungarian or Peruvian rock albums you think should be on the list?

[bluesoul]

Although I sympathise to some extent with your point, are there any Hungarian or Peruvian rock albums you think should be on the list?

i can think of one particular hungarian record on my own list but none for peru (mainly because their rock music would still be considered cumbia)

shout-outs to machu-picchu though

[Prospero]

Well the wider point might be that the list contains nothing but pop and rock... while being touted as a "greatest albums' list - so there is plenty of great jazz and obviously huge amounts of classical music from all over the world.

But not worth getting upset about. it is a pop station. Just some fun.

[Dino Velvet]

Hey Prospero, how about Greatest Concept Albums of all-time and limit the list to 20? Been listening to and enjoying Iced Earth's Framing Armageddon myself.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Greatest+Concept+Albums&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs

Iced Earth - Cataclysm/The Clouding - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiWV0OoHFnY)

[BellaBellucci]

Complete albums that transcend as a whole?

Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
The Downward Spiral - NiN
Boston - Boston
Sam's Town - The Killers
Play - Moby
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
What's The Story... - Oasis
College Dropout - Kanye West
The Chronic - Dr. Dre
Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg (Lion)
Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
Antichrist Superstar - Marilyn Manson
Homework - Daft Punk
Stankonia - Outkast
Achtung Baby - U2
Continuum - John Mayer
Ten - Pearl Jam
Nevermind - Nirvana
'The Black Album' - Metallica (Don't shoot me - I love 'Justice,' too!)
Torches - Foster The People
End of The Innocence - Don Henley
Eye to The Telescope - KT Tunstall
Lights - Ellie Goulding
No Angel - Dido
Down To Earth - Jem
(Both Albums) - Lily Allen
(Both Albums) - Florence + The Machine
21 - Adele
Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
Back in Black - AC/DC

I may have left a few out, but this list offers a good cross section of my musical taste. :)

~BB~

[Prospero]

Interesting list Bella - displaying a pretty catholic taste.

[bluesoul]

But not worth getting upset about. it is a pop station. Just some fun.

didn't get upset. just wanted to point out that more than 90% of what was posted came from only 2 countries (and even the 2 that didn't were from acts that were mainly popular in those 2 countries)

oddly enough, those 2 countries are the same ones i'm a citizen of. perhaps i should be very proud :(

[ed_jaxon]

Although not technically albums, I would have to add the Isley Brthers to any list.
They have been hitting the charts longer than just about anyone else.

That logic also makes me add Bowie and the Stones.

Music in five or six different decades.

[my my my!]

Yeah they're not like the other 4 on my list

celtic frost is my favorite band of all time.

BTW "greatest" is subjective, my greatest album is Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, but since Death Metal is such a niche genre, it only makes it into Metal or Death metal greatest albums of all time lists.

[Dino Velvet]

celtic frost is my favorite band of all time.

BTW "greatest" is subjective, my greatest album is Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, but since Death Metal is such a niche genre, it only makes it into Metal or Death metal greatest albums of all time lists.

Excellent post. Big fan of Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon. Like older Morbid Angel including Altars of Madness, Blessed Are The Sick, Covenant, and Domination.

Morbid Angel - (Live Madness - 1989) FULL CONCERT - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83hMPN-1oos)

Morbid Angel - Entangled in Chaos (Full live album (1996)) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC3P0Az9x24)

[BellaBellucci]

Interesting list Bella - displaying a pretty catholic taste.

Well, my site is called Bella Eclectic. ;)

~BB~

[Tits McButts]

'The Black Album' - Metallica (Don't shoot me - I love 'Justice,' too!)


I don't think Metallica soured until 1994. Load was the last Metallica CD I ever bought.

[BellaBellucci]

I don't think Metallica soured until 1994. Load was the last Metallica CD I ever bought.

Yup. I think most people would agree with that.

~BB~

[scottnapx]

Stevie Wonder... Songs in the Key of Life best albulm ever

[Tits McButts]

Lynard Skynard - Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd. 1972 or 73, I think.

[moonunit7]

There is so much great music out there. The best album ever, to me, is whatever I'm in the mood for that day. I can go to extremes from day to day with genres, eras and styles. It's not unusual for me to go from Pink Floyd to Tom T Hall to Blondie to Blue Oyster Cult to Beethoven in one day. Each time I think, "Man, that's a great album!"

[Merkurie]

"Man, that's a great album!"
That is just how I felt about Seal's first album
http://image.lyricspond.com/image/s/artist-seal/album-seal/cd-cover.jpg

[Prospero]

There is so much great music out there. The best album ever, to me, is whatever I'm in the mood for that day. I can go to extremes from day to day with genres, eras and styles. It's not unusual for me to go from Pink Floyd to Tom T Hall to Blondie to Blue Oyster Cult to Beethoven in one day. Each time I think, "Man, that's a great album!"


Exactly my take on music. And with the shuttle on the iphone, ipad, ipod etc you can do just that - Bach, Beatles, Beefheart.... mix it all up.

[speedking59]

i agree that "greatest" is a quite subjective label. for me, a more interesting exercise is the desert island list. what 5 albums would you take with if you were going to be marooned on a desert island. mine would be:

Minor Threat - Complete Discography
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard A True Star
Bad Brains - Bad Brains
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Sunn 0))) - Black One

[bluesoul]

what 5 albums would you take with if you were going to be marooned on a desert island.

i think the question should be revised to reflect the times. something like "if you were marooned on a desert island, what albums would you like to have on your 60 gig mp3 player?"

[speedking59]

i think the question should be revised to reflect the times. something like "if you were marooned on a desert island, what albums would you like to have on your 60 gig mp3 player?"
i get your point. the idea is the limitation of 5 CDs, albums, whatever you want to call them.

[Stavros]

i agree that "greatest" is a quite subjective label. for me, a more interesting exercise is the desert island list. what 5 albums would you take with if you were going to be marooned on a desert island. mine would be:

Minor Threat - Complete Discography
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard A True Star
Bad Brains - Bad Brains
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Sunn 0))) - Black One

Prospero initiated a Desert Island thread some time ago...
http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=57247&highlight=Desert+Island

[PatrickLA]

For me, on an island, this list covers everything from dance, rock to laid-back and reflective.

1. The Avett Brothers- Emotionalism (2007) Americana
2. SteelHeart-Greatest(Features the Greatest rock vocals ever)
3. House-Swing, Electro-Swing
4. BeeGees Greatest Vol 1,2
5. Frank Sinatra_Wee Small Hours(1955) First CONCEPT album #100 Rolling Stone top 100 greatest albums ever.

[mdl112]

I don't care what abyone says and whoever doesn't dig it but Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon still hits it for me, 30 years on and no hooch, it still fkn cranks it!

[Prospero]

The playwright Tom Stoppard has written a radio play based around The Dark Side Of The Moon. The BBC plan to transmit it later this year.

[buttslinger]

“There are only two kinds of music—good music and bad music” -Duke Ellington

"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really." -Bob Dylan

[NightmareX0666]

"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really." -Bob Dylan

We were watching old music videos from the 60s and 70s, and my girlfriend brought up a good point - we might laugh at how the people dressed or looked but they could actually sing back then. The microphones and sound systems are not even close to what we have today...most bands today are nothing more than studio bands.

[ed_jaxon]

Has anyone listened to the new Bowie album?

I liked a lot of his shit from the 70's and 80's and this reminds me of that.

[bluesoul]

Has anyone listened to the new Bowie album?

I liked a lot of his shit from the 70's and 80's and this reminds me of that.

yeah- i liked it A LOT, but i think i'm biased because i really enjoy bowie. i even liked heathen

[Prospero]

Even liked Heathen? ! it had a great mood to it.

[Lovecox]

In no particular order my top 10:

Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
Appetite For Destruction - Guns and Roses
the Ramones - the Ramones
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
Revolver - The Beatles
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Rocks - Aerosmith
Highway to Hell - ACDC
The Doors - The Doors
Van Halen - Van Halen

[hippifried]

Stephan Stills - Stephan Stills
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Shakira - Laundry Service (a foreigner to appease Bluesoul) [great album too]
Oscar Peterson - We Get Requests
Gary Bartz - The Red and Orange Poems
Duane Allman - Anthology
Leonard Bernstien - West Side Story soundtrack
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die

& of course:
Stevie Wonder-Innervisions [Full Album] 1973 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j7z3nQJj-0)

[Prospero]

Okay - here is my list of just over 100 albums or collections of music which have enriched my life and which I'd not like to part. Personal choice. Not necessarily the nest (though I'd defy anyone to argue with some of the choice).

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges -Back to back/side by side –
Alice Coltrane - Journey to Satchidanada– Alice Coltrane
Duke Ellington - The New Orleans Suite
Pharaoh Sanders - The creator has a masterplan
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Ella Fitzgerald - Best of the songbooks
Billie Holiday - Best of Billie holiday
Frank Sinatra - Only the lonely
Frank Sinatra - Songs for swinging lovers
Frank Sinatra - Come fly with me
Benny Goodman – in concert
Louis Armstrong - The definitive Louis Armstrong
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Miles Davis – Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud
Miles Davis - Milestones – Miles Davis
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Charlie Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus
Irakere - Cuba Libre
Yasmin Levy - La Juderia
Musizkas with Marta Sebestyen - Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania
Souad Massi - Deb
Derek Bell - Carolan’s Receipt
Patti Smith - Horses -Patti Smith
P J Harvey - Stories from the city
Tom Waits – Alice
Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombone
The Incredible String Band – The Layers of The Onion
Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
Bruce Springsteen – Born in The USA
Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen – The River
Johnny Cash – American songs Vol 1 - 6
Rolling Stones –First album
Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones – Beggar’s banquet
Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street
The Beachboys – Pet Sounds
Frank Zappa and the mothers of Invention – Freak Out
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy and the lash
Friends – John Lee Hooker
Al di Meola Plays Astor Piazzola
Paul Simon - Gracelands
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
David Bowie – Heroes
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Lucinda Williams - Carwheels on a dirt road
The Neville bothers - Yellow Moon
Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure - Talking Timbuktu –
Marianne Faithful – Broken English
The Who – live at Leeds
Lovin’ Spoonful – Greatest Hits
Elvis Presley (1956) first album
Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom
Elvis Costello – American without tears
Beatles – Revolver
Beatles – Rubber Soul
Beatles – Sgt Pepper
Joni Mitchell – Hejira
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Laws,
Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan – Highway 61
Bob Dylan – Love and theft
Bob Dylan – Time Out Of Mind
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Alison Krauss and Union Station – Lonely runs both ways
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Prince - Sign Of The Times
The Band - Music from Big Pink
The Neville brothers – Yellow Moon
Aretha Franklin - 20 Greatest Hits
James brown – greatest hits
The Doors – first album
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Richard and Linda Thompson - I want to see the bright lights tonight –
Kate and Anna McGarrigle – first album
Blondie - Eat to the beat -
Woody Guthrie – The very best
Olivier Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony
Arnold Schoenberg - Transfigured Night
Dmitry Shostakovich - Babi Yar symphony
Dmitry Shostakovich – Leningrad Symphony
Igor Stravinsky – The Rite Of Spring
Johann Sebastian Bach - The B Minor mass
Edward Elgar – The Dream of Gerontius
Johannes Brahms – German Requiem
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Great mass in C
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem
John Sebastian Bach - The Matthew Passion
Gustav Mahler - The resurrection symphony
Thomas Tallis - Spem in Alium – 40-part Motet
Richard Strauss – The Four last songs sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf
George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Countertenor Duets – Henry Purcell and John Blow
Henry Purcell - Dido and Aeneas
Frederic Chopin – The complete Nocturnes
Philip Glass - 10,000 airplanes on the roof
Ralph Vaughan Williams - The lark ascending
Fairuz - Good Friday sacred music

[Frankkm]

this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx08MK_O_TQ

and that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH44CqW4Pvc

[supersharpshooter]

Although music is quite a large part of my life. (Its how I make a living)
I cant say Ive ever been influenced by an album, particularly any mentioned here.

One or two songs have influenced my taste in music and kicked started my desire to become a DJ.

I heard this song at an illegal warehouse rave and realised I had discovered a genre of music I will always love.....

DJ Ham, Demo & Justin Time - Here I Am (Original 1996 Mix) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CncsDr2-kmU)

I occasionally buy albums on vinyl and CD with the specific intention of isolating vocals and music cues. For example, I bought the theme music to the TV series Sharpe which was arranged by John Tams specifically to use this song......

Sharpes Ending Theme - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xi79uEDbag)

As an intro track for a 45 minute happy hardcore set I was putting together.

One album I am currently listening to is by DJ Vandal and DJ Guigoo called Raggatek power....

Raggatek Power - Mixed by Guigoo vs Vandal - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXs_zEEAcy8)

I like their style although they could do with brushing up on their mixing skills.

Peace out:yingyang:

[flabbybody]

has anyone mentioned Yusaf Islam aka Cat Stevens?
Tea for the Tillerman is in my top 5.

[Dino Velvet]

AC/DC - Highway To Hell (Full Album) [HQ] 1979 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40iL-cOwH40)

[Stavros]

[QUOTE=Prospero;1303555]Okay - here is my list of just over 100 albums or collections of music which have enriched my life and which I'd not like to part. Personal choice. Not necessarily the nest (though I'd defy anyone to argue with some of the choice).

-Yes I can argue with the choice, for example the dreary rubbish composed by Edward Elgar -The Dream of Gerontius? Even manic depressives steer clear of it.

Frank Sinatra? Isn't one album of this voice-without-variation enough?

If you knew something about Arabic music, Fairouz would come second to Um Kalthum.

The presence on your list of music by The Beatles smacks of desperation; Pet Sounds beyond belief.

Anyway, here are some corrections to your garbled list:

The Incredible String Band – The Layers of The Onion
-in fact, The 5,000 Spirits, or the Layers of the Onion

Frank Zappa and the mothers of Invention – Freak Out
-Mothers of Invention will do (and Absolutely Free is the superior Mothers album)

Arnold Schoenberg - Transfigured Night
-Verklarte Nacht is too short to be album

Maxim Shostakovich - Babi Yar symphony
-Dmitry Shostakovich, Symphony No 13 (Babi Yar) -Maxim was Dmitry's son

Maxim Shostakovich – Leningrad Symphony
-Dmitry Shostakovich, Symphony No 7 (Leningrad)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Great mass in C
-Mass in C Minor K427

John Sebastian Bach - The Matthew Passion
-St Matthew Passion

Gustav Mahler - The resurrection symphony
-Symphony No 2 (the Symphony No 9 is without parallel to most Mahlerians)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - The lark ascending
-A miniature too short to be a Album

[EvonRose]

Anything with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Cher, Tina Turner and Chaka Khan....

[Prospero]

Thanks for your usual pedantry Stavros. I am well aware that The Lark Ascending and Transfigured Night are too short for albums. They are usually included with other pieces... but it was pointless to list them since these are the pieces i value.

Garbled? How so?

I know the full title of the ISB album. So what?

We must agree to differ on Elgar.

And so i used the popular everyday names for the mozart and Bach masses? So?

and so on.... you don't like The Beachboys (fine. I do) , The Beatles (desperation? Why exactly?) Sinatra is dreary (in your view) and think Absolutely Free is a better Mothers' album. And so? Many do. I prefer Freak Out or, indeed, "We are Only In It For The Money."

Yes i got Shostakovitch's first name wrong. Whoops...

You didn't spot your old bugbear Elvis Presley....or Bowie, you know -the guy whose voice sounds like cat's piss on blotting paper.

So you and "most Mahlerians" prefer number 9. I love its deep melancholy too. I just happen to prefer number 2.

Oh and I DO know quite a bit about Arabic music. I happen to be very fond of the Lebanese singer I mentioned and especially her sacred music for easter. it is haunting. Have you listened to it? Of course i know the Egyptian Diva.

I don't understand quite why you are so curmudgeonly about something which, in the end, is a bit of fun.

[Prospero]

ps Stavros.. why didn't you point out that the Ellington and Johnny Hodges album I listed was actually originally two albums and was re-released as a double album. And so on... Are you going to post your list?

[SunshyneMonroe]

Mariah carey butterfly is my fav ;)

[Dino Velvet]

Hen Pecking in Sussex - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-BU_xSzemY)

[buttslinger]

I think everyone can agree that 90% of the music is filler crap and 10% is great.

[Stavros]

Thanks for your usual pedantry Stavros. I am well aware that The Lark Ascending and Transfigured Night are too short for albums. They are usually included with other pieces... but it was pointless to list them since these are the pieces i value.

I don't understand quite why you are so curmudgeonly about something which, in the end, is a bit of fun.


You were the one who stated: Not necessarily the nest (though I'd defy anyone to argue with some of the choice). So I decided to argue with your choice, that was the point. Had I wanted to be pedantic I would have corrected or 'amended' the list but evidently I didn't, ergo I am not pedantic.

[Prospero]

Stavros... your arguments with my choice were primarily to point out 1. that I got a composers first name wrong (fair enough and thank you) 2. To pedantically correct the titles i used for some classical works - even though the names I used were in common parlance (why?) and 3. to tell me that two of the pieces were not long enough for an album (define album. on 78s they were probably six sides of record each...lol). And otherwise you labelled things as garbled. I am not sure why?

But whatever... keep the whole thing light and fun. It should not really be anything else.

[Jericho]

Though it pains me to say it, one the greatest albums of all time is Sing When You're Winning by Robbie Williams.
Not a bad song on it. :shrug

[Lovecox]

Here's my top 10 R-O-C-K albums:

Rocks - Aerosmith
Appetitie For Destruction - Guns n Roses
Back In Black - AC/DC
Boston - Boston
Death Alley - Zeke
South of Heaven - Slayer
Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera
Never Mind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
Van Halen - Van Halen
Ramones - Ramones

:rock2

[hada]

Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3227/2990592229_916673b342_o.jpg

[antwerp city belgium]

duran duran still kicks ass.....classy guys!

[nysprod]

Top 5:

Revolver -Beatles
Sargent Pepper-Beatles
Pet Sounds-Beach Boys
Who's Next-The Who
Smells Like Teen Spirit-Nirvanna

[nysprod]

Top 6-10:

Abbey Road-Beatles
Blond on Blond-Bob Dylan
Led Zeppelin IV-Led Zeppelin
Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen
The Joshua Tree-U2

This kind of rating is generally pointless though...how can Morrison Hotel not be in a top 10? Or Dark Side of the Moon??

I mean, are you kidding me, DSOTM not on a top 10 all time list is absurd.

[robertlouis]

Gerry Rafferty dies last year. A great and sadly-underrated songwriter. I've been playing his classic City to City album a lot recently and am also enjoying a tribute album of Gerry's songs by my old pal Barbara Dickson.

Anyway, from City to City, here's THE perfect pop single.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7--mbE05A4I

[nysprod]

No more exclusionary lists...I'm sick with myself that Let It Bleed is nowhere to be found...

[robertlouis]

No more exclusionary lists...I'm sick with myself that Let It Bleed is nowhere to be found...

In my top three Stones albums with Exile on Main Street and Some Girls.